Chuck 54
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Clearly, NE is the better team, and at this point, clearly, Tom Brady is the better QB...no shock on either front.
The Good News:
Dallas lost the first quarter 14-0, but won the second quarter 17-7 instead of packing it in. Dallas came back out and took the lead in the 3rd quarter, which ended with the Cowboys only down by 4 points before being blown out in the 4th quarter.
The defense put more pressure on Tom Brady than I've seen us put on anyone in a long time (mostly in the first half, sadly)...Brady was knocked around and was throwing the ball away quickly rather than risk another hit like the one that resulted in a fumble and TD...that came on a 2-3 step drop. Unfortunately, the pressure didn't continue in the second half.
Garrett found a way to finally get Witten and TO involved on the final drive of the half.
Julius Jones looked like a different runner tonight...he was a stud on one drive, refusing to be tackled by the first guy to hit him...shocking in a good way. Tonight was the first time in two years that I actually wanted to see him in the game more than he was.
Reality:
Nate Jones was a liability, though he did play better on Welker as the game went along, tackling him for stops short of first downs 2-3 times, though an offsides penalty negated one stop. The pass coverage was not horrible as some say. Someone dropped the coverage on Moss on his TD to start the game. Either CB or the safety blew the coverage on Welker's long TD as they both took him short and let him run by them. I thought Reeves may have played his best game tonight and was much more aggressive. Brady hit some perfect passes out there when defenders were within an arm's reach of the defender...he made most all of the right decisions, and whenever we did drop a coverage, he always found that guy...That's why he's TOM BRADY.
Unfortunately, all three of those WR's would be starting in DAllas right now...Brady just has an unbelievable set of weapons. However, the defense was laying the wood and knocked both Morris, RB, and Graham, TE, out of the game. Let's also not forget that the defense scored 7 of our points...the offense only put up 20 points.
We don't have enough quality WR's....we need Glenn back for the playoffs to have any shot of beating a team like NE or INDY. Crayton will can be a Welker type at 3rd receiver, but he's not a top notch starter, and despite the love for Sam Hurd on this site, he gives us absolutely nothing as a 3rd receiver.
Penalties killed us tonight....we forfeited over 100 yards in penalties, plus we gave back an awful lot of gained yards and first downs. Kozier and Adams killed two drives with OL penalties. However, I can at least understand those...TO getting two offensive penalties for not concentrating is inexcusable.
Future:
Ratliff visibly wore down in the middle, imo...if we can keep our current starters healthy, get Terry Glenn back on the field and move Crayton to 3rd receiver, get Henry and TNew starting at CB which brings in Reeves and puts TNew on the slot instead of Jones in the nickel, get Tank Johnson eating up downs in the middle, keeping Ratliff fresh for the pass rush, then I think we'll match up very differently against NE if we were to see them again in the SB.
The final score was UGLY, but there were lots of bright spots on the field tonight, and contrary to some people's knee jerk reactions, the defense actually played better, imo, than the offense did until they wore down and probably took more chances in the 4th quarter.
Jason Garrett has done a great job, but he has to figure out how to get this offense to put up more points in the first half of games...scoring a single TD in the first half would be a good start. There's no reason for this offense, even without Glenn to have never scored a TD in the first quarter all year and to be such slow starters...that's one thing that needs to change.
The Good News:
Dallas lost the first quarter 14-0, but won the second quarter 17-7 instead of packing it in. Dallas came back out and took the lead in the 3rd quarter, which ended with the Cowboys only down by 4 points before being blown out in the 4th quarter.
The defense put more pressure on Tom Brady than I've seen us put on anyone in a long time (mostly in the first half, sadly)...Brady was knocked around and was throwing the ball away quickly rather than risk another hit like the one that resulted in a fumble and TD...that came on a 2-3 step drop. Unfortunately, the pressure didn't continue in the second half.
Garrett found a way to finally get Witten and TO involved on the final drive of the half.
Julius Jones looked like a different runner tonight...he was a stud on one drive, refusing to be tackled by the first guy to hit him...shocking in a good way. Tonight was the first time in two years that I actually wanted to see him in the game more than he was.
Reality:
Nate Jones was a liability, though he did play better on Welker as the game went along, tackling him for stops short of first downs 2-3 times, though an offsides penalty negated one stop. The pass coverage was not horrible as some say. Someone dropped the coverage on Moss on his TD to start the game. Either CB or the safety blew the coverage on Welker's long TD as they both took him short and let him run by them. I thought Reeves may have played his best game tonight and was much more aggressive. Brady hit some perfect passes out there when defenders were within an arm's reach of the defender...he made most all of the right decisions, and whenever we did drop a coverage, he always found that guy...That's why he's TOM BRADY.
Unfortunately, all three of those WR's would be starting in DAllas right now...Brady just has an unbelievable set of weapons. However, the defense was laying the wood and knocked both Morris, RB, and Graham, TE, out of the game. Let's also not forget that the defense scored 7 of our points...the offense only put up 20 points.
We don't have enough quality WR's....we need Glenn back for the playoffs to have any shot of beating a team like NE or INDY. Crayton will can be a Welker type at 3rd receiver, but he's not a top notch starter, and despite the love for Sam Hurd on this site, he gives us absolutely nothing as a 3rd receiver.
Penalties killed us tonight....we forfeited over 100 yards in penalties, plus we gave back an awful lot of gained yards and first downs. Kozier and Adams killed two drives with OL penalties. However, I can at least understand those...TO getting two offensive penalties for not concentrating is inexcusable.
Future:
Ratliff visibly wore down in the middle, imo...if we can keep our current starters healthy, get Terry Glenn back on the field and move Crayton to 3rd receiver, get Henry and TNew starting at CB which brings in Reeves and puts TNew on the slot instead of Jones in the nickel, get Tank Johnson eating up downs in the middle, keeping Ratliff fresh for the pass rush, then I think we'll match up very differently against NE if we were to see them again in the SB.
The final score was UGLY, but there were lots of bright spots on the field tonight, and contrary to some people's knee jerk reactions, the defense actually played better, imo, than the offense did until they wore down and probably took more chances in the 4th quarter.
Jason Garrett has done a great job, but he has to figure out how to get this offense to put up more points in the first half of games...scoring a single TD in the first half would be a good start. There's no reason for this offense, even without Glenn to have never scored a TD in the first quarter all year and to be such slow starters...that's one thing that needs to change.
