USAToday: Dallas Cowboys Team Report

[Gryphon]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/cowboys/notes.htm

Now that the Cowboys have finished celebrating their dramatic overtime victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, reality has set in. They know they got away with one. They know if it had been anybody but the sorry Chiefs, they may have lost Sunday.

How bad was it? Consider that the Cowboys were flagged for penalties 13 times for 90 yards. It was the most penalties they've committed since the 2000 season and the 10th most in franchise history. They missed a field goal when their holder didn't get the laces turned out. They muffed two punts, including one that was a turnover that led to a field goal. They mishandled the center-quarterback exchange, setting up a touchdown. Yes, the Chiefs were that bad. They couldn't even win a game the Cowboys tried to give them. Remember, Kansas City has lost 28 of their last 30 games.

Yes, the Cowboys are a long way from being good. They have some work to do during the bye before they return to action against the Falcons. "I think we've got to look at some things, right some wrongs," linebacker Bradie James said. "That's why we're here. This is our bye week, we won the game, we're here still watching film because there're still a couple things we can improve on, and I think we will."

The Cowboys know they must get better in a hurry if they want to truly make this a successful season. They are what they are right now, a 3-2 team that is looking up at Philadelphia and New York in the NFC East and the Saints, Falcons, Vikings, Bears and 49ers in the rest of the NFC. Doing what they did on Sunday won't get it done against real teams. "We've got to play smarter. You can't shoot yourself in the foot in this league," linebacker Keith Brooking said. "Very good football teams will slap you right upside the head and take the win from you. We have to think about that, we have to be conscious of that."

The Cowboys know they need to be more disciplined and cut down on their penalties. They need work on their two-minute defense red-zone offense. They need to pay more attention to detail and improve their tackling and their techniques in pass rushing and pass blocking. It is all being emphasized this week during the bye when they are practicing longer and harder. "Especially this week," coach Wade Phillips said. "We're not playing a game this week, so we're going to work hard on our two-minute defense. We've got to get better in that. It's amazing to me that we play so well on third downs. I mean, that really is your third-down defense. We have been, I think we are one of the top third-down teams. Not to carry it over to two minutes — we'll keep working on that. That's an area we'll attack. "Our red-zone offense, certainly we've got to keep working on that. The only way to do it is keep working on it and getting better and better and more confident in each other and what we're doing."

 

[BourbonBalz]

I know we didn't play very well, considering all the penalties and the two urnovers, but how did we "get away with one"??????? We had 500 yards of offense.

 

[elcarita]

I don't remember reading that the stinking Giants got away with one against us, they just won because they are so stinking good.. Talk about a bunch of B.S.

 

[Rampage]

I know we didn't play very well, considering all the penalties and the two urnovers, but how did we "get away with one"??????? We had 500 yards of offense.

cause the freaking Chiefs took them into overtime!

 

[Idgit]

cause the freaking Chiefs took them into overtime!

Chiefs aren't as bad as their record. NYG needed some help putting them away a week before.

That game wasn't nearly as bad as people on this board made it out to be. Our fans took the game for granted and were shocked that it wasn't a blowout, but it was a very entertaining game. We came out flat in the first half, had what should have been two fumbles, had two dropped TDs, and a missed field goal and put ourselves in a big hole that we later dug out of. It was the opposite of a game where reality set in after the fact. Gauging the team's reaction to the win, it's much more likely this is pivotal in a positive way. We'll find out in another week when we see how we play ATL.

 

[RS12]

Chiefs aren't as bad as their record.

Oh yes they are. Giants ran em off their home field a week earlier. They might give the Skins a game this week, but that is not saying much.

 

[ShiningStar]

over the years, i have and as many on here would agree with, i dont think i ever seen 1 team complain about the fact they won however they did it.

Is there a column for that, W L G "Give it back"

Does the SB care when you get there, is there a committe that tosses you out of the SB if you get there with some wins you didnt deserve? Are refs fired if they make the wrong call and it gives one team a win over the other? Whos on these committees i want to talk with them.

 

[big dog cowboy]

The rest.........

