Day After Thoughts

[dbair1967]

Another disappointing loss in a game it appeared we were going to win. Its becoming an ugly trend with this team.

I still think our best football will be played the 2nd half of the season and have been consistent in saying this all offseason, but alot of my optimism over this year is waning. I figure we need to finish 8-3 to make the playoffs but with the hordes of injuries, inconsistent OL play, turnover prone QB and a defense that cant finish games, that (8-3) seems pretty unlikely.

1) DCU guide to playcalling- if its a run and doesnt work, it should have been a PASS. If its a pass and we dont like the result, it should have been a RUN!!! I think its fair to be critical of certain play calls. Like the shovel pass down inside the 10. I hated that call. But I do think its absolutely comical of some of you to slam them calling 3 runs in a row on the last possession though. Romo has proven he cant be trusted this year. When Garrett has trusted him and Romo made mistakes, Garrett has gotten the blame. We had the lead and the defense was playing great. We have a great punter. They probably would have thrown on 3rd and 13, but when they got the false start to make it 3rd and 18 at our 20 playing it safe with a turnover prone QB was probably the right thing to do. After the game Jones alluded after the game to the 1992 NFC Championship game where they came out needing some first downs, and Norv Turner called for the intermediate slant that Aikman hit Harper on. Hey Jerry, no matter how much you want to pretend it this team is NOTHING like the 1992 Cowboys, and Tony Romo is nothing like Troy Aikman. PERIOD, END OF STORY. You could trust Aikman in those situations, you absolutely cant trust Romo right now.

2) With the above said, I hope Garrett just makes the running game an afterthought. Run it a few times here and there to show it, but otherwise just live or die with the pass. We cant run the ball worth a lick. Even when teams expect pass and we run, we dont get that much. If Romo's play turns so bad that they cant lean on the passing game, then he should be benched. The facts are the OL is better at pass blocking, and our WR's and TE's are elite. The running game isnt helping us. The RB's are good weapons in the pass game though.

3) I thought Romo looked decent at times yesterday, especially when we started running the no huddle stuff. But there were alot of bad throws again and he could have easily had 3 or 4 more ints. I also mentioned it after the game, but I think he deserves some of the blame for some of the bad run plays too. Laufenberg says on the vast majority of calls, Romo has two plays- a run and a pass. A great QB is supposed to be able to identify better what a defense is doing. If the other team is crowding the line or showing run blitzes, then dont audible to a run play. He did this yesterday at least 4 or 5 times, and everytime the play was stoned. Romo's a seasoned veteran now, he should do a better job at the line of scrimmage. Romo also appeared to make a mistake on the last series we scored on. On the 2nd down play he got the 1 on 1 coverage with Bryant in the endzone, but didnt throw it up to him. Instead he threw incomplete underneath. After the play you could see Romo looking at Bryant and kinda acknowledging he missed it.

4) I dont know that I've ever seen a team as snakebit as this one with injuries. With Nagy going down for the yr, we've now had 3 LG's get hurt with significant injuries. Felix Jones' ankle injury looked bad on the replay, he never came back into the game and now they say its the dreaded high ankle sprain. By the way, how useless is Pam Oliver doing sideline reporting? How many times did she say Jones was going to come back in, when it was obvious he wasnt?

5) I think it was Shakespeare who said we should kill all the lawyers. I wish we'd kill all the officials. That was another putrid display yesterday and it sas pretty one sided (as usual). What'd we have, 5 holding calls? And NE had 1. Really? One of the worst calls was the holding call on Kosier. It wasnt acepted because it was offsetting, but we would have had 1st and goal on the 1 because of the PI in the endzone. Didnt appear he was holding on the replay and he threw his arms up in absolute disgust when the ref tossed the flag at him. Also, why was it that once we started running the no huddle that on several plays, one of the officials would basically hold up play at the line of scrimmage behind the center, allowing the Pats to get set or make their substitutions? This was never done once when we were on defense.

6) Miles Austin didnt appear 100% to me yesterday. I didnt see the same explosion/acceleration. Doesnt excuse the two or three drops, but I dont think he's close to 100% either. One of the "drops" was a pretty good play by their DB, but the one previous to that one was awful and probably killed a drive that we were going to get points on.

