the day after

[dbair1967]

I guess not alot can be said that already hasnt...I'm not shocked we lost, I knew the Saints were a pretty decent team so losing is always a possibility, but losing like we did suggests something just isnt right...this kind of game shouldnt still be happening at this point in time under Parcells

1) one of the ugliest defensive games I have ever seen...it happens all the time under Zimmer and has for years...however, where is the great defensive scheme/mind of Bill Parcells? wasnt he supposed to be an overwhelming defense -first guy? Or perhaps more to the truth now is that it WAS guys like Belechick & Crennel who were responsible for all those great defensive teams in Parcells' past...people dont want to admit this, but Parcells was surrounded by a perverbial coaching "who's who" for years with the Giants, Pats and Jets

2) the lack of pass rush is something I have harped on forever, and it is the #1 reason why stuff like last night happens...however some of it is also poor, extremely vanilla pass coverage designs...more often than not we only rush 4 guys (and they never get there) but when we drop 7, there still seems to be WAY too many plays where guys are just wide open with nobody anywhere near them...how a team could roll up 6 tds (and should have had at least one more) and 530+ yds with a game plan consisting of mostly dump off, in the flat type plays is beyond me

3) hard to believe we were actually WINNING in that game at one point...but it was 7-0...if not for a gift TD on a horrible pass, we'd have been outscored 42-3 after JJ's TD run

4) between last night's roll and the Giants 2nd half last week...this is what transpired at one point...13 drives by the Giants & Saints, one of those was an end of the half one play drive by the Saints so we'll throw that out...on 12 drives we allowed 7 tds and 2 fg's...we forced 3 punts...drives totalled 91 plays and 665 yds...that was basically 5 quarters of football...these kind of numbers are almost unheard of

5) lost in all of thise is as a team, we finally got off to a "good" 1st qtr start after seeing almost weekly slow starts...wheels totally came off after that however

6) hopefully it was just an off game, but Romo really played poorly last night...even alot of his completions were poor throws, and he threw numerous balls right into coverage...

7) I really didnt understand why we seemed to force everything to the outside of their defense...how many long throws down the sideline do you need to try before going to something else? Looked like the middle of the field had plenty of area to operate, and we basically ignored it

8) something else I dont understand is how our safeties constantly seem to get matched up deep down field on other teams WR's...if its so easy why dont we see Glenn and Owens against other teams safeties all the time? The answer is we dont...we see it on our defense because its by design... why spend a premier pick on Newman and tons of money on Henry only to then allow them to play soft cover-2 zone defense more often than not? It's painfully stupid

Most wont like to hear it, but I really doubt we'll ever win big with the brain trust coaching our team right now...stuff like we saw last night shouldnt still be happening if real progress was being made...we may win the division, but in all liklihood we'll be no better than the 4th seed now and have to play the top wildcard...I really wonder if we'll even win the division, as both Atlanta and Philly are poor match ups for the style of defense we see every week...and unless we win the division, we probably arnt making the playoffs because at 8-8 or 9-7 we'll probably lose every tie breaker there is due to poor conference record...

David

 

[gbrittain]

I guess not alot can be said that already hasnt...I'm not shocked we lost, I knew the Saints were a pretty decent team so losing is always a possibility, but losing like we did suggests something just isnt right...this kind of game shouldnt still be happening at this point in time under Parcells

1) one of the ugliest defensive games I have ever seen...it happens all the time under Zimmer and has for years...however, where is the great defensive scheme/mind of Bill Parcells? wasnt he supposed to be an overwhelming defense -first guy? Or perhaps more to the truth now is that it WAS guys like Belechick & Crennel who were responsible for all those great defensive teams in Parcells' past...people dont want to admit this, but Parcells was surrounded by a perverbial coaching "who's who" for years with the Giants, Pats and Jets

2) the lack of pass rush is something I have harped on forever, and it is the #1 reason why stuff like last night happens...however some of it is also poor, extremely vanilla pass coverage designs...more often than not we only rush 4 guys (and they never get there) but when we drop 7, there still seems to be WAY too many plays where guys are just wide open with nobody anywhere near them...how a team could roll up 6 tds (and should have had at least one more) and 530+ yds with a game plan consisting of mostly dump off, in the flat type plays is beyond me

