Thoughts: Everything not Romo

[YosemiteSam]

- The Cowboys defense didn't get a single sack yesterday on 43 Lion passing attempts. That IMO is the most surprising stat of all. (yes, even more than THAT)

- The Cowboys had a 24 point lead in the 3rd quarter and we still had 47 passing attempts when the game was over. That is a BIG no-no. Run the clock stupid. It's decisions like that, that cause losses to pop out of nowhere.

- It's still early, but Bailey is building my confidence in him. The fact that I've seen him kick it out of the end zone on kickoffs, makes me want to kick Buehler off the team.

- Everyone that was screaming at Newman and saying he sucks and should be cut after giving up that TD to CJ is straight up stupid. Double coverage made up of two Darrell Revis' couldn't have prevented that TD. Bet you guys were screaming to cut that other dude too. Am I right?

- Ndamukong Who? Big props to Costa and company in the middle of our oline.

- Yep, I saw it too. Tyron Smith got pancaked. I'm good with it though. It was a lesson that I know he won't soon forget. Picking him at #9 was an absolute steal. He will be our left tackle next year. No need to wait two years.

- As a whole, the offensive line played well. They still really need to work on the run game though. Push up the middle is something they just can't do. Right now, it seems as the Cowboys must run outside.

- I'm fully on board with the Cowboys going for it on 4th down early on. I just didn't like the play called. I do like that they brought Brent in for the play, but that should have been fully for deceptive purposes.

- The Cowboys stopped going to Bryant. Not sure why. He dominates CBs the same way Calvin Johnson does. He is your best WR on the field and you stop throwing to him? He ended up with three catches and we threw the ball 47 times. How does that happen?

- Once Sensy went out, the Lions passing attack started to come to life. It would have helped if the defensive front could have put more pressure on Stafford. Hope Sensy's concussion isn't too bad. I knew he had one the second he got up and tried to walk off to the Lions bench.

- It seems we *might* be as close to fully healthy as we can be by the time the Pats game gets here. I'm excited to see what type of damage we can do to the Pats defense. That game is most definitely going to be a shootout.

 

[casmith07]

- Everyone that was screaming at Newman and saying he sucks and should be cut after giving up that TD to CJ is straight up stupid. Double coverage made up of two Darrell Revis' couldn't have prevented that TD. Bet you guys were screaming to cut that other dude too. Am I right?

Terence Newman has done a LOT in improving our pass defense the last two weeks. And we're only going to get healthier over the bye with him getting some rest and Scandrick returning.

But I said it as well - you could have double coverage by Revis and Revis-clone and Johnson will win that jump 9 times out of 10, and the 10th pass that he doesn't come down with will be a bad throw by the QB, or a sack.

 

[alancdc]

Totally agree on going for it on the goal line. Clearly we can't run it up the gut there though. Over the top. Play action. Anything else.
Also agree on DEZ. How does he only have a few looks a game? Is he being doubled and that is why Robinson was thrown too so often? Dez flat out makes plays and needs to get the ball more often.
I thought Smith probably was surprised by the bull rush. He is fine.
No sacks or real pressure was an issue. Non bigger than the one TD throw to Johnson where he could have counted to 8 Mississippi!
Patriots game should be fun.
I also thought the o line as a whole played well enough to win that game.

 

[CCBoy]

Good review, SamIAm/NY....


Man, did anyone see those 49'ers? Ooops, we beat them.

 

[JohnsKey19]

Good points. Agree with almost everything.

I was shocked at how little pressure we got on Stafford. They did a lot of quick throws, but there were times that he took 5-7 step drops and no one got to him. I think Butler is the only player to really get to Stafford and he missed the tackle.

Sensabaugh's absence definitely made a difference.


Did anyone ask Tyron what happened on that play? I was shocked at how he got flattened. That's really the first time I've seen anyone physically whip Tyron even in preseason. I'm thinking he was gassed or something. What's even more surprising is that was that player's first NFL sack.

And yes, the OLine deserves a lot of credit. All week we heard about Detroit's front 4 and how they were going to dominate us up front. Didn't happen. So far only the Jets have really been able to get to Romo, and that was largely due to scheme.

 

[ufcrules1]

I will answer the Dez question. The dude is still playing at 60% or so. Now he is still a good receiver at 60%, especially for the shorter end zone passes... but he is probably having issues with his speed. They used him more as a decoy for most of the game which worked out well with Robinson catching a lot of passes.

Our defensive line kinda got pressure on Stafford, but clearly not enough.. and we had zero sacks or tipped balls, etc. Our defensive line has to do a better job than that.. especially when they have a receiver like megatron.

 

[Wimbo]

-
- Once Sensy went out, the Lions passing attack started to come to life. It would have helped if the defensive front could have put more pressure on Stafford. Hope Sensy's concussion isn't too bad. I knew he had one the second he got up and tried to walk off to the Lions bench.

I keyed in on this as well. Big drop off from Sensy to Church. On the hit that took Sensy out, it looked like he took the majority of the blow on his back/shoulder. Hopefully, it is a minor concussion. He is playing very well this year.

 

[ufcrules1]

I too agree going for the 4th and goal. We have to use more trickery though. Running it up the middle against the Lions was a 50/50 chance. Our defense was playing tough at that point and we ended up holding them and getting good field position and I think a TD out of it.

 

[Wimbo]

I think this is just a strength issue. The rookies need time in the off season strength program. They are playing technically sound football, but don't have the strength to manhandle the DL (IMO). Next year should be a different story. I am very encouraged by what we have in our young guys.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

Dez MUST have at least one chance if we are inside the 5 with 1st and goal.

 

[Joe Realist]

Thought you were hanging out in the off topic zone for two weeks....

 

[Wimbo]

Thought you were hanging out in the off topic zone for two weeks....

He is. But, by definition, now the Fan Zone is off topic.

 

[Stautner]

- - The Cowboys had a 24 point lead in the 3rd quarter and we still had 47 passing attempts when the game was over. That is a BIG no-no. Run the clock stupid. It's decisions like that, that cause losses to pop out of nowhere..

This has been repeated on this board several times, and it is an absolutely worhtless stat.

Quoting the total is so misguided its laughable because the majority of those passes went toward building the 24 point lead, not after it was built. Then another several were after we lost the lead.

29 of our passes (62%) went toward building the lead, and 7 more (15%) came after we lost the lead.

We lost the game in a stretch of 25:44 in the 2nd half (43.% of the game), and we only threw 11 passes (23% of our total) during that time frame.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Thought you were hanging out in the off topic zone for two weeks....

For the most part I am. I'm definitely avoiding anything discussing our QB or threads posted by trolls or overly emotional fans who want to lash out by spewing ignorance.

 

[YosemiteSam]

This has been repeated on this board several times, and it is an absolutely worhtless stat.

Quoting the total is so misguided its laughable because the majority of those passes went toward building the 24 point lead, not after it was built. Then another several were after we lost the lead.

29 of our passes (62%) went toward building the lead, and 7 more (15%) came after we lost the lead.

We lost the game in a stretch of 25:44 in the 2nd half (43.% of the game), and we only threw 11 passes (23% of our total) during that time frame.

It would have been much higher had three of that 23% of our total not been interceptions.

Dispute that.