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Because I'm an idiot, this is my 2nd attempt today. Had a ton of stuff written, then had all my webpages disappear and couldn't recover.
OK, show of hands. I tell you we don't get a single snap from Romo for 6 weeks, and Dez Bryant & Jason Witten combine for 1 td in that same span. We'll be 5-1. Yep, none of us are raising hands. Amazing turn around from last year for sure.
1) For the first time since maybe late in the game week one vs NYG, Prescott showed a few lapses in play. The int was a bad decision and I think if he had a do-over, he'd probably just have pulled the ball down and ran. He'll learn from that I'm sure. I don't blame him for the first fumble, but the second one was getting a little too careless with the ball. We were fortunate to recover and even more fortunate it didn't end up some game turning scoop and score type play. He also missed what should have been a TD (to Butler I think) early in the game when they set him up wide by himself and everyone else wide left. That said, other than those plays he was just superb again. Great decisions with the ball and very accurate again. His PA fakes are things of beauty. The game also had several perfect throws downfield. He continues to get better and amaze. I don't see how they can logically justify changing QB's at this point, barring injury. As an aside, everyone saw that Prescott broke Brady's record for most attempts without an int to start a career, but as Peter King showed Dak's first 6 game total stats are also much better than Brady's, and he has a better record (5-1 vs 4-2)
2) Zeke is just a stud, period. Sure some jags could "do the job" or be "adequate", but JAGS don't dominate games or change how defenses have to play against you. Zeke is a true do it all back that has no weakness in his game, he was reportedly the highest rated player on their draft board and through 6 weeks there is no question he was the best player in this draft. The only slight concern has to be the workload. I totally get the "he's too good to take off the field" (like Emmitt in his heyday, or even Murray to a certain extent in 2014) thinking, but I'd rather not see him getting a few junk carries at the end of a clearly decided game (like yesterday). He doesn't need the extra wear and tear and a bad injury would be crippling for the team. Use Morris there. I also hope with games coming up against teams like the Browns and Ravens that the staff will do more to get Morris more carries in those games, saving Zeke more for December/January. Zeke just had his 4th straight 130+ yd game (another record) and is on pace to eclipse Eric Dickerson's 1983 rookie rushing record now.
3) Lets officially rename #11 Cole Beastly. Razor sharp cuts and great routes, he is virtually unguardable in the slot and he's doing this right now with no Dez Bryant. They mentioned the story again yesterday of Beastly giving up the game for a brief time in camp a few years ago. Whoever convinced him otherwise deserves some props.
4) On the flip side, Brice Butler is a head scratcher. Obviously has some high end physical talent and he does some things that make you think he could be a really good #2 guy (like the TD catch yesterday and some of the slant/in cut routes we've seen since preseason) but then he goes brain dead with some stupid untimely penalties and bad drops. The deep ball he dropped yesterday was a great play call and a perfect throw, and basically would have ended the game. And he dropped it. Dez says he will be healthy and playing vs Philly, and with Beastly and TW both playing well, Butler is headed for the pine.
5) Love the play calling and play designs by Linehan right now, seems to be "in the zone" with all facets of running the offense. The commitment to the run is a no brainer, but I like a lot of the wrinkles (the two tds to Beasley were plays I don't remember seeing us run). The use of PA has been outstanding. Absolutely loved the deep ball call on 3rd and short to never used downfield Whitehead, totally caught Packers flat footed. Might have been the first true downfield route Whitehead has ever run in a regular season game and was called at a perfect time. Would love to see a few screens (especially to Zeke) but perhaps that is coming in future weeks against aggressive fronts like Philly and Minnesota.
6) David Irving had him a half yesterday. Sack, TFL and 3 forced fumbles. If the light bulb is going on for him and Lawrence is healthy, maybe there is some hope at DE after all. McClain and Collins continued some good play (especially McClain) and I liked the way they moved Irving around the DL.
