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Corner Watch, Post-Denver

Corner is supposed to be a new strength on the team. How did they play, with Terence Newman out of the lineup:

Here are the six guys behind Newman in the pecking order:

Anthony Henry:

• Thrown at: 3
• Completions: 3
• Yards: 54

Eddie Royal blew up Henry’s line with a 32 yard catch where Henry got his hands on the ball but could not bat it away from the Bronco. Played soft on a Brandon Marshall comeback on the next play and surrendered a four yarder later.

Mike Jenkins

• Thrown at: 4
• Completions: 4
• Yards: 54

Welcome to the NFL rookie. Denver went after him on their opening drive. Brandon Marshall ran him off on a comeback; Jenkins was still running up the field when Marshall made his cut. Denver then crossed him up, running a stop and go to Royal that got Jenkins to bite. He slipped, letting Royal cruise for 35. Marshall ended Jenkins’ evening by executing Sprint Right Option, otherwise known to Dallas fans as “The Catch” play. Marshall ran what looked like a square in, then pivoted and took off for the deep right corner, where he caught Jay Cutler’s pass for a touchdown.

Evan Oglesby

• Thrown at: 6
• Completed: 3
• Yards: 37

A decent line, but it’s actually less than meets the eye. Twice he was beaten but saw his receivers drop the passes, at eight and 19 yards. Brandon Stokley beat him with ease when the Broncos starters were in. Oglesby’s good camp work may be eroding, because…

Adam Jones

• Thrown at: 4
• Completed: 3
• Yards: 6

How about that YPA of 1.5. Jones looked much more comfortable than he did in San Diego. His tackling was much better and he dropped an interception. He’ll likely start in the nickel on the right corner, with Newman playing the slot when teams go three wide. If Jones continues to play this way, Oglesby is back on the bench, and the fans will resume their chants to get Anthony Henry benched too.

Mike Lombardi said on last week’s show that Jones is not Deion Sanders. Who is these days? If Jones can play nickel corner like this, we’ll all be ecstatic. Jacques Reeves could never sub like this.

Orlando Scandrick

• Thrown at: 1
• Completed: 1
• Yards: 0

Scandrick’s lone throw was a memorable one. He blew up Broncos wideout Glenn Martinez on the goalline; Scandrick tracked his man into the end zone, saw Martinez cutting beneath him, released his original WR and rolled up to pop Martinez. The kid is making big hits on a regular basis. He also came within an eyelash of blocking a field goal and had a 32 yard kickoff return. Those are three good ways to keep yourself on the active roster on Sundays.

Alan Ball

• Thrown at: 4
• Completed: 1
• Yards: 20

Another less-than-meets-the-eye line. Ball took a penalty on one of the other plays, escaped a completion on another play because Marcus Smith tipped the ball and avoided being beaten for a TD on a fade when Patrick Ramsey’s pass floated wide and out of bounds. Ball looked lost on a couple of these plays and needs to make some positive plays to earn another year on the roster.

– Two weeks ago, Oglesby looked like he might force the coaches to keep six corners. He looked pretty good against San Diego but Adam Jones and Orlando Scandrick have probably jumped him in the pecking order. Oglesby still has a decent chance but he’ll need big games against Houston and Minnesota to turn momentum back in his favor. If the decision had to be made today, I think Dallas would keep five corners.

Drew Pearson Checking In with The Sports Doctors

We’re starting our final week of broadcasting The Sports Doctors on ESPN 1240, but that doesn’t mean we’re slacking off on the content.

We are pleased to have as a guest on tomorrow’s The Sports Doctors show Cowboys legend Drew Pearson, who will be fielding posted suggested by bloggers as well as those who call into the show.

Please post your questions for the Cowboys great here on this thread. Or if you’re rather get on the air, you can call in at 888-806-1661 between 5 PM and 6 PM Central time on Tuesday.

‘Goin to Camp

Doing some last minute packing before heading out to the airport early tomorrow morning. Some updates:

1. We are in fact mediots now. I’m covering camp for KSOX, 1240 AM in the Rio Grande Valley Texas, and will roll out a camp show called “The Sports Doctors” one week from today. It will air Tuesdays through Fridays from 5 to 6 pm Central Time.

As KSOX is an ESPN radio affiliate, I have full credentials and will compile as many interviews as I can until my recorder melts.

2. We’re planning on live streaming the shows on this site. There’s one potential fly in our currently pure ointment. Hurricane Dolly is roaring towards the RGV and will make landfall some time tomorrow afternoon. We’re hopeful it will blow through but could slow our program prep, as everybody there is girding for the storm. We’re nonetheless optimistic that the program will be ready to go on the 29th as scheduled.

2A. We have a two week camp deal with an option for the season. We want to show the strongest possible support and want to make the show as accessable to our blog regulars as possible. KSOX does not have a toll-free number, so we’ll set up a program thread every afternoon that will let you post questions. We’ll be watching the thread and will get to as many questions as we can. We have some local give aways and are looking for sponsors and promotions to make our ‘net audience happy as well.

The more feedback they see from you, the more leverage we’ll have in two weeks. We want the show to run long term, so the more questions and comments we get from around the country and from our foreign friends, the better the odds that we’ll keep going. If the station picks up the option, we’ll have the ability to cover games in person all season. Your short-term support will be repaid in higher-quality, long-term coverage.

3. I will be posting reports on site as usual starting Friday and have permission to post interviews on site as well. I’m working with Raul on this and will provide a schedule as soon as I have it.

Put your eye black on. It’s camp time!

Source: The Questions Are On Offense

I talked to a source who broke down the issues facing the team less than a month before training camp. Although the offense ranked 2nd overall in points, averaging just more than four touchdowns per game, I was told the organization sees its biggest questions on the offensive side of the ball. Some key points:

BSR: What are the biggest concerns on each side of the ball?

– The defense looks solid. I think the secondary looks strong, the linebackers look strong and the line looks solid. In the secondary, Terence Newman is solid, Adam Jones is solid. I think Anthony Henry didn’t look like he was 100% in the mini-camps, but he should be fine.

I think one of the rookie corners will be in the mix, though I’m not sure if it will be the one [Mike Jenkins] or the five [Orlando Scandrick]. One will be in the lineup this year and the other will be inactive. We won’t really know until they put on the pads at Oxnard.

I’ll add that I think the secondary will be improved with Dave Campo running that unit. They appeared to be better fundamentally. Nothing against the last coach [Todd Bowles] but I think Campo is an exceptional teacher and the guys know he’s got their backs.

BSR: So you don’t see an overhaul positon wise? I’m of the belief that they’ll stick with Ken Hamlin at the free and limit Roy Williams’ reps, getting him off the field when they’re in nickel and dime sets.

– Absolutely. Teams find guys like that. I also think the team is playing Hamlin right. Make him do it more than one year. If he plays well again, then you think about something long term.

BSR: What about the offensive side of the ball? Where are the weak links there?

– There are a few questions there. I think the team wants to get a better sense of its offensive line depth. They have Pat McQuistan going into his third year and Doug Free entering his second year and they moved James Marten to guard. They’ll give their starters some time but you may see the young guys going two and three quarters in some games so the team can get a really good look at them against top competition.

I also have some questions about backup quarterback. Brad Johnson is a smart guy but when he’s in there the ball goes sideways a lot. I think he’s here for 2008 but I’m sure the team has an eye out for another prospect beyond this year. 95% of the teams in this league are cooked if they lose their starting QB but if Tony Romo missed any significant time I think the Cowboys are an 8-8 team without him.

Without question, the biggest issue is at wide receiver. The team isn’t panicking yet, but I do think they have some worries about the #2 position. The offense stopped scoring touchdowns when Terrell Owens got hurt last year. Patrick Crayton is okay but he’s more of a #3 than a #2.

The team was looking for a young receiver before who could become a number one and could not find a fit.

I think they might need a little luck to fill that this year. It gets harder to fill holes once camp begins.

BSR: I know the Tom Landry Cowboys often filled holes with trades for veteran receivers. Lance Alworth, Billy Parks, guys like that. Might Dallas look at a veteran who’s dependable, in the way Keenan McCardell was for the Chargers a few years ago? And does this explain the Joe Horn rumors?

– My understanding is that Horn’s agent was given permission to shop him. The Cowboys have not called Atlanta.

BSR: So this is likely his agent trying to drum up interest?

– Yes, but if you asked me would I take Terry Glenn with nicks or Joe Horn, I’d take Glenn.

BSR: If the team can’t fill this need via trade, does this mean they’ll turn more to a guy like Felix Jones as a receiver?

– I think Jason Garrett is a guy who wants to open things up and get the ball down the field. I think one of the bigger questions is: how fast can Felix Jones learn what’s going on? He has to be a blocker, a catcher and a runner.

He’s got the potential to be a matchup problem, because he’s an explosive player, and because Dallas has T.O. and Jason Witten and Marion Barber, who can play every down, and they’re legitimate weapons, so defense can’t just lock in on him. But they will if he’s not clear on his responsibilities. It’s going to be interesting to track him in the one-on-one drills in camp, to see how he does against linebackers. Will they rag doll him, or will be be able to stay square and hold his ground?

If he doesn’t picks things up fast enough he’s Reggie Bush, a guy you draw up special plays for. And he has to be better than that. If all he can do is run special plays just for him, defenses will clue in very quickly that he’s in the game to get the ball.

Tony Romo, Tough ‘08 Matchups and Who Needs a 2nd Receiver? K.C. Joyner Returns, Part II

Today, K.C. turns his attention to the offensive side of the ball.

BSR: Last year your write up of Tony Romo said he was probably NFL QB at intermediate range throws. How would you rate his ‘07 game. Did he improve, regress or stay about the same?

Joyner: I think he regressed a little bit. His bad decisions increased. I think teams forced him to be more patient, to be willing to go down the field in 10 to 12 yard throws. He wasn’t always willing to do this, as you saw in the Buffalo game.

BSR: I’m amazed at the amount of abuse he gets because the Cowboys lost to the Giants. He’s only played one full season in the league and he’s sometimes portrayed as a failure, as if he’s got this long habit of choking that he needs to overcome.

Joyner: I know what you’re saying. I remember when he dropped the field goal snap in Seattle in ‘06 and people were telling me his career was over, and I remember saying, “no, that’s a good NFL quarterback.”

He’s not the guy who’s going to be the benefit of the doubt. When Peyton Manning started in Indy, he was the cornerstone. They had a ton invested him and he had a reputation for being the hardest working guy on the team, so even though he had trouble in his early playoffs he was given a lot of slack.

The press sees Romo with starlets and they see Joe Namath. He’s not given a lot of slack.

Roger Staubach was an excellent quarterback but he lost Super Bowl 10 to the Steelers, he lost to them in ‘77 when Dallas won the title, he lost Super Bowl 13 the following year and lost Super Bowl 13 and a half in ‘79. He was 0-4 against Terry Bradshaw and the Steelers but you never hear, “oh, Roger could never beat the Steelers.”

BSR: Adam Schefter of the NFL Network reported that Dallas was supposedly interested in Joe Horn. Does he have anything left?

Joyner: Joe Horn did not have enough attempts to qualify for my ratings but his numbers were between five and six, which are not good.

I have to wonder why they feel they need another complementary receiver. I have a new rating this year, where I look at how a receiver did against three different classes of corners. I classify any CB with a YPA below 7 yards as a red corner, a CB with a YPA between 7 and 9 as a yellow corner and any corner with a YPA above 9 as a green corners. Reds are matchups you tend to avoid, yellows you attack with caution and greens are great matchups for a quarterback.

Last year, Patrick Crayton had a 5.4 YPA against red corners, which is not very good. But his YPA against yellow CBs and against green CBs was above nine. Now a YPA around ten will usually rate a receiver at the top of the league.

This means that when he was not matched up against elite corners, Patrick Crayton was a very effective receiver.

Look, Terrell Owens will probably have 150 passes thrown his way. Jason Witten will get another 100 to 120. Crayton will probably get 90 to 100 balls. The running backs and backup tight ends will get maybe 60 or so. That’s just over 400 attempts. How much will Dallas need another receiver?

Here’s another reason why I wonder if Dallas needs another receiver. I used the red/yellow/green system to rate the matchups each QB will face in ‘08, giving a zero every time a QB faces a red CB, one point for a yellow CB and two for a green one.

Tony Romo has the lowest matchup total for any QB entering 2008, meaning he faces the hardest schedule passing wise. When the Cowboys coaches look at their opponents I think they’ll rely on their running game more this season. Now, every other NFC East QB will also have a tough road, but Romo has the most difficult schedule, period.

BSR: How do you rate Dallas’ chances, given Romo’s matchup problems? 2007 came to a disappointing end but I never wavered from my belief that the ‘07 Cowboys were not going all the way. Their defense was not finished. I think they’re close enough to being complete this time. They didn’t match up against New England and could not match the Giants in producing a rush with four men.

Joyner: I think the Cowboys have an excellent chance. They have arguably the most talented team in the NFC, with San Diego being arguably the most talented team in the AFC.

BSR: Careful, K.C., you’re stealing my thunder. Dallas and San Diego meet in their first pre-season games and I see them squaring off again in the Super Bowl. Thanks again for joining us.

– K.C. Joyner will be featured in a BSR podcast later this week to answer more questions, promote “Scientific Football 2008,” his new cornerback tracking service and “Blindsided,” a new book which aims to puncture several football myths.  If you have a question for K.C., post it in the thread.

Adam Jones, CB Rankings and Ken Hamlin’s Best Position: K.C. Joyner Returns, Part I

The football scientist K.C. Joyner gave BSR an interview Friday, taking time from finishing Scientific Football 2008 to discuss Adam Jones, the Cowboys incumbent corners, whether Ken Hamlin should be moved to strong safety and other topics. Today, we focus on the defense.

BSR: Adam Jones has finally landed in the Cowboys’ secondary. There’s a lot of discussion on the site about his ability to recover from a year off. I don’t think it’s an issue. He was suspended for being a knucklead. He didn’t miss time for a major injury or behavior that damaged his body, like drug or alcohol abuse. Paul Hornung and Alex Karras missed a full year in ‘63 for gambling. Both played well after they returned and they were both 28 the year they sat. Jones was 24. I think his performance curve can actually improve.

Joyner: I agree. Physiologists and baseball analysts like Bill James say that your physical peak comes around age 27 or 28. Don’t forget that John Riggins also sat out a year and helped win a Super Bowl after he returned.

BSR: I saw a comment from an AFC pro personnel guy who said Jones has talent but was inconsistent while at Tennessee. How much can we expect him to add to the secondary this year?

Joyner: Remember, he’s replacing Jacques Reeves. Reeves had a 7.9 yards per attempt in ‘07. Now, a 7.0 YPA is about league average. Adam Jones had a 5.4 YPA in 2006 (which ranked 8th overall). Jones doesn’t have to equal that to be an improvement. Even if he’s a notch below his ‘06 play he’ll raise the secondary’s play.

As for being inconsistent, you don’t post a 5.4 YPA giving up a lot of big plays. He may have given up a decent throw here and there, but you can’t give up many and post a number like that.

BSR: How did the Cowboys’ regular corners rate?

Joyner: Anthony Henry had a 6.6 YPA. That’s in the top third. Terence Newman had a 6.2 YPA. That’s in the top 20. The Cowboys had a top ten secondary with Reeves starting 13 games. They should be as good or better with Jones.

[Note: Joyner didn't have his rankings handy, but he's on the mark. A 6.2 YPA ranked 15th in both the '05 and '06 CB ratings. A 6.6 YPA ranked 21st and 20th in those years. ]

BSR: There’s been a lot of speculation that the Cowboys will move to Anthony Henry to free safety and Ken Hamlin to strong safety, putting Roy Williams on the bench. Henry hinted at this when Jones got some reps at starting right corner in last week’s mini-camp. But Hamlin was very good at free safety last year. Would Dallas be messing with success to move him?

Joyner: Before Ken Hamlin the Cowboys were awful at free safety. [Note: Keith Davis and Pat Watkins had the worst pass coverage numbers for starting FSs in '05 and '06.]

I think Dallas might be creating one problem by trying to solve another one. I don’t have his stats but Hamlin was very, very good last year. If the Cowboys want to replace Roy Williams at strong safety, they should get another strong safety. Look, I don’t have any problems saying this on the record. I think Roy Williams is just one of those guys, like Randy Moss, who’s going to play his game, the game that he wants to play, no matter what.

BSR: Let’s look at the Dallas secondary in comparison to another top divisional unit. I’ve written a couple of pieces on the NFC and I have the Eagles as my bubble team; I’m putting them outside the playoffs but can see them in if they keep Lito Sheppard. How good can Philly’s secondary be if they keep him?

Joyner: Lito dropped off. He takes chances and has high YPAs but the Eagles put up with it because he made plays and got picks. He’s stopped doing that.

BSR: What did Asante Samuel post last year?

Joyner: He was 7.2. Good, but not great.

I think the Eagles suffered letting nickel back Rod Hood go. He posted a 6.6 YPA for Arizona, which is very respectable. They replaced him with William James, who had a YPA over 11.0 last year, which is one of the worst marks in the league.

– Come back Monday for Part II, where K.C. will discuss Tony Romo’s ‘07, the difficult matchups he faces in ‘08, Patrick Crayton’s value as a number two and whether rumored WR target Joe Horn has anything left.

Ask Roy Williams

No, we’re not opening up a subsidiary paint store. Cowboys safety Roy Williams is participating in the Home Depot NFL Neighborhood MVP program on Tuesday. The project is to refurbish the football field at the A+ Academy Charter School in Dallas.

Williams is one of 17 NFL players selected league-wide for his ongoing commitment to the community and charitable giving of his time, talent and resources. Between the United Way, the Salvation Army and his own Roy Williams Safety Net Foundation, which helps single mothers get back on their feet.

If you have any questions that you’d like to ask, please post them here. Due to the limited time we have with him, I will only be able to select four or five. I plan on finalizing the list tomorrow morning.

James Washington Wants You!

… to join his training camp fun.

Super Bowl 28 hero James Washington joins The Blue and Silver Report for our inaugural podcast. Hear him talk about that game, his radio career, his foundation for Southern California youths, his training camp fan package, Roy Williams, Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin and more!

An Interview With K.C. Joyner, Part IV

K.C. Joyner concludes his interview with a discussion of Dallas’ tight ends and an analysis of Julius Jones’ game:

13. Blue and Silver Report — Jason Witten gets a lot of attention. The poor OT play forced him to block a lot last year and this hurt his receiving numbers, though they were still very good. Did he improve, regress or stay the same compared to 2004?

K.C. Joyner — I did an article for [ESPN] Insider recently that showed Witten had the best receiving numbers of any tight end in the NFL last year. He did this despite being used as a lead blocking fullback more often than any other tight end in the NFL. If the Cowboys can get better blocking out of Lousaka Polite (whose success rates were low) and Ryan Hannam (whose success metrics were also low, but who I think is a better blocker than the metrics indicate) this could get Witten out of the backfield and back as the de-facto #3 receiver. He would probably put up league-leading numbers again if this happens.

14. BSR — This question could be answered with number 13. One thing I noticed watching Cowboys’ tapes was poor tight end blocking, especially on the backside of runs. OLBs and safeties were frequently running down Cowboys runners from behind, it seemed. I argued a few months ago that ‘05 TEs coach Paul Pasqualoni seemed a step down from ‘04 coach Tony Sparano and that new hire Freddie Kitchens could upgrade this unit.

