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Clearly it was a pleasant surprise for a change with our guys. The entire team pretty much played a complete 60 minutes, something we rarely see. Defense was pretty overwhelming against a quality opponent. Offense pretty much did what they wanted from the start till the end. Other than Harris botching a punt and a fumble by Murray that we recovered (appeared he might have never 100% had the ball) it was as good as we've seen in awhile I thought. Fisher said after the game he never saw this coming, and I couldn't agree more. I really believed we might lose yesterday.
1) Great effort by the defense. The entire unit pretty much dominated the game, but especially the front 7. We got constant pressure on a Rams team that hadn't yielded a single sack in 4 consecutive regular season games. Ware, Selvie and Hatcher consistently beat their guys. Nick Hayden continues to do a very solid job at his DT spot, and our backup DL's when in the game are not hurting us. Selvie and Hayden are young guys who are going to make it very difficult for the front office to ignore come the offseason. Hard to believe both were jobless when we got them. But all these guys are a testament to Kiffin/Marinelli. These two guys are flat out coaching these guys up at every level. If not for the accidental hands into the helmet penalty on Hatcher, these guys would have pitched a shutout.
2) The Wilcox/Church tandem at safety appeared to play very well. No blown coverages, and Wilcox had a nice pick/return that was unfortunately negated by Hatcher's penalty. Both guys tackled extremely well and Church had a couple of nice hits.
3) Other than the defense, the #1 eye opener for me was the OL as a whole. These guys played against a very talented Ram front 7 and absolutely owned them. Robert Quinn had 4 sacks and 2 or 3 forced fumbles the first two games, and other than one play vs the run and one decent rush, was absolutely invisible because of Tyron Smith. Chris Long is a good player, and he was invisible because of Doug Free. Pass protection was nearly flawless for all 5, and the run blocking was the best we have seen in awhile.
4) After (IMO) stinking last week, Romo played very well yesterday. Hit the open guys, threw the ball downfield a few times and didn't make any bad mistakes or audible into too many passes. Made a couple of throws that were really outstanding, including the TD's to Harris and Escobar. I liked some of the stuff they did with Escobar. He could end up being a good redzone option for us.
5) Stop the presses, Dan Bailey is human afterall. Although the ball may have been tipped by a Ram (he said so after the game, and you could see him motioning after the kick that he thought it was tipped). Boomed his kickoffs though.
6) Demarco Murray deserves props. Had a huge game obviously, but consistently ran through tackles to gain extra yards and made some nice cuts etc etc. I think he had over 200 yds of offense yesterday. If teams want to gang up on Dez/Witten in the passing game, Murray can definitely make them pay. Especially if the OL can continue to perform like yesterday.
7) I've mentioned it a few times already, but for guys who supposedly coach a "conservative" defensive scheme, they draw up blitzes that CONSISTENTLY get free rushers at the QB. This is by far the best blitzing we've seen in years IMO. Maybe since 2008 when Wade dumped that bumbling fool DC and started calling the D himself.
8) They are saying Miles Austin's hammy is minor, but behind the doors there I bet they are really concerned. For whatever reason, he just cant keep his hammy's healthy. I wonder if they would kick the tires on either of the Browns' WR's available (Gordon & Little)
9) With Selvie playing as well as he is, I wonder if putting Spencer on the market before the trade deadline would get any consideration. Might not get a lot for him, but even if they could manage a mid rd pick in return it'd be better than letting him walk for free after the season and waiting till 2015 for a potential comp pick in return.
Not going to go overboard about the way we won. Like many, I think they need to put a lot of good games together before I start really believing in them again. Losing this week at San Diego would be pretty typical of the Cowboys from the past 4-5 years so doing something different and going there, taking care of business would be a step in the right direction. In spite of their record, Phillip Rivers is playing very well and should be another good test for the D. I think how we play next Sunday could be pretty telling for 2013 in general. Denver (even w/o Clady and Miller) will still be a very tough test in two weeks, they really need game vs SD.
1) Great effort by the defense. The entire unit pretty much dominated the game, but especially the front 7. We got constant pressure on a Rams team that hadn't yielded a single sack in 4 consecutive regular season games. Ware, Selvie and Hatcher consistently beat their guys. Nick Hayden continues to do a very solid job at his DT spot, and our backup DL's when in the game are not hurting us. Selvie and Hayden are young guys who are going to make it very difficult for the front office to ignore come the offseason. Hard to believe both were jobless when we got them. But all these guys are a testament to Kiffin/Marinelli. These two guys are flat out coaching these guys up at every level. If not for the accidental hands into the helmet penalty on Hatcher, these guys would have pitched a shutout.
2) The Wilcox/Church tandem at safety appeared to play very well. No blown coverages, and Wilcox had a nice pick/return that was unfortunately negated by Hatcher's penalty. Both guys tackled extremely well and Church had a couple of nice hits.
3) Other than the defense, the #1 eye opener for me was the OL as a whole. These guys played against a very talented Ram front 7 and absolutely owned them. Robert Quinn had 4 sacks and 2 or 3 forced fumbles the first two games, and other than one play vs the run and one decent rush, was absolutely invisible because of Tyron Smith. Chris Long is a good player, and he was invisible because of Doug Free. Pass protection was nearly flawless for all 5, and the run blocking was the best we have seen in awhile.
4) After (IMO) stinking last week, Romo played very well yesterday. Hit the open guys, threw the ball downfield a few times and didn't make any bad mistakes or audible into too many passes. Made a couple of throws that were really outstanding, including the TD's to Harris and Escobar. I liked some of the stuff they did with Escobar. He could end up being a good redzone option for us.
5) Stop the presses, Dan Bailey is human afterall. Although the ball may have been tipped by a Ram (he said so after the game, and you could see him motioning after the kick that he thought it was tipped). Boomed his kickoffs though.
6) Demarco Murray deserves props. Had a huge game obviously, but consistently ran through tackles to gain extra yards and made some nice cuts etc etc. I think he had over 200 yds of offense yesterday. If teams want to gang up on Dez/Witten in the passing game, Murray can definitely make them pay. Especially if the OL can continue to perform like yesterday.
7) I've mentioned it a few times already, but for guys who supposedly coach a "conservative" defensive scheme, they draw up blitzes that CONSISTENTLY get free rushers at the QB. This is by far the best blitzing we've seen in years IMO. Maybe since 2008 when Wade dumped that bumbling fool DC and started calling the D himself.
8) They are saying Miles Austin's hammy is minor, but behind the doors there I bet they are really concerned. For whatever reason, he just cant keep his hammy's healthy. I wonder if they would kick the tires on either of the Browns' WR's available (Gordon & Little)
9) With Selvie playing as well as he is, I wonder if putting Spencer on the market before the trade deadline would get any consideration. Might not get a lot for him, but even if they could manage a mid rd pick in return it'd be better than letting him walk for free after the season and waiting till 2015 for a potential comp pick in return.
Not going to go overboard about the way we won. Like many, I think they need to put a lot of good games together before I start really believing in them again. Losing this week at San Diego would be pretty typical of the Cowboys from the past 4-5 years so doing something different and going there, taking care of business would be a step in the right direction. In spite of their record, Phillip Rivers is playing very well and should be another good test for the D. I think how we play next Sunday could be pretty telling for 2013 in general. Denver (even w/o Clady and Miller) will still be a very tough test in two weeks, they really need game vs SD.
