Dallas Cowboys Nation

Monthly Archives: September 2008

Cowboys and Texans Rivarly!! HUH!

Now for most teams the object is to win A Championship, but for the Cowboys expectations have always been of a higher standard, and that standard is to become the best and stay there for as long as possible! This is why you will not see them be a one hit wonder. There is a certain pride that comes with wearing the star, and cheering the star. This team becomes a part of you, a part of who you are.
I was born and raised in Arlington, Texas (the new home of the Cowboys) my parents were born and raised there as well. My family has been Cowboy fans since their inception. My earliest memories are of family get together’s playing football in the back yard at my grandparents home until it was time for the Cowboys to come on, then all of us piling into the living room and watching the game. I remember the intensity at which my uncles and grandfather had for the Cowboys. I now live in Houston, Texas and I understand that as a person of this community I should support my local teams, and all I can say is that I support them as much as I can. The extent of my support is well let’s say extremely minimal. I watch them when the Cowboys are not on, and if I was forced to pick another team to do well it would be the Texans. In most areas this would not be an issue, but here there seems to be a lot of animosity towards Cowboys fans. Here in Houston we are perceived as being arrogant, egotistical, conceited and just overall hated. Now I am not a person who really cares what anyone has to say about me, but this has been bugging me since I moved here in ’05.
The majority of this hatred towards Cowboys fans has not come from people I associate with; it is primarily pushed along by the Houston media (Ted DeLuca & John Lopez). These clowns down here like to build this big rivalry between the Cowboys and Texans, this I do not understand and never will. For starters they play in two completely different leagues, they have only played each other in one regular season game (yes I know the Cowboys lost), and the last time I checked being 300 miles apart is not the dominating factor in what makes a rivalry! Now I understand that the Cowboys have an extreme amount of bandwagon fans, most teams that are any good have this, but a large portion of Cowboys fans have been fans for a long time and will continue to be there.
So as I have thought about why we are perceived this way, the only thing that makes sense to me is that most of us were born and raised with a fierce devotion for the Cowboys. When I say that I am talking about when times are rough and the boy’s are not playing well we tend to do one of two things: one we get very angry with them and express that anger vocally or two we clam up and become silent. The second of these two things is what I tend to do, and I do this not because I do not care but because I care too much. In the same aspect we are perceived this way because when they are winning we tend to be very vocal about that as well. This is what people cannot stand, but winning is all we care about. We do not care how they play the game it is all about whether they win or lose!
In my three years here in Houston I have created my own perception of the Texans Fans and media, and I must tell you it is not a good perception. They always seem to have an excuse as to why they are not winning, and they are very ho hum about where they stand. For the first 2 years I was here it was all David Carr’s fault ( granted he was not very good) but this guy got his head kicked in for the entire time he was here. He never once had an even average offensive line, but I never heard him complain, and since he has left all I have heard about is how bad he was! Come on! How about you spread the blame around! The Cowboys have had some piss poor quarterbacks in their time, but generally speaking those quarterbacks did not have much around them either, this is what’s different, I and we see the team as a whole, they seem to want to lay blame on one person. The Ho hum perception is what kills me, in Dallas when the Cowboys are sucking it up they get killed by the fans and media alike, here it is like “ oh well the Texans got beat again who cares” I do not understand this.
If I could tell all of Houston one thing it would be this, If you all spent more time worrying about your own damn team and less time worrying about Dallas fans and the Dallas Cowboys you may actually get somewhere! I know none of what I have written here today will have any impact on this city or its media, and I am o.k. with that! I just needed to get this off my chest!

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Week 3 Defensive Recap vs Packers


