thoughts after re-watching the game

[dbair1967]

Got to sit on the couch and watch it on Tivo, some of what I posted last night still holds, but I did see some other things

1) despite what some claim, Bledsoe did not receive the best pass protection...in fact it was probably the worst...by my count he dropped back 10 times and got off 2 or 3 balls clean...all the others he was other hit or rushed hard...I think as long as he gets solid (read, very good) pass protection he would be fine...otherwise....

2) Romo had by far the best pass protection, was sacked only once and was rarely hurried on his other throws...he got basically everything off clean...he made two poor throws...one on the long ball to Crayton in the endzone (ball whobbled and hung, Crayton appeared to have Rolle beat) and the other on an in route that he threw right to the Arizona DB...the ball that was nearly picked just didnt have the velocity it needed to beat the DB...still, Romo is much improved over the past two seasons

3) Henson either had the worst protection or just slightly better than Bledsoe's...Henson did do the right thing and throw the ball away on most of the hard rushes and made a few really outstanding throws...the ball that I thought was his worst pass last night appeares to be a throw away after seeing it today (kinda whobbly ball that soared out of bounds with nobody open)...by the way, if not for Peterman's penalty on Cundiff's fg, they would have scored all 3 times they had the ball with Henson in the game (granted it would have been all fg's, but its progress)

4) I think DeMarcus Ware did pretty good...he had several real QB hurries, one deflected ball (that the Zona RB caught for a short gain) and was surprisingly good in coverage when he had to do that...also was blatantly held on one play that might have resulted in a sack, and was very close to sacks on two other plays I saw

5) add Kenyon Coleman to the good list too...solid vs the run and made a couple decent rushes on the QB

6) nothing changed in my thoughts on Tucker or Vollers...both were just horrendous...Tarullo is bad and shouldnt have any shot to make the team, and Al Johnson is not improved from last yr...I wont say he stinks, but he has not improved...he got blown up on a couple plays I saw by backup Card DL's...people probably dont want to hear this, but I think Gurode is 1st team because Johnson isnt as good at C right now as Gurode is....Gurode wasnt great and did have one holding call, but otherwise wasnt bad and didnt get driven back into the backfield on numerous plays

7) Newman, Henry and Glenn are going to be a very good CB trio...VERY good, their coverage was outstanding

8) Bradie James and Ryan Fowler look like they are tailor made for ILB in this 3-4 defense...both made a number of good hits and stuffs vs the run

9) if Peterman eliminates the penalties he has a chance to be a very good LG or RG

10) I think the starting RT and FS will be acquired via free agency or trade pretty soon...they arnt on this team IMO

David

 

[TheSkaven]

Good observations, I agree with just about everything that you said. The people here trashing Bledsoe fail to recognize that Julius Jones ran for 10 yards on 6 carries with two tackles in the backfield. Bledsoe was getting hit before he even planted his foot.

Think maybe #1 and #2 are related? Petitte looked absolutely dreadful - probably should be expected for a rook. Maybe Rogers solidified that second tier line?

 

[Hollywood Henderson]

Yep,
I think both James & Fowler are going to be putting the hurts on a lot of offensive players this year!

 

[Champsheart]

Got to sit on the couch and watch it on Tivo, some of what I posted last night still holds, but I did see some other things

1) despite what some claim, Bledsoe did not receive the best pass protection...in fact it was probably the worst...by my count he dropped back 10 times and got off 2 or 3 balls clean...all the others he was other hit or rushed hard...I think as long as he gets solid (read, very good) pass protection he would be fine...otherwise....

