Wulfman
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The Wulf Den: And Then There Were 53
September 5, 2009
With the preseason now behind them, the Cowboys have some difficult decisions to make. They wanted to see some of their bubble players step up and distinguish themselves in the preseason finale against the Minnesota Vikings on Friday night. Some did. Some didn’t. The problem is that not enough of them did to make all of the roster decisions easy.
Of course, there were the obvious few who solidified their chances of being Cowboys on Sunday…people like S Pat Watkins, WR Kevin Ogletree, and maybe even LB Steve Octavien. These guys made big plays in a game where they had to step up, and I’ll be somewhat surprised if any of the three of them doesn’t make the roster.
There were others who played well enough that you don’t think less of them, although they didn’t really stand out in a positive way either. Among them was C Duke Preston, who played three quarters and was fairly solid aside from the one botched exchange with QB Jon Kitna. And at this point, I’m beginning to wonder if Kitna isn’t at least a part of the problem, since the problem has only been with him and whichever back-up C he’s been operating with at the time. Another was veteran LB Matt Stewart, an afterthought for many until the injuries to rookie LBs Jason Williams and Stephen Hodge gave him more playing time. He’s not going to challenge anyone for a starting spot, but it appeared he was at least where he was supposed to be, and we know he is very familiar with the system. And I’ll throw interior O-linemen Montrae Holland and Cory Procter in this group as well. Neither of them really showed anything other than what we’ve previously seen from them: Holland is solid in straight ahead blocking, if not the most nimble, and Procter gets pushed into the backfield more often than not. Another guy in this group is back-up NT Junior Siavii. He plugs the middle with size and is solid, if unspectacular. As long as his task is to give Ratliff a breather here and there, though, he should be good enough to get the job done.
And then there were a few folks who I think will still make the roster, but who didn’t exactly help themselves on Friday night. OTs Doug Free and Pat McQuistan both made huge mistakes that lead to a big play for the opposing defense, with McQuistan’s error leading to a fumble by Kitna (recovered by Free) and Free’s leading to an INT that was nearly returned for a touchdown. And in neither case can I say that Kitna was careless with the ball…he just didn’t have the time he should have had because the OT got beat. There isn’t anyone better currently on the roster to take the place of either of these guys, and I expect the Cowboys to keep four OTs on the roster. But if Robert Brewster should somehow be ready to come off of PUP after week six—or within a month or so of being ready—these guys better brace themselves. And if a better player gets released by another team, don’t be surprised to see a change even earlier. I will also add either DB DeAngelo Smith OR CB Mike Mickens to this group, since I think at least one of them will make the roster. Both of them showed exactly what you’d expect from a rookie taken late in the draft—flashes of solid play that show some potential combined with head-scratching misplays that make you wonder how they got drafted at all. That’s essentially what we’ve seen up to this point in camp, and nothing changed on Friday night.
Lastly, there were the players who had to show something significant in this game, in my opinion, to have a chance at the roster. One was WR Isaiah Stanback, and I’m sorry, but I just didn’t see enough to force me to keep six receivers on this team. If there is an injury to any of the top four WRs, I want Ogletree active on gameday. If more than one of them gets injured, they’ll play more two-TE sets to cover until they get healthy or go get someone off of the practice squad or free agency. And let’s be honest, his return ability doesn’t look to be enough to get him on the field either. He is a good athlete whose ability simply doesn’t seem to have translated to the NFL as of yet. Unfortunately, the Cowboys can’t afford to wait around anymore. I think the same is true for Courtney Brown. After his major gaffe last week, he really needed to come out and show he had what it takes either on the defense or on special teams. He was in on some tackles, but I saw him trailing on too many pass plays to keep him around.
Closing Thoughts
As I mentioned in my previous article, I went back a few years and borrowed an idea from Bill Parcells. When he was coming up with his roster, Parcells had a 20-20-10-3 breakdown. That meant 20 offensive players that you want to take to the game, 20 defensive players you want to take to the game, three specialists that you want to take to the game, and then ten other guys who would be on the roster, and from whom you could select two to be active on gameday. I made the selections based on their current injury situation, with an eye towards Tampa a week from Sunday.