7) With the above said, I would still love to see a move made for a proven pass rusher. We have a loaded offense and our QB of the future. Even if you use next years 1st or 2nd for a guy you know can be a difference maker, its worth it now (especially if its for a guy under a reasonable contract and not too old). If not for a pass rusher, I wouldn't mind seeing a move for a starting caliber LB. Gachkar and Wilbur are not good players, and Durant/Hitchens are jags. I noticed they tried Wilson a lot yesterday at OLB in 3 LB sets, but not sure he is the answer either. Its also the bye week, they should look at doing what they can to trade some depth for late round picks if possible. McFadden, Dunbar (if not going to IR) and Escobar should all be moved if there's any interest. Even 7th rd picks make a difference. A few teams may start going into firesale mode here in the next week to ten days (Bears, Niners, Jets come to mind) so we should be paying attention.
8) Its a move that didn't get much pub, but adding Greg Jackson to the defensive staff to coach safeties appears to be paying off. Barry Church made a couple more big plays yesterday and isn't (at least so far) a glaring hole in the secondary anymore. Byron Jones is developing nicely and even JJ Wilcox looks like a serviceable player for once. Kudos to Baker as DB coach too, because the CB's are playing good, solid ball and they may have found a true gem with Anthony Brown. (Who should not be losing any snaps to Scandrick once he returns)
9) Only one official sack yesterday (they had two more negated by our own stupid penalties) but I do think some of that was by design. They ran more 3 man rush in passing situations that I remember in other games and it seemed the focus was coverage and keeping Rodgers in between the tackles. The one time he got outside containment he did hurt us. They also had a spy on him a lot of the game and rushed late (once it worked to perfection with Durant for a huge sack, but he had knuckleaded face mask). Still, as I mention above adding another pass rusher would seem to be the one missing ingredient that could turn a playoff season into a legitimate championship run.
10) Mike Perrera. WTF man. FOX should can this guy, not just because of his garbage yesterday about Beastly's obvious TD, but because he does this crap every week.
11) Nobody is going to like it and it shouldn't be an award given to him alone, but Village Idiot Jones may be set up for another run at NFL Exec of the Yr
12) Bye week at 5-1 and coming off two really impressive wins. lets see how this staff deals with a young team that has a chance to get a little full of themselves. There were enough errors in the game yesterday that Garrett, Marinelli and Linehan should be able to grind away on these guys and keep them focused. They also have the looming decision on Romo to deal with, even though that should not be a difficult decision at this point. The Philly game on SNF is huge for us, win that and I (along with many others still potentially sitting on the fence) will be 100% convinced that this is setting up to be a great season.
OK, show of hands. I tell you we don't get a single snap from Romo for 6 weeks, and Dez Bryant & Jason Witten combine for 1 td in that same span. We'll be 5-1. Yep, none of us are raising hands. Amazing turn around from last year for sure.
1) For the first time since maybe late in the game week one vs NYG, Prescott showed a few lapses in play. The int was a bad decision and I think if he had a do-over, he'd probably just have pulled the ball down and ran. He'll learn from that I'm sure. I don't blame him for the first fumble, but the second one was getting a little too careless with the ball. We were fortunate to recover and even more fortunate it didn't end up some game turning scoop and score type play. He also missed what should have been a TD (to Butler I think) early in the game when they set him up wide by himself and everyone else wide left. That said, other than those plays he was just superb again. Great decisions with the ball and very accurate again. His PA fakes are things of beauty. The game also had several perfect throws downfield. He continues to get better and amaze. I don't see how they can logically justify changing QB's at this point, barring injury. As an aside, everyone saw that Prescott broke Brady's record for most attempts without an int to start a career, but as Peter King showed Dak's first 6 game total stats are also much better than Brady's, and he has a better record (5-1 vs 4-2)
2) Zeke is just a stud, period. Sure some jags could "do the job" or be "adequate", but JAGS don't dominate games or change how defenses have to play against you. Zeke is a true do it all back that has no weakness in his game, he was reportedly the highest rated player on their draft board and through 6 weeks there is no question he was the best player in this draft. The only slight concern has to be the workload. I totally get the "he's too good to take off the field" (like Emmitt in his heyday, or even Murray to a certain extent in 2014) thinking, but I'd rather not see him getting a few junk carries at the end of a clearly decided game (like yesterday). He doesn't need the extra wear and tear and a bad injury would be crippling for the team. Use Morris there. I also hope with games coming up against teams like the Browns and Ravens that the staff will do more to get Morris more carries in those games, saving Zeke more for December/January. Zeke just had his 4th straight 130+ yd game (another record) and is on pace to eclipse Eric Dickerson's 1983 rookie rushing record now.
