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Stuff

I was perusing the Cowboys site and saw a lot of souvenirs for this week’s Ring of Honor inductions. Among them is the Dallas Morning News’ Emmitt Smith-sets-the-rushing-record edition. Since I have a copy it got me thinking, what types of things do you collect?

I’m not big on t-shirts, or any pre and post-fab mementos, but I do have two collections I prize. The first is a growing collection of tapes of the ’90s Cowboys. I started collecting them in 1991, when it became clear that the team was going places. It’s got a few holes, but it’s got every playoff game from the wild card win over the Bears to the era-ending loss to the Panthers. I’ve also got worn copies of Super Bowls XII and XIII that could use some upgrading. Still, they’re fun to watch, even if their quality is not so hot. I recently got a DVD of the Cowboys 5-0 win over Detroit in the ‘70 divisional playoffs. Craig Morton does a top-notch Drew Henson impersonation in that game, but Doomsday is in top form.

The other is a collection of newspapers and magazines featuring the team or team members. I’ve the Jimmy/Jerry era covered, from playoff wins, to Jimmy’s resignation to Emmitt passing Walter Payton. My favorite is probably the Monday edition of The San Francisco Examiner that tries to explain how the 49ers lost the ‘93 NFC Championship to a bunch of young punks from Dallas.

I’ve also got a few from the Landry era. I found two choice Sporting News issues in an antique store in Newburyport, Massachusetts about seven years ago. One covers Super Bowl V. The other, issued the week before Super Bowl VI, has Roger Staubach on the cover. Scored both of them for five bucks. I’ve even got a Sport magazine from 1968 that offers a glowing profile of Dandy Don Meredith.

What’s in your stash? What is/are your favorite piece(s) of Cowboys memorabilia?

Why Not?

We’re only one week into the season, but it’s clear that the NFC remains shallow and wide open. And that the Cowboys nation has every reason to maintain optimism for the weeks ahead.

A few days ago, the community predicted where the Cowboys would finish this year. One question that was not asked involves the strength of the conference. You don’t play in a vacuum and your final position depends as much on your competition as much as it does on you. So what can we conclude about the NFC after week one?

In the East, the Eagles are a power, regardless of their loss to the Falcons. Remember, they began the 2003 season with blowout losses to the Bucs and Patriots, and still made it to the conference title game. They’re not going anywhere.

The question marks are the Giants and Redskins — and, of course, the Cowboys. The Giants had an explosive opener, but Tom Coughlin is already grousing about the mistakes his team made. Washington is looking for its first TD. It has also made its first QB switch, promoting Mark Brunell to starter. We’ll see how limber Brunell remains when he faces the Cowboys next week.

In the North, the consensus-pick Vikings have already fallen flat, though they have always had trouble solving a Monte Kiffin defense. The Packers, most everyone’s pick to be the letdown team of the year, are falling down on cue. Javon Walker’s ACL tear and the eroding play of Brett Favre could make this a long year for the Cheeseheads. The mystery is Detroit. Their defense looked awful in the preseason but shut down Green Bay. How much of this is the maturity of the young Detroit D and how much of that result was due to Green Bay’s decay?

In the South, everybody loves the Saints, but can a team without a home get consistent play for sixteen games? The NFL has done the Saints no favors by moving them around like a flailing sitcom. If they win this year it will be in spite of the league suits. Tampa has added Mark Clayton and Cadillac Williams the past two years, but can their seeming brilliance overcome a very pedestrian offensive line?

The big news there is the continuing bad luck of the Panthers. The preseason pick (mine included) has lost Pro Bowl DT Kris Benson for the year with an ACL tear. It’s only one player, and only one game, but this is how Carolina’s snakebitten ‘04 started. And they will feel Benson’s absense the rest of the way. Unless Brian Griese recaptures his early form with the Broncos, or the Panthers find a new anchor for their defense, Atlanta may win this one the way the Eagles have won the East of late — early and easily.

