Thoughts the morning after

[demdcowboys#1]

I think we got away from our bread and butter a bit too much last night. Especially on short yardage plays. 2nd and 3rd and shorts, we tried to beat Washington with the pass. Unacceptable. When you average over 6 yards per carry, you continue running the football. Especially near the goal line. Let's all be honest, Washington simply wanted this game more. They LOVE this rivalry. Hatcher said it himself. After being in both locker rooms, Washington is WAYYYY more serious about this game. And it showed. Hasslet always gives us fits.

A few takeaways from me.

1) Play calling was abysmal. We went entirely away from our game plan. Especially when it mattered.
2) Something has got to be done about our pass rush. We had 3 sacks last night, but there were countless occasions when Colt had all day to pass, which has been a recurring theme all season.
3) Also, Dez should have caught that pass from Weeden in the endzone. Hit him right on the pads.
4) We weren't going to win out, this is just a bump in the road. We are VERY thankful that Romo is okay. Gotta get back to our bread and butter and focus on Arizona, which is a much bigger game in hindsight.

 

[hutch1254]

This is a great post and I agree with all of it.

Thanks, I appreciate it. It may not all be right, it's just how I feel.

 

[Gaede]

Not as upset as last night.

All around, team got outplayed and out coached. Deserved to lose.

Only thing that really grates at me is the fumbles (how can this not be corrected at this point?) And the coaches failure to stick with the running game.

 

[romothesavior]

If this lost did not make you worry your crazy. The D got exposed, they cant rush the passer, best LB is done for the year. Trust me this team is in trouble and they will lose more then they win from here on out. they might make the playoffs but it will be 1 and done. With out a D this team is history

I mean, am I worried? Yeah, sure, a little. The fumbles, the missed tackles, the inability to pick up the blitz, and especially the playcalling were all a big disappointment to me last night. But it's one game. This is the NFL. It happens. I'm not going to lose sleep.

Also, this D is exactly what we all thought they were. How anyone is surprised by last night is just beyond me. The defense is below average, at best. In order for this defense to be successful, the offense needs to sustain long drives and win the TOP battle. They didn't do that last night. But even playing poorly last night, the D still only gave up 17 points in regulation. I will take that every single time.

 

[landroverking]

There's going to be these games.
I still thing 12-4 and the east is ours.

 

[Brooksey]

I'm such a huge Romo fan, but the more I thought about it, the more this game was on him.

He wasn't recognizing the blitz. he was the one moving formations around, and Haslett out maneuvered him. He was off early with all his throws as well.

Plenty of other guys will be able to watch film and point out reasons they helped the team lose, but this one is primarily on Romo IMO.

Haslett is a good pro, he had Tony's number last night and Linehan didn't help too much.

 

[hutch1254]

If this lost did not make you worry your crazy. The D got exposed, they cant rush the passer, best LB is done for the year. Trust me this team is in trouble and they will lose more then they win from here on out. they might make the playoffs but it will be 1 and done. With out a D this team is history

I don't think the D was exposed. They are what they are, an in the middle of the pack D that has it's moments of above and beyond and we've seen more of those above and beyond moments than we are used to. Our lack of pass rush was/is a known issue and that showed even more so last week against the Giants rather than Washington last night. There is no exposing this D. Everyone knows what the issues are and how they can be beaten. What may have happened is we got used to how well they did early on and now expect it. Can't do that. They're in the middle and we're not one player away on that side of the ball.

 

[cowboys1981]

I think we got away from our bread and butter a bit too much last night. Especially on short yardage plays. 2nd and 3rd and shorts, we tried to beat Washington with the pass. Unacceptable. When you average over 6 yards per carry, you continue running the football. Especially near the goal line. Let's all be honest, Washington simply wanted this game more. They LOVE this rivalry. Hatcher said it himself. After being in both locker rooms, Washington is WAYYYY more serious about this game. And it showed. Hasslet always gives us fits.

A few takeaways from me.

1) Play calling was abysmal. We went entirely away from our game plan. Especially when it mattered.
2) Something has got to be done about our pass rush. We had 3 sacks last night, but there were countless occasions when Colt had all day to pass, which has been a recurring theme all season.
3) Also, Dez should have caught that pass from Weeden in the endzone. Hit him right on the pads.
4) We weren't going to win out, this is just a bump in the road. We are VERY thankful that Romo is okay. Gotta get back to our bread and butter and focus on Arizona, which is a much bigger game in hindsight.

Wonderful post!!!

It wasn't our night. We missed on tackles, TO's, and simply got beat. New England got assaulted on MNF and they responded well since. I expect us to do the same.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

I'm such a huge Romo fan, but the more I thought about it, the more this game was on him.

He wasn't recognizing the blitz. he was the one moving formations around, and Haslett out maneuvered him. He was off early with all his throws as well.

Plenty of other guys will be able to watch film and point out reasons they helped the team lose, but this one is primarily on Romo IMO.

I agree with your statement in bold. With all the time he has to relax his back, I wonder how much of it was spent watching film? He did not look prepared.

The coaches are primarily to blame for the loss but Romo had a big part in it as did the RBs and their fumbles. Something they can improve upon.

 

[bark]

I'll add this. I thought for the first time this year we were out coached . I was expecting adjustments at half time. Didn't happen. And how in the world with all the blitzing do you not have some check downs and hot reads. On many of the blitzes I saw our routes all being run 15 yds and deeper down the field

 

[sbark]

Just having Weeden under center with playaction ..and Haslett called the blitz off, but when Romo was in the shotgun--he played his games to the max.
***
Brady and Peyton are much more immobile than Romo, but the use of bunch sets, screens, quasi pick plays which gives them the ability to create a hot receiver keeps the blitz damage to a minimum.......Linehan seems to want to avoid the use, against a division opponent that he knew would bring it......puzzleing.