NOTES, QUOTES

—WR Miles Austin celebrated his 250-yard receiving day against the Chiefs for 48 hours. He had over 200 text messages from friends and family and he attended the U2 concert Monday night. He was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week. His focus now is to not be a one-hit wonder and develop some consistency. "For me I'm going to continue to do whatever the coaches ask me to do," Austin said. "If they have me play more, I'll do that. If it's doing kickoff or kick return, I'll be doing that. I'm out there playing whatever they have me do." —Tiger Woods attended the U2 concert in Jerry Jones' suite Monday night. On Tuesday, he worked out at the Cowboys' Valley Ranch training complex. "He's the greatest athlete of all time in my opinion," reserve QB Stephen McGee said. "There's a lot to learn from Tiger. He's got a lot of major characteristics. He was in the weight room showing that work ethic you always hear about. He was really cool." —S Alan Ball was fined $5,000 by the NFL for his hit on Kansas City Chiefs receiver Bobby Wade that drew an unnecessary roughness penalty. Ball plans to appeal the fine. BY THE NUMBERS: 14,987 — Number of total career return yards by new Cowboy Allen Rossum. That's second on the NFL's all-time list. QUOTE TO NOTE: "There's still a lot of room for us to grow. That's encouraging, to know that a lot of the problems we're having, they are fixable. So that's the good thing about having the bye week, you can really concentrate on those things." — Cowboys NT Jay Ratliff.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

Strong safety Mike Hamlin returned to practice Wednesday for the first time since fracturing his wrist in the preseason. He is expected to available for the Falcons game after the bye. Strong safety Gerald Sensabaugh plans to return for the Falcons game, too. He missed last week's game with the Chiefs after having surgery to repair a broken plate in his thumb. "I should be able to go," he said. "Tuesday I'm going to the doctor to get some kind of cast thing put on where I can practice the whole week and then I'm going to cut that off where I can wear something else for the game. I'm thinking I'll be able to play next week. It's pretty comfortable. A lot of the swelling went down. I'm just wearing this brace so I don't bump it on anything. It's coming along well. It's feeling pretty well and I have pretty much no pain right now and I'm able to move my thumb a little bit."PLAYER NOTES —CB Cletis Gordon was released to make room for KR Allen Rossum on the roster. —RB Chauncey Washington was signed back to the practice squad for the third straight week. —KR Allen Rossum was signed to a one-year deal on Wednesday, fulfilling a lifelong and childhood dream. Rossum, who was released by the 49ers on Monday, gets to finally play at home after 12 years in the NFL. He went to Dallas Skyline High School before playing for Notre Dame and getting drafted in the third round of in 1998 by the Philadelphia Eagles. "It feels good, man," Rossum said. "The phone has not stopped ringing. It took 12 years for me to get back since I left. It is something I dreamed of as a young kid playing at Skyline. So this is awesome and I'm looking forward to the opportunity. I know my mom is smiling. She is excited. I'm excited. My entire family is excited. I finally got an opportunity to have a star on my helmet." The 12-year veteran has been a game-breaking returner with five teams, the Eagles, Packers, Steelers, Falcons and 49ers. Rossum ranks second in NFL history for total career return yards (14,987) and kickoff return yards (11,931) and first among active players (ninth all-time) with 3,056 career punt return yards. He is the only player in NFL history to have a kickoff return for a touchdown with five different teams. —RB Felix Jones should be close to returning to action. Jones has missed the past two games with a sprained knee. He is running again and is expected to practice when the team resumes workouts after the bye in an attempt to play against the Falcons. —LB Curtis Johnson (hamstring) is the only one of the injured Cowboys not expected to practice next Wednesday in an attempt to play against the Falcons following the bye. —WR Roy Williams (ribs) and RB Felix Jones (knee) have been running and will try to give it a go next Wednesday. —SS Gerald Sensabaugh who missed last week's game after surgery on his right thumb. Doctors removed a plate from a previous thumb surgery and stabilized the thumb with pins and screws. "I'm trying to play against Atlanta," Sensabaugh said. "It's up to the staff, but I should be ready to go." Sensabaugh plans to wear a soft cast.

 

[Idgit]

Oh yes they are. Giants ran em off their home field a week earlier. They might give the Skins a game this week, but that is not saying much.

Giants beat them, but they took advantage of an opening kickoff fumble and a failed trick onsides kick, got some favorable calls, and still didn't dominate them Chiefs statistically.

KC's lost all their games, but they played the Ravens, Eagles, NYFG, and Dallas in that span. They're not a talented team, but they're not as bad as their record, either.

Still, if you watched our game, we dominated that team physically. It went to OT because we repeatedly shot ourselves in the foot early.

 

[GMen86]

Giants beat them, but they took advantage of an opening kickoff fumble and a failed trick onsides kick, got some favorable calls, and still didn't dominate them Chiefs statistically.

KC's lost all their games, but they played the Ravens, Eagles, NYFG, and Dallas in that span. They're not a talented team, but they're not as bad as their record, either.

Still, if you watched our game, we dominated that team physically. It went to OT because we repeatedly shot ourselves in the foot early.