3) hard to believe we were actually WINNING in that game at one point...but it was 7-0...if not for a gift TD on a horrible pass, we'd have been outscored 42-3 after JJ's TD run

4) between last night's roll and the Giants 2nd half last week...this is what transpired at one point...13 drives by the Giants & Saints, one of those was an end of the half one play drive by the Saints so we'll throw that out...on 12 drives we allowed 7 tds and 2 fg's...we forced 3 punts...drives totalled 91 plays and 665 yds...that was basically 5 quarters of football...these kind of numbers are almost unheard of

5) lost in all of thise is as a team, we finally got off to a "good" 1st qtr start after seeing almost weekly slow starts...wheels totally came off after that however

6) hopefully it was just an off game, but Romo really played poorly last night...even alot of his completions were poor throws, and he threw numerous balls right into coverage...

7) I really didnt understand why we seemed to force everything to the outside of their defense...how many long throws down the sideline do you need to try before going to something else? Looked like the middle of the field had plenty of area to operate, and we basically ignored it

8) something else I dont understand is how our safeties constantly seem to get matched up deep down field on other teams WR's...if its so easy why dont we see Glenn and Owens against other teams safeties all the time? The answer is we dont...we see it on our defense because its by design... why spend a premier pick on Newman and tons of money on Henry only to then allow them to play soft cover-2 zone defense more often than not? It's painfully stupid

Most wont like to hear it, but I really doubt we'll ever win big with the brain trust coaching our team right now...stuff like we saw last night shouldnt still be happening if real progress was being made...we may win the division, but in all liklihood we'll be no better than the 4th seed now and have to play the top wildcard...I really wonder if we'll even win the division, as both Atlanta and Philly are poor match ups for the style of defense we see every week...and unless we win the division, we probably arnt making the playoffs because at 8-8 or 9-7 we'll probably lose every tie breaker there is due to poor conference record...

David

Number 2 and 8 really bother me. It is funny because there are two schools of thought. Zimmer is not the problem the players are and of course Zimmer is the problem and not the players.

No matter how you slice it, it spell Zimmer has to go. The defense is already rebuilt. You either fire 11 players or one coach. I think the answer is obvious as to which should happen.

Hopefully after last nights butt whipping I will not have to read "but...but...but Dallas has the #_____ overall defense".

If anyone believes that Dallas has a top defense, they are delusional.

 

[burmafrd]

We do have a very good D- its not a Ravens 2000 or bears 85 D.
BY the way, for all of you Bellicek homers, look what happened to the Pats. When was the last time the Pats looked that bad in December? I think losing Crennel and Weis is catching up with Little Bill.

 

[Wood]

Parcells in his press conference last week said he wouldn't be suprised if Dallas had "one of those games" in the next two weeks.

What is more important is how they respond in practice and if they show resolve in the Atl. game. If Dallas comes out flat against Falcons - then you can start writing "the december collapse has begun".

 

[Maikeru-sama]

A couple of points here:

8) something else I dont understand is how our safeties constantly seem to get matched up deep down field on other teams WR's

It's all about coaching and exploiting the other team's weaknesses. Payton knows this franchise in and out and was in an extremely good position to exploit all of our weaknesses.

Most wont like to hear it, but I really doubt we'll ever win big with the brain trust coaching our team right now...stuff like we saw last night shouldnt still be happening if real progress was being made...we may win the division, but in all liklihood we'll be no better than the 4th seed now and have to play the top wildcard...I really wonder if we'll even win the division, as both Atlanta and Philly are poor match ups for the style of defense we see every week...and unless we win the division, we probably arnt making the playoffs because at 8-8 or 9-7 we'll probably lose every tie breaker there is due to poor conference record...

David

We have won huge games against the Carolina, Colts and Giants. Excuses can be made about these two teams, but at the end of the day, you can only play who is on the schedule and there and regardless of how we won and how they were playing, those were huge games.

It is extremely foolish to say we are not going to the playoffs right now. We still have the division lead, the Gints still have to play N.O. and a Philly team playing decent.

You stated this Most wont like to hear it in your breakdown. Now I think what people really dont want to hear is Parcells and Zimmer got totally outcoached in that game.

