THUMPER
Papa
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I was a bit concerned going into this game because Carolina isn't as bad as people think and they showed it last night.
QB: Romo did a great job last night of taking care of the football and running more often when things broke down. He took a few sacks as well but also made a couple of plays on the move. The pass across the field was dangerous when I first saw it but after seeing it from the other angle there were no defenders anywhere near Choice so it was a good move. He was actually directing Choice just before he let it go. I don't care what anyone else says, Romo is a top-5 QB.
RBs: To gain over 200 yards rushing without Barber is amazing! Felix is just incredible! His moves, vision, quickness, speed, and overall running ability are outstanding. He really needs to work on his blitz pickup though and staying healthy seems to be an issue. His ankle-breaker move was truly classic!
It is a great comfort to have Tashard Choice in a Cowboys' uniform. The guy just gets it done and has a wonderful attitude. He is tough and talented and has the right mindset to be the 3rd guy on this team. He is ready whenever we call on him and he delivers. He certainly delivered the goods last night. We did miss Barber's short-yardage ability but Choice filled in admirably in every other area.
WRs: Roy made some nice plays and Crayton had a couple of good catches as well as a nice run on the end-around. I loved how he directed and then shoved Gurode into blocking for him! Hurd and Austin did nothing last night though and I agree with others who are calling for Ogletree to be activated, we need something more from the WRs. Romo didn't have a lot of time to throw so we didn't see many downfield looks but I also think the WRs are not getting open quickly enough, not getting separation from the DBs. I don't know why, but they just aren't very often.
I have said it before but I'll say it again, Roy Williams' biggest contribution to this team is in his run-blocking! EVERY run downfield you can see him blocking, every one of them! I always say that every great RB had a WR who blocked for them. Emmitt had Irvin, Barry had Moore, etc. Our guys have Roy. You cannot underestimate his value to the running game. he may only catch a few passes but a lot of our 200+ yards rushing were due to his blocking downfield.
Roy has to make that catch in the endzone though.
TEs: Witten was excellent as usual but the others were non-entities. Phillips' false start at the goalline cost us 4 points. That stuff drives me nuts but I'll cut him a little slack because he is a rookie. I thought Bennett was going to have a breakout season but so far he hasn't done much of anything.
Where would our passing game have been last night without Jason Witten? We were having a tough time picking up the blitz and Romo didn't have much time to throw, very few deep looks, but there was Witten every time. 9 passes, 9 catches. He got rocked on a couple of hits and swarmed on others but he kept coming back and making plays for our team. His blocking was key on several plays. Taken overall, he IS the best TE in football IMO.
OL: Our O-Line did a great job of opening holes for the running game and were very effective pulling last night. Pass-protection was pretty bad though as they seemed to have a tough time picking up the stunts and blitzes. The Panthers have a very quick front-7 and it gave our blockers fits when they came in, but it also made the draw-plays very effective. Say what you will about Flozell "False Start" Adams, but he shut out Julius Peppers all night. Their best defender was nullified by Flozell.
Offense: Overall, I thought we played two completely different games last night. In the first half we looked slow and out of sync. The O-Line was getting Romo killed and penalties kept us from scoring TDs. In the secnd half though we had some fire and our running game really opened things up for the team as a whole. It became easier to pass and we were sustaining some drives. Still too many dumb penalties but we did a good job of controlling the clock and wearing down their defense. We've got to score TDs when we get inside the 10 though.
Very balanced, 33 passes and 32 runs. I like that!
DL: Ratliff was outstanding and his sack finally broke the drought for us. I thought the DLs did a good job of staying in their lanes and not allowing the Panthers' RBs to get free very often. Igor had a couple of good plays and I saw some of the others in the backfield in the 2nd half (Spears, Hatcher, etc.)
ILB: Both Brooking and James had good games last night and were our leading tacklers, but Carpenter still looks lost. I can't wait for our Rookie LBs to get healthy and we can scrap that guy after the season. Brooking is starting to show some leadership out there and I heard he was the guy who fired up the defense at halftime.
OLB: Ware is just missing on a lot of sacks but he seems to be a step slow this year for some reason and has even in pre-season. Not sure what's going on with him but I don't think he is going to breaking any sack records this year. Spencer didn't get much pressure on the QB but he was in on several plays and did a nice job in coverage.
