jday
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A man in the latter half of his 40’s decided to create a bucket list. In this bucket list he included all of the things he wanted to accomplish before leaving this world while he was still young enough to actually enjoy it. At the top of this list he, of course, included jumping from a perfectly good airplane; and not just tandem, but all by his lonesome.
He took the courses, he earned the certificate, and he finally boarded the plane (spoiler alert) for what would be his last time on this earth spent on a plane. Zero hour came, his body framed by the door, the wind whipping what hair he had left on his dome into a frenzy around his goggles, when signaled by a green light he jumped.
As he was falling and taking in the majestic view, the thoughts coursing through his brain was “totally worth it.” However, when his sight-seeing tour concluded and he was at an altitude ideal for opening his parachute, much to his dismay, he learned his parachute would not open when he yanked the parachute cord.
While he struggled to figure his way out of this mess, he noticed another man flying in the opposite direction he was. He didn’t have a whole lot of time to get to know the guy so he simply screamed the most important question on his mind at that moment: “Know anything about parachutes?”
“No,” the immediate answer was screamed in return, followed by, “Know anything about gas stoves?”
This is an old joke; many of you have probably heard it before. But I thought of the joke while taking a very hard look at the NFL in its present state and it occurred to me that some teams this weekend struggled to open their metaphorical parachutes, like the Patriots, Giants, Seahawks; while other teams, such as our beloved Cowboys, Chiefs, Raiders, seem to be having trouble with their allegorical gas stoves. In other words, teams that have dominated in recent years are getting old and are on a precipitous decline, while teams that have struggled over that same amount of time, seem to be on the rise to dominance.
While we shouldn’t get too carried away in our assessments we glean from just one week (and the first week) of regular season football, in many cases I believe for some teams it is absolutely a good indication of the performance we can expect going forward. Of the three teams I mentioned on the decline, the Giants are one team I feel confident will absolutely miss the playoffs as a result and they will not be playoff-level-competitive again until they find their next franchise QB to take the reins from Eli…which they may find in next year’s draft, as they, in my opinion, will be drafting in the top 10 in 2018. But that’s not what the following is about.
Using the above format, in the following I will take a close look at the next three teams in the Cowboys crosshairs and first decide if they are “struggling with their parachute” or “having troubles with their gas stove” and then to summarize, decide how they stack up against the Cowboys based on what we (think we) know now after one week of football. This may be a format I return to from time to time as the season progresses.
Based on what I saw the Broncos accomplish against the Chargers, I truly am stumped, as far as deciding if they are struggling with their parachute or experiencing gas stove issues. To be honest, it may be somewhere in the middle, if that makes sense. On paper, this game looks a helluva lot like the Giants game; good to great defense, balanced against a meh offense behind a struggling offense line, that tends to find a way to put up enough points to squeak out wins. However, based on their work against the parachute-challenged Chargers, you could conclude that the Broncos have an offense and quarterback playing better overall football than the Giants. Transversely, while the Broncos still have a good to great defense, they did allow the Chargers to climb back into the game and the Chargers came within a blocked field goal in tying the score.
Against the Cowboys, the Broncos face a significant defensive challenge. I am not predicting the Cowboys offense will dominate the Broncos as I suggested the Cowboys would the Giants, despite my believing the Giants defense is better than that of the Broncos. The reason is twofold: 1. The Broncos employ the 3-4 versus the 4-3 the Giants employ and the Cowboys tend to always struggle against that particular defensive scheme. 2. The game will be in Mile High and as such, our offensive weapons may not be the best versions of themselves due to potential oxygen-deprivation.
Just as the Broncos defense faces a bigger challenge, so does the Cowboys defense. Eli most likely will go down as being considered the better overall quarterback, however, for the time being, Trevor Siemian (based on week 1) is playing better overall football. Like the Giants, the Broncos do have offensive line issues, complicated further by newly acquired former Cowboys Ron Leary being on concussion protocol. Per Vance Joseph’s (the Broncos Head Coach) recent press conference, there is no timeline on when he will be available again, however, I believe it’s safe to say Leary will not suit up against his former team in the upcoming contest. So the Cowboys have that going for them…which is nice.
But, the Broncos offense also features what I believe will be a better ground game, supplemented by a much more efficient passing game, then what they faced against the Giants. I have the Cowboys winning this one. I also have the Cowboys scoring more than the 19 they put up against the Giants. On the flipside, and what should be obvious to anyone, I don’t see the Cowboys defense repeating what was 3 points shy of a skunk against the Broncos.
The Cardinals are clearly struggling with their Parachute; at the ripe age of 37, Carson Palmer does not have the same arm he once had and with David Johnson on IR (designated to return), the onus will be on veteran Chris Johnson to attempt to duplicate what Johnson both adds to the run game and the passing game….an element to David’s overall talent package that many believe makes David the best overall running back in the league. That said, David Johnson will be sorely missed and as a result of his absence, this game is nowhere close to the challenge for the Cowboys I thought it would be prior to this past Sunday.
