Cowboys @ Lions Preview
Posted: December 7, 2007 @ 10:36 am
Two teams moving in opposite directions meet Sunday when Dallas travels to Detroit. The Cowboys are taking the field for the first time after assuming the NFC lead with a win over Green Bay. The Lions are trying to right their season after a four game losing streak dropped them from 6-2 to 6-6.
When Detroit Has the Ball
Mike Martz believes in playing without a net. The Lions OC runs the same offense the Cowboys do, the Sid Gillman-Don Coryell-Ernie Zampete-Norv Turner-Jason Garrett system. Only Martz runs it full throttle — all the time. He wants to go down the field on every down. He wants to spread opponents and work every segment of the field. This requires a fearless QB, because Martz will eschew protection schemes to put the maximum stress on a back seven.
When he was with the Rams he had three great receivers and an all-world RB in Marshall Faulk and a blue-chip QB in Kurt Warner. He also had a veteran offensive line anchored by Orlando Pace that could protect without much support.
Martz lacks that talent in Detroit but makes no concessions. As a result he has an offense that can be explosive at times but awful at others. The Lions line does not have blue chip tackles and has had to shuffle personnel around. As a result it has given up 51 sacks already this year. What’s more, Martz has eschewed the run; Detroit has the league’s worst running attack. That puts even more pressure on QB Jon Kitna, who has completed a remarkable 66 percent of his passes despite the weekly beatings.
The one-dimensional nature of the attack plays into Dallas’ hands. The Cowboys will likely employ more of the 4-1-6 scheme that bottled up Green Bay’s deep attack. Kevin Burnett has found his niche as a cover linebacker in this scheme. Dallas has been using their best rushers in this scheme with Demarcus Ware, Greg Ellis at ends — and sometimes with Ellis inside. The Cowboys are rotating linemen and could break the Lions down, as Green Bay did on Thanksgiving Day with their rotation.
Dallas’ pass rush has gotten slowly better the past month and this might be the breakout game.
If Dallas is in this package, look for lots of blitzing from corners in the slot. Nate Jones has been very good at this all year, sacking Tom Brady in the Pats game and knocking Brett Favre out of the Packers game. Terence Newman will probably get some reps out of this package as well. He’s come close to some sacks this year but has never closed the sale. The Lions will be without stat WR Roy Williams, so Newman might get to freelance a bit more this week.
The Lions will have to play rookie Calvin Johnson be default but he’s been benched the past few weeks, so it will be on Mike Furrey to lead the attack.
When Dallas Has the Ball
The Lions looked to be rising when then pinned a 44-7 home win on the Broncos a month ago. Then, the lazy gene kicked in. Players like Shaun Rogers, who have top talent, started believing their clippings and the Lions D has faltered. They’ve given up 31 or more points in three of the four losses and are averaging 31 points allowed in that span.
Detroit plays a Tampa style cover-2. As we saw earlier this year versus Chicago, which runs the same scheme, the Cowboys approach is pass first, run second. Expect them to do so this week as well, because the Lions have the 31st rated passing defense.
The scheme depends on taking away your deep passes, especially to the flanks. Dallas beat Chicago two ways. First, they used Jason Witten on deep routes in the seams and then to the sidelines. The cover-2 relies on rotation to the sidelines to lock up the receives. Jason Garrett knew Witten would be matched up on linebackers and let him outrun them upfield.
Witten became the outside threat and Terrell Owens became the inside threat. Look for T.O. to motion into the middle yet again and run intermediate and deep routes on safeties and middle linebackers. He has feasted on New York’s, Washington’s, Philly’s and Green Bay’s secondaries of late doing this. Detroit’s is the worst he’ll face in his run.
Detroit’s run defense ranks 15th, though that’s probably because teams are so successful passing that they continue to throw. Look again for Julius Jones early and a heavy fourth quarter dose of Marion Barber once the linemen are gassed from chasing Tony Romo for three quarters.
Prediction:
Every other NFC East team has beaten the Lions up. And Dallas is the biggest, most physical team of the group. I look for Romo to come out firing. An early Dallas lead could make for a long Detroit day.
Dallas 38, Detroit 21.
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1st… How many yards do y’all think the RBs will get? This has the making of a 2nd half run off on Dallas’ part.
How many times did we faced a poor pass defensive team and yet still struggled last year. Just for example, remember how beat up Seattle’s secondary was last year in the playoffs. It seems we didn’t even try to exploit any of them. It was maddening.
I say all that simply to remind some of what we have this year. Does anybody at all think we won’t expose their weakness? I sure don’t. We even expose those that aren’t considered weak. What a difference a year makes.
