CFZ State of the Cowboys Week 7

[jterrell]

I'll believe the offense has improved when I see it. The Dak led offense in week 1 was the worst of the season IMO and he hasn't thrown a football for 5 weeks.

Offensive coaching is still sub parr. Mike helped Kellen get things going under Rush but Kellen isn't very good at setting things up. Seems against the good teams penalties are still a huge issue.

Schedule is always a funny thing. Packers look way more beatable than normal but the giants are a surprise. No one thought Goff and the lions would be one of the better offenses even without key starters.

Cowboys D is legit. But fowler sucks him and his penalties can go away. Maybe he's too slow to rush the QB unless he gets that half second start but he needs to stop wrongly timing his get off. They need someone to step up as a CB but thankfully safety play has been improved.

Keep in mind week 1 that Dak hadn't played a single snap of pre-season football.
So yes he may be rusty but he has been throwing with an increasing intensity for 3 weeks now and won't be facing the healthy Bucs defense he saw week 1.
He also has benefit of Gallup and Peters that he lacked week 1.

What you said about Fowler is verbatim applied to Randy Gregory IMO. So I think those guys are essentially the same dude but at a fraction of the price. You need pass rush juice so it's helpful if he will hold his water. FA win for Dallas there at the cost.

 

[jterrell]

I agree with most of that. The only issue I have with it is the “all 3 levels” of the defense comment. Overall, the defense has been really good, but the 2nd level, the linebackers, are not holding up their end of the deal. I consider Parsons as a DE more than a LB. Barr and LVE have been average at best. I’ve always said LVE was adequate, but on Philly’s first TD he was in the hole and instead of filling the hole he ran himself out of it. He’s guessing, sometimes right and sometimes very wrong. Sweeps and screens leave the linebackers free to make the tackle 9 yards downfield. I would say they react slow, but what they are usually doing is recovering from their wrong guesses. Two levels of the defense are carrying the third.

I honestly did second guess that even as I typed it, lol.
But ultimately Micah counts for me as half a backer and LVE, Barr, Kearse who also IMO counts as half a backer due to role is at least solid.

 

[jterrell]

Basham is making it back to practice since being out with an injury . Contract run .

I wonder if they trade him? or Hill or someone along that DL?
They were already forced to cut and expose Ridgeway whom they liked but for down the road a year or so.

 

[RonWashington]

I wonder if they trade him? or Hill or someone along that DL?
They were already forced to cut and expose Ridgeway whom they liked but for down the road a year or so.

I was surprised Carlos Watkins was cut adrift thought he had a decent year last season . I don’t think Bashsm fits into the mix at all. Sam Williams Golston are under rookie corrects are the present & future at edge depth.

 

[jterrell]

Thanks for sharing. This is one of the better posts that I have ever read here. It is refreshing that there is somebody here that actually knows what they are talking about.

Really appreciate all the kind comments on this.
There are definitely better posters than me on this board but it does frustrate me that we have a small army of trolls who post complete and utter nonsense by their own design.
At the beginning those people were banned pretty fast but people on their 3rd and 4th and more accounts here have learned to just stay within the guidelines while posting utter mess and sticking together with the same half dozen people just tossing each other likes for the best troll of the week posts that are more fit for First Take than real football discussion of any kind.

 

[jterrell]

I was surprised Carlos Watkins was cut adrift thought he had a decent year last season . I don’t think Bashsm fits into the mix at all. Sam Williams Golston are under rookie corrects are the present & future at edge depth.

Yea, I mean Dallas has arguably the deepest DL in the league and you'd think now 7 weeks into the season some team could really use a rotation level DL.
If you can get a late pick, a LB, a TE or maybe even a WR it might be worth making that move. Bashem is still an NFL player for sure.

 

[terra]

To me the real problem was how the eagilrs ran the ball down our throats when the game was on the line.

The middle of the D is soft against the run and we need to fix that glaring weakness.

 

[lukemartin79]

IDK. With Tampa, LA and Cincy I had us at 3-3 at best and was thinking maybe even 2-4 losing at Philly also. That was with Dak.

And then 4-4 at bye with second half of schedule much easier finishing 10-7, maybe 11-6.

I was thinking the same way. Figured losses against tampa, rams and bengals as well as in philly. So, pleasantly surprised at 4-2, and Dak hasn't played a full game yet.

 

[rambo2]

Really appreciate all the kind comments on this.
There are definitely better posters than me on this board but it does frustrate me that we have a small army of trolls who post complete and utter nonsense by their own design.
At the beginning those people were banned pretty fast but people on their 3rd and 4th and more accounts here have learned to just stay within the guidelines while posting utter mess and sticking together with the same half dozen people just tossing each other likes for the best troll of the week posts that are more fit for First Take than real football discussion of any kind.

I'm amazed that they let them clutter up the board. Especially, when we have such a good team with a bright future.

 

[Texasfootball21]

Just a matter of time before Turpin busts loose on a kick return for a TD!

 

[rambo2]

To me the real problem was how the eagilrs ran the ball down our throats when the game was on the line.

The middle of the D is soft against the run and we need to fix that glaring weakness.

I don't think that it is much of a problem. You can't stop every play and the defense is one of the best in the league.

 

[rambo2]

Just a matter of time before Turpin busts loose on a kick return for a TD!

It sure looks like it.