Here are the 20 offensive players that I selected to be active on gameday, in no particular order:
QB: Tony Romo, Jon Kitna
RB: Marion Barber, Felix Jones, Tashard Choice
FB: Deon Anderson
WR: Roy Williams, Patrick Crayton, Sam Hurd, Miles Austin
TE: Jason Witten, Martellus Bennett, John Phillips
OL: Flozell Adams, Marc Colombo, Kyle Kosier, Leonard Davis, Andre Gurode, Duke Preston, Doug Free
Here are the 20 defensive players that I selected to be active on gameday, in no particular order:
DL: Marcus Spears, Igor Olshansky, Jay Ratliff, Jason Hatcher, Stephen Bowen, Junior Siavii
LB: DeMarcus Ware, Anthony Spencer, Keith Brooking, Bradie James, Bobby Carpenter, Victor Butler, Steve Octavien
CB: Terence Newman, Mike Jenkins, Orlando Scandrick, Alan Ball
S: Ken Hamlin, Gerald Sensabaugh, Pat Watkins
And of course, the three specialists would be:
ST: Nick Folk, Mat McBriar, J. P. Ladouceur
This, of course, would leave us two players that could be active on gameday. The Cowboys would love to give one of these two spots to K David Buehler whenever possible, and they likely need to give the other to a back-up at ILB. This would give you enough players to do what needs to be done, cover all of the special teams units, and have a little depth across the board to cover for in-game injuries. That ILB would be Jason Williams, in all likelihood, if he were healthy.
With those two at the top of the list of the remaining players who make the 53-man roster, who fills out the remaining eight spaces? Here are the choices I made, along with a brief reasoning for the selection.
LB: Jason Williams
ST: David Buehler
WR: Kevin Ogletree – Solidified his roster spot with another good showing against the Vikings.
OL: Pat McQuistan, Montrae Holland – The Cowboys need both a G and a OT for depth purposes, and these are the next best two on the roster. Either could be replaced by a free agent pick-up or someone off of waivers from another team.
S: Michael Hamlin – Head Coach Wade Phillips said he’d be able to help them when he came back from injury, and he can’t do that if he’s not on the roster.
QB: Stephen McGee – At this point, I don’t keep McGee on the roster, and use his spot for depth at LB or DB where I have some serious injury concerns. If they decide to do this, he’ll be on IR, as I don’t think they want to risk losing him off of waivers. But I think the Cowboys will bite the bullet and keep him on the roster.
CB: DeAngelo Smith – Assuming DB Alan Ball will be ready to play against Tampa, the Cowboys won’t need to use this much depth on gameday. But if they have to depend on someone to fill in for Ball, who plays both CB and S, Smith is the obvious choice.
LB: Matt Stewart –Jason Williams is going to miss at least the next 4-6 weeks, and someone else has to be able to spell your starters at ILB. With rookie ILB Stephen Hodge expected to be placed on IR, Stewart’s experience and knowledge of the system earn him a spot.
Assuming the roster shakes out this way, though, this leaves one spot available. If the Cowboys had not made any roster moves since I wrote my last article, I’d say the spot goes to CB Mike Mickens. However, when Dallas grabbed DE Curtis Johnson off of waivers from the Indianapolis Colts, they did so with the intention of keeping him and converting him to OLB. They wouldn’t make that move if they didn’t plan to keep him, and don’t expect his injury to hold him back for long. So at this point, he gets the nod. I personally would place McGee on IR as well and keep Mickens, but I’ll be surprised if that’s what the Cowboys do.
If the roster went this way, I think the Cowboys would try to get RB Keon Lattimore, WR Jesse Holley or WR Manuel Johnson, G Ryan Gibbons or G Travis Bright, DL Marcus Dixon, FB Julius Crosslin, TE Scott Chandler, and CB Mike Mickens onto the practice squad (assuming they keep McGee on the roster and not Mickens). That would leave one spot open, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s QB Rudy Carpenter. They’ll need someone to help run the scout team, even if they keep McGee on the roster, until his injury is healed. If they place him on IR, the same is true. Also, realize that these guys have to clear waivers themselves, and are going to have to be better than the guys that get cut by other teams around the league.
Wulfman
Comments? Send a private message to Wulfman on this site.
