CFZ Thoughts/Opinions about yesterday's win!

[Gambit]

It extended the drive, even though they had multiple chances to get off the field.

It gave them 4th and 2

 

[nhcowboysfan]

I am not going to read too much into this game in terms of evaluating or predicting any future success. I am happy with the win and I choose to concentrate on the positives. It improves our record, our conference record, and we got out without any injuries - that I am aware of. One of the things I was proud of yesterday, was that following the only good drive the Panthers had all day that cut the lead to seven points, the Cowboys responded in a big way by scoring 13 points in like a 15-second span. Once that happened, Carolina was finished. Overall, I thought it was an ugly game. The running game was kind of haphazard - a few big runs mixed in with a lot of not-so-good gains. None of the WRs had a big game - including CeeDee. Yet, despite that, we won by 3 TDs plus!

 

[links18]

I wouldn't bet on that.

With the schedule we have to finish the season maybe not. The Giants and Panthers aren't on the schedule anymore.

 

[VaqueroTD]

Offense

-Carolina played that double shell defense that forced Dak to take what was given, dared them to run the football into light boxes. Running game was very hot and cold, for some reason it appeared that Carolina knew the snap count. Derrick Brown gave this front a lot of trouble, including Zach Martin.
-Thought Dak stayed patient and didn't force the action. When he needed to answer the bell after the Panthers cut the score to 7, he responded with a TD drive.
-Some questionable playcalling, wildcat multiple times???
-Dak and the offense made the Panthers pay for all their stupid penalties before halftime, excellent execution on that 3rd and goal TD to Lamb.
-Thought the Carolina Corner got away with multiple PI's on third downs against Tolbert, arm was around his waist and turned Tolbert to force an incomplete both times.

Defense

-Run Defense is extremely poor in my opinion, this was the only reason why Carolina was able to move the football with any consistency. Saw several bad angles, mistackles.
-Adam Thielan had a field day against Lewis. When watching the Bills game last night, we should of traded for from Packer/Eagle, Rasual Douglass. Lewis remains the weakest link on this unit.
-Pass rush was excellent and it wasn't just Parsons, either, thought Armstrong had another strong game.
-Cannot allow any team to convert multiple 4th downs on a single drive, very poor job by the defense.
-Thought the Panthers TE got away with an offensive PI against Kearse, when you see full extension, it is usually called.
-What can we say about Bland, might be a defensive player of the year, which is absolutely crazy!

Special Teams

-Sam Williams with a terrible running into the punter penalty, that eventually lead to a TD. These type of penalties can make you lose football games.
-Anger had another exceptional game and remains a weapon for this team.
-Audrey missed an extra point, but his next FG was right down the middle.

I am going to say this now, this week is a "must win", if the Cowboys want to realistically challenge for the division. I don't care about their record as this will be their Super Bowl and they put a beat down the last time we played them. It's a very important game to win!!

Nice thoughtful write-up as usual. Just get used to it with Sam Williams. Mr. Bonehead Play - dumb player, with all the talent. Little bit "Leon Lett-ish."

My first reaction yesterday was damn, we're playing down to their level, but Carolina did a nice job against us. They basically did everything that has worked for others, just couldn't maintain it and had some huge dumb penalties in the mix.

Carolina seems to just need an offense, and they'll be much improved.

Just worried that our team is fool's gold. We have a phenomenal record against losing teams. A winless record against good times. The challenge is about to come up with SEA, PHI, MIA, BUF and DET.

 

[CowboyFrog]

Well, if you have to pick at a 33-10 win, you can say it was against the worst team in the NFL so the result was expected. The only troubling part was that Dak continued to struggle against zone coverage. Carolina was able to take away just about the entire down field passing game. We had no big chunk plays. Red zone offense also got bogged down. One of Daks TD passes came on a drive aided by 2 personal foul penalties on 3 rd downs that kept the drive alive. We need to get better, bc nobody is going to give Dak man coverage down the stretch.

we did see zone, the only question i have is why you think this is a "Dak" thing, you literally said they were taking away the big plays with zone... Dak took the plays underneath like he is suppose too.. we did create a couple of seam plays that you should hit a zone defense with. I'm more concerened our run game was hit or miss against it because we should've been able to gouge them with it. If not for a couple drops our passing attack handled that defense pretty well actually...the right side of the Oline (including Martin) had bad moments, they had some good moments also.. but the bad ones backed us up and for sure we got bailed out by bad penalties on those drives..