Once again, I will use the Giants defense as my benchmark for effectiveness. The Cardinals have a very good defense; they are not, however, anywhere close to being on the Giants level. Much like their quarterback, the defensive starters that you know by name as a collective are starting to get a bit long in the tooth. The Cowboys absolutely should not overlook them, however, if they can maintain the efforts the Cowboys showed against the Giants in all three phases, I believe the Cowboys will win…and, yes, I realize we have yet to see the Cowboys offensive at their best…even without that, the Cowboys should win against the Cardinals fairly convincingly. Again, I’m not expecting domination, but pretty close to it.
The Rams, and the last team I’ll take a look at, is the wildcard in this conversation. They are clearly struggling mightily with their gas stove; this game has upset for our Cowboys written all over it. In this past weekend, the Rams absolutely dominated a Colts team that was absolutely (and admittedly) ripe to be dominated. So, on one hand you could say, “It was the Colts; they don’t have Luck (both figuratively and literally); of course the Rams dominated them.” On the other hand, it’s really hard to win in this league regardless of who your team faces…let’s not overlook the fact that the Rams squashed the Colts to the tune of 46 to 9. Furthermore, and once again just like every team we will have faced to date, the Rams also have a really good defense spearheaded by my once predraft pet cat Aaron Donald.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Rams do not feature quite the same talent level as does our Cowboys. However, they have more than enough talent to give our Cowboys defense some serious problems. The first thing we have to decide, however, is what is Jared Goff? Is he everything we thought we knew about him before he played against the Colts this past weekend, or is he what we saw in the offensive drubbing the Rams subjected the Colts to.
For the benefit of this exercise, I am going to assume the latter. After all, he was the first overall pick of the Rams in the 2016 draft for a reason and it is way too soon to pronounce Goff a bust…especially considering the fact that he hardly saw the field in 2016 receiving his first start halfway through the otherwise disappointing season against the Miami Dolphins last year in place of Case Keenum on November 15, 2016.
The reviews of his play were mixed, but most agreed by season end that he, along with every quarterback drafted before Dak, was not the best quarterback to come out of the 2016 draft; to be clear, no quarterback drafted after Dak, earned that designation either. But just because I believe Dak is better than Goff, doesn’t necessarily mean the Cowboys will win by default. Dak’s best, along with his supporting cast of offensive skill positions and blockers, will unquestionably have to be on display.
The next thing we have to decide is what is Todd Gurley (another predraft pet cat of mine a few years back)? In his rookie season (2015), Gurley hit the ground running putting up 1,106 yards over the course of 229 carries, and an average of 4.8 yards per carry. He was not quite as impressive as was Zeke in his debut, however, Gurley also isn’t surrounded by the same level of talent Zeke is. I’d say Zeke is the better all-around running back, but Gurley may be a hair faster. Either way, it matters not how Gurley stacks up to Zeke; the far more important question is how the Cowboys defense stacks up against Gurley and the line of behemoths, Todd will be running behind.
Much like the Cowboys mission to fix their secondary over the offseason, the Rams identified their offensive line as the predominant reason behind their 2016 woes. If we only use week 1 as our barometer, the Cowboys defense has little to fear…so far. Gurley only managed 40 yards on 19 carries, averaging 2.1 yards per tote, and 1 touchdown.
But this is where relying on stats and stats alone can get a prognosticator in trouble. One could argue several reasons for an otherwise disappointing first outing as far as the run game is concerned that could explain away those otherwise unimpressive stats. One non-ground-game-damning assertion could be that the Rams simply took what the Colts gave them; which based on the final score, one could conclude the Colts exclaimed like a man staring down the barrel of gun, “Take whatever you want…just please don’t hurt me!”
Scarier than their offense by a country mile is the Rams defense. To that 46 point-drubbing, they contributed 16 points on two pick-sixes and one safety. Furthermore, 6 of the Colts points allowed by the Rams, were actually against the Rams second-string defense in the fourth quarter. As of right now, I am hesitant to say how the Rams defense stacks up against the 200 million dollar Giants defense, but suffice to say, of the teams the Cowboys will have faced up to that point, this may actually end up being the Cowboys most significant challenge overall.
Over the course of the next few weeks, I intend to revisit this from time to time to see how much changes in both my opinion, and of course, the hall of public opinion (be it the so-called experts abroad or the seemingly well-informed bloggers). One thing, however, I do not see changing: There is not a single team the Cowboys collective of talent cannot beat. They have the dogs to compete with every team they are slotted to face this year. That said, there’s a lot of wiggle room between a players floor and ceiling and dependent on what version of players show up could lead to an upset for the Cowboys against any of the above teams…that is why any team can win on any given Sunday.
