jday
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 9,321
- Reaction score
- 13,284
For those of you unfamiliar with the Ring Side Seats concept, essentially this grants you (the reader) an opportunity to view the battle that internally rages between my ears amongst my inner-optimist, pessimist and realist, represented by Me, Myself, and I respectively. The following is my 3-way-split impressions from the Cowboys first outing against what I described previous to the game as pretenders walking into a blender.
Me
Last time I jumped out of the gate, unleashing my optimistic side on all you fine folks, I opened up with a quick uplifting anecdote to add a little rose color to your ensuing perspective. No need today, I suspect. In the aftermath of watching dumbface play dumb football and the Giants so-called offseason improvements blow up in their dumb faces, each and every Cowboys fan in existence has a smile fixed on their face; tattooed even. I just hope no one has to attend a funeral today; wearing that thang could be considered inappropriate…especially if a Beer-vendor shows up (if you watched football and the commercials between like I did yesterday, you get that joke; if not, sorry).
Not to say there isn’t some simultaneous reasons for concern. Dak seemed to struggle. The offense as a whole looked lost at times; something they admitted to being an issue in both their meetings last year and coincidentally, they won by the same score they lost with in last year’s opening saga (Giants 20 Vs Cowboys 19). So, while many of us rightfully predicted that this game would be about what the Cowboys high-powered offense could do against the Giants vaunted Defense, the story of the day was by far the stingy nature of the Cowboys defense.
In more contributions than I can count (or care to go back & try counting) I’ve said in the wake of the Cowboys various secondary additions and subtractions over the course of the offseason, that the Cowboys are looking to shift to more zone looks in an effort to create more turnovers. While it only yielded one interception last night, there is no question in my mind that will be the tip of the iceberg in the 2017 season. Give it 3 to 4 games; once these rookies and relative newcomers get acclimated to the game/scheme and as the Cowboys offense gets clicking on all cylinders to put pressure on opposing offenses to air the ball out, the picks will start coming in bunches. It is only a matter of games.
Myself can hardly wait to point out just how bad and inept the Giants offense is in an effort to discredit the Cowboys defensive efforts; I know it. And since I co-wrote Mollywhopped! with myself and I, I opened the Cowboys defense up to this scrutiny before they had a chance to prove they really didn’t need the Giants help. Of course, that’s difficult to prove at the moment, since at this point in the regular season their only viable body of work was against what myself would likely describe as the offensive football equivalent of a glove-slap. Furthermore, myself might even go as far as to suggest that our defense was spared exposure as a result of OBJ’s absence…heck, there might even be truth to that.
But there is also truth to this:
The Cowboys were missing David Irving, Demontre Moore, Anthony Hitchens, Jourdan Lewis, and Rico Gathers (who could be a matchup nightmare for the Giants secondary in the redzone). Furthermore, every secondary addition the Cowboys added through the draft has spent time in the icetubs; that place where talent goes to regress. What we witnessed last night was by no means a finished product; they will get better.
Sure, the Giants offensive line helped the Cowboys defensive cause, however, the Giants employ a West Coast offense which means the offensive line means less to their scheme than what the offensive line means to the Cowboys scheme. Eli is both good at creating time in the pocket with his feet and getting the ball out in less than 3 seconds, which typically negates most pass rushes. But because the coverage did its job last night, the Cowboys managed to get 3 sacks and force 1 interception. With so many next-man-ups playing on that side of the ball, holding the Giants to a measly 3 points was an excellent way to start the season.
I admittedly expected more from the offense; I had hoped they could pick up where they left off based on the relative ease they moved the ball in the preseason. Dak looked sharp from training camp throughout preseason. Last night was by far his worst day in 2017 throwing the ball, particularly those over-throws he threw early in the game in the redzone. But as the game progressed, and as he exhibited in several games during the 2016 miracle-season, by late in the second quarter, he started to regain his composure.