I know you rate TE receiving and run blocking. Does your data match up to my observations and how did the Dallas TEs rate as run blockers?

K.C. — Dan Campbell and Witten were #1 and #2 in lead blocks by a tight end (i.e. when the tight end lines up as a lead blocker in place of the fullback) so their metrics versus other pure tight ends might be a bit deceiving. Good fullbacks tend to have 85-90% success rates whereas good tight ends will have 80-85% success rates.

Campbell had an 82% success rate and Witten an 81% rate, both of which are low considering their use as a fullback. Hannam had a 79% success rate but was almost never used as a fullback.

BSR — K.C. does not address this the point in his answer, but the free preview on his SF 2006 site allows us to tumble his numbers further. (Click the free sample link at the top of the page and go to late pages on tight ends.) Witten ranks a respectable 15th overall in blocking success percentage, with 81%. However, Witten’s yards per attempt, the average yards a Cowboys back got running behind him, was a less than stellar 3.8 yards per attempt, ranking him 36th overall. Campbell was worse, finishing 45th out of the 47 tight ends Joyner rated with a 2.2 yards per attempt average. It’s not clear if these numbers were downgraded by the high number of lead blocks both TEs attempted.

However, Campbell’s poor numbers show why Dallas let him leave this spring. Dallas clearly expects Anthony Fasano to shoulder more of the lead-blocking F-back responsibilities and let Witten get downfield more often.

15. BSR — Finally, you have run blocking and run stopping stats now. Are you assessing how backs figure in a successful running game? I ask because nothing, and I mean nothing gets the juices flowing on this site more than the question, Julius or Marion?

For some reason the meme that Julius Jones was tentative got started early in ‘05 and never went away. I didn’t see it but there are people who swear by it.

K.C. – I didn’t do a Julius vs. Marion comparison for the book but I can tell you this: Jones was extremely effective on certain types of runs and simply pitiful on others. Let me give you a chart from S.F. 2006 on Jones’ effectiveness in each of the seven major run types.

If I were the Cowboys, I would run Jones on sweeps and off-tackle plays as often as possible. I would stay away from the counter and dive plays and see if [Marion] Barber can do a better job on those.

An Interview With K.C. Joyner, Part III

K.C. Joyner has completed Scientific Football 2006. Today he provides an extended excerpt from his SF 2006 Cowboys introduction, plus answers to questions on Terence Newman, Drew Bledsoe and the free safety position.

The Dallas Cowboys were the toughest team to play in the NFL last year. I don’t mean they were the toughtest team physically (although they may have been). I mean that the ‘Boys were mentally taxing to play.

Arizona found this out in week 8. The Cardinals had already played the Giants, Seahawks and Panthers, so they had been physically tested, but they came through those games with their mental toughness intact. After playing Dallas, however, the Cardinals admitted they were dominated and manhandled by a tougher team. It was so bad that Arizona benched their quarterback and a number of their offensive linemen and blockers after the game.

Detroit also found out how tough playing Dallas can be. The Lioins had earlier battles with tough teams, including a hard-hitting Baltimore squad that tried to intimidate the Lions but came up short. Dallas overpowered the Lions so badly that the Silver and Blue gave up on their head coach during the game.

It wasn’t just the cellar-dwellers who said this. Trent Green of the Chiefs said that he held onto the loss to the Cowboys a bit longer than he would usually hang onto a loss. In addition, the Chiefs defense was so worn out after the game they could barely muster the effort to tackle Tiki Barber the next week. That game wasn’t a physical domination by Dallas, but it was additional evidence that no team was going to come out of a game versus the Cowboys without having their psyche tested.

– Dallas Cowboys team summary, Scientific Football 2006

9. Blue and Silver Report – Terence Newman played better in ‘05 than in ‘04. There are some fans who think he’s ready for stardom and others who think he’s money already. Can he — is he — playing at a top level already? We ask in part because he’s getting a split decision from the national media. Sports Illustrated’s Paul Zimmerman named Newman as one of his All Pros last year but other scribes remember his whiff against Chris Cooley in the second Redskins game and beat his ratings up over that.

K.C. Joyner — I have to agree with Dr. Z on this one. A part of my take on Newman from SF 2006: “Newman placed in the top 12 in all of the major cornerback metric categories in the medium and deep pass levels and his short pass metrics were also good. He was possibly the most consistent cornerback in the NFL last year.”

10. BSR — How much would a good free safety help the Dallas secondary and did they bring anybody on board who can fill the need?

K.C. — I would like to be able to tell you that the acquisition of Marcus Coleman is going to help, but I don’t think it will. Coleman has had coverage issues the past two years. He ranked near dead last in coverage metrics for free safeties last year. He was so bad that the Texans ended up moving a strong safety over to free safety to take Coleman’s place.

If Coleman isn’t the answer and last year proved that [Keith] Davis isn’t the answer, then the Cowboys may end up having to go with Pat Watkins. I don’t do college metrics but I happen to follow FSU football very closely. Watkins is a hitter and a ballhawk. He may not be the best in coverage but if he can assimilate himself into [Mike] Zimmer’s defensive schemes quickly, he may be the best option they have.

11. BSR — Drew Bledsoe had an up-and-down season, peaking with a 98 QB rating at mid-season then dropping as the season progressed. How much of this was due to his o-line’s problems and how much was due to his own foibles?

K.C. — The metrics say that the o-line affected Bledsoe as much on his accuracy as it did anything else. Bledsoe had very good bad-decision numbers (he was 4th in bad decision percentage and 11th in weighted bad-decision percentage) but he was 31st overall in pass accuracy.

12. BSR — You mentioned in the ‘05 book that Bledsoe could still perform at a high level if he was used properly and given more of the throws he made well. Did Dallas game plan better for him than Buffalo had his last two seasons there?

K.C. – It’s just my opinion but yes, I do think that Dallas used Bledsoe better than Buffalo did. Bledsoe ranked 12th among all QBs in yards per attempt, which is better than his ‘05 numbers. His bad decision percentages were much lower, nearly 1/2 what they were in 2004. That he did this behind a line that was falling apart by year’s end says a lot for what Dallas was able to do for and with him.

To order a copy of Scientific Football 2006, visit www.thefootballscientist.com. You can read a 37-page excerpt from this year’s book there.

An Interview with K.C. Joyner, Part II

K.C Joyner returns with answers to questions about Terrell Owens, Chris Canty, Marcus Spears, Anthony Henry and Roy Williams.

5. BSR — Some readers have asked how T.O.’s suspension affected the Eagles’ passing game? How much will losing him hurt them?

