He Said That?!?!

The only thing that matters is that they’re having fun out there.

I didn’t get to watch the game live so after reading your comment I went and checked my tape of the game. Not to argue the point but…I agree that it sounds like that is what he said but the way he says it seems like he meant to say “tricked” us and just got tongue tied. He seemed way too calm to use such a phrase. Right after that, the commentator says “They did get tricked.” But … whatever. We won. Thank you o-line!

MY wife called that!!!! and I was all like “no way, he said tricked”…wow, FCC fine???

The FCC should have more to worry about than a nickname for ‘Richard’. Otherwise, they’d have to start worrying about Dick and Jane readers in kindergartens.

Rev. You might want to hold onto that shout out, we did hive up 6 sacks and had a number of runs stuffed. And this was supposed to be a Dline that these guys could handle.

altercall-They weren’t great by any means but brother I actually saw blocking at times yesterday. There were a few plays where I saw huge runninglanes that rivaled our 90’s line’s lanes. I said they had to do better to allow us to win and they did. Not great, maybe not average, but better than I have seen the last couple of weeks. Go line!

They did block better yesterday- BUT it was also a much WORSE D line they faced yesterday.

Tucker and pettiti stink. When they get tired their footwork is lazy and they guess. When they guess, they get burned and Bledsoe goes down.

The line didn’t play any better than they have been playing. Bledsoe got sack four times, the difference is Bledsoe played better in this game than he had been playing. MB and JJ need to switch places. MB is a better fit for this line right now. The D had its worst game of the year and they give up the most yards and points in this game.

The funnier statement made by a Chief’s coach came after Campbell’s winning TD grab. The Chief’s defensive coordinator went BERSERK on his line coach or defense call maker. I played it back about 10x on my DVR.
At one inch away from his coordinator’s face, he screamed something like, “What was that, FRANK?!! FRANK!!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!!!???”

I don’t see why he was so upset. The Cowboys sold the play fake convincingly, and despite Campbell’s earlier drop, who would think he’s the guy in the end zone? Defensive coordinators should, that’s who. Parcells loves scraping the no name TE off the edge into the end zone in these situations. I doubt he can do it again this season.

Joey2zs:

Tucker is probably as good as he’s going to get at thsi point, but Pettiti is a rookie. That gets lost in all the finger-pointing.

I agree that the O-line has been an issue but for a 6th rounder to be the starting RT for his entire rookie season says something about his talent. He’ll be better next year and Adams will be back.

hey, at least the old man wasn’t crying this time.

aw,

Don’t expect too many QB’s to complete 60% for 250 yards and 2 TD when you get slapped in the head three times on the 1st qtr. It doesn’t take a veteran strong guy to do tat, it takes a monster.

Bledsoe’s been playing prowbowl level this season considering the line he has. He’s made mistakes like Seattle’s int at the end and the one against Denver but hey, I am pretty sure Troy Aikman and Staubach had days like that as well.

I figured it was a freudian slip of the tongue.

I thought Bledsoe did play much better and the O line looked better at times. 4 sacks is problematic but it did not seem to affect Bledsoe this time around. Honestly i think Drew took a hard shot in the Detroit game and is finally healed. He looked good and no INTS, and only one fumble that MB covered.

Terry Glenn is a playmaker and it is about time that Parcells and Payton decided to take some shots downfield……the main difference is Bledsoe got sacked whether we left in 8 or 5 so why not give him more targets!!!

Campbells TD……..classic I been saying all along I don’t know why we don’t toss that guy the ball more nobody ever covers him they think of him as another Lineman!!!!

MB and JJ did ok. I didn’t see anything to write home about, I was glad to see the passing game doing well especially when we were behind for much of the game. Good job to Drew, Terry, Witten, Dan, KJ, and more importantly when it mattered.

KC is a good football team and we beat em. Nuff said. Lets go eat us dome deadskins!!!! I say if we win out we win the East!!!

mantab
Yes he had a good game, the line played the way they been playing its just Bledsoe stepped up this game. He had been playing bad. I don’t think Bledsoe has been playing at a probowl level all season. This is one game talk to me at the end of the season to see where Bledsoe is at. The offense stepped up its game.

Joey2zs,

I watched that one a few times too, and I wonder if Cunningham wasn’t still steaming about the holding call against Derrick Johnson on the fourth down play? Why else would he be angry with the LB coach? It was his goalline call.

As for Vermiel’s color commentary, I found it amusing. And I seriously doubt that they’ll fine him. Shoot, the FCC first ruled that Bono’s mention of the word “f**k” on an award show was okay because he had not used it as a verb. Then after Janet Jackson flashed her pasty they reversed themselves.

And Rev. Michael, you are correct. The blocking was VERY erratic. Horrible most of the time and then huge running plays at opportune times.

