Random thoughts on the game...

[bags]

This is about the 4th time I've read about this "game winning FG"... 'scuse me, but I thought the score was 13-9 at the time of that attempt... in fact, I was wondering why in God's name Parcells was even attempting the FG at that point... of course, that doesn't negate your point about Peterman's bone-headed play, but the safety on the blocked punt came AFTER that FG attempt...

Nope. Was 11-13 at that fg attempt.

4-6-ARI24 (3:07) S.Player punt is BLOCKED by T.Crowder, Center-N.Hodel, ball out of bounds in End Zone, SAFETY. Penalty on ARZ-S.Player, Illegal Kick, declined.

4-10-ARI30(1:08)
PENALTY on DAL-S.Peterman, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at ARZ 30 - No Play.4-15-ARI35(1:07) B.Cundiff 53 yard field goal is No Good, Wide Left, Center-J.Condo, Holder-T.Romo.

 

[Sitting Bull]

Amen. Even Roy was part of it. On the blitz in the second quarter, inches from laying the wood to Warner, he reads screen and spins around. I'm all for backside pursuit, but Roy needs the freedom to follow-thru on that play so he can deliver a message to Warner.

 

[silverbear]

As far as the pass rush goes: is it safe to say we didnt send much of a rush. I didnt get to watch the game, but on the online radio troy and the other guy (sorry other guy) kept saying it's common practice not to send much of a rush in the preseason, and were surprised by how much the cardinals sent at us.

Can anyone comment on how much of a rush we sent?

I haven't seen the game yet, so I can't comment... but I did read that Parcells said he was gonna stay with the 3-4 regardless of the situation... presumably, he won't do that in the regular season...

I also read that Parcells made some postgame comments about how the Cards threw some things at the Boys that surprised them... he suggested they were playing for the win, that they may have done some gameplanning... this is not an unusual occurrence in preseason, but of course the team doing that gameplanning has a significant advantage over the team that doesn't...

Nope, from what I can see from the stats sheet, the Boys were mostly interested in looking at individual players, which is not uncommon in the first preseason game... from reading the stats sheet, I'd say he found out the following:

1) The offensive line needs work yet... this does not mean they're gonna be bad, it just means they need work... in particular, I think it's increasingly likely that the team will look outside of house for a RT... Rogers got hurt again, and Tucker apparently stunk the joint out...

2) There were too many penalties... without seeing the game, I wonder how much of that was due to the heat at gametime, after they'd spent the last coupla weeks working out in very mild conditions...

3) The defense was actually pretty good... yeah, the Cards had 205 yards passing, but that was on 32 attempts... that works out to 6.4 yards per attempt, and if they can give that kind of effort game in and game out in the regular season, they'll win a few games... and that was without anything resembling a pass rush, a tribute to the play of the DBs (for the most part)... the lack of pass rush is due in part to the absence of Ferguson and Spears, and in part from the strict reliance on the 3-4... I suspect in obvious passing downs this season, we'll see a lot more 4-3, and I also suspect we'll see more blitzing... again, I'll have to watch the game tomorrow to pass final judgement on this one... and the run defense was apparently quite good...

4) If the first preseason game is about looking at individual players, some of the Cowboys made a strong impression:

Jason Witten... looks like he's picking up where he left off last year...
Mat McBriar... looks like he was just rocketing the ball...
Justin Beriault... made a big play...
Tyson Thompson... showed that speed, big time... the best RB the Boys had in this game...
Tony Romo... his stats line looks pretty good, especially given the pressure he was under... I'll take a 96.2 rating every time...

I've read elsewhere that Patrick Crayton, Drew Henson, Ryan Fowler and Anthony Henry also had decent games, though the stats don't reflect that... I'll have to see how they look on the videotape... now, Henry DID have 6 tackles in limited playing time, but I wonder if those tackles came on running plays, or after completed passes against him...

All in all, there were some pretty good things, and some pretty bad things... for sure, Parcells has a better idea of where his team stands, so now the REAL work can begin...

 

[silverbear]

Nope. Was 11-13 at that fg attempt.