K.C. — My take on the Eagles has always been that they believe in their passing system more than they believe in talent. Andy Reid has been successful for many years now with sub-par receiving talent, so there is evidence to back up that this works. As far as T.O. goes, his numbers were not that good last year. He had a poor success rate at every level. Some of this was probably due to Donovan McNabb’s poor accuracy after his week-1 injury. Eagles fans should probably worry more about McNabb coming back from the injury to his previous form than they should about the loss of T.O.

6. BSR – Can you say a little about the rookie DEs, Chris Canty and Marcus Spears?

K.C. — Canty had an excellent success rate, beating over 26% of his point of attack blocs, which ranked him 10th among DEs in that category. Spears didn’t do as well, beating only 14.1% of his POA blocks. Spears also gave up over 5 yards per POA run to Canty’s 4.0.

7. BSR — Can you put Anthony Henry’s season in context? He seemed to be playing very well before his groin injury. Where did he rate when he went down?

K.C. — the Cowboys’ opponents quickly figured out last year that Henry should be targeted over Terence Newman. In fact, the Chiefs, Chargers and Eagles all made Henry their primary target.

I haven’t split out his before/after injury numbers but I can tell you that Henry still had a 48.7% success rate for the entire season, which placed him 13th in the league in that category. He had a sub-par yards-per-attempt allowed, though, and much of his success came against short passes. I think Bill Parcells and company were more miffed at Henry’s inability to fight through the injury than they were with his performance.

8. BSR — Nobody gets more attention on this site than Roy Williams. His last minutes in the first Redskins loss earned him a bad reputation with national scribes. We started to see a lot of “Roy Williams is overrated” lines as the season went on. To my eyes he’s the same guy — he’s always had coverage issues, but is also a playmaker.

Was his ‘05 any worse than previous years and where would you rate him among league strong safeties?

K.C. — I’ll give you a quick excerpt from Scientific Football 2006 regarding Williams play last year,

“Roy Williams was the better of the two (Williams and Davis) when it came to run support and coverage. Williams had 11 run supports (a metric I go over in greater detail in the book) and probably would have ranked higher in that category had I not place the five-yard rule as a cutoff point for that metric.

No one expects Roy Williams to be great in coverage but the best measure of his coverage skills might be how he did against deep passes. Williams was solid on these passes, with a 70% success rate and a #14 ranking in the overall safety metric. Not great numbers, but not a bad tradeoff for the upside Williams gives the team against the run.”

Mind the Gap(s) — An Interview with K.C. Joyner, Part One

Scientific Football series author and ESPNet analyst K.C. Joyner continues his attempt to bring thorough, tape-based analysis to the world of football annuals. He’s taken time out from finishing Scientific Football 2006 to answer your questions. Today, in the first of four Q-&-A sessions, K.C. uses the book’s new run-blocking metrics to analyze Flozell Adams, Marco Rivera, the overall offensive line play and the 2005 Cowboys nose tackles.

1. The Blue and Silver Report – Many Cowboys fans view the 2005 offensive line as a failure. Did it perform poorly across the board or was it a case of three guys bailing but two huge holes letting water in?

K.C. Joyner — It was a case of the tackles being awful and the inside blockers being very good. Torrin Tucker had a terrible blocking percentage and Rob Petitti’s was one of the worst in the NFL. All the inside blockers (guards and centers) had 80%+ success rates. A 90% success rate is excellent and anything in the 80s is good.

2. BSR — Can you assess Flozell Adams’ run blocking before his injury?

K.C. — He didn’t get enough blocks to be listed as a qualifier. Based on the limited number of blocks he did have last year, he would have been pretty good but not great. His success rate was 90%, which is a great number, but his yards-per-attempt was only 4.0. If he can block at a 90% rate next year he’ll be a big upgrade over Tucker and I would expect the 4.0 YPA to increase.

3. BSR — Marco Rivera got a lot of grief for his 2005, being a big-ticket signing. Where did he fall in your ratings?

K.C. — His 82.4% success rate tied him for 22nd among guards, so that was a plus. He was in the lower 3rd of the league in YPA though, so it looks like a case where Rivera was able to get a block but the holes he created may not have been that big.

4. BSR — LaRoi Glover has left. Can you compare his play as a run stuffer to Jason Ferguson’s?

K.C. — Ferguson did a much better job vs. the run than Glover. I rank DTs by three criteria. The first is yards per attempt given up on runs to their point of attack. Glover allowed 5.4 yards per run, which ranked 79th among DTs. Ferguson gave up 4.3 yards, which isn’t great (tied for 51st among DTs) but it’s a heckuva lot better than Glover.

The second criterion I use is success percentage. This basically states how often the DT beat the blocker(s) on the play. Glover was horrible at this last year, beating a mere 7% of his blocks. Ferguson did much better, beating 20% of his blocks.

The last criterion is a combination of the first two. I multiply the yards-per-run by the success percentage. Glover’s total in that metric was 5.0 yards, while Ferguson’s was 3.4. It’s not a case of Ferguson being a great player but he is a lot better [against the run] than Glover.

To order a copy of Scientific Football 2006, go to: www.thefootballscientist.com.

An Interview with K.C. Joyner, Part II

The second installment of my interview with the “Football Scientist,” K.C. Joyner looks at Jason Witten, the receiving corps, the Morgan-for-Bryant trade, the QBs in the NFC East and the top passing attacks and secondaries the Cowboys will face in 2005.

14. You mentioned in the first responses that your book covered WRs, TEs and QBs. Why no analysis of running backs as receivers?

Joyner: I didn’t include RBs in the analysis as receivers because most of their routes are checkdown routes or very short routes like wide routes. I plan to do more route analysis next year on receivers, but if I do anything for RBs it will be on screen routes and the like. I wanted to do one this year (I was dying to see how good GB was on screens) but just ran out of time!

15. Let’s address a very sore subject for the readers. Jason Witten has, in their opinion, received a raw deal from most of the preseason analysts. Where does he sit in your tight end hierarchy, and can you give a brief rundown of his game?

Joyner: I like Jason Witten a whole lot. I’ll even throw in another freebie from the book to show you:
Jason Witten

Witten was one of the best receiving tight ends in the league last year. He ranked 3rd in overall attempts, 5th in completion percentage, tied for 6th in yards per attempt, and 6th in lowest total tight/good coverage percentage. He was one of the most vertical tight ends in the league, ranking 2nd in deep attempts and 7th in deep attempt percentage. His short completion percentage ranked him 4th, and his medium completion percentage ranked him tied for 5th.