The reason Jones and Barber had such a huge disparity in average was that Barber got all three plays where the Cowboys blew open huge running lanes. He got the pitch for 28 and other runs of 12 and 9 where he had clear sailing until he met the safeties. That’s 49 of his 82 yards on three runs. He averaged 2.9 on his 12 other rushes.

I don’t care who gets the big runs, so long as they keep coming, but I’ll stick by my contention that there’s little difference between the backs right now and the endless Julius vs. Marion debate is a red herring.

Jon,

They try to take shots every game. Bledsoe got better protection yesterday than he’s been getting lately, even though he still got beaten up. I know there is the inclination to say keep chucking it, but how much abuse should Bledsoe have to take? I’ll guess we’ll have to bank on the fact that he’s a redwood if the offense wants to keep attacking.

Ditka just said that he believes Bledsoe will be in the NFL Hall of Fame based on his numbers. Evidently Bledsoe ranks in the top ten all time in every significant category for quarterbacks.

Who knew?

Some of those passes yesterday sure looked like they were being thrown by a hall of famer. That flea flicker was as perfectly thrown a ball as I have seen a Cowboys QB throw since Troy in his prime. That TD pass to Witten was almost as good.

I am not as down on the defense as much as some of the rest of you. Look at the top ranked Bears defense yesterday against an offense that doesn’t have nearly the firepower that KC does. Every defense is going to have matchups that throw them off. If it happens next week then I may start to get concerned, but one game is not enough to freak out about.

Personally I wish we had played a 4-3 base against KC with Spears, Ferguson, Glover, and Ellis across the line on first and second down, then switch to nickel if it was third and long. Maybe that lineup would have thrown off their running attack a bit.

Raf,

Taking shots with only 2 WRs on the field? Leaving 2 TEs and RB in too block has been the protocol.

Yesterday we took shots with multiple WR sets……..even sneaking Terrance Newman and Tyson Thompson out as WRs.

Now I agree letting your QB get killed ain’t smart……but leaving in 8 to block is allowing the defense to send 7 or 8 and get to the QB anyway at least before yesterday.

I ain’t proposing a run and shoot, I know what Parcells wants ball control rushing offense. But I am glad they let Tucker and Petitti play and even though we had 4 sacks of Bledsoe……….we also had 3 passing TDs and a 71 yard play to the playmaker Glenn!

Peyton Manning gets sacked too!

Sack Performance Gone from Elite to Mediocre

Has anyone else noticed our sack totals per game has dropped considerable over the course of the season. In the first half of the season, we were ranked in the top 5 in sacks in the entire league with an average of 3 sacks a game. Ever since, we have only been averaging about 1 sack a game. What the halloween is going on? What happened to are supposed dominate d-line with Ware, Spears and the rest that were suppossed to clobber the quarterbacks. Other than Ellis, every one has disappeared. And Ellis has dissapeared the last 2 games, but that’s because Parcells and staff choose to use the rushing defense crew with Canty meaning Ellis sees less playing time. But pehaps the Ellis example is a microcosm for the entire defense. Perhaps the coaching staff are playing to defend the rush and pass defend with sacking on the bottom of their priorities.

I really don’t know what’s going on, but I miss that ravage defense that was all over the quarterback in the first half of the season. Ware, where are you? Spears, were you ever around to begin with? Glover, where have you been all season? Don’t use the rotation as an excuse.

I want our sack production back. The threat to get to the quarterback is the most exciting thing for me on our team.

Raul,

I don’t understand the “Petiti is a rookie” thing. Even for a rookie, he is playing terrible. He can’t stop any speed rushers because he has horrible footwork. He can’t stop power rushers from bull rushing him because he has bad balance and can’t get the leverage. Even Allen was able to bull rush Petiti yesterday and he is a small DE.

I just don’t see any way he can get even half his problems fixed in the off-season. I could maybe see him as a possibility 3 or so yours down the road, but not anytime in the immediate future. I mean, honestly, he’s got to be the worst starting RT in the league, and probably worse than several backups.

I also don’t think he has the mental side of it down, but we’ll save that discussion for later.

That’s not saying I wouldn’t like to see him prove me wrong, but he hasn’t shown yet that he can do anything required of an NFL RT. Even when he does block his guy, Bledsoe has to either step up, or throw with Petiti in his grill.

Problem Child,

I think alot of the problem is that Zimmer isn’t blitzing any. He threw a handful of blitzes out there last game, but it seems that almost every play we have the same 4 guys rushing the passer. We don’t make the OL try to figure out our scheme, so they are able to dig in to what they know is coming. I think I remember 3 times that we sent the whole boat on 3rd down. We forces a bad pass once and left an underneath WR open the other 2 times.

The only other blitzes I remember were from Fujita. Both times he got into the backfield, one of them was the fumble, and I don’t remember what happened on the other, he might have been picked up by a RB or forced an early throw.