2) Romo had by far the best pass protection, was sacked only once and was rarely hurried on his other throws...he got basically everything off clean...he made two poor throws...one on the long ball to Crayton in the endzone (ball whobbled and hung, Crayton appeared to have Rolle beat) and the other on an in route that he threw right to the Arizona DB...the ball that was nearly picked just didnt have the velocity it needed to beat the DB...still, Romo is much improved over the past two seasons

3) Henson either had the worst protection or just slightly better than Bledsoe's...Henson did do the right thing and throw the ball away on most of the hard rushes and made a few really outstanding throws...the ball that I thought was his worst pass last night appeares to be a throw away after seeing it today (kinda whobbly ball that soared out of bounds with nobody open)...by the way, if not for Peterman's penalty on Cundiff's fg, they would have scored all 3 times they had the ball with Henson in the game (granted it would have been all fg's, but its progress)

4) I think DeMarcus Ware did pretty good...he had several real QB hurries, one deflected ball (that the Zona RB caught for a short gain) and was surprisingly good in coverage when he had to do that...also was blatantly held on one play that might have resulted in a sack, and was very close to sacks on two other plays I saw

5) add Kenyon Coleman to the good list too...solid vs the run and made a couple decent rushes on the QB

6) nothing changed in my thoughts on Tucker or Vollers...both were just horrendous...Tarullo is bad and shouldnt have any shot to make the team, and Al Johnson is not improved from last yr...I wont say he stinks, but he has not improved...he got blown up on a couple plays I saw by backup Card DL's...people probably dont want to hear this, but I think Gurode is 1st team because Johnson isnt as good at C right now as Gurode is....Gurode wasnt great and did have one holding call, but otherwise wasnt bad and didnt get driven back into the backfield on numerous plays

7) Newman, Henry and Glenn are going to be a very good CB trio...VERY good, their coverage was outstanding

8) Bradie James and Ryan Fowler look like they are tailor made for ILB in this 3-4 defense...both made a number of good hits and stuffs vs the run

9) if Peterman eliminates the penalties he has a chance to be a very good LG or RG

10) I think the starting RT and FS will be acquired via free agency or trade pretty soon...they arnt on this team IMO

David

Really good post, and i really agree with all of it, especially the part about Peterman.

I really liked what I saw from Bradie James as well, and I also thought Kalen Thornton played very well.

 

[Billy Bullocks]

I agree with most of this too. Ill judgement for until at least after the next pre season game. But yeh, if FS candidates and RT candidates are still not doing anything, I agree, get someone else in here

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

Nice analysis, David. Nice to see that, with some an opportunity to reflect and review the game, you found some bright spots.

 

[dargonking999]

good anyalysis i jsut can wait for next monday when i get to see them play with my own two eyes.

 

[jimmy40]

Got to sit on the couch and watch it on Tivo, some of what I posted last night still holds, but I did see some other things

1) despite what some claim, Bledsoe did not receive the best pass protection...in fact it was probably the worst...by my count he dropped back 10 times and got off 2 or 3 balls clean...all the others he was other hit or rushed hard...I think as long as he gets solid (read, very good) pass protection he would be fine...otherwise....

2) Romo had by far the best pass protection, was sacked only once and was rarely hurried on his other throws...he got basically everything off clean...he made two poor throws...one on the long ball to Crayton in the endzone (ball whobbled and hung, Crayton appeared to have Rolle beat) and the other on an in route that he threw right to the Arizona DB...the ball that was nearly picked just didnt have the velocity it needed to beat the DB...still, Romo is much improved over the past two seasons

3) Henson either had the worst protection or just slightly better than Bledsoe's...Henson did do the right thing and throw the ball away on most of the hard rushes and made a few really outstanding throws...the ball that I thought was his worst pass last night appeares to be a throw away after seeing it today (kinda whobbly ball that soared out of bounds with nobody open)...by the way, if not for Peterman's penalty on Cundiff's fg, they would have scored all 3 times they had the ball with Henson in the game (granted it would have been all fg's, but its progress)

4) I think DeMarcus Ware did pretty good...he had several real QB hurries, one deflected ball (that the Zona RB caught for a short gain) and was surprisingly good in coverage when he had to do that...also was blatantly held on one play that might have resulted in a sack, and was very close to sacks on two other plays I saw

5) add Kenyon Coleman to the good list too...solid vs the run and made a couple decent rushes on the QB

