Unlikely Goats

[superpunk]

Starting with Terry Glenn. The soft-spoken, sure-handed hard-working receiver we all love, fumbles out of the end zone for a safety. He hadn't fumbled the ball in 4 years.

Jason Witten. One of my favorite players, he hadn't fumbled in 2 years and has only lost one fumble in his 4 year career.

Tony Romo - the holder. Yeah he played like crap for most of the game, but who on here expected a botched placement to be the final nail in our coffin?

I, for one, was thrilled with the way the team played yesterday. All the cries of "They've quit on their coach" were shown for the garbage they are. That team rallied, played a heck of a game on defense, and fought through their struggles on offense. I couldn't have been happier with their performance, save for a few mix-ups from some unlikely goats. Here's to next year.

 

[Sarge]

I wasn't happy with the way they played or with the playcalling. Too many dropped balls.

They played better than the last 4 weeks - granted, but that isn't saying much. This Seattle team is BAD and you will see it next week - they will get DEMOLISHED.

 

[Frosty]

Was the Football slick...or Wet...heard a few weeks ago a story about the NFL footballs being slicker then usual.. its not like TG and Witten to fumble..and that snap...

 

[jimmy40]

Starting with Terry Glenn. The soft-spoken, sure-handed hard-working receiver we all love, fumbles out of the end zone for a safety. He hadn't fumbled the ball in 4 years.

Jason Witten. One of my favorite players, he hadn't fumbled in 2 years and has only lost one fumble in his 4 year career.

Tony Romo - the holder. Yeah he played like crap for most of the game, but who on here expected a botched placement to be the final nail in our coffin?

I, for one, was thrilled with the way the team played yesterday. All the cries of "They've quit on their coach" were shown for the garbage they are. That team rallied, played a heck of a game on defense, and fought through their struggles on offense. I couldn't have been happier with their performance, save for a few mix-ups from some unlikely goats. Here's to next year.

Looked like two teams that tried to play their way out of the playoffs for the last month and a half to me.

 

[Grevus]

Was the Football slick...or Wet...heard a few weeks ago a story about the NFL footballs being slicker then usual.. its not like TG and Witten to fumble..and that snap...

NO excuses, but you're right. Man, that ball looked slick.

 

[proline]

Starting with Terry Glenn. The soft-spoken, sure-handed hard-working receiver we all love, fumbles out of the end zone for a safety. He hadn't fumbled the ball in 4 years.

He had at least one drop in this game, too.

Jason Witten. One of my favorite players, he hadn't fumbled in 2 years and has only lost one fumble in his 4 year career.

I thought we should have challenged that fumble. I thought the replays showed that the ball was still not settled in Witten's hands and that it should have been called incomplete.

 

[superpunk]

I wasn't happy with the way they played or with the playcalling. Too many dropped balls.

They played better than the last 4 weeks - granted, but that isn't saying much. This Seattle team is BAD and you will see it next week - they will get DEMOLISHED.

I don't think Seattle's bad, anymore than we were bad. Both teams had a bad run, both team's defenses showed back up, and both team's QB sucked it up for most of the game. Kind of a complete reversal all-around. I don't think Seattle matches up well with Chicago, though.

Play-calling seems like a cop-out for bad execution. I thought we'd be able to take advantage of the corners better, but that had more to do with Romo being crap for most of the game than play-calling, IMO. I was glad to see Julius get pissed (even if he did look like a moron) and run hard. That was nice.

 

[superpunk]

He had at least one drop in this game, too.



I thought we should have challenged that fumble. I thought the replays showed that the ball was still not settled in Witten's hands and that it should have been called incomplete.

I thought we should have AT LEAST asked them to look at it. He never had posession, IMO. It would have made a difference of 15-20 yards, probably. Oh well.

 

[JonJon]

I wasn't happy with the way they played or with the playcalling. Too many dropped balls.

They played better than the last 4 weeks - granted, but that isn't saying much. This Seattle team is BAD and you will see it next week - they will get DEMOLISHED.

I have to disagree. With our luck, Seattle's win last night will "propel" them to regain their form from last year and that will carry them to the SB. Then, the ESPN media will be oh so happy to remind everyone of the botched FG hold as the season changing moment that turned the Seattle season around. Just watch, our humiliation is not over.

 

[ghst187]

The TG fumble is where we lost it.....All we had to do was get a few first downs and punt, but instead they get 2 points, plus the ball back at midfield and then a TD. We would've been better off giving up a TD instead of a goalline stand in hindsight. That was a 9 point swing.

But there was truly no way we were going to stop Seattle from getting into Josh Brown range with a minute left either....

 

[Maikeru-sama]

I wasn't happy with the way they played or with the playcalling. Too many dropped balls.

They played better than the last 4 weeks - granted, but that isn't saying much. This Seattle team is BAD and you will see it next week - they will get DEMOLISHED.

I also didnt like the way we played.

Everybody talked about how banged up they were but we have been playing teams that have been decimated by injuries all year so yesterday was par for the course.

The thing is, if we were decimated by injuries like the Giants, Eagles and Seattle, do you think this coaching staff would be compotent and creative enough to come up with some schemes for us to be competitive like the 3 aforementioned teams?

Nope, one guy (Adams and Ellis) gets injured and Parcells teams totally tank.

