Thoughts the morning after

[ScipioCowboy]

They didn't get "exposed." It's one game. You need to seriously chill on all the chicken little stuff.

Dude is trolling. He only shows up when the Cowboys lose.

 

[Stash]

They had a long play from Murray then went back to passing ito too much which worked for a drive, but wasn't what has made this team so good this year.

And made the teams of the recent past so bad.

Thought they had learned.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

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

No. When you have 8 coming, the extra man is the QBs. You have to get rid of the ball. You absolutely lay it on the QB. The play that got Romo last night was a delayed blitz. All of the guys on the line got picked up. Tony has to get rid of the ball in that situation. The extra man is the QBs.

 

[BoysFan4ever]

My thoughts?!They got cocky & thought they could just show up & win.

The defense needs to practice tackling.

Tony probably won't practice all week.

The whole coaching staff was awful. That surprises me. They've been very good.

If they come out like this next Sunday they won't have to worry about overtime.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

It's hard to know how much was the coaching staff and how much was Audible. When Weeden came in, the offense worked. He didn't change a lot of stuff so you have to wonder, were the plays being changed at the line or did the Coaching staff suddenly get smarter once Weeden came in and then revert back to stupid when Tony returned?

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I haven't broken down the game but as I was watching it, it seemed as if Tony thought he could beat the Skins deep. It was like he was always waiting for the extra second to get the ball off. There were hot reads available to him. He just didn't go to them in certain situations. I don't want to go overboard in any direction before I rewatch the game but I have to say that this is what it felt like to me last night.

I think what I will find, once I rewatch the game is that we lost the game on 1st down. This entire season, we have been doing very well on 1st down, creating an open playbook for us on 2nd down. That's hard to defend. If you can limit options on 2nd down, that helps a defense a great deal. If they have to defend short and long, then that puts the defense in a really difficult situation. If you win on 2nd, defensively, it allows you to dictate on 3rd. You can force a team to go short and completely take away the running game and the deep and intermediate passing game. You basically cover 15-20 yards of the field with 11 guys. That's a lot easier then having to cover the entire field. I think what we will see is that we didn't do as good a job last night of winning on 1st down or managing to distance on 2nd down. To many third and long situations that play into all out blitz. Have to see what it looks like, I could be wrong.

 

[Blast From The Past]

I'm not worried about it because hey losses happen and I know Jason will use this as motivation on the team and we will come out ready to dominate next week!

I'm not concerned that we lost so much as how we lost. We had this game period. The lack of adjustment to what the Commanders defense was dictating by blitzing was puzzling to me. Linehan seemed in the past games to make adjustments as needed, until last night. I would hope somewhere on that colored play calling chart he has plays specifically to counter blitz packages. Or even better the offensive brain trust on this team collectively would have made suggestions to him in that regard. Max protect or screens with Dunbar out in space or more Murray running anything except getting your franchise all ready fragile qb killed. They didn't even both disguising their blitz other than backing out here and their. Plus some players had a bad game, some were non existent and others flat out balled. To say we had a off night and lost in OT still speaks volumes about this team in a positive way.

Brandon Weeden looked good in his short time in the game. It seemed that the game was somehow different with him behind center. The guy is better than most say with a pretty good arm and deep ball to boot. I was happy with his play.

Justin Durant flat out came to play and sadly now will be missed as his time has ended with a injury.

We will bounce back,

 

[TrailBlazer]

Our qb got outplayed. I think that was the main thing. Big game Brandon weeden never should've got yanked. That shows a lack of leadership. It was clear Tony was not right. Take his damn helmet away next time.

 

[TrailBlazer]

The Commanders were much better on third downs and in the red zone. That's on the QB and playcalling.

 

[WV Cowboy]

I'm depressed that we once again gave a game away to an inferior team. Squandering an opportunity to go up 1.5 games in the division.

I was hoping this year's Cowboys would avoid this sort of thing.

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

If we are faced with another "win and you're in" game at the end of the season, .. we can think back to the game that we lost at home, to a 2-5 team with a first year HC, with a 3rd string QB making his first start in 3 seasons, with a coach that is in his first season of being a head coach.

