Storylines from Sunday

by Dave Halprin on Sep 11, 2006 9:07 AM CDT in Dallas Cowboys News

The Dallas Cowboys shot themselves in the foot on Sunday. Over and over. The lesson never quite sunk in that untimely penalties, poor coverage in the secondary, bad throws and missed blocks, would doom a team to failure. They just kept repeating them over and over.

Mac Engel gives you the specific rundown of some of the glaring errors in this article.

Tim Cowlishaw takes on the bad afternoon of starting QB Drew Bledsoe, then stirs the QB controversy pot.

But here's what you need to know about Parcells. He was asked two questions about Tony Romo - one about whether he thought about playing him Sunday and another about maybe playing him against Washington.

Parcells didn't bristle, didn't snap the way he did when asked about the Cowboys' history of penalty trouble.

He said he didn't think about changing quarterbacks Sunday. He said he didn't think he would change quarterbacks next week. Soft-spoken, matter-of-fact answers.

They were not the answers of a man who is dead set on giving Bledsoe 16 games to show what he can do. They were the answers of a coach struggling to figure out which quarterback gives this team a better chance to win in January, should the Cowboys reach the postseason.

He's stirring up the QB controversy, although to be fair he doesn't expect Parcells to insert Tony Romo this week. I agree, in fact I will guarantee that Romo isn't playing this week. As mad as I am about the loss Sunday, I know that Parcells isn't the kind of coach who will dump his veteran QB after one game to go with what essentially be a rookie in terms of NFL game experience. He's just not going to risk playing the inexperienced Tony Romo. But I will say this, if Bledsoe turns in a string of performances like Sunday, then Romo could get the call. And before the season I wouldn't even concede that point unless Bledsoe was injured.

You can break it down into all its ugly details as to why we lost the game on Sunday. Or you can sum it up in a sentence or two with the big picture. This is a good summation:

After grabbing a 10-0 lead on Julius Jones' 23-yard run and Shaun Suisham's 32-yard field goal in the first quarter, the Cowboys did not record more than one first down on any of their next six possessions.

Six straight possessions of ineptitude.

For all those T.O. haters, where would Dallas have been on Sunday without him? Besides Julius Jones, he was our only offensive weapon of any importance.

Owens led all Cowboys receivers with six catches for 80 yards, including a 21-yarder for a late fourth-quarter touchdown on a play that looked a whole lot like an appetizer, a taste of things to come.

Let's hope so.

Let's hope that, behind the bright smile and diplomatic words he shared postgame that he wasn't really thinking, "What the heck have I got myself into? How are we going to win with this quarterback? And what idiot put together that offensive line?"

If Owens can have this kind of game when Bledsoe is playing like Quasimodo, imagine what he might do when (or if) Bledsoe -- or Tony Romo -- is actually semi-competent.

For another general review of what went wrong, Clarence Hill provides some detail in this article.

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Couldn't agree more

with the T.O. analysis. If Bledsoe can pull his head out of his a$$ and starting playing like he should T.O. will dominate.

by Lobo on Sep 11, 2006 9:45 AM CDT reply actions

Sunday bottom line

Bledsoe has 2-3 of these games a year, we're all aware of what we have at QB. However, despite the three int's and less than stellar play by the O-line, if the 'Boys had a few less penalties they win that game.

Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam

by LRogue on Sep 11, 2006 10:20 AM CDT reply actions

T.O.'s preparation is like no other

It wasn't that long ago that T.O.-haters everywhere were griping that his hamstring injury was keeping him out of camp practice and would hurt his game readiness. T.O. has an amazing conditioning and preparation regime and intelligence that always makes him ready to perform at the highest level. Notice that it wasn't he who made the bonehead offensive penalties when by all rights he could have considering he had the least amount of practice with the offensive unit. The haters will never credit him for anything much less his readiness for and high level of play in the game. But I will. Good work, T.O.!

by CaliforniaT on Sep 11, 2006 10:23 AM CDT reply actions

Gotta Kick 'Em When They're Down

I'll never forget a halftime speech my high school football coach told us in a game where we were leading 13-0.

We were dominating time of possession and yardage, but only had a TD and two FGs to show for it.

He ranted and raved about how if we didn't "put 'em away," and we let them hang around, we were gonna be in for a dogfight.

He completed his spiel by screaming "so it's time to go for the jugular." "Let's kill 'em, put 'em out of their misery. Turn this into a rout. We got 'em by the balls, fellas -- now let's squeeze!"

After me and the other LBs smirked about his choice of metaphors, dang if we didn't respond to his pep talk and go out there, make plays and destroy them by scoring 28 unanswered points in the second half.

On defense, he had us blitz more in the second half. We alternated sending an extra LB to blitz. One time a corner blitzed. Another time we ran a safety blitz. Our D-linemen also ran a few stunts here and there. We kept them off balance and put 'em away in the second half.

Our offense kept running up the middle, but we ran more play action deep posts, some crossing patterns that caught them off guard. Then we would go back to pounding our tailback between the tackles for huge runs -- and we padded our lead all the way to a 41-0 destruction.

I agree with someone's assessment yesterday about Big Bill going conservative, and I think that played a part in our loss yesterday.

The playcalling on both sides of the ball was very stale and ineffective -- after the 10-0 lead.

We've got to get TO as many touches as possible on "O." He's a playmaker. Find a way to get it in his hands early and often. Then do the same with TG. Then, keep 'em off balance with JJ in the trenches. Use the pass to set up the run.

Maybe get Drew rolling out a few more times.

And we've got to add more selective and creative blitzes on "D."

Maybe take a page out of Pittsburgh's defensive schemes.

I know it's very early in the season, but I hope that this loss doesn't end up being the one game that keeps us from getting into the playoffs.

And I don't even wanna get into the kicking woes.

Man, that game left a bad taste in my mouth.

I wanna a tasty win vs da Skins in week 2 to make up for yesterday's debacle.

Sorry 'bout the lengthy post.

I'm out.

"WHEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!" - Ric Flair

by kcbrett5 on Sep 11, 2006 3:53 PM CDT reply actions

here's the quote..

from Cowlishaw from that article that I agree with

"If the Cowboys are going to be forced to live with quarterback mistakes on a regular basis, better to do it with the player who is growing than the 14th-year veteran who's looking for one final shot at glory."

Let's face it, our offensive line isn't going to be that much improved from last year, a little, but not a whole lot. That means Bledsoe will get pressured this season, probably every single game, except maybe really bad defenses.

The point is he will throw INTs facing pressure so like Cowlishaw said, why have an aging vet make the mistakes instead of the inexperienced guy who needs experience, because if Bledsoe continues to make these mistakes, we're not going to the SB anyway.

"They're going to leave me over here by myself and thats when I'm gonna sink my fangs into them." - Terry Glenn

by Terry on Sep 11, 2006 4:42 PM CDT reply actions