6) nothing changed in my thoughts on Tucker or Vollers...both were just horrendous...Tarullo is bad and shouldnt have any shot to make the team, and Al Johnson is not improved from last yr...I wont say he stinks, but he has not improved...he got blown up on a couple plays I saw by backup Card DL's...people probably dont want to hear this, but I think Gurode is 1st team because Johnson isnt as good at C right now as Gurode is....Gurode wasnt great and did have one holding call, but otherwise wasnt bad and didnt get driven back into the backfield on numerous plays

7) Newman, Henry and Glenn are going to be a very good CB trio...VERY good, their coverage was outstanding

8) Bradie James and Ryan Fowler look like they are tailor made for ILB in this 3-4 defense...both made a number of good hits and stuffs vs the run

9) if Peterman eliminates the penalties he has a chance to be a very good LG or RG

10) I think the starting RT and FS will be acquired via free agency or trade pretty soon...they arnt on this team IMO

David

I got death threats last year for saying Al Johnson gets blown up alot. The guy just ain't that good.

 

[ctalker]

Nice write up..That's pretty much the same game I saw.

 

[AsthmaField]

Nice job David.

I think Brady James is going to be a star in this defense. He's so strong, he just blows people up. Once he gets even more comfortable with this D he's going to be playing "lights out". As it was, he seemed to be all over the field.

Also, once we get into the regular season and start blitzing, James should be very good at that as well.

 

[RCowboyFan]

Got to sit on the couch and watch it on Tivo, some of what I posted last night still holds, but I did see some other things

1) despite what some claim, Bledsoe did not receive the best pass protection...in fact it was probably the worst...by my count he dropped back 10 times and got off 2 or 3 balls clean...all the others he was other hit or rushed hard...I think as long as he gets solid (read, very good) pass protection he would be fine...otherwise....

I agree that he didn't recieve the best protection, but I think I will count at least one sack on him. I.e. his Pat-pat-pat thing.

And you are right, most of us know anyway, that he needs real wall of china in front of him to be good or effective. Nothing revealing there. And I for one, would rather have start the season, since I do agree, Either Romo or Henson, need more time.

Although like someone else said, I probably can only take Bledsoe's Pat-Pat-Pat thing so much. BP better get on Bledsoe's rear about that.

 

[Duane]

Good stuff David. I have to admit I loved what I saw from Henry last night and Newman was very solid in coverage.

 

[JackMagist]

Good observations, I agree with just about everything that you said. The people here trashing Bledsoe fail to recognize that Julius Jones ran for 10 yards on 6 carries with two tackles in the backfield. Bledsoe was getting hit before he even planted his foot.

Think maybe #1 and #2 are related? Petitte looked absolutely dreadful - probably should be expected for a rook. Maybe Rogers solidified that second tier line?

Considering that Pettiti had only had about 3 days practice at RT and is a rookie I thought he did really well. He made a couple of mistakes but was much better than I actually expected.

Somehow since Rogers was only in for about 3 plays before getting injured I don't think he solidified anything. Or were you being sarcastic?

 

[ratpower]

Yep,
I think both James & Fowler are going to be putting the hurts on a lot of offensive players this year!

Fowler seems to be for real...if he doesn't make mental errors the guy is one of our few LB's that looks the part...and he hits people....

Our LB's are one of the bigger weaknesses right now....hopefully they will get more comfortable in 3-4 and improve...we'll see in the next few weeks.

 

[Chief]

I got death threats last year for saying Al Johnson gets blown up alot. The guy just ain't that good.

I made the mistake last season of saying Johnson looked average. I'm not saying he was bad, but out of all the centers in the league, he is probably in the middle of the pack ... not that bad for a young guy.

But you would have thought I completely wrote the guy off from the responses I got. He has quite a following.

 

[Rack]

Just watching some of Calico's video highlights ( I also watched the game last night and I'll be watching the replay) I noticed that two of the sacks/pressure (1 sack, 1 pressure) was all Drew's fault. He actually had good protection, but by stepping up into the pocket he stepped right into the pressure/sack. ONe of them was the Berry sack "Given up" by Flozell. The cards ran a line stunt (looped one DT over the other DT), but the OL picked it up well. Drew stepped up too far, right into Berry. If he just stands there he has all day to throw.


A QB is supposed to step up in the pocket, but he's not supposed to KEEP stepping up (and patting the ball... my god that is annoying).

I still think the OL stunk, but Drew didn't help himself much either. He needs to step up when necessary, not all the time. If there's no need to step up, don't step up. And just cuz you stepped up doesn't mean you have to keep stepping up. Step up 1 or 2 steps and throw the ball or stop and find someone to throw it to.


Something tells me we can have good pass protection but we're still gonna give up a lot of pressures/sacks because of Bledsoe himself.



Edit: Also, and this is just from watching the video highlights, one reason Romo didn't get as much pressure is cuz he got rid of the ball quicker. Now, that's compared to the pressure Bledsoe got. I can't compare to the pressure Henson got cuz I haven't watched all the highlight vids yet. I'll pay close attention to that part when I watch the replay. But there's no doubt Romo was getting the ball out of his hand quicker then Bledsoe was.

 

[dbair1967]

Just watching some of Calico's video highlights ( I also watched the game last night and I'll be watching the replay) I noticed that two of the sacks/pressure (1 sack, 1 pressure) was all Drew's fault. He actually had good protection, but by stepping up into the pocket he stepped right into the pressure/sack. ONe of them was the Berry sack "Given up" by Flozell. The cards ran a line stunt (looped one DT over the other DT), but the OL picked it up well. Drew stepped up too far, right into Berry. If he just stands there he has all day to throw.


A QB is supposed to step up in the pocket, but he's not supposed to KEEP stepping up (and patting the ball... my god that is annoying).

I still think the OL stunk, but Drew didn't help himself much either. He needs to step up when necessary, not all the time. If there's no need to step up, don't step up. And just cuz you stepped up doesn't mean you have to keep stepping up. Step up 1 or 2 steps and throw the ball or stop and find someone to throw it to.


Something tells me we can have good pass protection but we're still gonna give up a lot of pressures/sacks because of Bledsoe himself.



Edit: Also, and this is just from watching the video highlights, one reason Romo didn't get as much pressure is cuz he got rid of the ball quicker. Now, that's compared to the pressure Bledsoe got. I can't compare to the pressure Henson got cuz I haven't watched all the highlight vids yet. I'll pay close attention to that part when I watch the replay. But there's no doubt Romo was getting the ball out of his hand quicker then Bledsoe was.

I think you are right about Berry's sack, people went ape bashing Flozelle Adams but its the only play I saw Berry make while he was in the game, and as you mention Bledsoe had time to do something with the ball...perhaps nobody was open, but if 2nd yr player Drew Henson can throw away 3 or 4 balls to avoid sacks, Bledsoe the 12 yrs veteran should be able to as well

and you are correct noting that Romo seemed to get rid of the ball quicker

David

 

[CrazyCowboy]

You hit a homerun David.....nice job!

 

[Rack]

I think you are right about Berry's sack, people went ape bashing Flozelle Adams but its the only play I saw Berry make while he was in the game, and as you mention Bledsoe had time to do something with the ball...perhaps nobody was open, but if 2nd yr player Drew Henson can throw away 3 or 4 balls to avoid sacks, Bledsoe the 12 yrs veteran should be able to as well

and you are correct noting that Romo seemed to get rid of the ball quicker

David

Exactly! Did he even throw one single pass away? I saw Henson throw some away, and maybe even Romo, but our starting QB is the only one that doesn't know how to do this? Or screw throwing it away, at least get the ball out of your hands on time. It's like he doesn't trust what he's looking at (the defense) so it's making him hesitate. I say let Romo and Henson battle it out for the starting job, I'm almost 100% positive either one of them would give us a better chance to win then Bledsack.