My meaningless thoughts on the game...

[Yakuza Rich]

- MARRRRTEEEEEEEEN!


- That being said, I didn't think he had a chance to make that shot. I've seen less praying and STD test clinics.


- I didn't think Romo played nearly as bad as his stats indicate. He had a few big drops, drew a big pass interference (which doesn't go on his stats) and also had Fasano on the last drive where Fasano was interfered with again, but the refs didn't call it. His two worse plays were the second INT (first one wasn't his fault) and the fumble. Even on the second INT, he wasn't helped with Flozell getting beaten badly by Umenyiora and then I believe it was Fred Robbins coming right at him up the middle. But overall I thought he played pretty decent and that throw to Witten at the end was beyond huge and something 95% of the QB's in this league either don't see, try or make.


- One thing I noticed about the G-Men's defense and it's sort of a positive is that they started playing Romo like teams play Peyton Manning with constant pre-snap shifting of coverages and dropping 7 or more back in coverage. When your QB is being treated like that, it's a good thing.


- Best move of the day by Parcells was going to Barber immediately. Julius has this tendency where he seems to give up on plays and duck his head and then run into the pile. He was doing that early yesterday and Parcells got sick of it and yanked him.


- Zimmer didn't do a very good job and the lack of pressure is going to haunt us in the end. I was especially frustrated on the play before the 4th and 1 stop. We've got them in 3rd and 20, their QB has struggled this season against pressure and has been doing pretty well in the game because of the lack of pressure. Why in the world do you refuse to blitz is beyond me. I think cutting down on the blitzing has been a good thing for the defense lately, but there are some times when it's fundamental football to blitz and that was a situation where it didn't happen. We got a bit lucky to come out with no points there.


- Troy Aikman is too annoying to listen to on Cowboys games. It was ridiculous to hear him try to defend Plaxico Burress for trucking Keith Davis well after the play was over, miss a blatant hold on a Ayodele blitz and then claim that Romo made a forward pass. Are we sure Troy actually played for Dallas in his career?


- I would think playing for the NYG would be the most annoying team to play for between hearing Coughlin, hearing Shockey, having a disinterested Plaxico, Strahan trying to intimidate female reporters and having a crappy QB.


- Keith Davis still isn't any good.


- Why do teams continue to run at Demarcus Ware? Anyway, keep it up.


- Another huge win for Dallas and it felt good to win on a field goal in some strange way. The plan is simple....win out and you're pretty much guaranteed to be the #2 seed (unless Seattle wins out). Brees will definitely test our long ball defense so we'll need a similar type of effort that we got from the Defense in the Indy game. But with Romo at QB, you have to feel pretty good about every game we are in.



YAKUZA

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Enjoyed the read as usual...except the Troy comments.

Man alive I wish people would realize that Troy is not being paid to be a Dallas Homer while covering games.

If anyone would listen to him away from calling games you would know he still loves Dallas and especially Tony Romo.

I am sorry but the last thing I want is some super homer like Theezman or Irvin calling a game. Irvin can be fun to watch on his show but in no way would I want him calling a game.

I actually prefer to hear someone who calls it down the middle.

Just as the world does not revolve around those that diss the cowboys, nor does it revolve around those that are not super homers.

For all of those that just can not stand troy calling a game, for those that thinks he just hates the cowboys.

There is this new fangled technology, some may consider it magic.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Nice analysis Rich.

I'm sick of Keith Davis.

Let's go back to Watkins-- NOW!

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Nice analysis Rich.

I'm sick of Keith Davis.

Let's go back to Watkins-- NOW!

Keith Davis should be on ST and be a backup SS instead of being a starting FS.

I hope Watkins pans out over the course of the year or we will wind up trying someone else in that position next year.

 

[Duane]

Nice analysis Rich.

I'm sick of Keith Davis.

Let's go back to Watkins-- NOW!

Even if it's a wash as far as play goes I'd much rather see Watkins back there than Davis.

 

[morasp]

I was thinking even if we didn't blitz but ran a few stunts on the pass rush, there were huge holes in their blocking that quick lineman (subliminal message: Demarus Ware) could've really exploited.

 

[superpunk]

Nice analysis Rich.

I'm sick of Keith Davis.

Let's go back to Watkins-- NOW!

Watkins was sooooo much better.

Is Justin Beriault available?

 

[lurkercowboy]

Aikman defending Plaxico on that late hit was lame. Not one word about how it was a cheap shot, which it obviously was.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Watkins was sooooo much better.

Is Justin Beriault available?

I thought Watkins had a much better feel for angles. Davis doesn't have a clue... not a clue. And at least Watkins would chip in with a turnover once in a while.

 

[percyhoward]

I agree that Romo played a good game under the circumstances. That throw to Witten was the biggest play of our season so far.

This was another one of those games though, in which penalties played a huge role in determining the outcome. The Giants outpassed us, outrushed us, out-sacked us, and protected the ball better than we did. It was the combination of their penalties and our red zone defense that held them to 20 points.

 

[YosemiteSam]

- That being said, I didn't think he had a chance to make that shot. I've seen less praying and STD test clinics.

Yeah, to be praying like a mad man doesn't leave much time to focus. I was almost sure it was going to shank it. While I'm not a religious man, I can see how people can be reassured by it. One thing is clear to me though. Nothing beats focus. Praying like your life is at stake isn't exactly focusing.