The stats from yesterday are a little decieving, too. We had 2 sacks, and at least 2 more where we forgot how to bring down Green. We also had 2 intentional grounding calls the weren’t called, and neither one of them had a WR within 15 yards.

regardless if our defense forced a couple intentional grounding plays and bad passes, we still only produced 2 sacks, which is actually higher than what we did last week. we just aren’t getting to the quarterback like a dominate team can do and that’s frustrating. what’s the reason to have guys like demarcus ware or marcus spears if they’re not doing what they’re hee for. these guys are suppossed to sack and they’re not doing it. spears has barely done it all year, which is starting to make me second guess him as to having a mediocore rookie season. i only hope he’s one of those guys who has like 2 sacks his first or second season and then all of the sudden bursts out for a 10 sack season.

Part of the reason for the lower number of sacks the last few weeks was not having Anthony Henry in there. A good secondary and especially having good, physical cornerbacks is key to getting pressure on the QB and getting a sack.

Not all sacks are created by blitzes, many are created by the DB’s doing there job good enough to give the rushers enough time to collapse the pocket or get a hand on the QB. A lot of times blitzes end up getting read by the QB anyway, and they audible into a screen, a run play, or drop back into a shotgun formation.

I’m sure Zim knows what he’s doing with blitzes. Our Defense has played pretty solid all year, except for a few notable big plays that weren’t necessarily from a lack of pass rush but mental breakdowns in the secondary.

one of the major goals of the draft was to pick guys who could cause havoc on the QB. parcells was so hopeful about ware he even said the kid reminded him of “56”. and spears was suppossed to do the same thing. i agree our d is good, but it’s not at the power level that i would like to see them where they can just dominate the QB any time they choose to.

You can’t blame our lack of sacks because Henry was absent. Glenn’s performance was almost just as good if not as good as Henry’s. Certainly good enough to give an adequate pass rush time to get to the QB. Regardless the reason why we’re not getting a lot of sacks, the fact is we’re not getting a lot of sacks. and that was a major goal during last year’s offseason.

i’m not trying to knock our d. i’m very proud of them. very proud. obviously they’ve gone 180 degrees from last season. i’m just rying to figure out why in the halloween does our team have a significant dropoff in sacks after mid-season? why have they gone from an elite sack producing squad ranking in the top 5 to falling down to getting only about 1 sack a game and ranking in the mediocre middle of the league in total sacks. i’m tired of ppl recognizing the beasts on the giants with strahan and that other guy who has a hard name to say. or sean merriman in sd. the fact that we passed up on him hurts even more right now. and i definitely am tired of hearing about dwight freeney. i want all of this talk on our guys — demarcus ware, spears, ellis, canty, glover.

problem child
First of all this Defense sucked last year. We are starting three rookies and three first year starters. Plus the 3-4 is new for most of the defense. Ware is playing a new position. To me there is only one Defense playing better than us. It would be nice to have more sack I bet next year we will have more but why do you want sacks? You want them to stop drives to stop teams from scoring right? This defense has given up 20 plus points four times so far. sd 24. sf 24 philly 20 and KC 28. This D is going to be good for a long time. If this d could play this offense we would get 10 sacks.

Ware and Spears are rookies, they will develop into good pass rushers in time. I don’t see them as being busts at all, just young players learning to play at NFL speed and developing into dominant players.

Spears picked up a fumble yesterday and chugged down to the other end of the field, I thought that was a great play. Ware has had flashes this year, but he has had to learn a lot this year playing a new position and figuring out coverages, etc. In college all he had to do was rush the QB. The NFL is a lot more X’s and O’s, espcially for LB’s who are used to playing DE.

Maybe both of them won’t turn out to be All Pro players…but I would bet anything that at least one of them does.

Keep in mind also that the last three games we have faced very good running offenses in Denver, NYG, and Chiefs. It’s hard to register as many sacks when the opponents are making the defense play “run first” to set-up the pass.

I thought an important play that is overlooked is after the Boys scored the go-ahead TD, Cundiff drove his kick to the goal line and over to the left corner. Hall had to catch the ball with his momentum heading towards the end zone. This allowed the coverage team to get down field and keep him from having another big return. Good job Cundiff!!!

Skydude-I forgot about that but I told wife when it happened that it was a great kick.

Raul:
I think Tucker can improve, with continued training, and some weight re-distribution.

Guys, sacks are related to incompletions and Interceptions, why do you think that those numbers increased when the sacks decreased? Simple answer, teams know that pressure is coming so they have dump and quick end routes and still the QB’s feel enough heat that they throw the ball before the receiver gets to where he should be.

aw…..ironically we beat SD, SF, Philly and KC………funny when our D gives up points the offense and defense end up making big plays to win it!!!