In the West, the world is upside down. There was no consensus pick in a conference most have rated worst in the NFL. The one thing people did agree upon was that San Francisco was the worst of the lot. Today the 49ers are the only team with a win. The Cardinals showed that their offense can stockpile as many skill positions it wants, but won’t go anywhere until the offensive line improves. That’s only been an issue, since Dan Dierdorf retired almost 20 years ago. The Rams and the Seahawks don’t seem able to stop anybody so their offenses will have to win shootouts.

Who among this cast of competitors scares you? The Falcons beat the Eagles, but Atlanta’s passing game is still hot and cold. The Eagles, on the other hand, gave up over 200 yards rushing. It’s hard to believe that Jeremiah Trotter is that important to that team, but they can’t afford for him to get into any more pregame fights, or worse, suffer an injury. When ESPN has the Eagles rated second best in the NFC and Dallas rated third (only three conference teams are in the top 10) you have to ask yourself, why can’t the Cowboys make a serious run?

Come Back, Guest Bloggers

We like to keep the content fresh here, introducing at least one new thread per day. This is going to be very difficult for me on Wednesdays, where I am going 9 am to 9 pm and won’t be near a computer much.

I’m looking for a return of the guest bloggers to fill the gap. It can be folks to subbed for me back in May right after the draft, or anybody new. Post your addy and ideas downthread. You may become a regular here.

By the Numbers — The Running Game

A short breakdown of the running attack vs. San Diego:

Runs left — 7 attempts, 27 yards, 3.9 yard. average;

Runs middle — 13 attempts, 45 yards, 3.5 yard average;

Runs right — 8 attempts, 30 yards, 3.75 yard average;

Pretty consistent averages across the board. Dallas was slightly better running left, but the hard core folks know that the problem the last few years has been the terrible discrepancy between runs left and right, with the average left being good and the runs right being terrible. The key to success will be improving the average on the right side. It’s only one game, but it looks promising.

Game plan notes: The big play we’re likely to see more of in the future is the sprint draw. Julius Jones had only three runs longer than ten yards Sunday. One was a sprint draw right on the first play from scrimmage. A second was a sprint draw left in the first quarter on the Cowboys initial TD drive. Dallas also unveiled a slightly modified version of the classic T-formation sweep. The Cowboys stripped it down slightly, pulling only the offside guard, in this case Larry Allen, to lead Julius Jones outside. The play was run once for nine yards. Expect to see it again.

Negative runs: 3 for -4 yards;

Runs for no gain: 5

Runs of 1 to 3 yards: 9 for 18 yards;

Runs of 4 to 6 yards: 6 for 32 yards, 1 TD;

Runs of 7 yards or better: 5 for 55 yards;

Longest run: 13 yards

This is what you would expect against a tough run defense that is stacking its front to stop your running back. Dallas ground out the yards, but they were not easy.

This is What Ball Control Looks Like: When Bill Parcells announced Sean Payton was getting the play calling duties he explained that they had similar philosophies, which centered around controlling the ball. Here are some tendencies from Sunday that bear this out:

First down runs: 17 for 63 yards, 3.7 yard average;

Second down runs: 9 for 26 yards, 2.9 yard average;

Third down runs: 2 for 12 yards, 6.0 yard average;

The Cowboys had 27 first down plays against the Chargers. 17 calls were for run and only 10 for the pass. Payton stayed with his run-first tendency even though the Chargers were stuffing Dallas on first down. After Jones 12 yard burst on the Cowboys first play, Dallas had six first down runs for only 10 yards the rest of the first half. Dallas did much better in the second half, getting 9, 9 and a five yard TD run on the first three 3rd quarter 1st-down runs.

Another huge problem for the ‘04 Cowboys was third and short. Dallas faced only one down of third and three or less on Sunday. It converted with a six yard Jones run. It seems the best philosophy for third and short is to stay out of them.

(Note: I’m not including Drew Bledsoe scrambles or sacks. We can debate this, but unless they are planned runs — and I will probably have some digestion issues if they start rolling #11 out on purpose — I’m not including them here.)

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