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I expect half the team to return from the bye in good working order — the offensive half. Tony Romo will make an enormous difference. I’m sure lots of folks were having some nasty Ryan Leaf/Chad Hutchinson/Drew Henson/Anthony Wright flashbacks on Sunday. QBs with ratings near 100, even those with wild streaks, change your football world view — tremendously.
It was lost in the debris of the Cardinals loss, but that game was Romo’s 32nd as a starter. News flash — he’s good:
Splitting his numbers down the middle — and that’s fair because he’s been remarkably consistent — we get this average season line:
528 att.; 341 comp.; 64.6 comp. %; 8.3 YPA; 35 TDs; 19 Int.; 97.8 Rating
W-L: 23-9, 72%
Remember this — Romo has been throwing all along. He has not been playing because he can’t take a snap, transition the ball to his hand and get a pass off quickly under a rush. But he’s been able to throw all along.
Which means he’s been developing timing with Roy Williams.
– Felix Jones will be back. He’s not practicing now, as a precaution, but he’s running with no pain. We should see him in Washington. He’s another guy whose value became immediately apparent when he left. Defenses had no answer for him. He was averaging at TD a game.
And Jason Garrett didn’t use him in the first Commanders game, so he’s still a mystery to them.
– Kyle Kosier should also be back. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Dallas’ best rushing game of the season came in his lone start versus Green Bay. I don’t want to make him out as a miracle worker, but offensive lines function as a unit, and losing a starter often hurts you more than his individual value, because the entire unit is weaker. He may only be 10% better of a player than Cory Proctor, but it’s hard to put an accurate estimate on how much his loss has hurt the line’s overall play. I’d put it as more than 10%.
I do think his return makes Flozell Adams and Andre Gurode better players. And it makes the Cowboys a more balanced running team. They have been very right-handed so far this year.
The Cowboys offense should be humming again after the bye. Romo’s return alone makes them much better. Adding Jones and Kosier, not to mention the unknown potential of a Romo-Williams connection and the points should return.
And every point will be vital, because I don’t know what can be done to fix the run defense. That’s the task facing the staff, because they’re going to be the Chargers East if they don’t figure that one out. A source I spoke to yesterday said the front seven defenders “are having a hard time getting off blocks.”
Getting them free will determine this season — and the future employment of a lot of defensive players and coaches.
Developing…
Mea Culpa
I wrote in the spring that coaching changes might bring out better play in the Cowboys’ lines and give them that small edge they needed to improve.
It seems I was wrong.
Oh, I don’t care about Brad Johnson. He did what he did. But Tony Romo will replace him in two weeks. That’s not the bigger issue to me.
What about the offensive and defensive lines? Nobody is going to replace them in two weeks.
Todd Grantham has failed to get his guys to play better than Kacey Rogers did. The Giants are a very good running team, the best in the game. But Dallas prepped for them and didn’t slow them down.
And they got mauled by the Commanders.
And they were abused by the Rams.
The defensive ends are playing terribly. The inside linebackers are rarely making plays. The Cowboys are getting gouged inside and outside. Who replaces them?
On the offensive line, I wonder if Jerry erred when he chose Hudson Houck over Wade Phillips’ choice Mike Solari? Because the meltdown in pass protection and the inability to get a push can’t be all Brad Johnson’s fault.
These are the same guys as last year. Flozell Adams is not playing as well now that he has his money and the line clearly misses Kyle Kosier. But they look soft and disorganized.
Kosier will probably come back in two weeks. But who replaces the rest of these guys?
It was lost in the debris of the Cardinals loss, but that game was Romo’s 32nd as a starter. News flash — he’s good:
Splitting his numbers down the middle — and that’s fair because he’s been remarkably consistent — we get this average season line:
528 att.; 341 comp.; 64.6 comp. %; 8.3 YPA; 35 TDs; 19 Int.; 97.8 Rating
W-L: 23-9, 72%
Remember this — Romo has been throwing all along. He has not been playing because he can’t take a snap, transition the ball to his hand and get a pass off quickly under a rush. But he’s been able to throw all along.
Which means he’s been developing timing with Roy Williams.
– Felix Jones will be back. He’s not practicing now, as a precaution, but he’s running with no pain. We should see him in Washington. He’s another guy whose value became immediately apparent when he left. Defenses had no answer for him. He was averaging at TD a game.
And Jason Garrett didn’t use him in the first Commanders game, so he’s still a mystery to them.
– Kyle Kosier should also be back. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Dallas’ best rushing game of the season came in his lone start versus Green Bay. I don’t want to make him out as a miracle worker, but offensive lines function as a unit, and losing a starter often hurts you more than his individual value, because the entire unit is weaker. He may only be 10% better of a player than Cory Proctor, but it’s hard to put an accurate estimate on how much his loss has hurt the line’s overall play. I’d put it as more than 10%.
I do think his return makes Flozell Adams and Andre Gurode better players. And it makes the Cowboys a more balanced running team. They have been very right-handed so far this year.
The Cowboys offense should be humming again after the bye. Romo’s return alone makes them much better. Adding Jones and Kosier, not to mention the unknown potential of a Romo-Williams connection and the points should return.
And every point will be vital, because I don’t know what can be done to fix the run defense. That’s the task facing the staff, because they’re going to be the Chargers East if they don’t figure that one out. A source I spoke to yesterday said the front seven defenders “are having a hard time getting off blocks.”
Getting them free will determine this season — and the future employment of a lot of defensive players and coaches.
Developing…
Mea Culpa
I wrote in the spring that coaching changes might bring out better play in the Cowboys’ lines and give them that small edge they needed to improve.
It seems I was wrong.
Oh, I don’t care about Brad Johnson. He did what he did. But Tony Romo will replace him in two weeks. That’s not the bigger issue to me.
What about the offensive and defensive lines? Nobody is going to replace them in two weeks.
Todd Grantham has failed to get his guys to play better than Kacey Rogers did. The Giants are a very good running team, the best in the game. But Dallas prepped for them and didn’t slow them down.
And they got mauled by the Commanders.
And they were abused by the Rams.
The defensive ends are playing terribly. The inside linebackers are rarely making plays. The Cowboys are getting gouged inside and outside. Who replaces them?
On the offensive line, I wonder if Jerry erred when he chose Hudson Houck over Wade Phillips’ choice Mike Solari? Because the meltdown in pass protection and the inability to get a push can’t be all Brad Johnson’s fault.
These are the same guys as last year. Flozell Adams is not playing as well now that he has his money and the line clearly misses Kyle Kosier. But they look soft and disorganized.
Kosier will probably come back in two weeks. But who replaces the rest of these guys?