You may have noticed, though, I placed special emphasis above on “throwing the ball;” overall, it was nowhere close to a bad day being a quarterback in the NFL. Because being the quarterback is about so much more than accuracy. Clearly, Dak won’t have a long career if his accuracy doesn’t improve (which it did in-game, as evidenced by the late pass to Dak in the endzone where PI should have been called), but in games like that against defenses like that, being quarterback is more about the mistakes you don’t make, than about the plays you do make. In that game, the most important boxes to check were keep the ball away from the Giants offense and protect the football at all cost. Clearly Dak had really good support in his efforts with that offensive line and Zeke’s punishing style of running, but Prescott more than did his part in executing the aforementioned objectives…like a boss!
Given those same circumstances, where the coverage is tight and the Giants seem to be on the cusp of finding a way to creep back into the game, many young quarterbacks would start to press; start to place undue pressure on themselves to make something (anything) happen. Dak never played outside of himself…he controlled the ball…he controlled the clock…he controlled his emotions…and by extension, the entire offense had a workmen’s day at the office. Nothing flashy, but they did keep moving the ball on a team that prides itself above all on its ability to stop teams from moving the ball. In fact, you could make a compelling argument that by design the Giants are supposed to stop the Cowboys above all teams…and they failed…miserably.
Myself
Spsh! What am I going to say? I’ve lost before I’ve started. Even the most curmudgeonly of Cowboys fans face looks like a broken picture with that premature “we’re about to win a Super Bowl” smile!
Despite the poor odds, I’m going to assert the following with confidence in my fellow man’s ability to hear, assimilate and process sound logic and reason. We’ve heard these words of wisdom before, but no time before were they more important to hear than what they are today:
TAP THE EMMER EFFEN BREAKS!
Me, Myself, and I all agreed the Cowboys were going to dominate the Giants…we co-wrote Mollywhopped! for criminy sakes! And now that the Cowboys did in fact do what we did in fact say would happen, me wants to sell the world on the idea that we just beat a contender…and not the pretender we collectively accused them of being on Thursday before the game.
After all, what is this really about? Will any of us celebrate a 1 and 15 season? Of course not! What this is supposed to be about is qualifying the measuring stick that the Cowboys faced last night. And it is my factual and preconceived notion that the Giants are the least in the East; anyone who watched both games yesterday surely thinks that much so far.
Now don’t get me wrong. I still say the Cowboys will make the playoffs. I’m not trying to rain on anyone’s parade, but I’ve seen this movie, bought the T-shirt, sold it in a garage sale, and saw the guy who bought it walking down the street yesterday and remember asking myself at the time, “What kinda nerd wears that shirt?” It has been 22 years since we’ve seen this franchise lift up a Lombardi Trophy! Isn’t that what this is all really about people? Winning championships? Did anyone watch the Cowboys offense yesterday and honestly think, “That’s Super Bowl-caliber right there…if I ever have seen it!?”
C’mon people. We’re not blind, are we? The Cowboys offense did just enough. But just enough doesn’t win in the playoffs. Sure, they have time to improve over the course of the season, but they can ill-afford for that brand of offense to show its ugly head around here again. Admittedly, last season had similar beginnings. At the time, we were just thrilled that the Cowboys didn’t lose because of the quarterback. Once again, the Cowboys did not lose because of Dak…but were it not for the so-called heroics of the Cowboys defense against the ineffectual Giants offense, I would be screaming at anyone who would listen today in response to that diatribe that “we didn’t win because of him either!”
But, as it turns out, the Giants were who we (Me, Myself, & I) thought they were. A good defense made better by good coordinating, coupled with a savvy (but physically diminished) quarterback who has a lot of toys and no time to play with them. The Cowboys defensive ends were routinely placing the Giants tackles on skates driving them back into Eli. To Eli’s credit, he was lucky to have only been sacked 3 times; there was more pressure’s than any other stat the defense logged last night (call that an educated guess), and Manning did a good job of creating time moving in the pocket.
My original prediction had the Cowboys winning 34 to 17. I underestimated just how bad the Giants offense would be (because I had OBJ playing) and overestimated how good the Cowboys offense would be. Granted, I didn’t see the Cowboys offense jumping out of the gate guns blazing, but I did project that the Giants would be unable to sustain drives and as such would exhaust their defense. I figured the Cowboys would put the bulk of their points up in the second half. The Cowboys only put up 3 in the second half….against a defense that had their hands resting on their sides starting in the first quarter.
