The Lessons in Denver

[dallasdave]

Newton got a penalty called for the one direct hit. The one on the sack by Ware is hard to call, it was more about him falling into the path of Miller than it was about Miller hitting his helmet. There has to be a little discretion.

 

[Fla Cowpoke]

Dak will be facing a defense that is far inferior to Carolina, so I expect him to be better than Siemian was. Dak's weapons to give the ball to are as good or better than Denvers's.

What Dak doesn't have is the defensive support that Siemian has. He has much less room for error, because his defense won't bail him out like Ware, Miller, et al. can bail out Siemian.

If nothing else, it will be very interesting to see how Prescott performs on Sunday.

Giants have a worse defense and we have a better OL than Denver. Additionally, Denver was without their best receivers a good portion of the game and Siemian was still able to operate. He made a couple bad passes and decisions, but then again so did Cam.

 

[dallasdave]

Just gonna like your post cause you used the word " obfuscated" and I haven't seen that word in my entire life. So now I'm gonna look it up......ok now I got it. Hey and thanks for being so polite and cordial.

You're right, there might have been issues with him as a head coach, but as a D coordinator, I think he's one of the best. Have a good Friday and weekend....and Go Cowboys!

Just like when Jimmy brought Dave from Miami to be DC, he was a great DC but not a great head coach !!!!

 

[LandryFan]

If we give up 35 pts a game we will have the pick of the litter again next yr., regardless of how well our rookies play.
I'm hoping they are in the neighborhood of last years d with turnovers added to the equation

Yep...even if they gave up the low end of that (35 pts/game = 560 for the year), it would shatter the mark for most points given up in a season (533). They won't be anywhere near that bad.

 

[percyhoward]

35-45 is a bit much. I mean we gave up 23 a game last year

Right, but we'd give up quite a bit more than that if we turned it over 3 times against Carolina.

 

[CCBoy]

Protocal and how a player reacts to being in a real football game...play your game Dak, and excel as your nature commands!

 

[greatwallofdallas]

Cowboys should of hired Wade Phillips as defensive coordinator....oooh wait

 

[CouchCoach]

I said he was mostly horrible, and he was. He threw an inexcusable (he's actually not a rookie) interception in scoring position in a close game, missed receivers all night long and provided little utility outside of completing simple passes. His QB rating was 69 and his QBR was an even lower 43. His only saving grace was that Cam had similar numbers in both categories and an equally bad performance.

http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/...revor-siemian-still-has-a-lot-to-prove-090816

Proving what? That the D was the difference, just as it was in the SB. That's the point, a QB can have an off night as they both did but the D's can bail them out. In our recent past, the QB has an off game and we lose.

And one of the main reasons I am pulling for Dak to show signs he can be that guy is to get started on that D sooner than later. The Broncos made the right FA acquisitions and the Panthers built most of their's through the draft, we've basically busted out with FA's and haven't had a winner since Glover. We must get started on this D in the next draft and the next.

 

[LocimusPrime]

Broncos junky O line consists of a bunch of 3-7th rd picks and a couple of free agents most notably Okung from Seattle. PFF had them rated 28th in the preseason.

Their D line however is very formidable. We are built exactly opposite of them.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

The lesson I got was to hit the QB in the head.....hard.

 

[yimyammer]

Just gonna like your post cause you used the word " obfuscated" and I haven't seen that word in my entire life. So now I'm gonna look it up......ok now I got it. Hey and thanks for being so polite and cordial.

You're right, there might have been issues with him as a head coach, but as a D coordinator, I think he's one of the best. Have a good Friday and weekend....and Go Cowboys!

No problem amigo. Tone, intent and attitude often get misread over the internets plus I'm a big time jeri hater, so I gotta watch how I say things so my fellow cowboy fans don't think I'm directing my frustration at them. I have nothing against my fellow cowboy brethren because, while we may disagree on a variety of issues, we all want the same thing in the end.

As far as Philips goes, its really odd. I don't think there's any question that he is a great d-coordinator, but that hasn't translated to the job of head coach for whatever reason. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but imo, he didn't stand out as being special when it comes to defensive talent identification, development and acquisition.

