It’s a Thin Line…
Posted: October 30, 2006 @ 9:41 am
… between love and hate. And also between winning and losing.
Bill Parcells was in a hurry to get back to Dallas and get back to work after the game. He’s a glass-is-half-full kind of guy, or at least he was last night, yet he realizes that this team still has lots of work to do, even with the Tony Romo boost, if it’s to avoid Philadelphia Syndrome.â„¢
The stats look impressive. Lots more plays run. A huge edge in time of possession and total yards. But then, Dallas dominated those stats in Philly too. They outgained the Giants last week. Two big improvements helped key this win. First, no big pass plays on defense. The Panthers longest play from scrimmage was Steve Smith’s 24 yard end around in the first quarter, one play after Tony Romo’s interception. Dallas prevented Smith from going crazy, as he’s done in all the Panthers’ wins.
Second, Dallas did a much better job of protecting the ball. Romo played his game, but he’ll still get an earful from his coaches for his pick, which should have been tossed out of bounds. Dallas takes control of this game much, much earlier without it.
Parcells knows this team is a short step back from going 4-4. They still had an annoying nine penalties for 86 yards last night. They’re drawing flags at a much higher rate than last year and that has to drive the coach nuts. Two dumb offensive line penalties stopped the Cowboys’ opening drives, when Romo and the receivers came out hot. A ticky-tack hold on Terrell Owens kept Dallas from a first-and-goal at the end of the first half and forced them to settle for a field goal instead of charging for a tie.
And the pass rush still needs to step up a couple of levels. Greg Ellis had two sacks, but he was alone in getting consistent pressure.
The coach isn’t in denial about any of this. That’s a good sign. He knows that if you get too self impressed over an early season win, you can stop working and hit a losing streak, as the Eagles have, going 0-3 since they were annointed as “back” following their Dallas win. His players are having fun for a change, but I’m guessing they also realize how thin the line between contention and mediocrity really is.
Comments
199 Responses to “It’s a Thin Line…”
wow, 1st again!! Hehehe
It is good to see them having as much fun as they did last night. I really haven’t seen this enthusiasm from this team all year. Happy, yes, but they seem like the addition of Romo to the starting lineup ahs injected them with some “juice”.
I like what I saw, except for the penalties, and I think they’re going to “ride the wave” for the near future.
they should realize that they entered the 4th 1/4 losing and were one keyshawn catch and outrunning of henry away from going further down on the road.
Some of romo’s best plays were passes he didnt complete, on purpose.
madden was nagging the receivers for being too close to the sidelines, but it looked like romo threw some away b/c they were covered.
he appears to have gained some faith that he has a punter and a defense that can bail him out of the occassional 3 or 6 and out. he has the weapons so plays will be there throughout the game, just have to take advantage of a few of them.
just enough problems last night to bring them down from cloud 9 on wed. Hope that their asst strength coach is all right, they had to put the plane down last night to take him to the hospital for heart problems.
as pumped as the cowboys nation is today. I think it is important to know that there is a lot of improvement to go, especially before the big one against Indy at home. Hopefully, this road stretch will be good for the team in order for them to iron out some problems and then have a huge bump in conviedence for “homcoming”.
things I didn’t like
-where’s the pass rush
-romo interception…obviously should have thrown it away. wasn’t a bad read, just a dumb throw
-penalties, I thought the refs called the game badly but dallas still had some real stupid ones…especially TOs lazy holding penalty. he’s got to block for 4 quarters
Things I liked
-after 14 points in the first, the dallas d didn’t allow carlonia a sniff at the endzone for the most part.
-holding them to 76 yards on the ground. that usually wins games.
-julius jones and barber both looking good. big holes. big props to the o-line
-tony romo, our new darling. he’s pretty good. could maybe get the job done for us. looked GREAT throwing over the middle and getting witten in the offense.
BRING THE ROAD GAMES ON!!!!
emrdog,
i submit that the next two games are immensly more important than the indy game. first off, if we beat the skins, we have won a division road game (to go to 2-2 in the division)and chalked up another NFC win.
If we then beat the cards we get another NFC win. these are things that become hugely important when figuring who goes to the playoffs.
Sure id love to beat indy, but lets not get ahead of ourselves here. there are other games on our schedule that have more signficant ramifications.
We are not good enough for the ‘Skins game to be a ‘trap’ but I hope these guys remember what they did to us second game last year (and the first for that matter.)
I am still not happy with Parcells red zone play calling/plabook. We dont have that ‘go to’ play inside the 10 and Romo needs some work down there. If we have trouble sticking it in against the ’skins, they have enough players to make us very unhappy.
And lets not forget that many of those same players who looked ordinary at the beginning of the season last year turned it on and were one of the best teams in the league by the end.
This game will have all the ‘atmosphere’ we can handle, so I hope we dont come out like we did against the Eagles or we will be 1-3 in the division and on the outside looking in at the playoffs.
Give king a pass for gushing over romo, but he offers another prediction:
TO will turn on him eventually, just like he did on all his QBs. we’ll see peter, we’ll see.
keep gushing all, you only have a few hours left, then romo is a 4-3 QB playing a tough division road game in a very hostile environment. Whatever you ate on sunday morning kid, eat it again.
anyone know if jim burt will be on the sidelines sunday?
BTW, anyone who preferred Keyshawn over TO needs to look at the game film last night.
Keyshawn was open maybe 4 times. He ended up with 1 catch for 4 yards. He had two drops.
TO had a bonehead holding penalty, but in all other phases of the game, outplayed Keyshawn from that position on the field.
excuse me, I meant 1 catch for 19 yards for Keyshawn.
well i should have read all of king’s article first.
he actually mentions that he was going to name vandy “goat of the week” for missing a 48 yard FG (yeah, those are gimmes) but he finally decided to name big ben for his 4 picks (that allowed a team who put up a whopping 98 yards of offense to win).
Is it just me, or are those two not even in the same area code??????
Rafael,
lets hope vandy’s funky KO is some kind of planned thing and not a real goat.
jarhead,
yes, i may be getting ahead of myself. trust me, I have mulled over the implications of the next two games, especially since Philly rolled over yesterday. Next two games are going to be big for playoffs (oh my god i just said the p word…never thought I’d say that agian.)
my point in bringing up indy is that I believe that game will be a real good measuring stick. considering dallas was left for dead last week, it will be interesting to see if this team has “turned it around”. Honestly, I’m not too worried about the road stretch. Arizona, if dallas shows up I think they can win. Arizona couldn’t even run the ball on Green Bay of all teams.
Now the next week, that’s big at washington, and I don’t mean to over look that game. Washington has looked pretty bad for the first part of the season. However, they burned Jacksonville late and last season, they brought it on down the stretch. So, I don’t mean to over look that game. However, I must say that of all the division games dallas has left, this one worries me the least. but we still need to cross our fingers.
just, FYI…i know the schedule is at Washington, then at Arizona, don’t know why i switched them…carry on.
emrdog,
i see your point on a measuring stick, but coming off three road games, who knows how we’ll be? especially if we get the win in DC sunday. I think BP will have his hands full just getting past what would be a huge “Trap game” in zona.
boys did themselves a huge favor last night, no question about it.
One other point on romo, who king contiues to gush about.
He rolled out again, just like against NY only this time has peppers in front of him. he tucks and runs it, getting about 2 yards. he saw the play was covered and didnt throw a risky pass for little gain.
so why run it? son, throw it away. you’re outside the tackles, no penalty. you really think you’re going to juke peppers and a couple of LBs? is it worth 2 yards? throw it away, next play.
jarhead, good point on the roll out. you gotta think that after that has happened twice that maybe a quarterback coach may inform romo of the outside the tackle box rule.
Why are you so big on arizona being a “trap game”? NOw, i know that a “trap game” is never obvious…hence “trap”. but come on, Arizona sucks…badly…no seriously, badly. I think the only way dallas would lose at arizona would be if romo got hurt and bledsoe took the reigns. No mistakes, no sweat…that should be a win.
emrdog,
thank you for demonstrating what a trap game is much better than i could.
but hey, in order for it to be a trap game, we have to beat DC. in that sense, my worrying about the cards would be good.
one thing at a time.
LOL, right on. you got me. I should just make everyone else’s argument besides my own.
WAsington-off a bye, currently 8th in the league rushing, 20 pass.
defense- 15th rush, 30th in pass
dallas puts together a good game plan, no mistakes. we got a W.
Forget about records. This is the Deadskins. Even if they had no talent we can’t take them lightly. Even if they don’t win another game, they will be desperate to beat us.
On Romo’s running: he better learn the QB slide. If he keeps diving head first, he won’t finish the season.
My biggest soncern right now is definitely the pass rush. I do not know if it is the scheme or what. I watched Ware alot and he is not impressing me on his rushing. All he did was bull rush and try to overpower all night. He did not try any speed rushing or changing up his attack. If he doesn’t step it up we are in trouble on the rush. Also, the same can be said for Spears and Canty even though their primary concern is the run and the LBs should be providing most of the pressure. In Carpenters 4th quarter he was get deep and almost their so maybe we need to rush him more on passing downs. Next is the oline may question now is our line really that bad or did Bledsoe just make them look bad. After last night I think we have an average line that got blitzed to much early because our qb held the ball to long and was like a statue. So, our line is probably better than the first 6 games showed.
Hey now, I liked the little juke Romo tried to put on Peppers on that rollout. He got what, two yards? Better than a sack, a deflection for a pick, or a throw away (which would have netted zero yards).
red raider,
what happenned with the horns?
you may be right about the oline, particularly columbo. he took on peppers and his 8 sacks all night.
flozell held his own, he did give up one sack on a well executed delay blitz where the blitzer had a full head of steam and was able to run around him, but he stonewalled rushers on several occassions.
need to cut down on penaltys though. A false start call on gurode was a ghost call, and too many holdings, but overall, something to work with.
and hello varied/hard counts!!!!!!
man i have been waiting for those. that threw the panthers off a little and even drew a couple of encroachment penalties.
Congrats to the Cowboys, that was a huge win. It’s a great week.
I hate challenges and replays. I have decided that referees, by definition, make bad calls, whether at full speed on the field or in the booth with slow motion. For the Cowboys, two identical plays get reviewed, one last week, one last night. Eli Manning had the ball knocked loose, clearly a fumble and ruled a fumble, and replay reverses the call. Last night the same exact thing happens, though this time it is ruled a fumble and upheld by replay. I just don’t get it. And what a terrible call on Romo’s interception..courtesy of the magic of slow-mo. Replay is just not reliable, slows the game down, it should either be revamped or eliminated. Just let one crew of refs make the bad calls, no sense spreading the wealth to another crew.
Looks like the dinosaur is back from the brink of extinction. More plays with a FB than all year. And no catches for Romo’s favorite target?
Jarhead:
We choked thats what. Our run D-fence is horrible this year and that is UT’s strength. So, I knew we even when we were up by 21 it was no where over.
Madden made one good point last night about false starts though when you have a knew qb his cadence may be slightly different so it throws everyone off so the first game it is understandable! Now, this week no excuses!
(If we lose to this Cardinals team, we should shut down the blog and get ready for the draft.)
We shouldn’t lose to the skins, but we can.
Once again, the culprits are in familiar places. The ’skins manhandled us up front in the second game last year. They have most of the same personnel and they only need look at the Phil and NY games to understand how to exploit our O-line.