September 5, 2009
With the preseason now behind them, the Cowboys have some difficult decisions to make. They wanted to see some of their bubble players step up and distinguish themselves in the preseason finale against the Minnesota Vikings on Friday night. Some did. Some didn’t. The problem is that not enough of them did to make all of the roster decisions easy.
Of course, there were the obvious few who solidified their chances of being Cowboys on Sunday…people like S Pat Watkins, WR Kevin Ogletree, and maybe even LB Steve Octavien. These guys made big plays in a game where they had to step up, and I’ll be somewhat surprised if any of the three of them doesn’t make the roster.
There were others who played well enough that you don’t think less of them, although they didn’t really stand out in a positive way either. Among them was C Duke Preston, who played three quarters and was fairly solid aside from the one botched exchange with QB Jon Kitna. And at this point, I’m beginning to wonder if Kitna isn’t at least a part of the problem, since the problem has only been with him and whichever back-up C he’s been operating with at the time. Another was veteran LB Matt Stewart, an afterthought for many until the injuries to rookie LBs Jason Williams and Stephen Hodge gave him more playing time. He’s not going to challenge anyone for a starting spot, but it appeared he was at least where he was supposed to be, and we know he is very familiar with the system. And I’ll throw interior O-linemen Montrae Holland and Cory Procter in this group as well. Neither of them really showed anything other than what we’ve previously seen from them: Holland is solid in straight ahead blocking, if not the most nimble, and Procter gets pushed into the backfield more often than not. Another guy in this group is back-up NT Junior Siavii. He plugs the middle with size and is solid, if unspectacular. As long as his task is to give Ratliff a breather here and there, though, he should be good enough to get the job done.
And then there were a few folks who I think will still make the roster, but who didn’t exactly help themselves on Friday night. OTs Doug Free and Pat McQuistan both made huge mistakes that lead to a big play for the opposing defense, with McQuistan’s error leading to a fumble by Kitna (recovered by Free) and Free’s leading to an INT that was nearly returned for a touchdown. And in neither case can I say that Kitna was careless with the ball…he just didn’t have the time he should have had because the OT got beat. There isn’t anyone better currently on the roster to take the place of either of these guys, and I expect the Cowboys to keep four OTs on the roster. But if Robert Brewster should somehow be ready to come off of PUP after week six—or within a month or so of being ready—these guys better brace themselves. And if a better player gets released by another team, don’t be surprised to see a change even earlier. I will also add either DB DeAngelo Smith OR CB Mike Mickens to this group, since I think at least one of them will make the roster. Both of them showed exactly what you’d expect from a rookie taken late in the draft—flashes of solid play that show some potential combined with head-scratching misplays that make you wonder how they got drafted at all. That’s essentially what we’ve seen up to this point in camp, and nothing changed on Friday night.
Lastly, there were the players who had to show something significant in this game, in my opinion, to have a chance at the roster. One was WR Isaiah Stanback, and I’m sorry, but I just didn’t see enough to force me to keep six receivers on this team. If there is an injury to any of the top four WRs, I want Ogletree active on gameday. If more than one of them gets injured, they’ll play more two-TE sets to cover until they get healthy or go get someone off of the practice squad or free agency. And let’s be honest, his return ability doesn’t look to be enough to get him on the field either. He is a good athlete whose ability simply doesn’t seem to have translated to the NFL as of yet. Unfortunately, the Cowboys can’t afford to wait around anymore. I think the same is true for Courtney Brown. After his major gaffe last week, he really needed to come out and show he had what it takes either on the defense or on special teams. He was in on some tackles, but I saw him trailing on too many pass plays to keep him around.
Closing Thoughts
As I mentioned in my previous article, I went back a few years and borrowed an idea from Bill Parcells. When he was coming up with his roster, Parcells had a 20-20-10-3 breakdown. That meant 20 offensive players that you want to take to the game, 20 defensive players you want to take to the game, three specialists that you want to take to the game, and then ten other guys who would be on the roster, and from whom you could select two to be active on gameday. I made the selections based on their current injury situation, with an eye towards Tampa a week from Sunday.