Butler is going to be a real player for us and he started to show it last night in the 4th quarter. He needs to be in the game more often IMO. His speed on his first sack when he blew past a pretty good RT in Jeff Otah was amazing! Then he made a good move to get past him again for his second sack. On both plays he knocked the ball out of Jake's hands, the second time for a fumble that Hatcher recovered and pretty much ended the game.
DB: I was getting pretty frustrated by Newman's crappy tackling but he made up for it with his coverage on Steve Smith and his pick-6. None of our DBs seem to be able to tackle well and Ken Hamlin looks like he is out of it for some reason. He was a pretty good player for us 2 years ago but has declined since then. This year he has been a liability out there and I am looking forward to when Mike Hamlin is healthy and can play safety for us. Sensabaugh looks OK but didn't make a lot of big plays, just a solid player.
Jenkins made a great play on the ball and got our first turnover of the season against Mohammad. That is a play that made Jake Delhomme. For years he would just throw that high pass out there and hope that Mushin would make the catch. Usually he did but that was a badly underthrown ball and Mushin had no chance on it. Jenkins did a great job of hanging onto it and it made up for some of his missed tackles.
Defense: Overall, our defense did its job of shutting down the Panthers running game, which is the strength of their offense. Newman was excellent against Steve Smith and other than the drive at the end of the 1st half when their TE, Rosario, had a couple of big catches, including the TD, we shut them down. Still not getting consistent pressure on the QB though and Ware doesn't have a sack yet but I like what I saw from Butler and am hopful he will see the field more often now.
STs: I bag on Patrick "Fair Catch" Crayton a lot but he did a very good job last night on most of his returns and gave us good field position a number of times. That said he made 2 FCs that were just dumb. Didn't anyone ever tell that dude that you NEVER FC the ball inside the 10? He's at the 7 yard line and FCs the ball, effectively doing the punting team's job for them by pinning us inside our own 10. Other than that he had some nice runbacks.
Beeler is doing what he was drafted to do, putting the ball in the endzone on kickoffs, and it is helping us to win the field-position battle. Folk's missed 40-yarder is a puzzler but no one can make them all. Still, I wonder if he has lost some confidence with Beeler being there.
McBrair is a stud! His punting is a real asset for us. Coverage units did a great job last night. You can really see the difference between bruce Read and Joe DeCamillis.
Great game and a great win! I would like to see us score more TDs on offense and to get our deep passing game going but I can't complain about the results right now.
QB: Romo did a great job last night of taking care of the football and running more often when things broke down. He took a few sacks as well but also made a couple of plays on the move. The pass across the field was dangerous when I first saw it but after seeing it from the other angle there were no defenders anywhere near Choice so it was a good move. He was actually directing Choice just before he let it go. I don't care what anyone else says, Romo is a top-5 QB.
RBs: To gain over 200 yards rushing without Barber is amazing! Felix is just incredible! His moves, vision, quickness, speed, and overall running ability are outstanding. He really needs to work on his blitz pickup though and staying healthy seems to be an issue. His ankle-breaker move was truly classic!
It is a great comfort to have Tashard Choice in a Cowboys' uniform. The guy just gets it done and has a wonderful attitude. He is tough and talented and has the right mindset to be the 3rd guy on this team. He is ready whenever we call on him and he delivers. He certainly delivered the goods last night. We did miss Barber's short-yardage ability but Choice filled in admirably in every other area.
WRs: Roy made some nice plays and Crayton had a couple of good catches as well as a nice run on the end-around. I loved how he directed and then shoved Gurode into blocking for him! Hurd and Austin did nothing last night though and I agree with others who are calling for Ogletree to be activated, we need something more from the WRs. Romo didn't have a lot of time to throw so we didn't see many downfield looks but I also think the WRs are not getting open quickly enough, not getting separation from the DBs. I don't know why, but they just aren't very often.
I have said it before but I'll say it again, Roy Williams' biggest contribution to this team is in his run-blocking! EVERY run downfield you can see him blocking, every one of them! I always say that every great RB had a WR who blocked for them. Emmitt had Irvin, Barry had Moore, etc. Our guys have Roy. You cannot underestimate his value to the running game. he may only catch a few passes but a lot of our 200+ yards rushing were due to his blocking downfield.
Roy has to make that catch in the endzone though.
TEs: Witten was excellent as usual but the others were non-entities. Phillips' false start at the goalline cost us 4 points. That stuff drives me nuts but I'll cut him a little slack because he is a rookie. I thought Bennett was going to have a breakout season but so far he hasn't done much of anything.