 

[starfan1]

How dumb would it be to consider bringing back Bossman fat? Can he be any worse then Jlew?

 

[KMY_Amber]

I agree.
But my run game coaching opinion and the evidence still stands.

Once the lead has been achieved in most all of our wins which have mostly been blowouts, except for the Chargers, there is still no effective complimentary element to our run game supporting the pass game.
I think last week's ground game against the Giants is our only balanced offensive win outlier if I'm not mistaken.

So yeah, establish the pass first but once you do and you get a lead, what kinda run game are ya gonna call to compliment the pass?

Whatever it has been, it has not been working.

jmo

Interesting, I think the run game has been pretty good, once they get the lead....still mixing it in with the play action and the short passing game called the Texas Coast Offense. The early-game running game to get the lead has been pretty bad.

I'm not too concerned about pure balance, as I think an effective short passing game (with more screens please!) can be almost as effective as a pounding running game (which this team simply can't do).

I think this team trying to focus on the run is going to limit the talent this offense has, especially if they're going against a stout Dee line...because then this o-line starts to reach and hold and then those short gains become big 10-yard-holding-penalty losses. Instead, I'd like McCarthy to use more play action, especially on 1st down, so threaten to run...but get the ball out quick.

I believe the Cowboys will need to continue to be creative in the running game. And then they'll be able to pop some longer runs.

So, for me, I'm OK with the 2nd half running game, just not OK with the 1st quarter running attempts, especially on 1st down between the tackles, out of that same predictable formation. Need more bootlegs. And if the Cowboys are going to commit to the run early in the game, bring in the FB and have a true lead blocker opening some holes. I was never more happy to see the Cowboys line up for a run than when I saw Loepke in there in I-formation. More of that please, and the play action plays off of that are solid and effective.

 

[blueblood70]

Pretty much all games are must wins. But also need the Eagles to drop at least 2 of the next 3.

In an ideal scenario. Dallas must beat Washington and Seattle. Philly loses 3 to KC, Buffalo, SF.
Then we beat Philly, up 2 games with 4 games to go.
Then Philly goes to Seattle, but we go to Buffalo.

It is a dream but if we can win the next 4 and Philly lose their next 5. We are up 3 games with 3 to go.

umm OK lol FF time!

 

[Cowboyny]

Nice thoughtful write-up as usual. Just get used to it with Sam Williams. Mr. Bonehead Play - dumb player, with all the talent. Little bit "Leon Lett-ish."

My first reaction yesterday was damn, we're playing down to their level, but Carolina did a nice job against us. They basically did everything that has worked for others, just couldn't maintain it and had some huge dumb penalties in the mix.

Carolina seems to just need an offense, and they'll be much improved.

Just worried that our team is fool's gold. We have a phenomenal record against losing teams. A winless record against good times. The challenge is about to come up with SEA, PHI, MIA, BUF and DET.

We will find out before the playoffs if this team is more of a contender or pretender with that schedule. In my opinion, their lack of run game and consistently to stop it, will eventually do us in. However, it is all about matchups come postseason.

 

[Cowboyny]

It gave them 4th and 2

They already punted the ball, it would of been end of the possession, no matter if they converted the 4 and 2 or not.

 

[gimmesix]

Offense

-Carolina played that double shell defense that forced Dak to take what was given, dared them to run the football into light boxes. Running game was very hot and cold, for some reason it appeared that Carolina knew the snap count. Derrick Brown gave this front a lot of trouble, including Zach Martin.

The announcers said, and I believe they are correct, that before we snap the ball, Martin checks that everything is set, then taps Biadasz on the butt and Biadasz then does a head nod before the snap. Makes it a lot easier on the defense if we do not switch that up at times.

 

[Roadtrip635]

I think Olson said it sometime during the game: Dak is patient and takes what's given to him. No hero stuff.

Me likes. Mike is finally getting through to him. "Dumbing down" the offense isn't necessarily a bad thing.

