A Programming Note...

Raul + Rafael

is there a place I can donate to this site? You guys are doing an absolutley fantastic job, and I for one would love to help you do it on the regular.

AlanTdot
scroll down and on the right hand side there is a icon to click to donate through paypal.

Next time take a cell card in the laptop!!!!

I know you were on a shoestring budget…..but hey by this time next year you should have enough to get connected 24/7.

Keep up the great work!!!

AlanTDot:

There’s also a link to use Amazon Honor System (used by E-Bay). Both will allow you to securely donate.

Thank you for your support!

Hey if you HAVE to have access, drive through a residential neighbourhood. Alot of people don’t know how to secure their wireless network and you can pirate one. You could also see if you can get one from an apartment complex or a hotel. The apartments are usually the best bet, especially in a college town. Most people really won’t mind, or even notice, unless you steal all their bandwidth.

Jay:

I don’t think so, that’s illegal even here in Mexico, so if he gets caught I don’t think that in jail they’d have wifi connection, so we would miss his valuable input, so no, reading him once a day would be enough for me.

And I know that was a joke… Or not? :D

ill be reading it in the morning good work

I don’t see the icon on the right hand side??

Try a Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express (if there is one in town.) They are required to have complimentary wireless access in the hotel’s lobby.

AlanTdot,

On the main Cowboy blog homepage, if you reading this,go back to the main page, where it has all the stories, the one where you clicked on the comments to read others or post youe own.

Hey guys,

Wow I leave for a couple days and this is the best thread we can get going? … I really needed the break.

I just wanted to ring in here with some of my opinions with our offensive line. First of all, Al Johnson reminds me a lot of Kevin Mawae when he was with Seatle, but much further along. Trust me too, seeing Mawae play every week, because I live in the NY area, is a treat. Absolutely the most athletic center I have ever seen play, his ability to pull as a center is unbelievable, and he keeps a low center of gravity to make punishing blocks while on the run. He is the best center I have ever seen play, period. Comparing Johnson to him is quite a compliment. Flozell has been having problems with speed rushers, and that is a little worrysome, but he moves people out of the way on the run so well that it kind of makes up for that. Larry Allen doesn’t have the mobility he use to have, but he too is good at pushing people back. Riveria anchored one of the two best O-lines in the league last year, and was a big part of one of the league’s best running games. Pettitti, Rogers, and Vollers give Parcells options at the RT spot .. I say lets just let this develope. Gurode’s roll should be primarily coming in and subbing Johnson, especially when Dallas plays 3-4 defenses, and a big NT. Johnson is simply too small to handle that assignment the entire game. … Now I stated a while ago that Parcells might move LA to tackle, and Johnson over to guard, but that was always a plan B thing. It looks to me that is what we have on the offensive line, and it looks pretty good to me.

The other developing story in training camp has been how to get the best defenders out on the field together. Parcells stated today that the nickel will make up 1/3 of the defensive snaps, and about 40% for some teams. The fact still remains to get his best players playing Parcells’ targeted 70% of the plays, then someone will have to be moved. Ware will play approximately 25 snaps at OLB in the 3-4, and about 22 snaps in the DE spot playing the nickel. Glover, Ellis, and it looks like Canty will also play the nickel (about 22 plays each). Coleman should get a good 10-15 snaps at DE in the 3-4. Ellis, Glover, and Canty need about 23 more snaps, and Spears and Ferguson need abot 45 snaps to reach the targeted goal of 70%, plus Parcells will probably want to get Ratliff some plays. .. And folks there just aren’t enough snaps to satisfy each player on the defensive line. .. What to do, what to do?

Well, you know – there is no such thing as bad publicity. Stealing wifi access by trolling around the complexes of greater Oxnard AND getting caught would only create more publicity, so there is an upside.

Imagine Our man on the scene getting caught, say, outside some Oxnard College’s girls dormitory:

-What are you doing here, Sir?
-Oh, nothing really – I was just blogging…
-Well…stop it. You’re creeping everybody out.

Kidding aside:

1) Emmit Smith truly was a great blocking back, which means he was probably the best back to ever play football (don’t tell Earl).

2) Excellent reporting, period.

3) Thousand Oaks (and now Oxnard) are like, nice pleasant places with consistently cool weather. Why, oh why did the Oilers train in San Angelo in August?