In addition, my sense is that teams will start trying to take Whitten away as a safety valve. Whitten was very key last night. I think they will try to get Romo to throw more to the outside where he was not as accurate. We do have very good wideouts, so it is not a riskless strategy. But Romo has underthrown some outside balls, and those can be huge ints.
On O, the skins will try to take deep shots against us just like everyone else. And Carolina WAS open several times deep last night. Our problems are not completely fixed there, mostly because some of our all out blitzes were picked up.
There have been more games lost this year where one side has totally dominated statistically, but the other won because of critical turnover breakdowns. TB over Philly, Oak over Pitt immediately come to mind.
One thing that bothers me is that the booth announcers last night seemed to discuss as an ‘open secret’ our tendencies to blitz at certain times and run certain plays. And on cue, we would blitz. The Keyshawn drop was one of those instances. Worries me that we are becoming predictable.
Where teams looked to blitz bledsoe, look for teams to play coverage on Romo. He has a tendency to force things and with additional DBs out there, an int could be the result. The blitzes Romo will see will be CB or safety blitzes, not LB. Romo will make our line look much better that it actually is just as bledsoe made it look much worse.
Crown em if you want…….Romo is King for a Day. And then back to work.
I am glad for him and the Boys that it was the sweet taste of victory and not the bitter taste of defeat. It was a great confidence builder for a young QB against a good defense. Don’t take anything away from what Colombo and Adams did. Along with the rest of the O LINe……
also Romo had only a few rushing yards but they came at critical times that would have seen Bledsoe taking another 10 yard loss sack. It isn’t that Bledsoe is a bad qb….he ain’t funny he has a better arm than just about anybody playing today. But I liken him to Marino after that ankle injury……he still had the quick release but he was never the same after that. If BP cannot get him to let go of it earlier and not give up the INTs……then I think no one can. I for one hope Drew stays on next year too. Otherwise we gotta go get a backup that has to relearn our offense and all that…..it is hard enough to win in the NFL……..harder yet with a greenhorn at QB. I don’t want Vinny back.
I think we all wondered why this kid stuck around and was above and below Henson at times. I said preseason..Bill Parcells knows an NFL qb when he sees one and he ain’t going to let Bledsoe take his ship down. He did the right thing at the right time.
Nice to see Julius rooting for Marion……there seems to be little controversey between those two. Both played well.
TNEW you are for real. I don’t if you will ever get the hype Deion got….but for my money you play much better than he ever did with a star on the side of his helmet.
Ware, Spears, Canty…….time to COWBOY UP BOYz!!!! We need potential to turn into ability soon and very SOON!!!! I see Ware and Ellis getting close….and oh yeah Ellis almost had another fumble taken away last night. He is having a great year from his OLB position.
up next the foreskins……hmmmm…..I think we can go into FEDEX and punch em in the mouth early. I wonder if the sight of ROMO inspires Gibbs to start Campbell. Funny all my Skins friends are begging for Campbell and they don’t know what they got there in that kid either. Joe is at risk of leaving the franchise in shambles like he did the first time around.
TO who…….since TIKI announced his retirement and Romo got promoted. The media for once has somebody other than the Mouth of The South to talk too. Ain’t it nice. Oh and Peter King……..Jim Burt was there specifically to shut TO up if need be. He is our new TO monitoring system installed by BP. Ok maybe not……but knowing how superstitious BP is I would not be surprised to see Burt, Banks, Anderson, Simms or any other old Giant pacing the sideline with BP if he wins games Jerry will build another HOF in the new stadium……Ex Giants that ROOT for the COWBOYS……
Raf,
Here are some of my observations that:
Last night - Carolina led 14-10, Barber was in at RB. He made a huge block on a blitzing LB. Romo stood strong in tbe pocket and delivered a first down inside the 20. Jones’ speed and elusiveness versus Barber’s overall skill is still an issue here. Jones’ TD pure burst - niiiiice!! Barber’s running, including his 2nd TD - pure heart!! Which is better? I don’t know but I like the mix.
Ellis and Henry clearly the two best players on D. -
Kevin Burnett needs to see more action!! When he gets his chances, he is quick to the ball, and provides a good pressure when asked to blitz. -
Ayodele is getting better each week, and this kid could give the defense a little bit of an attitude that they so desperately need. Keep an eye on him in coming weeks!! -
Newman has two picks if he turns his head! He can get better. But it was good to see the DC put CBs on WRs for a change. -
I can see Parcells moving defensive linemen around. Not just rotating them but moving them around too. Maybe Spears at NT, and Ratliff playing both sides. -
Hopefully benching Watkins can motivate him to play like he did when he first caught the coaching staff’s eyes in training camp. But to his defense a S on a WR is an inherited mismatch. -
At some point last night the offense seemed to “move forward”. Plenty of offensive players appeared to be more motivated having Romo behind C. But it was like half way through the 2nd quarter when the linemen seemed to say to themselves “If I give his a little more time, he can make it happen.” Jason Witten played like a guy tired of losing. Oliver Hoyte!! Wow, this kid deserved the game ball. Best blocking at FB since Moose. And its only his 2nd game there!
The overall question still remains: How much will the younger players improve? The O-line has to stay hungry, and get more consistant. Running the ball down a defense’s throat, like they did last night, will help. Probably the biggest question mark is the defensive line. If they get better and start to dominate like their talent suggests, the defense will be very strong.
TNew real deal? Deion? COME ONNN. God, you’re a homer buddy. Newman had the ball hit him in his butt and in his helmet with his back to the play. That’s, um… not “good.”
I think Ware is bullrushing deliberately. I think Zim is afraid that if Ware races over the top side he’ll crack the pocket open and let the QB loose. By bullrushing he he’s more controlled and keeps everything in front of him.
On obvious passing downs, i remember him Ware speed rushing around the end in other games. Perhaps he’s been told not to.
Julius Jones is ridiculous. What a player. he and McBriar are easily the MVPs.
