Pre-Injury things you want to see before declaring how good the team is

[vlad]

I know we all get caught up in bandwagons and all...but for us with our feet on the ground, even pre-injury, what were the things you'd want to see in the regular season before declaring how good/bad you think we are?

Please don't turn this into some flame war, there are so many great and passionate football minds (as fans anyway) on the board, I'd like to hear your opinions/concerns.

Here are mine
1) How good are we at picking up the blitz/shifting lines/stunts - This killed us last year, and until I see it, I won't have faith in people not just blitzing the hell out of us and confusing our line.

2) Were Romo's negative plays, (not play, I think he played fine, you know how the media blows it up) meaning the fumbles and INTs late merely a by-product of having to play catch-up the whole time and trying to do too much. I think so and feel as long as his goal is get the ball out quick like he was early on, he's going to shine. I wonder if he was a PG in basketball, just think if Steve Nash could play QB...

3) Can we protect the deep middle? I'm not as down on Henry as most seem to be, the guy was playing on one leg last year. The deep middle and outs/crossings by TEs still worry me. We have quality TEs throughout our division (although I never want to see LJ Smith burn us again, inexcusable)

4) Can we cover the flats? - Can our backers get to those areas quick enough to stop 3rd and shorts, goal lines...

5) How will we do against power running games?

6) Will we actually run TO on plays where he's either moving laterally or forward as the ball comes to him, rather than outs and curls?

7) Can we get pressure to the QB from someone besides Ware?

8) Can we run the screen? - I do anticipate teams wanting to pressure our line and go after Romo, can we capitalize with the screen play?

That's a few more than I thought, anyway, hope to see some more ideas from everyone.

 

[LaTunaNostra]

It's the ultimate cliche, I know, but til I see how we both run and stop the run, I won't breathe easy. I can breathe optimistically now, but not easy.

I have a particular fear of being exposed in the short-intermediate 'dump off' zones.

Funny, but I can watch a game where we get burned deep repeatedly, but not have the sinking fatal feeling I get seeing the team exploited by the run or pass over the shallow middle....it's a 3-4 horror in particular - lbs who can't drop back in coverage and clueless safties.

 

[Doomsday101]

One thing is for sure if Dallas is going to blitz often then reacting to screens and draws will be critcal because I expect teams to do a lot of it aginst us.
I agree with LaTuna that running the ball and stopping the run will be critical to our success. Dallas runs a ball controlled offense and so the run game is very important. Defensively the main thing I want to see that I did not see in the pre-season is better tackling. If your going to be aggressive then guys have to use their brains and go for sure tackles over trying to make the highlight reel on ESPN jackup'ed.