4) Ever try to explain to a fashion-conscious / nice-shoe-loving girl why the 3-4 is better (provided your team has the LB talent to pull it off). Go ahead, try it – it’s fun.

What’s up, Becker?

AlanTDot:

On the right side, if you scroll down, you should see a small “My Yahoo” icon – that’s if you have MyYahoo and want to add it to your front page. Under that, I have the obligatory “support us” commentary. Directly under that there is an icon for “Amazon Honor System” and under that, “Paypal Donate”.

If you don’t see that, email me offline (raul@theboys.com) and I can give you the link.

I’ll like to also say thanks for the info on this site ….you guys are the best.

Balaclavas are also what the fireproof ski-mask-like things auto racers wear under their helmets are called. These are colored, elastic thingies the players put on top of their helmets. If it’s a balaclava under the helmet, it’s a balaclava on top of the helmet. Sez me.

Whoops. Wrong thread

Whoops. Wrong thread

there was a rb named walter peyton who could lay a block on someone that would punish them as well. emmitt was a bad man though to.

espn has done there article on the cowboys clayton thinks ware will have 8-10 sacks this year. thatd be perfect to me. decent article, would rather have had mortenson do it, i think hes much better then clayton.

Rafael,

Excellent report, keep em comming. I tried to explain to my dad that I was listening to the Boy’s game on the internet and reading the blog. He couldn’t comprehend. But hey he’s a steel nut fan. best site bar none.

EricR:

Parcells already said that he wants to play to his player strenghts, which probably means the 30-30 percents in 3-4 and 4-3, altough it will be a different 4-3, which will give Ellis the 30 of the 4-3, the 40 of the nickel packages and maybe even some 3-4 plays in the 4th quarter, when the Left Tackle is tired of facing the strenght of Canty in the 3-4 and the speed of Ware (in the 3-4 as OLB and in the nickel as DE). So I guess your plans of having him this year as a LB are near death. But I wouldn’t mind seeing him next year training for a LB spot, seeing that 6-6 player in the middle of the field would be great against the passing game.

Chandus,

Here is the way I am looking at it. 65 snaps, 1/3 in the nickel (22), then split the remain snaps between the two sets 60-40. That is approximately 25 snaps in the 3-4 and 18 in the 4-3. Therefore there will be 4 D-linemen 40 times, which equals 160 plays. Then 3 defensive linemen 25 times, which equals 75 plays. So that is around 235 snaps for the entire defensive line. Ware will see about 25 of them in the nickel. Coleman and Ratliff will most likely get 10-15 plays each (of course I am guessing). At most that leaves 190 plays to be split between 5 players (Canty, Spears, Ferguson, Ellis, and Glover). 38-40 plays for each of them, which amounts to 58% of the defensive snaps, not the 70-75% Parcells has targeted. .. Where do you make up for those snaps? … Now if Ellis plays about half of his snaps at OLB, (where Parcells has noted worries about the depth there and the LB corps is smallish and Ellis would add much needed size), then 70% for his best defensive linemen is attainable. I believe Ellis playing some OLB in the 3-4 is the best way to get the best football players out there on the field together, unless Parcells decides to play the 4-3 again, which I seriously doubt. .. Ellis could play DE in the 3-4, DE in the 4-3, DE in the nickel, and OLB in the 3-4. Some task, but he is the right guy to do it.

Chandus,

Going on what I’m seeing, the Cowboys will only go four man in the nickel. Forget what the Star Telegram is saying. They’re in 3-4 in every non-obvious passing down. I’ve seen the 4-2-5 alot, but have not seen a 4-3 yet.

I’m not going with the Star Telegram, I’m going with Parcells last conference, in which he’s discussing with himself on how does he play his best defenders, be it Glover and Ellis.

The reason for them playing the 3-4 throughout this whole Training Camp, might be more on Parcells trusting Zim that can prepare the 4-3 Defense with his players in less time than what the 3-4 is taking.

And talking about Zim, isn’t it looking more and more like Dallas next Coach will be him? Certainly has the personality and character, if he manages correctly this 3-4, he would demonstrate that can prepare against adversity and that can study hard.

chandus,
thats kinda funny in madden 2006 parcells retired after this season and he took over for him. i would like to see him get a chance in a couple years. hopefully 3 years when parcells retires

Chandus,

I understand what you are saying about Ellis’ playing time. That would be easy, if not for the depth at defensive line compared to depth at LB. There just simply ain’t enough snaps on the D-line for everyone. No matter how you cut it. … Why not have a 1st down package?