I think the addition of another quality OLB to this defense along with the continued development of Shanle, Ware, Burnett, James, and Fujita will result in very positive results next year.

Canty and Spears starting over Ellis and Glover ain’t giving us more sacks though. I ain’t sure I agree with not starting our sack leader Ellis. Either way the D is good and getting better.

Reasons for extreme opitimism……..imagine if Parcells finally gets an offensive line. We raise our avg per carry above 3.4 or whatever pathetic number it is and add a legit rushing attack…..oh la la.

Chandus
The line didn’t play any better but Bledsoe did in this past game, he still got sacked and hit.

Jon Bartlett

We are 8-1 when we score over 13 points. That looks like an offense problem. Our D is only had two bad games KC and SF. SF because they had no business putting up 24 points on us. The D is only going to get better.

Hey Cowboy Fans,

I disagree with whoever says the “O” line didn`t play well. For those of you who don`t know KC is ranked 5th in the league against the run. I seen some large holes for the backs to run through.Also KC tried several stunts against Petiti & from what I see the kid did a good job. Don`t get me wrong there is much , much room for improvement but they stepped up to the plate against KC.I know DB was sacked 4 times but overall they did a good job protecting him when the game was on the line. We are so quick including myself to get down on the “O” line but fair is fair. Let`s give them credit when they played well. Not perfect but well enough to generate 442 yards of offense. KC may be the best offense in the league right now so our defense did enough to win, some of you need more than that. You need to be dominate. I don`t, I just need this team to play well enough to win. Against KC that`s exactly what they did !!!

Did anyone see DeMarcus Ware THROW Larry Johnson off of him like swatting a fly? He was rushing Green, and Johnson tried to pick him up, and with one arm in a single motion, Ware pancaked Johnson. He knocked him onto his back with just a thoughtless flick of his arm.
VERY, VERY impressive. I had begun to think that Ware was a little weak and soft… he may well be soft, but he’s not weak. The plain physics of what he did is impressive.

Jesse NY
The difference between yesterday’s game and the past few weeks is one we won if we lost people would be saying the line sucks, two Bledsoe played better. Bledsoe was still getting hit and sacked. The line is what it is this year it can’t be fixed so Bledsoe and others have to step up.

As to the Vermeil “dicked us” comment, Coach Vermeil is famous in KC for his sayings. Here is link below that has collected his sayings

http://kcsp.entercomkc.com/audio/store/VermielMontage.mp3

And the fans are jumping off bridges here. Are saying that Parcells is great coach. KC is very jealous

Problem child,

3-4 ends don’t produce the big sack numbers. The linebackers do. That Spears has 2 sacks doesn’t indicate poor play. Ware has hit a wall, developmentally. He’s trying to bull rush guys like Willie Roaf and Walter Jones who outweigh him by 80 lbs.

And who complements him these days? Dat’s gone. Shanle and James aren’t known for being sack artists. Fujita is what he is. He’s a five/six year vet, so what you see is what you get.

Until Dallas acquires another LB with rush skills the rush won’t take the next step. Canty, Glover and Ellis give Dallas a push in the 4-2 but they need a better rush out of the base defense.

The defense is much improved, but it’s hardly a finished product.

This is not related to the cowboys or the subject at hand at all but….

Can you see it coming? New Engalnd defeats Indy at their home in the playoffs to once again make Peyton’s life misserable for another 8 months or so……it makes me feel bad aboutthe guy just to think about it….talk about alka seltzer huh?

Interesting points Rafael. But it’s a scary thought that no one is available to compliment Ware in the 3-4. I think there’s way too many problems on offense to fix during the offseason before a lot of money or another high draft pick is spent on an outside linebacker. Of course I could be absolutely wrong. The other scary thought is I hope Ware doesn’t turn out to be a one dimensional attacker who can’t do anything else, but bull-rush his opponents. I’m still waiting for Ware’s exhibition Seattle game to come to life in the real season or even better, the playoffs.

aw,

c,mon give it up for Bledsoe. he played well and got smacked around. You cannot ask a QB to do that for a whole season or else you get a QB that doesn’t play for a whole season. BParcells had to get out of Max protection cause he knew he needed to score.

The line still played pretty poorly. They have to improve. Bledsoe won’t last three games if he gets hit like that again.

Good to see TT out there running patterns, we need his speed in the game. (i called that months ago.)
Did I see kalen Thorton in the game?

Rafael:

I agree about Ware hitting the wall, especially that wall named Roaf. Hopefully this off-season BP and Zim will sit him down and make him do his homework by watching old Lawrence Taylor footage.

A good 3-4 pass rushing OLB doesn’t ever go straight at an OT who weighs 70 pounds more. He should use his speed to make a spin move to the edge or an inside cutback and not let the OT lock him up or knock him back.

