Preseason Game 1 Analysis

[Manster68]

Preseason Game 1 Analysis

Manster68
CowboysPride Staff Writer

It is back folks. Another season of my game analysis has begun. I just enjoy doing this, and it is always nice to receive the positive feedback.

Life is a little different in Cowboyland without Bill Parcells, isn’t it? As a long time supporter of his, I will always appreciate what he has done for this franchise. Regardless of what others may think, he did leave this team in much better shape than when he arrived.

How do I know this?

Just look at the talent and performance at the second and third units tonight. This team is deep in most every position. Backup quarterback, center, and nose tackle are probably the exceptions here. McQuisitan, Marten, and Free look to be much more promising than Tucker and Pettiti of two years ago. You can make comparisons like this of most of the other positions as well. For that, I am very grateful to Bill.

On to the game.

The first team pass rush did show some struggling. I am not going to press the panic button quite yet as it is only the first preseason game. The defense did look pretty vanilla to me. Junior Glymph made himself known tonight.

Dallas certainly passed the “Heat” test I thought. I didn’t see much fatigue out there, or getting IV’s. They looked to be in good shape. Yeah, that Camp Cupcake sure made them soft.

Speaking of soft – how bout that Leonard Davis? He sure is one gigantic cream-puff, eh? I thought that one guy was going to sail over the Red River.

McQuisitan, Free (until his injury), and Marten, did very well. Let’s just hope Doug Free can get back playing soon. Even though he had some help with Freeney (then again, who doesn’t), he held his own. His first NFL action and he draws Dwight Freeney. Welcome to the NFL rookie!

I do agree with what I heard on the post game show concerning Hurd and Austin not getting a lot of passes thrown to them this game. Wade probably wanted to see how the run blocking would fare. It must be tough to get a thorough evaluation of everyone in one game.

If I am really concerned about anything right now, it would be the backup quarterback position. Brad Johnson just cannot stretch a defense anymore. An injury to Romo and Owens is going to go bonkers. I would be giving Matt Moore a lot more reps in practice because he needs to get up to speed….quickly!

It is always good to see that Folk and Grammatica hitting field goals, but if Folk desires a roster spot, his kickoffs cannot die at the eight yard line.

Overall, the effort was great all the way around. Dallas still went up against the defending world champs. Despite not scoring TDs on the first two drives, the execution was pretty crisp. Especially for the first preseason game.

 

[David276]

"If I am really concerned about anything right now, it would be the backup quarterback position. Brad Johnson just cannot stretch a defense anymore. An injury to Romo and Owens is going to go bonkers. I would be giving Matt Moore a lot more reps in practice because he needs to get up to speed….quickly!"

yeah i really wanted to see how he worked out, doesnt look like he will be able to take us very far into the post season from that game. He only looks like he may be able to hold the fort down until romo comes back and not for many games. hopefully he'll be able to show something more next game

 

[AbeBeta]

[
If I am really concerned about anything right now, it would be the backup quarterback position. Brad Johnson just cannot stretch a defense anymore.

Let's just accept that if Romo goes down, we fail. Plain and simple. That's fine.

 

[Paniolo22]

Look, I know they've been saying Johnson's arm is weak, but what did he do tonight to show that he can't hit a receiver downfield?

 

[Manster68]

Look, I know they've been saying Johnson's arm is weak, but what did he do tonight to show that he can't hit a receiver downfield?

In the two minute drill, ball around the 50, he had Fasano wide open between the 25 and 30 yard line. He throws this pass that took a light year to get there, and the pass died at Fasano's feet. He could have made the catch still, but it was tough.

Romo or Moore (or Bledsoe) throws that pass, and Dallas would have had the ball somewhere between the 15 and 25 yard line, 1st and ten with a minute and a half left.

Face it, Brad Johnson's arm strength, of what he had, is about gone.

 

[Clove]

In the two minute drill, ball around the 50, he had Fasano wide open between the 25 and 30 yard line. He throws this pass that took a light year to get there, and the pass died at Fasano's feet. He could have made the catch still, but it was tough.

Romo or Moore (or Bledsoe) throws that pass, and Dallas would have had the ball somewhere between the 15 and 25 yard line, 1st and ten with a minute and a half left.

Face it, Brad Johnson's arm strength, of what he had, is about gone.

I disagree with this. I saw him find a wide open Fasano, under threw him a bit ( that never happens in the nfl ) But he's not a top notch QB, and he's not supposed to be.

Look around the NFL, your second team QB isn't going to be great. We just need him to do what he did last night and basically drive the bus if Romo goes down.

I also disagree with the the D Line not getting push. I re-watched the game with the 1st team defense, and I saw one mistake made by the dLine when they fell for the play fake of Manning, and couldn't recover and gave Manning All day to throw. Other than that, if you watch real closely, they were pressuring Manning and Sorgi, those guys were getting the ball out super fast.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

Look, I know they've been saying Johnson's arm is weak, but what did he do tonight to show that he can't hit a receiver downfield?

People see what they want to see.

Johnson's going to become the new lightning rod for the gurus to prove their football knowledge. The first time he throws an incompletion and we get .... see, we should have signed <insert my guy here> instead because they could have made that throw.

 

[Clove]

People see what they want to see.

Johnson's going to become the new lightning rod for the gurus to prove their football knowledge. The first time he throws an incompletion and we get .... see, we should have signed <insert my guy here> instead because they could have made that throw.

This was started by guys in training camp, and it's snow balled since.

Yeah, the guy hits backs out of the backfield, he's always done that. And no he doesn't have a rocket arm, but you can count on him for a few games if Romo goes down. He gets the ball out quickly (unlike the strong armed Bledsoe) and he's pretty accurate.

 

[tunahelper]

In the two minute drill, ball around the 50, he had Fasano wide open between the 25 and 30 yard line. He throws this pass that took a light year to get there, and the pass died at Fasano's feet. He could have made the catch still, but it was tough.

Romo or Moore (or Bledsoe) throws that pass, and Dallas would have had the ball somewhere between the 15 and 25 yard line, 1st and ten with a minute and a half left.

Face it, Brad Johnson's arm strength, of what he had, is about gone.

I think the throw that was low to Fasano is supposed to be low?

It prevents interceptions and the WR/TE from being drilled.

 

[FLcowboy]

People see what they want to see.

Johnson's going to become the new lightning rod for the gurus to prove their football knowledge. The first time he throws an incompletion and we get .... see, we should have signed <insert my guy here> instead because they could have made that throw.

And a well deserved title as we all saw. Lightening Rod. I like it. Rather static until it gets hit, then it simply transfers the energy to the ground.

 

[CrazyCowboy]

Folk did not impress me with the kickoffs, however he may have been trying too hard......

 

[AbeBeta]

Folk did not impress me with the kickoffs, however he may have been trying too hard......

That one later in the game was good and deep. A young guy is going to be up and down -- if you look at good kick off guys like Neil Rackers, you'll see that it does take a while to get the leg strength up to consistently get the ball in the end zone.