 

[Wheeltax]

I'm less upset about the loss than I am about the blown opportunity against a lesser team to get a leg up on the Eagles when they finally lost a game they should have.

I guess you could take the optimist view and say that they didn't get one ahead on us at least and gave us sort of a mulligan.

 

[CosmicCowboy]

we got out played, no pass rush, dropped passes, arm tackles not a good performance.

 

[romothesavior]

I'll add this. I thought for the first time this year we were out coached . I was expecting adjustments at half time. Didn't happen. And how in the world with all the blitzing do you not have some check downs and hot reads. On many of the blitzes I saw our routes all being run 15 yds and deeper down the field

On the play where Romo got injured (I think it was that one) they literally ran three or four deep routes and not one person stayed home for a short route. Just bizarre.

 

[ologan]

I don't come here during a game like I used to. Way to much negativity....snarky damn comments that get me as mad as watching a losing effort....too much "sky is falling", "Romo Sucks", "(insert name here) Sucks". It's the same cast of characters every time. I do come the next morning to see who is still standing.

 

[Naruto]

Last night was 8-8 Romo, last night was 8-8 defense and last night was 8-8 Garrett

Looking at the remaining schedule if we play more football like that we'll be heading into DC week 17 with a shot at doing the four-peat

 

[theSHOW]

omg. My back hurts this morning.

 

[Staubacher]

Can't blame romo for failed assignments leaving guys wide open to slam him

 

[tyke1doe]

Well, now that we've had some time to let the loss sink in, I'm curious what the temperature of the forum is this morning. I'll start with some quick hits:

Once again, our rushing attack looked downright dominant. We gashed them on the ground all night and seemed like we were imposing our will on them. For some reason, we abandoned our identity at times throughout the game, especially at critical junctures. I was scratching my head at the lack of runs all night, and downright screaming at the TV in overtime. You have one of the best running games in NFL history. 19 carries for your stud RB? 25 carries all night in a close game? Inexcusable.

As well as he ran, that fumble was Murray's worst of the year. He was surrounded and being brought down by a sea of red inside the 10, after already ripping off an impressive play. Somewhere along the way, the notion of "fighting for every yard" became one of the most respected running back traits, but there is clearly a time and a place for it. He just doesn't seem to get it. I understand the ball getting fluke-ily knocked out by an elbow or something once in a while, but to be stood up like that in the red zone and have it stripped? Can't happen. His otherwise great game notwithstanding, losing points there likely cost us the game.

Hey, did you guys know Haslett likes to blitz us? Apparently the brain trust on offense didn't. Garrett, Linehan, Callahan, Romo... no one had an answer. It was like they didn't even have a gameplan in place for it. Romo, even before the injury, looked completely out of sorts as a result. His play action fakes were halfhearted and he was rushing the ball out.

I love Dez but he just completely disappeared last night. He has to make one of those catches in the end zone. Hopefully this quiets the Dez vs. Irvin thing for a while.

Nice to see Weedon come in and play well. I think he's better than some people realize. Yeah, he sucked in Cleveland, but with the weapons and line he has here, he could at least keep us competitive, and he brings the deep ball into play better than Romo.

The defense didn't play great, but I wasn't as angry about our defense as some people here last night. 17 points in regulation and a huge stop in OT should absolutely be enough to get it done. They had an off night; it happens. But their off night was still good enough to win. This one is on the offense generally, and the offensive coaching staff specifically.

Overall: I'm not too concerned with our team. The media and the Cowboys haters will come out in full force and say we're overrated, etc., but it's the NFL. We lost a game. I figured we'd lose a game or two we should have won. 12-4 is still a very strong possibility, and we can right the ship this weekend against AZ. This is no time to freak out.

That said, I am very concerned with the coaching staff. I thought we had established a clear identity: we will run it down your throats until you stop us. In a tough, close division game like this, we should be running the ball 30-40 times. Instead? 25 runs, 34 passes. Washington actually ran it more (31 rushes), and with less success (4.0 YPC). I hope somebody gets in Linehan's ear and reminds him how we got to 6-1 in the first place. Oh, and we face Washington again, so maybe figure out how to neutralize that blitz.

Curious to hear what others thought/saw last night.

Go Cowboys.

Very good analysis.

I wonder if the coaching staff is concerned about the number of carries Murray is getting. I wonder if they have confidence in Randle and Dunbar. I don't think Randle did any favors for himself by fumbling. Even if the Cowboys re-sign Murray, I think they'll get a back to spell him - if they want to continue as a running team. Running backs aren't valued as highly anyway, so we should be able to get a good one in the third round, where we found Murray.

Also, this defense really needs the offense to stick to the running game. We're better than last year, but this is far from an elite defense. So goes the offense, so goes the defense.

And I know this will sound strange, but the fact that the entire team was off leads me to believe this was an aberration rather than a trend. The coaching staff was off, the defense was off, the offense was off. I want to think that the Cowboys took the Commanders lightly and may have been looking past them to the Arizona game. At least, I want to believe they were. But I think the loss will underscore the fact that we ...

1. Need to practice and perfect blitz pick-ups and
2. Restore the urgency in that it's not going to be a cake walk to claim the division and a possible No. 1 seed.

I'm still encouraged despite wanting to whip the Skins and go 7-1.

P.S. We'll beat them later in the year.

 

[cowboyblue22]

this is not the team I though they were outplayed out coached to many turnovers dropped passes