Top teams take advantage of those gift situations. Not overlook them and take winning for granted.

If we are in a tight race at the end of the season, we can look to this game and realize that if we just had taken care of business when the skins came to town, .. we wouldn't be in the "have to win situation." Happens every year.

All is not lost, we still have a great RB & QB, a great OLine, an aggressive Defense, and the best kicker on the face of the planet. We will win more games.

This one could haunt us though.

 

[TrailBlazer]

I agree with most of your points. I think GM JJ coming on the field threw everyone off. That's when Romo came back and took over being old Romo. Garrett seem like a puppet again and it was the last 5 years all over again.

They did well with Jerry on the sideline, actually. The defense got a stop and weeden lead the team down the field with ease. But I don't like him down there.

 

[Cowboyz88]

I know it'll be considered Cowboys blasphemy by some (and some might consider it "hate"), but I think the offense is better with less Romo.

In other words, when he has to throw or feels he has to throw, our offense gets frenetic and wild-***.

I prefer bus driver Romo with Murray carrying the load with occasional shots to Dez and Williams.

Don't get me wrong, I thought the season was over when Romo went down as he is clearly, clearly our best QB for a decade, but I'd prefer that he not be asked to win a games anymore.

 

[visionary]

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.

Great post
Agree with most of your points except that I am concerned about the defense (no pass rush) and romo had that deer in the headlights look he gets after he gets hit a couple if times. AZ and Philly will do that exact sane thing

 

[InDakWeTrust]

Best news of the loss, we need our running game all 4 quarters, run Murray through OT until the Indigenous people of Washington stop him.

 

[tecolote]

I think we learned a great deal last night. In fact, I think we learned what it's all about last night and it's not about the Cowboys. If it were about the Cowboys, Weeden would have stayed in the game and the Cowboys would have won. What it's all about is Tony Romo's oversized ego... it must be appeased above all else. And so we have what we got last night, a loss to the Commanders. How does it feel Cowboys fans? ...knowing that game could have been won but wasn't because someone's ego was more important? And the saddest thing is it will happen again. We never learn and so Romo will be allowed to continue to hobble through games, win or lose and bring the team down with him. Reality sucks sometimes. The coaches bow to Romo's ego and so we continue to fail when times get tough.

Do you really think Weeden gets a scoring drive from their own 4 with less than 2 minutes remaining? Against tha blitz?

 

[roughneck266]

Team got exposed, they are not going 12-4, 9-7 maybe but not 12-4

Losing one game means they got exposed? Over react much?

 

[30yrheel]

If we are faced with another "win and you're in" game at the end of the season, .. we can think back to the game that we lost at home, to a 2-5 team with a first year HC, with a 3rd string QB making his first start in 3 seasons, with a coach that is in his first season of being a head coach.

Top teams take advantage of those gift situations. Not overlook them and take winning for granted.

If we are in a tight race at the end of the season, we can look to this game and realize that if we just had taken care of business when the skins came to town, .. we wouldn't be in the "have to win situation." Happens every year.

All is not lost, we still have a great RB & QB, a great OLine, an aggressive Defense, and the best kicker on the face of the planet. We will win more games.

This one could haunt us though.

Oh you know this is coming. Our script has been written. Just when we think we're out of that viscous cycle we're right back in it.

 

[tecolote]

No. When you have 8 coming, the extra man is the QBs. You have to get rid of the ball. You absolutely lay it on the QB. The play that got Romo last night was a delayed blitz. All of the guys on the line got picked up. Tony has to get rid of the ball in that situation. The extra man is the QBs.

Did you see the routes the receivers were running? They were 20 yards down the field with their backs to the qb when he was hit.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Did you see the routes the receivers were running? They were 20 yards down the field with their backs to the qb when he was hit.

He changed the play at the line. Rewatch it. If they were all running deeper routes, that's because they were likely called on an Audible.

 

[bark]

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.

Same thing on the 4th and three in ot