So that leaves us with a question, and neither possible answer is flattering for our Cowboys Super Bowl chances:
1. Is the Cowboys offense that inept that they can’t take advantage of an exhausted opponent?
2. Are the Cowboys coaches that merciful that they’ll take their foot off the enemies throat when the opposition is down with time still on the clock?
Either way, that’s not how Super Bowl teams play Super Bowl-caliber football!
I
I’m reminded of a lyric from a song that is part of a genre of music I grew up listening to while throwing a paper route with my family:
Momma said there would be days like this!
The Shirelles – Mamma Said
For the laymen football enthusiast yesterday was hard to watch. But if you have watched football for as long as I’ve watched it, you have grown an appreciation for those types of games…especially supporting the team I’ve supported for that same amount of time.
To answer myself’s question, I don’t expect we will see that iteration of the Cowboys offense too often. There are not too many defenses that have the Cowboys number quite like the Giants do (if any). This may be premature considering I haven’t watched the Broncos in action yet (airing tonight), but I don’t even see them giving the Cowboys the same brand of issues the Giants defense was able to manufacture. Furthermore, in many cases, Dak was his own worst enemy, throwing several passes too high, particularly in the redzone…based on those, the game could have been over before halftime.
As to myself’s second question, that is just smart coaching. You take your foot off the accelerator in playcalling for two reasons: 1. A significant part of in-game adjustments is knowing the player and relating to what they are dealing with; Dak was clearly struggling, if you can keep things simple and still win, by golly, keep things simple. 2. When you have a two score lead against a team that cannot get out of its own way, time is the most important factor. At about midway through the third quarter, the Cowboys slowly transitioned from a team trying to be the aggressor to a team trying to milk the clock. The season is a marathon, not a sprint; last night was not the time to make a statement beyond what winning did by its own merits.
While myself is being a tad bit dramatic, there are truths he touches on from time to time in his otherwise annoying must-win-super-bowl-now-to-add-relevance-to-the-watching-experience rant. You certainly cannot play like that in the playoffs or the Super Bowl as an offense and expect the defense to do their job and your job for you too, as the Cowboys defense seemingly did for Dak last night. Truth be told, the Cowboys defense only needed the 1 touchdown pass from Dak to Witten to win; Dan Bailey’s efforts were just icing on an otherwise awesome birthday cake to yours truly.
While the story did not quite unfold as I had originally imagined it, I was 1 point shy of guessing the correct point spread (I had the Cowboys winning by 17; we won by 16…of course, if I was putting money on it, I would have said by 10 to play it safe…+17 in Vegas is crazy talk). I say all of that to say that I do in fact acknowledge my part in the co-authoring of MollyWhopped!. And so, yes, naturally, I did expect the Cowboys to dominate the Giants…I even used those exact words and am now seeing them in headlines nationwide describing last night’s affair. And, yes, I am proud of myself and have subsequently pulled two muscles (and counting) patting myself on the back. And, yes, I do recognize there is a lot of day light left in today and I will likely pull more muscles in my efforts.
Despite the resistance (or lack thereof) the Giants put up against what was otherwise a good ole’ fashion mollywhopping, I’d say there were quite a few reassuring qualities about the Cowboys as a unit we can derive from last night’s watching experience.
Despite their youth, there were no severe breakdowns in coverage from the secondary for an entire game against a quarterback who has proven in the past to routinely find open players down the field, despite his horrible offensive line. The Cowboys lost arguably their best corner (Orlando Scandrick – hand fracture) early in the game and did not miss a beat in shutting down the Giants. Despite the whirlwind that Zeke’s off-the-field persona is involved in, he was still able to make something out of nothing repeatedly, answering McAdoo’s question of what running backs do when they have nowhere to run: they run right over you, of course!
Me said it, Myself conveniently ignored it, but I’m going to parrot it, because beyond the defense’s discipline throughout the day, the most important yet overlooked narrative of the day is Dak didn’t make the plays that lose games…which, last night, was so much more important than the plays he didn’t make that would have helped the Cowboys win! He understood the situation, and knew that more important than scoring touchdowns was to keep the clock moving in the late going of the game. Having seen my share of young quarterbacks learn that lesson the hard way (including Romo), I cannot tell you how exciting it is to see a young quarterback instinctively know that and play accordingly before the going gets tough and the getting gets really good.
