Position by position breakdown of Dallas/Washington starters

[The30YardSlant]

Let's see who the better team REALLY is:

Quarterback:

Dallas: Drew Bledsoe
Washington: Mark Brunell

First of all, everyone, including Washington fans, acknowledge Brunell's lack of arm strength. The term "noodle arm" was even coined by the Washington press. Bledsoe has a much better arm, many believe he is still one of the best pure pocket passing QBs in football. Brunell holds the advantage in mobility, though he isnt the scrambler he once was. The biggest thing: Bledsoe is 33, Brunell is 37. Brunell's arm has already started to leave him, one only wonders if he has any hope of a repeat performance of 2005.

Advantage: Dallas

Runningback:

Dallas: Julius Jones
Washington: Clinton Portis

No real need to dicuss this one, Clinton Portis is a top 5 RB.

Advantage: Washington

Wide Receiver:

Dallas: Terrell Owens, Terry Glenn, Patrick Crayton
Washingon: Santana Moss, Brandon Llyod, Antwaan Randle El

This one is pretty close, but when you get down to it, TO > Moss, Glenn > Liyod, and Crayton > Randle El

Advantage: Dallas

Tight End:

Dallas: Jason Witten
Washington: Chris Cooley

Another no brainer. Cooley is good, Witten is elite.

Advantage: Dallas

Offensive Line:

Dallas: Flozell Adams, Kyle Kosier, Andre Gurode, Marco Rivera, Jason Fabini
Washington: Chris Samuels, Derrick Dockery, Casey Rabach, Ray Brown, Jon Jansen

This isnt even funny. Outside of Adams and Rivera, Dallas doesnt have much.

Advantage: Washington

Defensive Line:

Dallas: Chris Canty/Greg Ellis, Jason Ferguson, Marcus Spears
Washington: Phillip Daniels, Cornelius Griffin, Joe Salave'a, Andre Carter

THis one is tough. Marcus Spears and Ellis/Canty are obviously better than the DE's of Washington, but Griffin is better than Ferguson. However, Andre Carter is a tweener and teams will run on him, while Spears and Canty are run stopping specialist. Had Washington gotton Abraham, this would be Washington's advantage.

Advantage: Dallas

Linebackers:

Dallas: DeMarcus Ware, Akin Ayodele, Bradie James, draft pick
Washington: Marcus Washington, Lemar Marshall, ?????

Both teams have no starting strongside LB right now, so its hard to judge right now. If Dallas drafts an OLB in round 1, the edge goes to Dallas. However, because Marshall and Washington are both very good players, it goes to the Skins as of now.

Advantage: Washington

Cornerbacks:

Dallas: Terence Newman, Anthony Henry
Washington: Shawn Springs, Carlos Rogers

Terence Newman and Anthony Henry make up one of the better CB duos in the NFL. Shawn Springs is good, but his skills are diminishing. Carlos Rogers got burnt like a ****** near a hot stove last year.

Advantage: Dallas

Safeties:

Dallas: Roy Williams, ?????
Washington: Sean Taylor, Adam Archuleta

Until Dallas gets a compitant FS, it wont matter that Washington's safeties couldnt cover a JV wide receiver.

Advantage: Washington

Kicker:

Dallas: Mike Vanderjagt
Washington: John Hall

Easy. 2nd best kicker in football vs washed up limp leg

Advantage: Dallas

Punter:

Dallas: Matt McBriar
Washignton: Derrick Frost

Dallas could have Nors at punter, we would still be better.

Advantage: Dallas

Coaching:

Dallas: Bill Parcells
Washington: JOe Gibbs

While head coach is a push, the Washington assistants give them a strong edge.

Advantage: Washington




Final tally:

Dallas: QB, WR, TE, DL, CB, K, P
Washington: RB, OL, LB, S, Coaching

Giving 1 point for every position and two for coaching (more important at times IMO) thats:

Dallas: 7
Washington: 6

In other words, no one knows :laugh2:

 

[The30YardSlant]

Of course, God hates Washington, so we all know who will win

 

[jcblanco22]

HH, the guys at ExtremeSkins really get to you sometimes huh, LOL. Anyhow, I want to commend you on a very objective assessment and defending the star over there in admirable fashion. I've read many of your posts over there.