I remember seeing LT in his prime totally blow past offensive tackles and TE’s and collapse the pocket from the edge. They couldn’t catch him because he used his superior quickness and athleticism to put them at a disadvantage. Ware has been playing right into his opponent’s strengths, that being their size. Great pass rushing 4-3 DE’s like Reggie White and Bruce Smith could do that because of their size, but not 250 pound oustide linebackers.

I think with the addition of a good speed OLB on the opposite side of Ware in the off-season the pass rush will be a lot more effective next year. BP is slowly but surely transforming the linebacking corps into his own. When he first arrived in Dallas he made a comment that he was impressed with the speed of the linebackers, but that he wants bigger guys. Next year he may finally have all his linebackers over 6 feet tall.

LT was a pure beast and one of the strongest guys on the team let alone at the LB position. Fast hech yeah……it is a lofty comparison to mention Ware with LT……..and LT had that first year of folks not really looking at him all that strong…….so he got a dozen sacks before teams really paid attention.

Ware will be fine……he will learn and adjust…….he is still being disruptive!

hey raf,
can you change my login back to just Jon? i think it is leftover from word press log in from the summer…….or something.

ManTab, if New England even makes the playoffs and faces the Colts, and the Pats play well, Indy will only win by 20. But if Indy plays well they could run away in a 45 point laugher.

The Colts, as a team, could collectively choke vs the Pats who could play loosey goosey with nothing to lose and have fun and win. But that’s not going to happen. The New England Patriots of the many Super Bowls is gone. That team is a part of history now. Every single part of the 2005 Colts is better than the Patriots.
Tom Brady is the only difference between the 2005 Patriots and the 2005 Redskins.

Sterling,

Ware should look at the archive tape the Cowboys have of Charles Haley, who started his career as a 3-4 OLB. Haley could beat linemen going at them. What he did however, was something I learned from a friend who played hockey. He told me goalies have a horrible time stopping shots aimed just below their armpits.

It makes sense. Imagine a baseball or a puck coming at your armpit and them try to move your hand to catch it. The movement is awkward and unnatural. You’ve got to tuck your hands and flare your elbows, like you’re a chicken flapping its wings.

What Haley mastered was a move where he would start outside, get the lineman to turn, then cut inside and dive right at the OT’s inside armpit. The lineman couldn’t get arm extension and leverage to parry him away. Once Haley got inside and pressed his helmet to the guy’s rib cage it was all over. Tackles couldn’t stop him unless they tackled him.

Demarcus is a strong guy. Larry Johnson tried to block him yesterday and got knocked down. But he’s not so strong that he can throw good 335 lb. OTs.

A question:

I managed to miss seeing even one play of this game in real time, although I listened to it all on the radio. Brad Sham may be better than the TV guys, but that is about it. Enough on that.

In his press conference, after stating most all of his defense played awful and singling out Ware, BP stated Fujita had played “pretty good.” I know about the fumble, but the few tackles I remember his making were all downfield several yards, like usual, and like James’ used to be at the beginning of the year. My question for those who saw it all (by now, maybe several times), concerns whether there might actually be reason for optimism that Fujita could get it together this year, or was it more likely that BP was commenting on the one play, without which they might have been seriously blown out?

CB,

Fujita had a good game. Larry Johnson was running at his leisure to the left side. It was eight to ten yards any time. Ware, Canty, Shanle and the secondary guys on that side were blown out just about every time KC ran to their side. Ware was so bad at contain that Kevin Burnett got some reps in the late third quarter at the ROLB spot.

Fujita held his perimeter. And, of course, he caused the fumble. Is this room for encouragement? I hope so but don’t think so. He’s only played like this against his old team, whom he practiced against for years. This is his fifth season, which is a bit late for the light to go on, but you never know.

Rafael:

Haley is also a great guy for Ware to watch, especially from when he was in SF in the 3-4. That style of player might be a more reasonable aspiration for Ware, seeing as how LT was an impact player and I think an All Pro right away while Haley took a little longer to develop.

Willie McGinest was another player that Parcells brought along that Ware reminds me of. Although he never became too much of a pass rusher overall in his career, he has been a very solid and athletic OLB that plays well and is a huge asset to the rest of the defense.

That’s the thing about drafting college players, you never know exactly what they will develop into. Even if Ware doesn’t turn out to be the sack artist that we were all hoping he would be that doesn’t mean he won’t be a great linebacker. Maybe one of the other linebackers will step up, or maybe Parcells will find his pass rusher in this year’s draft. Either way I am not at all worried about the rookies, they have all played really well this season.

At the very least, those of us in the MBIII camp got some vidication based on performance between the two RB.