- Keith Davis still isn't any good.

He is a strong safety playing out of position. Roy Williams stinks in man to man coverage too. Hopefully, Watkins will come around next year. It just doesn't look like it's going to happen this year.

- Another huge win for Dallas and it felt good to win on a field goal in some strange way. The plan is simple....win out and you're pretty much guaranteed to be the #2 seed (unless Seattle wins out). Brees will definitely test our long ball defense so we'll need a similar type of effort that we got from the Defense in the Indy game. But with Romo at QB, you have to feel pretty good about every game we are in.

I expect a two deep zone most of the game. Which, I like because it keeps Williams from playing man to man against Bush and Williams is so much better in zone coverage. I expect to see a lot of zone underneath that cheats towards Bush.

Don't expect a lot of blitzing against Brees either unless they find a ton of success with it early.

 

[superpunk]

I thought Watkins had a much better feel for angles. Davis doesn't have a clue... not a clue. And at least Watkins would chip in with a turnover once in a while.

I said it before, WAY before, it's like choosing between piles of garbage. We just have to deal with it now. Davis may not have any turnovers, but the huge plays have been lessened. It's gonna be a bad spot either way. It doesn't matter who's out there.

 

[Juke99]

Nice recap.

Lack of pass rush is going to bite us in the hiney at some point.

And as far as Aikman goes, this was the first time he actually got on my nerves. I've been very supportive but he pulled a Madden (ALWAYS talking about Brett Favre, see Frank Caliendo) with is contstant blabber about Manning.

And then Romo throws that perfect ball to Witten and it took Aikman about an hour to say something. He did say it was a "perfect" pass but he missed the point the entire game.

The point was, you've got a guy who was a undrafted FA playing against a guy who was a first round pick that the Giants gave up a ton in trade for...and the UFA made the plays and won the game.

 

[chinch]

- Troy Aikman is too annoying to listen to on Cowboys games. It was ridiculous to hear him try to defend Plaxico Burress for trucking Keith Davis well after the play was over, miss a blatant hold on a Ayodele blitz and then claim that Romo made a forward pass. Are we sure Troy actually played for Dallas in his career?

unless it's a blowout (ie. thanksgiving) Troy sounds like a disgruntled idiot sucking up to the opponent. he needs to get over that. call it down the middle and stop placating people who don't want you to be a "cowboy homer"

how many times did we hear ANOTHER MISSED TACKLE by the giants... where was him calling out Roy and co. during Tiki's dance recital moves (last drive, etc). to him that was great running. rotflmao

 

[YosemiteSam]

I think Aikman just trys so hard to not be bias towards the Cowboys that he sounds anti-Cowboys at time. He isn't. He is still a Dallas Cowboy and bleeds silver and blue.

Edit: Anyhow, it's much better than Michael Irvin looking like an idiot the way he gushes about the Cowboys. He demands no credit in his skill as an analyst. He demands to look like a buffoon

 

[SultanOfSix]

Aikman has taken the opposite stance of Irvin in that he's trying way too hard to not appear to be a homer for the Cowboys. There were a lot of things he said that just made me think that he was just saying certain things to make it look like that, and didn't actually believe what he was saying.

Also, it seems like the commentators get a push by the the powers at be to call the game a certain way. Granted Eli played a little better than he has the past few games, but it seemd like they were trying to pamper his fragile psyche with the comments they made.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I said it before, WAY before, it's like choosing between piles of garbage. We just have to deal with it now. Davis may not have any turnovers, but the huge plays have been lessened. It's gonna be a bad spot either way. It doesn't matter who's out there.

Well give me the younger garbage at this point...

 

[superpunk]

Well give me the younger garbage at this point...

So he can surrender 3 TDS, instead of just one?

It's not like Killer is ancient.

 

[khiladi]

- Zimmer didn't do a very good job and the lack of pressure is going to haunt us in the end. I was especially frustrated on the play before the 4th and 1 stop. We've got them in 3rd and 20, their QB has struggled this season against pressure and has been doing pretty well in the game because of the lack of pressure. Why in the world do you refuse to blitz is beyond me. I think cutting down on the blitzing has been a good thing for the defense lately, but there are some times when it's fundamental football to blitz and that was a situation where it didn't happen. We got a bit lucky to come out with no points there.

I think this game plan was purely Bill Parcells.. Parcells didn't want to get killed by the deep ball, so they played a very conservative game plan... Way too much zone, considering the fragility of Eli Manning... Instead of taking advantage of it, we allowed him to regain some confidence...

As far as the Trok Aikman comments, I'm beginning to think the commentators have a certain "script" pushed from above. From Troy Aikman to Howie Long, everybody was on Eli Manning's jock, defending him and praising him...

 

[chinch]

I think Aikman just trys so hard to not be bias towards the Cowboys that he sounds anti-Cowboys at time. He isn't. He is still a Dallas Cowboy and bleeds silver and blue.

Edit: Anyhow, it's much better than Michael Irvin looking like an idiot the way he gushes about the Cowboys. He demands no credit in his skill as an analyst. He demands to look like a buffoon

we know he's a die-hard cowboy but his game calls are just terrible. it's unacceptable now that the boys are playing bigtime national TV games as FAVORITES.

call it down the middle.

michael is a color guy pre-game/post-game so to compare his "antics" to troy is apples vs oranges. guys like mike don't call games.