Two things best showcase his value to the Dallas offense. First, despite his high percentage of deep passes, he also led the league in short pass attempts. The second is his frequent use at WR.

Witten was used as a WR on 39 of his 129 attempts. He caught 29 of those passes for 353 yards and 3 TDs. When you factor into those numbers that Witten had only 3 attempts from the WR position between weeks 1-7, you begin to understand his evolving role last year as the WR injuries occurred.

It will be very interesting to see how the Cowboys use Witten this year if Glenn and Morgan both come back strong. I can’t imagine Parcells not finding a way to get this guy the ball even if the receiving corps is fully healthy and productive. This guy is simply too good of a receiver to not get the ball in his hands.

Witten has a skill set that is second probably only to Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates. He does more things well than almost any other TE (at least from a receiving standpoint) and I think he is the inside favorite to be the NFC Pro Bowl TE this year.

16. One of the bigger surprises this offseason has been the inattention to the WR position. Considering the age and injury histories of Keyshawn Johnson and Terry Glenn, do you think Bill Parcells is playing with fire here?

Joyner: Yes I do, but I think the Boys are looking at it from a one-year perspective. They do have some young receivers who may or may not pan out. If one of those do pan out, and with Witten’s receiving ability, then they would be OK. I just think they saw other personnel issues that needed more attention.

17. One of the problems the Cowboys faced in ‘04 was their lack of depth at WR. They had a hard time fielding three-WR sets, and once Glenn was injured, their base two-WR sets were pedestrian. Is Quincy Morgan up to the task of being the deep threat Dallas needs to make its 3-WR sets work?

Joyner: I hate to give away another freebie, but the best way to describe Morgan is again in the analysis from the book:
Quincy Morgan

He had a very disappointing season. Morgan ranked 81st in completion percentage, tied for 78th in yards per attempt, and 85th in tight/good coverage percentage. He was just as bad on vertical routes, which are supposed to be his specialty. He was 81st in deep completion percentage and 75th in deep tight/good coverage percentage despite facing soft coverage only 4.5% of the time.

I know Morgan was injured a lot, but there was something I saw him do late last season that gave me pause. He ran 2 deep-in routes and he slowed down toward the end of each of the routes. Now you can’t do that on any route, but you especially can’t do that on a deep-in, as the QB is throwing to a spot and you have to get there. One of the passes was intercepted and the other was nearly intercepted. I don’t know why Morgan didn’t run them out, but it looked like he didn’t want anything to do with the traffic in the middle.

Morgan is a speed receiver who isn’t getting open deep and has issues going over the middle. He better fix at least one of those problems or he simply won’t be thrown the ball very often.

Morgan may not be the answer, but as I mentioned in #16, I think one of the other prospects might be.

18. Let’s revisit the Morgan-for-Antonio Bryant trade. At the time, it was presented as Dallas cutting its losses, given Bryant’s bad behavior and erratic route running. I’ve had many friends express fear that Bryant could blossom and make this deal look bad. What, in your opinion, are the chances of this occuring? How do you rate each of them?

Joyner: It was the best deal each team could cut. Neither of these receivers were working out in their situations last year, so it was a risky deal on both sides. I think the Browns are going to find out why Trent Dilfer wasn’t a starting QB (his decision making is among the worst in football) and that will hurt Bryant. Bryant didn’t look that much better on film for Cleveland than he did for Dallas last year. It may turn out the Boys will get the bad end of the deal if Morgan doesn’t get his act together, but I can’t hold that against them because Bryant obviously wasn’t working out either.

19. I’ve argued that Darren Woodson’s injury last August gutted the pass defense, because it effected all four secondary positions. Dallas moved Roy Williams to FS, which is not his best position and played its CBs seven yards off the ball in early games, when it played a lot of press coverage in ‘03. Williams is moving back to SS this year. How much better could Roy Williams be playing there?

Joyner: Roy Williams isn’t very good in coverage and moving him to SS would reduce his coverage liabilities. He’s also a great run stuffer and blitzer, and it will help the Boys tremendously the closer they can get him to the line of scrimmage. I know Dallas has been looking at a number of FS prospects, and if I were them I would keep Roy at SS no matter what. I think Williams is a B level coverage person and even if the Boys found a player who was a B- level player, they would be better off playing Williams at SS. The upside of him at SS more than outweighs the slight coverage advantage he’d give you over a subpar FS prospect. What they ought to try to do is trade for a good backup FS on another team, maybe hit up the Cardinals for one of theirs. FS isn’t the hardest position to fill, it just takes a heady player who reads plays well, and they shouldn’t give up Williams SS abilities for that.

20. Right now, Izell Reese is the favorite to start at FS. Can Dallas depend on him to play centerfield in a blitzing, man-to-man scheme?

Joyner: I haven’t seen enough of Reese to give a definitive opinion. He’s been OK in the tape I have seen of him, probably a bit better than the Cowboys had last year.

21. The secondary got a lot of well-deserved blame for the defense’s decline last year. But the linebackers didn’t help either did they? Can you give a brief overview of that unit’s play against the pass?

Joyner: I can’t say that I saw a whole lot of good or bad out of the Cowboys LBs from a coverage standpoint. The thing that stood out with me is that the Boys opponents always seemed to target the CBs or safeties, so they didn’t need to go after the LBs. One of the most in-depth pieces of analysis I did in the book was on the Patriots LBs and the positive impact they had on the Patriots overall zone coverage scheme. The Cowboys like to play more man coverage than zone, at least when they can, so the LBs aren’t in position as often to help the CBs as they would be in a predominately zone coverage scheme.

22. A successful season starts in your division. How do the QBs in the NFC East rate?

Joyner: That’s a fairly open-ended question, so I’ll just give a quick blurb on each as a start. I think Donovan McNabb is one of the top 2 or 3 QBs in all of football. He does the things well in the passing game that you want a QB to do (stand in against the rush, spot the open receiver, throw an accurate pass) and he does them as well as any other QB in football sans Tom Brady. Patrick Ramsey/Mark Brunell both feel the pass rush far too much to be effective, and Giants fans are in an uproar on some of their blogs because of how badly I rated Eli Manning. I got an email from one sympathetic fan telling me that “pedigree doesn’t even work very well in dogs, and it certainly doesn’t work for QBs”, which basically nutshells my thoughts on Eli. If his last name wasn’t Manning, he’d just be Tony Romo (and I don’t mean that as a knock on Romo).

23. The Giants, Eagles and Redskins all shuffled WRs this spring. What did the Giants gain in signing Plaxico Burress?

Joyner: Plax is a very good receiver and did give them a needed upgrade. He vertical numbers last year weren’t good, though part of that had to do with the limitations on the Steelers passing attack as a whole. Plax will have the same problems this year, though, so I don’t expect a huge season from him.