Here are the 20 offensive players that I selected to be active on gameday, in no particular order:
QB: Tony Romo, Jon Kitna
RB: Marion Barber, Felix Jones, Tashard Choice
FB: Deon Anderson
WR: Roy Williams, Patrick Crayton, Sam Hurd, Miles Austin
TE: Jason Witten, Martellus Bennett, John Phillips
OL: Flozell Adams, Marc Colombo, Kyle Kosier, Leonard Davis, Andre Gurode, Duke Preston, Doug Free
Here are the 20 defensive players that I selected to be active on gameday, in no particular order:
DL: Marcus Spears, Igor Olshansky, Jay Ratliff, Jason Hatcher, Stephen Bowen, Junior Siavii
LB: DeMarcus Ware, Anthony Spencer, Keith Brooking, Bradie James, Bobby Carpenter, Victor Butler, Steve Octavien
CB: Terence Newman, Mike Jenkins, Orlando Scandrick, Alan Ball
S: Ken Hamlin, Gerald Sensabaugh, Pat Watkins
And of course, the three specialists would be:
ST: Nick Folk, Mat McBriar, J. P. Ladouceur
This, of course, would leave us two players that could be active on gameday. The Cowboys would love to give one of these two spots to K David Buehler whenever possible, and they likely need to give the other to a back-up at ILB. This would give you enough players to do what needs to be done, cover all of the special teams units, and have a little depth across the board to cover for in-game injuries. That ILB would be Jason Williams, in all likelihood, if he were healthy.
With those two at the top of the list of the remaining players who make the 53-man roster, who fills out the remaining eight spaces? Here are the choices I made, along with a brief reasoning for the selection.
LB: Jason Williams
ST: David Buehler
WR: Kevin Ogletree – Solidified his roster spot with another good showing against the Vikings.
OL: Pat McQuistan, Montrae Holland – The Cowboys need both a G and a OT for depth purposes, and these are the next best two on the roster. Either could be replaced by a free agent pick-up or someone off of waivers from another team.
S: Michael Hamlin – Head Coach Wade Phillips said he’d be able to help them when he came back from injury, and he can’t do that if he’s not on the roster.
QB: Stephen McGee – At this point, I don’t keep McGee on the roster, and use his spot for depth at LB or DB where I have some serious injury concerns. If they decide to do this, he’ll be on IR, as I don’t think they want to risk losing him off of waivers. But I think the Cowboys will bite the bullet and keep him on the roster.
CB: DeAngelo Smith – Assuming DB Alan Ball will be ready to play against Tampa, the Cowboys won’t need to use this much depth on gameday. But if they have to depend on someone to fill in for Ball, who plays both CB and S, Smith is the obvious choice.
LB: Matt Stewart –Jason Williams is going to miss at least the next 4-6 weeks, and someone else has to be able to spell your starters at ILB. With rookie ILB Stephen Hodge expected to be placed on IR, Stewart’s experience and knowledge of the system earn him a spot.
Assuming the roster shakes out this way, though, this leaves one spot available. If the Cowboys had not made any roster moves since I wrote my last article, I’d say the spot goes to CB Mike Mickens. However, when Dallas grabbed DE Curtis Johnson off of waivers from the Indianapolis Colts, they did so with the intention of keeping him and converting him to OLB. They wouldn’t make that move if they didn’t plan to keep him, and don’t expect his injury to hold him back for long. So at this point, he gets the nod. I personally would place McGee on IR as well and keep Mickens, but I’ll be surprised if that’s what the Cowboys do.
If the roster went this way, I think the Cowboys would try to get RB Keon Lattimore, WR Jesse Holley or WR Manuel Johnson, G Ryan Gibbons or G Travis Bright, DL Marcus Dixon, FB Julius Crosslin, TE Scott Chandler, and CB Mike Mickens onto the practice squad (assuming they keep McGee on the roster and not Mickens). That would leave one spot open, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s QB Rudy Carpenter. They’ll need someone to help run the scout team, even if they keep McGee on the roster, until his injury is healed. If they place him on IR, the same is true. Also, realize that these guys have to clear waivers themselves, and are going to have to be better than the guys that get cut by other teams around the league.
Wulfman
Comments? Send a private message to Wulfman on this site.
