Should The Cowboys Feel Pressure To Perform In The Pre-season?

its still pre-season..
no more injuries though..

with our D shutting down opponents it will be a great year..

But I think the starting offense needs one good score this game. All the talk going around has to have some effect on the attitude and confidence of the players. Whether it is big or small, it has some impact, and one good drive with a red zone touchdown will quiet that, reinforce their confidence, and force us to find other things to talk about. And once they have it, sit Romo and let Kitna and McGee carry the load/risk getting creamed!

I hope Dallas doesn’t. They should feel pressure to fix certain flaws though, like blocking

There’s been a lot of concern about Romo’s health post this upcoming came. The concern is understandable considering the names on the starting OL.

So how are we doing with our OL draft choices? I think we’ve been ok with our top three round OL picks, if we include the ones who got away (e.g. Peterman, Al Johnson). But we’ve been miserable if we put the ones no longer in our roster in the failed pile.

That said, it seems fairly obvious: we need to draft more good, young linemen prospects. That probably means at least two picks within the first three rounds for any two draft years. Two years ago we drafter Brewster. This year we drafted Young in the 6th. Using the above metric, that’s one pick in the first three rounds across two years. Fail.

I do think the primary problem is that we’ve not had enough high OL picks year over year. Brewster, Free, Marten sucking or not is a problem, but its a secondary problem.

Re. Brewster, draft boards had other more highly rated linemen on the board. I recall a few sportscasters giving the Brewster pick a thumbs down at the time. Does it matter if pundits say it’s a bad or reach pick 5 minutes after the card is turned in? Conventional wisdom says no. Who cares what Kiper thinks, right? But I suggest we not dismiss the analysis over the long term. If we constantly make reach picks, I think we will get spottier return on those picks over the long term. I’d love to see us make several OL picks that are applauded by the pundits. On the average, I’d expect better return from those.

For what its worth, the hated Mel Kiper said during draft coverage when we drafted Marten and Free that he didn’t like Marten (a converted TE) emphasizing that Parcells has a fixation on TEs and that he liked Free to become a starter, eventually in the NFL. In that instance, he was spot on.

and extended time for Stephen McGee

No one should be concerned heading into the 2nd preseason game.

So this should be a good test for the team.

That this offense typically had to find its groove. Up until last year this offense was s second half team do we forgert that. Lets hold our horses and remember training camp and all the formations they have In their arsenal

It’s the preseason… Plenty of time to score in the regular season

but not necessary. If you don’t see them do it this week, it’ll be week 1 before you see it. There is no way Garrett opens up against Houston when they play in the regular season and the last week of the preseason is a dress rehearsal sorely for backups.

I’m going with
1) Robert Brewster – he’ll be facing the hardest challenge, early in the game
2) Sean Lee – see if he’s a leading player when on the field
3) Martelus Bennett assuming he’s playing
4) AOA – first action
5) Stephen McGee – should get a lot of game time

Garrett has operated one of the most prolific offenses in the NFL yet still faces doubts regarding his gameplanning and strategic playcalling.

It seems the media focus is always on what is “not” going right, but why can’t we take a step back and look also at what “is” going right? I look around the league, and I think we are in an enviable position. Every team has question marks, but the Cowboys seem to have very few in comparison. The above statement says it all. Our offense has been consistently good (actually great) since Garrett/Romo took over. We had some red zone issues last year due to execution issues, not because of lack of talent. The core group that scored well in previous years is still the same, we just had some mental lapses last year.

Our starting Offense played only 3 series so far in 2 games, they moved the ball well on all 3 series. In contrast, the mighty Saints Offense started with a 3 and out on their first 2 possessions and didn’t score until well into the 2 quarter. Should they be more worried?

We have very good balance on this team, we can win games in many ways. Now that we actually have a “consistent” defense, we won’t need to press anymore on offense. We’re going to have a good year.

These games do not tell us anything nobody goes full speed that is already on the team and starting. Except for the 2nd 3rd and 4th quarters, nobody is really even playing that hard, and those guys are trying to either battle for a spot or will not even be on our team next year.

Good teams want to develope back ups and minimize injuries. They play unknowns. Bad teams need to win for confidence and play their starters longer for reps. They usually win.
Its hard to pick whats better.
 If we were young and rebuilding the the extra games get your starters better and more competitive. If your veteran laden then you go all preseason praying you dont get hurt.
Your perspective comes from what stage your team is in.

we talked about Garret alot of after the Raiders game. For me it was just getting at least ONE score on the books for the offense. For the sake of confidence and to shut up the haters.

But really it just comes down to looking at each individual player.
If every individual player (which is what most players are looking at) are doing well on their own and showing it to the coaches. When it comes time for the regular season to work on winning real games and working together … at least you know what you had because you spent time evaluating them. That goes for the players and the coaches with schemes.

So yeah I would like to see Garret and Romo put some points up early … but at the same time we want them to get the reps in and come out healthy!