7) Jones says the team is fielding calls on Tashard Choice. I dont care that Felix Jones is hurt, just trade the guy. Whatever we get for him is worth it. Tanner was active yesterday (I think for the first time) so perhaps the coaches are starting to get comfortable with the idea of him getting offensive snaps.

8) No sense in arguing about anymore, but there's still no way in hell I'd absolve the defense for giving up the TD late. This is two games in a row where even if they just given up the FG, we still get OT at worst. Yesterday's situation was even worse than the Lions IMO, because at least you could point to Detroit having a short field. The Pats had to go 80 yards. Spin all you want, but the best defenses dont do this and we've done it two weeks in a row. Otherwise the defense was very good vs the Pats. The run defense was a little leaky, but some of that can be attributed I think to the way they game planned the Pats passing game.

9) Dan Bailey is a damn good kicker. He looks even better right now than Folk did in 2007/2008, and that is saying something because Folk was outstanding. Jones and the front office get alot of things wrong, but going with this guy out of preseason when they appeared to be trying to find an excuse to go with a vet was definitely a good call. Took some cajones to do it too because he just didnt get many attempts in the preseason games.

10) As bad a taste as the last two losses leave, we do have a chance to get back in it because of the schedule. The Rams should be a win. Philly up there will be tough, but then we have 5 games vs Seattle, Buffalo, Washington, Miami and Arizona, and 3 of those 5 are at home. Going 5-2 or even 6-1 in that stretch definitely seems possible IMO.

11) Sean Lee is an all pro in the making. He's only going to get better too, and he's already damn good. Alot of people hated on this pick last year and even mocked the team for stating they had a 1st round grade on the guy, but he's clearly an excellent player. This is one the scouts nailed big time.

12) Not giving up on this season, but we should be able to make some serious improvements in the offseason. The weaknesses of the team are obvious, and unlike this year in which we were somewhat handcuffed by the cap, we will have alot of flexibility to sign a few guys. If none of these interior guys develop or improve, then getting 1 or 2 new starters there via free agency or the draft is a must. I still think both safety spots need addressing. Sensabaugh has been ok at times, but Elam hasnt made a single play that I can remember, and he was the one guy who supposedly knew so much about the defense. Also cant wait to see Bruce Carter on the field instead of Brooking, especially on pass downs. Hopefully we can start seeing him in the next week or two.

 

[Everlastingxxx]

5) I think it was Shakespeare who said we should kill all the lawyers. I wish we'd kill all the officials. That was another putrid display yesterday and it sas pretty one sided (as usual). What'd we have, 5 holding calls? And NE had 1. Really? One of the worst calls was the holding call on Kosier. It wasnt acepted because it was offsetting, but we would have had 1st and goal on the 1 because of the PI in the endzone. Didnt appear he was holding on the replay and he threw his arms up in absolute disgust when the ref tossed the flag at him. Also, why was it that once we started running the no huddle that on several plays, one of the officials would basically hold up play at the line of scrimmage behind the center, allowing the Pats to get set or make their substitutions? This was never done once when we were on defense.

Pretty good points other than the defensive remarks. Yea, the officiating is so frustrating. The Cowboys just can’t buy a break it seems. I knew from the start of the game it was going to be a long day. The holds were ticky-tacky. The Brady hit was weak. Every team we play seems to play a perfect game in the eyes of the officials. Ryan was livid over his defensive not having a chance to substitute also. Ridiculous.

 

[dbair1967]

Pretty good points other than the defensive remarks.

Well it wouldnt be any fun if we agreed on everything. lol

 

[Hoofbite]

It's hard for me to bag on officials when the penalty numbers are equally skewed by the ridiculous number of stupid penalties.

I don't think I've ever seen offsides on a KR before.

Running into the kicker was probably an all-time idiot one. He wasn't getting there, wasn't even trying and still managed to run into the guy because he's either half-hearted or brain dead.

Roughing the passer was 100% the right call, again the brain dead asshole that caused it.

Tyron clearly flinched at the end of the game.

He had one hold so bad that I saw someone comment that it would be visible from space.

It's really hard to argue that the refs are some biased bunch when penalties this obvious occur.

That's 5 penalties right there for which they would have to be biased in favor of Dallas not to call.

 

[dbair1967]

It's hard for me to bag on officials when the penalty numbers are equally skewed by the ridiculous number of stupid penalties.

I don't think I've ever seen offsides on a KR before.