Where would our passing game have been last night without Jason Witten? We were having a tough time picking up the blitz and Romo didn't have much time to throw, very few deep looks, but there was Witten every time. 9 passes, 9 catches. He got rocked on a couple of hits and swarmed on others but he kept coming back and making plays for our team. His blocking was key on several plays. Taken overall, he IS the best TE in football IMO.
OL: Our O-Line did a great job of opening holes for the running game and were very effective pulling last night. Pass-protection was pretty bad though as they seemed to have a tough time picking up the stunts and blitzes. The Panthers have a very quick front-7 and it gave our blockers fits when they came in, but it also made the draw-plays very effective. Say what you will about Flozell "False Start" Adams, but he shut out Julius Peppers all night. Their best defender was nullified by Flozell.
Offense: Overall, I thought we played two completely different games last night. In the first half we looked slow and out of sync. The O-Line was getting Romo killed and penalties kept us from scoring TDs. In the secnd half though we had some fire and our running game really opened things up for the team as a whole. It became easier to pass and we were sustaining some drives. Still too many dumb penalties but we did a good job of controlling the clock and wearing down their defense. We've got to score TDs when we get inside the 10 though.
Very balanced, 33 passes and 32 runs. I like that!
DL: Ratliff was outstanding and his sack finally broke the drought for us. I thought the DLs did a good job of staying in their lanes and not allowing the Panthers' RBs to get free very often. Igor had a couple of good plays and I saw some of the others in the backfield in the 2nd half (Spears, Hatcher, etc.)
ILB: Both Brooking and James had good games last night and were our leading tacklers, but Carpenter still looks lost. I can't wait for our Rookie LBs to get healthy and we can scrap that guy after the season. Brooking is starting to show some leadership out there and I heard he was the guy who fired up the defense at halftime.
OLB: Ware is just missing on a lot of sacks but he seems to be a step slow this year for some reason and has even in pre-season. Not sure what's going on with him but I don't think he is going to breaking any sack records this year. Spencer didn't get much pressure on the QB but he was in on several plays and did a nice job in coverage.
Butler is going to be a real player for us and he started to show it last night in the 4th quarter. He needs to be in the game more often IMO. His speed on his first sack when he blew past a pretty good RT in Jeff Otah was amazing! Then he made a good move to get past him again for his second sack. On both plays he knocked the ball out of Jake's hands, the second time for a fumble that Hatcher recovered and pretty much ended the game.
DB: I was getting pretty frustrated by Newman's crappy tackling but he made up for it with his coverage on Steve Smith and his pick-6. None of our DBs seem to be able to tackle well and Ken Hamlin looks like he is out of it for some reason. He was a pretty good player for us 2 years ago but has declined since then. This year he has been a liability out there and I am looking forward to when Mike Hamlin is healthy and can play safety for us. Sensabaugh looks OK but didn't make a lot of big plays, just a solid player.
Jenkins made a great play on the ball and got our first turnover of the season against Mohammad. That is a play that made Jake Delhomme. For years he would just throw that high pass out there and hope that Mushin would make the catch. Usually he did but that was a badly underthrown ball and Mushin had no chance on it. Jenkins did a great job of hanging onto it and it made up for some of his missed tackles.
Defense: Overall, our defense did its job of shutting down the Panthers running game, which is the strength of their offense. Newman was excellent against Steve Smith and other than the drive at the end of the 1st half when their TE, Rosario, had a couple of big catches, including the TD, we shut them down. Still not getting consistent pressure on the QB though and Ware doesn't have a sack yet but I like what I saw from Butler and am hopful he will see the field more often now.
STs: I bag on Patrick "Fair Catch" Crayton a lot but he did a very good job last night on most of his returns and gave us good field position a number of times. That said he made 2 FCs that were just dumb. Didn't anyone ever tell that dude that you NEVER FC the ball inside the 10? He's at the 7 yard line and FCs the ball, effectively doing the punting team's job for them by pinning us inside our own 10. Other than that he had some nice runbacks.
Beeler is doing what he was drafted to do, putting the ball in the endzone on kickoffs, and it is helping us to win the field-position battle. Folk's missed 40-yarder is a puzzler but no one can make them all. Still, I wonder if he has lost some confidence with Beeler being there.
McBrair is a stud! His punting is a real asset for us. Coverage units did a great job last night. You can really see the difference between bruce Read and Joe DeCamillis.
Great game and a great win! I would like to see us score more TDs on offense and to get our deep passing game going but I can't complain about the results right now.
