Shoot the Messenger Guards. Dallas Falls to Seattle, 13-10

Rafael:
The conclusion I figured out also at the end of the game, some guys already call Parcells a moron, I guess they weren’t calling him that October 9th…

Some guys are also complaining about some penalties that weren’t called, want some more? Take a look at the film and watch Seattle OLine, there were a bunch of holding penalties that weren’t called and a push in the back from Jones to Ware.

And about the Cardinals game, our DLine will eat a red bird in #12 uniform, they got just one sack in this game…

I have a new name for the Cowboys Defense. Remember when Da Bears had the 46? Our defense should be called the 56. They’re great for 56 minutes! Unfortunately, games are 60 minutes long. Seriously, I can’t fault the defense. It should never have come down to that.

You’re right, the offensive line sucked, but I think the Cowboys really miss Jeff Robinson. I think that letting him go is looking like the worst move Jerry and Bill made before the season. The snap was bad on the missed 49 yarder, and McBriar should become a back up wideout for being able to snare all those bad snaps!

The defense is actually doing a great job, having shutdown three high-powered offenses in a row. Now if only the offense can put enough points on the board to be able to absorb the defense’ 4 minute drill meltdowns. Seattle makes a 50 and a 55 yard field goals, and Dallas can’t get a 29 yarder, because Jerry and Bill get cheap and don’t want to keep Robinson for another year! I wonder if Dale Hellestrae would be willing to come out of retirement for the league minimum? Sigh…….

I meant a missed 29 yarder in my previous post.

onepaniolo,

Now that I’ll fault Parcells for. He makes one whopper of a personnel mistake every year it seems. Last year it was passing on Bert Berry, though he was probably already dreaming of the 3-4 then. The year before he went bust on Ryan Young, the RT.

Rafael,
   Once again, you make us all look like fools. I agree totally the o-line play was not there from the start…and oh yes there were warning signs. Rafael, I know you don’t want to talk about complex stuff and you just want to talk about execution but I really think most of us are right here. I mean, i saw it…everyone else saw it…the play calling was awful…it was not only an F in was a super F i’m talking way low…like those tests you took in high school that you didn’t study for at all.
        No doubt that the O-line was at their collective worst. Yet, I think it is as equally easy to see that the play calling was bad as it was the O-line. I don’t know who really is calling the plays anymore after the conflict they showed on the dallas sideline but I do know whoever is calling needs to either A) Be taken to the wood shed and given a “come to Jesus talk” or B)Fired- THERE, I said it!!!! you can give me your worst. But this is beyond a matter of winning or losing…this is becoming a serious health risk for alot of us. Next game like this I’m going to have to be taking blood presure meds, I’m sure of it!!!!

 Oh, football Gods…HAVE MERCY ON US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The O-line takes the longest to gell together. If only one member of the line screws up, the entire offense can get bog down. With two new members joining this year, I knew it was going to take a while to get used to each other. As weeks progressed there were signs that the line had the ability to dominate. But the last 2 opponents have shown just how weak this group is (mentally and physically). Bad snaps, penalties and overall poor play has made Bledsoe timid. If you can’t score even one TD when your in the red zone twice in the 4th quarter you’re in a world of hurt. As Rafael said, let’s hope that the coaching staff can fix this problem going into the second half of the season otherwise Cowboys management will be looking to spend the entire offseason next year to overhaul this very “offensive” unit.

It’s tempting to blame Payton/Parcells for playcalling. But the only time I question them is the first red zone opportunity in the fourth, which was a perfect play action opportunity. Instead they went with two rushes to Barber, for 3 yards. Seattle sold out on the run on both plays. Everyone knew run was coming. I knew it. A play action might have been an easy 6. But, who knows.

I agree Raf that most calls are questions of execution. It’s the old Zampese line: if a call works, it was good. If it doesn’t, it was bad. Take the flea flicker, for example. Aikman ripped the call during the game. But if Barber had handled the football and the play had worked, we’d all be lovin’ on Payton.

Also, drop the penalty complaints. It’s just part of the game. I lost respect for Hasselback when he complained about “3 bad calls” in the first half after throwing an obvious intentional grounding pass. Don’t bitch and moan; just execute. I don’t like it in the opponent and I don’t like it on our side, either.

I hate to say this, but Arizona is now a must win. We can’t afford to drop to 4-4 in this division. 5-3 at the bye might still set us up for 10-6, but the second half schedule is killer, with 3 divisional road games, plus Carolina, Denver, KC and the Rams. 3-3 Detroit is the easiest game on the books. There are no games against teams with losing records in the second half. So I’m not sure 10-6 is a given, and even if it is, will it be enough in this division?

“letâ€â"¢s hope that the coaching staff can fix this problem going into the second half of the season”.
How does the salary cap affect spending on coaching? Can the Cowboys get extra specialist coaches, or does the cap limit that possibility? Can Petitti and Tucker be given individual tutoring, if they’re not already getting it?
I’ll blame Jacob Rogers for this mess, because he couldn’t stay un-injured.
A google search for Torrin Tucker produces many pages of opinions that he was expected to be picked in 2003’s round 2 or 3, and opinions seem to be that he was better at run blocking than pass protection.
If they can’t protect Bledsoe, maybe Thompson could be the quarterback in a Wishbone, with Barber and Jones as his ‘options’. I know that’s not an original idea, because someone on this blog mentioned the Wishbone last week.
With the defence they have, the Wishbone Cowboys could win.
The Cowboys running the Wishbone in the Super Bowl against a conventional offence also would be a nice contrast, and could be more entertaining for audiences in Europe, South America, and Australasia.

Geez, even a decent effort by the offensive line and the Cowboys win in a walk. The Seattle defensive line COMBINED FOR 29 TACKLES AND 5 SACKS ( 18 and 3 by the defensive ends)! God, I hope that Ethan Brooks can contribute right away.

Other than the first drive and the last few minutes, Seattles’ offense did diddly. Shaun Alexanders’ longest runs were 14 yards and 6 yards. Hasselback was so flustered he committed an intentional grounding penalty from the middle of the pocket with no one around him. The Cowboys dominated the top offense in the league and came away with another heartbreaking loss.

In two of their three losses this year, the Cowboys beat themselves. Last season, the Cowboys were getting their asses kicked every week, so I consider this season to be an improvement and remain hopeful for a playoff spot.

Andy

Does anyone knows who’s a free agent after this season? We need so much help on that O-line. Whats up Stephen Peterman?

This was such a dissapointing loss. The Cowboys deserved to win this game. And the defense especially deserved to win this game. The Seahawks had the top rated offense in the NFL,coming into the game averaging over 400 yards of offense. Shawn Alexander is the leagues top rusher averaging over 5 yards per carry. Yet Dallas held the Seahawks to 289 total yards and limited Alexander to just 61 yards. While the Dallas D
played a great game,the Dallas Offense was way too conservative.

The difference in the game was the fact Dallas started two fourth quarter Red-Zone drives and only came away with three points. On the first Red zone drive,they had it first and goal and couldn’t score a TD,then Cortez missed a 29 yard FG. The second drive,they had the ball on the Seahawks three yard line and could get a first down by reaching the one. On third and one from the three yard line and up by the score of 7-3 they decide to call a naked bootleg and Bledsoe rolls to the right,then tried to get the first down by diving head first into three defenders. This is the best play they could come up with in that situation? You’ve got a slew of capable backs,Terry Glenn,Keyshawn Johnson,Jason Whitten and this is the best you could come up with? Payton and Parcells need to be far more creative in the Red Zone and stop playing Not-to-lose but to win. You’ve got to be aggressive in those situations and you’ve got to get touchdowns. Dallas has a lot of weapons and needs to stop being so conservative.

Everytime the Cowboys play conservative on offense they lose. I think Jerry Jones needs to tell Parcells to always open up the offense and attack the others team defense every game.

I was worried all week what the absence of Flo Adams would do to Bledsoe and his blindside. Looks like I was justified. Why won’t Tuna move Larry Allen to tackle and let Gurode play guard? It seems like the best possible line right now.

Last week with all the T Tucker and F Adams talk it was determined the offensive line would be the doom of the Cowboys. Could it be a self fulfilling prophecy? It doesn’t have to be if skill people will step up.

Obviously Seattle decided to allow running yardage to keep our passing underneath. They felt correctly we could not sustain drives or score touchdowns as running became more difficult close in. They saw the NY and Washington film and knew exactly how to defense us.

Our offensive game plan took what they allowed. Whoever said the defense gets to dictate our offensive strategy? And, who ever said the quarterback and other skill players gets a pass when the pressure comes?

Hassleback was under pressure all day and his slow receivers got no separation even at the end, but they finally made a couple of plays. We had chances but failed to make those same plays. (To his credit, Drew made them last week.)

Every team would like add a better offensive lineman to their mix. As good as the Seahawks line was purported to be, they were overwhelmed by Dallas pressure. The bottom line, their QB and receivers made plays under pressure and we did not.

Larry Allen cant play tackle, he doesn’t have the quickness or the footwork anymore to play tackle, he’s an in the box guard. I think the offseason will be spent revamping the offensive line, Allen will be gone after this season and Flozells big money starts to kick in after this season and it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s cut loose either. He an average left tackle. Gurode is a free agent after this year and I dont think he’ll be back, so look for another free agent signing and drafting a tackle, guard and a backup center.

Very disappoiting this is the 2nd Game we gave away in the 4th Quarter. Our defense played one of its best games and go home demoralized cuz we cannot get a kick off……is this the line, snapper, holder or kickers fault……..I don’t know I just know last year Robinson and Cundiff were better.

If you are going to play run the ball and stop their defense………FINE……..but by golly you better find a better kicking game!

The offense finally ran ok, and the statue that is Drew decides to show up and telegraph his passes.

I saw “Give me the Damn Ball” Keyshawn drop a few that were catchable………hardly perfect buy catchable.

These are the kind of losses you cannot have if you want postseason play. Also the “bus driver” cannot give up a pass like that in the 4th with only a few seconds left in the game. That is just a stupid mistake………we should have never been in that position……….but we were and it happened……………

Well Cardinals up next then a buy before Philly. I don’t expect Philly to play the same way they did the first time we played em. We need to ROLL over Arizona and then rest and study up for Philly. This division is the black and blue and we are in LAST PLACE……………Giants and Eagles pull off miracle wins and the Redskins Roll and we decide to give up miracle win to Seattle. AHHHHH!!!!! I know Parcells is pulling his hair out.

Does anybody know where you can get info. on when players contracts are in their final year? Or any contract length info.

The O line has 2 pro bowlers in LA and MR but does anyone think they are playing pro bowl level? BP jumps on the first year guy for giving up an 8 or 9 yard sack but I don’t see him jumping on Rivera for having a 22 yard gain called back for a bad holding penalty. I guess it is easier to pick on the rookie :-)

Here is hoping that the draft next year brings some O line help, a starting FS, (and maybe a WR, LB, and CB as back ups). JB is more a strong safety I think when he returns next year. WR takes a year or so to adjust to NFL. CB just in case one is injured. How long is Pile’s contract for?

It is to bad the D played well, and the O didn’t match their play. I did enjoy seeing Shanle running up the middle for the birds QB. I think the D is getting really good really fast! D Coord. is doing well on his learning curve with the 3-4.

Well, another day of taking $h!t from my co-workers (don’t live in TX). They take great pleasure in seeing the Boys getting the L. Win or lose the Star logo goes to work with me. Can’t be a fan just after the wins.

IMO I don’t think their is a team out there thats wants the Boys on their schedule including filthy delphia for a potential payback game.

A few questions and comments. Was the missed 29 yd fg a bad snap? I didn’t see much of the game but when I heard he missed that kick I immediately assumed he would be cut. If it was a bad snap, I’d cut the snapper. We can’t missed 50% of chip shot FG’s and have any hope of making the playoffs.

I think the questions about coaching/strategy should actually be on the defensive side. Again, I couldn’t watch the game but a defense as strong as this that melts down in the last 2 min almost every week makes no sense. Those players don’t suddenly forget how to play. I place at least some of the blame on coaching, maybe a lot of it.

I did see a replay of the int with 5 seconds left. I have no idea why the pass was even thrown. If the pass had been completed at that point on the field (to a double covered receiver), we still wouldn’t have had time to attempt a FG. We needed quite a few more yards to even consider a kick. What a stupid decision to throw that pass.

Looked to me like TTucker had a reasonable day, certainly better day than Petitti. This season is coming down to:

1.) Cortez cannot make a field goal without a perfect snap and hold
2.) Bledsoe cannot complete a pass without perfect protection

Dudes, this is the NFL. These guys need to get it done. No one is asking for big numbers, just a couple of plays under pressure.

BTW, it is possible (not probable) to survive with a feeble offense and dominant defense (e.g., Baltimore a few years back). There is no way possible to do it with a poor kicking game like ours. If we made the 29 yd FG yesterday, we win.

Horribly off topic, I’m sorry, but does anyone know of a way to obtain recordings of anything cowboy in spanish? Games or shows in mp3.

BTW, anyone know what coach Parcells pushed? He argued with Payton earlier, but was that him he pushed during his discussion with the ref?

great analysis, Raf. there may be other problems and areas to pick on but what you write was very insightful and helpful.

does anyone know why one of the big papers hasn’t picked up Raf as a columnist/analyst? they’ve got nobody doing half as good a job.

Couldn’t see the game.
I know the kicking game screwed up.
I know the offense had problems.
But what I don’t know-at the end of the game, did the defense switch to a “prevent” sort of look? Were substitutions made? I’m talking about the long drive, not after the interception. Because, if so, then the coaches had better just throw that one out of the books, annd we stay in our regular D no matter the situation. Did we switch to a zone instead of aggressive man-man like the whole rest of the game?

Heres the deal..we all agree parcells is OLD school (he also knows more about football than I would even pretend too) however, as I said before he plays the percentages and makes the “right” conserative call and puts the game in the defenses hands with time running out and the opponent with a long way to go against the odds…whats changed the NEW pass interferance rules. It’s much easier today to go 40 yards with one bad, or touchy call..this did not use to happen. In the old days it was hard, if not down right impossible to go 80 yards and score, much less twice in 50 seconds.

larry:
The D played with the same intensity displayed until that moment, the turn of events had more to do with Seattle performing to his capabilities, they manhandled the DLine, Alexander finally broke a good one and the receivers went short and fast routes (those are pretty though to defend if you don’t know where the ball is going).

I don’t know about that whole “if it works it’s a good call, if not it’s a bad call”
—-Flea flicker that failed becouse barber couldn’t handle the ball—-that was a bad call—-why you might say??? Well, we had mishandled a snap, mishandled a place kick and nearly lost the ball with a fumble in that point in the game…it was raining cats and dogs…i don’t think it is ever wise to turn your play into a circus when it is raining….just a thought

Bledsoe threw a good bomb to Terry Glenn that was bobbled and then picked off like the guy was Derek Jeter or something catching a one hopper. The recievers today played more like Seattles recievers.

Witten only had 2 catches for 47 yards? Why is Bledsoe not looking at one of the best pair of hands on the team. With Crayton our other hands guy out I say Witten is probably our top guy. With Price and Glenn stretching em deep Bledsoe should have been looking underneath not only at KJ but also more to Witten. Also I gotta say Bledsoe’s passes when he had time to pass were anything but perfect and our hands were not all that well. I guess you could blame it on the weather until Hasselback drives down the field with nothing but pass after pass late in the ballgame.