I’m not to worried about our defensive as I am our offensive line.

and what of MB3’s performance last week?? Personally I don’t care as long as we have a running game and we can score rushing TDs. Neither JJ nor Barber has a run longer than 30 yards all year……..that is disappointing…..hard to call Jones Lightning if he never strikes……they are what they are a late 2nd and late 4th round 2nd and rookie RBs. This ain’t LT, or Emmit Smith in the making. But they are both servicable backs that we should be able to keep both on the squad and under the cap. We still got TT in the bullpen so who knows maybe this time next year we are debating about which back should get 12 touches instead of 10 a piece……

It ain’t a qb controversy and it gives the team options if either has injury. Something we never really had with D Thomas, Dorsett or Smith.

Headline: “Rams may seek coach whose forte is defense”
Quote:
“Here, in no particular order, are some of the defensive coordinators being mentioned for prospective NFL head-coaching openings: Gregg Williams (Washington), Mike Zimmer (Dallas), Jerry Gray (Buffalo), Ron Rivera (Chicago), Jim Schwartz (Tennessee), Tim Lewis (NY Giants) and Donnie Henderson (NY Jets).”

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/berniemiklasz/story/3857EF1FFC54299086256FDF00136163?OpenDocument

linus,

Let’s handicap that list. The job tends to go to “hot” coordinators and guys who have come closest in the last round without actually claiming the job. To me, that puts them in this order:

Top tier — Lewis and Rivera. Lewis is a Bill Cowher, zone blitz disciple. The Giants are getting better every week. He’s a minority, so he’ll get a lot of interviews, if not a job.

Rivera — The Bears are hot and so is he. Knows the Lovie Smith/Tony Dungy/Monte Kiffin, speed, cover-2 4-3 scheme and the 46, since he was a backup LB for Buddy Ryan and the ’85 Bears. Another minority candidate.

Williams — his HC debut in Buffalo fizzled, but he had some of the worst personel around. Well liked and respected. It was felt he wasn’t ready. Same thing was said about Bill Belichick after Cleveland. His Washington work has the arrow by his name pointing up again.

Those three are one notch above everyone else, IMO.

Zimmer, at best, is fourth on this list. His one HC offer was in college, with Nebraska. Sean Payton is closer to an NFL HC job that Zimmer right now.

Raf,

Didn’t Al Davis try to lure Zim before Jerry paid him big bucks to stay? My take is Parcells and Jerry might see Zimm taking over the Cowboys down the road and BP compared him to Belichek with his players…….I figure Zim might stick around to run it.

Payton closer? Why our offense ain’t nothing to write home about? He got replaced by the HC in NYG. He has yet to show he can develop a qb? Romo Henson? I don’t see Payton’s stock as very high……..

also…..3-4 ends don’t produce sacks? What about Leonard Marshal? I think Taylor went off that year with like 20 or so, but Marshal the other DE and the NT all contributed more than any of the other LBs. I don’t recall but I don’t think Banks was double digits…..but Marshal had 16 or 17. Greg Ellis is still our sack leader……and they have come in 4 and 3 man fronts…….

I am hoping Spears develops into that Leonard Marshal type of DE in the 3 man front. He certainly has the size and athleticism…….it was Leonard Marshal and not LT that put Montana out as the Giants went to a Super Bowl.

I think another year of developement out of Spears, Canty, Ware, Burnett, Shanle, James……and we will like our results. I still totally agree with you that BP wants at least another Bookend to WARE for OLB…..and probably another guy to give both OLBs a breather.

He ain’t there yet…..but hopefully year 4s draft is another slam dunk like year 3!!! The position that will continue to be a problem might be NT……Ferg and Glover are older……not sure about Ratliff or Spears as NT……we will eventually need some youth at NT.

Jon,

Payton was offered the Raiders job and turned it down, as Zimmer did with Nebraska’s offer.

I like the guy. It’s not his fault the o-line sucks. That’s the primary responsibility of the big guy who fights with him over the play calling every week. (And how many OC’s have their head coach arguing with them over almost every call?) You ever called plays? I have. It’s hard enough when your play list is short and you’ve got no interference.

Rafael:
I’ll be patient with Fujita, he played a relatively good game at NY and he followed that with his best performance, if he adds 2 good games in the next 3 he could be the type of player that needed a change of scene (actually a change of scene and a change of position, he hadn’t played in a 3-4, not even in College) to be successfull. Got to remember that he reached 100 tackles in 2 years out of 3 while at Kansas.

Raf,

Did you see them arguing on the sideline before the play action TD pass to Cambell? Who do you think won that argument?

Jesse NY,

You can always count on AW for a positive spin. If you listen to him too long you will think he is following the Texans or Lions.

The fact is that we have a very good team with a managable number of flaws which BP handles very well. To illustrate that, do you think Tampa Bay could have come into Dallas and manhandled the Cowboys the way they did Carolina at home? I don’t think so.

Further, this team is good as evidenced by the fact that they have been in a position to win every game and please name other teams that can say that?

i knew payton was offered it, but I thought Zimmer was on the short list or Al wanted to meet with him too.