Thoughts?
Me
Last time I jumped out of the gate, unleashing my optimistic side on all you fine folks, I opened up with a quick uplifting anecdote to add a little rose color to your ensuing perspective. No need today, I suspect. In the aftermath of watching dumbface play dumb football and the Giants so-called offseason improvements blow up in their dumb faces, each and every Cowboys fan in existence has a smile fixed on their face; tattooed even. I just hope no one has to attend a funeral today; wearing that thang could be considered inappropriate…especially if a Beer-vendor shows up (if you watched football and the commercials between like I did yesterday, you get that joke; if not, sorry).
Not to say there isn’t some simultaneous reasons for concern. Dak seemed to struggle. The offense as a whole looked lost at times; something they admitted to being an issue in both their meetings last year and coincidentally, they won by the same score they lost with in last year’s opening saga (Giants 20 Vs Cowboys 19). So, while many of us rightfully predicted that this game would be about what the Cowboys high-powered offense could do against the Giants vaunted Defense, the story of the day was by far the stingy nature of the Cowboys defense.
In more contributions than I can count (or care to go back & try counting) I’ve said in the wake of the Cowboys various secondary additions and subtractions over the course of the offseason, that the Cowboys are looking to shift to more zone looks in an effort to create more turnovers. While it only yielded one interception last night, there is no question in my mind that will be the tip of the iceberg in the 2017 season. Give it 3 to 4 games; once these rookies and relative newcomers get acclimated to the game/scheme and as the Cowboys offense gets clicking on all cylinders to put pressure on opposing offenses to air the ball out, the picks will start coming in bunches. It is only a matter of games.
Myself can hardly wait to point out just how bad and inept the Giants offense is in an effort to discredit the Cowboys defensive efforts; I know it. And since I co-wrote Mollywhopped! with myself and I, I opened the Cowboys defense up to this scrutiny before they had a chance to prove they really didn’t need the Giants help. Of course, that’s difficult to prove at the moment, since at this point in the regular season their only viable body of work was against what myself would likely describe as the offensive football equivalent of a glove-slap. Furthermore, myself might even go as far as to suggest that our defense was spared exposure as a result of OBJ’s absence…heck, there might even be truth to that.
But there is also truth to this:
The Cowboys were missing David Irving, Demontre Moore, Anthony Hitchens, Jourdan Lewis, and Rico Gathers (who could be a matchup nightmare for the Giants secondary in the redzone). Furthermore, every secondary addition the Cowboys added through the draft has spent time in the icetubs; that place where talent goes to regress. What we witnessed last night was by no means a finished product; they will get better.
Sure, the Giants offensive line helped the Cowboys defensive cause, however, the Giants employ a West Coast offense which means the offensive line means less to their scheme than what the offensive line means to the Cowboys scheme. Eli is both good at creating time in the pocket with his feet and getting the ball out in less than 3 seconds, which typically negates most pass rushes. But because the coverage did its job last night, the Cowboys managed to get 3 sacks and force 1 interception. With so many next-man-ups playing on that side of the ball, holding the Giants to a measly 3 points was an excellent way to start the season.
I admittedly expected more from the offense; I had hoped they could pick up where they left off based on the relative ease they moved the ball in the preseason. Dak looked sharp from training camp throughout preseason. Last night was by far his worst day in 2017 throwing the ball, particularly those over-throws he threw early in the game in the redzone. But as the game progressed, and as he exhibited in several games during the 2016 miracle-season, by late in the second quarter, he started to regain his composure.
You may have noticed, though, I placed special emphasis above on “throwing the ball;” overall, it was nowhere close to a bad day being a quarterback in the NFL. Because being the quarterback is about so much more than accuracy. Clearly, Dak won’t have a long career if his accuracy doesn’t improve (which it did in-game, as evidenced by the late pass to Dak in the endzone where PI should have been called), but in games like that against defenses like that, being quarterback is more about the mistakes you don’t make, than about the plays you do make. In that game, the most important boxes to check were keep the ball away from the Giants offense and protect the football at all cost. Clearly Dak had really good support in his efforts with that offensive line and Zeke’s punishing style of running, but Prescott more than did his part in executing the aforementioned objectives…like a boss!