This is another example of a game that the Dallas Cowboys were in position to win but failed to close it out. I was in a local watering hole watching the game with some friends………..it is never on TV around here thanks to the Redskins………but at any rate………..me and a few fellow Cowboys fans were all sitting there looking at that scoreboard and saying……..that ain’t going to be enough to win……..we gotta put some more points on the board.

Also………whatever happened to “In the Grass”. I saw Hasselback wrapped up twice and on his way down and they let him throw it away once and throw a completion the other time………..

that is not fair to the defensive players. The rules are so tough for late hits, and hits with your helmet………..and make sure you sack like a sisssy rules………..and then they don’t call the “in the grass”……….that is crap. I would ask the League about that one. Some bad officiating in my opinion also.

How can you expect the players to step up if the coaching staff does not. They have players that they are not allowing to play to their potential,
 Play agressive and smart and confidence will grow individually and as a team. In week seven, they are making the same mistakes over and over again. The opposing team is blocking the field goal attempt. Cortez continues to miss field goals, the defense continues to give up touchdowns in the last quarter. There are no leaders or play makers on offense. Why did they sign Price.

There is no positive characteristic about our team. The only thing we do consistently is squander talent and opportunities.

Every player on that team is good and if someone goes down the next guy will rise to the occasion. It starts with the coaching staff, let the players play and stop stiffling them. The players who are not producing need to be replaced.

on the positive………

Scott Fujita played well and should see more time than Singleton.

Bradie James continues to improve. Not sure why he is better with Dat out of there, but hope it continues when Dat Returns!

Dat and Julius and Crayton were not on the field. That is our leading rusher, our leading tackler and our best pair of hands and punt returner not in the lineup.

Despite that the Dallas Cowboys have played well against both the Seahawks and the Giants especially on the defense side of things. Have teams figured out our offense already? I was really upbeat earlier but Drew looked bad the last two weeks, protection has been awful in his defense but he held the ball too long on plenty of plays………Bill needs to put a radio control cattle prod up his arse and hit the remote after a few seconds………DREW THROW THE BALL!………if you the happy feet of McNabb you can run around back there and complete a bomb……..but you ain’t got those feet.

We played the Eagles, Giants, and Seahawks. Three of the best offenses in the league and shut Philly out of the endzone and held them to just 3, and gave up only 13 points to the Giants and Hawks. Not bad the Defense is there. I think we should have had two in the grass sacks called. I blame that on the refs.

We need serious improvement in our pass protection. We need Julius healthy and establish a run. Marion Barber looked pretty good, as did Tyson Thompson. I just don’t think Bill has the trust in those guys hanging on to the ball that he does with JJ. Neither is as talented as Julius. Get back on the field JJ we need ya.

Jason Witten needs to go give Drew Bledsoe a little of the Keyshawn……hey Drew THROW ME THE DAMN BALL………Witten is often open and even when covered can make plays over linebackers and Safeties. We need to utilize him while we still got Terry Glenn, Price and KJ on the field………not wait til they are all injured too. Take notes Parcells, Payton and Bledsoe……….get Witten involved. He is a big Target……….Doug Cosby, Jay Noacek and Dwight Clark all agree.

rha,

It was receivers coach Todd Haley that Parcells pushed away while he was discussing the none call interference in the end zone. I also felt that shoulda been called. Even when the Seattle defender fell down on his own he’s not allow the hold , for any moment, on the receiver. A call there would’ve given us a first down at the one. Of course, the way the O-line was playing, there’s no guarantee that we would’ve gotten a TD.

Someone wake me up from this nightmare. As I am flipping through the games today, I see that the Washington Redskins put up 52 points against a team the Cowboys beat in the last minute. The Eagles are on the verge of being handed a loss at home by San Diego and they return a blocked field goal for a touchdown to win. The Giants are having their butts handed to them by the Broncos when the snot-nosed little brother of Superstar Peyton Manning leads his team down the field and throws a touchdown to some scrub wide out to win with five seconds left. Even with all of these highly unlikely and unfortunate things that could have happened, the worst was still to come.

The Dallas Cowboys crumbled in the waning moments of their game against the Seattle Seahawks and lost for the third time this NFL season. Despite how hard the Seahawks tried to give the game away early in the second half, the Cowboys offense could not take advantage. Instead of putting the game far enough out of reach, the offense failed to score any touchdowns (and missed a chip shot field goal) given the ball twice inside of Seattleâ€â"¢s 20-yard line. The result: another nail-biting, heart-wrenching loss. Blame ultra conservative play calling in the second half for this loss. When twice given the ball deep in Seattle territory, Dallas Coaching staff though it wiser to continue to run the ball against stacked defenses then to try and, heck I don’t know THROW THE BALL! I know they have two less experienced tackles out there protecting Bledsoe, but its not like he would be taking a 7-step drop near the goal line. If they have decided to just pack it in and not pass anymore this year, then they should just not show up to play any more games this year. Since they were running well, I thought the lack of play action hurt the team’s chance to win. Use the tight end near the goal line like every other team in the NFL does. Please!

Sure we could blame the defense for failing to make a play on Seattle’s final drive. However, I thought they did an outstanding job on the day. For the third straight week and 5 out of 7 games, the defense held a top offense to less then 2 touchdowns. Only 3 teams this Sunday allowed 13 points or less and lost. The other two teams, Cleveland and Baltimore, have no offense to speak of. That is what makes this loss fall on the shoulders of the offense and the truly ‘offensive’ play calling. 39 running plays compared to 24 passing plays against a team using a backup to start at safety. You have the sort of run-to-pass ratio when you are well ahead in the game or your team is averaging over five yards a carry. The play calling was unimpressive. The final result is very unacceptable.

How many times do we have to put up with these heart-breaking defeats? The answer is as long as we are cowboysâ€â"¢ fans. Don’t get me wrong, I am very pleased they have been competitive in each and every game this year, but enough is enough already. This is a hard defeat to take for the fans that live and die with this team. I could be a fair weather fan and say its no big deal, but I’m not and this is a big deal. How many times do we have to put up with these heart-breaking defeats? When will Coach Parcells allow the offense to win the game instead of hoping to hold on at the end? So protect the quarterback with an extra blocker if you need to, but donâ€â"¢t be a predictable, one-dimensional team with a small lead. I wish I really was asleep and I could wake up from this nightmare, but Iâ€â"¢m not sleeping. My guess is that Coach Parcells won’t be getting much sleep either. Good. Iâ€â"¢m glad I am not alone.

The cowboys D is good. You can’t expect them to hold for 60 min. Teams will score, this is a top d and they will be a top 5 d by the end of the year. I will take this D every game. Our offence SUCKS, why does our offence suck? They have tried their best to give away the last two games.
One the line is not good.
Two the coaching. We are not playing to win the last two weeks we could have put the game away with a TD but we go with a FG. We shouldn’t win putting up 10 points.
Three we have no game breaker. If we have to make a play we have no one to turn to.
We have the best D in the east and the worst offence. We are back in last place. Our offence hasn’t played well since the Philly game. Our D needs some help.

Jon-“in the grass” left when Quincy did.

I was having a fit at the end of the 1st half when we burned the final 30seconds and 3 time-outs from the 30. Why not try to take the momentum back by getting 40 yards and attempting a FG. I know there was little chance that Cortez would have made it but at least your trying to win the game.

Why don’t we run any quick slant patterns? That can help your protection as much as anything.

onepaniolo,

I wouldn’t be surprised to see L. P. Ladouceur on the waiver wire this week…

Mickey Spagnola has a great piece explaining the Cowboys situation in obvious terms. You may remember he posted statistics showing the winning percentage of teams scoring 13 points (less than 20%).

You cannot win in the NFL with 13 points, simple as that. We were just plain lucky last week with NY (but still we only scored 13 in regulation).

If during any game you think you will win with only 13 points scored, 80% of the time you will not, doesn’t matter how much time is left. It has been painfully proved by Dallas 3 out of 4 games (and a coin toss prevented it from being 4 of 4).

BP made a mistake not being more agressive on those 4th quarter drives after turnovers. I know it is easy to say afterwards, but statistics don’t lie, you cannot win with 13.

I have a single comment…..I remember back in the 90’s when the boys would build a lead – even as little as a field goal..i had this gut feeling that the combination of the offense and defense would win the game. If we were up by 3 w/ 3 minutes left and punting the ball, i never got sick to my stomach, as i do now, just an eerie feeling. The defense has been playing lights out lately, with the exception of the last 3 minutes of seemingly every game. I think Drew Pearson said it best yesterday when he stated that “offenses’ are "forced” to play well at the end of every game, simply because they play such sloppy football for 56 minutes every game". Unfortunately it seems that our O-line cant get out of their own way because if they would play even 1/2-assed then we wouldnt be letting teams back into the game simply because we could have had 21 points yesterday, bad play-calling or not.

Snowed in,
 
Cortez needs to make that kick, the ball was spotted and he had time. A NFL kicker has to make that kick.

I’m getting tired of people coming down on the D for letting teams score in the last min of the games. For three straight weeks the number one offence has come in and they didn’t leave number one. Our D has had one bad game our offence has had FOUR BAD GAMES and we are 1-3 in those games. 13, 13, 16 AND 10 points in those games. We gave up 14,19,13 and 13 points in those games.

What makes this loss even tougher to swallow is the fact the Redskins,Eagles and Giants all won their games.

Dallas started the day in first place atop the NFC East and ended it in last place.

Don’t look now,but the NFC East is the tightest division in the NFL.

Hard to believe,but just a couple of years ago a lot of people refered to the NFC East as the NFC Least.

Rafael,

You hit the nail on the head. Conservative play calling killed the Cowboys yesterday. The Dallas D played a great game,shutting down the league’s top rated offense and they deserved the win. Problem was Dallas shut down their offense too.

Raf is right, the main problem was our OTs. Can’t blame Bledsoe for being rattled when he was pressured constantly. And can’t throw if the QB is on his back.

Petitti was exposed. Bad. Now we see why they’ve had a TE/RB helping him all year; he’s too slow-footed to stop a speed rush. And his hand- & foot-work miscues allowed a couple of bull rushes, too. If he doesn’t take a big step forward soon, we’ll have to draft his replacement in the 1st or 2nd round next year.

Tucker did a good job run blocking yesterday, as usual, but needed help against the pass rush. Hey, that’s why he’s a backup. And not bad, really. Remember him playing RG last year? One reason the Cowboys could run up the middle more often then.

But our Centers are now officially below average, a drop from last year. They get no push run blocking and lose ground pass protecting.

So we’ll likely draft two O-Liners on the first day next year. Isn’t that what we all expected before the season anyway?

Can someone please explain to me why the Cowboys picked up Peerless Price? Up until yesterday he had been inactive. Then they use him as a PR and KR. He and Bledsoe hooked up for something like 1200 yards and nine
TD’s when they were with Buffalo. If he was brought on as a third receiver,fine,then why aren’t they using him in that role. Even Bledsoe wants to see him play WR. If they got him for insurance then why in the world would you let him return kicks? That’s about the quickest why to get someone injured who’s not used to returning kicks. I just don’t understand what is role is. Why is he in Parcells’ doghouse?

the o line was certaintly one of the reasons that our cowboys lost, but cortez was a big reason we lost. if he had made that measely 29 yarder, an easy kick for an “nfl kicker”, the cowboys would still be up by 3 after the seahawks scored that td and from there they could have just run the clock out.

cortez seem to always blame someone else. he should shut up and do his job. when he missed that field goal, the snap was high, but he still had time to kick it through. any other quality kicker would have made that kick. should i reminder everyone about the redskins game. cortez also missed a field goal on that game. if he made that fg we also win that game.

CORTEZ MUST GO!!!

another thing, i thought Tucker played better than Petiti and “veteran” Rivera struggled yesterday. Petiti definitely needs more help than Tucker.

unlucky 13……….we score 13 and shutout the Redskins for 56 minutes…….then allows them 14 in 4. LOSS

we score 13 points. Squander many opportunities. Our kicker sucks…….please Bill fire Cortez now or let Larry Allen have a little time alone with him in the locker room and straighten him out…….provide an interpreter in case Cortez does not understand a “swirlie” in spanish!

Re sign………Cundiff………and put him on the IR……..and put him back on the field when the guy is healthy.

If we want to win ball games with one TD and a few field goals and heck of a Defense………..fine……..but we ain’t going to do it with Cortez. I ain’t for drafting a kicker……..I just know that finding a kicker better than Cortez should not be as hard as getting a franchise QB!

I saw too many dropped balls, turnovers, penalties, and stupid mistakes on mostly offense. I would say if Aaaron Glenn’s call was for pass interference then they gotta not pick up that flag and call it when Witten is held! Be consistent refs. But you know we still had plenty of opportunities. We are killing ourselves with stupid penalties……..holding the ball too long……..and turnovers. The one INT I say hey it was just a fluke………but that last second one in the 4th Q well that is squarely on Bledsoe. Why throw that ball anyway. Why aren’t we throwing the ball downfield to where we would have had a shot at a kick?

The Dallas Cowboys are showing up on Defense. Now it is time for Julius Jones to get back on the field. Our overpaid guards to earn their money………AJ or Gurode or somebody to snap the cotton picking ball and lets run over the Cardinals. We better blow them away. They suck. There is no reason we should not roll the Cardinals!

Now let’s cheer up. Why?

1. This Defense is for real. Held a playoff team to 13 points Sunday. Crushed the best rushing team in the NFC with their new 3-4 that is supposedly weak vs the run. Pressured the QB all day. Covered receivers like a blanket. Someday soon the analysts will notice and the “Doomsday” moniker will be back.

2. Newman continues to shine against all opponents. He’s finally got it.

3. Marion Barber III looked very good. Quick. Fast cuts. Found holes. Fought for extra yards. Played smarter. If he shows off those catching hands some more, he’ll be our 3rd down back for years. And TT as our 3rd RB? That is some unreal depth, my friends.

4. McBriar pounded some more punts, a real feat after fielding a couple of wild snaps. He’s a player.

5. Our safeties played much better against the pass while still supporting the rushing D. Hasselbeck couldn’t find openings anywhere for most of the game.

6. Nearly every new player and rookie played great on defense.

So next year is the year to rebuild the O-Line and replenish the receivers. Then we’ll have a completely unstoppable team. Go Cowboys!

Daryl,

Price didn’t get more plays because he was the 3rd WR on a day when the Cowboys played lots of 2 TE and 2 back sets to help pass protection. So blame Flozell’s injury and Petitti’s incompetence, not Price.

Not that Price looked any good returning punts, though.

JJ hasn’t done anything this year yet. We need a play maker, we need help on the O-line. Is our o-line up and down or is our offence just not as good as people think????

RHA,

Parcells pushed the offensive line coach. Parcells told everyone to stay back while he talked to the refs and he tried to butt in.

Hindsight is 20/20…it retrospect we should have seen this coming. All the games so far Dallas has been sucessful by going pass first with a limited (conservative) running game. We knew full well that if Bledsoe got pressured thoughout a game he would hurt us and that is what happened.
      I think Dallas needs to focus on the run game. Although Dallas had a 100 plus run game against Seattle, there was never the threat of a long run and that’s really what seperates Dallas’ Offense from the other good teams in the league.
   We’ve got a defense and we’ve got a descent passing attack…we need a full on well rounded running attack…sadly this more than likely won’t come this season

Julius will be back.

Our Offensive line can either improve…….or get benched. I am not happy with the play from MR and LA thus far. AJ is making rookie mistakes in his 3rd Season.

Running Backs look fine. We got a rookie in Barber that had 95 on 22 carries. Tyson Thompson looks good when he can cut out the mental mistakes and make it on the field. Julius is yet to have a breakout game but when teams are playing 8 or 9 in the box Drew and company should bomb away which we did and won those games.