I don’t know why I’m having a bad feeling about this game. I know that the Cowboys are a better team. I know they’ve had 10 days to prepare for this game. I hope this time they exorcise the rotten ghost of December’s past.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENXFG-mHZ3Y&eurl=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/extramustard/12/07/hotclicks.1207/index.html
Video of Tony, Terence, JJ, and Bigg talking to Kelly Clarkson at practice. Look at how enormous Leonard is! That is a massive man.
Jerry’s a little creepy.
On the game–
I’m not worried about this one, despite our loss to them last year. Our D has showed much better ability to contain the deep play this season, as displayed against Green Bay’s repeated deep ball efforts last Thursday.
What I am hoping is that our pass rush will be able to victimize Detroit’s atrocious O-Line and Martz’s refusal to keep extra blockers in and really rack up some high sack totals. I’d like to see Ware, Canty, AND Ellis get into the Pro Bowl, and this could be a game where all of them log multiple sacks, which is the only stat that most voters look at.
This is going to be a Patriots-like blowout. Mark it down. Remember where you heard it first.
The combination of Detroit’s bad o-line, our angry, improving defense, our ability to score at will on this team last year, the way the Lions are quitting right now…….
44-10
Stop with all the negative waves, man.
Calvin & the smurfs don’t have a chance against the Cowboy or Dime packages. As Raf stated, Calvin has been so bad, running the wrong routes, dropping balls like ‘06 T.O., that he’s effectively been benched. Further, McDonald & Furrey are both 5′10″. Fast & quick doesn’t kill us.
Their defense is among the worst in the NFL.
What, me worry?
ok I know this is off topic but I needed to do some research..Im tired of media and even our on fans talking about the Cowboys pass Defenese and how bad or shaky it is!!
I watch the games just like every one else and never really thought it was that Bad..and the #’s dont lie!!!
ComP %: 58.4 4th Best in the NFL
Yds per Comp.: 6.4 tied for 5th best NFL
INT’s: 2ND Best IN The NFL
SACKS: 33 4th Best in teh NFL
Big PLays: 20yds or more, 29, tied for 8th best in the NFL
40yds or More ONLY 5, tied for 5th Best in the NFL
AVERAGE QB RATING 72% 4TH BEST IN NFL
TD’S 16, TIED FOR 8TH BEST
TOTAL ATTEMPTS THUS FAR: 445, 4TH MOST IN THE NFL THAT IS AN AVG OF 37 PER GAME!!!
Look at these numbers guys. With a first yr starter and our Starting CB’s havent even started a game together this yr!!
teams are throwing the ball alot against us because they find themselves behind early and we score so fast that they have to play catch up..So stop all the Crying about how bad our pass coverage is and how Roy gets exploited to much!!
tHE NUMBERS DONT LIE FELLA’S
A comment within a trivia question.
Name 3 Cowboy defenders (active players only) that do not get on the field in any defensive package?
How many substitute or back-up players get on the field in some defensive package?
You hear Wade say that he wants to get Anthony Spencer more time on the field even though he is behind 2 Pro Bowl players which is great.
Now, I will not call Carp a bust and it did appear in the Seattle game that he had some setious skills but I do take note that almost every defensive player has a role except for him.
Cowboys opponents have completed only 31 percent of deep passes, the best figure for any defense in the NFL.
I’m watching the BEST ALL TIME SACK ARTISTS on NFL Network and it really gives me an appreciation for this offensive line especially Adams & Columbo.
Do you remember the days, you feared for Aikman cause Reggie White was playing for the Philthy Eagles?
With Adams & Columbo, I never get that feeling. I don’t fear a single pass rusher. Imagine the confidence that gives Romo.
It is also the reason that resigning Adams and later Columbo is of ultimate importance. If Adam walks, you just don’t know what that may do to the offense. MCQ & Free appear to be good and are maturing but if they get abused, the entire offense can slow to a halt.
I do want Crayton back. I do want Hamlin back. I do want Canty forever. I want Ratliff with a multiple years, but the most important guy to resign IMO is Flo Adams.
I was watching Calvin Johnson on turkey day, and while the game was still close he was dropping passes left and right. He was awful.
Then, once it was like 34-12, he started making a whole bunch of plays. I came up with a new nickname for him:
A-Rod
You guys were salivating over Calvin in the draft and now your bashing a rookie WR. I know you guys read this blog regularly and you know that rookies struggle and WR is the worse after QB. Cut him some slack. If he was your son you would ask for some time to grow into his job. He is a rookie and playing like one. Whats your point? He is not a hot dog or a bad citizen.