I also note how anyone would be extremely hard-pressed to ever see a Cowboys-Commanders comparison over there that would ever come close to this in objectivity. In fact, and correct me if I'm wrong HH, you probably were inspired to do this based on a similar thread over there.

I saw laughable posts in their comparison thread stating that it was a "no contest" in Washington's favor when comparing secondaries, and that while T.O was admittedly a notch above Santana Moss, there was no point in even comparing the rest of the receivers since presumably Randle-El and Lloyd were clearly so much better than Terry Glenn and Crayton.

I've always felt that die-hard fans of a team who can readily acknowledge the superiority of certain players on other clubs over those on their own when appropriate, and who are secure enough in their "fandom" to do so, are usually the most knowledgeable of all fans.

 

[cowboysfan31]

Because we're so evenly matched to season series will probably end up being split, but if we can split with all of our division rivals and do well in non-division play we should be ok.

 

[DragonCowboy]

IMO, by the end of the draft, after we get Lawson/Carpenter in the first round, we'll have the better OLB corp.

And if we sign Marcus Coleman(is he still out there?) or Jason Allen in the second round, we'll have better safeties, especially if the Thug is behind bars...

So if we get those things done, it'll be 9-4 Cowboys. So, two things and we get a definite edge...

After the draft, write this up again, and it'll no longer be a tie, I'll tell you that.

 

[The30YardSlant]

The only group I've seen them saying they are better at that I dont agree with is DL and, occasionally, WR

Terry Glenn is better than Brandon Liyod and Antwaan Randle El, that is not debateable. Patrick Crayton and Liyod are roughly the same in terms of skill. Randle El is a jack of all trades but isnt a great WR.

 

[theogt]

I would give the edge to our LB corps. Also, an average FS either drafted or from FA would give us the edge in safeties as well.

 

[jcblanco22]

The only group I've seen them saying they are better at that I dont agree with is DL and, occasionally, WR

Terry Glenn is better than Brandon Liyod and Antwaan Randle El, that is not debateable. Patrick Crayton and Liyod are roughly the same in terms of skill. Randle El is a jack of all trades but isnt a great WR.

I saw Adam chime in over there with the ratio of TDs to catches between Crayton and Randle-El and of course that was a clear one in the Cowboys favor. Additionally, there was a great point made about the fact that not only does Crayton NOT start, unlike Randle-El (who started all 16 for the Steelers if I'm not mistaken), but that he missed 7 games w/ injury as well.

And of course that all falls on deaf ears and blind eyes.

Incidentally, have you ever noticed how easily opinions DRASTICALLY change over there regarding a player's ability once they sign them in free agency? Either I'm hallucinating, or I could've sworn I saw both Lloyd's and Archuleta's abilities derided pretty significantly last year in the week's leading up to the Commanders playing their respective 2005 squads.

 

[DawnOfANewD]

I'm not sure exactly what the point is comparing just starting lineups as no team plays a game with just their starters. Depth is as much a determinant of how a team holds up during the season as the quality of the starters. You might not rotate QB's really but you definitely rotate at least 3-4 guys at the DE spot, you insert a CB when you're in the nickel D, you bring in a short-yardage RB to replace your starter when you're at the goal line, etc. That said:

* Our 3rd CB Glenn is far better than the no-names WAS has behind Springs and Rogers giving us a HUGE rather than merely small edge there.

* Todd Collins hasn't done much, but he has done a lot more than Romo, while 3rd QB's Campbell = Henson in terms of what they've accomplished in the NFL. If Bledsoe went down, I think I'd rather have a vet running the offense than someone like Romo who hasn't really thrown the ball a whole lot over his career Of course, Parcells is high on Romo so maybe he could turn out to be another Delhomme or Aaron Brooks and just needs time and opportunity to show what he can do. Advantage to DAL at QB but WAS has the edge in depth due to the presence of a veteran backup.

* Crayton better than Randle-El? Um, hmmm, I think Crayton will be good, but Randle El is one of the toughest WR's in the league. I think it's fair to say Randle El is better NOW, but Crayton might have better upside. I'm also not sure why you stopped at 3 WR's. That's like using just the visible tips of icebergs when comparing their overall sizes. Their 4th-WR Patten could be a 3rd-WR on a lot of teams and I'd take their 5th and 6th-WR's Thrash and Jacobs over our 4th-guy Copper. Thrash and Jacobs are useless and a bust respectively, but Copper is really really inexperienced.