We have won the time of possession in every game this year. That is Parcells Football. We are building one hech of a stingy defense. Marcus Spears should have had an INT for a TD, just like his playing days at LSU. The Defensive line is looking good against the run and pass…….and the Defense had Hasselback more times than we got credit for. I would have asked the officials about that, I bet they would have called a late hit on the QB……but no flag on the in the grass?

I think the team actually has the weapons on both sides of the ball. Right now the one missing ingredient and it is glaring is our FG unit. Special teams has always been a Parcells signature, I don’t get why we are happy with this kicker. There are other choices. Trust me.

Bledsoe is showing he cannot be a miracle worker without protection. He made a rookie mistake on that last INT. That has to stop but the team had plenty of opportunities. We got quit the stupid penalties. Score some TDs in the red zone. Make our 45 or less FGs……..consistently……..and continue to improve on our blocking. I don’t understand how we go out and steamroll a good Ealges team and then play so poorly on offense the next two weeks.

We need to put it together for 4 quarters every week. 4-3 when we could be 7-0…………we lost our combined 3 games by what 7 combined total points. Our defense is putting us into position to win some football games but we gotta go out there and start playing some smashmouth offensive football also!!!!

You cannot score 13 and expect to beat the 3 best offenses in the league in 3 consecutive weeks. We should have had 20 points………and Drew would have been handing off to Barber, Thomas or Thompson in the 4th instead of trying to go kick a long FG.

Daryl,

Parcells pushed WR coach Todd Haley, mainly to keep him from being flagged for going after the ref.

Also, I’m NOT blaming conservative play calling. I’m saying that if your line can’t protect you can’t open up. An open attack has routes that go down the field. Five and seven step drops. You need lots of protection to run those. And to put maximum pressure on the defense you need to send lots of five man packages out on routes.

With Dallas having to chip for both tackles, they’re running a lot of three man routes. If the defense knows your running max protection a lot, it’s much easier for them to control three guys than five.

One more point. When Bledsoe hit Glenn for that long bomb on the last TD drive in San Francisco, the drive that ended with the pass and then the two pointer to Keyshawn, he stood in the pocket for five full seconds. I ran that play over and over and timed it. It always came out to 4.8 to 5.0 seconds. He slid, bounced and was able to look at all his receivers.

The Cowboys never gave Bledsoe that kind of time today. When he gets sacked on third and three, which is normally a three step drop, that means he’s barely getting 2.0 seconds, if that.

I’ll say it again. If you can’t protect your QB, calling to “open up” the playcalling is nothing but wishful thinking.

Sean,

Your “in the grass left with Quincy Carter” line is quality.

As we all know, we’re a different team without JJ. I dont care if he’s only got a 3.5 average, Defenses respect him. Pettiti played horrible yesterday, TT looked alot better without help. Bledsoe won us some games and probably lost us one yesterday. Lets not get on him too harshly.

- If Price is going to be active, we need better protection schemes to get 3 WR on the field. I think Bledsoe would be more comfortable instead of forcing balls in like at the end.

- Our CB’s look great. ESP Henry. The guys arguably a top 5 CB in the NFL.

- Our D has looked GREAT facing the 3 #1 offenses. Shaun ALexander couldnt do a thing against us.

- We beat the Cards next week. At home. They aren’t good, just DONT KEEP BERRY ON PETITI. If he is, we need ALOT of help.

- And our D and Offense have only played 1 real game good together, and look what happened.

Our worst case scenario has come true T Tucker is starting on th O-line. If you can’t give the q-back enough time to complete a 3 step drop, you are not going to win many games.

Cortez, just demonstrates why he was cut by the 49ers. He cannot kick in the clutch. If everyone remembers he went through a streak of missing a few kicks in a row that would have won games for them.

yeah we were not agressive enough, but there is no excuse for missing a 29 yard field goal. Most kicker are near 100% inside the 30, our kicker has missed 2 already.

get rid of this guy!!

Jose Cortez has been cut. Thank God!!! He sucks. He cost us the game
yesturday. I hope they get rid of the deep snapper to. He was horrible.
I’ve been niserable all day. They should’ve won that game.

This was the last Sunday I’ll spend my day watching the Boys for a while. I’ll still passionately root for them, but they aren’t there yet. This team lacks a killer instinct. Say what you want, but they are a bunch afraid to lose. That starts at the top. Taking a knee at the end of the first half, with time on the clock and a few timouts left. This coaching staff doubts itself as well as its team. Enough of the “we must trust in BP” nonsense. He’s a great football mind and would be great in the front office. All of his teams except when he was proving himself in the 80’s lacked the ability to close the deal. Simply put, he’s afraid to lose so he doesn’t unleash everything the team has to smother the other team.

lou
BP has a saying you are what you are. JJ hasn’t done anything this year yet until he does we are not missing much the last two weeks.

Rafael Vela

Every time we have a bad game its the line’s fault, I’m sorry there is enough blame to go around. Its the offence whole unit including the game plan with play calling. We don’t have that one player that can get it done. One game breaker can make others better. We don’t have a number one WR that can make a play that we need. JJ is not that game breaker yet. Don’t know if he will be but he can be good. Yes I know every starts with the line and I expect it to be addressed next year.

Quit watching because “this team lacks a killer instict”? What is that about? We played a first place team with the best offense in football. It could have gone either way. We lost. That’s it.

Obviously, the game was disappointing, but Raf hit it on the head. We couldn’t protect our QB, so we couldn’t call our aggressive 5 and 7 step drops.

That said, all is not lost.

We have arguably the best defense in football, and some building blocks on offense. We’ll be 5-3 after next week. Some other NFC East teams will lose, so we’ll push back toward the front of the division. Also, some of the division teams will lose the folloiwng week while we’re sittling idle.

Can we get to the playoffs? Yes. We’ll finish 10-6 just like most of us predicted, save any more serious injuries.

This site is like a see-saw. One week, we’re the best team in the NFL. The next, we’re the a bunch losers with a terrible coach. Have faith.

well my prediction that Cortez would get cut at the break was a little off wasnt it? Everyone could see that coming
BP says the play calling was not too conservative
but I dont see how the Seattle play calling was less conservative than playcalling prior to the Eagles game
And when BP had his revelation about conservative playcalling, well, see Eagles outcome.
BP’s comments seem to support Rafael’s analysis that it was the O-line but the Cortez cut coupled with BP’s press statements say there will be no major adjustments…. Hope this is a sign of good coaching

Gene,

T Tucker had a good game yesterday as he did against NY. This guy is not the problem. Petitti is much more a problem and was obviously struggling yesterday.

The fact is every team has at least one and often two offensive lineman they wish they could upgrade. Remember also, Marco Rivera has had significant issues.

So, this is an OL problem by committee as Parcells sez.

I agree with Madcowboy, this is a seesaw.

BTW, Hassleback had no time to throw yesterday either and he has one of the best offensive lines in the league. Your skill players have to make plays when the pressure is on, simple as that.

Whoever gets in the playoffs will not have all day to throw and the QB and WRs that deal with that pressure the most effectively will win.

Its the whole offence…..

rha
You are right and we don’t have a game breaker.

Lou,

Berry will be going against the LT tucker.

Madcowboy,

At this point I’d rather spend Sunday afternoons teaching my 6 year old to catch a football. I’m not down on the ‘Boys, I just can find better things to do with my day rather than sit through another BP called game. Like I posted a couple of weeks ago, I haven’t liked his approach to a game for a couple of years. My disgust didn’t just start with this season. I’m a rabid fan, maybe that’s the problem. Every time I see a team take a knee except at the end of the game I think the coach is telling his team “hey, we’re not losing the battle too badly, maybe we can avoid a mistake and get lucky at the end of the game.” So much for all the vaunted toughness BP is supposed to bring to a team. Like I said, his teams haven’t closed the deal in 20 years. It’s not all about lack of talent.

AW,

We indeed do not have a game breaker per se but our defense can make up for most of that. Our offense needs only some consistencyand the ability to make some key plays just like Hassleback did yesterday.

Single teams in todays NFL are not stocked with too many all world players like before free agency. A good defense can neutralize a good receiver and a good running back even if they are on the same team.

Just think what our record would be today if we had a more consistent offense, one that could pick up a 3rd and 1.

Thompson could be a game breaker if Jones can’t play, and the Cowboys should aim a heavy dose of running plays right at Bertrand Berry, to give Tucker a chance to maul him early. Barber is good, but Thompson’s extra speed could help keep Arizona off balance.

that’s right Lee…that’s what I’ve been screaming…there’s running game and then there is running game…160+ yards aint’ bad for yesterday….BUT let us all think about this…Dallas hasn’t scored many rushing TDs so far this year…frankly I can’t remember one off the top of my head…but my point is—-that is what dallas is lacking in the running game…a “home run hitter” We need rushers with the speed and vision to bust 40 yarders when we can’t get it done in the air…I’m of the opinion it may not happen but I tend to believe thompson is the closest we get to it this season…never thought I’d say that coming into this season

AW, you can fill your gas tank with supercharged jet fuel, but if you don’t have tires, you’re not going anywhere.
If our little center can’t move NGs off the line, if Rivera is playing poorly, if Petitti is giving up sacks and missing assignments, if Tucker is giving up sacks and missing assignments, and if the line as a whole is committing penalties, there is nothing an offense can do. Take a quick peek at the Houston Texans and tell me why their really good RB and great QB can’t do anything at all.
The offensive line isn’t a unit operating in a vacuum. If they play badly, you can’t just say, “well, we’ll overcome that and just pass the ball. We’ll ignore their mistakes.” EVERYTHING begins and ends with the play of the offensive line. If the Cowboys had the Steelers offensive line, we’d be undefeated and it would never have been close.
Rafael said Bledsoe was being hit after 2 seconds. Count that out. One one thousand, two one thousand, and he’s down already. There’s NO chance to complete a pass in that instance. However there are plenty of chances to fumble, get sacked for loss, get hurt, throw an INT. There is SOME chance to break a run through missed tackles, and, by running you’ll keep your QB clean.

The offense has loads of playmakers, for crying out loud. Good lord. Witten, Jones, Barber, Bledsoe, Key, Glenn and Crayton until a few days ago are all playmakers of high caliber. How many pro bowls do they all account for? 12?

By the way, the Cowboys will beat the Cardinals by 20+ next week. The middle of the line will be shamed into better performances. The running game will be established, and the defense will just get buck wild and score 2 TDs and wreak general havoc.

but, until the tackles’ play is improved, good football teams will exploit that weakness, and the Cowboys will probably not make the playoffs.

Does anyone have the ability to see more then just week to week, its absolutely ridiculous to hear talk about how our D is the best in the NFl, how many points did we let San Fran score against us? Give me a break…. We have played well defesively the past few weeks, but don’t forget it was the offensive who bailed out the defense in the Charger and 49er wins, but when its the defenses turn to bail out the offense they just can’t do it, all of those who have a memory longer then 1 week will surely agree with me.
      The offensive line play yesterday was a joke, I will agree, but you can’t go blaming Petitti for having a bad game. The kid was a 6th round draft pick who has stepped in because Rogers Tucker and Vollers (all multi year players) couldnt perform well enough to start. Now Flozell goes down and it was his first game playing without help because Tucker had it all game, should he have done better yes, but don’t go praising Tucker when you leave a 6th round draft pick all alone for the first time in his career.
      As far as Bledsoe’s play… stop making excuses for him. A veteran like himself shouldn’t be rattled, thats the job for the 30 guys on our team in their 3rd NFl season or less. Although Seatlle did a good job if disguising their defense all game, he contiually threw to Gelnn in double coverage, and if anyone noticed he refused to throw to Whitten after he dropped that pass along the sideline. Bottom line is if Bledsoe ran on the 3rd and goal a little earlier instead of being so indecisive, he gets in, we win the game, and everyone here get get each other off talking about how good our team is. The NFL is a long season, to get too emotionally tied into 1 game is just ridiuclous………………..

rha
no our D can not. A good D can neutralize a good player but that opens up things for others. But game breakers come up big in big games. We don’t scar other teams with our offence. Hassleback is a playmaker.

Shaun Suisham: K 6-0 199 Bowling Green

Suisham ended his collegiate career as the NCAA Division I all-time leader in both point-after-attempts made (226) and PATs attempted (232). Suisham also leaves BGSU as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 361 points and as the school’s all-time career leader with 45 field goals.

In 2004, the Wallaceburg, Ontario, native was a Lou Groza Award semifinalist, named second-team All-MAC, and the GMAC Bowl Special Teams MVP. He also set a MAC record with 69 consecutive PATs made and made 14-of-20 field goals. Suisham was drafted in 2004 by the Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League.

His longest field goal was 52 yards.

But…he was released from our practice squad as recently as 10/11. Not likely to be much better than Cortez, unfortunately.

Can we sign back Billy Cundiff ??
Something has to give, I’m 40yrs old and about to die watching these games

Joey2zs
We have players that can make plays but we don’t have a game breaker. We don’t have a Moss( either one) TO or LT. We don’t have that one player on offence that makes others better. The line hasn’t played well this year. But its not all on the line. The Washington game 0 sacks 13 points. People need to wake up. Yes we need to address the o-line but we need to get # 1 WR, we need to address the game plans. Its more then just the O-Line.

Bye Bye Jose…….Dallas cut Cortez and signed Shusamn……..or something like that.

Smart Cowboy
I agree with some of what you say but our D has had one bad game. That was against SF. The D and offence have played well together for one game. Every loss this season has been because of the offence can’t put up points. The game against SD was a wash the D didn’t play great nor bad. The D is doing a great job when you turn the ball over 4 times and still win that is the D bailing you out. The D can’t bail you out when you don’t want to win. The last two week the D has given the Offence a change to put the game away and they couldn’t do it. We got lucky last week.

Got an email with the following:

NEWSFLASH

Jose Cortez attempted to commit suicide after learning of his release from the Dallas Cowboys. Apparently he attempted to shoot himself in the head only to miss “Wide Left”. Thankfully there were no injuries. In a statement Jose Cortez blamed the gun manufacturers and the person who sold him the gun for the misfire.

:lol:

AW,

The game plans on offense have been conservative, yes, but why?

1. “They run on 1st down almost every time.” BP is trying to keep this team from 2nd & long to prevent 3-and-outs and pass blitzes, and to soften up secondaries. Has worked well in the sense that Drew had not been sacked much until Sunday.

2. “They never run the draw.” Rivera and AJ are much worse this year at opening running holes in the middle than Tucker and AJ were last year. AJ is getting inexplicably worse.

3. “They run on 3rd and long.” And “They never throw it deep.” When the O-Line can’t pick up a blitz (like yesterday), passing is not a very good option, either. Especially long passes, since they take longer to develop and leave the QB a sitting duck. But running might work and keeps Drew healthy—while avoiding INTs like the one that doomed us yesterday.

4. “Why not go for it on 4th down?” The Cowboys are 3 for 8 on 4th down conversions, good for 21st in the league. Translation: they are bad on 4th down conversion. Perhaps the weakness running up the gut is to blame; the ’Boys are the 4th worst team in yards per carry.

5. “Where are the trick plays? (fleaflickers, reverses, etc.)” Many of these take time to develop, and the O-Line is providing enough. And when a defender gets penetration in the backfield early in the play, most are doomed. Still, they have tried these on several occasions anyway; many have failed.

6. “Why not run 4 WR sets?” 4 WR sets leave only one extra blocker (typically the RB or FB). That means both guards and one tackle are man-to-man with no help. Our RT can’t handle that, our current LT (Tucker) can’t handle that, and many times one of the other three can’t handle it, either. And it replaces Witten with our 4th receiver (Copper?!?). Bad idea.