Hey guys, it feels good to beat a quality team. Take a momment and enjoy it….ok now focus on those skins, i hate them and live in their world up here in Northern Va. Cant take them for granted. Look what they did to Jac.
Newman needs to work on his ball skills. He miised a pick in the first half that he definately should of had. Looking down the road to our game with the Colts this will surely be tested.
Joey:
If Ware bullrushes all the time he won’t get many sacks or pressures trying that against bigger OT’s. Either Ware or Zimmer has to let loose. If we are concerned about Delhomme running we have issues. I understand the bullrushes against Vick, McNabb and couple of others but thats it. He has to mix it up!
red raider
i agree
I didn’t see a single ‘highlight’ from the Philly loss to Jacksonville. Geeze, if McNabb has a decent game, all we see is DM higlights and ewes and awes from the fawning mediots. When they lose, and DM looks like crap, then nothing. Must be great to be in the mediots-in-crowd.
we have to win this week WITH OUR BLUES ON.
this scares me.
It was gut check time and some people with guts stepped up.
I’t was nice to see the ball coming out so fast. I guess I was so used to Bledsoe’s pace that Romo’s completely took me by surprise. I’m going with Madden’s opinion that Romo is the real deal. Thanks to our coaches for bringing along the undrafted free agent to be, now, a rising force in the NFL. We cast our lot with Romo, and with it, our dreams of championships. “BEAT THE FORESKINS”.
hey, CowboyMan, I watched the Philly game and trust me, there were no highlights, Philly looked awful. couldn’t run…McNabb couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn
If dallas keeps pace and does well, this is going to be a two team battle…
Check out this page on Peter King’s article. He, while living in NY, talks about how low-class the NY fans are. I LOVE it!!!
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/peter_king/10/30/mmqb/2.html
If you don’t want to read his whole article (you should, there’s a bunch of Romo stuff in it!) just look for:
Enjoyable/Aggravating Travel Note of the Week
emr
It was great to see the iggle fans with that all to familiar look of disgust.They were blaming all but one of their losses on bad luck.Yesterday wasn’t bad luck. It was no running game. That strategy will continue to haunt them.
Nice to see Witten back in the offense. Some great blocks by Hoyte. I’m more excited about our offense than since the mid 90’s. I feel like Romo IS the real deal.
Would like to see more of a pass rush. Henry/Newman both made some mistakes. The missed field goal was a little disapointing.
Hope we keep playing like this, and were going to he hard to deal with in December
keystonetom,
right on. I can say without a doubt that Philly is my most hated team in our division 1) eagles 2) redskins 3)giants…in that order. hard to pick who you hate most…but the eagles are it for me.
Foos,
I remember the days when it was thought it was bad luck to wear the blues.Teams wouldn’t wear their traditional home colors, just to get into the Cowboy heads.I think that went by the wayside during the Jimmy Johnson era.
I used to live in Phx.. and as bad as the Cards are (I think they may even lose this upcoming week and it’s their bye week) they will be up for the Cowboys. I think they hate the fact that when the Cowboys come to town their are more Cowboys fans there than Cardinal fans.
emrdog
Are u back on the bandwagon yet? I remember last week you were to cancel the season
Red Raider,
Charles Haley had a lot of sacks bull rushing and Ware is as big as he was. Ware needs to refine his technique.
chris,
you’re killing me. I remember saying last week specifically to someone on this site that I “did not want to cancel the season or stop playing games.” Obviously, I was fed up with the Bledsoe train and the defense.
I’ll give you this…last week I didn’t think dallas would even sniff the playoffs. Considering the Eagles lost and we won and the fact that dallas looked like it was improving, i’ve changed my out look a tab.
What’s this back on the bandwagon stuff? who in the world last week thought dallas was in a good position after that loss. Raf himself picked carolina to win. Are you seriously going to try to corner me on this?
mikhu,
going way back to post 19:
what if romo executes a 2 yard scramble and breaks his ankle doing it?
throw it away my man. 2nd and 8 vs 2nd and 10.
we’re one play away from Bledsoe being back in, so lets hope he doesnt pack it in.
fellas,
how about we all get on the “cowboys win” bandwagon.
havnt heard the presser but RR.com is reporting that tyson thompson will have a plate inserted into his lower leg tomorrow, and may be back within 4 weeks.
decision time, do we keep him around or not? skyler green, aaron glenn, who returns KOs?
joe2zs
what did Deion ever do as a Cowboy other than not shadow our best WRs as an opposing player???? Deion was not a shutdown corner when he got to Dallas and had turf toe the whole time he was here. We paid him not to play against us really. His best years were wasted in Atlanta.
Newman has shut down Steve Smith twice now. He and and Henry both should have more INTs but as long as they keep up the coverage…… I don’t see Smith as frustrated by any other CB in the league. Heck he torches most Defenses. Our only big plays have come against our safeties. I dont think either CB has played bad all year. This is not the case in the Pete Hunter can or cant days or the 5 years prior to Newman where our revolving CBs never stopped anything. He had one bad play where he should have been flagged. Smith only scored on a rushing play. Henry got beat by the Pedestrian KJ and KJ dropped. Maybe he will announce after the game that Parcells is a better coach than Henning and FOx and that is why he dropped it…..LOL.
Newman gets little press from the mainstream and I hope it stays that way but ask the Offensive coordinators and they know the guy is a top tier CB and plays like it week after week. If that makes you a homer well then maybe so…..still the kid is every bit as good as D Hall or C Bailey or anybody else in the NFL.
emrdog
I just had to mess with u a little bit because u told me I was out of my mind for saying we would win our 4 next games, u said we would be lucky to go 500. I sticking to my prediction that we will 4 in a row. I didn’t for 1 second think a team with this much talent maybe the most talent in the league were in trouble because they were only 500. after six games
Our CB don’t have more INT’s because for some reason I do not understand, they don’t turn for the ball when th receiver does. It is extremely dangerous to cover that way, it should lead to more pass int penalties on us(as the ref can easily say we’re not going for te ball) and it does allow you to have more INT’s.
