Cowboys vs. Texans: What They're Saying

Time for “What They’re Saying” after the Dallas Cowboys beat the Houston Texans in a preseason game.

First up is a scary little piece from DallasCowboys.com about Kyle Kosier’s injury

The Cowboys trainers indicated even if the MRI does not reveal a torn ligament, which obviously would be a serious blow to the stability of the offensive line, Kosier likely at least sprained the ligaments badly enough to sideline him for a couple of weeks.

 

Not good. Of all the injuries, this one has me worried the most. Even though Kosier is on the bottom of the totem pole in terms of our starting line, he is heads-and-shoulders above Joe Berger, Cory Proctor and James Marten. It looks like Berger will get the first shot at any time missed by Kosier and if this is a long-term injury, we are going to suffer from the drop-off.

There was quite a bit of criticism about the way the Cowboys were playing in the preseason, but Wade thinks this was the game that counts and the Cowboys did what they needed to do.

"I feel good about where we are," Phillips said. "It was one of those games that you needed to turn it on. I think everybody felt that – even the novices that don't know as much as coaches do. I thought everyone was right on. We needed to be able to turn it on, and I think we did."

Romo was almost perfect on the evening save for his overthrow of T.O. in the endzone and his brain-cramp interception in the endzone. 

"I was trying to bait the guy a little bit and he did a great job," Romo said of trying to force the ball to tight end Tony Curtis on the run, leading to the interception. "I've just got to put it out in front."

 

Yeah, put it out front by five yards or so and safely out of bounds. Curtis was covered, Tony.

Many were disappointed that we didn’t see Felix Jones in the first half with all the starters, but Wade wanted to get MB3 some work.

"We were in a rhythm and we wanted to see Barber get some work in," Phillips explained. "He needed to carry the ball some. If you put Felix in you're going to share it a little bit and we really didn't need that this game. We'll need it during the regular season, certainly."

Nice to hear it’s just a preseason thing and when it counts, El Gato will be mixing it up with the starting offense.

El Gato wasn’t happy with his own performance.

"This wasn't my best game tonight at all," said Jones, who doesn't seem to get too excited about his big plays, therefore it wasn't a surprise that he kept an even keel when asked about his off night. "But I'll be fine. This isn't the type of game I want to play. I need to get better all the time. You're always going to try to do that. So I'm just going to go back and look at the film and correct my mistakes."

I noted last night that they used Jones as a more conventional RB than what we’d see in the regular season and Jason Garrett confirms that’s the case.

"Right now, we're just trying to be a little more traditional with our personnel," offensive coordinator Jason Garrett said. "We want to play Marion in a traditional set with a fullback. And the same with Felix. That's the way we're trying to do it right now."

OK, no one has been more critical of Marcus Spears than me. I’ve wanted Jay Ratliff to take over at DE and move Spears to second string. Well, I’m here to tell you – If Spears plays the regular season like he has the first three preseason games, then I’ll totally recant that statement and sing the praises of Spears. The guy has been phenomenal so far – could it be the threat of less playing time that has him motivated?

"If it looks like that, it's because I've been real focused on getting off the ball fast," Spears said of possibly being motivated by the threat of reduced playing time. "I think I've put a lot of emphasis on playing technique and being in the right places all the time since I got here. My mentality is to stay within the defense but try to get in the way and create a mess in the backfield more than usual."

Everybody seems to think Isaiah Stanback’s injury isn’t too bad, including Stanback.

"It's one of those things that happens," Stanback said. "It should be all right, though. It was a lot worse last year."

Pat Watkins didn’t like the penalty called on him for pass interference.

"It was bull," Watkins said. "I thought it was ticky-tack."

Cricket Anderson had a nice game including a good catch-and-run and some powerful lead blocks.

"I've got hands," Anderson joked. "Our offense is crazy. Sometimes they'll have me go in motion all the way out. I've got to work on my speed, though. You saw I got caught from behind on that catch."

Just keep blocking Cricket and we’ll love ya.