We never made the adjustments in the Flats. Bush scored out of the backfield and Kearny exploited the Flats constantly. What about the onside kick? I have not watched all the Saints games, but I wouldnt doubt that they have done that before and you can tell our guys were not ready for it. How about the reverse on 4th in 1 which eventually led to a score? How do you draw up a defense where Roy Williams could and did get mono-y-mono coverage on Devry Henderson? This is just an overview of the defense, the offense had no creativity at all.

The truth of the matter is Parcells got outcoached and it wasnt even close.

- Mike G.

 

[TNCowboy]

I guess not alot can be said that already hasnt...I'm not shocked we lost, I knew the Saints were a pretty decent team so losing is always a possibility, but losing like we did suggests something just isnt right...this kind of game shouldnt still be happening at this point in time under Parcells

1) one of the ugliest defensive games I have ever seen...it happens all the time under Zimmer and has for years...however, where is the great defensive scheme/mind of Bill Parcells? wasnt he supposed to be an overwhelming defense -first guy? Or perhaps more to the truth now is that it WAS guys like Belechick & Crennel who were responsible for all those great defensive teams in Parcells' past...people dont want to admit this, but Parcells was surrounded by a perverbial coaching "who's who" for years with the Giants, Pats and Jets

I wish I could disagree, David. But I can't. Once more in a critical game, Dalllas was horribly outcoached. As someone said in another thread, this was the annual buttwhipping that ends the season.

2) the lack of pass rush is something I have harped on forever, and it is the #1 reason why stuff like last night happens...however some of it is also poor, extremely vanilla pass coverage designs...more often than not we only rush 4 guys (and they never get there) but when we drop 7, there still seems to be WAY too many plays where guys are just wide open with nobody anywhere near them...how a team could roll up 6 tds (and should have had at least one more) and 530+ yds with a game plan consisting of mostly dump off, in the flat type plays is beyond me

Zimmer simply doesn't know how. And while I still believe we have a very high talent level on this team, it's becoming painfully clear that Canty and Spears are average players, at best.

3) hard to believe we were actually WINNING in that game at one point...but it was 7-0...if not for a gift TD on a horrible pass, we'd have been outscored 42-3 after JJ's TD run

It could've been much worse. If Payton hadn't basically shut it down in the 3rd Qtr, they could've scored 60 or more. Our D had no resistance at all.

4) between last night's roll and the Giants 2nd half last week...this is what transpired at one point...13 drives by the Giants & Saints, one of those was an end of the half one play drive by the Saints so we'll throw that out...on 12 drives we allowed 7 tds and 2 fg's...we forced 3 punts...drives totalled 91 plays and 665 yds...that was basically 5 quarters of football...these kind of numbers are almost unheard of

Someone will post that we're still a "Top 10" defense. The reality is that good teams pick this D apart. The Indy game was a mirage, where they played poorly. We have a underachieving D, period.

5) lost in all of thise is as a team, we finally got off to a "good" 1st qtr start after seeing almost weekly slow starts...wheels totally came off after that however

6) hopefully it was just an off game, but Romo really played poorly last night...even alot of his completions were poor throws, and he threw numerous balls right into coverage...

They read him like a book. Still, I hope that Romo's poor performance doesn't overshadow what was an almost historically bad performance by the defense.

7) I really didnt understand why we seemed to force everything to the outside of their defense...how many long throws down the sideline do you need to try before going to something else? Looked like the middle of the field had plenty of area to operate, and we basically ignored it

8) something else I dont understand is how our safeties constantly seem to get matched up deep down field on other teams WR's...if its so easy why dont we see Glenn and Owens against other teams safeties all the time? The answer is we dont...we see it on our defense because its by design... why spend a premier pick on Newman and tons of money on Henry only to then allow them to play soft cover-2 zone defense more often than not? It's painfully stupid

I complained about this the whole game. There is no rationale for letting RW be one on one constantly with WRs. It simply won't work against the Saints, or any other reasonably competent team.

Most wont like to hear it, but I really doubt we'll ever win big with the brain trust coaching our team right now...stuff like we saw last night shouldnt still be happening if real progress was being made...we may win the division, but in all liklihood we'll be no better than the 4th seed now and have to play the top wildcard...I really wonder if we'll even win the division, as both Atlanta and Philly are poor match ups for the style of defense we see every week...and unless we win the division, we probably arnt making the playoffs because at 8-8 or 9-7 we'll probably lose every tie breaker there is due to poor conference record...