4 in a row? are you counting indy? ok, i still think you are a little crazy for saying that. did you not see the colts at denver yesterday? peyton manning is not human. he’s like the terminator or something…with a good arm.
Marion Barber is a freak!!!…on his last TD he pushed a defender like 5 yards to get into the end-zone, wonder if he sould be the one coaching Ware to get a bit more pressure on the QB. Amazing how he finishes his runs always falling forward.
I have no doubt Peyton is about the best to ever play the game, I wonder how good would he be playing with our O-Line protecting him……
All I know is that no matter how bad the Redskins are, you cant take them lightly. I live in Northern VA, 20 min outside of DC. FedEx Field is the nosiest NFL stadium…period…it is very hard to play in. My point is, that one momentum shift in their direction can turn a game completely around. It doesn’t matter who is the better team this Sunday; its going to be who wants it more. This game will be the hardest test yet of the season. Sweeps are hard to do in the NFC east… We should win if we want it more and we are more focused.
emr
Im sorry your wrong he’s more like A QB God, but they have a horrible run defense Bob Sanders and Mike Doss are both out for awhile there corners aren’t very good we can score with them anyday of the week because of there defense look how much denver scored and after beating Was and Ari there will still be doubters and thats when we will prove we are elite by winning 24 to 21
skins status check..
I understand, moss was hurting, (hammy or some sort of leg injury) which has slowed him down… Does anyone knows the his status? If true, he is the major deep threat skins have.. still burning from last year’s debacle at home when he scored two deep TD’s on us…
I like this Oli Hoyte guy… What a monster!!! He looked like road grader… Where has he been hiding!!! Looks like he is the missing link to our running game…
Jarhead,
With regards to the kickoff returner,
I would like to see Skyler Green as long as he can hold on to the ball.Aaron Glenn doesn’t seem like a kick returner to ms.
chris,
yeah, i’ve looked ahead and thought of that too. it looks like we should be able to run the ball on ‘em. but that could easily put us in a “shoot out” situation with them. so…sorry, don’t think that puts us in a “win” situation romo vs. manning…our pass defense vs. manning…no way, you ARE out of your mind…we will just be fortunate to win these road games.
toast,
they’re coming off a bye but have some nagging injuries on their Dline.
I think the biggest offensive concern is portis. i beleive he has an ankle problem. he has not carried much in their last 2 games. i think moss is fine. the skins seem to have completely abandoned the deep ball this year and are relying on short passes.
much as some of you will hate to hear it, i think more conservative defense is in the works. i dont think they can drive the field consistantly on us so play the cover 2 and make them drive against us.
carolina was doing this largely by dumping it out to the RBs coming out of the backfield, but it brokedown as they dropped some balls and we took the lead.
Same formula will work for us. take the plays that come open, dont turn it over, and make them drive the length if our drives break down.
keystone,
glenn is a big part of the nickle so i think green gets his chance. i could care less if his return average is pedestrian as long as he doenst fumble it. we have moved the ball well lately (just as long as we dont turn it over).
portis gives me nightmares
emr
A good run game keeps Manning of the field we have the best run D in the league they can’t forget about running Addai and whoever else and Ware is do for a big game if Merriman can effect Manning, Ware can to when we get everything together were the best team in the league
Last night was good evidence of how bad it is for a return man to fumble.
It must have cost them 14 points.
chris listen, i’m as optimistic as anyone, i really am, but you are going out on a limb saying dallas can beat Indy…not even a limb…you are going out on a twig dude. listen, i know the run game is going to keep peyton off the field. but EVERYTIME he does get on the field he’s got a real good chance of scoring on our secondary, which as you may know is not necessarily…how do you say…good. not to mention, he’s going to have time since we are having trouble pressure quarterbacks of late. dude, i’m sorry…but it’s a long shot.
Peyton is unreal.
Yesterday a real shut down corner shut down Marvin Harrison, so Peyton threw THREE TDs to Reggie Wayne vs the league’s #1 defense. Ho hum.
On the other hand, the Colts’ defense made Mike Bell look like Tony Dorsett.
Newman has as many INTs as Greg Ellis. Newman laid a huge egg vs Jax on opening day, probably costing the Cowboys the game. So he’s not had a great season thus far.
Homer, before you say anything unreasonable, here are some stats about Deion Sanders, and please keep in mind that he played MLB and pro football until 1996.
I don’t know if he had turf toe his entire time with the Cowboys, he was hurt a lot only playing 63 games in 5 seasons, he still made the Pro Bowl FOUR times as a Cowboy and scored 11 TDs, so… that’s not at all impressive. Quintessential, game changing, erase his half of the field, Shut Down Corner, Terence “Hall of Fame Here I Come!” Newman, has never been to the Pro Bowl or scored a TD. Mediots! They don’t recognize his clear, obvious amazingness.
Sanders intercepted 53 passes for 1,331 yards (a 25.1 yards per return average), recovered 4 fumbles for 15 yards, returned 155 kickoffs for 3,523 yards, gained 2,199 yards on 212 punt returns, and even caught 60 passes for 784 yards. Sanders amassed 7,838 all-purpose yards scored 22 touchdowns: 9 interception returns, 6 punt returns, 3 kickoff returns, 3 receiving, and 1 fumble recovery. His 19 defensive and return touchdowns are an NFL record. He was selected to eight Pro Bowls in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 1999. He was also awarded the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1994.
* College Football News named Sanders #8 in its list of 100 Greatest College Football Players of All-Time.
* The Sporting News named Sanders #37 in their Top 100 Football Players of the Century released in 1999.
* ESPN named Sanders #74 in its list of the 100 Great Athletes of the Century released in 1999.