Thoughts?
He took the courses, he earned the certificate, and he finally boarded the plane (spoiler alert) for what would be his last time on this earth spent on a plane. Zero hour came, his body framed by the door, the wind whipping what hair he had left on his dome into a frenzy around his goggles, when signaled by a green light he jumped.
As he was falling and taking in the majestic view, the thoughts coursing through his brain was “totally worth it.” However, when his sight-seeing tour concluded and he was at an altitude ideal for opening his parachute, much to his dismay, he learned his parachute would not open when he yanked the parachute cord.
While he struggled to figure his way out of this mess, he noticed another man flying in the opposite direction he was. He didn’t have a whole lot of time to get to know the guy so he simply screamed the most important question on his mind at that moment: “Know anything about parachutes?”
“No,” the immediate answer was screamed in return, followed by, “Know anything about gas stoves?”
This is an old joke; many of you have probably heard it before. But I thought of the joke while taking a very hard look at the NFL in its present state and it occurred to me that some teams this weekend struggled to open their metaphorical parachutes, like the Patriots, Giants, Seahawks; while other teams, such as our beloved Cowboys, Chiefs, Raiders, seem to be having trouble with their allegorical gas stoves. In other words, teams that have dominated in recent years are getting old and are on a precipitous decline, while teams that have struggled over that same amount of time, seem to be on the rise to dominance.
While we shouldn’t get too carried away in our assessments we glean from just one week (and the first week) of regular season football, in many cases I believe for some teams it is absolutely a good indication of the performance we can expect going forward. Of the three teams I mentioned on the decline, the Giants are one team I feel confident will absolutely miss the playoffs as a result and they will not be playoff-level-competitive again until they find their next franchise QB to take the reins from Eli…which they may find in next year’s draft, as they, in my opinion, will be drafting in the top 10 in 2018. But that’s not what the following is about.
Using the above format, in the following I will take a close look at the next three teams in the Cowboys crosshairs and first decide if they are “struggling with their parachute” or “having troubles with their gas stove” and then to summarize, decide how they stack up against the Cowboys based on what we (think we) know now after one week of football. This may be a format I return to from time to time as the season progresses.
Based on what I saw the Broncos accomplish against the Chargers, I truly am stumped, as far as deciding if they are struggling with their parachute or experiencing gas stove issues. To be honest, it may be somewhere in the middle, if that makes sense. On paper, this game looks a helluva lot like the Giants game; good to great defense, balanced against a meh offense behind a struggling offense line, that tends to find a way to put up enough points to squeak out wins. However, based on their work against the parachute-challenged Chargers, you could conclude that the Broncos have an offense and quarterback playing better overall football than the Giants. Transversely, while the Broncos still have a good to great defense, they did allow the Chargers to climb back into the game and the Chargers came within a blocked field goal in tying the score.
Against the Cowboys, the Broncos face a significant defensive challenge. I am not predicting the Cowboys offense will dominate the Broncos as I suggested the Cowboys would the Giants, despite my believing the Giants defense is better than that of the Broncos. The reason is twofold: 1. The Broncos employ the 3-4 versus the 4-3 the Giants employ and the Cowboys tend to always struggle against that particular defensive scheme. 2. The game will be in Mile High and as such, our offensive weapons may not be the best versions of themselves due to potential oxygen-deprivation.
Just as the Broncos defense faces a bigger challenge, so does the Cowboys defense. Eli most likely will go down as being considered the better overall quarterback, however, for the time being, Trevor Siemian (based on week 1) is playing better overall football. Like the Giants, the Broncos do have offensive line issues, complicated further by newly acquired former Cowboys Ron Leary being on concussion protocol. Per Vance Joseph’s (the Broncos Head Coach) recent press conference, there is no timeline on when he will be available again, however, I believe it’s safe to say Leary will not suit up against his former team in the upcoming contest. So the Cowboys have that going for them…which is nice.
But, the Broncos offense also features what I believe will be a better ground game, supplemented by a much more efficient passing game, then what they faced against the Giants. I have the Cowboys winning this one. I also have the Cowboys scoring more than the 19 they put up against the Giants. On the flipside, and what should be obvious to anyone, I don’t see the Cowboys defense repeating what was 3 points shy of a skunk against the Broncos.
The Cardinals are clearly struggling with their Parachute; at the ripe age of 37, Carson Palmer does not have the same arm he once had and with David Johnson on IR (designated to return), the onus will be on veteran Chris Johnson to attempt to duplicate what Johnson both adds to the run game and the passing game….an element to David’s overall talent package that many believe makes David the best overall running back in the league. That said, David Johnson will be sorely missed and as a result of his absence, this game is nowhere close to the challenge for the Cowboys I thought it would be prior to this past Sunday.