Running into the kicker was probably an all-time idiot one. He wasn't getting there, wasn't even trying and still managed to run into the guy because he's either half-hearted or brain dead.

Roughing the passer was 100% the right call, again the brain dead asshole that caused it.

Tyron clearly flinched at the end of the game.

He had one hold so bad that I saw someone comment that it would be visible from space.

It's really hard to argue that the refs are some biased bunch when penalties this obvious occur.

That's 5 penalties right there for which they would have to be biased in favor of Dallas not to call.

The running into the kicker call, if they called it that way all the time I'd agree with you. But he barely touched him and the guy put on a good acting job. Either call it by the rule (that says you cant touch them) everytime, or dont call it at all.

Same with the roughing the passer. Either call it by the rule and call it all the time, or dont. We see MUCH WORSE than that (whether its our games or others) and no flags than what we saw on pansy boy Brady yesterday.

And again, 5 holding calls? I'm not disagreeing with the call on Phillips to start the game, or even the one on Tyron Smith. But the calls on Free and especially Kosier were garbage. And we still see a MASSIVE discrepency in the number of holding calls vs our OL than on the other team.

And I wont even go into all the missed calls on their DB's and LB's against our WR's and TE's.

 

[Everlastingxxx]

Well it wouldnt be any fun if we agreed on everything. lol

I know right, have to spice things up a little! lol

 

[Idgit]

I get the sense I'm in the same place you are re: this team dbair, though I don't agree with everything you're saying here.

For starters, I think you're being way too hard on Romo. We converted a couple of drives after holding calls put us in a 20 yard hole, which was pretty impressive. The phantom hold on Kosier (hard to say without a better replay, but I didn't see it), Miles Austin killing a good drive with two easy drops, Choice's fumble, Murray dropping a catchable ball on that 3rd quarter rollout. Running into the kicker. These are execution problems, and not on the QB. Execute better, and, as usual, we'll be hearing a lot less squealing about the play calling.

I'm with you on Bailey, and on the defense Romoing it when we need it most again. And I've always been there on Sean Lee. I don't know if we get meaningful snaps from Carter this year, but I"ll be happy if and when he's in the lineup over Brooking. Kudos to Bradie for yet another important play that's not getting any attention, too.

 

[Theebs]

just to make it more fun, kosier is playing with plantar fascitis? sorry on the spelling...

either way hearing that in the pregame yesterday and knowing he didnt practice means he will probably miss some time at some point.

and for what its worth, that td drive before the half yesterday was our best drive of the year, we didnt even have a third down.

 

[Theebs]

I get the sense I'm in the same place you are re: this team dbair, though I don't agree with everything you're saying here.

For starters, I think you're being way too hard on Romo. We converted a couple of drives after holding calls put us in a 20 yard hole, which was pretty impressive. The phantom hold on Kosier (hard to say without a better replay, but I didn't see it), Miles Austin killing a good drive with two easy drops, Choice's fumble, Murray dropping a catchable ball on that 3rd quarter rollout. Running into the kicker. These are execution problems, and not on the QB. Execute better, and, as usual, we'll be hearing a lot less squealing about the play calling.

I'm with you on Bailey, and on the defense Romoing it when we need it most again. And I've always been there on Sean Lee. I don't know if we get meaningful snaps from Carter this year, but I"ll be happy if and when he's in the lineup over Brooking. Kudos to Bradie for yet another important play that's not getting any attention, too.

The problem I have right now is that on the nights so far when everyone is doing their job well and the penalties are low and we are in the plus category of turnovers...the qb hurt us.

in the games when the qb is solid all of a sudden we have penalties, teams driving 80 yards on us etc...

its just something with this team. I dont have any idea how they shake this extrodinary quality of losing games they should clearly be winning. I dont recall ever seeing another team do this at any time. this is sort of like schottenhiemers browns and chiefs except they were usually pretty damn solid in the regular season.

we just cant seem to get over the hump to be a good consistent team. this is a younger team and a different team for the most part but the same problems that have been here since 05 are still here. Its pretty baffling.

 

[Mr.Po]

that td drive before the half yesterday was our best drive of the year, we didnt even have a third down.

And that's a good thing because 4 of 12 on third down conversions for the entire game was a glaring weakness that ended up adding to the teams demise as well.