He’s half the CB/Returner that Newman is, and I’m not at all a HOMER to suggest it.
Last I looked, Peyton(MR football God), hasn’t won any Super Bowls. Every year they bow out before they even get to the Super Bowl. Every team is beatable, especially since that Indy game is at home. Execute the game plan and don’t turn the ball over, I can definitely see that Indy game as a win. Optimistic, yes, but life is too short to be pessimistic and miserable
eh, it’s not about being pessimistic.
whether the colts are playoff losers doesn’t matter. they are regular season jugarnauts. dallas would have to pull off a 10 to win that game. so far, I think we’ve only seen dallas at 7 and personally I think they’ll need around a 8 for the redskins. pessimistic? no realistic? yes…it’s the new trend
emrdog,
Portis is good, but needs some conventional running lanes to thrive. We’ve been very solid against those types of runners this year.
But I’m still concerned about the Skins’ passing attack. Granted, we schooled their O-line once, but last year demonstrates how few plays need to work for them to score points.
Then the question really is, how many points will we score? If I’m the Skins, I alternate between crowding the box to stuff the run (especially 1st downs) and rushing four plus a run blitzer while letting everyone else drop back to confuse newbie Romo. Which guys pass rush and which guys fall into coverage? Change it frequently. Man or zone? Mix that up, too. Forget the bump-and-run in favor of tighter down field coverage with safety help. They don’t care if we rush for first downs, as long as Romo gets confused enough to throw interceptions to kill those drives.
That means the Cowboys will have to stay disciplined enough to grind out long drives on the ground and with short passes. Romo will have to throw the ball away or scramble instead of launching hurried prayers.
May be painful to watch, but I still think we should win by 14+.
man,
all of a sudden we can debate whether or not we can beat the colts.
last i checked there are two games before the colts, both on the road (where we were losing coming into the 4th 1/4 yesterday).
both those games are much more important than the colts game seeing as how one is a division opponent and the other is an NFC opponent. ill take two Ws and a L to indy ALL DAY LONG.
BTW, why would manning throw to harrison when wayne is torching his CB all day? Kind of like a fielder’s choice huh?
Why not throw to Harrison if he is torching Champ Bailey all day?
one more thing, broncos rushed for 200+ on the colts, and lost.
joey,
uhh b/c wayne is making it too hard not to throw to him (no need to look the other way) colts are said to do this on occassion.
its kind of like walking into a bar at happy hour and thinking,
hmm, at these prices i cant afford to stay sober.
“real shutdown corner”
maybe we need to define that around here like “draft bust.”
Champ Baily, lets see. last year he got us for a pick 6 that was almost a big a gift as mcnabb gave roy williams one oct night in philly. as i recall, we did burn bailey for 6 later in that game, and probably would have won if we had a FG kicker.
but speaking of the iggles, how about TO’s last big play with the iggles: as i recall he caught a quick out pass and totally juked the D-back to take it to the house. who was that guy? oh yeah: champ baily.
none of the above makes him bad by any stretch, but “shut down?”
im sorry,
“true shut down.”
I’ll give way to Troy Aikman, who says that Deion Sanders the only true shut down corner back that he has ever seen.
It’s a phrase that gets tossed around far too often in the NFL.
For some reason the media always has to ask itself if the current crop of players in any given year contains some guys that are the “Best Ever” at thier position.
They have to write about something you know…..
Remnant,
that is a good game plan. The problem would be in the execution. The Skins are banged up in their secondary with Rogers having a broken thumb and Springs nursing an ab injury but still playing. Their backups are a joke. They have a free safety in Taylor who hits like a truck but bites on play action. They have a SS that couldn’t cover Collinsworth TODAY in Archuletta. Their LB corps is banged up as well and they are getting even less push with thier D line than we are- 10 sacks on the year and no one with more than 2.
This will not be a walk in the park- no Redskin game is- but if we play it cool and don’t let them get the Big Momentum Changing Play they will struggle against us.
About Indy…
Is there any team which likes to throw the ball mare than payton manning (aside from iggles perhaps)??
Cover two and blitz the heck out of payton… the recipe that patriots serve every time they play them…
payton gets rattled when pressured and have to leave the pocket.. (see games against patriots).
Let them beat us with running game… it wouldn’t happen.
Dalls by 9…
Sorry about couple of typos…
cash,
i dont know if aikman ever defined it.
is it a guy who doesnt give up TDs?
doesnt allow a WR to ever catch it?
holds him to a certain amount?
always makes the tackle after the catch?
all of the above?
a guy they just never throw at (like sanders was for 2 or 3 years)?
who knows? such a beast doesnt exist i think.
i’d be happy to have baily on the team, im happy with newman on the team. both play well, newman is much younger.
Deadskins are very close if not over the desperation line. There have been too many underdogs winning these games to look past them. I say come out early….punch them in the face, then step on their throat. Humiliate them. Any Cowboy who can’t get up for this game should be waived.
stillhate,
thats what we said about your namesake’s game, and we were flaaaaat.
as to punching them and stepping on their throat, im all about it.
StillHate: While your comments about Haley are correct to a point he was not one dimesional like Ware is here lately! He had that spin move he used perfectly and that speed rush with the swim move! That is what I am saying about Ware. If he mixes up and does some spins, speed rushes and bull rushes he will get more sacks because he will keep the opposing line and coordinator guessing. Right now he is predictable!
KC Joyner thinks Bailey is one of the most overrated CB in the league, especially considering what he’s getting paid.
I think he’s good, but what good does it do to wish guys were on your team that aren’t ever going to see the FA market until they are past their prime?
Jarhead in the colts game I thought Denver had 168 yards rushing not 200+. Are you sure it was 200+!
red,
I agree, Haley did a lot more and I don’t understand why Ware doesn’t develop more moves. My only point was Haley was not big but used the bull rush effectively against much bigger opponents.
