Watkins will almost assuredly get cut if any of our new safeties show anything at all. Ellis is less of a sure thing because we would be depending on two fourth round picks to potentially play pretty significant downs this year, and the transition from a collegiate 4-3 DE to a pro 3-4 OLB is one of the hardest ones to make. Now, if the team can get a solid 3-4 OLB with pro experience, then I doubt they will hesitate to cut a guy whose physical skills are clearly slipping, and whose whining skills are only getting stronger.

both Butler and B Williams need to shine in camp and convince the coaches they’re the real deal.

Jerry needs to call up Russ Brandon and ask him if he needs an OLB to complement T.O. on the defensive side of the ball. But since Ellis isn’t quite as disruptive as T.O., he needs to get a 7th rounder for him.

Then again, as a friend of mine pointed out to me, Romo was fumbling at the slightest of hits last year. Call him “Glass Hands” Romo, if you like. Other QBs — our very own Brad Johnson — didn’t fumble just because they got hit.

I’m not saying Romo fumbles every time, but it’s way too much and many times on hits that shouldn’t result in fumbles. Gotta clean that up.

btw, that movie sucked so bad

when you have a franchise qb to protect.

Crap, I had no idea he was that far ahead of the pack.

Everyone besides Moore was gone then I wanted him, its too bad we didn’t select him. Its not the end of the world that we didn’t but we mostly wanted to upgrade LG which he could have or Gurode could have moved back there with Unger takin over Center

is that Seattle traded up into the 49 slot to pick Unger. So assuming we had perfect knowledge this were to occur, we would have had to trade up to at least the 48th pick, which would cost a mid-5th rounder. In all liklihood, we would not have had perfect knowledge of this and would have had to trade up further than that, possibly losing a 4th rounder.

Second, Unger, while good, would not have started for the Cowboys. He is young, doesn’t know the pass protection schemes and will have to transition, as the Ducks played a spread offense. While I think he will be a good player, he is definately not a sure thing and is probably a couple of years from being able to start.

He doesn’t make a ton of mistakes, but he doesn’t make a ton of plays either. I personally don’t think he has much of a chance of beating out Sensabaugh this year. He could probably play well enough to keep Jerry from overpaying Sensabaugh after this season though.

Terry will put us on his Death List 5, but amen to that. We’ve seen the unheralded free agent transform into a golden-armed QB, but we haven’t seen the fuzzy-cheeked kid turn into a man. We love Romo when he’s at his fun-loving best, mimicing referees and jumping into Flozell’s arms, but the sobbing pouteybaby who sits on the sidelines with his head down is no longer acceptable. People lead through different philosophies, but they lead nonetheless. Sullen Romo is a boy praying for his coach to sit next to him on the bench, put his arm around him and tell him he’s a special kid. That ain’t happening in the NFL.

It really has to do with when the penalties are commited. A false start on 1st and 10 hurts but not as bad as a false start on 3 and 1. Roughing the passer doesn’t hurt as much on 1st and 10 from the opponents 10, but it kills your defense when it is 3rd and 10 from the fifty. The penalties that hurt are the “drive killer/extenders” that happen during a game. Those are the penalties that the Pop Warner coaches are adamant about. That is why they want you to focus on commiting no penalties at all. If you don’t commit any penalties you can’t commit a drive killer/extender.

I looked into the subject decades ago, and commented on this in late March.

Raf’s basic point is sound that stupid play kills a team, but one needs to place that in perspective that taken as a whole, more penalties do not equate to a bad team.

Last year he was playing with a bad wing, but the year before that he was owning some of the super quick guys like Trent Cole.

If you’re not healthy in the NFL and you play in the NFC East, guys will get the better of you. This “he’s declining” thing is overblown. Lets see how he plays if healthy all year.

I only counted the defensive penalties that extended the drive of the oppositon IF that drive ended with a score, but not in the case where it ended with a punt or turnover.

Here’s the list:

Scandrick – 3rd & 5 @ CLE 42 (1st Q) – illegal use of hands – the pass was incomplete, but because CLE got a first down they continued to drive instead of punt; 14 plays later Anderson to Winslow TD. We still WON the game.

Pacman – 3rd & 3 @ DAL 3 (2nd Q) – pass interference (2 yards / half distance to goal) – incomplete pass may have lead to a FG or CLE could have attempted a touchdown on 4th down? – however, CLE got a first down and 2 plays later Anderson to Winslow TD. This was on the same CLE drive as Scandrick’s penalty. Scandrick MAY HAVE cost us 7 points; Pacman MAY HAVE cost us 4 points. DAL WON the game 28 to 10.

Defense – 3rd & 2 @ DAL 31 (4th Q) – 12 men on the field (who’s fault?) – Portis was tackled by Ware for no gain, but the penalty gave WAS a first down. 7 plays later Suisham kicked a 29 FG. Without the penalty the FG attempt would have been for 48 yards instead of 29 yards. Suisham may have been good from 48, too, I don’t know? There’s an argument that this penalty COULD HAVE lost the game because we only lost by 2; WAS 26 – DAL 24

Ellis – 3rd & 2 @ DAL 2 (1st Q) – defensive holding – the pass was incomplete, setting up 4th down at the 2, perhaps STL goes for the FG or TD on 4th?, but instead they got a first down on the 1 yard line and score a TD the next play, going up 21 to 7. We LOST the game by 20; STL 34 – DAL 14

Ware – 3rd & 4 @ DAL 46 (1st Q) – offsides – Dunn had been stopped for a 1 yard gain by James, setting up a punt, but the penalty by Ware gave TB a first down at DAL 41. Six plays later Bryant kicked a 36 yard FG and TB went up 6 to 0. DAL won the game by 4. DAL 13 – TB 9.

Ware – 3rd & 3 @ BAL 36 (1st Q) – offsides – the play was an INC pass, setting up 4th & 3 and a punt. After the penalty, BAL had 1st down on their 41. Nine plays later Stover kicked 26 yard FG for a score of BAL 3 DAL 7. One of those 9 plays was a penalty on K. Davis of pass interference for 21 yards giving BAL the ball at the DAL 8. The defense held for 3 plays (thanks to James, Spears, and Newman) and BAL kicked the FG. Final Score: BAL 33 – DAL 24

Newman – 3rd & 9 @ DAL 13 (2nd Q) – late hit – gave PHI the ball at the 1 yard line. Next play was a TD and PHI goes up 24 to 3. Final Score: I’m trying to forget this game, look it up yourself :)

It is a little easier to see a 3rd down penalty costing your team points if it helps to sustain the opponent’s drive, but a 1st or 2nd down penalty that robs you of yardage and momentum and forces you to punt actually does the same injustice.

What about Offensive penalties that ended our drive and cost us points?

I couldn’t find any offensive penalty that you could actually say cost us points, except maybe this one….

Bennett – 4th & 1 @ STL 24 (3rd Q) – false start – the DAL offense was in run formation to attempt to gain a first down on 4th and 1. After Bennett was penalized for false start, we had 4th & 6 from the 29. Folk’s 46 yard FG attempt was wide right. We don’t really know what would have happened if Bennett had not drawn the penalty? We could have got a first down. If stopped for no gain, the FG attempt would have been 41 yards. We lost the game by 20 points anyway.

Cost us a game and McBriar.