24. Did the Redskins outthink themselves trading Laveranues Coles for Santana Moss?

Joyner: In a nutshell, probably not. Coles is supposed to be a speedy deep threat, but he was thrown more short passes last year than any other receiver. Coles’ injuries have kept him from being the deep threat he should be, and with the Jets having Justin McCareins as a vertical receiver, it was a deal that helped both teams.

25. I doubt it will happen, but let’s say for arguments sake that Terrell Owens holds out for part of the season. How much would the Eagles’ passing game suffer?

Joyner: It would suffer, but the thing I point out about the Eagles is that McNabb’s skill set allowed them to get away with pedestrian receivers for years. The Eagles knew McNabb’s ability would stretch their thin receiving corps enough to win during the regular season, but their postseason woes made it clear they needed to upgrade. If TO is out, they will still find a way to win in the regular season.

26. In the SI piece you singled out Champ Bailey as an overrated CB and the Eagles’ Sheldon Brown as a vastly underappreciated one. Are there any other unsung CBs in the division? Or safeties for that matter?

Joyner: I thought Gibril Wilson of the Giants played well enough in 10 games to win the defensive rookie of the year award last year.

27. Teams don’t play in a vacuum. The Cowboys will have to line up against thirteen different defenses this year. Who are some of the better CBs and which are the better secondaries from outside the division that they will have to face in ‘05?

Joyner: Not many good ones, I can tell you that. Arizona, Detroit, and San Diego are all better than they get credit for, but if I were a fantasy coach, I’d be going crazy over the lousy secondaries the Cowboys will be facing. KC, Oakland, Seattle (at least at CB), SF, none of these secondaries are any good. From that standpoint, if Drew faces his problems and the receivers pan out and/or stay healthy, it could be a big passing year for Dallas.

28. On the flip side, which are some of the better passing attacks the Dallas defense will face?

Joyner: Believe it or not, it’s most of the same teams that I named in 27. Oakland has a good chance of being a very good passing team, Seattle has the talent if they can get their act together, and KC will be good as long as their O line is healthy. Carolina is one of the most vertical passing teams in the league, and Detroit could be very dangerous if Jeff Garcia gets into the starting lineup.

Thanks again, K.C. I think I speak for all the readers.

Joyner: Rafael, thanks again for the forum.

An Interview with K.C. Joyner, Part One

K.C. Joyner has a mission. He wants to change the way people understand football, in the way that Bill James and his disciples have changed baseball analysis over the last 30 years. K.C. has been analyzing games to better his own understanding for close to 20 years and this summer has published Scientific Football 2005, the most thorough breakdown of the NFL passing game available. Sports Illustrated’s NFL writer Paul Zimmerman profiled K.C. last week, and has brought him some welcome attention. K.C. was kind enough to find time for Cowboys Blog.

I solicited questions from the community and received many worthy ones. Given K.C.’s busy schedule, I submitted thirteen, to give readers a feel for his methods. I am hopeful that we’ll get more opportunities to pick his brain later this summer.

1. When did you get involved in the the analysis business?

Joyner: I’ve been analyzing games since 1986 using a lot of different systems, most of which are based on actual scouting systems used by NFL teams. My football friends thought it was a great thing to get scouting information from the tapes, so I knew there was an audience out there for game tape based player analysis. I had always wanted to write a book on the subject, so I finally got the nerve to do so in 2003.

2. This is your first book. Have you been publishing articles, working on radio, doing TV in the meantime?

Joyner: I had some work published by the Pro Football Researcher’s Association and had also submitted my work to a lot of places. Football research isn’t seen as being as popular as baseball research, and it’s one of my goals to change that perception.

3. The SI story mentioned you use tape. What, in brief, is your “method?”

Joyner: I chart every passing play using a number of play-tracking and player-performance metrics. The play-tracking metrics include depth of drop, type of route run, area of field route run to, receiver, defender, type of defensive coverage, and result. The player performance metrics include how open the receiver was, whether the defender had good or tight coverage, how accurate the pass was, whether the pass was dropped, whether the defense was playing prevent, and how far off the defender was at snap, among others.

4. What types of analysis are covered in the book? What positions are reviewed?

Joyner: The book contains an in-depth review of the passing game, so it includes analysis of WRs, TEs, QBs, FSs, SSs, and CBs.

5. How long does it take you to break down a game? You claim to have broken down almost the entire ‘04 season. How many hours per week are you watching tape?

Joyner: It takes me approximately 2-3 hours just to break down the tape, but that doesn’t include the other parts of the analysis like data mining and writing up the analysis. I did break down every game that I had from the 2004 (about 95% of the games), but most of the actual breakdowns were done during the 2004 season. I spend about 40-50 hours watching tape and then some additional time actually analyzing the breakdowns.

6. Do you have “formal” training? Are you a former player? A scout? A coach?

Joyner: I don’t have any “formal” training per se. I have a very large football book collection, including a large number of scouting and player-analysis-based books, so I do have a large amount of self-study training. The analogy I use for this is one I found in the telecom world. The best reference book for technical terms in telecom is Newton’s Telecom Dictionary. Any technical telecom person worth his salt will have a copy of this book, as it simply defines the terms used in telecom better than any other book. Harry Newton writes the book and he has absolutely no formal training in telecom. He has a Ph.D in another field, so he’s very smart, but he isn’t an engineer by trade. He just loves telecom and studies the hell out of it, and from this was able to create the quintessential telecom guide. I like to think of my entree’ into the football world as being similar to Dr. Newton’s in telecom.

7. What can your book offer that the preseason annuals can’t provide?

Joyner: The best way to put is that my book goes into much greater depth than the preseason annuals. It is 140,000 words and 467 pages, and believe me when I say that the content isn’t fluff. I have a NO-HYPE editorial policy, and you’ll find the analysis in the book more direct and without hype-based bias. From the feedback I’ve received on the book, it is this lack of hype that is very popular.

8. Do you have a QB ratings system and now does it differ from the NFL’s?

Joyner: I want to create some rating systems, but the gist of my analysis this year was to create and track different metrics for every position. For QBs, I offer ratings in a large number of categories, including the percentage of time a QB makes a bad decision, how accurate a QBs passes were (not just his completion percentage, but how many times he threw a pass that a receiver could catch), and also have a detailed analysis of how successful each QB was at throwing at each depth level as defined by NFL passing trees. Two good examples of this are Jake Delhomme and Daunte Culpepper. Delhomme actually threw more deep passes than any other QB in the league, and Culpepper was probably the best QB in the league on short passes. I think that Culpepper’s success at short passes led the Vikings to rethink their offensive philosophy (Culpepper was almost phenomenal in his short pass success) and that’s what led to their allowing Randy Moss to go.

