FanPost

Brian Waters Will Help DeMarco Murray Shut Terrell Davis the (bleep) Up


Perhaps this is bit premature, with the final confirmation from Dallas not made, but Brian Waters as the new starting right guard changes everything.

For a couple of years now, the rest of the NFC East hasn't had to play championship-quality defense against Dallas, because they could count on Dallas to do that for them. What's more effective at killing a drive than self inflicted, pre- snap penalties, whiffed blocks and centers that block like they're on skates? Who needs a defense when the opposing offense can't run the ball and self-destructs in the red zone?

And who needs a decent secondary against an offensive line that can't pass protect because the center of the line is a revolving door?

It would appear that those days are over. If Waters can manage to round into shape quickly and stay healthy throughout the year, Dallas will finally unleash all of its weapons.

And first on that list, needs to be DeMarco Murray. With the threat of a dangerous runner, Garret's entire playbook opens up for the receivers. Play action actually works. Manageable downs and distances happen. Drives can move along without extraordinary heroics and Houdini work by Romo.

And perhaps most importantly, DeMarco Murray can finally show everyone that his first few games as a starter were not a fluke.

What is most significant about the Waters signing is that it was the last piece of a campaign to upgrade the quality of blocking throughout the offense. Here are the multiple steps that have been enacted, some large, some small:

  • Signing Ronald Leary last summer and developing him
  • Drafting Travis Frederick
  • Bringing in numerous tight ends, through the draft and free agency
  • Attempting to sign Brandon Moore who backed out
  • Pretending that it wasn't a massive crotch kick that Moore backed out
  • Choosing, very wisely, to keep TE Andre Smith over Dante Rosario
  • Signing Brian Waters (fingers crossed)Waters won't play on Sunday, because there is nothing you can do at 24 Hour Fitness that prepares you for NFL defensive linemen. Which means that the vast majority of running plays will be going to the left, where Tyron Smith and Ronald Leary have shown the ability to open holes. And maybe, if they can pull effectively and make up for Bernedeaux's deficiencies, a few plays will go to the right.
But once Waters is in the lineup, Dallas will be far less predictable in the run game.
All of this should lead to a very potent offense with a dramatically improved running game. Terrell Davis recently opined that DeMarco Murray is "consistently inconsistent", "leaves yards on the field" and "runs to darkness". To support this, he played one clip where Murray's jump cut took him too close to a defender that was being partially blocked. As a result, Murray only got about six yards when he might have gotten 20 or more.
But it was one clip of film to support the trashing of a fellow running back on NFL Network for spurious reasons.
Murray already runs with a chip on his shoulder--to daylight by the way--but now that he has been benched once in preseason and called out by Terrell Davis, I can not wait to see what he does with blockers in front who do their jobs.
Murray, no doubt, has a long list of critics he intends to silence and now he has the blockers to let him get to work.

Another user-created commentary provided by a BTB reader.