I can speak as a Witten fantasy owner… I was really sweating the decision, and two hours before gametime I actually had Zach Miller starting for me. Then the news came down that Witten would play, and I showed no hesitation in making the switch. Hopefully, Witten’s injury only makes him stronger, a la Obi-Wan.

I have Witten on my fantasy team … but thought he might get pulled early, so I went with Pettigrew.

That worked out REALLY well.

I love MBIII promising to have the D’s backs a few games ago. Best evidence that Jerry’s decision to clean house is paying off so far.

I actually do think the Cowboys are kind of flying under the radar. Maybe it’s because the press still isn’t taking them that seriously, at least until they prove they won’t have another less-than-stellar December. I don’t care; I like the idea of the Cowboys doing their business quietly.

If they win the next 2 the will def not be under the radar.

Asomugha always lines up on the right, instead of shadowing one receiver. Miles beat him once on his first play when the S bit underneath, but for the rest of the day they kept Miles away from him, and Roy had to deal with him. So I’ll kind of give him a pass this time.

His first catch, his comeback on the sidelines, was against Asomugha. But on his first target (he was actually targeted 4 times I think) he should have come back to the ball and not let the S get up behind him. And then later he let the other CB get inside of him on a slant that nearly resulted in an INT. So definitely a lot to be desired. But he got open in the end zone against an inferior CB when it counted, and it is understandable he didn’t get throw at a lot more because Asomugha was on him most of the day.

I think everyone’s pretty much on the same page that this team needs the big play. Given the issues with penalties and occasional dropped passes or accuracy issues from Romo, this is not a team that will put together 10+ play drives on a regular basis. I’m not trying to criticize— that’s just the nature of this team, and that’s fine. And it’s not realistic to expect the penalties and drops and whatever else to go away, since they’ve been here for 4+ years. Those are the weak spots of this team, which they make up for by doing some other things very well.

So I think we agree that we need the big play as a team, and that without it our offense will sputter. However, as Fish notes above, big plays don’t only have to be big pass plays. I absolutely LOVE to see our run game contributing big plays as well, because if your OL can seal the lanes and your RBs can bust some tackles, that to me seems harder to gameplan for than a passing game big play, which opponents can take away by bracketing Miles Austin (see Green Bay game). Having both types of big play clicking will make us a more effective offense against top-tier defenses.

And as much as Raf may hammer me for attributing our big play success to the RBs and not the OL, having healthy, explosive RBs is obviously a big part of the equation. A lesser back like Matt Forte does not make that 46 yard TD run that Felix did, where he had to break 2 tackles. Of course I realize the OL is HUGELY important to our run game, and their improved blocking on Thursday led to many of our big runs. This is definitely the case, and we will go only as far as our guys up front allow us to go.

But it is those 1-2 broken tackles by a talented RB that turn a well-blocked 8 yard run into an explosive 40+ yarder. I think Choice and Felix are capable of doing that now. And I think Marion’s getting there. He’s clearly still a bit dinged up, but to me he looked better getting limited snaps on Thursday. We’ll see how he does going forward with a little more rest.

Austin is #1 quality for sure, now we’ll see if he is a star #1 or not. If you give a #1 reciever single coverage he should beat it, and he did as he should have. But i think it’s safe to say that’s the last single coverage he’ll see this year…. at least on a consistent basis. Now the question is can he consistently beat double coverage, that’s where TO’s decline has showed, he can no longer beat the press and double coverage takes him out of the game. If Austin can beat double coverage, and garrett can shake him loose, this team should have a lot better december, and Austin will be up there with the Randy Mosses. I definitely, agree with FISH Austin must be the focal point of the offense as far as WRs go. His big play ability after the catch is needed for this team to get where we want it to go.

Totally agree with the points made. And as much as Folk has been having his struggles the special teams as a whole have been great. You don’t hear the same talk as last year about them giving up the big return. We have come to expect good special teams play and that tackle by Watkins, what was that all about. When have you see a Cowboys special team throw people around like that. Do you have a little dessert to share with them.

I enjoy your style Fish

A lot of analysts and fans don’t think the Cowboys will hold on to win their division, and some don’t even think they’ll make the playoffs. Compare that to the other 3 division leaders in the NFC, who are basically locked into their spot already.

which puts us at 11-5 for the season, that puts us in great shape against our division. I hate projecting what a record will be, but in this case it’s a function of looking at how they may fare the rest of the season. So the question then becomes can the Eagles go 5-1 in their last 6? Can the Giants go 5-0? I’m not sure in either case because they both also have tough schedules. The difficult part here is can the Cowboys close out the season 3-2? All they can really control is what they do anyway, so they just plain have to play well, and the playoffs will take care of itself.

I really don’t think that’s unreasonable. This is not last year’s team, or the year before that, or any other year. This is this year’s team, and I see a different team out there. This team to me has even more potential than the 2007 team. The Cowboys and the fans alike thought we were going to cake-walk through the 2007 playoffs. Big mistake to think like that. No, this team is taking nothing for granted, and therefore I think they’ll go at least 3-2 to close out the season. They’re taking it one game at a time, and putting everything they have into each and every game. This is what wins in December and January.

They have to score more TD’s!

They have the numbers showing the ability to move the ball thru the air and on the ground. But the points are below what you would expect. A little bit due to Folk’s sophmore slump, but mainly the lack of TD’s. Probably tied into the biggest problems, turnovers and penalties. Iron that out, and boom, right up there with MIN and NO.