 

[Theebs]

And that's a good thing because 4 of 12 on third down conversions for the entire game was a glaring weakness that ended up adding to the teams demise as well.

yeah, not being able to run the ball and having a young line can do that to a team.

 

[Idgit]

The problem I have right now is that on the nights so far when everyone is doing their job well and the penalties are low and we are in the plus category of turnovers...the qb hurt us.

in the games when the qb is solid all of a sudden we have penalties, teams driving 80 yards on us etc...

its just something with this team. I dont have any idea how they shake this extrodinary quality of losing games they should clearly be winning. I dont recall ever seeing another team do this at any time. this is sort of like schottenhiemers browns and chiefs except they were usually pretty damn solid in the regular season.

we just cant seem to get over the hump to be a good consistent team. this is a younger team and a different team for the most part but the same problems that have been here since 05 are still here. Its pretty baffling.

I agree, 100%. The primary reason I was excited about Garrett getting elevated was I thought the extra attention to detail would quickly put an end to the mental errors and execution problems. In all honestly, while I'd say they'd gotten better, they're far from fixed. It doesn't help that our QB is capable of playing at a very high level for long stretches punctuated by unbelievably bad decisions on first down throws.

I don't know how to fix it. Right now, I'm content to give this current team time to make a run at the NFCE and see what happens. I *love* how this year's draft has turned out for us, so I'm happy to give Garrett and Co. another offseason to see what they can do about building a consistent winner. It doesn't have to happen overnight, and I'm not going to shit the bed every time we drop a close game to a better team at home. I'd just like to see some consistent progress. Right now, this is a team that plays really well on 90% of the plays, and can't string together enough good plays in a row to consistently beat good teams. If I didn't feel like we were so close, I wouldn't be frustrated, but it sure seems like we're knocking on that door and just have to find some way to kick it down.

 

[superpunk]

kosier definitely held. I saw it in real time and was thinking the ref didn't throw the flag and we lucked out. but then there it was.

 

[Theebs]

I agree, 100%. The primary reason I was excited about Garrett getting elevated was I thought the extra attention to detail would quickly put an end to the mental errors and execution problems. In all honestly, while I'd say they'd gotten better, they're far from fixed. It doesn't help that our QB is capable of playing at a very high level for long stretches punctuated by unbelievably bad decisions on first down throws.

I don't know how to fix it. Right now, I'm content to give this current team time to make a run at the NFCE and see what happens. I *love* how this year's draft has turned out for us, so I'm happy to give Garrett and Co. another offseason to see what they can do about building a consistent winner. It doesn't have to happen overnight, and I'm not going to shit the bed every time we drop a close game to a better team at home. I'd just like to see some consistent progress. Right now, this is a team that plays really well on 90% of the plays, and can't string together enough good plays in a row to consistently beat good teams. If I didn't feel like we were so close, I wouldn't be frustrated, but it sure seems like we're knocking on that door and just have to find some way to kick it down.

yeah that is it pretty much.

I still think if the giants play shaky a few more times we will be in the hunt for the east, I thought we would make a run here and win it starting this sunday but I dont think that is the case anymore personally. Not after seeing the head coach tell the qb hey hand the ball off and come stand next to me.

I still love this team and I like garrett and romo, but something is off here. In the end it could turn out that we just ran into teams better than us, which I think the pats clearly are personally.

We are one loss to a bad team from a complete meltdown. lose the rams or the hawks game and this season will come crashing down on us. If we can get this next one and get the eagles game we should be in good shape.

In the end, the other shaky teams all have something to hang their hat on. The giants for all their faults when the times get rough they will hit the qb repeatedly no matter what and they can run the football no matter what. We simply have nothing to hang our hat on except a passing game, and since the fans, media and apparently head coach are shaken by a few mistakes from romo we didnt even have that yesterday.

I am scared to death of the rams with jackson ramped up again and three solid wr with a qb who throws it down the field repeatedly on us, and josh mcdaniels has beat rob ryans defense and probably knows him really well.

lose next week and the jeff fisher talk will start up.

oh and we havent won an october game since we beat atlanta in 09. Thats awesome stuff right there.

 

[Sheik]

1. Don't blame Garrett. He's handicapped by a bad QB.

2. Blame the officials for their agenda.

Got it.