Playmaker, maybe when the other team went up by 22 they changed up their D to more of a prevent.
Sure, but he dropped about four passes at key junctures in the first half when he was open and it was a good throw. the defense had nothing to do with it. It just looked like he was choking. Once the game was out of hand, and the pressure was off, he made a whole bunch of plays, and the final score didn’t look lopsided.
Squidlo,
I made the point yesterday that it’s not C Johnson fault that he’s been a such a huge disappointment it’s the media and these so called draft gurus who labeled him the best pro prospect in the last 20 years. He maybe a rookie but when you’re suppose to have freakish talent and ability you should make an impact.
The last time I recall a WR getting that kind of hype in the draft it was Moss and he had a huge rookie year.
This feature on SI is almost laughable:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/don_banks/12/06/draft.redo/index.html?eref=T1
“The Cowboys’ secondary remains their glaring weakness, and the pass coverage of safeties Roy Williams and Ken Hamlin is the weakest of the weak. Griffin, who played for the home-state Longhorns, has good range and speed, and can also help you with his ability to return kickoffs.”
This quote from the above noted article is glaring evidence that few mediots even watch the games. It appears that this guy was sitting in his cubicle looking at internet porn when the boss walked by and he just started writing something to stay out of trouble.
That SI feature is a complete fabrication..on another note, Kameleon reminded of the star that Furrey broke! IM STILL PISSED! I WANT THEM BAD! I hope for a merciless(sp?) beatdown! That was just disrespectful!
I guess Im to touchy on that subject. I just think guys need to have time to develope. To call a guy a bust or a choke artist in his first couple of seasons is unfair. I dont care how much talent a guy has coming out of college people in the NFL can play. They are also older and have been in a pro weight room for years and learning to play. I think we should talk about them, praise them, draft them, and then forget about them for 3 years. If we get production from them sooner we should be happy but not beat up the guys that dont.
That SI feature is ridiculous– writers like Banks (he’s consistently awful) just write on habit, without doing research. To Banks, he heard something about the Cowboys pass D being bad last year so that means they must be bad this year, he spends 7 minutes dashing out a column on it and he’s all set, there’s another link on the SI.com website and if readers e-mail in to complain then it’s great because it’s “generating controversy” and readers are idiots anyway.
Very frustrating.
I’m disgusted by ESPN News.
They actually have, along the bottom of the screen, A category for “Patriots”
WTF!!
I don’t recall the then 13-0 colts getting shmoozed like that!!
Somebody beat them please!!
mlittle,
It won’t happen but…. how much justice would there be in the winless Fins putting it on them to the joyous pops of champagne from the old timers reunion guys.
I do think the Colts (if healthy) will give them a challenge. Don’t know about the Stealers but we will find that out here real quick. The Boys will be underdogs if we meet, but we have as good a shot as anybody. They are very good, but not invincible.
Banks was obviously hard up for something to write. If we did go with a DB and Ellis is rushed back to early or is injured they would be talking about how anyone could get open with no pass rush and we should have taken Spencer who is in Baltimore leading all rookies in sacks.
Two words: Trap Game. Here it is fellas. I bet the Lions play us close for most of the game out of complete disrespect the ‘Boys have for them.
SEM, I was thinking that several weeks ago but to much anger for us and disrespect by them. We gift wrapped that game for them last year. They scored 9 points last year when they had to drive the length of the field and 30 points when we gave them the ball on our side of the 50. This includes our 13, our 21, our 28, our 36, and our 40 yard lines. However if we give them this startin field position again Sunday we will lose again and will deserve to.
The funny thing about the Banks SI piece is that hindsight should be 20/20 but he actually believes C.Johnson has improved his draft position. Armed with the knowledge we have now it’s clear that you would have to take Adrian Peterson #1. I guess he figures they don’t need Peterson because they already have the Son of Huggy Bear.
Our defense is going to be frothing at the mouth for this one. It’s 50/50 at best that Kitna finishes this game.
Trap game my butt.
Given the bad blood…and there is a HUGE amount of venom out there…no way, NO WAY, is anyone overlooking these guys.
Biggest challenge is keeping the aggression in check. I mean if:
- Romo goes Buffalo
- Flags flying
- and …
Aw hell. Even then we win by 10.
They got no #1
Their #2 is a rookie hitting the wall…hard
Their OL is the worst (32nd) pass protection unit
Oh, and their D sucks worse.
Yeah, this one’s a trap.