 

[Maikeru-sama]

The TG fumble is where we lost it.....All we had to do was get a few first downs and punt, but instead they get 2 points, plus the ball back at midfield and then a TD. We would've been better off giving up a TD instead of a goalline stand in hindsight. That was a 9 point swing.


But there was truly no way we were going to stop Seattle from getting into Josh Brown range with a minute left either....

I was thinking the same thing. Norm Hitzges all last week pointed out how great of a kicker Brown has been.

But at least we give ourselves a change. But my guess would have been Jeremy Stevens for a huge chunk up the middle to put them in FG range.

 

[Kalyan]

All our "star" players failed at the crucial times. The real star player, Ware, had a solid game again without any miscues. Apart from Witten, Romo, Glen

Newman - PI on goal line
Roy - Missing Alex on crucial 3rd down in the back field, TD to stevens,...
TO - 3rd down drop, drive killed

And we have 3-4 balls thrown right into our hands and not one of them came with a interception in those situations.

The whole team looked jittery and that's what happens when you loe 3 out of the last 4 at home going into the playoffs. The team lost confidence and played very shaky

 

[DipChit]

Starting with Terry Glenn. The soft-spoken, sure-handed hard-working receiver we all love, fumbles out of the end zone for a safety. He hadn't fumbled the ball in 4 years.

Jason Witten. One of my favorite players, he hadn't fumbled in 2 years and has only lost one fumble in his 4 year career.

Tony Romo - the holder. Yeah he played like crap for most of the game, but who on here expected a botched placement to be the final nail in our coffin?

Throw in a couple dropped Int's too I guess.

But how come we even have to have "goats"?

Lets say we make the field goal and the Hags dont end up winning with one of their own.. who would their defacto goats have been?

Maybe Hasselbeck for not playing "better".. but by in large they made the catches when they had to make them, got the yards on the ground when they had to get them and made the tackles when they needed to make them.

 

[superpunk]

Throw in a couple dropped Int's too I guess.

But how come we even have to have "goats"?

Lets say we make the field goal and the Hags dont end up winning with one of their own.. who would their defacto goats have been?

Maybe Hasselbeck for not playing "better".. but by in large they made the catches when they had to make them, got the yards on the ground when they had to get them and made the tackles when they needed to make them.

It's part of sports. Don't ask me.

 

[Chuck 54]

I actually think we played well at the QB position. It all changes in the playoffs...nothing's easy. True, he overthrew a couple guys early and a couple in the turf, but those guys were not wide open, and as I told my friend who was complaining, I'd prefer those throws in tight situations to the two INT's Matt H. threw up for grabs.

I'll also add that a couple of short passes that went into the turf were intentional, I think...my friend was screaming at the TV and I'm saying that the pass was barely across the LOS and the LB was flying up right behind the back ready to cream him...QB's are asked not to get their guys killed for nothing...sometimes an Inc. is a good thing.

Here's some food for thought:

Peyton Manning--3 int's yesterday
Trent Green--2 int's yesterday
Matt Hasslebeck--2 int's yesterday
Tony Romo-- "0"---he played the way Bill wanted him to play and gave us a chance to win a playoff game on the road.

I see only 3 goats in yesterday's game:

1. Terry Glenn...love him, but that fumble ended up in 8 points for Seattle when we had a 7 point lead, not to mention they were down after being stopped by our goal line stand.

2. Tony Romo, the holder, not the QB...he blew it...simple.

3. Whoever was supposed to be covering Jeremy Stevens who caught both TD's...I know who I think was supposed to stop both of those plays when they went deep, but I won't name him since it will just start a long thread about "it wasn't his man".

* Sidenote: I've read a lot about wet, shiney, slick balls causing our drops and our fumbles...that Hackett kid, #18?, didn't seem to have any problem...he was making freakin' circus catches with his fingertips behind him and diving catches.

 

[superpunk]

Sorry wayne. Chunking the ball in the turf and overthrowing people for three quarters isn't good, or even close. Clearly they are preferable to INTs, but that's like asking me if I want dog crap or whale nut for breakfast. Neither is any good. He looked like a McNabb out there, and that irks me. JMO.

Also he looks more and more like a Bledsoe with more wiggle. Or grossman, or Favre, or any gunslinger who's looking downfield and ignoring his underneath dumps against soft coverage that continually leaves us in third and long. I really didn't see much that could be classified as "good." The drops and fumbles didn't help, but he wasn't helping his receivers much, either. Throwing the ball behind OWens, allowing the beat defender to make a play, overthrowing Crayton who got behind the zone for a first down. He stunk.

And I'll defend Roy forever, lol. I homer for Mr. Williams in coverage. It wasn't his "man" but he had some responsibility there. What was inexcusable for me was him leaving his feet against Tiki...I mean Shaun Alexander and missing on that 4th down. Unforgivable.

 

[DipChit]

I wonder what percentage of plays Crayton was in the game.

I said before the game that the only way to be succesful was to use 3 WR sets a lot.. and I mean a lot.

Since our running game is so bad by in large I'd just double TO and Glenn all night long. Whether my secondary was banged up or not.

Not to say there arent routes you can devise to counter that effect but in the big picture only otherwise having Witten and dump offs as your options..well it wouldnt leadt to much "explosiveness".