 

[charron]

Keep in mind week 1 that Dak hadn't played a single snap of pre-season football.
So yes he may be rusty but he has been throwing with an increasing intensity for 3 weeks now and won't be facing the healthy Bucs defense he saw week 1.
He also has benefit of Gallup and Peters that he lacked week 1.

What you said about Fowler is verbatim applied to Randy Gregory IMO. So I think those guys are essentially the same dude but at a fraction of the price. You need pass rush juice so it's helpful if he will hold his water. FA win for Dallas there at the cost.

I get that and its mostly on the coaching staff who failed to have the player making the most money ready for game 1. So we agree he was bad. Then i assume we also agree he hasnt thrown a football in 5 weeks untill this week. Now you might be confident he is back to normal but im not till i see it.

Definately happy they signed fowler and armstrong instead of randy. But if fowler doesnt stop the penalties he aint helping much.

 

[KJJ]

Dallas has to enter week 7 feeling pretty good about themselves.

They can’t be feeling too good about themselves. They’ve just come off a big loss against a division rival, putting them two games back and in third place in the division.

 

[RonWashington]

Just a matter of time before Turpin busts loose on a kick return for a TD!

Wish he would bust loose on a jet sweep on 4th and 1 on your side of the field

 

[jterrell]

I get that and its mostly on the coaching staff who failed to have the player making the most money ready for game 1. So we agree he was bad. Then i assume we also agree he hasnt thrown a football in 5 weeks untill this week. Now you might be confident he is back to normal but im not till i see it.

Definately happy they signed fowler and armstrong instead of randy. But if fowler doesnt stop the penalties he aint helping much.

He's definitely thrown a football inside the past 5 weeks. There's lots of tape of that.
He just hasn't thrown one in a live game.
Dak is a proven 7-year vet and people can disagree on just how proven or good but there's zero disagreement that he is a far better option than anyone else on the roster.
My guess is the Dak takes and talk last until about 12:45 Sunday by which time he will have shown again what he is as a frontline QB in this league.

Fowler has 3 sacks, 4 TFL, 5 QB Hits and a forced fumble. He also gives them a solid option when they want to play Micah off the ball. Been a good FA signing but the offsides was truly dumb.

 

[jterrell]

They can’t be feeling too good about themselves. They’ve just come off a big loss against a division rival, putting them two games back and in third place in the division.

Totally disagree.
You lose your QB for 5 weeks and end up where you are, you take that and do so quite happily.
Team has no reason to be obsessed with Philly and its shocking to me just how goofy fans are over it.
I thought it was only Philly fans that were that daft and obsessed.

I would most happily go 13-4 and end up going into 15-2 Philly to play a playoff game because I have zero fear of Philly after watching them play our JV QB on their home turf and barely hold on.

No team in the NFC should scare Dallas at all and that is a great place to be with an easy schedule in front of you and the starting QB back.

But I do understand some people just seek out misery.

 

[ghst187]

Agree with all this except the easy games thing.
This is a very down NFL product we are seeing this year and watching these games can be almost painful.
Dallas really can win this NFC this year because there are only a couple decent teams at the top.
Dallas was able to go 4-1 with Rush because they could line up versus soft teams and just beat the guy in front of them all day.
This schedule offers them like 9 more chances to do that in 11 games.

the overall nfl product is wretched this year. There are only two teams worth watching and they played each other this past week…KC and Buffalo

 

[KJJ]

Totally disagree.
You lose your QB for 5 weeks and end up where you are, you take that and do so quite happily.
Team has no reason to be obsessed with Philly and its shocking to me just how goofy fans are over it.
I thought it was only Philly fans that were that daft and obsessed.

I would most happily go 13-4 and end up going into 15-2 Philly to play a playoff game because I have zero fear of Philly after watching them play our JV QB on their home turf and barely hold on.

No team in the NFC should scare Dallas at all and that is a great place to be with an easy schedule in front of you and the starting QB back.

But I do understand some people just seek out misery.

Had you said the team was feeling good about themselves when they were 4-1 I would have agreed with you. They were taking it to us on Sunday night until we made a game of it. The Cowboys have to be focused on Philly they’re the only unbeaten team in the league and we’re two games behind them. We have to get past them if we’re going to give ourselves a good shot this season. They’ve had much more success than the Cowboys the past 2 decades. When the Cowboys were going 5-11 three straight seasons, Philly was going to championship games and a Super Bowl. They won a Super Bowl just four years ago with a backup QB. The success they’ve had is going to cause some fans to become obsessed over them.

 

[charron]

He's definitely thrown a football inside the past 5 weeks. There's lots of tape of that.
He just hasn't thrown one in a live game.
Dak is a proven 7-year vet and people can disagree on just how proven or good but there's zero disagreement that he is a far better option than anyone else on the roster.
My guess is the Dak takes and talk last until about 12:45 Sunday by which time he will have shown again what he is as a frontline QB in this league.

Fowler has 3 sacks, 4 TFL, 5 QB Hits and a forced fumble. He also gives them a solid option when they want to play Micah off the ball. Been a good FA signing but the offsides was truly dumb.

I didn't think he had thrown much. Was it last week or prior week he still had issue gripping and throwing but was only throwing a little before or after practice. Same 7 year vet who looked like trash week 1 so if were gonna talk about how good he was in the past well it didn't help him in the 1 game he's played in so far. I think the next 2 games it'll be very similar to what rush was doing, probably 2-250 yards and let the ground game lead the way against average or worse defenses.