48-6 Boys
Ellis 2 sacks
Ware 3 sacks
Burnett 1 pic
Romo 25-31 320, 4td
JJ 9-48 yds
Mb3 14-114 yds (47yd td run in fourth)
TO 7-143yds 2 tds
TONYINCC…
I see Newman get 1 or 2 picks in this game. Kitna will try to “show him up” out of spite to make the attempt to prove his statement about TN was correct.
Also, look for Witten to have a big day as well. Crayton should have a good day, too. Witten and Crayton will probably be the other 2 TDs on passing.
BTW, you’re 20 points short on scoring with the 4 TDs…LOL
Here’s a joke I heard this evening (it may not be new to some of you)…
John Madden was in Indy and down on the field when he noticed a telephone on the bench. He asked Peyton, “What’s that for?” Peyton said that it was a direct line to God. Madden asked if he could use it. Peyton said, “Yes, but it’ll cost you $100.” Madden thought a minute and said, “OK.”
The next week, Madden was in New England and say a telephone on the bench there as well. He asked Brady what it was and Brady told him is was a direct line to God. Madden asked if he could use it. Brady said, “Sure, but it’ll cost you $500.” Madden was thoughtful for a moment and since his last call from Indy was so good, he said, “OK.”
Finally, Madden is in Dallas and once again he notices a telephone on the bench. He asked Romo about it and was told that it was a direct line to God. Once again, Madden asked if he could use it. Romo replied, “Sure.” Madden asked him, “How much?” Romo said, “Fifty cents.” Now, Madden was really confused about that and said, “At Indy it cost me $100 and at New England it cost me $500. So why is it so cheap here in Dallas?” Romo smiled and calmly replied, “Because it’s a local call.”
Go ‘Boys…
I was thinking today about all of those who keep clambering for a Dallas to take a WR in round 1 next year.
This is the perfect week to discuss this. Detroit has taken WR near the top of round 1 FOUR years in a row. Two are no longer with the team, one has effectively been benched, and the fourth is looking at IR.
Even though they rarely run, depending on the pass like no other team in the league, their FOUR consecutive high first round, can’t miss WR will not provide dick this week when they play Dallas.
Remind me why Dallas ought to waste a pick like that.
Put another way, I remember high draft pick WRs the Cowboys have gotten excited about at least back to Doug Donley. Michael Irvin worked out pretty well. None of the others really did, at least in Dallas (though Jimmy Smith worked out OK once he left). Harper was never as good as his pick. Galloway cost TWO high picks, and he was a china doll who kept getting broken, year after year.
Other than Irvin, their best WR in the last 30 years (until Owens) was a UFA, Drew Pearson. Forget using the high picks.
Digger,
That’s a good one. I work with a Baptist minister who is a Skins fan and an ex-priest who’s a Pats fan. They’ll appreciate that one. Heh, heh, heh.
1991 Detroit beats Boys 38-6 in playoffs.
1992 Boys beat Lions 37-3 during regular season, making sure Lions know which team truly has arrived.
Now, they didn’t beat us that bad last year, and our offense put up 31 even with a crappy game.
And our defense, and especially pass rush, is MUCH better.
Even a cup-half-empty guy like me sees a blowout here, 40+ to under 20.
If they score more than 13 they’ll be cheap points at the end, hopefully against backups.
I’m hoping for a one-game surge like the Giants had earlier, with 6 or more sacks!
This is NOT a trap game!
I’ve been waiting for this game for a couple of weeks, I’m sure a lot of the players have been too.
TONYINC
How about this stat:
No injuries!
That’s the one I care about.
Also, a lot of talk about passing stats and using them correctly, good stuff.
Don’t forget YPA (Yards Per Attempt)-we are 6th at 6.4 yards
By the way, Pittsburgh is 1st with an unworldly 5.3, and INDY is 2nd! at 5.8.
I think that # takes yardage out for sacks, but I’m not sure.
Anyways, it bodes well for either of those teams to knock off NE………
The only stat I care about is W’s and L’s. You are what your record says you are, your not what your stats say you are.
Stats were created by David Copperfield.
Fighter I want to argue with you about the game but I just cant anymore.
Alrighty then
http://www.detroitlionsblog.com/wp/
Tony Hill was a third round pick in 1977, and he turned out pretty good. But yeah not too much luck with high draft picks at WR, for a variety of reasons: Dennis Homan (!), Golden Richards, Richmond Flowers, Mike Sherrard, Doug Donley, Antonio Bryant, Kevin Williams and who can forget Alexander Wright. Ugh. Seems like many trades or free agent signings have turned out well though - Franke Clarke, Lance Rentzel, Pearson, Mike Renfro, Terry Glenn, T.O…it’s a crapshoot.