So pick your poison, fans. Gunslinging carries its price in this league unless you have a good O-Line. We don’t.

Nink,

Due to the injury settlement the Cowboys had with Cundiff, they cannot sign him until the week before Thanksgiving.

I don’t know if anybody noticed, but ever since Dat has been out, our defense has been playing better. Now, we can’t blame the OL for losing the game, it’s the play calling. The play calling has to change to passing more, you got the WR use them, they are not there for looks. BP is getting to old for this, he won’t change from his conservative play calling no matter what anybody says. He is very stubborn, it’s either his way or no way. Jerry Jones has to tell him you have to open up this offense, if that doesn’t happen soon, then all of ‘us’ Cowboys fans will be watching the playoffs once again without them in disgust!

Remnant
What was wrong with the line against SF, Philly or Washington? Tucker was RT he was not opening holes inside last year. The line is not good but its not the worst. Its not all the o-line fault. If you get the ball on the 12 yard line with a chance to put the game away, you need to do it. Make adjustments. We still need a game breaker period. If our line is so bad we wouldnt have won 4 games so its not all on the line.

Dallas Dan
yea Dat days might be coming to an end. Dat or James will be gone next year.

Dallas Dan……I wondered about that too. I think it took Dat being hurt for Bradie James to wake up and play like a linebacker.

He has been solid since Dat has been out. It is good to see and hope his play continues when Dat returns.

Also you gotta figure Spears, Canty, Ratliff, Ware and Burnett are all getting better each week as they learn the Defensive responsiblities more and more and get more time on the NFL gridiron.

While Marion Barber did ok carrying the ball when we needed first downs he failed. He failed in the red zone, and he fumbled twice. I think we do need Julius back, and I think he would have made a difference………if nothing else I doubt he fumbles twice. Anthony Thomas will be gone next year and Thompson and Barber need to both learn to hold onto the ball.

Cundiff coming back the week before Thanksgiving sounds just fine with me. Too bad he got hurt he would have been our kicker if not for the injury………that injury has cost us two games so far this year!

Raul……I heard you’re joke for the Bills Scott Norwood after Bill Parcells Giants won the Super Bowl………it is not as funny when it involves our K and our LOSS. But it was very funny back then.

Guys:
Have any of you figured out that Parcells and company knew throughout the week that Bledsoe wouldn’t have much time in the pocket? Bledsoe might had been asked in passing plays to look at his first, and maybe second, option and to make throws in a hurry. Rafael is right on, how many times Bledsoe had the time in the pocket to look even to his second option? He looked to his third even less.

I can only put the blame of that second interception into Bledsoe’s shoulders.

What’s different? Please. Tucker at left tackle is a big downgrade from FA. And Petitti got no help against his man for the first time and failed miserably. Yes, I blame the line.

I’ve been reading all of the comments and luckily I was not able to see the game. I was sweating just seeing how low our score was. Our defense played exceptionally well to hold Seattle’s offense to 13 points. I will have to agree with Rafael that the problems we have seen every other week start and end with our “offensive” line.
Good teams are able to dictate how opposing defenses line up because:
1) They control the line of scrimmage
2) Protect their QB
3) Control time of possession, keeping their defense fresh and the opposing offense off of the field.

Whenever you have to use your RBs to “chip” defensive lineman to protect a weak link on the OL you remove an offensive threat that the defense has to scheme for.

Whenever you have to “max protect” to keep your QB upright you remove at least one (maybe more) offensive weapons from the play.

Long story short, if the offensive line was up to the task a few of those losses may have been wins.

However we cannot fix the problem here. Hopefully Brooks will consistent. Maybe we will even investigate bringing in Chris Terry. I will say this though … Rivera, Johnson, Gurode, Tucker, and allen need to get their heads out of their a$$ and start playing ball.

And you know, if this team OLine doesn’t perform better, we might start seeing the Bledsoe that’s known in Buffalo, that’s the diference that a good OLine (the one Dallas had before Flozell’s injury) and an average one.

One stat for you: Drew Bledsoe was sacked once every 16.1 dropbacks before Flozell’s injury, in this game that changed to once every 5.8 dropbacks. Pasquarelli wrote this in the Morning After.

And after reading this, you still dismiss the posibility that the OLine might had been the most important factor in the play of the Offense, then you need to talk to Peyton Manning.

Chandus……. Amen.

glad to see the boys got a new kicker, bottom line on the seahawks game we deserved to win but the hawks kicker was good from 50 and 55 and we missed fr 29.

Yeah Let’s just see if Suisham can somehow step up and fill a big void, BTW does anyone know anything about Suisham as far as his stats at Bowling Green

We need to be careful not to fool ourselves. The Oline has been adequate at best all year. In the wins, the Cowboys overcame their lackluster play, and the losses occurred when the team could not do so. Flo was no great shakes this year, even when healthy. A couple of weeks back, I predicted in a thread that Parcells would give Tucker some time at LT soon to see if he needed to draft another LT early next year. Rivera looks like another team’s reject instead of an accomplished free agent, Allen makes more than his share of mistakes, Petitti looks adequate only when the rest of the team has his back, and the centers are fumbles/miscues/negative yardage runs/sacks/holding penalties waiting to happen. Nothing like a well-oiled machine in any of that.

I remember Parcells shuffling his staff quite a bit after last year. So, here is my question: What’s up with the Oline coach? As others have pointed out, while talent diminishes with age, former pro bowlers don’t usually revert to silly procedure penalties or even stupider, unnecessary holding on play after play. That is what I have seen—an undisciplined unit that plays all too often without fire or intelligence, and with poor blocking technique. As much as the rules have undoubtedly changed, football still gets down to blocking and tackling. The defense is tackling pretty well, but the offensive line as not blocking (although the receivers, from what I can tell, still are).

Could the weakest team link thus be, not talent or play-calling, but position coaching? I don’t know or take any position; I am only posing an alternative explanation for what has looked like a slow motion train wreck all season long.

bert:
I think that the line was good because when Flozell was over there, there was the chance of a penalty, but he only allowed his assignment to get by him and sack Bledsoe once, now Tucker already gave up one sack, but that’s not it, he has partial blame on the other sacks, because at times he had TE or RB help, leaving Petitti alone in the other side and he crumbled, with Adams there was no need to align a TE by his side and the RB’s didn’t had the habit to look that way when looking for a blitzer.

Now I don’t know why Al Johnson is crumbling the way he’s, he looked like the real deal last year. I understand the eroding Allen he is playing just like last year. Rivera is a big part of the running success of late, but he was burned by Chartric Darby a couple of times and he’s been showing inconsistencies all year. But I don’t think that George Warhop’s absence is the one causing the problems, Sparano’s a pretty good coach, I think that’s more on the players than anything else, they need the bye big time.

Rafael,
Great analysis once again. The Offensive line play was definately not good and had it been I think we win this one with ease. Having said that I think that the coaching staff owes the players an apology after this one due to their overly cautious approach in the second half. I think the offensive line did however perform up to expectations given the current circumstances which include a rookie 6th rounder starting at right tackle and the guy that lost his job to him starting at the left. To compound the problem the coaching staff came out of the locker room in the second half with a game plan which was almost as predictable as any I have seen since Tom Osborne coached the Cornhuskers. When the defense knows exactly what play you are going to run it makes them that much harder to block and you are more prone to make mistakes. When linbackers are shooting gaps at the snap lineman tend to miss more blocks or jump the snap count a little more than normal. I know a lot of people are screaming that Dallas needs to open up the offense more and I agree whole heartedly and by that I don’t mean throwing the ball 40 yds down the field on every other play. How about some playaction on first down, maybe some three and 5 step drops mixed in there as well. How about some shotgun formations on obvious passing downs. How about some hurry up or no huddle when we catch the other team in a bad defense, or even on occassion when we don’t as that seems to be our most effective offense at moving the ball. I guess what I’m getting at is how about just mixing things up to keep the other team off balance.
This morning after stomping around the office for a little while I decided to look at the play by play on nfl.com to see if dallas was as cautious with their play calling as I thought. I took the play by play and then threw it into a spreadsheet so I could look at it a little easier and was pretty surprised by the results. For those that don’t think that the Game plan was conservative in the second half here are a few nuggets for you.
In the first half dallas ran 38 plays 19 runs and 19 passes they ran it 9 times on first down and passed it 8 times. They had 10 1st or 2nd plays in Seattle territory and ran it 6 times and passed it 4 times. They also managed to make an appearance in the end zone. How’s that for balanced.
In the second half excluding the last 34 seconds of the game which I am trying to permanently block from my memory dallas ran 28 plays, 20 runs and 8 passes. They ran it 9 times on first down and passed it twice . In Seattle territory they ran 7 first or second down plays and ran it all seven times not one pass on first or second down. The list goes on. If anyone is interested in checking out the spreadsheet let me know. We played the entire second half as if we were protecting a 3 point lead with 3 minutes left in the game. Kudos to the Defense cause they protected it for 28. Well I guess I’ll end my rant now, thanks for reading cause I already feel better. Well off to watch MNF.

Jeff

Hey ALL,

Love all thes comments, this site is really great. I was at the game and agree with tons of stuff here …
1. Offence needs to reach down and grab a hand full …. INCLUDING thier coaches
2. I sat back during our possessions and hated the officiating with a passion

3. I sat up and got flat excited when our defence was up (along with about 20,000 ather blue star wearing maniacs …) So damn promising for our future.

4. CORTEZ FOOT HIT THE DAMN GROUND BEFORE IT CONTACTED THE BALL!!!!… I’m glad we canned his sorry butt! … If anyone taped/teevoed the game please sound off and check me to see if i’m correct. THE TRON SHOWED IT CLEARLY FROM MY SEAT IN THE STADIUM. Boy was I pissed … can u tell?
Yes the snaps (plural) leave something to be desired and give me a friken heart attack but that punks foot snagged the ground like mine used to when I was in JR high school … so long brick foot … don’t let the door hitcha where the good Lord splitcha!

5. Spags has preached depth problems all off season on our O line … I can only hope that a reapeat performance of this year’s draft will happen on out O line in ’06 .. meanwhile I hope my blood pressure will allow for it till then….

God Bless y’all,
Will (From Dallas stuck in the frozen tundra lol)

thank you everyone for helping me deal through this dark period of dallas cowboy fan-dom. This is the only place I can come for healing.

Jeff
you are very most correct and make my points about the poor offensive play calling as being the culprit better than I did. It was predictable play calling that hurt the o-line play and made them more vulnerable. I disagree with Rafael’s analysis that it was the other way around
BP said at his press conference that the play calling wasnt conservative — or maybe he said it wasnt too conservative
But you are right it was the old school nebraska hear it comes offense
for the sake of the o-line bp better take the not-going-to-be-conservative eagles-game approach

Cortez is a close friend of mine. He is a tremendous person with a lot of heart. He probably should have made the field goal yesterday and he felt like he cost the team the game. However, I looked up his NFL stats on the season. He is 12 of 16, is 4th in the NFL in field goals made (2nd in the NFC behind Rackers), he is 8th in the NFL in kickoff distance (with minimal returns). He feels like crap over the miss. Since he became the replacement for Cundiff in preseason, he has been “on a short leash” by both coaches and fans. The pressure has got to be enormous for perfection. His 75% percentage is higher so far than Elam, Carney, Janikowski, Kasay, Longwell, Nugent, Novak, Akers and tied with Vinatieri (while having more successful field goals than each of those mentioned).

Coach Parcells showed a ton of class yesterday hitting and shoving his own assistant coach on national TV. In addition, it was a security guard who told Jose he was released. The coaches were too busy to meet with him. I truly hope he gets picked up and beats the Cowboys with a game winning field goal as he beat the Giants last week.

Cortez was a crowd favorite at Oregon State. He was Special Teams player of the year in NFL Europe. He kicked 4 field goals in the XFL championship game. He hit four game winners in his rookie season with the 49ers.

The classlessness of the Cowboy organization and fans has increased since Jerry Jones bought the team and fired Tom Landry. Nothing ever changes. It’s a shame. A very classy guy just left the Cowboys and the fans don’t even know him. You will likely struggle on both kickoffs and field goals the rest of the season and it won’t be Cortez fault. He did his best; he just wasn’t perfect.

Well excowboy i duno if you have a favorite NFL team or not but most of us on here have been dedicated fans of the Cowboys for many years and for some of us Dallas Cowboys football is a way of life and if you had a guy who went a long way in helping us lose a few close games that if he had played better might have been wins you might know why we are glad they are giving someone else a chance to deliver and i’m not questioning Cortez’s character he might be the nicest guy but he just wasn’t gettin the job done in the clutch when we needed it most

too bad character counts for squat when you’re a struggling organization desperate for success…he did make a lot of field goals, but in my opinion, if you cant hit a 28 yd chip shot than you dont belong in the nfl. and you want to call cowboy fans classless for accusing a kicker for blowing the game and calling him a bum, then maybe you should question any other fan in the nfl and see how they would feel if their kicker missed as many kicks in close games like cortez. in the nfl, i’d rather have a knumbskull who can kick a 28 yder than a nice guy who struggles with these kicks. he was an experiment and it failed. it’s nothing personal, just success matters more than character, which is sad but true.

Dear Ex:

OK, so Jerry and Bill are A-holes. What’s new? What’s your point?

I’ll make it easier for you. Jimmy Johnson was about the biggest A-hole ever known in football or anywhere else. Tom Landry was such an A-hole, one of his ex-players wrote North Dallas Forty about him. His disciples, Ditka and Reeves, also became widely known as A-holes when they coached. The apple did not fall far from the tree.

Cortez may have been a nice guy. You are right, I don’t know him, and I don’t want to know him. I don’t want to know any professional athlete, because a lot of them are self-absorbed A-holes, especially the good ones. I don’t think nice guys finish last, like Leo Durocher said, I just think being nice and winning are not connected much if at all to one another.

Professional athletics is about winning. If you win, you are great. If not, you suck. If you are nice and suck, you still suck. If you are an A-hole and win, you are a winner. Charles Haley was always an A-hole, but people tolerated him because he helped the team win. Emmitt and Troy may have been better guys, or they may have had better PR machines. I don’t care—they won.

If you are upset about your friend being cut, know that he got an opportunity most never do, and be glad for that. If you decide to root against the Cowboys because of their cutting him, know that I will take especial joy in every Cowboys win just knowing it hurts your feelings all the more. Being a Cowboys fan has always involved knowing that everybody else roots as hard for your team to lose as they root for their own team to win, and enjoying seeing others apoplectic when the Cowboys win, anyway. Join the club of people who will hate the next few years, as the wins increase.

hey I sympathize with Cortez. Sure he should have made the kick…heck any of us should have made the kick. But you gotta remember…kicking is that dude’s job and that’s how he feeds himself apparently. These people are still human and they make mistakes. Should we be glad he’s off our team…oh, yeah no doubt. But please…cut him some slack he’s unemployed now…and if you haven’t been paying attention the job market is rather slim now.

I noticed that we never have a back coming out of the back field on pass play to serve as a safety valve when everybody else is covered. Do we keep them back to give Bledsoe max protectoin are do we just not have it in our offensive game plan. You always see teams dump off underneath to there backs when nothing else is there. It would be nice to get 3 to 5 yards dumping off to a back instead of no yards or minus yards. I know we have some knowledge on this blog help me out guys whats your opinions on this.