Once again, I will use the Giants defense as my benchmark for effectiveness. The Cardinals have a very good defense; they are not, however, anywhere close to being on the Giants level. Much like their quarterback, the defensive starters that you know by name as a collective are starting to get a bit long in the tooth. The Cowboys absolutely should not overlook them, however, if they can maintain the efforts the Cowboys showed against the Giants in all three phases, I believe the Cowboys will win…and, yes, I realize we have yet to see the Cowboys offensive at their best…even without that, the Cowboys should win against the Cardinals fairly convincingly. Again, I’m not expecting domination, but pretty close to it.
The Rams, and the last team I’ll take a look at, is the wildcard in this conversation. They are clearly struggling mightily with their gas stove; this game has upset for our Cowboys written all over it. In this past weekend, the Rams absolutely dominated a Colts team that was absolutely (and admittedly) ripe to be dominated. So, on one hand you could say, “It was the Colts; they don’t have Luck (both figuratively and literally); of course the Rams dominated them.” On the other hand, it’s really hard to win in this league regardless of who your team faces…let’s not overlook the fact that the Rams squashed the Colts to the tune of 46 to 9. Furthermore, and once again just like every team we will have faced to date, the Rams also have a really good defense spearheaded by my once predraft pet cat Aaron Donald.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Rams do not feature quite the same talent level as does our Cowboys. However, they have more than enough talent to give our Cowboys defense some serious problems. The first thing we have to decide, however, is what is Jared Goff? Is he everything we thought we knew about him before he played against the Colts this past weekend, or is he what we saw in the offensive drubbing the Rams subjected the Colts to.
For the benefit of this exercise, I am going to assume the latter. After all, he was the first overall pick of the Rams in the 2016 draft for a reason and it is way too soon to pronounce Goff a bust…especially considering the fact that he hardly saw the field in 2016 receiving his first start halfway through the otherwise disappointing season against the Miami Dolphins last year in place of Case Keenum on November 15, 2016.
The reviews of his play were mixed, but most agreed by season end that he, along with every quarterback drafted before Dak, was not the best quarterback to come out of the 2016 draft; to be clear, no quarterback drafted after Dak, earned that designation either. But just because I believe Dak is better than Goff, doesn’t necessarily mean the Cowboys will win by default. Dak’s best, along with his supporting cast of offensive skill positions and blockers, will unquestionably have to be on display.
The next thing we have to decide is what is Todd Gurley (another predraft pet cat of mine a few years back)? In his rookie season (2015), Gurley hit the ground running putting up 1,106 yards over the course of 229 carries, and an average of 4.8 yards per carry. He was not quite as impressive as was Zeke in his debut, however, Gurley also isn’t surrounded by the same level of talent Zeke is. I’d say Zeke is the better all-around running back, but Gurley may be a hair faster. Either way, it matters not how Gurley stacks up to Zeke; the far more important question is how the Cowboys defense stacks up against Gurley and the line of behemoths, Todd will be running behind.
Much like the Cowboys mission to fix their secondary over the offseason, the Rams identified their offensive line as the predominant reason behind their 2016 woes. If we only use week 1 as our barometer, the Cowboys defense has little to fear…so far. Gurley only managed 40 yards on 19 carries, averaging 2.1 yards per tote, and 1 touchdown.
But this is where relying on stats and stats alone can get a prognosticator in trouble. One could argue several reasons for an otherwise disappointing first outing as far as the run game is concerned that could explain away those otherwise unimpressive stats. One non-ground-game-damning assertion could be that the Rams simply took what the Colts gave them; which based on the final score, one could conclude the Colts exclaimed like a man staring down the barrel of gun, “Take whatever you want…just please don’t hurt me!”
Scarier than their offense by a country mile is the Rams defense. To that 46 point-drubbing, they contributed 16 points on two pick-sixes and one safety. Furthermore, 6 of the Colts points allowed by the Rams, were actually against the Rams second-string defense in the fourth quarter. As of right now, I am hesitant to say how the Rams defense stacks up against the 200 million dollar Giants defense, but suffice to say, of the teams the Cowboys will have faced up to that point, this may actually end up being the Cowboys most significant challenge overall.
Over the course of the next few weeks, I intend to revisit this from time to time to see how much changes in both my opinion, and of course, the hall of public opinion (be it the so-called experts abroad or the seemingly well-informed bloggers). One thing, however, I do not see changing: There is not a single team the Cowboys collective of talent cannot beat. They have the dogs to compete with every team they are slotted to face this year. That said, there’s a lot of wiggle room between a players floor and ceiling and dependent on what version of players show up could lead to an upset for the Cowboys against any of the above teams…that is why any team can win on any given Sunday.
Thoughts?
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