4-6-ARI24 (3:07) S.Player punt is BLOCKED by T.Crowder, Center-N.Hodel, ball out of bounds in End Zone, SAFETY. Penalty on ARZ-S.Player, Illegal Kick, declined.

4-10-ARI30(1:08)
PENALTY on DAL-S.Peterman, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at ARZ 30 - No Play.4-15-ARI35(1:07) B.Cundiff 53 yard field goal is No Good, Wide Left, Center-J.Condo, Holder-T.Romo.

Thanks for settin' me straight, bags... from the way I read NFL.com, I thought the safety came after the FG...

 

[bags]

2) There were too many penalties... without seeing the game, I wonder how much of that was due to the heat at gametime, after they'd spent the last coupla weeks working out in very mild conditions...

Your whole post was very good, but I never even thought about this possibility. You could be on to something...or maybe i just really want to find an excuse for why we had so many penalties...

I'm looking forward to what you have to say after watching the game.

 

[bags]

Thanks for settin' me straight, bags... from the way I read NFL.com, I thought the safety came after the FG...

Definately understandable. I was just in awe after it happened.

 

[Rack]

2) There were too many penalties... without seeing the game, I wonder how much of that was due to the heat at gametime, after they'd spent the last coupla weeks working out in very mild conditions...

It wasn't hot at all. In fact, I think it rained before the game, or maybe even during the game. Didn't appear to be "hot" to me. The players certainly didn't look winded.

) The defense was actually pretty good... yeah, the Cards had 205 yards passing

They allowed like 184 yards passing in the first half. The pass D was terrible. Period. And it was mainly due to the lack of a pass rush. The first 3rd and long the Cards had I was thinking "Let's see what this pass rush is made of", and of course the cards converted for a first down.

I suspect in obvious passing downs this season, we'll see a lot more 4-3,

No, we'll be in a nickel or dime defense in "Obvious" passing downs.

Mat McBriar... looks like he was just rocketing the ball...

He did great, but he did out kick the coverage a couple of times. Tackling on special teams was pretty terrible on a couple of them as well.

Tyson Thompson... showed that speed, big time... the best RB the Boys had in this game...

No, he wasn't. He just got to play against 3rd stringers. He ran past his lead blocker several times. That's something he won't be able to do very often vs starters. He does have talent though, but he needs to learn patience.

Tony Romo... his stats line looks pretty good, especially given the pressure he was under... I'll take a 96.2 rating every time...

He did play well. But so did Henson. I'm sure Henson's rating didn't look good, but he played almost as good as Romo.

 

[Scotman]

This may be the first time in 40 years of watching football that I have ever seen third down and fifty.We were on the 15 yard line for goodness sake.If that happens in the regular season I will have to double up on my meds for sure.

You may have to share your meds!!!!

That was a melt down of epic proportions. How much of that melt down had to do with RT? I hope that position comes around in the next few weeks.

 

[Smith22]

I've read elsewhere that Patrick Crayton, Drew Henson, Ryan Fowler and Anthony Henry also had decent games, though the stats don't reflect that... I'll have to see how they look on the videotape... now, Henry DID have 6 tackles in limited playing time, but I wonder if those tackles came on running plays, or after completed passes against him...

Crayton was ok. Bobbled one pass but held on. Also got chewed out a bit once by Romo I thought. Maybe he ran the wrong route. Not sure.

Henry played well. I thought Tnew did rather well also. Davis looked nervous at FS and it showed. RW had one big hit but gave up a decent gain on the play.

I was most disappointed with the starting offense and never hearing Canty's name called once, but it was the 1st preseason game, so I'm not worried just yet.

 

[junk]

Crayton was ok. Bobbled one pass but held on. Also got chewed out a bit once by Romo I thought. Maybe he ran the wrong route. Not sure.

Henry played well. I thought Tnew did rather well also. Davis looked nervous at FS and it showed. RW had one big hit but gave up a decent gain on the play.

I was most disappointed with the starting offense and never hearing Canty's name called once, but it was the 1st preseason game, so I'm not worried just yet.

That bobbled pass was a terrible throw that was behind him. It was actually a pretty good catch.

 

[Kilyin]

We stunk. Can't do much worse in the next preseason game though, there's my optimism.