9. In your system, assess Drew Bledsoe’s strengths and weaknesses.

Joyner: I’ll do you one better than that, if you don’t mind sparing the space. I’ll actually give you part of my offensive analysis for the Cowboys. It includes a comparison of Vinny vs. Drew.

Offense/QB
One of the most intriguing questions this offseason is what will Drew Bledsoe be able to bring to the Cowboys that Vinny Testaverde didn’t. Take a look at their stat comparisons.

I’ll start by comparing the totals. Their attempts and completion percentages were very close. Vinny had a higher yards per attempt, which is kind of surprising considering Bledsoe was much better on deep passes and had Lee Evans as a vertical threat. Vinny had almost no one as a vertical threat but Vinny’s yards per attempt were higher on short passes and much higher on medium passes. Their percentages of receivers open by X steps were very similar, as was their throwing into tight/good coverage, but Vinny was more accurate on his passes.

I think the biggest difference is their decision making. While Drew wasn’t great at avoiding bad decisions (tied for 17th in bad decision percentage), he did make fewer of them than Vinny (26th in bad decision percentage) and the bad decisions he made weren’t as bad. Vinny handled the blitz very poorly and forced passes into coverage. Bledsoe won’t do that in large part because he’ll hold onto the ball for so damn long.

The Bills only allowed 2 more sacks than Dallas did, and only had 4.5 more coverage sacks (8.5 to 4). Those numbers don’t look like much of a discrepancy until you realize that Vinny threw many more deep passes than Drew (93 to 54). It very well might be that Buffalo didn’t throw the ball deep because of Bledsoe’s issues with the pass rush (see Buffalo comment). This could still be an issue for Drew and Dallas will have to pass block better than they did last year or their vertical game could be crippled because of this.

A synopsis of their pros and cons:
Drew Bledsoe

Pros Cons

1. Younger; Holds ball too long, will take more sacks

2. Fewer bad decisions; Not as accurate

3. Feels the pass rush too much

4. Doesn’t read defensive fronts well

Vinny Testaverde

Pros Cons

1. More accurate; Much older, hit wall late in 2004 season

2. Doesn’t feel rush as much; Makes many more bad decisions

3. More mobile; Handles blitz poorly

Although Testaverde has more pros and less cons, Bledsoe’s pros are very big. Vinny really started struggling more as the season progressed, and it did look like he was running out of gas. At this point in his career, Vinny is probably much better suited to being a backup. The fewer bad decisions are a huge plus for Bledsoe. Since both QBs have trouble with defensive pressure, the Cowboys offensive line would be a big factor for either of them anyway. All in all this is a good tradeoff for Dallas.

10. Do you think Bledsoe will improve in the Dallas offense, decline or stay about the same?

Joyner: Parcells knows what Drew can do and won’t ask him to do things he’s not capable of. I think the Bills staff was asking Drew to do things he either didn’t like to do or wasn’t very good at (which I cover in greater detail in the book).

11. Anthony Henry got a big contract from Dallas, but he was the least known of the major CB free agents. How did he play in ‘04? Where does he fall in the CB hierarchy?

Joyner: It was really hard to grade Henry in Cleveland because the Browns always had their CBs playing 7 yards off. They didn’t want their CBs giving up big plays and let them give up other types of plays because of it. Henry’s stats were only OK because of this, but I don’t know that it’s an accurate representation of his talent level. It looks like he has more talent than the other Cowboy options, so I think in all it’s a good pickup, but I don’t know how well his skill set meshes with a tighter press coverage scheme the Cowboys will likely ask him to play.

12. Terrence Newman regressed last year. Can you give a brief rundown of his game?

Joyner: Again, I’ll give your readers a freebie.

Terence Newman

His stats for 2004 were excellent. His completion percentage was 8th best, his yards per attempt were tied for 8th best, and he had the 14th best tight/good coverage percentage.

He had terrific short passing stats, with the 7th lowest completion percentage and 17th highest tight/good coverage percentage. His medium stats weren’t as good as the short, but they were good. He ranked tied for 15th lowest completion percentage and tied for 26th in tight/good coverage percentage at the medium level. His deep stats were very solid as well.

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think Newman had a pretty good season. What he actually had were some really good games paired up with some terrible, awful games. Take a look:

Terence Newman’s worst games
Wk. Opp. Att. C. Yds. TD
1 Minn. 6, 5, 74, 2
3 Wash. 14, 9, 75, 1
6 Pitt. 12, 9, 104, 1
7 G.B. 5, 3, 92, 1
13 Sea. 14, 12, 147, 1
Totals 51, 38, 492, 6

Terence Newman’s best games:
Wk. Opp. Att. C. Yds. TD
2 Cle. 10, 1, 12, 0
9 Cinn. 5, 1, 2, 0
12 Chi. 4, 0, 0, 0
15 Phi. 5, 2, 13, 0
17 NYG 6, 2, 23, 0
Totals 30, 6, 50, 0

Newman was perfectly capable of losing a game all by himself, and perfectly capable of shutting an opponent down. His shutdown games came against teams with weaker receivers, but he could still shut those receivers down.

Newman had many games where he was targeted and beaten. Parcells at one point said that Newman was losing his confidence, and the Seattle game was the nadir of that time. After the Seattle game Newman started playing the receivers much tighter than he had been up to that point. It’s almost like Parcells told him, “Look, you play best when you play tight. When you play soft you get beat. Go back to playing tight and stop worrying about if you’re going to have help over the top. If you get beat deep because of that, you’ll never hear me say a word.” Newman’s confidence returned and he started playing like a top-level cover corner and had two of his best games in weeks 15 & 17.

They always say that the best CBs are the ones who have bad memories and don’t remember being beaten. Newman had his first struggles last year but he seemed to forget them after a time. I was worried about his future, but I’m not anymore. This guy is good as long as he plays tight and doesn’t worry.

13. How will Henry’s addition, in your opinion, affect Newman in ‘05?

Joyner: It all depends. Over the past two seasons it seems that the Cowboys’ opponents have decided they wanted to pick on a particular CB. Sometimes it was Mario Edwards, sometimes Newman, or sometimes it was the alternating CBs opposite Newman. If Henry plays solid and Newman continues his end of 2004 performance, I think that the Cowboys opponents will stop trying to target one of them and just go their best receiver.

Thanks, K.C.

Again, my apologies for keeping you waiting. I’ll do better on the next set of questions!

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