3) Lets officially rename #11 Cole Beastly. Razor sharp cuts and great routes, he is virtually unguardable in the slot and he's doing this right now with no Dez Bryant. They mentioned the story again yesterday of Beastly giving up the game for a brief time in camp a few years ago. Whoever convinced him otherwise deserves some props.
4) On the flip side, Brice Butler is a head scratcher. Obviously has some high end physical talent and he does some things that make you think he could be a really good #2 guy (like the TD catch yesterday and some of the slant/in cut routes we've seen since preseason) but then he goes brain dead with some stupid untimely penalties and bad drops. The deep ball he dropped yesterday was a great play call and a perfect throw, and basically would have ended the game. And he dropped it. Dez says he will be healthy and playing vs Philly, and with Beastly and TW both playing well, Butler is headed for the pine.
5) Love the play calling and play designs by Linehan right now, seems to be "in the zone" with all facets of running the offense. The commitment to the run is a no brainer, but I like a lot of the wrinkles (the two tds to Beasley were plays I don't remember seeing us run). The use of PA has been outstanding. Absolutely loved the deep ball call on 3rd and short to never used downfield Whitehead, totally caught Packers flat footed. Might have been the first true downfield route Whitehead has ever run in a regular season game and was called at a perfect time. Would love to see a few screens (especially to Zeke) but perhaps that is coming in future weeks against aggressive fronts like Philly and Minnesota.
6) David Irving had him a half yesterday. Sack, TFL and 3 forced fumbles. If the light bulb is going on for him and Lawrence is healthy, maybe there is some hope at DE after all. McClain and Collins continued some good play (especially McClain) and I liked the way they moved Irving around the DL.
7) With the above said, I would still love to see a move made for a proven pass rusher. We have a loaded offense and our QB of the future. Even if you use next years 1st or 2nd for a guy you know can be a difference maker, its worth it now (especially if its for a guy under a reasonable contract and not too old). If not for a pass rusher, I wouldn't mind seeing a move for a starting caliber LB. Gachkar and Wilbur are not good players, and Durant/Hitchens are jags. I noticed they tried Wilson a lot yesterday at OLB in 3 LB sets, but not sure he is the answer either. Its also the bye week, they should look at doing what they can to trade some depth for late round picks if possible. McFadden, Dunbar (if not going to IR) and Escobar should all be moved if there's any interest. Even 7th rd picks make a difference. A few teams may start going into firesale mode here in the next week to ten days (Bears, Niners, Jets come to mind) so we should be paying attention.
8) Its a move that didn't get much pub, but adding Greg Jackson to the defensive staff to coach safeties appears to be paying off. Barry Church made a couple more big plays yesterday and isn't (at least so far) a glaring hole in the secondary anymore. Byron Jones is developing nicely and even JJ Wilcox looks like a serviceable player for once. Kudos to Baker as DB coach too, because the CB's are playing good, solid ball and they may have found a true gem with Anthony Brown. (Who should not be losing any snaps to Scandrick once he returns)
9) Only one official sack yesterday (they had two more negated by our own stupid penalties) but I do think some of that was by design. They ran more 3 man rush in passing situations that I remember in other games and it seemed the focus was coverage and keeping Rodgers in between the tackles. The one time he got outside containment he did hurt us. They also had a spy on him a lot of the game and rushed late (once it worked to perfection with Durant for a huge sack, but he had knuckleaded face mask). Still, as I mention above adding another pass rusher would seem to be the one missing ingredient that could turn a playoff season into a legitimate championship run.
10) Mike Perrera. WTF man. FOX should can this guy, not just because of his garbage yesterday about Beastly's obvious TD, but because he does this crap every week.
11) Nobody is going to like it and it shouldn't be an award given to him alone, but Village Idiot Jones may be set up for another run at NFL Exec of the Yr
12) Bye week at 5-1 and coming off two really impressive wins. lets see how this staff deals with a young team that has a chance to get a little full of themselves. There were enough errors in the game yesterday that Garrett, Marinelli and Linehan should be able to grind away on these guys and keep them focused. They also have the looming decision on Romo to deal with, even though that should not be a difficult decision at this point. The Philly game on SNF is huge for us, win that and I (along with many others still potentially sitting on the fence) will be 100% convinced that this is setting up to be a great season.