I loved the play calling last week…….I heard Bill Parcells say Payton was better at it than he was……pretty big compliment from a HC like Bill…….but I would say Norv Turner has more NFL exp and better resume than Payton…….and he has struggled in OAK………Payton got fired by Jim Fassel basically mid season…..and the Giants improved after that…….the O Line is a work in progress true……….I just don’t see Payton as some offensive GURU or the next John Gruden or anything. Maybe I am wrong…..and at this point I hope we keep him…..if nothing else to argue with the big guy! If Payton cannot fight of Parcells you really think he stands a chance against Al Davis? He was hot we bounced back and surprised some folks and made the playoffs. Quincy Carter made our pourous line look better with some pocket mobility and even Troy Hambrick gained rushing yards. Still the defense kept us in games……even in our Super Bowl years Dallas has never been an offensive powerhouse. Landry, Johnson and Parcells are all defensive minded coaches that know what wins Super Bowls. I figure Zimmer and Payton are enjoying getting to work with a coach the stature of Parcells and won’t mind being a couple more head coaches from the Parcells coaching tree somewhere down the line……possibly even in Dallas!

Called plays sure……on both sides of the ball sure……but never in anything bigger than PeeWee football. And oh yeah…….the end around works pretty well there too but I stayed away from the flea flicker! But at that level the pass was not as reliable. LOL! Hey maybe BP thinks the same thing.

The Colts assistants will be raided as will the Bears. Pete Carrol is probably the hottest coach you failed to list and could coach the team with the numero uno draft pick……..package up Domanick Davis and David Carr trade a few other pieces and go after Bush or Lienhart.

One thing that helps a guy in college……like JJ in Dallas or Saban in Miami……..they have a 2 or 3 year window where they really know the talent at the collegiate level without talking to a scout. I think that was a big part of JJs success in Dallas and part of his failures in Miami. Parcells had time off as did Gruden to take a serious look at the college players this year and look at their drafts!!!

Carrol and Weis will get offers whether they leave the NCAA is upto them but Money is powerful motivator. I would argue Pete Carrol is practically running a pro team already…….sort of like Bobby Bowden back in the Deion days. He has the best talent at all the talent positions……but seems to manage egos and the team well.

Although if I were him I would do what Matt did and enjoy the fun and sun in Southern California a while longer!!!

alantdot
Bledsoe had a good game I said that. The line is what it is, its not going to get fix this year so. Bledsoe played better because the line didn’t and that is the difference between this past game and the last few games. People here want to jump up and down when he has a great game and say he is the best but when he has a bad game its oh the line sucks. When Bledsoe plays bad he plays bad and when he plays good he plays good.

rha
If people listen to you, we would think we are the colts. A lost is a lost. We are now 3-4 against teams with winning records. When we score over 13 points we are 8-1. When the offense comes to play we have a great chance to win. SD, I believe has been in every game this year too.

bledsoe did not have a great game against Detroit……..i think he took a hard shot to his head and just recovered last week……a mild concussion can cause problems with light sound etc…..unfortunately i have experienced both severe and minor……..he looked awful against NYG…..but Strahan and 72 were all over him……

Bledsoe is what he is……..you don’t think Petitti can improve? I see him as a typical rookie so far……much better at home than on the road……..which aint good since we got 2 of final 3 on the road…….at least Rivera looked a bit better…..he is truly the big disappointment of FAs.

we have been in every game we played…..and played the good teams like Seattle and Denver extremely tight and had a chance to win. I don’t think this team will mature enough to win the NFC this year…..but if we can sneak in the playoffs I think we can win the first one…….maybe the 2nd……our defense keeps us in every game………Parcells knows how to prepare for anybody……Bledsoe ain’t a nervous rookie……he has won AFC Championship games TWICE to advance his Pats to the Super Bowl!!!

Like Peter King wrote a few weeks ago………nothing should surprise us about these Cowboys. Great not yet……..good and scary…..hech yeah!!! If there is a team out there that teams really don’t want to face and really don’t know what to expect…..it is us.

What if our running game ever showed up again like it did against the Eagles in the first game in Dallas? What if Bledsoe plays mistake free like last week…….this guy has more 4th quarter comebacks than Farve……

What if Henry, Glenn and TNEW are all healthy and playing good football in January…….what if TNew is suddenly returning punts and running a few go routes?

What if Parcells takes the reins of Payton, Drew and says fire away?

What if Demarcus Ware has one of those Seattle preseason type performances? On any given Sunday this team can beat anybody including the Colts……..and Parcells knows it which is why he is giving em a little credit instead of kickin em in the rear. No blowouts this year……hech we never quit even when we should have…….Philly game? SD? KC? These cardiac kids must have nitro tablets a AED and oxygen to boot……either way they can play with anybody.