What’s there to argue about.
It’ll be a stats game…which is good, because my entire team is Cowboys (QB, RB, WR(2), TE, K, D/ST) and it’s semi-finals this week.
norm,
that has to be a suicidal lion’s fan writing that. i’ve never read anything so full of self-hatred and embarrasment in my life.
he clearly has a love-hate relationship with his beloved lions but knows enough to fully comprehend that his lions will only
Man I can’t wait I’m driving up to the game from Ohio!! Can’t wait to see Romo and the boys! Anyone else going to this game?
Fighter, I concede untill we have another close game I will just have to agree with you.
Jeeper, kind of makes me glad to be a Cowboys fan
Norm, that was a funny link!
Gotta love the way the guy’s not deluded. What would this site been like if it had been up and running, and, say, the internet had been big during Chan Gailey’s reign??
Something like that one.
Even in the midst of his realism, he still gets in a comment about the Cowboys’ “relatively weak secondary.”
I hope people continue to have that impression through January.
The only Cowboys game I have seen in person in my life was last years’ Detroit game. After Kitna’s comments, the defence must be climbing the walls waiting for this Sundays’ game to start.
I hope the Cowboys obliterate the Lions this Sunday w/ an avalanche of Sacks & Picks.
A few thoughts on some previous posts:
Bobby Carpenter: Not saying he is another randy white but don’t forget White did not immediatley play when he came to the cowboys. white was also drafted as a LB. Don’t mind having Carpenter there if Akin or Bradie go down.
Lions: They are done and finished. Forget about the Cowboys wanting to kill Kitna his own team must hate him. Talks too much.
Pats: Ravens did a good job of bottling up Welker. he is the key with those short pass routes. Say what you want about TO he does not disappear in games like Moss does after a big hit on him.
Score 38-10. I hope the cowboys have one of these 8 sacks day. It seems the stats lovers only care about sac
Regarding suicidal Lions fans:
For years, the Lions had Barry Sanders and Herman Moore on the same team, and still lost more than they won. That takes some doing.
Lions fans are like Cubs fans–they are conditioned to sucking. Who else would draft a WR at the top of the 1st with no plans for how to use him? The entire organization sucks.
I don’t say this often, but it sure makes you appreciate Jerry.
bert:
I couldn’t agree more. We all want more, but we need to just take a moment to thank our lucky stars that we are not in the Detroit Lion mode right now. Remember 3-13 and 1-15? We even used the #1 pick in the whole draft on Steve Walsh (supplemental). Or, remember Dave Campo? 3 straight 5-11 years with no QB in sight. Like I say, we all want a championship, but ENJOY THE RIDE!
Wasn’t Randy White a co-superbowl MVP in his second year?
bostonfan,
He was co-MVP with Harvey Martin, but I don’t remember it being only his second year.
I rememebr that game and our defense was DOMINATING!!!
Davidh,
That Michael Irvin guy turned out alright. I believe we drafted him.
Detroit is probably the perfect team for us to be playing. The strength of Detroit(passing) is supposively one of our weaknesses. Mike Martz is an inovative guy. Its a team that will allow us to prepare for and play for multiple pass formations. It will be another step in our building process. I think of what I read about a manager of a boxer. His job when bringing up a young fighter is to get him fights with guys who are a step or 2 below his guy but will work on different parts of his game. This is what Detroit is to us.
White was co-MVP in 1977, his third year in the league. Sure, he didn’t have a blockbuster rookie year for being the 2nd or 3rd pick overall, but he did have two 3-sack games. I think he started getting double digit sacks the next year and by 1977 was officially awesome. NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1978. I don’t think Carpenter is a bust yet, but he is also certainly, not even remotely, similar to the Manster. As Coach Landry said, White’s performance “range[d] anywhere from spectacular to spectacular.”
Tim Wilson - somebody had already mentioned that Irvin was probably the teams only and best high round wide receiver. So that makes the Cowboys, what, two for 20 with receiver picks in the first three rounds of the draft? Tell you what, I’ll even throw in Alvin Harper and Kelvin Martin, to bring the teams batting average to a solid .200.
Ive tried looking it up but how many WRs have we took in the first round.
24-10 Cowboys.
Take a look at this, a day in the life of Akin Ayodele
http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d804d8a46&campaign=ec0005
“dammmmn…..gorilla in the mist!” poor andre…
“Every other NFC East team has beaten the Lions up.” C’mon Raf, you dangled your participle.