The surprise "make the team, etc.." thread

[jamesdojr]

Who is the biggest surprise to make the team?
Cole Beasley

Who is the biggest surprise to start?
Ron Leary

Who is the biggest surprise to be a pseudo starter (i.e. 3rd WR, 2nd TE, slot CB, P and K returners, etc..)?
Danny Coale is gonna get it done as #3 WR

Surprise contributor:
Andre Holmes will snag 5 TDs this season

Who is the biggest surprise to make the team?
I'll go with Teddy Williams.

Who is the biggest surprise to start?
I'll go with Kowalski at Center.

Who is the biggest surprise to be a pseudo starter (i.e. 3rd WR, 2nd TE, slot CB, P and K returners, etc..)?
I'll go with Danny Coale as a returner.

Surprise contributor:
Not really the 2nd TE, but I'll go with Jermey Parnell as the blocking TE. My 2nd choice would be Geathers.

 

[Zaxor]

Who is the biggest surprise to make the team?

Isaac Madison

I think this could be the guy.

yup I have heard he looks really good

 

[CCBoy]

Does anyone feel that the Cowboy's own 'Cruz' could be none other than Radway?

 

[Risen Star]

Does anyone feel that the Cowboy's own 'Cruz' could be none other than Radway?

Not really, no.

 

[Hostile]

BTW, McBriar's wife Erin tweeted that Matt started kicking again today!

Yeah, I knew he was about to start kicking again. There was an article or blog about it that got posted last week and I was relieved to see that Dallas was monitoring him.

 

[Risen Star]

I called Isaac Madison in another thread. Keep your hands off my man.

I'd like to give an honorable mention to Eddie Whitley. He may get caught up in a numbers game in Dallas but he was an UDFA I thought would make a team when the draft ended.

Levy Adcock inside at G is another good one to watch. But I don't know if the team carries two UDFA Gs on the roster. It's probably wishful thinking.

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

Surprise Contributer: Lissemore. I don't have him as a Surprise Starter because I think many of us expect him to start. He's a Surprise Contributer, in my books, because I think many will be surprised by what a difference maker he will be. I could get flamed for saying this, but I think he's got a real chance of being another Ratliff, in terms of effectiveness.

 

[Wimbo]

+1 on Cole Beasley making the team. That young man is a freak in a small shell. By year 2-3 he should be a regular part of the offense.

 

[SlimBig]

Who is the biggest surprise to make the team?
Isaac Madison

Who is the biggest surprise to start?
Matt Johnson

Who is the biggest surprise to be a pseudo starter (i.e. 3rd WR, 2nd TE, slot CB, P and K returners, etc..)?
Andre Holmes

Surprise contributor:
Andre Hamilton. I can see him having 7 surprise sacks.

 

[gimmesix]

Surprise contributor:
Andre Hamilton. I can see him having 7 surprise sacks.

That would be a surprise.

 

[xwalker]

I called Isaac Madison in another thread. Keep your hands off my man.

I'd like to give an honorable mention to Eddie Whitley. He may get caught up in a numbers game in Dallas but he was an UDFA I thought would make a team when the draft ended.

Levy Adcock inside at G is another good one to watch. But I don't know if the team carries two UDFA Gs on the roster. It's probably wishful thinking.

Does anyone know if Adcock was at OG or OT in the OTAs?

 

[D29Murray]

Surprise to make the team: Rudy Carpenter.

McGee should be gone this season.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

We've seen it with Romo, Austin, Ratliff and guys like Lissemore who made me raise my eyebrows a few times last year. I think we may have an emerging talent there. In terms of players currently on our squad, who do you think has a break out year and establishes themselves a star?

I think Brodney Pool has a surprising year. I see something in him and I don't see why a lot of people aren't happier to have him. He's better than Elam, imo.

I really hope I'm right. Some parts of me thinks I am.

I also think he is better because he won't have a lot of pressure on him since we can obviously man up on almost any team now.

 

[Afigueroa22]

I'm going to say one of the O-linemen. Whoever is starting in the interior, we will see improvement.

 

[rkell87]

leary

 

[couchscout]

Almost Anthony Spencer

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

Almost Anthony Spencer

He's my most underrate player. The guy gets a lot of stops (behind the line of scrimmage). OK, so he's not Ware, but I do think he improves from what I see as a very dominant defense.

 

[CowboyMike]

Almost Anthony Spencer

Question on something I've been thinking about: Is Spencer's lack of sacks due to his personal play? Or is it more due to scheme and what he is asked to do?

How does he go from being nearly dominant towards the end of 2009 and back to his regular self after that?

Is it that extra second of coverage we've been missing to give him that one extra second he needs to get to the quarterback? Is it something deeper than that?

I'm a fan of Spencer, I just wonder what contributes to his average amount of sacks.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

Question on something I've been thinking about: Is Spencer's lack of sacks due to his personal play? Or is it more due to scheme and what he is asked to do?

How does he go from being nearly dominant towards the end of 2009 and back to his regular self after that?

Is it that extra second of coverage we've been missing to give him that one extra second he needs to get to the quarterback? Is it something deeper than that?

I'm a fan of Spencer, I just wonder what contributes to his average amount of sacks.

Stops behind the line. He has more stops than Ware, I believe. If not, he's up there.

 

[couchscout]

Question on something I've been thinking about: Is Spencer's lack of sacks due to his personal play? Or is it more due to scheme and what he is asked to do?

How does he go from being nearly dominant towards the end of 2009 and back to his regular self after that?

Is it that extra second of coverage we've been missing to give him that one extra second he needs to get to the quarterback? Is it something deeper than that?

I'm a fan of Spencer, I just wonder what contributes to his average amount of sacks.

It's a lot of things, I think the biggest thing has been secondary personnel, particularly the CB play. At least that was the problem last year. Rob Ryan needs pure man coverage, bump and run or press bail corners for his scheme to really work. I think this year, we as fans are gonna see more free runners at the opposing QB than we've seen in a very very long time. It might not always translate into sacks, but I'm willing to bet there won't be many complaints around here about "pass rush" or "pressure".

Spencer is a guy who can make plays, as Salty says, he's not Ware. He'll never be Ware, but he can be Woodley with a little help from the secondary. I have no doubt he rack up about 11 sacks and all the hurries and knockdowns that come along with it as long as the CBs spend all season harassing WRs.

As for that 2009 season, I think the biggest thing was those last 4-5 games, we either faced teams that didn't have elite WR's, or teams that only had speed at WR (Philly 3 times). Jenkins and Newman were good enough to shut down the mediocre WRs, and fast enough to stay with Jackson/Macklin, allowing the front 7, Spencer in particular to really get after the QB. Once we faced Minnesota, they had Rice and Harvin, with Favre throwing the ball, and that entire house of cards defense crumbled. Now, that's my theory, and there is not a ton of film study backing that up, it's mostly what I remember thinking as it was all happening.

Anyway, my main point is that "Almost" didn't get his name for nothing, he was fractions of seconds late SOOO many times the past few seasons, I gotta believe that with improved CB play, those fractions disappear and we're talking about how much we have to pay Anthony to keep him around next season.