Having said that, I don't know that we got to see the best Phillips could have offered in Dallas due to the jeri factor. He had Garrett forced on him and it appears he may have wanted Dan Reeves here so I cant help but wonder what other aspects got gobbled up by the jeri machine. Even if he was unencumbered by the jeri, that's no guarantee he would have found success here so I'm not crying over spilled milk. Phillips seems like a nice person but not the type I like in a head coach.

 

[pancakeman]

The lesson I got was to hit the QB in the head.....hard.

Yeah, what I'm scared of is the lesson is "go for the head," and I have little doubt our opponents (esp. division foes) are very incentivized to try to take Dak out.

 

[Sarge]

If our defense holds opposing offenses to 17-21 points a game, we will win 10-12 games.

Problem is they will allow 35-45 a game.

That's what it's about in Denver. The defense will allow their offense to score few points a week and still be a super bowl contender.

The worst defense in the league last year didn't give up that many points per game.

 

[LocimusPrime]

Another lesson i learned was that its ok to pay defensive free agents if you know what youre getting. They can really help.

 

[percyhoward]

In our recent past, the QB has an off game and we lose.

Forget "off game." We're barely above .500 when our QB has a season-best type game.

W-L when QB's game rating >140, since 2010
(min 14 att)
Tony Romo: 4-3
rest of league: 94-0

 

[Redball Express]

If our defense holds opposing offenses to 17-21 points a game, we will win 10-12 games.

Problem is they will allow 35-45 a game.

That's what it's about in Denver. The defense will allow their offense to score few points a week and still be a super bowl contender.

The altitude is clearly a problem.

Carolina looked gassed in the second half.

So that helps a rookie QB decidedly.

Our defense is going to be hammered.

Running the ball and keeping the defense off the field will be imparative.

Don't think we can do that.

We don'the have the players.

Our seasson's success was based on Romo returning and Dez and them picking up where they left off in 2014 plus adding Zeke.

Now..we are left to an experiment.

 

[Don Corleone]

The lesson I learned is that Josh Norman is overrated.

 

[BAT]

Denver's young QB, and commercial real estate's loss, Trevor Siemian made his debut against the best D in the NFC last season and they sure look like they haven't weakened.

While they did run the ball, and well, to help their QB who had played one down as a pro, a kneel down, they also asked him to play the position. He made his mistakes but Kubiak kept putting it on him to make plays and as Dungy said in the pregame "can't play it safe with that position".

I hope our guys were watching the involvement of the entire team with their new QB who had also rallied around him at practice. And when he made mistakes, they didn't back off in their support.

Those complaints about Romo allowed to get roughed up by the refs, take a look at what they allowed to happen to Newton. And this league is concerned about CTE? If I were him, I'd already have my lawyer filing a lawsuit against the league.

But what was the best lesson to take away from that game last night, except that we should have hired Gary Kubiak?

The lesson is not for us because most of us already know. I hope Booger & Son watched that game and got a grasp on how good teams are built and just how important the D is, especially when you're starting a young QB. Booger is a "follow the ball" GM and Son is no better. Maybe they watch this game on Sunday a little differently and see that they've failed to help their young QB as Denver did and Elway is a former QB for cryin' out loud and he knows, why don't they?

I am not wishing for a loss but one, because of our lack of defense, would surely be a good lesson. We've had this gaping wound in this team for too long and been putting Band-Aids on it.

What I took from that game and Denver's entire last season including the championship trophy was that Jerry should of hired Wade Phillips rather than Kubiak. That D carries that Broncos team and absolutely dominates the opposition.

Wait, anyone else feeling deja vu?

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

Yeah, what I'm scared of is the lesson is "go for the head," and I have little doubt our opponents (esp. division foes) are very incentivized to try to take Dak out.

I know some people do not like Cam Newton, but that was ridiculous for football in the current day. If that was Brees or Brady there would have been ejections.

 

[KJJ]

We learned in the Carolina/Denver game that a QB can have a bad game and you can still win if you can run the ball and have a defense/pass rush. Siemian had 2 INT's, only one TD with a passer rating of 69.1. The Cowboys would never win a game with stats like that from their QB.