Ex Cowboy fan,
Don’t worry you won’t have to go through this again. Cortez won’t be picked unless somebody gets Desperadoed. He doesn’t have a rep like any of those kickers you mentioned and he was just lucky to get this chance when Cundsniff got injured.

Now to the real players-
I would never be one to defend Parcells, but why is play calling the #1 issue with the loss? If Bledsoe gets intercepted before the second or third FG attempt, BP is getting raked for not trusting his defense.
You can not have a passing game plan with those 2 tackles. Run the ball, hopefully make some wholes, and run the clock.

Most of you guys make me laugh… Bledsoe goes from the franchise savior to “Oh my God he’s horrible!” Yes, he had a bad game… he’s been carrying the offense for 6 weeks… I guess he was due. Wait till Price gets in the mix more… you’re all gonna jump right back on the wagon I’ve been riding since 1993.

LEO:
You answered your conjecture, Parcells isn’t up for leaving Bledsoe alone in an empty backfield, with that porous line, who would?

Chandus,

Parcells may not have been a moron Oct. 9th, but he was yesterday. What was the point of trying to air it out with 19 seconds left on your own 37? Especially a sidline route. We should have played for overtime. For all of the good things that Parcells does, he makes some highly questionable decsions on game day when it matters most. For a man who believes that you are what you are until you prove otherwise, he puts alot more faith into what has become but a mediocre offense. It’s good enough to get us to the playoffs, but not when you think you have Montanna at QB.

You are right on. As i said in a previous post yesterday. It seems like its always run, run, pass. With the statistics you just highlighted. That proves out my theory that BP still believes in the old lets protect a lead, no matter how small. Thats why he had Bledsoe take a knee at the end of the 1st qtr with all of our time outs and a chance to move into field goal range or maybe a lucky call on our side where we actually hit a long bomb and score.

I don’t understand how BP can say he decided to come out and be aggressive against Philly and then sit back and be passive for other games. Where is his commitment to our players and us fans to put the best product on the field every week and be aggressive to try to win and not just to protect a lead and be conservative.

Jeff,

Your stats are fine but look a bit closer at not just the run pass mix, but the sequence of passes. Bledsoe was sacked on his first two second half passes and three of his first six. All three sacks were in short yardage situations, meaning third and less than five.

If I’m the OC, this tells me the line had completely collapsed on passing downs. When you’ve got the lead, the defense playing well and the rain coming down, I don’t blame the coaches if they played it close to the vest. If you keep calling plays in the face of those stats you’re asking for Bledsoe to get hurt. And where’s the season if THAT happens?

Chandus
 I dont mean running a play with a empty backfield. Im talkig about a back peeling off a block on a pass play and finding a hole underneath for a quick dump off if needed. If we some how could put that in the game plan Bledsoe might feel a bit more comfortable knowing if nothing else I have my back to go to for at least a couple yards. Might cut down on some of the forced throws into double coverage if he new he had someone underneath to throw if needed.

I don’t mind them playing it close to the vest but if you are going to do that at the begining of the game then do it at the end as well where we can take it into overtime and hope for better field position.

Dear Ex,

If you are a football fan based solely on a kicker…….you are truly in a rare class.

All the guy had to do was “kick da ball” as the HBO show the Bulls used to say.

He failed…..he has no one to blame but himself. This is professional sports……..no different than a job…….i know folks that been fired and escorted off the property by the security guard and no meeting with management.

XFL and NFL Europe are hardly even the minor leagues. There is only one game in football and that is the NFL………..there is the NCAA for grooming the NFL. NFL Europe is mostly losing money and at some point will be canned.

I wish Jose all the best. But this ain’t the first place he got fired from…….uh San Fran and Vikes both canned him too……are you an ex San Fran and ex Vikes fan too?

If there is an ex kicker with a chance to beat us it is more likely Billy Cundiff and not Jose Cortez………..to Jose……..well……..Hasta La Vista, Baby!

There are plenty college kickers that can kick fine in college but under the scrutiny and pressure of the NFL not so great. It was just business……..nothing personal.

TDTexas,

Notice any difference in execution in the Philly games and the last two weeks? The Eagles blitz as much and as well as anybody in the NFC. They blitzed Bledsoe a lot. He was not sacked once. He joked after the game that if the coaches hadn’t called two QB sneaks he wouldn’t have been touched.

Did Bledsoe have that type of protection against the Giants? Or yesterday? It’s not even close.

Now, I think Tucker was okay. He played better against the Giants than Flozell did, though it seemed to me that Flozell may have injured his knee when he went down in the first quarter, not in the third.

You want more proof that Dallas was not being less conservative until the line forced them to pack it in? Petitti got chip help for about 90% of the Eagles game. He got back and TE help about 75-80% of the Giants game. He gave up a sack to Strahan when he didn’t get it, but he did all right.

Yesterday, he got assistance at most 50% of the time in the first half. Probably less. Why? Because Dallas wanted to run more four and five receiver packages. They wanted to be more aggressive. They thought that with the Pro Bowlers behind him, he might be ready for some one-on-one challenges.

And Petitti let them down. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not dumping on him. I think he’s going to be a good player. But this is part of the gamble of starting a rookie at RT. The staff thought he might be ready to play without the training wheels and he fell down.

I’m sure Parcells, his line coach and everybody else is still behind him. But these are the growing pains.

I think the line can regain its form. It protected very well for five games, so it’s surprising that they’ve fallen so quickly, even taking Flozell’s injury into effect. I’ve seen Washington improve their line play significantly after the bye. I imagine Parcells is going to spend a not of time camped out in Tony Sparano’s office that week and breathing down the necks of his veteran linemen. Because Al Johnson, Andre Gurode and Torrin Tucker are not babies. They’ve got lots of games under their belts now and they need to protect better. They already have this season.

I’m watching the MNF game and Maden was saying he talked to Morten Anderson at halftime and that he wants to play.Why not? Give him a try-out and if he can still do it,it’s better than a rookie till something better comes along!

The difference in analysis is what makes coaches — and coaching philosophy — different. So if the Rafael analysis taken as the problem the solution is what? BP’s answer is really just execution and mental mistakes. The game plan will stay the same. More of the same on offense. Hey it worked in San Diego and a coin toss got us the win against NY

If my / Jeff analysis is correct — that it was the offensive play calling (see difference between Eagles game vs the rest of the games — and it was a difference in play calling there) then the solution is what? Risk level goes up but so does reward level. I say BP needs to let Sean P run the offense. BP is tampering with it and it diminishes Sean’s ability to manage and be creative. Maybe BP does the same with defense but he doesnt sound like he does — the take from BP about defense and zimmer appears to me to be different. BP needs to quit looking over SP’s shoulder — too many cooks in this offensive kitchen is making a one course meal. Need to get something like that chef on TV “BAM” and put something more into this offense. I am almost getting the feeling that the offense is deliberately underachieving to play it safe or safer something I thought I would never say with a Parcell’s team.

So we’ll see next week

i would say Morten Anderson would make almost everything inside 40………and still hit 50% from 40-50………and who knows the old man might even make a few from outside 50…….

the snap was not perfect but hey……..he struck the ball and hit a duck from 29 yards……….we gotta be able to do better than that………

Jon,

Jerry went after Anderson in the early ‘90s, but lost him because somebody (New Orleans or Atlanta?) gave him a contract around $1.5 million a year. That was a little rich for a kicker in JJ’s opinion. I wonder if he still has some interest in the guy.

Hey, a very old Eddie Murray kept Dallas from blowing in the ‘93 title in the season finale at the Meadowlands. If Morten’s in shape, I’d definitely give him a call.

Cowboy bert’s post is classic.

I agree. I don’t like pro athletes. I don’t want to like them. I just want my team to win on Sunday. That’s it.

One can look at the ratio of passes-to-runs in the Seattle game but I donâ€â"¢t think that it shedâ€â"¢s any light on the outcome. Last seasonâ€â"¢s loss at Philadelphia is a perfect comparison. It was another well-balanced first-half attack with 11 passes and 19 runs resulting in a 7-3 halftime lead. In the second half, it went down just the opposite (according to Jeffâ€â"¢s accounting) to Sundayâ€â"¢s game in Seattle: 20 passes and 7 runs. I was convinced that the paltry seven rushes spelled the Cowboys doom that day until reading Jeffâ€â"¢s analysis this evening. The story these numbers donâ€â"¢t tell is the time consumed from the play clock.

In Philly 2004, the 11 passes in the first half consumed the same amount of game clock that the 20 passes in the second half did: 5:48 or 11:36 for the entire game. The 19 runs of the first half used 11:06! The paltry seven runs just 4:51. I would challenge Jeff to reassess the play-by-play and factor in the time consumed by Sundayâ€â"¢s play calling. Iâ€â"¢d bet the Cowboys staff was well aware of the clock numbers from Philly and were taking the opposite approach in trying to preserve the narrow lead Sunday. It didnâ€â"¢t work, again.

Why? Two goal-to-go trips netting just three points; uncanny defensive collapse; running when they should have passed, passing when they should have run—trying to put the ball into field goal position (doesnâ€â"¢t that convey a certain amount of faith in Cortez?) when they could have conceded the final thirty-three seconds and could have taken the game to overtime in an attempt to recap Seattleâ€â"¢s suddenly uncorked momentum. I donâ€â"¢t think it was the ratio of passes-to-runs and I donâ€â"¢t think Cortez alone was to blame. It was a team effort.

In fact, I would like to see the failed field goal attempt again because when I saw the initial replay of it, it looked like the ball was canted to the left in the direction of the miss. The laces were out and the ball was lucky to be placed at all considering the errant snap, but it looked to me to be leaning away from Romo. When Jose looked down and pointed following the kick, I think thatâ€â"¢s what he was indicating. But, as I said, this is from one replay; Iâ€â"¢d like to see it again. Rafael, can you help a brother out with that?

Yes, the loss sucked. It always does. No matter how much Kool-Aid we drink, this is a developmental season. One that can be a winning season and so far, it is. We should be focusing on the positives and not on the negatives and pray the Cowboys donâ€â"¢t find a way to make AZ look good. Seattle is good.

ExCowboyFan,

If Cortez is trully a friend of yours, give him some friendly advice and tell him to quit blaming everyone else for his misses. Yeah, in my earlier post, I got on Ladouceur’s for his bad snaps, but as an NFL kicker, you have to make it from 29 yards, even with a bad snap.

The first thing Cortez did after the miss, was to stare at Romo, like it was his fault for not giving him a better set, when he should have been thanking him for getting that bad snap down, to even have a chance. You mentioned Vinatieri having a worse percentage, but you fail to mention that he hits all of his clutch field goals, in the rain, snow and muck. Akers makes field goals on one good leg, and all your friend Cortez can do, is let his timing get disrupted by a bad snap, then blame everyone else! Good NFL kickers can kick through those things, especially from only 29 yards out. Good riddance!

Ex Cowboy Fan

I am not sure how to say this exactly but, this ain’t chess they are playing out there.

Cortez will have to do what the rest of us do, hope tomorrow is better than today.

Ain’t no shame in finding out that you aren’t one of the best of the best…..

What I saw yesterday was ENCOURAGING. Our defense played GREAT. There is NO offense in the NFC we should fear. Not one.

If our offensive line played better, we’d have won the game easily. Another close one that could have and (and in any other universe) SHOULD have gone our way- Our three losses this year are by a grand total of 10 points COMBINED- each one going down to the literally the last MINUTE of the game.

Keep in mind, guys, that the rest of the NFC East has yet to even play each other yet. They’re gonna be picking themselves apart here in the following weeks.

No team in the NFC East has won more than 4 games, including Dallas.

THIS year’s frustration is that we KNOW we could be winning these close games because we KNOW we’ve got a GOOD team. LAST year’s frustration was that we sucked….

THAT, my friends, is progress.

Maybe the Ex Cowboy fan is really the Ex Cowboy Kicker, Cortez?

Hey, ExCowboyFan!

… Good post. Really, I got down on CORTEZ when he screwed up- doesn’t every fan wanna kill the kicker when he screws up? But if we look at our three losses OBJECTIVELY- we’ll see that our losses actually had MORE to do with our crappy conservative play-calling (against Washington), costly penalties, and crappy offensive line play (against Seattle).

CORTEZ took the heat for not being able to offset our team’s penalties, our coach’s crap play-calling, and our offensive line’s breakdowns.

And to be honest, being Mexican-American, I DID want to see Cortez do well. Now, if he did suck, I’d have been the first to say get him outta here- but I really don’t think he did. I know that’s the minority opinion here. (GET IT? “Minority” opinion? Okay. Bad joke. Rafael, don’t banish me….)

Anyway, I think letting go of Jeff Robinson was a big mistake. Parcells himself said the kicking game was a “mechanical job”. Doesn’t that include the SNAP? It should. The snaps have to be ON THE MONEY. But he DID get rid of Condo, right? So at least he’s consistent.

Can someone explain to me why we got rid of our kicking coach? Steve Hoffman, was it? Seems to me, HE could have gotten the most out of Cortez. Wasn’t that his specialty? “Making” great kickers. Cortez definitely had the leg. And it’s not like Hoffman counted against the cap….

In closing, about the subject of “class”. Yeah, if it was a security guard who told CORTEZ he was released- that’s pretty low. I know that’s the norm at most jobs, but this is the freaking Cowboys here. Jones, Parcells, somebody- show some class. The guy just won the Giants game for ya’ll last week. At least have the balls to tell the guy he’s fired face-to-face.

And for those of you who defend this by saying, “it’s all about winning”- defend Landry’s finding out he was canned via the freak’n radio on his way to work. Be it a lowly kicker, or a coaching legend, the way you treat people in your organization says a lot about your franchise.

Oh, well. Yesterday’s news. We’ll be fine. Let’s hope Suisham gets the job done.

I’m confused. I thought the Cowboys’ owners wanted to win again and, if coaches’ salaries don’t count against the cap, couldn’t they be more extravagant with coaching, especially for offensive line and for Suisham?
Atlanta’s offensive line is one free agent among 5th, 6th, and 7th round draft choices, and Madden said tonight that coaching was important. He mentioned 49er’s Ed McKittrick as a coach who could develop raw talent into linemen. McKittrick is gone, but couldn’t Sparano be given extra tutors for his students?

Regarding the OL and it being the source of all our woes, I contend that every team has OL problems to some degree. Seattle has one of the best OLs in the league and Hassleback was under duress all day. He still made enough plays to win the game.

Ask yourself, what would Seattle’s results have been if they had the gift turnovers they gave us? Your skill players have to make just a few plays at the right time, even under pressure. Of course the game plan has to allow for the plays.

Sure you are not going to be that consistent, but just a few key plays separate the good teams from the rest. Bledsoe and our receivers need to get it done with the OL they have. The better teams do that.

I forgot to add,

All we needed was to call some pass plays when we were in close. Even under pressure Bledsoe and his WRs could have/should have made at least one play for a touchdown. The field goals were presumed to be assured from the field position. I guarantee Jimmy Johnson would have gone for the throat on the road.

To those of you who blame the play calling, do you think the horrendous OL play has any impact at all on play calling? With the line play this year, you simply cannot have an aggressive passing game. Absolutely cannot. The line gets a D maybe F grade this year, it is clear for everyone to see. I thought Tucker did OK this week and Petitti had a horrible game. That’s about what we should have expected. I’m most disappointed in the other 3 interior players (4 if you throw Guorde in the mix). They played as poorly or worse than the tackles.

Cutting Cortez was the right move but he’d still be here if the line was even average. Those important kicks he’s missed wouldn’t have been important if the line had taken the numerous opportunities to put games away.