StillHate: I agree he can do it just like Haley but he has to mix it up and that was my point a bull rush 100% of the time will not be effective. I wonder if it is him or Zimmer been conservative.
Jarhead,
In effect, DB did get cut after the Giants game. Barring injury, he’s already gone.
Red Raider,
Sorry I missed your point earlier, you’re right.
I would tend to blame it on coaching. I can’t believe any player would resist a recommendation from a coach to add a move to their arsenal. From everything I’ve heard, Ware is very coachable.
i cant believe Im going to comment on Indy with the redskins next.
Peyton the god Manning has a glaring weakness. For some ungodlike reason he struggles against the 3-4
Ware was burned on a reverse for a touchdown by being too aggressive which effectivly took him out of his aggression. Ware was tryig to contain for most of the night after that.
boy what a difference it makes when we got a qb that cam move 4 or 5 feet to the left or right to throw the ball instead of gettin sacked. and one that can run when nothing is there. romo for president!!! i know he will have some growing pains but its a huge upgrade from bledslow!!! lets hope the boys can win the next 3, and yes i said 3, including the indy game!!!
red, stillhate, and other discussing Ware,
As I see it, he is not the only player being ultra-conservative. Oddly the player we all were so afraid of “thinking too much” is playing great, and a handful of other guys are being too cute. In a previous post, I mentioned Akin Ayodele getting more comfortable in his roll. He looked all the part of a disruptive force there last night! Burnett is another guy making plays when he is on the field. He has been quicker to RBs out of the backfield than any of our other LBs. Plus he looks really good blitzing gaps or the edge. … Ware is one of many young talented players that seems to be “thinking” and reacting, instead of attacking. If I were Parcells I would move players around. This would allow players like Ware to play more freely. If offenses do not know what side he will line up on, then they can’t always look to take advantage of his agressiveness. … Just my 2 cents, I will take some of the bad to get to the good, because the Dallas Cowboys are a better team when the Demarcus Wares and Chris Cantys are getting after the ball. Maybe because so many players are learning new positions, Parcells has held the reins tight and kept players in specific positions. It is time to let loose!!!
Romo had a good game, I give props to him for eliminating the impulsive decisions (3 ints) from last week. Yes, he had one last night, which I missed, so I can’t comment on it. Hopefully he’ll work on throwing the deep-fades and deep-outs this week. There seemed to be a couple where TO and TG might have had a chance with had the pass stayed inbounds.
As someone mentioned earlier, he’ll probably see a variety of defensive schemes next week as well. The Foreskins D-coordinator is a good one. Hopefully Romo will be able to recognize the different looks. And yes, he does need to learn to slide because he’ll either get lit up by a defender or he’ll separate his shoulder. I loved seeing Peppers’s reaction after Romo got away from him during the 2nd half. After diving, Romo got up to see Peppers on the ground. I imagine Peppers was thinking, “Wow, what in the world is going on?”
As I’ve mentioned in previous threads, the O-line played lightyears better than last week; I’m hoping this game was also a turning point for them.
Hoyte, what an amazing FB, he knocked the crap out of those Panthers LBs last night. They always seemed to end up on their heels whenever Hoyte plowed into them.
As for Ware, didn’t he take karate during the offseason? Hopefully he’ll start applying some of those moves.
For a kick-returner, how about Julius Jones? He did it in college, but that would be quite a risk. OK, scratch that idea. It’d be bad to lose 2 of the top 3 RBs.
And yes, the Cardinals game is a trap game, ask the Bears, they were lucky to have won that one.
If ya’ll haven’t read Mickey Mouse’s (Spags) article on DC.com, he mentioned how TO, Vanderjagt, and TNew pulled a little prank on Haley by giving him a McDonald’s bag filled with plastic mice in it. Who says TO can’t get along with his teammates? He and Vandy seem to be developing some sort of friendship.
TT replacement can’t be an after thought. Skyler back to return punts and kicks? Any ideas?
red raider, Denver had 227 yards net rushing
They averaged 6.3 yards per rush. Let’s worry about the deadskins, but ball control is the way to beat Indy.
redlbr;
We are second in the league in RedZOne TD’s only 1 or 2 behind The Colts..So I like Are redZOne offense..Why do U think we average over 28 points per game and 5th in the league in Total Offense??I do Believe we will go 8-1 or 7-2 the rest of the season..
That peformance on the road agianst Everyones Super BOwl Pick says a lot about this team..eliminate the first qtr mishaps..we shut them out!!
Did anyone see ROmo Laughing in the HUDDLE?? boy He has Poise, It’s SCary…real Scary on how good we can be..
boys are 3 point favorites at washington — of course, panthers were 5 point favorites so who knows anymore
linus, that’s a hot! That’s just gotta drive Danny Boy nuts! His team is a 3 point dog to the COWBOYS at HOME? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA……
I meant to say “that’s a HOOT”
Proofread doofus, proofread….
I’m sorry about TT. He was having a good year. Has he fumbled this year on a KO return? I don’t remember. Now it looks like Green will suit up. I hope he is all BP says he is. Hoyte looks like our future at FB. He blasted in to people last night. I also liked one of Columbo’s knee buckling blocks on Peppers.
Keyshawn? One catch and a horrible drop on his way to the endzone. His replacement, 9 for 107 and a TPC. Good move.
PARCELLS KNOWS QB’S….JERRY JONES I FEEL WANTED DB TO BE THE QB AND PARCELLS WANTED ROMO AT THE BEGINING OF THE SEASON..THAT IS HOW IT GOT LEAKED OUT BY PETER KING..
