Back On the Air

Nice analysis Raf … as always. You mentioned Seatle’s ability to run the screen, and I think Dallas will attempt to do to Alexander in the passing game what they did very well against Philly’s Westbrook. That was to force him to help in protection. Once Ware showed his ability to beat Tra Thomas one on one on the Eagles first two pass plays from scrimmage, the tone was set for the RBs to help protect the QB. Parcells and Zimmer might try to get Ware and Ellis going early to force Holmgren’s hand.

As it looks right now there are 7 teams (Dallas, Philly, NY, Washington, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and Carolina) contending for 4 playoff births. As I see it the Cowboys have 4 games left against these teams, unfortunately all of them will be played away from Teaxas Stadium. Thats right, the Giants, the Eagles, Washington, and Carolina will all host the Boys later this year. While Seatle is a potential playoff team, its is pretty easy to forecast a division title for them, so Dallas most likely won’t be competing with Seatle for a spot in the playoffs. Even still, from here on out, that is 5 games on the road against stiff NFC competition. ….. Lets hope they start this run on a winning note!!

With another deep threat in Price this should open up the run. Hopefully the boys strike deep early and often.

1.Marion Barber will be the first rusher to break 100 yards this season.
2. The Dallas defense is for real. The best D Seattle has faced this season.

i just want another Dallas Blowout..cant handle another gamed like last week..!!

I hope you Get well soon Raf, always look forward to your breakdown and analysis of the games. This will surely be our toughest test of the year since Seattle is one of the best home teams in the league.We have to survive the first quarter and not get into a hole early, I’m feeling confident about this game and think Marion Barber will show us that he will be a big part of the offense as part of the two headed monster (JJ and Barber)now and in the future.

Dallas 27 Seattle 24

Does anyone else think maybe we should give Andre Gurode more time at center this week? I just mean, Al Johnson caused a turnover on the botched snap and took points(potentially game winning points) off the board with his hold. He’s a smaller guy, and its harder for him to handle the blitzes up the middle, and don’t think Seattle didn’t figure that out.

Every team we play this year will try to blitz up the middle, thats no secret. I’d rather have Al johnson in there calling the offensive line calls over Gurode, anyway were only talking about ten pound difference between the two, not 20 pounds. The offense as a whole was bad last week in the turnover department and taking bad penealties. Its’s not a good idea changing the center every series.

Here we go !
Sole possesion of 1st place today?
Giants & Philly play tough opponents today.
Hasselback can be rattled, we just need to keep him pressured.
Both starting receivers are out so this can be good game for Dallas as long as they can stop Alexander. As far as center goes
Parcells likes having two options & both are solid. I see Dallas winning today & making a statement. They were lucky last week that the Giants played just as sloppy as they did.Once again the Dallas “D” will decide. By the way for his first year with the 3-4 Mike Zimmer is starting to get comfortable with this new scheme. Look for more blitzing today.

DALLAS 27
Seattle 20

… What do you all think about Joey Harrington getting benched? .. I know he is not a “Parcells guy”, and in fact many people think he is no good, but if Detroit opts to rid themselves of Harrington, I believe he could be the “young” quarterback that Dallas could nuture. Like I said, there are a lot of people who think Harrington stinks, but I think its unfair to judge the players performance when he had absolutely no chance to develope playing behind an offensive line that gives him very little time to make plays. … Harrington has been thrown to the wolves, and now is the scapegoat for very bad drafts. I know people will say, “With all the talent surrounding him, Harrington should be putting up better numbers.” But ask the pros who have been there before. Hall of Famers like Marino, Montana, and our very own Troy Aikman express the very idea, that if you are a quarterback and your offensive line does a poor job of protecting you, you will not succeed in the NFL. Its that simple. … Harrington, unlike Rivers, can come at a small price, especially considering Detroit’s front office and coaching staff making him out to be the goat. Unlike Couch and Ryan Leaf, I believe Harrington has first round talent, but has been dealt a raw deal. .. Worth a shot next year if he comes cheap!

Hey Raf-
Why do you think we put Henry (instead of Newman) on Buress? Was Newman playing his side or was he assingned to a player? I don’t think he was on Shockey (at least for his big plays), and don’t remember his name being called all that often (3 tackles, no pass defense in the stats).

Miles…….I believe that was a size matchup,Buress is 6-5,so putting the bigger Henry 6-2 on him gave us a more favorable matchup.

The Cowboys also put Newman on Shockey for the
first half which worked very well. I don’t know why
they switched coverages in the second half as shockey
had a huge second half.

EricR,

I agree with you on Harrington, although he has made some bad decisions he hasn’t had a great line to give him time for good decisions. But here’s another thought, David Carr. That guy shows talent and has had the worst offensive line in football consistantly for the last four years. Looks like Houston might be ready to give up on him after the season. But I think those guys will go in and start somewhere. We still have Bledsoe under contract for another couple of years. Maybe take a 3rd or 4th round project and develop him for those two years. But we really don’t need to take a project for next year.

I would take Carr anytime over Harrington. But the way he has been beaten up, I don’t know how much more he can take.
Hard to believe a team can be that stupid/incompetent about building an O line- they have not gotten even one GOOD player there in 4 years.

Burmafrd,

Point well taken. I’m watching them now and it’s amazing how bad that o-line is. At a certain point, maybe when they’re 0-8, they should just bench Carr for the good of the franchise. There’s no point in getting this guy sacked, what is it, 108 times is his current pace? If they want to trade him and start over it kills his value. If they want to stick with him, it kills his value.

But let’s remember, this is Charlie Casserley, who destroyed the Redskins in the early ’90s with one of the worst first round runs ever. The man had five or six consecutive years of picking between 5 and 12 and got nothing for it. If they want to blow it up and start over, they should start by canning him.

Ooh, it was even worse that I’d remembered. Casserley’s Hall of Shame:

’92: 4th overall — Desmond Howard;
’93: 17th overall — Tom Carter;
’94 3rd overall – Heath Shuler;
’95 4th overall — Michael Westbrook;
’96 6th overall — traded to the Rams for Sean Gilbert;

He’s hit with Carr and Andre Johnson. But drafting a franchise QB and neglecting his o-line should get you sued.

EricR:

There I don’t agree with you, I’ve seen Harrington play before and even when his line gives him time I’ve seen him sending overthrown and underthrown passes and also making bad reads, often throwing to double coverages. And doesn’t have a strong arm.

BTW, seems to me that the possible succesor of Keyshawn could be playing under Weiss, Samardzija and Stovall both measure at 6-5 and 220 pounds have a pretty good set of hands and have some speed, and most important they’re playing in a scheme that Parcells knows pretty well… The problem lays in that both are Juniors and if Quinn, who’s also a Jr, decides to stay in school for another year, they may stay too.

I think Brady Quinn might well stay another year to come back and Win.

He would get to face USC without Leinhart and Bush. That means he Beats the Trojans for sure………hech they beat em this year they just lost the game. Although Quinn’s stock is quickly rising with his passing for 5 and 6 TDs week after week. He will be regarded as top 3 or 4 QB if he comes out this year. The WRs at ND aren’t that fast but they do seem to get open. They have good hands but they look more like Joe Jervicious than KJ.

Jon:
Keyshawn looked that way too, in the NFL he polished his best trait, the one that he still has, he’s one of the best route runners in the league.