Hey has anyone heard any news about Julius playing this week. My personal opinion is that we should rest him this week against the Cardinals. That way he comes back strong for the duration of the season like last year

rha,

I normally agree with you 100% but….this time it’s only 90%. Yes, good teams make do with weak links but our O-line is way beyond a weak link. They are atrocious. If they don’t improve significantly, we certainly won’t make the playoffs and will struggle to be 8-8 (the 2nd half schedule sucks). I’m most concerned about the future because we need a total make-over. Even if we draft 3-4 OL next year, they will still be rookies and can’t be expected to perform well as a unit.

NYhater,

I understand the point, but we are compounding our problems by not calling plays that give us a chance.

What if Seattle had decided not to throw because their OL was not protecting Hassleback? They did not abandon what had to be done to win just because they had a protection problem. They delt with it, accepted some losses and made just enough plays. That was their only chance to win.

Bledsoe surely would have had problems, but maybe he could have hit just a couple of plays. He undoubtedly would not have had big numbers, but a few would have done the job. In hind sight it is easy to say this, but what did we have to loose?

BP calls conservative plays because that is the way he always called games and last I checked he won three superbowls. Also last I checked Bill Belichick won three superbowls playing conservatively. The only complaint I have with the play calling is that they are not running quick and long plays on the begining of the game. That is exactly what they did against Phili. They scored quickly which cause the defense to open up and it gave BP the ability to call the game conservatively. I believe they can make big plays with speed like Price and Glenn.

Rich,

At the end of the day, when you have a conservative game plan, part of that plan is having you field goal kicker being 100% inside 30 yds, that’s not to much to ask. He had to go.

Parcells called him questionable for this week. With the opponent being the Cardinals and Barber, Thompson and Thomas all still available I think BP will sit him even if he is healthy.

Parcells mentioned that Julius has to be more Durable. Pointing out he has missed 11.5 of a possible 24 games in his career. I think he is kicking JJ in the but a little and looking for the same kind of second half he had last year.

A high ankle sprain can be a long injury to recover from and Parcells even mentioned Curtis Martin took 17 days to recover………..that would put Julius back on the field this week. I think he will sit him out and let the other guys get the touches. Let him come back healthy against the Eagles on that Monday night matchup in Philly.

Playcalling has not been overly conservative except in the red zone. For the most part their has been plenty of pass and run mixed up. Drew may not always air it out downfield, but I have seen plenty of long passes for both completions, and dropped balls, and missed balls and an int or two. Rafael is right, in the rain, on the road with a lead……….the Cowboys chose to do what was working better which was running the ball. The play calling put us in position for a TD, and that flag should have given us first and goal before the official put it back in his pocket. We miss a field goal that hindsight looks like a game winner.

We also gave up a field goal late in the 2nd half. Our 2 minute Defense is suspect and needs some work. We have let Washington and Seattle move all over the field after shutting down both for 50 minutes we made Brunell and Hasselback look like Elway and Montana. I don’t hear us calling for different play calling in those positions but that may be what needs to happen. I saw Zimmer blitz the hech out of SD and play aggressive to stop them, but then we seem to be playing soft against teams in their 2 minute drill. That needs to stop. Whether it is a nickel package that is not working, or we ain’t getting pressure on the QB or if it is just execution……….if I had to pinpoint one chink in our defensive armor that is the one and it is glaring in two of our losses.

I figure we were in position to win the Raiders game and came up empty. We gave up two big plays and let Moss get behind us against the Redskins. And we let Hasselback and his wideouts who we had shut down most of the day move the ball through us like butter that last drive and then we give it away with an INT.

I am loving our defense. Loving their stats and their QB pressures and sacks. Loving the fact that we shut down TO, Burress, LT, Alexander, Westbrook, and Portis……….yet we gave up big yards to Randy Moss, S Moss, and Lamont Jordan. When it mattered the most we could not stop Hasselback and company even though we know it was pass pass pass………not sure what can be done about this. I have thought Henry and Newman have been two of our best players on the Defense thus far this year. While Roy might have been beat bad a time or two, he has been delivering the wood, in the backfield, getting a pick, and making his presence known which is what he does.

Is it our FS position? Is it our Nickel Package? Is it Aaron Glenn? I have not anaylyzed film or watched all our packages but maybe we need to abandon the nickel and bring the heat with our 3-4 even in the two minute drill.

I was wrong with my early statement of BP winning three superbowls, he only one two.

Rafael,

No argument here. It all begins up front. If Bledsoe gets the protection he needs and has the luxury of having 4-5 seconds in the pocket,he does just fine. But when he’s hurried and pressured,forget about it. No doubt,the loss of Flozzell Adams hurts. Bad.

Ponder this one…. Why do they run the draw out of a shotgun three receiver set with Barber but not Thompson. The two times I saw it the D had to make a shoestring tackle on Barber if not he was gone for 25 if not more depending on where the safety was. He just wasnt quick enough through the hole. I think Thompson could exploit that play and depending on elusiveness have a chance to take one to the house

Cortez

He is 12 of 16 that is true… but somebody please remind these Cortez lovers how many kickoffs he has kicked out of bounds giving the other team the ball on he 40 yard line. That gives other team too much of a field advantage, something you CANNOT do with an average NFL offense that the boys have. So nice kick against gmen last week, but time to move on. By the way Cortez, feel lucky LA didnt snap ur neck………………..

Those concerned that Curtis Martin might find a fountain of youth and break Emmit Smith’s rushing record might take a sigh of relief. Martin’s numbers are down and is suffering the typical injuries of an over 30 Running back in the NFL. He counts 8.1 million against the cap next year and will probably be cut in the offseason with the jets having to look to the draft for their next RB and a trade for their next QB. Abraham or Ellis would likely be trade bait to the Chargers and interesting bait at that, along with a numero uno pick that will be in the top 10 maybe top 5.

Ironically the Dallas Cowboys will release Anthony Thomas in the offseason who although not yet 30 runs like Eddie George. Bill will sign Curtis Martin to a cap friendly number and have a veteran backup to his Julius Jones, Marion Barber, and Tyson Thompson youth movement. Martin won’t garner any more interest around the league than our own Emmit Smith did.

The IRONY of IRONY…………..Martin will be a Dallas Cowboy and will be the closest active back to Emmit Smith. If say Julius or Barber or Thompson are not as advertised…….Bill Parcells will give Curtis Martin as many carries as he did Richie Anderson……..not nearly the caliber tailback that Martin still is and Curtis will have a shot to beat the all time leading rusher while wearing a Star on the side of his helmet. Something our own Emmit Smith had to finish up with a Red Bird on the side of his helmet. Such is life in the NFL these days. But if you don’t think BP will sign Curtis to this staff than you ain’t been paying attention to his habits. He will talk Martin in coming to play and look for 20 touches a game. 15 carries and 5 passes. He knows Martin can run, block, and catch. He knows he does not have fumblitis and plays through most injuries. He will convince his draft choice and back that followed him out of NE and over to the Jets to the detriment of 3 Super Bowl Rings………to come to Dallas and win one with the Cowboys.

The irony of the NFL is never ending. The Jets are dealing with Interceptaverde and Fumbleverde at QB these days. He gave up 10 points on Fumbles……….and oh how we all remember our Pittsburgh game last year. While Vinny did remarkably well all things considered last year and did not have great protection or gifted WRs after Glenn went down………..he looks even worse this year in NY and I for one am glad they got him and not us.

Even if Bledsoe has had a couple games of lesst than stellar performance mostly the Giants and Seahawks. He still has a good TD to INT ratio, plenty of yards, and has shown us all he can get the job done when we block for him. If we can keep him upright and healthy…….give him a little time and have our offensive line both RUN BLOCK and PASS BLOCK for FOUR QUARTERS………..we can beat any team in the NFL by three touchdowns.

Julius…..get back on the field with the same fire and vengenance and chip on your shoulder you showed last years second half!!!

Offensive Line………step it up LA and MG especially. You guys are making as many mistakes as AJ, RP, and TT…….give me a break you two are making more than Drew Bledsoe. Stop that rush up the middle! Give me some holes for TT, JJ, MB and if necessary AT to run through!!!!

Defense……..keep it up guys. Just tighten up in the 2 minute drill. We need more big plays when it matters most. Also don’t stop bringing the heat. One of the reasons Aaron Glenn got an interception was we were Blitzing Brees on every play in that 2 minute drill. Don’t stop being aggressive EVER. GET to the QB boys. That what this defense is designed to do. Stop the run, and get pressure on the QB!

Price did OK at punt returns. Now lets see how Terrance Newman or Tyson Thompson is at it.

Bill fix the kicking game. You fired the best kicking coach in football. Turning walk on FAs into good consistent punters and kickers. I am fine with that, it is your staff to push around if you like………LOL………but I don’t want to see field goals missed from 29 yards. That is not Bill Parcells football. That is Buffalo Bills Scott Norwood Football! Get it fixed and get it fixed NOW!!!

Jason,
I agree also to rest JJ and then with the bye week, he should be ready to go against Philadelphia.

Starstruck,

I fully understand TOP and would go so far a to say that a large part of the reason our Defense is playing so well the last 3 + games is because BPs conservitive play calling is keeping them off the field. And the point of my accounting is not about the ratios though I did use them to make a point. That point was that after a full week of watching film and practices we came out with a game plan in the first half and up on watching the game it looked like we threw it out the window in the second half (Again) in an effort to maintain a 7 to 3 lead. The other point is that when we go into protect mode we are too predictable on offense run run pass until we get into scoring position then it’s run run, run on 3rd and short and pass on 3rd and medium. Of course we’re going get sacked when our line situation as Parcell’s would say “is what it is” and the 11 guys on the other side of the field know two things #1 that we have put ourselves in a situation where we must pass and #2 the best way to nuetralize that is put pressure on Bledsloe and our runs will get stuffed when those same 11 guys know that we are not going to throw on that play. I think our run game would be a little more effective if they didn’t know exactly when we were going to run the ball. Maybe the backers and safties staying home an extra second to make sure that it isn’t play action and that in turn unclogs things enough for a blocker to make that extra block or a RB to make that cut that breaks the run. Maybe a screen pass on first down keeps the ends from crashing in. I think their 2 Ends had somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 combined tackles and 3 or 4 sacks. It’s pretty obvoius that they weren’t too worried about any type of containment and that our tackles were overmatched. If you look at the line we started and the trio of running backs not named Julius Jones I find it hard to believe that the coaches expected to come out in the second half and just run it down their throats successfully.
As far as ratios go I didn’t break it down but I believe this lastest Eagles game also featured far more runs than passes the difference though, was that we had built a substantial lead before we went in to Osborne mode in the second half. I don’t think our game plan has changed that much since the eagles game. It just seems like we don’t stick with it very long. When I watch dallas, I see them come out early in games and try to do a lot of the same stuff on their first few series, it just hasn’t been executed nearly as well since then and we are only throwing 7 or 10 points on the board early in games instead of 20. Maybe that’s because we caught the Eagles off guard and everyone else is ready for us to come out in attack mode. But they also know if they stop us a couple of times we’ll quit and just try to grind it out until the end and hope the coin comes up heads. I think that asking this young defense to protect a 7 to 3 lead for 30 minutes is too much and I just wish we wern’t so predictable when we try to do that. Maybe in the offseason we’ll address our O line problems and then we can come out and just run it down everyone’s throat but I don’t see that working too effectively this year. Mix it up please.

Our problem definitely NOT our defense. They are Championship calibre. Giving up the big play at the end after playing like Doomsday for 58 minutes- C’mon. Would we rather they give up a TD during the 2nd quarter instead? How about the 3rd? Please. They can’t COMPLETELY shut somebody our of the endzone. Not yet, anyway….

Criticizing our defense is like when someone gives you a million dollars and you complain that it’s not 2 million. Don’t look a gift-horse in the mouth.

Dallas’ problem ain’t Bledsoe, it ain’t the play calling, it ain’t Julius, it ain’t Parcells, it AIN’T Roy Williams, and it wasn’t Cortez. Their problem’s the O-line- plain and simple.

We need help on the O-line, yes. The o-line sucks get over it. The o-line can’t be the reason we loose every game. Every team has problems but the good ones get over it and find a way to win. You don’t play conservative for the whole game then in the last 37 seconds get aggressive and give the game away. We gave that game away. The time to get aggressive is when we had the ball on the 12 yard line. I knew when we kicked that FG is was over. Other teams don’t fear our offence. We made NY, Oak, Seattle and Washington look great on D. So we need help on the line and we need a playmaker. This two things most likely cant be fix this year. So the only thing that can change is the game plan and play calling. Our offence is not that good as a unit.

rich
Its more then just the line. Cortez was a problem just like the line is a problem. The play calling is a problem, the o line sucking is not brand new so adjust. The line didn’t make cortez miss that kick the line didn’t make Bledsoe throw that pick the line didn’t make our players not get open. But you are right about the D, the D needs some help.

Jon:
I don’t think that Parcells would be willing to bring Curtis Martin here, I mean he has 2 players that could develop into that type of player (JJ and Barber), and they’re young and he also has that speedster that takes some carries too. Parcells wanted to have a veteran this season because he knew that he had a 1 year veteran that only played 8 games and 2 rookies, next season he’ll know what he has and will act accordingly.

rha:
Are you serious when saying that Bledsoe should have made some plays just like Hasselbeck did? First off, you can’t compare both teams, Bledsoe not once had the time Seattle OLine gave Hasselbeck to look to his first, second and even third option, you can look to the film, especially in that last drive he had all day to throw.

And for all the guys saying that Parcells game plan went from agressive against Philly to “I’m too old for this shit” conservative approach, look for a particular stat that I know is meaningful but it’s one that I can’t find, that’s QB pressures, you can’t compare the pressure Bledsoe faced against Philly to the one he faced against Washington, Oakland, NY and Seattle. And again, if you don’t think that the amount of pressure a QB endures affects the game plan then you need to talk to a QB that has experienced both faces of the coin (having a great OLine and having an average one), Aikman could give you an interesting approach.

AW,

Exactly.

I don’t see how anyone can say that our defense is a problem when they’ve only allowed more than 20 points twice thus far.

Cash
Because people want to put the blame were it doesn’t belong. People think the D should hold a team to 0 points in every game. That is just not realistic.

Guys, our D ranks 7th in yards per game, 4th in first downs per game, and 5th in 3rd down percentage. The D overall is fine.

It does have some flaws, such as ranking 15th in yards allowed per play and the 19th in yards allowed per rush and the 28th in penalties (though some teams have already had a bye).

But overall it is 10th in points allowed per game. That’s solid. Our D allowed the teams that beat us only 14, 19 and 13 points. We should have won all three.

So blame our offense for being in the bottom half of the league in scoring, and putting up less than 14 points in all 3 losses. And rushing for a measly 3.3 yards per carry—6th worst. And allowing 18 sacks or 2.6 per game—9th worst.

Lee,

How does the salary cap affect spending on coaching? Can the Cowboys get extra specialist coaches, or does the cap limit that possibility? Can Petitti and Tucker be given individual tutoring, if theyâ€â"¢re not already getting it?

There are no restrictions on the number of coaches or the amounts they are paid. There are, however, practical limitations on the number of mouths you want talking to your players. When you think about it, there are already 3 coaches who could be giving instructions to the offensive linemen — the offensive line coach, the offensive coordinator, and the head coach. I’m not so sure you want to be confusing the issue by bringing in another mouth.

Perhaps the problem is the line coach. If that is the case, the fix is to bring in another one, but not in the middle of the season.