HMMMMMM…JUST GO BACK TO WHEN PARCELLS SAID HE WAS GETTING HIM READY…
HE HAS ONE MORE YR LEFT ON HIS CONTRACT SO AFTER THE 07 SEASON IF HE KEEPS IT UP, WILL COMAND BIG MONEY..OR AT LEAST DECENT MONEY IF WE MAKE THE PLAYOFFS AND GO DEEP IN THE NEXT 2 YRS..
cash,
#84
when did i wish the guy on my team? i only said im ok if hes on my team. if i had 10 mil to spend and i had to decide on an extension for newman or signing baily, id take newman.
as to whether he is overrated, i dont know. i think he is good, but i dont think he is a “pure shut down” or a “true shut down” corner.
looking over RR.com’s best available FAs for any teams still looking to add any depth after an injury. here are some available names:
Tyson Walter
Torrin Tucker
Jacob Rogers
Billy Cundiff
Joes Cortez
Toby Gowin
Willie Blade
Jamar Martin
Vinny Test.
any takers??
Didnt think so.
I bet Vinny would make a better clip board holder and he would work with Romo. He is given credit by Henson in his Europe diary for getting help from him.
Norm!!!!
whats up Jarhead, Did you see Colombo beat the c–p out of Peppers?
Well, the change in qb definately was not a season ender or risky choice, like the usual qb change, so i was definately wrong on that. this appears to be a choice to go with the better qb. Gotta hand it to BP in dialing up a qb from the free agent list.
i agree with the others, akin ayodele finally showed up. saw he had some nice hits. and the lack of pressure really caused the cbs to panic because they were just dreading the moment the ball was thrown. luckily the panthers couldn’t catch anything.
the offense did really well, the only thing that stopped them were penalties. tony romo really learned from the last game and ducked the ball away or threw it away, except for that int. hopefully he continues to grow. But TO and glenn need to help him out, madden spotlighted their lousy route running along the sidelines. TO also needs to learn how to block and not hold. he’s like LJ, can run over people, but can’t block worth a lick.
Overall, a nice victory. defense held stout and the offense moved the chains. and they found a qb and fb.
Should be interesting if they decide to shut down witten and TO, if tony can get the ball to glenn.
pretty good analysis of redskins failure in free agency
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/28/AR2006102800572.html
hey TO Agent
glad to have you back….
Yep,
good thing we didnt bench him huh?
maybe we should bench newman for failing to SHUT DOWN steve smith.
you know i think kyshawn would have caught that pass, but henry screamed “miss it noonan, miss it” with this really high pitched voice and keyshawn dropped it, so i guess we cant bench him.
Norm!!!
that wasnt aimed at you, just some of the others calling for massed benchings last week.
Ok guys I have a bad Philly fan story.
I went to the local sports bar to watch all the games but got a front row seat to the Philly game. This guy in a philly shirt asks if he can sit with me and I say of course. The guy tells me he was in Tampa last week during our conversation. he also tells me he was setting on the first row behind the goal post where the field goal was kicked. later on they show a replay and I ask the guy where are you and he jumps up and goes to the screen and sure enough there he is.
He makes the comment that they dont have to worry about that today because the wind. He thinks I’m a Philly fan mind you, and I tell him with the wind blowing we wont get any big plays and without them Philly sucks. He then figures out I’m not a fan. I tell him I’m there to watch Philly loose because Mcnabb has a hard enough time throwing the ball in good weather. he says 300 yards passing and 3 tds for McNabb. I tell him If they get 300 yards Ill pick up his tab if they dont get 10 first downs he buys mine. He agrees. They get 5 first downs for the whole game. The game is right at the end and he gets up and says to me your boys suck and will get theirs tonight with a rookie quarterback, I tell him hes not a rookie and he walks to the bathroom. He never comes back and doesn’t pay his own tab much less mine. He had a couple beers and the waitress said she had to pay for whoever walks so I put his on my tab, The funny thing it was worth it.
Norm!!!
thats a great story. i’d scream your name everytime you came into the bar after i heard that one.
old school brad johnson just threw an ugly pick down by the goal line. so many great plays to get there wasted.
man, i shudder every time i see it now. lets hope we’re past the bulk of that mess.
well i was up late last night. good night all.
Great story Norm. Shows the class, or lack thereof Philly fans really have.
Out of town all weekend so I’m late in on this stuff.
RO-MO!
RO-MO!
RO-MO!
I’m loving it. I love the enthusiasm. The spark. Looking good. And all you guys who doubted putting in an unproven guy. Man, I would’ve hated to see the results of the Carolina game with our “proven” guy in there.
Who’s up for a road sweep? I AM. Sucks the Cowboys/Reskins game isn’t being broadcast in NY because the Texans are playing the Giants at the same time. Fox is airing the Vikings/49ers game instead! UGH!
Is Terence Newman a “shutdown corner”?
Nah, there isn’t one in today’s NFL.
It would be nice to have a time travel machine to bring the 1993-1995 Deion Sanders to play the type of game that CBs are asked to do as of now, though. Early in the 90s DBs were allowed to be more physical with the obvious Pass Interference limit.
Now, is Newman close? I think that he’s. Why? Look at his games in this season and in the past season.
TDs allowed? Try 0.
Big pass plays (20+ yards)? Few last season, 1 this season (Burress).
Passes thrown at him and completions? Last season KC Joyner wrote about him as being in the Top 5 in the League. In this past game I remember seeing the stat for the game, 8 attempts, 3 completions and 20 yards (If memory serves correctly). I don’t know about his full year stats.
That makes me think that he’s really good.
And please, Joey2zs, there’s no need to use the HOMER label in any conversation, I think that everyone that takes as much time as we do to write and read about the team that we love falls right in line with the description of a HOMER.
There are indeed diferent types of homerism, though, I just think that you’re trying too hard to mkake yourself be seen as down-to-Earth.
bushpilot:
Not all of them are like that (Philly fans). Because most of us tend to pack all the sheeps in one herd, they tend to do the same.
I’ve learned that through several conversations.