If you agree to all the pundits, the guy sitting next to you at the sports bar and even a few of your fellow Cowboy's fans...The Cowboy's are about as promising as our stock portfolios. There seems to be a lot of discussion about all the the wrong and the right has gone right out the window. Come on now, I know the Giant's game was a crushing blow to our self confidence..believe me; but all is not lost. It is very clear that the team has improved in areas of the game that matter if you are expecting to beat teams in the post season...I'll tell you why...

THE BOYS OFFENSE.

Total Offense : 3rd in the league.  Averaging 7.3 Per play.5 Rushing TDs and 4 Passing TDs
Less than 10 yards per game behind the "explosive" New Orleans offense all the pundits are slobbering over

Total Rushing: 1st in the League Averaging 6.8 yards per attempt
23 yards more on the ground per game than the #2 team.  What are the keys to victory that have been mentioned since the beginning of time..? Run the ball and Stop the Run. Though we've had a decent running game in the past two years..this year... We're running the rock and doing it well. (one 200+ yard game was against the "best defense front 7 in the league")

Total Passing: 14th in the league
Is this really so terrible? We've played two teams in a row that play 2 deep safety defenses. That defense takes away the deep over the top throws on a lot of plays; but, it opens up the close-range throws to backs and tight ends. We really slashed the Bucs in the passing game so teams with better secondaries (Giants, Panthers) game planned to take this away. We then responded by gashing them for over 200 yards both times.

Points: 5th in the league 28.7 Points per game

Nearly 29 points a game when 1/3 of those stats are against the vaunted Giant's D is pretty good I'd say.

 

 The Offensive Line:

The line has only allowed 3 sacks and the running game has looked dominant for 2 games now. Keeping Romo upright and cutting big holes is all those men are supposed to do and very rarely have they not come through this season. This is the biggest improvement on the team..they really seem to be finally healthy and doing a great job, even against speed rushers that gave them a lot of trouble in the past.

 

THE COWBOYS DEFENSE.

Rushing Defense: 17th in the league

This is not that great. But..it has been improving. The got gashed hard for 174 yards on the ground in Tampa bay. Wade vowed to fix it by getting guys to understand gap responsibilities in run blitzing and it appears that he has. Against the Giants the D gave up 97 Yards to the potent Bradshaw/Jacobs combo. Then 73 yards to the Panthers. This is the kind of improvement you're supposed to make as the season progresses.

 

Passing Defense: 27th in the league

They got pretty beat up by the pass in the Giants game, They also didn't exactly shut down Byron Leftwich in Tampa. But, the team wasn't getting any pass rush. It is very difficult for DBs to cover for 5 - 10 seconds without someone getting open. As the pass rush improves (and it will...boys were 3rd in sacks in '07 and 1st in sacks in '08) so will the coverage. The cowboys held Carolina to just 220 yards passing while carolina basically abandoned the run game.

Total thoughts on the defense:
We came into the season flat, there is no doubt. Wade made it clear after the Tampa game that he hadn't worked on blitzing and heavy hitting with his guys in camp very much because he knew they could do it (from last year i suppose) . He wanted to have a healthy team on both sides of the ball to start the season. This is not exactly what a football fan wants to hear in the macho "punch em the mouth" days. But, honestly it is very smart. Last year was really hampered by injuries. Wade had faith the boys could pick up the physicality and blitz pressure and was willing to let his guys come out slightly ill prepared on that front. Ultimately he traded physical health for mental sharpness on the defensive side. As the season progresses this will improve. If there is one thing Wade has been able to do in all of his tenure's... it has been create a competitive defense. My biggest problem with this unit is very simple.... THE TACKLING...no more Roy Williams tackles plllllleeeeeease....

The SPECIAL TEAMS And I do mean special
I'm not going to overload you with stats here because I believe if you have been a fan over the past few years you don't need them. There is so much improvement here (besides Folk's missed field goal Monday...but that's besides the point) on coverage, touchbacks and returns that I really can't even contain my joy. A blocked field goal?!?! Good coverage on almost every return? This has been a sore spot for this team for the past 2 or 3 years. It is always a hurdle the cowboys have to overcome. It was almost never a positive in any game and simply not making a major mistake was about the best you could hope for.  Now it really is an asset. People tend to severely underestimate the field position battle and how much it helps both your defense and your offense but being on the right side of the special teams battle fields pretty foreign. Different is good in this case.






CONCLUSION?? There is none. Unfortunately this is week 4 in a 16 week NFL season and even with all of these points being made about what The Cowboys have done well, it really doesn't matter. The boys still have a lot of glaring defensive weaknesses that definitely need to improve if they wan't to even be in the Wild Card Hunt. But, Let this remind you that hope is on the horizon. I'm not speaking as a Cowboy's Homer here, but as a student of Statistics (and as an observer of our special teams) . They don't lie. There is proof that the 'boys are doing some things extremely well and the things they have done poorly have improved in the following weeks. Speaking of stats.. We lost on the last play of the game to apparently one of the top 3 teams in the league (depending on what website you're at)  while having a -4 turnover differential. That should have been a blowout their way with all of those interceptions but it was never close. If anything,that was much closer to being a Cowboys blowout than a giant's. If romo doesn't miss a safety or felix doesn't cough it up this was almost certainly a win. 
      It isn't all sunshine and daisies and it doesn't appear the cowboys are hitting on all cylinders, at all times and at every facet of the game. But, what team is? Is there really any team out there that is looking dominant, unbeatable, a lock for a superbowl run or as My Grandfather used to say "The bee's knees!' ? The answer is no. There are a lot of teams trying to improve and the Cowboys are no different. But lets not let the anguish of a Cowboys home/new stadium opener loss against the Giants make us get too glum. There is a lot of upside to this team and the defensive struggles should be corrected under Wade.
       I'm not saying they are going to rocket up to the elite of the league and make a deep playoff run in week 4, but you really can't ignore key indicators in the name of emotion...and some of the key indicators for playoff success look very good and even the dark spots have been improving...


Keep the faith my friends...