Crown Royal
Insulin Beware
- Messages
- 14,229
- Reaction score
- 6,383
Hello - I actually got to go to the game, which means I missed things you saw on TV but saw things you missed on TV as well.
The Good:
1) Defense looked stout. They got slashed by the run early, but hunkered down after that. I was surprised to see that a) Peterson only got 59 yards or something (seemed like more) and b) they left peterson when they had great field position in the fourth and were only 10 down. That was stupid of them.
2) Witten - he just catches passes and gets open. Even when he isn't open, he catches them (which is kind of a problem that he gets thrown to in those situations)
3) The crowd on big plays - man it got loud in there when the Minny offense was in their endzone. I was shocked we didn't get a safety. Also during the kick block.
4) Romo's efficiency - He did better than I thought after the stats line, very efficient and safe yesterday, but he has some for below too.
5) I saved the best for last - I owe an apology to Bradie James. In 2005 I felt that we, the media, and the coaches even overrated his play. I thought that he had major weaknesses in his game,namely going backward in passing plays. I still think that. We all know he was abhorrent last year. But man is he playing quality football right now. I think this is because Wade did what we all assumed - our nickel package is often Burnett and Carp, or Burnett and Ayodele. Even if James happens to be on a passing down, he is never playing a deep zone. And on running plays, boy does he play well. I have no problem stating that he is night and day more effective this year, and kudos to both him and the coaches for setting him up to succeed.
The Bad -
1) The offensive line played a poor game. They didn't run block well. I know that this is the best team at stopping the run, but the OL is supposed to be dominant on this team, and they looked as bad at running blocking in the first 3 quarters as they have all year. They just get no interior push. You'll note that even when Barber starts running well later in the game, it is usually off tackle, never a dive or between guard and center or guard and tackle. we get no holes in the interior, and that's going to be a problem.
2) Romo checking down - He was accused of checking down too little against buffallo, but he did it a bit much yesterday. Maybe not checking down, but he quick reads his primary, usually to, then checks down to Witten . If witten is open (sometimes even if he isn't) he throws to Witten. If he is covered, it is almost always going to a back. This is moderately effective, but it presents a problem - if Crayton and Hurd aren't designed as the 1st or 2nd read, they got no consideration from Romo. In all honesty, and I don't know why, he mostly only read one side of the field. I say this because at least twice Hurd was open down field for what would have been a long play, but Romo never looked to that side of the field. In fact, Romo tends not to look for sideline passes as much as those in front of him. I don't know if this is something that happens in every game, because I wouldn't be able to tell on TV, but it was noticeable live in the game. Even crayton was open several times but never got read.
3) Julius Jones. The problem is that Jones is actually more of an inside runner than barber, who prefers to get outside of the tackle and take on the DB. Jones can do the same but he doesn't have the vision to make the outside cut. And our line, like I stated, doesn't produce inside holes for whatever reason (honestly, I think they are just too big). Anyway, Jones would be much more effective in Denver - Zone blocking scheme.
4) Brad Childress - He was doing fine up until about 12 min in the game when he decided to get away from the run game and ask Jackson to throw it. They were around the 50 and it was a 2 posession game, they needed a field goal to get within a td, and the running game was relatively successful. Why not keep playing your game?
There is plenty more I could talk about - Ellis was dominant going forward and silly going backward, but that's a coaching mistake more than it is on him. Canty looked really really good, as did Hatcher. Roy looked good in that you didn't see his name too often. I am SICK of the soft zone - it is a big reason we give up third and long a lot.
All inall, it was a boring game, but we won, so effective.
The Good:
1) Defense looked stout. They got slashed by the run early, but hunkered down after that. I was surprised to see that a) Peterson only got 59 yards or something (seemed like more) and b) they left peterson when they had great field position in the fourth and were only 10 down. That was stupid of them.
2) Witten - he just catches passes and gets open. Even when he isn't open, he catches them (which is kind of a problem that he gets thrown to in those situations)
3) The crowd on big plays - man it got loud in there when the Minny offense was in their endzone. I was shocked we didn't get a safety. Also during the kick block.
4) Romo's efficiency - He did better than I thought after the stats line, very efficient and safe yesterday, but he has some for below too.
5) I saved the best for last - I owe an apology to Bradie James. In 2005 I felt that we, the media, and the coaches even overrated his play. I thought that he had major weaknesses in his game,namely going backward in passing plays. I still think that. We all know he was abhorrent last year. But man is he playing quality football right now. I think this is because Wade did what we all assumed - our nickel package is often Burnett and Carp, or Burnett and Ayodele. Even if James happens to be on a passing down, he is never playing a deep zone. And on running plays, boy does he play well. I have no problem stating that he is night and day more effective this year, and kudos to both him and the coaches for setting him up to succeed.
The Bad -
1) The offensive line played a poor game. They didn't run block well. I know that this is the best team at stopping the run, but the OL is supposed to be dominant on this team, and they looked as bad at running blocking in the first 3 quarters as they have all year. They just get no interior push. You'll note that even when Barber starts running well later in the game, it is usually off tackle, never a dive or between guard and center or guard and tackle. we get no holes in the interior, and that's going to be a problem.
2) Romo checking down - He was accused of checking down too little against buffallo, but he did it a bit much yesterday. Maybe not checking down, but he quick reads his primary, usually to, then checks down to Witten . If witten is open (sometimes even if he isn't) he throws to Witten. If he is covered, it is almost always going to a back. This is moderately effective, but it presents a problem - if Crayton and Hurd aren't designed as the 1st or 2nd read, they got no consideration from Romo. In all honesty, and I don't know why, he mostly only read one side of the field. I say this because at least twice Hurd was open down field for what would have been a long play, but Romo never looked to that side of the field. In fact, Romo tends not to look for sideline passes as much as those in front of him. I don't know if this is something that happens in every game, because I wouldn't be able to tell on TV, but it was noticeable live in the game. Even crayton was open several times but never got read.
3) Julius Jones. The problem is that Jones is actually more of an inside runner than barber, who prefers to get outside of the tackle and take on the DB. Jones can do the same but he doesn't have the vision to make the outside cut. And our line, like I stated, doesn't produce inside holes for whatever reason (honestly, I think they are just too big). Anyway, Jones would be much more effective in Denver - Zone blocking scheme.
4) Brad Childress - He was doing fine up until about 12 min in the game when he decided to get away from the run game and ask Jackson to throw it. They were around the 50 and it was a 2 posession game, they needed a field goal to get within a td, and the running game was relatively successful. Why not keep playing your game?
There is plenty more I could talk about - Ellis was dominant going forward and silly going backward, but that's a coaching mistake more than it is on him. Canty looked really really good, as did Hatcher. Roy looked good in that you didn't see his name too often. I am SICK of the soft zone - it is a big reason we give up third and long a lot.
All inall, it was a boring game, but we won, so effective.