Given those same circumstances, where the coverage is tight and the Giants seem to be on the cusp of finding a way to creep back into the game, many young quarterbacks would start to press; start to place undue pressure on themselves to make something (anything) happen. Dak never played outside of himself…he controlled the ball…he controlled the clock…he controlled his emotions…and by extension, the entire offense had a workmen’s day at the office. Nothing flashy, but they did keep moving the ball on a team that prides itself above all on its ability to stop teams from moving the ball. In fact, you could make a compelling argument that by design the Giants are supposed to stop the Cowboys above all teams…and they failed…miserably.
Myself
Spsh! What am I going to say? I’ve lost before I’ve started. Even the most curmudgeonly of Cowboys fans face looks like a broken picture with that premature “we’re about to win a Super Bowl” smile!
Despite the poor odds, I’m going to assert the following with confidence in my fellow man’s ability to hear, assimilate and process sound logic and reason. We’ve heard these words of wisdom before, but no time before were they more important to hear than what they are today:
TAP THE EMMER EFFEN BREAKS!
Me, Myself, and I all agreed the Cowboys were going to dominate the Giants…we co-wrote Mollywhopped! for criminy sakes! And now that the Cowboys did in fact do what we did in fact say would happen, me wants to sell the world on the idea that we just beat a contender…and not the pretender we collectively accused them of being on Thursday before the game.
After all, what is this really about? Will any of us celebrate a 1 and 15 season? Of course not! What this is supposed to be about is qualifying the measuring stick that the Cowboys faced last night. And it is my factual and preconceived notion that the Giants are the least in the East; anyone who watched both games yesterday surely thinks that much so far.
Now don’t get me wrong. I still say the Cowboys will make the playoffs. I’m not trying to rain on anyone’s parade, but I’ve seen this movie, bought the T-shirt, sold it in a garage sale, and saw the guy who bought it walking down the street yesterday and remember asking myself at the time, “What kinda nerd wears that shirt?” It has been 22 years since we’ve seen this franchise lift up a Lombardi Trophy! Isn’t that what this is all really about people? Winning championships? Did anyone watch the Cowboys offense yesterday and honestly think, “That’s Super Bowl-caliber right there…if I ever have seen it!?”
C’mon people. We’re not blind, are we? The Cowboys offense did just enough. But just enough doesn’t win in the playoffs. Sure, they have time to improve over the course of the season, but they can ill-afford for that brand of offense to show its ugly head around here again. Admittedly, last season had similar beginnings. At the time, we were just thrilled that the Cowboys didn’t lose because of the quarterback. Once again, the Cowboys did not lose because of Dak…but were it not for the so-called heroics of the Cowboys defense against the ineffectual Giants offense, I would be screaming at anyone who would listen today in response to that diatribe that “we didn’t win because of him either!”
But, as it turns out, the Giants were who we (Me, Myself, & I) thought they were. A good defense made better by good coordinating, coupled with a savvy (but physically diminished) quarterback who has a lot of toys and no time to play with them. The Cowboys defensive ends were routinely placing the Giants tackles on skates driving them back into Eli. To Eli’s credit, he was lucky to have only been sacked 3 times; there was more pressure’s than any other stat the defense logged last night (call that an educated guess), and Manning did a good job of creating time moving in the pocket.
My original prediction had the Cowboys winning 34 to 17. I underestimated just how bad the Giants offense would be (because I had OBJ playing) and overestimated how good the Cowboys offense would be. Granted, I didn’t see the Cowboys offense jumping out of the gate guns blazing, but I did project that the Giants would be unable to sustain drives and as such would exhaust their defense. I figured the Cowboys would put the bulk of their points up in the second half. The Cowboys only put up 3 in the second half….against a defense that had their hands resting on their sides starting in the first quarter.
So that leaves us with a question, and neither possible answer is flattering for our Cowboys Super Bowl chances:
1. Is the Cowboys offense that inept that they can’t take advantage of an exhausted opponent?
2. Are the Cowboys coaches that merciful that they’ll take their foot off the enemies throat when the opposition is down with time still on the clock?
