Chuck 54
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When I say the old Cowboys are back, I'm not even talking about the 13-3 Cowboys who won with lots of big offensive plays and a suspect defense and collapsed in December and the playoffs when teams turn to running the ball, stopping the run, and protecting against turnovers and big plays.
Last night the Cowboys, on the road and against a team that has looked very good most of the season, the Boys looked like the old championship teams. I hate to be redundant on everything others have said, but our defense had at least four 3 and outs, totally shut down the Commanders for most of the game after the opening drive, and more to my personal delight, ran the ball down the throats of the Commanders to seal the victory. I love a physical win that features defense and running more than all the big plays the passing game can sometimes produce because that's how teams win championships.
My Personal Highlights
1. I love the new ACE formation with Witten and Bennett in the backfield...when those two guys ran up the middle ahead of MBIII, they opened up some holes, took on the LBs, and allowed the OL to roll the DL out of the way without worrying about getting to the LBs. It was a thing of beauty, and the Skins had no answer for it...I think MBIII was even hard to find behind those two tall players.
Expect to see plenty more of that formation as they can crush the middle, but when a defense stacks inside to match it, you can run outside or off tackle to either side with a TE lead and a TE sealing the backside and picking off any blitzes, not to mention the passing options with either TE circling out against LBs or going in motion....I love it.
2. I've been critical of our fullback, but last night Cricket actually threw some nice blocks...he's not going to remind anyone of a true NFL throwback FB, but he got on the right guys and stayed on them to help the running game.
3. We can praise TNewman and the CBs and be thrilled with the press coverage all we want, but what made it really work was the pressure on the QB, and not our usual fourth quarter, sporadic, garbage pressure...we rushed, pressured, knocked down, and punished Jason Campbell the entire game. Press coverage only works if you bring consistent pressure, which we've been missing, because if you give receivers time to run longer patterns, cross the field, or make double moves, they will get open.
Great job by the maligned guys up front who were in the backfield pressing Campbell all game long...the best pressure I've seen by our team all year as it wasn't just Ware or blitzes by secondary players.
4. Our tackling on defense was much much better than it has been. Keith Davis really fired our defense up in the second half with two huge hits on Portis...Killa might be a liability in the passing game, but he came to play the run last night. Overall, the hitting was hard and punishing...Portis was running extremely hard...I recall one play where he was nailed on the tackle and was still about to pull away when nailed again...hard and dirty, and guys were wrapping up.
My fear was that the Skins would go to the short passing game and count on their quick receivers making us miss a ton of tackles since I'm sure that's what they've seen on film, but we tackled much better in the secondary.
There's plenty more to be thankful for: Romo's return, Bennett's TD catch, Tnew's interception, fourth down breakup, and overall game, Ratliff's sacks, MBIII's hard running, the OL's blocking, a win on the road, but the four above stand out for me.
My Concerns
1. Our punter, who has been consistently short after his first game.
2. Our kickoff coverage team....letting teams get out around the 40 repeatedly and always being one man from a huge return will cost us.
3. We now have 2 "gimme" games that we have to win. Hopefully, if our team has learned anything over the first half of the season, it is that any team can beat any other team any Sunday of the season. We have to come out with the same attitude and consistency against Seattle and SF and lock up those two victories.
There will be fans who will be cautious, and rightfully so, saying it's only one game...this team needs to prove it the rest of the season. I can't argue with that, but I truly believe this team is BACK, ready to get on a roll that will excite all of us. I don't say that because of the win over the Skins alone, but more over the nature of the win, the way we won it. Despite the opening drive by the Skins and the two first half turnovers and the penalties that stopped two second half potential drives, the Dallas Cowboys dominated a good Skins team last night in Washington. The score was close, but we dominated both lines of scrimmage and won with a style that was reminiscent of championship teams. That cannot be denied.
Last night the Cowboys, on the road and against a team that has looked very good most of the season, the Boys looked like the old championship teams. I hate to be redundant on everything others have said, but our defense had at least four 3 and outs, totally shut down the Commanders for most of the game after the opening drive, and more to my personal delight, ran the ball down the throats of the Commanders to seal the victory. I love a physical win that features defense and running more than all the big plays the passing game can sometimes produce because that's how teams win championships.
My Personal Highlights
1. I love the new ACE formation with Witten and Bennett in the backfield...when those two guys ran up the middle ahead of MBIII, they opened up some holes, took on the LBs, and allowed the OL to roll the DL out of the way without worrying about getting to the LBs. It was a thing of beauty, and the Skins had no answer for it...I think MBIII was even hard to find behind those two tall players.
Expect to see plenty more of that formation as they can crush the middle, but when a defense stacks inside to match it, you can run outside or off tackle to either side with a TE lead and a TE sealing the backside and picking off any blitzes, not to mention the passing options with either TE circling out against LBs or going in motion....I love it.
2. I've been critical of our fullback, but last night Cricket actually threw some nice blocks...he's not going to remind anyone of a true NFL throwback FB, but he got on the right guys and stayed on them to help the running game.
3. We can praise TNewman and the CBs and be thrilled with the press coverage all we want, but what made it really work was the pressure on the QB, and not our usual fourth quarter, sporadic, garbage pressure...we rushed, pressured, knocked down, and punished Jason Campbell the entire game. Press coverage only works if you bring consistent pressure, which we've been missing, because if you give receivers time to run longer patterns, cross the field, or make double moves, they will get open.
Great job by the maligned guys up front who were in the backfield pressing Campbell all game long...the best pressure I've seen by our team all year as it wasn't just Ware or blitzes by secondary players.
4. Our tackling on defense was much much better than it has been. Keith Davis really fired our defense up in the second half with two huge hits on Portis...Killa might be a liability in the passing game, but he came to play the run last night. Overall, the hitting was hard and punishing...Portis was running extremely hard...I recall one play where he was nailed on the tackle and was still about to pull away when nailed again...hard and dirty, and guys were wrapping up.
My fear was that the Skins would go to the short passing game and count on their quick receivers making us miss a ton of tackles since I'm sure that's what they've seen on film, but we tackled much better in the secondary.
There's plenty more to be thankful for: Romo's return, Bennett's TD catch, Tnew's interception, fourth down breakup, and overall game, Ratliff's sacks, MBIII's hard running, the OL's blocking, a win on the road, but the four above stand out for me.
My Concerns
1. Our punter, who has been consistently short after his first game.
2. Our kickoff coverage team....letting teams get out around the 40 repeatedly and always being one man from a huge return will cost us.
3. We now have 2 "gimme" games that we have to win. Hopefully, if our team has learned anything over the first half of the season, it is that any team can beat any other team any Sunday of the season. We have to come out with the same attitude and consistency against Seattle and SF and lock up those two victories.
There will be fans who will be cautious, and rightfully so, saying it's only one game...this team needs to prove it the rest of the season. I can't argue with that, but I truly believe this team is BACK, ready to get on a roll that will excite all of us. I don't say that because of the win over the Skins alone, but more over the nature of the win, the way we won it. Despite the opening drive by the Skins and the two first half turnovers and the penalties that stopped two second half potential drives, the Dallas Cowboys dominated a good Skins team last night in Washington. The score was close, but we dominated both lines of scrimmage and won with a style that was reminiscent of championship teams. That cannot be denied.
I agree with every word and what's most important is, if we lay an egg against the seahawks and whiners it will all be for naught.