David

All too accurate. I think Parcells will stay another year, and that he'll make coaching staff changes. It speaks volumes about Parcells that Payton has outdone him in one year, primarily using castoffs from other teams and the draft.

 

[TNCowboy]

We do have a very good D- its not a Ravens 2000 or bears 85 D.

No, we don't. We have a talented, underachieving, poorly coached defense. We've shut down bad teams like Tampa, the Commanders, and the Titans, but good offensive teams like NO, the Giants (twice), and Philly when they had McNabb tore our D to shreds. Because our schedule has been pretty weak, our stats look good. They don't tell the whole story

The Indy game was the exception, but they're in a funk right now and struggling against everyone.

 

[dbair1967]

All too accurate. I think Parcells will stay another year, and that he'll make coaching staff changes. It speaks volumes about Parcells that Payton has outdone him in one year, primarily using castoffs from other teams and the draft.

makes you wonder what kind of team the Saints will have in the future, when they input more talent and they've all been in his system for awhile...they are 9-4 and just laid one of the 2006 NFL arse kickings of the year on us with alot of guys other teams didnt want

David

 

[dbair1967]

We do have a very good D- .

I think we have a very talented D, but we dont have a good D

this scheme does not suit the style of players we have...these guys should be turned loose and allowed to play aggressive and make plays...we play a style that is similar to using 87 octane gas in a Ferrari

David

 

[Maikeru-sama]

Oh, another point that has not been touched on.

The Cowboys have one of the most healthy teams in the entire NFL. It would be an outright crime if we dont make the Playoffs.

Bush and Colston was banged up and Joe Horn didnt even make the trip and yet they still took us out to the woodshed and hung 42 on us.

This team MUST make the playoffs or heads should roll.

- Mike G.

 

[dbair1967]

Oh, another point that has not been touched on.

The Cowboys have one of the most healthy teams in the entire NFL. It would be an outright crime if we dont make the Playoffs.

Bush and Colston was banged up and Joe Horn didnt even make the trip and yet they still took us out to the woodshed and hung 42 on us.

This team MUST make the playoffs or heads should roll.

- Mike G.

yep...agree 100%

they were also missing their best DT and one of their CB's played with a cast on...

David

 

[Maikeru-sama]

yep...agree 100%

they were also missing their best DT and one of their CB's played with a cast on...

David

Yeah, that was the dude that should have had the pick but T.O. was able to catch it and score when the ball went through his hands?

If that was him, if healthy, he makes that play.

- Mike G.

 

[MS17]

makes you wonder what kind of team the Saints will have in the future, when they input more talent and they've all been in his system for awhile...they are 9-4 and just laid one of the 2006 NFL arse kickings of the year on us with alot of guys other teams didnt want

David

I think Al Michaels said late in the game that the Saints have 34 players on the roster now that were not there last year. Pretty telling, if you ask me.

This game was just a butt whipping, no way to sugar coat it. How they play in Atlanta Sat. night will speak volumes about the 2006 Cowboys.

 

[Bull Frog]

I think we have a very talented D, but we dont have a good D

this scheme does not suit the style of players we have...these guys should be turned loose and allowed to play aggressive and make plays...we play a style that is similar to using 87 octane gas in a Ferrari

David

That's right. I know people will say sacks are an overrated stat, but we now rank 25th in the league with 23 sacks and averaging under 2 per game. How are the other 3-4 defenses fairing you ask?

San Diego-48
Miami-43 (2nd year in the 3-4 with a new d-coordinator in Dom Capers)
New England-34
Pittsburgh-34
San Francisco-26
Dallas-23 and fading

Maybe sacks are overrated, but pressure is not. With pressure come sacks. The one constant in our lack of pressure over the last 7 years is Zimmer. This 25th ranking is the 4th best year under Zimmer. We've been ranked lower 4 times during tenure. Why is he still here?

 

[BigBlacKahuna]

I couldn't understand why they played zone defense the WHOLE game. Brees picked it apart like he was playing a high school team! We made absolutly NO adjustments at the half......which is ridiculous.

I hope we can bounce back and get back on track against ATL, because last night, we simply couldn't do ANYTHING on defense....no pass rush, no coverage in the flats or downfield.

We got our a**es whipped last night, and I hope it leaves a nasty taste in their mouths.......we shouldn't be playing like this at this point in the season. It hurt to watch that mess last night!