We are going to beat Carolina in Charlotte!!!

well the line played ok, if you wanna compare it to last week they played excellent, there was some pressure on drew but not too much to where he couldnt throw. the defense didnt play bad, yeah on paper it looks bad but look at the team they played, one of the best backs in the league this year, some of the quickest receivers, a solid qb and a great tightend. hell they actually look like the cowboys but they have more protection and a better o-line so i say the boys played well. i expected more from henry but what do you expect hes been out for a while, if glenn was in his place and not hurt he probably would have done better, lets just hope henry returns to form soon. we saw plenty of offense and im glad they played to their potential. and if they make the playoffs i say start barber and not jones.

AW:
I didn’t want to discuss anymore with you because too often I feel like I’m losing my time, but your constant mention of the bad OLine play makes me want to, it’s obvious that you don’t watch the OLine playing and the time Bledsoe has in the pocket, there were a bunch of times in which Bledsoe could count even to 5-Mississippi and the pressure wasn’t even close, in previous games Bledsoe was lucky to have as many chances as fingers he has in one hand. If you don’t believe you’re free to look at film of previous games in comparison to this last one. You can mention time and time again the amount of sacks Bledsoe had when you consider that Manning had lots of time in the pocket at Jax and still got sacked 3 times.

And I’m not comparing Bledsoe to Manning (I thought that was coming), I’m comparing the play from their lines.

Cash,

I’m guessing on of them wins almost all the arguments. Which one do you think I’m guessing? :o

any info on this qb that the cowboys are rumored to have an interest in , Kasey Printers?

jeff, where did you hear that rumor at?
i think he is a texas native or something played at aa&m or something but was done with college like 3 yrs ago or something, post where you seen that rumor please

Chandus
I don’t know what games you are looking but the one I just watched Bledsoe had pressure all game on him. Did you not see some the hits he took? The line didn’t play much better than it has been. One difference in this game was Bledsoe played better and two the game plan was different. BP knew our D wasn’t going to shut KC down so the offense had to try to put points up.

played at TCU FLA A&M and CFL…..lit up CFL in 04…..differing stats on his height and history……not sure…..does not sound like a fit for the Dallas Cowboys…..unless they are really done with Henson. In college Henson was known for his mobility and athleticism…….so if that was what bill and Jerry wanted they have some of that…….

i ain’t saying they might not give him a try out….and he had a Warren Moon like Canadian experience in 04…….but what would they do then……..somebody going to Europe I reckon…….BP is sticking with Drew Bledsoe til he has a ring. I am guessing they all are getting warm fuzzys about Romo too since they paid him to stick around. JJ has said DB is best qb since Aikman…..DB has shown up on stats and in 4th quarter…….not sure maybe just another long list of our bullpen QBs ever since Troy retired. Have any of these guys ever worked out other than Kurt Warner? I mean a lot of guys struggle behind starters……Farve was in Atlanta…….Delhomme in NO…..who knows about Rivers or Schuab……David Garad looks better than some NFL starters…….but i doubt he comes very cheap……..Flutie Moon and Garcia were all CFL stars that made it in the NFL. Who knows……he was injured this year after stellar 05 season. QBs seem like the biggest crap shoot of all……..worse than DEs even. Leaf, Couch, Toretta, hech Charlie Ward was the best QB in NYC at one point but he was a point guard for the NY Knicks.

Hech is Casey Printers anything more than Patrick Crayton, Hines Ward or Matt Jones…..and why did he leave TCu to go to FL A&M? Anybody see him play in college?

As long as Norv Turner is going to lose his job anyway……hey NORV start Ronald Curry at QB…..he is better than Tuasapaoasoso……..you got Porter and Moss…….and Curry is smart enuff to throw it to either one of them since Kerry won’t. Talk about a guy I would give a shot. Had he not wanted to be Michael Jordan in college Vick would have had some competition in college like he did in high school.

AW:
That’s what I meant, it’s pointless… Count the amount of times Bledsoe counted to 4 or 5 to make the throw in this game and in previous ones and you will find out.

chandus
You are right you don’t make any points ok I meant to say any good points. So I guess you think Bledsoe plays good in every game and the only time he doesn’t is when the line doesn’t play good? BP max protect when he doesn’t think the other team is going to put up many points. He opened it up this game because he knew he had to not because the line was going to play better. Look at the game and tell me how many times Bledsoe got hit.

he could not even hand the ball off to JJ against the GIANTS…their tackels were in the backfield and caused the fumble and td…..that is an offensive line debacle…..no matter who the QB is…matchpoint to Chandus.

Raf,

On the play before the play action pass to Cambell, I like what I saw out of JJ when he barreled into the line down to the one. It is the first time I’ve seen him hit the hole like that, since last year. I think he would have put it in given the chance on the next play.

Sure he said it, but he didn’t cry.