* Barber and Thompson are way better than WAS backups Betts and Rock Cartwright. I'd still take WAS at RB, but our superior depth makes the disparity closer than you think.

Ultimately, I think our depth makes us even-to-slightly superior to WAS even after they've added all those FA's. They've shot their wad in terms of adding quality players as they have few decent draft picks left (1 2nd, 1 5th, 3 6ths, and a 7th), but we still have high draft picks with which we can use to increase the quality of our starting lineup and depth which subsequently means increasing the disparity between the quality of our depth and theirs.

 

[ghst187]

I don't care the breakdown, I just care that we beat them. We lost twice to them with superior talent last year. Many of the years prior to that, we beat them with inferior talent. Out of those last 14 or so wins, most of those years I would say that Wash had better talent than us. In fact, if you go back to the 90s, look who we beat the year we only won one game...and how good they were that year..
Look at the losses we had when we won all those SBs, a lot of them were Wash.
Seems more often than not that the team with superior talent loses this matchup.

 

[jcblanco22]

I'm not sure exactly what the point is comparing just starting lineups as no team plays a game with just their starters. Depth is as much a determinant of how a team holds up during the season as the quality of the starters. You might not rotate QB's really but you definitely rotate at least 3-4 guys at each of the DE and DT spots, you insert a CB when you're in the nickel D, you bring in a short-yardage RB to replace your starter when you're at the goal line, etc. That said:

* Our 3rd CB Glenn is far better than the no-names WAS has behind Springs and Rogers giving us a HUGE rather than merely small edge there.

* Crayton better than Randle-El? Um, hmmm, I think Crayton will be good, but Randle El is one of the toughest WR's in the league. I think it's fair to say Randle El is better NOW, but Crayton might have better upside. I'm also not sure why you stopped at 3 WR's. That's like using just the visible tips of icebergs when comparing their overall sizes. Their 4th-WR Patten could be a 3rd-WR on a lot of teams and I'd take their 5th and 6th-WR's Thrash and Jacobs over our 4th-guy Copper. Thrash and Jacobs are useless and a bust respectively, but Copper is really really inexperienced.

* Barber and Thompson are way better than WAS backups Betts and Rock Cartwright. I'd still take WAS at RB, but our superior depth makes the disparity closer than you think.

Ultimately, I think our depth makes us even-to-slightly superior to WAS even after they've added all those FA's. They've shot their wad in terms of adding quality players as they have few decent draft picks left (1 2nd, 1 5th, 3 6ths, and a 7th), but we still have high draft picks with which we can use to increase the quality of our starting lineup and depth which subsequently means increasing the disparity between the quality of our depth and theirs.

I know Jacobs is now gone and believe Thrash is as well.

 

[The30YardSlant]

I'm not sure exactly what the point is comparing just starting lineups as no team plays a game with just their starters. Depth is as much a determinant of how a team holds up during the season as the quality of the starters. You might not rotate QB's really but you definitely rotate at least 3-4 guys at each of the DE and DT spots, you insert a CB when you're in the nickel D, you bring in a short-yardage RB to replace your starter when you're at the goal line, etc. That said:

* Our 3rd CB Glenn is far better than the no-names WAS has behind Springs and Rogers giving us a HUGE rather than merely small edge there.

* Crayton better than Randle-El? Um, hmmm, I think Crayton will be good, but Randle El is one of the toughest WR's in the league. I think it's fair to say Randle El is better NOW, but Crayton might have better upside. I'm also not sure why you stopped at 3 WR's. That's like using just the visible tips of icebergs when comparing their overall sizes. Their 4th-WR Patten could be a 3rd-WR on a lot of teams and I'd take their 5th and 6th-WR's Thrash and Jacobs over our 4th-guy Copper. Thrash and Jacobs are useless and a bust respectively, but Copper is really really inexperienced.

* Barber and Thompson are way better than WAS backups Betts and Rock Cartwright. I'd still take WAS at RB, but our superior depth makes the disparity closer than you think.

Ultimately, I think our depth makes us even-to-slightly superior to WAS even after they've added all those FA's. They've shot their wad in terms of adding quality players as they have few decent draft picks left (1 2nd, 1 5th, 3 6ths, and a 7th), but we still have high draft picks with which we can use to increase the quality of our starting lineup and depth which subsequently means increasing the disparity between the quality of our depth and theirs.