Canty – Ferguson/Glover – Spears

Ellis – Burnett – Dat – Ware

Newman – Berriault – Roy – Henry

Big Jim has quoted a book Parcells wrote, and the idea was to have an irregular defense. This defense gives Parcells his “best players” against the run, and puts a heck of a lot of pressure on the offensive line, and creates one on ones across the line of scrimmage, match ups that favor this defense. In essance the Cowboys will get their 4-3 players out there but in a different scheme. … Allowing per say the LBs to read an offense presnap and call a defensive play for that set. Maybe the TE vacaits the strong side of the offense, then Ellis can sneak up to the line and blitz the edge, thus leaving a wide open blitzing lane for Burnett. … My idea with Ellis too is that if he can learn to back into coverage on occasion (which he did at North Carolina), it can really keep the offense confused and not knowing what to expect.

Any way you cut it though, there aren’t enough snaps for the “best players” along the defensive line. In some way, some form Parcells will have Ware lined up outside the OT with 4 D-linemen in the game together. …

Ok, Eric, I’m on your side on this, I would also like to see Ellis at LB, but at Inside Backer in the Mike. But not on the expense on him not playing some needed snaps in the other schemes.

With every passing day, Parcells is expressing time and time again that he isn’t comfortable with the OLB depth, because there you have Ware, a multi-talented rookie, who’s just that a rookie changing position from DE to OLB, never having to face a TE or a RB out of the backfield; then there’s Singleton, who at 230-240 pounds isn’t a comfortable sight when playing against the RT’s and TE’s; Burnett is also there, but he’s also a rookie, that might be caught like a deer on a highway, he was removed out of the 42 scheme for a reason; and then you have pure projects, Thornton, Ogbogu and Bradie James…

And you know, Parcells worries have come to a level in which he starts mentioning playing from 10% to a 30% in a 4-3 Defense, you know? If nothing changes in a week, that might move to a 40. Taking that into consideration, Ellis best value is on the DLine, playing RDE in the 4-3, LDE in the 42 and some RDE in the 3-4, and there you would have your 70 or a bit more…

Alignments on the 4-3, 3-4 and 42:

4-3:
Spears/Canty – Glover – Ferguson/Canty – Ellis
Burnett/Singleton – Nguyen – Ware/James

3-4:
Spears/Coleman – Ferguson/Glover – Canty/Ellis
Burnett/Singleton – James/Shanle – Nguyen/Fowler – Ware

42:
Ellis – Glover – Canty – Ware
Nguyen – Shanle/Fowler

I think that this alignments would show the best this team has, with is afterall, what Parcells wants to do…

Chandus,

Right on. Parcells is worried about OLB depth, and said he has thought about moving James out there, but isn’t going to do that yet. I would assume too that he would like to add some size to the LB corps. … Another interesting thing that Parcells said today was how he closes practice to the media. We all know he likes to keep some trick plays and some irregular formations secret, so teams can’t prepare for them. … I just think that the 1st down package is a good one, and can be utalized against run 1st teams. As far as cover responcibilities, most go to Dat anyway, but I am sure he will go slow with all his new LBs, and probably go with some zone too to offset the learning curve. … My suggestion is almost like suggesting playing the 4-3 with Ware at OLB, but the differences being Ware lining up outside the OT and Ellis at times playing back a bit and moving back into coverage (like a flex-tackle), the idea is to get the best players out there on the field and play to their strengths.

Chandus,

With your alignments where is Ratliff? How much will Coleman play? .. There still isn’t enough snaps to go around. Unless you want the best players playing 60% of the plays, and other players like Singleton and James getting a bigger . I think the idea is to get Spears, Ellis, Glover, Ferguson, and Canty about 70-75. Ware should get a bit more at about 80. Coleman and Ratliff should get some good reps too, and unless you move someone they all aren’t going to get those percenatges.

And you know, they might not even make the activ roster every game… You have to leave someone behind, and with a team DLine heavy and LB heavy, my guess that at least one or two of those units will be leaved behind.

Eric R,
So you don’t like the thread? I thought Rafael’s reporting was awesome. U jealous? Perhaps we were better off with you gone. Ellis @ ILB??????