Either way, that’s not how Super Bowl teams play Super Bowl-caliber football!
I
I’m reminded of a lyric from a song that is part of a genre of music I grew up listening to while throwing a paper route with my family:
Momma said there would be days like this!
The Shirelles – Mamma Said
For the laymen football enthusiast yesterday was hard to watch. But if you have watched football for as long as I’ve watched it, you have grown an appreciation for those types of games…especially supporting the team I’ve supported for that same amount of time.
To answer myself’s question, I don’t expect we will see that iteration of the Cowboys offense too often. There are not too many defenses that have the Cowboys number quite like the Giants do (if any). This may be premature considering I haven’t watched the Broncos in action yet (airing tonight), but I don’t even see them giving the Cowboys the same brand of issues the Giants defense was able to manufacture. Furthermore, in many cases, Dak was his own worst enemy, throwing several passes too high, particularly in the redzone…based on those, the game could have been over before halftime.
As to myself’s second question, that is just smart coaching. You take your foot off the accelerator in playcalling for two reasons: 1. A significant part of in-game adjustments is knowing the player and relating to what they are dealing with; Dak was clearly struggling, if you can keep things simple and still win, by golly, keep things simple. 2. When you have a two score lead against a team that cannot get out of its own way, time is the most important factor. At about midway through the third quarter, the Cowboys slowly transitioned from a team trying to be the aggressor to a team trying to milk the clock. The season is a marathon, not a sprint; last night was not the time to make a statement beyond what winning did by its own merits.
While myself is being a tad bit dramatic, there are truths he touches on from time to time in his otherwise annoying must-win-super-bowl-now-to-add-relevance-to-the-watching-experience rant. You certainly cannot play like that in the playoffs or the Super Bowl as an offense and expect the defense to do their job and your job for you too, as the Cowboys defense seemingly did for Dak last night. Truth be told, the Cowboys defense only needed the 1 touchdown pass from Dak to Witten to win; Dan Bailey’s efforts were just icing on an otherwise awesome birthday cake to yours truly.
While the story did not quite unfold as I had originally imagined it, I was 1 point shy of guessing the correct point spread (I had the Cowboys winning by 17; we won by 16…of course, if I was putting money on it, I would have said by 10 to play it safe…+17 in Vegas is crazy talk). I say all of that to say that I do in fact acknowledge my part in the co-authoring of MollyWhopped!. And so, yes, naturally, I did expect the Cowboys to dominate the Giants…I even used those exact words and am now seeing them in headlines nationwide describing last night’s affair. And, yes, I am proud of myself and have subsequently pulled two muscles (and counting) patting myself on the back. And, yes, I do recognize there is a lot of day light left in today and I will likely pull more muscles in my efforts.
Despite the resistance (or lack thereof) the Giants put up against what was otherwise a good ole’ fashion mollywhopping, I’d say there were quite a few reassuring qualities about the Cowboys as a unit we can derive from last night’s watching experience.
Despite their youth, there were no severe breakdowns in coverage from the secondary for an entire game against a quarterback who has proven in the past to routinely find open players down the field, despite his horrible offensive line. The Cowboys lost arguably their best corner (Orlando Scandrick – hand fracture) early in the game and did not miss a beat in shutting down the Giants. Despite the whirlwind that Zeke’s off-the-field persona is involved in, he was still able to make something out of nothing repeatedly, answering McAdoo’s question of what running backs do when they have nowhere to run: they run right over you, of course!
Me said it, Myself conveniently ignored it, but I’m going to parrot it, because beyond the defense’s discipline throughout the day, the most important yet overlooked narrative of the day is Dak didn’t make the plays that lose games…which, last night, was so much more important than the plays he didn’t make that would have helped the Cowboys win! He understood the situation, and knew that more important than scoring touchdowns was to keep the clock moving in the late going of the game. Having seen my share of young quarterbacks learn that lesson the hard way (including Romo), I cannot tell you how exciting it is to see a young quarterback instinctively know that and play accordingly before the going gets tough and the getting gets really good.
Thoughts?
Last edited:
Thanks for both an entertaining and interesting read, guy!
