The In-Person Analysis

[Promoted from the diaries. An excellent write-up of attending the game on Sunday by BTB-regular Jordan.]

Jordan's post:

Man it feels good to be 4-0!

I attended my second game of the year on Sunday so I decided I would give you an idea of what it was like inside the stadium.  I really won't be doing too much analysis, whereas it is much easier to tell what's going on from an HDTV.  My goal here is to capture some of the excitement I experienced and transmit it via our wonderful blog.

Traffic is always terrible getting to Texas Stadium.  It takes me up to an hour sometimes and I live like 5 miles away.  

My buddies an I did it big this time, we went up there 12 deep and brought a keg.  Best Idea Ever.  

After many beers we began the stroll up to the stadium.  For anybody that has been to a home game and parked in the poor man's parking, you know about how long of a walk it is.  Unfortunately, there weren't very many people that were Ram's fans to heckle, but we made the most of it by heckling those always confusing fans wearing a jersey that have no affiliation with the game at hand besides the fact that the team it represents plays the sport of football.  The most interesting jerseys we saw were: Dan Marino, Jack Lambert, Matt Linert, Kevin Barlow (49ers edition), and get this, Ryan Leaf!! I was proudly wearing my new Marion Barber jersey. (side bar for Jersey aficionados: Mitchell and Ness has finally announced some Cowboys throwbacks.  I think old school Staubach and Dorsett along with 94 double star Aikman, Irvin and Emitt)

Our seats were in section 36 which is right behind the endzone.  When the heralded high snap play occurred, the ball was bouncing right to me and I felt my stomach churn as panic begin to take hold  You guys know the rest but oh my lord was it nerve-racking!  Sitting in the endzone is really cool because you get a perfect view of the holes and all of the offensive line play.  When Romo ran in the touchdown, I saw a ray of light right through the defense.  It was if I could see what he saw.  On the other hand it sucks because it always seems like the action is on the other side of the field.

Of all the games I have been to, I have never seen the home crowd in force like it was yesterday.  Almost every person was a Cowboy's fan.  There was a very knowledgeable Rams fan right behind me, so we were able to provide roster info to each other periodically through the game.

One of my goals as a diehard fan is to get the fans more involved in the game.  Places like Kansas City and Seattle are known for being hellacious places to go because of the crowd noise, so why not Dallas.  Granted, we haven't had the best few years recently and I know the crowd will come when the Super Bowls do, but I still find no reason to be sitting down silent during a third down while we are on defense.  The crowd can be such an asset.   I will say this though:  a guy in an authentic Keith Davis Jersey helped me get the crowd going on the down right before Bulger threw the pick to Hamlin.  Yep I'll take credit for that!

Some random thoughts on the Game:

I screamed out "McBriar for MVP" right before Dante Hall ran it back for the TD.

I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about the roster, but I admit: I didn't know Ellis was playing, and when he got a sack I was heard asking "who the hell is 98?"

Romo chants dominated the 3rd and 4th quarter.

I really think this defense is underrated.  I don't see the problems that people have labeled us to have.

Our D-line creates havoc.

Special teams seems to be our worst problem.  Like Grizz has noted, we sat through tons of special teams play in training camp.  We should be much better than we are.

Offensive points scored seem to hover in the mid 30's.

Defensive points allowed keep dwindling and dwindling.

Well that's all for this game.  I'll post another in-stadium recap after the Pats game.