Truth of the matter is(at least from where I sit) Garrett's offense is garbage inside the redzone. His offenses are near the top of the league in yards every year, but middle of the pack in scoring.

I see something wrong with that.

If you hold the Patriots to 20 points with the defense they have, you should beat them every week. The idea that Rob and his unit played well for 57 minutes is a cop out, IMO. The offense has shit the bed in all three losses.

This defense has been putrid for 2 plus years, now they're finally playing playoff football and the offense hasn't done them any favors. The D is creating turnovers and short fields and the offense is kicking FGs and turning the ball over.

I've been a Garrett guy since he was hired. Not anymore. The guy has no sense of situation. This team is easily 5-0, 4-1 at worst if we have a play caller that knows how to manage his QB and game plan late in ball games.

Yards are nice, but they don't mean shit if you can't call plays in the redzone.

 

[superpunk]

I think you're being too hard on the defense too. the past two weeks they did what they had to do to win the game. if we had even had a barely functional offense against that putrid D yesterday, we win easily with 4 turnovers.

instead, romo sounded terrified of the NE d all week and our entire offense played that way.

you're right that elite defenses step up in that situation. but elite offenses step up in the 4 minute drill and dont let brady get the ball back.

the trouble is we dont have either. we've faced off against a few with our tough schedule and so far we've proven that we're just not good enough yet. we're close though.

 

[Sheik]

The Cowboys can play with any team. At the same time, any team can play with the Cowboys.

I don't think that's a good thing. The first part is.

We'd be in a nail biter against the Colts.

 

[Cr122]

The defense did a good job yesterday. We held the Pats to under 30 points for the first time in a while.

Were they perfect, no but they did well enough. We lost mainly because of penalties and bad play calling, dropped passes. Blame the coaching staff for the penalties, because they are the ones who are suppose to discipline the players for their mistakes.

Garrett needs to grow a set of balls. They're coaches their suppose to coach'em up. Rob Ryan does.

 

[Idgit]

kosier definitely held. I saw it in real time and was thinking the ref didn't throw the flag and we lucked out. but then there it was.

Fair enough. I didn't see it clearly, but I don't doubt it was there if you saw it clearly. Still sucks, though.

yeah that is it pretty much.

I still think if the giants play shaky a few more times we will be in the hunt for the east, I thought we would make a run here and win it starting this sunday but I dont think that is the case anymore personally. Not after seeing the head coach tell the qb hey hand the ball off and come stand next to me.

I still love this team and I like garrett and romo, but something is off here. In the end it could turn out that we just ran into teams better than us, which I think the pats clearly are personally.

We are one loss to a bad team from a complete meltdown. lose the rams or the hawks game and this season will come crashing down on us. If we can get this next one and get the eagles game we should be in good shape.

In the end, the other shaky teams all have something to hang their hat on. The giants for all their faults when the times get rough they will hit the qb repeatedly no matter what and they can run the football no matter what. We simply have nothing to hang our hat on except a passing game, and since the fans, media and apparently head coach are shaken by a few mistakes from romo we didnt even have that yesterday.

I am scared to death of the rams with jackson ramped up again and three solid wr with a qb who throws it down the field repeatedly on us, and josh mcdaniels has beat rob ryans defense and probably knows him really well.

lose next week and the jeff fisher talk will start up.

oh and we havent won an october game since we beat atlanta in 09. Thats awesome stuff right there.

I don't know. I've got a ton of faith that we're finally making the right decisions at the top with this team. I don't think this team spits the bit against the Rams, and I also don't think we'd crumble if we did. Our fans and local media would go nuts, but our fans are idiots, and the local media tries to rile them up no matter what happens, and we know that already.

I think this team is pretty close to putting it together. I think the QB and the HC have great potential, but have obvious flaws in game management and with the red zone offense. What's good, though, is that I also believe they understand the problems and are working on them. I've seen enough from Garrett already to know that he'll be honest with his assessments, and he'll take aggressive action to solve the problem. Up to and including bringing in an OC if a good one is available and replacing the QB, if he really thinks it's necessary.

If the team continues to draft well and evaluate honestly, we'll eventually be in good shape. It may take more than one season, and it may have to happen over the caterwauling of the children, but it will eventually happen if the owner is patient and we keep plugging at the problem.

 

[Midswat]

When we play the Patriots in the Super Bowl this year... do you guys think we can win?