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Bob Sturm reacts: Cowboys dug themselves a grave with silly decisions
Posted at 1:03 AM on Mon., Sep. 13, 2010 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Bob Sturm / Contributor Bio | E-mail | News tips
Bob Sturm comments on the Cowboys' 13-7 loss at the Redskins.
General impressions
It's certainly one of those games where you have a chance to win, but in this league when you go on the road you can't make that many mistakes. You can't make it that difficult on yourself. The Cowboys did that tonight.
This was a tough assignment for them. A game maybe the fans didn't realize was that tough of a matchup -- to go in there at night, division opponent, new excitement in Washington. You have to be ready and execute the little things and you can't obviously make things more difficult like the play at the end of the first half, the countless penalties and the final play.
They dug themselves a grave.
On the last play of the first half when coach Wade Phillips decided to try to score instead of run out the clock. Tashard Choice fumbled, and DeAngleo Hall picked up the ball and ran for a 10-0 Redskins lead.
At that point you're on your own side of the field, I'm not quite sure -- besides the most miraculous Hail Mary -- what you're thinking -- unless it's compiling garbage yards. It's perhaps boring, but the prudent thing is take a knee and get out of there. It's 3-0. You're in a fine spot. You get a little cute and getting cute still requires a one-in-a thousand play, you certainly feel silly about that decision.
There will be situations when you take a knee and your fans boo you, but it certainly bit the Cowboys tonight.
About the offensive playcalling
The way I looked at the game, it kind of happened just like I thought they would. They called plays to protect their offensive line they did not want to get Romo hit. They used extremely quick passes -- the quick screens to Dez Bryant come to mind. They were extremely cautious because they new the line could not hold up. I have often been critical of (offensive coordinator) Jason Garrett's playcalling, but it is a bit unreasonable to unleash his entire playbook when there is no reason to believe it can properly pick up blitzes. I think Garrett called plays to keep his QB upright. In the fourth quarter, we saw what happened when he asked his sub of line to step up at crunch time.
On David Buehler, who missed his first field goal with the Cowboys
In the preseason I found his overall persona, his quotes extremely confident and I thought that would be charming provided he didn't miss any kicks he was supposed to make. It's a very fair question to ask: "Can he make big kicks when needed?" The Cowboys put a lot of faith into him, he was unchallenged in camp. He misses kicks he makes in practice and preseason games, and that's call pressure. I hope that's not a precursor of things to come.
On Cowboys offensive lineman Alex Barron
There were two plays in which Barron was called for holds they both nullified big plays (the 3rd-and-11 completion for 12 yards and the final play of the game). What makes them both extra difficult is that there were both on plays when the Redskins rushed 3 vs. 5-6 man protection. On the final play of the game, what is bewildering to me, Marion Barber was either not asked or did not follow through with a chip on Brian Orapo. If he puts a shoulder on Orapo, the game could have resulted differently.
On the defense
Not bad. They fought hard, but I did not think they got enough pressure on (Donovan) McNabb. I didn't think the pass rush was as relentless as it needed to be. Obviously Washington's offense didn't do major damage. All the blitzes seemed to be easily picked up. Otherwise, I thought the defense was pretty decent.
On preparing for the Bears at home next week
The first is getting offensive line quality back. If they get Kyle Kosier and Marc Colombo back, that will go along way. We saw a pretty nice night from Felix Jones and they might choose to utilize him. I think there was a lot of promise between Romo and Miles Austin. They play a Bears team having trouble protecting the passer as well. Playing at home, they need to get a win before they go to Houston because we saw today that Houston is a difficult place to play. That makes the Chicago game vital.
Bob Sturm is host of BaD Radio on The Ticket 1310 AM Mondays through Fridays at 12-3 p.m. He also hosts The Ticket's Cowboys pregame show. Follow Bob on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bobanddan
Posted at 1:03 AM on Mon., Sep. 13, 2010 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Bob Sturm / Contributor Bio | E-mail | News tips
Bob Sturm comments on the Cowboys' 13-7 loss at the Redskins.
General impressions
It's certainly one of those games where you have a chance to win, but in this league when you go on the road you can't make that many mistakes. You can't make it that difficult on yourself. The Cowboys did that tonight.
This was a tough assignment for them. A game maybe the fans didn't realize was that tough of a matchup -- to go in there at night, division opponent, new excitement in Washington. You have to be ready and execute the little things and you can't obviously make things more difficult like the play at the end of the first half, the countless penalties and the final play.
They dug themselves a grave.
On the last play of the first half when coach Wade Phillips decided to try to score instead of run out the clock. Tashard Choice fumbled, and DeAngleo Hall picked up the ball and ran for a 10-0 Redskins lead.
At that point you're on your own side of the field, I'm not quite sure -- besides the most miraculous Hail Mary -- what you're thinking -- unless it's compiling garbage yards. It's perhaps boring, but the prudent thing is take a knee and get out of there. It's 3-0. You're in a fine spot. You get a little cute and getting cute still requires a one-in-a thousand play, you certainly feel silly about that decision.
There will be situations when you take a knee and your fans boo you, but it certainly bit the Cowboys tonight.
About the offensive playcalling
The way I looked at the game, it kind of happened just like I thought they would. They called plays to protect their offensive line they did not want to get Romo hit. They used extremely quick passes -- the quick screens to Dez Bryant come to mind. They were extremely cautious because they new the line could not hold up. I have often been critical of (offensive coordinator) Jason Garrett's playcalling, but it is a bit unreasonable to unleash his entire playbook when there is no reason to believe it can properly pick up blitzes. I think Garrett called plays to keep his QB upright. In the fourth quarter, we saw what happened when he asked his sub of line to step up at crunch time.
On David Buehler, who missed his first field goal with the Cowboys
In the preseason I found his overall persona, his quotes extremely confident and I thought that would be charming provided he didn't miss any kicks he was supposed to make. It's a very fair question to ask: "Can he make big kicks when needed?" The Cowboys put a lot of faith into him, he was unchallenged in camp. He misses kicks he makes in practice and preseason games, and that's call pressure. I hope that's not a precursor of things to come.
On Cowboys offensive lineman Alex Barron
There were two plays in which Barron was called for holds they both nullified big plays (the 3rd-and-11 completion for 12 yards and the final play of the game). What makes them both extra difficult is that there were both on plays when the Redskins rushed 3 vs. 5-6 man protection. On the final play of the game, what is bewildering to me, Marion Barber was either not asked or did not follow through with a chip on Brian Orapo. If he puts a shoulder on Orapo, the game could have resulted differently.
On the defense
Not bad. They fought hard, but I did not think they got enough pressure on (Donovan) McNabb. I didn't think the pass rush was as relentless as it needed to be. Obviously Washington's offense didn't do major damage. All the blitzes seemed to be easily picked up. Otherwise, I thought the defense was pretty decent.
On preparing for the Bears at home next week
The first is getting offensive line quality back. If they get Kyle Kosier and Marc Colombo back, that will go along way. We saw a pretty nice night from Felix Jones and they might choose to utilize him. I think there was a lot of promise between Romo and Miles Austin. They play a Bears team having trouble protecting the passer as well. Playing at home, they need to get a win before they go to Houston because we saw today that Houston is a difficult place to play. That makes the Chicago game vital.
Bob Sturm is host of BaD Radio on The Ticket 1310 AM Mondays through Fridays at 12-3 p.m. He also hosts The Ticket's Cowboys pregame show. Follow Bob on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bobanddan