Did you actually watch the Giants Chiefs game? Giants lead 27-3 in the fourth qtr and the Chiefs scored 13 against the Giants cleanup squad. Just saying...

 

[landryscorner]

Our 2 minute defense really sucks...it's depressing how we can't stop opposing teams with the game on the line. Wade is doing a very poor job of coaching up the defense in these critical drives. The failure here is that he uses the same dam schemes every game when it comes down to the wire and teams are just looking at film and doing whatever works against our defense and are having success. As long as our defense lines up the same way when the games on the line to prevent the long play opposing offenses are going to have success. The minute they see the formation they are already calling the plays that have had success against us. That's why were not winning those clutch games.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Last year the Giants had to go to overtime with the then-sucky Bengals... And of course the Eagles couldn't even beat them.

It didn't mean those teams were terribly coached or destined to fail the rest of the year.

 

[ghst187]

our season so far has been the definition of a mediocre, irrelevant team. Mediocre, irrelevant teams play good teams close and barely beat bad teams. Meanwhile, good teams smash bad teams and win close games against mediocre teams. That's how it works at all levels. We are, sadly, extremely mediocre and i'm sure we'll play everyone close and lose to the good teams while barely beating the bad ones. Unfortunately, we don't have too many bad teams left on the schedule. I'll be happy if we have a winning record.

 

[jobberone]

Our 2 minute defense really sucks...it's depressing how we can't stop opposing teams with the game on the line. Wade is doing a very poor job of coaching up the defense in these critical drives. The failure here is that he uses the same dam schemes every game when it comes down to the wire and teams are just looking at film and doing whatever works against our defense and are having success. As long as our defense lines up the same way when the games on the line to prevent the long play opposing offenses are going to have success. The minute they see the formation they are already calling the plays that have had success against us. That's why were not winning those clutch games.

There is some meat here. We are not disguising our defense well. I do think it has to do with the fact that our safety play is subpar. You really do want to play a cover two there or a variation as your base defense. When we do this we leave ourselves open in the seams and underneath. Combine that with poor tackling along with poor safety play and we get no turnovers and have a loose defense. I understand them not wanting to expose the secondary with blitzes esp with the poor safety play. And I understand why they don't play more pressure and man coverage with inexperienced and inconsistent CBs in Scandrick and Jenkins (not to mention the sometimes inconsistent TNew).

But to keep expecting something different when they repeatedly give up the same plays over and over to different teams is insane. You have to just trust them to make some plays and switch up the defense some.

JMO.

 

[BourbonBalz]

cause the freaking Chiefs took them into overtime!

No **** Sherlock. I think everyone knows this. Still, it's not like we got a lucky bounce of the ball or something crazy happened. The Chiefs didn't give the game way. We took it, regardless of whether or not it was in overtime.

 

[jazzcat22]

Giants beat them, but they took advantage of an opening kickoff fumble and a failed trick onsides kick, got some favorable calls, and still didn't dominate them Chiefs statistically.

KC's lost all their games, but they played the Ravens, Eagles, NYFG, and Dallas in that span. They're not a talented team, but they're not as bad as their record, either.

Still, if you watched our game, we dominated that team physically. It went to OT because we repeatedly shot ourselves in the foot early.

And PENALTY'S galore.......

 

[Seven]

I know we didn't play very well, considering all the penalties and the two urnovers, but how did we "get away with one"??????? We had 500 yards of offense.

.........................and 26 points?

 

[big dog cowboy]

.........................and 26 points?

That is actually easy to explain. The average starting possession for the Cowboys was their own 22 yard line with the best starting postion their 36 yard line.

Additionally figure in we had 12 possessions and only 2 that were 3 and out.

We moved the ball all day. Field position just killed us with our D not producing any turnovers.

 

[Kevinicus]

Oh yes they are. Giants ran em off their home field a week earlier. They might give the Skins a game this week, but that is not saying much.

The Giants were gifted 14 points in the first half by the Chiefs fumbling the opening kickoff and the refs calling a BS penalty. Otherwise that's a 3-3 game at halftime. Then the Chiefs outscored the Giants 13-10 the second half.

 

[Seven]

That is actually easy to explain. The average starting possession for the Cowboys was their own 22 yard line with the best starting postion their 36 yard line.

Additionally figure in we had 12 possessions and only 2 that were 3 and out.

We moved the ball all day. Field position just killed us with our D not producing any turnovers.

I hear ya BDC. Great points.


I guess my point was your statement in bold. We moved the ball fairly easily yet continued to flail. :bang2: