Day After Thoughts (day early)- Week Five

[dbair1967]

Leaving for vacay tomorrow so wont be able to post. Needless to say its gonna be a nice plane ride now.

I really didn't expect us to win, but definitely didn't see us dominating them like we did. Very impressive win to say the least.

1) Prescott, another great game. Seems to get better every week. Is playing at an exceptionally high level already. Will be very curious to see how he and the rest of the team handle the Packers next week, but we hit a fucking grand slam with Prescott it appears. The poise, control, decision making- its all like a seasoned veteran and the guys a damn rookie.

2) Zeke Elliott, worth every bit of the 4th pick overall. Bengals had 1 or 2 plays they slowed him down and he finally busted one for 60 yd TD. Knew it was a matter of time. Best part of the run may have been him splitting the two guys who looked like they had the angle on him and going all the way. Also caught 3 balls. Flawless blitz protection again. Great draft pick.

3) Bengals have some really good DL, our OL pretty much made them all disappear. Dunlap made a couple of plays but I don't remember Geno Atkins doing anything. Ronald Leary, Fred and Martin had dominating performances. Awesome to have T Smith back out there as well. Still think we might see Chaz Green start getting some reps at RT at some point. Needless to say though, I'm impressed with how our front handled their front 7.

4) We actually had a pass rush today. McClain had a really strong performance. Demarcus Lawrence was on a pitch count but he had 3 or 4 legit pressures and nearly had two sacks. Mayowa had his best game yet and new DE Ryan Davis had several good plays (including what should have been his 1st sack here, wiped out by a ticky tack hold that had zero impact on the play).

5) Thought Claiborne, Carr and Anthony Brown all had strong games. Brown is looking like a very legit prospect at CB. Fast, good size and physical. With Claiborne, 5 games in and he is still playing well (sorry Dooms, but he is). Maybe he starts to struggle at some point, but he is having a solid year. Byron Jones had a couple more good plays as well. Definitely surprised that AJ Green didn't do much out there.

6) Hey shitass refs, I sure hope you remember all the ticky tack guidelines you have for defensive holding/PI calls when Dez Bryant gets back out there. None of that garbage I saw called today would have been called on Bryant. We see him get raped and assaulted every game and they let it go. And I still don't understand the call on Witten that negated the first Prescott TD pass. Glad it didn't end up costing us points.

7) Dan Bailey appeared to get through the game well. Had no problems with PATS or kickoffs. Good news for sure.

8) Hey Garrett, Lance Dunbar is not needed. Please don't waste anymore plays this year having him out there.

9) How much do they trust Prescott? Late in game on 3rd down, they have him drilling a nice slant to T Williams for 1st down conversion to ice win. Would have totally understood running the ball, but instead they believe in him enough (and our OL) to put it in the air.

10) They gave up a lot of garbage time yards and those two tds, but other than that and some shoddy run defense early it was as close to a perfect game as you could get for us defensively. Offensively the only thing you could complain about was the rare Witten drop that cost us a 1st down late in 1st half and the strip/fumble deep in Bengals territory up 28-0. Simms said one of our guys was wide open for easy score, but I think just handing off on that 3rd down play and taking the gimmee FG to go up 31-0 would have made more sense. Still, hard to complain overall.

4-1 and all alone in 1st place, I don't think anybody could have predicted this going into the season. If Prescott has another strong game next week, I honestly don't know how they can make a QB change. He's leading the team incredibly well and we are exceeding expectations greatly. He's the future for sure, but he really might be our present as well. Romo has done a lot of great things here, but I'm not sure if the offense would definitely be better with him out there right now. We're playing as well as we are in great part due to how Prescott has played and the challenges he brings a defense. He can definitely hurt teams throwing on the run, the potential read/option plays where he keeps and by extending plays and making positive yards on scrambles. Romo isn't much of a threat on any of that.

The defense still needs more improvement but there were some signs of hope out there today. if they can get to where they can at least bother QB's some on obvious passing downs the season could end up being a lot different than any of us imagined, especially after Romo went down in Seattle.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

I was really surprised that AJ Green didn't have a big day as Carr was lined up across from him like 95% of the time. WRs like AJ Green generally destroy him re: Calvin Johnson, OBJ.

 

[Doomsday]

Very good summation, somewhat surprised I have no issues with it.

 

[NoMoRedJ]

It was a great win. Dak and Zeke are the real difference this year in overcoming what our head coach doesnt bring to the table.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Adam Schefter tweeted that after watching all 131 of Dak's pass attempts before today, the Bengals didn't see a single bad throw from him.

Pretty heady praise considering Marvin Lewis was viewing them.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

A writer for FOX sports is saying that Dak should win the MVP award.

 

[Scot]

Today's game answered a lot of the lingering questions and answered them definitively!

Yes this team is for real, yes Dak is the future, yes Zeke was worth the 4th overall pick, yes we can get pressure on the QB!

Are all of our problems fixed? Not in the least. But I did like what I saw from the defense. No bad angles, no severely missed tackles.

All in all today was a great day to be a Cowboy fan! It did feel like the early 90's where we could score at will. Except without the defense to stop them at will.

But these last five games washed away the stench of last season!

And we did it all without our top two players Romo and Dez.

 

[JBond]

It was a great win. Dak and Zeke are the real difference this year in overcoming what our head coach doesnt bring to the table.

God, please forgive me. I will say it. Maybe Red knows what he is doing. Maybe he lucked into two great players. Many coaches have. He is also bringing out the best in the team. The defense is playing way beyond their predicted level, as is the offense. Dez, aka knucklehead, still hasn't figured it out.

 

[yimyammer]

9) How much do they trust Prescott? Late in game on 3rd down, they have him drilling a nice slant to T Williams for 1st down conversion to ice win. Would have totally understood running the ball, but instead they believe in him enough (and our OL) to put it in the air.

Seems like they trust him more than Romo, I don't recall that many times when Romo has iced it with 3rd down pick ups like this. I'm sure he has often but I've just forgotten. What I remember most are attempts like in Pittsburgh where he threw the pick trying to ice the game and everything turns to shit or the failed attempt in New England, etc

 

[yimyammer]

God, please forgive me. I will say it. Maybe Red knows what he is doing. Maybe he lucked into two great players. Many coaches have. He is also bringing out the best in the team. The defense is playing way beyond their predicted level, as is the offense. Dez, aka knucklehead, still hasn't figured it out.

I agree, how can the coaches go without credit, especially with the albatross of a GM they work for

 

[Doomsday]

He is also bringing out the best in the team.

Yes, Dak and Zeke are.

 

[ThoughtExperiment]

Still think it's about 95% Dak. The guy is a phenom. Those passes have incredible pinpoint accuracy. Combine that with his ability to move and it's a deadly combo.

Funny how we're winning games without Romo, Dez, and Scandrick when the excuse crew last year said such a thing was absolutely impossible.

 

[cockstrong]

God, please forgive me. I will say it. Maybe Red knows what he is doing. Maybe he lucked into two great players. Many coaches have. He is also bringing out the best in the team. The defense is playing way beyond their predicted level, as is the offense. Dez, aka knucklehead, still hasn't figured it out.

Garrett is no star but he certainly has the team playing hard. I was actually impressed with him telling Elliot to give it a rest with the feed me shit after each run
That being said, we will never win anything with him as a head coach. He doesnt have what it takes. Its been proven over and over again

 

[Scot]

I gotta say the play calling last night was better than I've seen in a very long time.

Maybe it's because his options aren't limited by Romo's back and immobility

What made yesterday's win even better is the Eagles loss coupled with Wentz INT which leaves Dak free to break Brady's record

 

[English Cowboy]

I gotta say the play calling last night was better than I've seen in a very long time.

Maybe it's because his options aren't limited by Romo's back and immobility

What made yesterday's win even better is the Eagles loss coupled with Wentz INT which leaves Dak free to break Brady's record

I didn't get to see the game yesterday but I would be interested to know from those of you that did - does Dak audible out of plays as much as Romo does? Because maybe that's why the play calling seems better (Dak running the play Linehan called rather than Romo forever outsmarting himself with his incessant 'KILL! KILL! KILL!').

 

[cmd34]

1) Prescott, another great game. Seems to get better every week. Is playing at an exceptionally high level already. Will be very curious to see how he and the rest of the team handle the Packers next week, but we hit a fucking grand slam with Prescott it appears. The poise, control, decision making- its all like a seasoned veteran and the guys a damn rookie.

Yep. He's playing so well that I didn't even care about the fumble. The guy is playing lights out.

2) Zeke Elliott, worth every bit of the 4th pick overall. Bengals had 1 or 2 plays they slowed him down and he finally busted one for 60 yd TD. Knew it was a matter of time. Best part of the run may have been him splitting the two guys who looked like they had the angle on him and going all the way. Also caught 3 balls. Flawless blitz protection again. Great draft pick

Don't agree with where we took him but still enjoy the way he is playing.

Bengals have some really good DL, our OL pretty much made them all disappear. Dunlap made a couple of plays but I don't remember Geno Atkins doing anything. Ronald Leary, Fred and Martin had dominating performances. Awesome to have T Smith back out there as well. Still think we might see Chaz Green start getting some reps at RT at some point. Needless to say though, I'm impressed with how our front handled their front 7.

Yes, we pretty much owned them.

4) We actually had a pass rush today. McClain had a really strong performance. Demarcus Lawrence was on a pitch count but he had 3 or 4 legit pressures and nearly had two sacks. Mayowa had his best game yet and new DE Ryan Davis had several good plays (including what should have been his 1st sack here, wiped out by a ticky tack hold that had zero impact on the play).

Don't know if it was Lawrence's presence, a great game plan from Marinelli, a bad Bengals O-Line, or the combination of all of those factors but the pass rush was present. My only criticism is that they kept letting Dalton step up and escape which means either we were too aggressive or that someone wasn't holding their gap.

5) Thought Claiborne, Carr and Anthony Brown all had strong games. Brown is looking like a very legit prospect at CB. Fast, good size and physical. With Claiborne, 5 games in and he is still playing well (sorry Dooms, but he is). Maybe he starts to struggle at some point, but he is having a solid year. Byron Jones had a couple more good plays as well. Definitely surprised that AJ Green didn't do much out there.

I noticed it in 2014 when Rolando McClain started popping people and other plays stepped up and see it again now. Great defensive play is contagious. It's hard to be soft when your teammates are flying around making plays. Claiborne has found himself, Carr being solid, hell even JJ Wilcox looked like a professional player.

6) Hey shitass refs, I sure hope you remember all the ticky tack guidelines you have for defensive holding/PI calls when Dez Bryant gets back out there. None of that garbage I saw called today would have been called on Bryant. We see him get raped and assaulted every game and they let it go. And I still don't understand the call on Witten that negated the first Prescott TD pass. Glad it didn't end up costing us points.

Didn't notice the refs at all, which is the way it is supposed to be. This is your own little personal crusade.

You touched on it but Terrance Williams has really stepped up in Dez's absence, Brice Butler is doing his job, Cole Beasely is money, Witten is as solid as ever. Would love to see Escobar do anything.

Fun football to watch. I get about three to four hours of "me time" on Sunday between film responsibilities and it's much nicer to actually enjoy Cowboys football. My team is winning too (we should be top 10 in the country when today's poll comes out) so even though my Trojans are subpar, football is really enjoyable again.

Hope you enjoyed your vacation. You still suck.

 

[yimyammer]

I didn't get to see the game yesterday but I would be interested to know from those of you that did - does Dak audible out of plays as much as Romo does? Because maybe that's why the play calling seems better (Dak running the play Linehan called rather than Romo forever outsmarting himself with his incessant 'KILL! KILL! KILL!').

Good question, I'd like to know the answer to that as well.

 

[yimyammer]

on Sunday between film responsibilities and it's much nicer to actually enjoy Cowboys football. My team is winning too

If you dont mind me asking and you're at liberty to answer:

1. What do you do?

2. What "film responsibilities" do you have?

3. Who is your team?

thx

 

[cmd34]

1. What do you do? My main job is FedEx but I'm the Assistant Linebackers Coach/Football Operations/Film Coordinator for a junior college football team.

2. What "film responsibilities" do you have? Download two angles (sideline and endzone) from our games, mark them, intercut it, and then defensive stats for our team. Then I share it with our staff and players before publishing it in the league pool. Last, I have to download all of of our opponents' games, break down their offenses, and put together scouting reports for the staff.

3. Who is your team? Mesa Community College.

 

[Omegasupreme]

Still think it's about 95% Dak. The guy is a phenom. Those passes have incredible pinpoint accuracy. Combine that with his ability to move and it's a deadly combo.

Funny how we're winning games without Romo, Dez, and Scandrick when the excuse crew last year said such a thing was absolutely impossible.

The coaching is part Linehan because the offense looks a lot more like Linehan's motion, formations and misdirection that he had in Detroit than what they do with Romo playing Garretts "vanilla"- "just beat the guy in front of you" offense. Remember Garrett disapproved of such variation for many years saying that the more basic the formation "the more they could do from that formation".

Romo will be using Romos offense which is not what Dak has. Dak is given orchestrated plays that give the best chance in the best situation for success. It's logical for a rookie and given the weapons he has it also makes sense to keep the defense off balance. Dak is being directly coached because he is somewhat new to the system, which is also a big difference from Weeden, Cassel and Moore who were given more of the Garrett playbook and asked to run the system that he knew they had been trained in. Linehan said he doesn't tell Romo how to run the plays, he just gives suggestions. But (until that series with the fumble) the plays were simple with the reads and varied to preserve Dak.

10) They gave up a lot of garbage time yards and those two tds, but other than that and some shoddy run defense early it was as close to a perfect game as you could get for us defensively. Offensively the only thing you could complain about was the rare Witten drop that cost us a 1st down late in 1st half and the strip/fumble deep in Bengals territory up 28-0. Simms said one of our guys was wide open for easy score, but I think just handing off on that 3rd down play and taking the gimmee FG to go up 31-0 would have made more sense. Still, hard to complain overall.

But then the Garrett "aggressive approach" came back during that fumble series. No play action, no movement, they needed to just try for the first but keep the clock going. If the running play had been stopped it would have been FG and a minute into the fourth quarter. But instead the "we like our matchups" nonsense that doesn't have the room to let those idiotic routes develop. Red J can't do red zone. If you mticed, what was working all game was abandoned which not only puts Dak and the game at risk but also feeds the game film, like Parcells said "once there is enough game film, defensive coordinators will know how to play him". Made no sense to pass the ball and potentially stop the clock. There is an interview on DC.com where Linehan talked about this very situation and why you run the ball. Garrett must have intervened with the stew. It was just like the 8-8 years.

Now the Cowboy defense may have been successful against the Bengals because they had a lot of confidence in an offensive scheme that they see every day. The Bengals don't have the brutal RB to allow for the distance routes so Dallas could essentially just run the routes with them. The Coryell scheme can be dictated and reduced down to a few option routes based on space and coverage. I think Dallas had more time and confidence in the pass rush and coverage because they knew very well what they were dealing with.