We'll see against the big guys in the end of the reg season what it's worth though. All these games against NYG and the Panthers are mere training exercises.

That's what gets Josh Allen in trouble, instead of taking the easy throws he wants to play hero ball. Overlook the open man underneath to force deeper passes into coverage when it's not needed. There was an interview with Brady and Josh Allen and Brady even told him that, take the easy throws when it's there, but he also said that he won't listen and is gonna have to learn it his own way.

 

[baltcowboy]

Just look at the rest of the conference, there is little doubt there aren't going to be within the top 7.

It might be possible getting the 7th seed with the record they have now. I think 8-9 will be the record of the 7th seed in the NFC. The Cowboys just need to stack wins. Last season at this time the Cowboys played there “A” game against the Vikings and had a lackluster Thanksgiving game against the Giants last season. I think the team played a “B” game against the Panthers and should be ready for Washington emotionally/physically.

 

[Gambit]

They already punted the ball, it would of been end of the possession, no matter if they converted the 4 and 2 or not.

It was 4 and 7. Running into kicker 5 yard penalty making it 4 and 2.

Now the onus is in the D to stop them on 4th down, 3 times.

 

[Cowboyny]

It was 4 and 7. Running into kicker 5 yard penalty making it 4 and 2.

Now the onus is in the D to stop them on 4th down, 3 times.

They wouldn't have had to without that penalty.

 

[Cowboyny]

It might be possible getting the 7th seed with the record they have now. I think 8-9 will be the record of the 7th seed in the NFC. The Cowboys just need to stack wins. Last season at this time the Cowboys played there “A” game against the Vikings and had a lackluster Thanksgiving game against the Giants last season. I think the team played a “B” game against the Panthers and should be ready for Washington emotionally/physically.

This week is very important, they can kiss their divisional chances away if they lose this week. Washington always plays the Cowboys tough, they better come ready.

 

[Whirlwin]

17-10 in the 4th quarter against a 1 win team.

We didn’t show anything

 

[75boyz]

Interesting, I think the run game has been pretty good, once they get the lead....still mixing it in with the play action and the short passing game called the Texas Coast Offense. The early-game running game to get the lead has been pretty bad.

I'm not too concerned about pure balance, as I think an effective short passing game (with more screens please!) can be almost as effective as a pounding running game (which this team simply can't do).

I think this team trying to focus on the run is going to limit the talent this offense has, especially if they're going against a stout Dee line...because then this o-line starts to reach and hold and then those short gains become big 10-yard-holding-penalty losses. Instead, I'd like McCarthy to use more play action, especially on 1st down, so threaten to run...but get the ball out quick.

I believe the Cowboys will need to continue to be creative in the running game. And then they'll be able to pop some longer runs.

So, for me, I'm OK with the 2nd half running game, just not OK with the 1st quarter running attempts, especially on 1st down between the tackles, out of that same predictable formation. Need more bootlegs. And if the Cowboys are going to commit to the run early in the game, bring in the FB and have a true lead blocker opening some holes. I was never more happy to see the Cowboys line up for a run than when I saw Loepke in there in I-formation. More of that please, and the play action plays off of that are solid and effective.

Yeah,
I see random run calls lacking logic and flow to the momentum of the game.
Actually what several here said would improve over the previous OC with the new play caller calling the run plays.

And that is situational awareness and efficiency.
I'm realistic enough to know that this staff can't achieve a true 50/50 balance.
I just wish their down and distance predictbility and between the tackles attempts and untimely gimmick runs made more sense with relation to how the rest of the offense is functioning.

No worries man,
It all boils down to my belief that this offense won't accomplish much in the playoffs as a one dimensional passing offense.

Opinions vary though, I know.

 

[Gambit]

They wouldn't have had to without that penalty.

Yes, but that one penalty did not directly result in a TD is my point. The D had several times to stop them.

 

[baltcowboy]

This week is very important, they can kiss their divisional chances away if they lose this week. Washington always plays the Cowboys tough, they better come ready.

The Cowboys need the Eagles to lose two of the next three games which is possible to even get a chance. I think the Cowboys have to go 14-3 to win the East and that would be difficult. Just take it one game at a time and stay healthy.