NYGiant Hater,

… Was the missed 29 yd fg a bad snap? I didnâ€â"¢t see much of the game but when I heard he missed that kick I immediately assumed he would be cut. If it was a bad snap, Iâ€â"¢d cut the snapper. We canâ€â"¢t missed 50% of chip shot FGâ€â"¢s and have any hope of making the playoffs.

The snap was off, but Romo got the ball down in time with the laces turned away. In my opinion, it was just a bad kick. Evidently, Parcells thought so too.

Mark,

does anyone know why one of the big papers hasnâ€â"¢t picked up Raf as a columnist/analyst? theyâ€â"¢ve got nobody doing half as good a job.

The reason that nobody does that kind of analysis (that Rafael does) for the newspapers, is because the newspapers don’t want that kind of analysis. They cater to the mass audience who wouldn’t bother to read it. If the media outlets would pay the money, someone would do the analysis for them. They don’t, so it doesn’t happen.

The newspapers want something that sells. Unfortunately, there are too few of us fanatics out there for it to be profitable for them to pay for in-depth analysis.

Chandus,

And you know, if this team OLine doesnâ€â"¢t perform better, we might start seeing the Bledsoe thatâ€â"¢s known in Buffalo, thatâ€â"¢s the diference that a good OLine (the one Dallas had before Flozellâ€â"¢s injury) and an average one.

We are beginning to see why Bledsoe had so many problems in Buffalo.

Don’t forget that Parcells has always maintained that Bledsoe needed strong protection to be effective. When he gets it, he becomes the confident quarterback who pinpoints his passes, as in the Philadelphia game; he becomes the quarterback with the 100+ QB rating for the first 6 games. When he doesn’t get good protection, he becomes tentative, unsure, and throws inaccurate and ill-conceived passes.

Unfortunately, with the loss of Flozell Adams, the Cowboys offense might have become the Bills offense. This flaw could affect us for the rest of this year.

We took a big gamble with the offensive tackle position this year, from a depth standpoint. We didn’t address it in free agency and not until late in the draft. We counted on Adams anchoring the left side, and were looking to Tucker, Rodgers, Vollers for an answer on the right side. Petitti was not supposed to be playing at all this year. Who could have predicted that Tucker would regress so badly at the beginning of training camp? Then, when Rodgers went down with his injury, it was too late to find a quality player (who could also fit in with Parcells). Finally, Vollers’ injury just before final cuts killed any depth we might have had. When Adams went down, we lost our gamble. It could be a killer.

Guy’s and Gal’s please keep your hat on – itâ€â"¢s going to be all right. Let me ask each of you this question. Would you rather loose close games in the regular season and win all your playoff games because you played tough opponents and broke even during the regular season schedule while your young rookies learned to play a new defense and your veteran offense gelled together or would you rather have a 12-4 season and step into the playoffs and loose the first time out the gate because you won so many regular season games you just kept over looking your teams deficiencies because you were winning the regular season games. The only thing that matters is that we get in the playoffs home field doesn’t mean anything either, so don’t mention that. I think I know the answers to my questions too – everyone wants their cake and they want to eat it to. Be a real fan and stop complaining and just stick with the team through the good, bad and ugly. Keep the faith – easier said than done right. I’m with my Boy’s until the end, no matter what, they are my Super bowl Champs. BTW – no matter what anyone says BP is the best football coach EVER. He knows what is going with this team and we as fans donâ€â"¢t. We are ALL on the outside looking in. Give it time we are going to win games you donâ€â"¢t expect us to just like we lost games that we should have won. Remember the games weâ€â"¢ve lost so far, WE lost them, WE didnâ€â"¢t get beat by our opponent. Give these gentlemen time to gel and develop into 3 peat Super bowl champs!!!!!!!!!!!!!

aw,

We’ve stuffed the NFL’s best offense, 3 weeks in a row. So anyone who wants to blame the D is grassping at straws.

So the defense ain’t the problem. Most of us agree there.

But ya’ll know that if not for our O-line’s bone-head penalties which killed 3 drives on 3rd and short, I believe, we’d have probably won the game AND Cortez is still the kicker- for better or for worse.

Our Offeinsive line’s mistakes are what made Bledsoe’s pick and Cortez’s misses so devastating. We couldn’t sustain the drives and score points to nullify the significance of our inevitible miscues.

Getting rid of Cortez was easier than getting rid of the whole O-line. Right? So “So long” Cortez. No tears shed here, believe me. I don’t think ANYONE regards themselves as a “Cortez lover” like some smart-ass posted earlier. I simply didn’t think he was THAT bad and have enough sense to realize that we have weaknessess go beyond our damn kicking game.

But anyway, I’m all for making our team better, and if this new guy, Suisham, is better than Cortez (that means 75% of his kicks are good) then we’re set.

All I’m saying is getting rid of a player just to get rid of him is a bad call if we don’t have somebody BETTER to replace him. Here’s hoping Suisham is better, cuz the way it’s going, our offensive line ain’t gonna get better any time soon, and we’ll still be calling our predictable conservative offense- something I’ve been slamming since the Washington game, our first loss.

Suisham better be good enough to make up for the rest of our team’s deficiencies. He’ll HAVE to be. Cortez certainly wasn’t….

Jeff,

That’s good analysis on the play distribution.

My response is that the coaching staff saw what was happening with the offensive line and made a conscious decision to lock down the offense. Not to protect the lead, but to protect Bledsoe.

By the way, for those who claim that ‘conservative’ is Parcells’ middle name, the only other game this year that the Cowboys have called more run plays than pass plays, was the Eagles game — which they won handily. Also, while Parcells utilized a conservative style when he was with the Giants, he opened the offense up considerably with the Patriots and the Jets. He also was decidedly UN-conservative last year.

Parcells fits his offense to the team he thinks he has, and to the circumstances of the game. It’s hardly a flawed concept.

rich,

Getting rid of Cortez was easier than getting rid of the whole O-line. Right? So â€Å"So long” Cortez. …

That’s quite an understatement! :)

It takes weeks to get just one offensive lineman up to speed enough to play regularly. It only takes long enough to put on a uniform to get a new kicker ready to play.

At least it probably won’t take long to find out if Suisham can handle the job.

Since we have to wait until Thanksgiving until we can re-sign Cundiff, Suisham will have a few weeks to prove he can handle the job.

Okay- here’s the plan:

Next year, bring back Hudson Houck for our offensive line woes. (Is that how you spell his name?) I think he’s with San Diego? Jacksonville? I dunno. I’m sure one of you guys does… He ROCKS.

Jerry should throw FAT contracts at him AND Steve Hoffman! That would do the trick. Can we still get these guys?

Mr. Bill,

I know it’s an understatement, brother. Just being a little facetious to make my point abundantly clear. Too low-brow for some of you more cultivated types, I guess.

My apologies.

remember Jacob Rogers was looking really good in Camp til the injury. Had he stayed healthy he would have been the favorite at RT. That would have meant Petitti would probably have made the team over Tucker and Petitti would be on the field as the LT……..his natural position.

Matt Lehr who we cut is starting for the Atlanta Falcons who are a pretty good rushing team. Not sure you can quantify there passing game.

I think offensive lineman should be lower round picks that you give a few years to develop and work with. Nate Newton was stolen from the Redskins practice squad by the Dallas Cowboys and went on to become a a great Lineman. Not everybody can step on the NFL field and be a great lineman…….that is rare in fact.

I say we are in ok shape. We know we gotta help Petitti. Tucker needs to play better………mostly our pro bowl Guards……and Center need to play better. If Johnson can’t cut it stick Gurode back out there. At any rate……..we got some heavy weight paychecks in Adams, Allen, and Rivera and I ain’t really seen a heavy weight game except for the Philly game.

Our defense has kept us in every contest and then we ask them to stop teams from scoring a TD or Field Goal in the final minutes after working their buts off and they succeed at what 50%………….

It is a lot to ask Thompson or Barber to be the back that gains 130+ and blocks and does not fumble. This is what a 4th rounder and a walk on FA. We gotta get Julius back out there and running wild. The draw worked well with Julius……..I would like to see a Toss used occassionally also to test the outside against teams putting 8 or 9 in box. Warrick Dunn ran for 65 yards with 8 in the box against the Jets……..broke through the line took it outside and if not for a good line by a DB would have had a 90+ yard gain and a TD. We are not even trying that kind of running play. Why not?

Julius Jones is not Emmit Smith………Emmit was the best between the tackles……..and did not have the speed to take it outside……but made people miss and still got his yards…….usually the hard way. He was deadly in the RED ZONE………

I have seen some of the same lethalness in JJ in the red zone, yet they took him out for A Train early in the year. Why I don’t know. They continue to run up the gut time after time never even testing the outside. He has shown the ability to do both. In addition we have a back like Thompson that can also get outside. He showed he could go in between the tackles some in preseason.

I feel like we got a bridal in our thoroughbreds mouths. Get it out and let those ponies run!!! Julius said he never really ran the draw at ND and yet he did it great last year.

I think if we have Julius against Seattle we don’t have the two Marion Barber fumbles nad JJ gets a few more of the tough yards that Barber failed to get in the first half. JJ we need you. Get back on the field……and Run son.

AW,

Dude you are right on. Our OL is not great but is not the reason we lost these games. If it is the reason and since there is no hope for it, then let’s cut bait and start someone that can complete a pass under pressure.

Chandus,

According to you we have won our last game. Our OL sucks, there is no one to come in and Bledsoe cannot play without 4 to 5 seconds to throw. So, why not start Tony Romo, maybe he can avoid some pressure and complete a pass.

This is ludicrous, but really. Bledsoe can make some plays under pressure. If he can’t, this season is an exercise in futilty.

Jon
I don’t think JJ would have make a difference, its not like he was doing much before he got hurt. JJ give everyone hope last year but that was last year. His number look good but if you look at them you will see he has been over 90 only three times. I’m stating to wonder if he is the answer at RB.

cortez picked up by eagles according to espn

rha:
Whoa! Bledsoe made plays in Buffalo too, I’m not saying that the season is over, I’m saying that we could see some more mistakes from Bledsoe, he will make plays still. I’m taking that as granted.

Have the Eagles lost thier mind? Only thing I can think is that France must suck on kickoffs, where Cortez is usually ok there. Secondly maybe they think they’ll be able to get some info out of Cortez, but what the hell would a kicker know?

RE: Cortez — not meaning to beat a dead horse, but … you guys aren’t totally getting the point about his being cut. He had obviously alienated himself from the team, and the players almost certainly wanted him gone for always publicly showing up his teammates. He had become a “Jonah” like the guy who had to be thrown overboard in Master and Commander – a curse. Kickers are often no better than mascots or lucky charms for the rest of a team, anyway. Unless you’re a Vinatieri or Akers, if you’re a kicker, you had better at least be humble and likeable. Cortez was neither. The guy who replaces him may or may not be better, and Cortez may end up winning a game for Philadelphia, but so what? Parcells had to cut him. And for those who say he wasn’t really the problem, flip it around. A Parcells team is designed to win close games. This team is not so significantly better than other teams that it’s going to rack up a bunch of double digit wins. There is no question that field goal kicking WAS the difference in the Seattle game. Their kicker hit from 50 and 56 and Cortez was one of two from extra point range. Plus, he missed a very makeable kick against the Redskins under perfect weather conditions. That’s TWO GAMES we would have win but for a weak placekicker. How many players can be the difference for two wins a year?! That’s the difference between 8-8 and 10-6 - two wins. Yes, the O-line was the biggest reason we didn’t score MORE points, and the long-term issues are there, but even with all of that, we still win the game without that a-hole kicker. And ex-Cowboy can bite me — b/c whatever Cortez is in his private life, what he was on the field was a complete jerk.

They had to jettison him the way that guy in Master in Commander had to jump ship once the crew had decided he was Onepaniolo was on the right track. It’s not just that

Whoops. Please ignore the last paragraph above.

Seemed to me we got very conservative on first down. I believe they even mentioned in the game the boys had the most running plays on first down in the league. Was it the rain? Bledsoe had a couple passes sail on him in the first quarter. He certainly didn’t throw it downfield after the first quarter.
   I am thinking Seattle didn’t air it out much either.

anybody know why peterman isnt playing yet? Is he not ready or just bad. If he’s close why not get him in there or at least give him a try.

Field goal kickers are 11 for 11 against us this year with 3 being from 50 yards. 53 out of 57 since BP arrived in 2003. What is that all about? I don’t know what we are but I know it no where near that………We use to turn kickers into stars now we are turning the other teams kickers into stars.

GC, Cortez is not a jerk and I would suspect that his teammates like him. He was very popular with his 49er teammates and several, including Jeff Garcia went to Terry Donahue to try and keep them from releasing him for Jeff Chandler. Chandler never worked out and the 49ers kicking game has suffered for some time since (less Peterson last year).

I apparently set off a nerve with a few of you guys defending Jose. Incidentally, he was 9 of 10 inside the 40 for the Cowboys and the kickoff out of bounds was the only time that happened this season. The opponents averaged only starting on their own 26 so far this year. Pay attention going forward and see if that changes. It’s important in close games. He didn’t miss all of the time either. He missed his 1st kick of the season, he missed a 48 yarder (kill him for that) and they had one blocked (kill him for that as well). He should have made the 29 yarder and he knows it too. At one point he hit 8 in a row. He was 4 for 4 against the Eagles with deep kickoffs (which explains their interest in grabbing him until Akers is healthy).

You may also be interested to know that the coaches had the kickers working hard in practice to speed up the whole process (get-off time). Last Thursday, they were 6 for 6 in practice. In the game, the first field goal attempt was the miss. Keep in mind that they were drilling into the snapper, holder and kickers’ heads to get it off faster so it wouldn’t get blocked. The snap about hit Romo in the right shoulder, thus makes timing a bit of a problem when the kicker is already striding. A miss yes — should have been a make, yes. But there is more to understand about the game than some you seem to know.

Sorry if I’m a bad guy for defending the guy. He’s gone — move on.

Anyone remember Coslet’s zone blocking scheme he installed 4 years ago? ( I think it was 4 years)
Remember how utterly, hopelessly terrible the line play was then? With Flozell out and the rest of the line playing at various degrees of poorly, do people here think that this is the worst offensive line in recent memory? I expect Tucker and Petitti to stink. I didn’t expect such lackluster performances from Larry Allen, Marco Rivera and Al Johnson.

Holy Jesus Guadalajara. Why don all of you juz kees my ass. I aim a goood keeker. Juz ask my madre Juanita.

She cooks good menudo before evry gaam.

Oh my god. Spears reinjured his leg today and is out indefinately.

What are we gonna do now?

Okay, exCowboy — Sorry about the ‘bite me’ comment — you seem pretty reasonable and bright – except for the part about hating the Cowboys for how they got rid of Tom, which I think is based on image and not reality — but I digress.
Here’s the thing, assuming for the sake of argument that Cortez is a good guy off the field — and an average to below-average NFL kicker on it, which is what your stats show — you still haven’t addressed his behavior on field. He violated some basic rules of how a player, especially a kicker, conducts himself by blaming his teammates and showing them up on the field. Romo did a great job getting that snap down and Cortez shows him up. And just in case anyone in the stadium couldn’t hear him talking to Romo, he made sure with his gestures to let everyone know, it wasn’t his fault. In the SF game he yells at his snapper on field, which is what got him popped by Larry Allen. Unless you’re Peyton Manning or Troy Aikman — you don’t do that. It sure speaks of having a very big ego, and bad character for accepting responsibility. You’re the kicker. You shut up and take responsibility. Deal with other stuff in the locker room. Guy like that — no way he can be too popular with his new team. As I heard someone say about Manny Ramirez today on the radio — what really upsets me about the guy are his crimes against baseball, not running out grounders in the 10th inning. Kickers showing up their holders and snappers when they miss 25 yard kicks — crime against football, dude.