Thrash is gone. Jacobs will soon follow.

And depth was more important in the pre-salary cap era, as most teams these days dont have great depth. Starting WRs, RBs, and TEs play 80-85% of the snaps. O-Linemen play ever snap. Same with starting corners and usually safeties. The only positions that really shift a lot are DL and LB.

 

[HailTheRedSkins]

Good Post- and I have to agree with you for a lot of them- but when you look at Brunell and Bledsoe- you have to take into account the OL not being able to protect Bledsoe. Brunell probably wont start the full season but seeing how we havent seen much of campbell since Auburn Ill give you that one.

Also with TO and Moss I would have to say thats an = seeing that Moss is a quiet leader in the locker room and TO leading anything seems questionable. Thats a tough one and maybe too close to call. Ill give you the ARL < Crayton but I think youll see that changing by week 3.

This is going to be a fun season for sure!!!! When does the schedule come out? two weeks?

 

[HailTheRedSkins]

My prediction is Derrick Frost makes the Pro Bowl this year by mistake maybe or maybe buying the election from the florida ballot?.:laugh2:

 

[The30YardSlant]

My prediction is Derrick Frost makes the Pro Bowl this year by mistake maybe or maybe buying the election from the florida ballot?.:laugh2:

The only way Derrick Frost makes the Pro Bowl is if he the selection committee chairman's family hostage :laugh2:

 

[HailTheRedSkins]

The only way Derrick Frost makes the Pro Bowl is if he the selection committee chairman's family hostage :laugh2:

Agreed

 

[Billy Bullocks]

Too bad games arent played on paper. Very good objevtive analysis HH. Can't argue with most of the things said.

 

[Bizwah]

I like seeing the comparisons, but it really doesn't tell the story.

You really need to look at the matchups to tell how the teams will fair against each other.

In other words....

Wash DL vs Dallas OL

Dallas WR vs Wash DBs

etc....

etc.....

I'm too lazy to do it myself.

Not only that, I still want to wait on the draft and preseason before I try that daunting task.

 

[HailTheRedSkins]

HH, the guys at ExtremeSkins really get to you sometimes huh, LOL. Anyhow, I want to commend you on a very objective assessment and defending the star over there in admirable fashion. I've read many of your posts over there.

I also note how anyone would be extremely hard-pressed to ever see a Cowboys-Commanders comparison over there that would ever come close to this in objectivity. In fact, and correct me if I'm wrong HH, you probably were inspired to do this based on a similar thread over there.

I saw laughable posts in their comparison thread stating that it was a "no contest" in Washington's favor when comparing secondaries, and that while T.O was admittedly a notch above Santana Moss, there was no point in even comparing the rest of the receivers since presumably Randle-El and Lloyd were clearly so much better than Terry Glenn and Crayton.

I've always felt that die-hard fans of a team who can readily acknowledge the superiority of certain players on other clubs over those on their own when appropriate, and who are secure enough in their "fandom" to do so, are usually the most knowledgeable of all fans.

I agree with you that at ES and here Im sure its hard to get some people to really objectivly judge their strengths and weaknesses. I think that occasionally you find people who will. DONT GET ME WRONG- I still hate dallas but I think your team will be the hardest games of the season for us (beside maybe Tampa Bay) You have a lot of talent!!! TG still scares me more than TO.
My first game that I ever saw was at RFK DAL-WAS game in 91 when DAL beat us 24-21 and sent us to 11-1. Its been hatred ever since. I look forward to seeing how this year pans out.

 

[jcblanco22]

I agree with you that at ES and here Im sure its hard to get some people to really objectivly judge their strengths and weaknesses. I think that occasionally you find people who will. DONT GET ME WRONG- I still hate dallas but I think your team will be the hardest games of the season for us (beside maybe Tampa Bay) You have a lot of talent!!! TG still scares me more than TO.
My first game that I ever saw was at RFK DAL-WAS game in 91 when DAL beat us 24-21 and sent us to 11-1. Its been hatred ever since. I look forward to seeing how this year pans out.

Hail, I have seen folks over there on rare occasion that even call out other 'Skins fans when their assessments get a bit ridiculous, but it's the exception rather than the norm.

I've just never quite grasped the outright refusal by some folks (i.e. bubba9497) to ever bring themselves to say anything positive about anyone other than the Commanders.