ExCowboyFan,
Did you two meet in San Fran?

I can’t believe that Parcells replaced me with Mat Bahr. What in the world was he thinking? Nice decision.

ESPN reprting that Spears reinjured his leg today.

Hey, Jose who’s impersonating other people.

You do a lousy job of trying to create a panic. Some other idiot tried spreading false injury rumors. Others tried impersonating other people to cause trouble. We’ve seen it before.

Those idiots did have one thing in common: they were all banned.

You’re next.

Joey2zs,

I don’t think it’s close. First, Tucker wasn’t bad Sunday. He did give up one sack at the worst possible time, but he got little help and held up very well. Allen has been the quiet man the past two games. Good run blocking and better than average pass blocking. He’s the one guy who hasn’t screwed up.

Rivera is surprising, but his mistakes have been mental. He’s a vet, so I expect him to pick that up.

Center and RT, sir. The same positions that have been bothering this team the past three years. I’m hoping Petitti just had one of those two step forwards and one step back games that rookies sometimes do. He’s played seven real games and three preseason games, which means he’s nearing the natural end of a college year. He needs a second wind, mentally especially, so the bye couldn’t come at a better time for him.

This line pass blocked very well early in the season. Tucker gives me hope. The line proved early that it could hold it together if it gave Petitti help. My worry was that they would need to chip all the time for Tucker too. If they don’t those early pass-blocking schemes still could pertain.

I’m very interested in how they run block against the Cards. The Seahawks stacked the line and yet Dallas had its best running day yet. I’m wondering if:

a. some guys let down after the air tight Eagles game, figuring they had the corner turned, then regressed;
b. have been working so much on getting the run blocking improved that they’ve slacked off on pass blocking;
c. both a & b;
d. are missing Flozell;
e. a, b and d;

Right now, I’d put money on option e. That Coslett team never scored the way this one did against the Chargers, 49ers and Eagles. Never came close.

AW……..Marion Barber fumbled twice and ran for 95 on 22 touches.

I say Jones is a better back than Barber and runs for over 100 on 22 and no fumbles. That makes it better. When we needed 4 Barber got 3, so even though he made 95 yards…….he fumbled twice and he did not get the important yards.

I saw Julius torch Seattle last year. If he is on the field he makes a difference in the way they respect and respond to the run. Maybe Drew has more time to pass………or who knows.

Barber and Thompson ain’t upto JJ level yet in the other things he has done on the field. Block, catch, and be a threat on 3rd and whatever. Barber did pretty well……….it is not a stretch to say Julius would have done better or as well without two fumbles.

No JJ has not done the things he did last year yet. And as Parcells pointed out he has missed 11.5 of 24 possible games. He is going to have to come back and have a killer 2nd half. I think he is capable. I don’t think he is going to be the next Emmit Smith. I think he can be a very good NFL running back. Hech is brother is eating it up in Chicago.

However, I do think an offensive line does a better job for a guy the better he does and the better they know him. Sounds odd but I think it happens. Barber and Thompson are nobody’s to the O Line, but the 2nd year Jones proved to them in Seattle last year that he had some Juice. I don’t think it is hairbrained to say he could have made a difference. It only would have took a TD instead of a missed field goal to win that game.

Also we barely beat the Giants. He could have made a difference in that game too. Against the Eagles he had 70+ yards in the first half? Before being injured and our O LIne put up its most yards and we scored a lot of points against a good Defense. Ask Sean Payton or Bill Parcells who they woul have preferred had the 22 carries in Seattle and possibly more since they switched to Thompson some after the two Barber fumbles……….Julius Jones would have been their answer.

He needs to get healthy and get back on the field! Imagine if he does come back with the same kind of 2nd Half he had last year. Watch out NFC East…….

I think we need to rest JJ for now and hope he’s raring to go after the bye. Make AT 3rd string and start MB & TT next game. Lets hit the Cards like we did the Eagles. 1st.Qtr. Come out throwing and then run. Maybe start with a pass on first, run on 2nd and then see what you need on 3rd. Get a 14-17 lead and then try to play ball control. Why not script the first 10-15 plays and see what their defense does against us? Then use that to your advantage in the second half. For godsake, please make some halftime adjustments and try some big plays to open up the field.Come out in the 2nd half and continue doing what worked in the first half. Maybe we won’t see 8-9 people in the box? Who knows what aggressive quick plays may work for us? Go Cowboys!

Everything said on this site makes sense, but if you microanalyze a game you get bogged down in details. O-line, playcalling, defense wearing down-it all goes together. I can take every close game in the nfl, and some not close, and show you how they come down to just a few plays here and there, an inch here or there. Look at that stupid Eagles win against the Chargers! And while we moan about how close our losses are, look at our victories (except the Eagles). How did Giants fans feel after our win? And we barely beat SD and SF at the end. I’m surprised no one’s taken a larger view, namely that we just had two tough home games against division foes, but now had to go on the road to the west coast against one of the best teams in the NFC. perfect letdown situation. I’m as mad and frustrated as anyone about how we lost, but leading up to the game I was just hoping to stay close and steal a tough road victory!
But now, taking that larger view, if we are going to be a playoff team we have to win this game and win it easily! If we can’t come home and dominate the Cards after a loss like that, we don’t deserve to be a playoff team. Right now we are mixed in with a bunch of other mediocre teams, and we need to try and separate ourselves from the pack-unfortunately, like Wash, just did. They kicked a sorry team’s ass, and we better do the same. The last time we really needed it was the Philly game, so here’s hoping they adjust and come through

Mr. Bill:
Thanks for that explanation, and I agree that switching coaches mid-season does not seem helpful.
Because those linemen seem to rely on wrestling style moves, I still think it would be possible for guys like Petitti and Tucker to have their own personal tutors, if that extra instruction didn’t clash with what they’re taught by Sparano.

dave,

anybody know why peterman isnt playing yet? Is he not ready or just bad. If heâ€â"¢s close why not get him in there or at least give him a try.

Peterman hasn’t played because he hasn’t been active for any of the games.

A team can only dress out 45 players for each game, and sometimes tough choices have to be made on who plays and who sits. The Cowboys have been going light on the offensive line in order to get other players into the game. Up until Adams’ injury, they had been counting on Gurode to back up both guard positions as well as center, with Tucker the lone reserve at tackle.

Having said that, it was probably not a good sign that the Cowboys activated Noll and not Peterman for the Seahawks game.

aw,

Field goal kickers are 11 for 11 against us this year with 3 being from 50 yards. 53 out of 57 since BP arrived in 2003.

Also, the 4 kicks that were missed were from 48, 48, 52 and 57 yards. Any kick against us from 47 yards or closer has been a gimme. This year, they are ALL gimme’s.

Obviously, the Cowboys need to work on their field-goal defense. I blame it all on Rowdy. He’s just not doing a good enough job waving off those kicks.

Seriously, it is even more frustrating when you consider that both Janikowski (Raiders) and Brown (Seahawks) had miserable games just before they played the Cowboys. It seems that playing the Cowboys is a get-well tonic for all opposing place kickers.

Anybody knows if Julius Jones is playing this week?

About the game in Seattle…well, it sucked!…it sucked because the O- line sucked (Al Johnson is done for me), the kicker and the snapper sucked, and the deffense sucked…I know I am going to get hammered by this one, but yes…the D sucked. How many games this season has it been that we needed them to make a stop at the end and they dont? Seattle, NYG, Washington, San Diego..what the hell? You cant say we’re #7 in the league if we cant play when it counts. And yes, play calling sucked….once again predictable as always!!!…run the ball if yo want to but do it out of 3 wide sets when they dont expect you to….pass it on first down sometimes, screens, something other than showing what you’re going to do and they trying to “execute”….execution becomes a little tougher when the opp D knows what coming at them….

Somebody, somehow forgot to tell this team again that we have to play for 60 minutes.

Jon
Until JJ does something this year, don’t give me what he did last year. You are what you are, look at his numbers this year……

ManTab
If you cant put up more than 13 points you shouldn’t win, and by the way they did stop SD at the end of the game.

I think you should expect +20 from your offense, and less than 20 by the oppenent from your defense.

aw, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t say 10 points should’ve done the trick and the game was ours…..problem is…even great teams will have bad offense days and bad deffense days, we needed to count on our D when we were playing Pettiti and Tucker in the O line and were w/o Julius. We need to be able to close games on D. Washington scored 2 TD in the last 4 minutes or so. Against San Diego, they had a 4th and 17 I believe, and they converted to tie or go ahead, and then we scored again (point is, they should’ve not converted 4th and long)…Giants scored easily also to tie the game in the closing stages….why? why cant we stop those final drives….one game is tough t swallow but Ok, it happened, but it ha shappened in 4 games this season + the horrible show @ SF the 1st half……only against Philly we did OK…i dont know what to tell you about the Oakland game…that game was horrible from start to finish.

What hurts here is that I trully believe we got what it takes to make the playoffs and compete in the NFC, but we’re not doing so by commiting stupid mistakes.

prior to his injury JJ was on pace for 1300+ yards? You are what you are………that is a very good rushing season in the NFL.

He is more elusive than Barber and more reliable than Thompson. So I say he is the best back on the team, which is also why he is starting. The injury is disappointing………he scorched Seattle last year. Why not this year? If Barber can rush for 95 on 22……..I am guessing Jones would have had that plus no fumbles.

The Dallas line played a bad game, but they are getting a bad rap in this thread. Calls for wholesale changes on the line are not warranted. The line is banged up and Bledsoe is what he is. A QB who can play very well if protected and one who cannot make plays when under consistent pressure. NFL history is full of QB who made big plays when protection breaks down. Bledsoe is not one of them and is not going to be one of them. That means a c grade in pass protection is an F grade for this current Cowboy team. The line needs an upgrade. Not an overhaul.

Watching Riveria it seems he has not fully recovered from his spinal injury in the off-season. Last year he was well deserving of his Pro-bowl. He was able to move big NT as well as any guard in the league and at the same time was effective on getting out on LB. This year he seems to have only average power and is late when asked to move to a block point.

Dallas signed him to a big contract because they believed he would turn one of their team weaknesses into strength. He crushed a disc a week later. He started playing football in camp only a couple of months after his surgery. Looking from the outside it appears that Riveria is playing when his body needed more time to recover. As we near the midpoint it is clear that Riveria is not going to be the player the team counted on him being this year. His reputation says that he is a high character guy and there is no reason not to expect him to be his old self after the rest of a full off season.

Larry Allen still seems to be stronger then any man he matches up with, including Ted Washington. But he has also gotten slower each year. He reaches every time he has to run to make a block in space. I watched him in camp for quite a few practices and he was slowwwww. Even after spending a couple of days playing with the trainer and his medicine ball he was the slowest man on the team. For those of you wanting the team to move him out to OT…get over it…its not going to happen. That said he is not the weak point in the interior line. If we had the Riveria who dominated at GB last year and a decent center we would be talking about how well Allen was playing in the twilight of his career.

Considering that only half of 6th round draft picks even make the league, Pettit is playing well for a rookie who is being forced to start in a position that he has never played. He might work out as a long term answer, he might not. Either way Dallas got a lot more player then anyone thought they were getting when he was drafted. If the draft was held today he would go by the end of the 3rd round if not earlier. Unless Dallas want to spend a first round pick on a ROT they cannot be sure that any rookie they pick up next year be provide an upgrade.

Flozel was not playing great before he got hurt, but those who argued that he is just an average tackle in this league are nuts. There are sixty starting tackle each Sunday. When Flozel is playing his best he is a top 5 tackle. When he is playing poorly he is a top 10. He make a few mental mistakes every game, but he does not give up many sacks when asked to handle his man one on one. He is frustrating because if his metal game was solid he would be one of the 3 top tackles in the league.

I can’t defend the play at center. Neither one of them are any good this year or as long term solutions. AJ never could handle a big NT and seems to have gotten worse. He is now pressing so bad that he cannot even consistently snap the ball. Gurode does well with the big NT, but is not quick enough to prevent penetration by 3T on run plays or to get out on a LB.

Dallas needs a new center. Historically centers do not get great in their rookie year so if Dallas wants a quick turn around they will need to pick up a starting quality free agent center. Depending on how Pettit progresses this year and in the off season, Dallas will need some more help at Right tackle. They need to find the eventually replacement for Larry Allen. If neither of the backups are going to become long term solutions they will need pick up someone early in the draft.

I disagree that it is the conservative play calling costing us games. Ok, maybe an extra pass attempt verse Washington at the end of the game would not have been the end of the world, but come on who would expect an anemic Washington team to score two TD in the last two minutes of the 4th quarter.

As I said in my earlier post, Drew Bledsoe is a QB who can perform well above average with solid protection and who performs well below average if asked to deal with pressure on a regular basis. One can make an argument that that is not ideal in todayâ€â"¢s NFL, but that is a topic for a different thread. He is the Cowboys quarterback and he needs to have a solid pocket to be effective.

With that given and the struggles on the O-line I do not see how the coaching staff can be expected to be more aggressive. Yes they run almost every first down and if they do not they run it on second down and often on third and long. The running game has been inefficient. What has this gotten the Cowboys? Well they top 5 in first downs, third down conversion percentage, time of possession and sixth in total yards per game. Those are incredible numbers for a team that has at best average talent on the offense. They would be 6-1 if they could consistently make field goals from less then 40 yards. You also have to give partial credit to Dallas top 5 defense to the conservative offense. Those offensive first downs and many 3 yard running plays have resulted in long periods of rest for the defense.

I am not saying â€Å"trust in God and Bill Parcells”. I agree that the risk he took with letting Robinson go has been proven to be one among a number of significant mistakes. Before they can open things up they will need for either 1) the offensive line and RB to create world class pass protection. Ie 5 second drops no touché 2) One of the offensive weapons to start demanding constant double team or 3) a new QB who can make plays after protection has broken down by scrambling for the extra two seconds that are needed to tuen a sack into a long completion.

I do not see any of those three things happening this year, which is why I would expect for the Cowboys to continue to be conserative of offense and aggresive on defense.

ManTab
SD had the ball what on the 7 yard line and the D stopped four plays in a row to win that game. The offence has played bad for the last two weeks. In the NY game they turn the ball over 4 times and we won that’s D doing that. Our D has had one bad game against SF and one of those TD SF’s D scored. Given up 24 points to SD is not a bad game for our D. The games we lost this year 14,19 and 13 points given up. The offence had the opportunity to put away NY, Seattle and Washington away late in the games but they didn’t. We shouldn’t win game when we score 13 or less points in a game. I will take this D every game but I can’t say that about this offence that need to start helping the D.

Jon
You don’t know what JJ would have done just because Barber had a good game. Yes JJ is the best back we have on the team but that is not saying much. JJ has only been over 90 three times. What JJ did last year is last year, it has nothing to do with this year. And JJ is not reliable yet. You are blinded by those three good games he had last year. Hambrick had a game with 189 yards. I’m not saying he is not good but he hasn’t showed me he can get tough yards or yards against a good D.

Thanks for the wonderful breakdown and analysis. I complained about the play calling after the Redskins loss and the Raiders loss. But since then I think it’s been fine. And like you said, it’s all about execution.

The only thing in your analysis I would disagree with was that it was a good day for the run blocking. Though Dallas wracked up some yards, there wasn’t a lot of value in those yards – too often (as has been the way this season) not getting enough yardage on first down, and not converting on second or third down runs.