Evidently some of the things I covered on last weeks game Brian Stewart covered with the defense this week. Notice I said “Some of the things”, tackling is still an issue, but intensity and up the middle pressure were there this week. This game essentially came down to the better team won, as Green Bay was just not good enough to stay in the game.
D-Line:
Green Bay’s game plan was to try to get Dallas spread out and then run, not only did this not work but it allowed the Boys to dictate the rest of the game, forcing the Packers to give up on the run. The reason this happened was because of the stellar play of the D-Line. Jay Ratliff, Marcus Spears, and Chris Canty spent most of the night either in the backfield or stringing the play out until D-Ware, Zach Thomas, Bradie James, and Greg Ellis could get there. Outstanding job gentlemen!
Linebackers:
I don’t know if the rest of you noticed or not but Bradie James FINALLY showed up! After missing in action for the first two games, Bradie was very active in this game. You can add Aaron Rodgers to the list of quarterbacks that do not want to see D-Ware anytime soon! This guy continues to get better every week, as he does not seem to care how many men you put on him he still goes where ever he wants. Greg Ellis well all I can say is I am ready for Anthony Spencer to get healthy and get back to playing. As each passing week goes by I see a trend happening with Greg, he is slower to the play and when he does get there he cannot finish. I think he has been hanging out with Roy Willy too much. Zach Thomas or otherwise known as Mr. Consistency continues his solid play.
Secondary: It was very evident that the game plan here was to give the Packers the short stuff and force Rodgers to make the right reads, this might have worked out for the Packers had Rodgers not had to run all night long. When he took the short route there was always someone there to TACKLE the receiver immediately! That’s right I said it the secondary made tackles. I just thought of the reason I could say that this week, ROY WILLY was not on the field! It was so nice to watch a game and not have to worry with what the DIRTY SOONER was doing. Adam Jones gets better and better every week. T-New played better this week as he continues to get closer to one hundred percent. Anthony Henry got the first two sacks of his career in this game and played very good man defense.

Well the dreaded Pork Skins come to town this week and hopefully the Boys can put a Texas size ass whooping on the Jason Taylor less skins. So far so good as they have taken care of business against two of the top teams in the league (Eagles & Packers). I am not a big fan of predictions but I believe this team will go into the bye week undefeated at 8 and 0!

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COWBOYS vs. packers—Offesnsive Recap

First things First…..Romo, you played like a big steaming pile of SHIT! Romo was very fortunate that he had guys like Marion and Felix on Sunday night. I found myself jumping up and down, like a little kid who has to pee!… Romo please JUST THROW THE DAMN BALL. OK enough bashing because Romo did make some good plays he was 17 of 30 for 260 yards…one TD and one stupid ass interception. Romo made a great read on the Miles Austin TD, he scrambled up into the pocket and and made a pretty athletic move to hurdle a guy and hit Austin for a 52 yard TD. I think Romo will continue to get better and hopefully eliminate the stupid turnovers.
Running Game:
Marion had another great night against the Pack… anytime you can get 142 yards on a defense you know your running game is pretty good. Felix Jones is possibly the fastest human on earth. Sorry Usain Bolt, your not shit unless you can run that fast in full pads with a football. Felix is turning out to be a great NFL player, having scored a TD in all 3 of his starts. One thing I really focused on during this game was watching the run blocking all the way around. Jason Witten man-handled the Packers D-line and Linebackers, (cough) AJ Hawk is a pussy! (cough). The big guys up front had another good game, manufacturing running lanes for Marion and Felix.

Passing Game:
WHAT THE HELL WAS PATRICK CRAYTON THROWING THE BALL FOR???!!!! That had to be the dumbest play I have ever seen…He threw a freaking dead duck 40 yards into triple coverage…real good idea….Stick to catching the ball…Oh wait you dropped a pass that hit you right in the hands….asshole. Even though T.O had only 2 catches, his big role was blocking. He showed his strength all night locking up with DB’s and holding his blocks long enough for Marion and Felix to get outside. Also, if anyone questions T.O’s speed just watch the hi-light from Felix TD.

Bring on the Pork Skins!!!! ohh ya..No Jason Taylor!!!!!!!!!

Cowboys Vs Eagles Defensive Recap

This game essentially comes down to over pursuit, and extremely poor tackling! In a game in which the Cowboys defense had Donovan Mcnabb on the run all night long, these two elementary items had them look very poor at times! How is it possible for professional athletes to not be able to perform the most basic of tasks? Do they not work on these things on a daily basis? Do coaches stop teaching tackling after high school?
If you look at the defensive performance as a whole unit, it can best be described as average. I am seeing some of the same poor decisions being made that we saw last year. Maybe I am too hard on them, maybe I expect too much from them. When I (an average player 20 years ago) see things such as not protecting cutback lanes, not covering your zone in the cover 2 (Roy Willy) it drives me nuts! Thankfully we have an unstoppable offense.
DEFENSIVE LINE:
Jay Ratliff is a beast I would like to point that out first off. Rat played hard the entire game protected his zones and applied pressure. Chris Canty and Marcus Spears also played hard, sometimes too hard! Over pursuit is the first topic these guys need desperately to address, Followed shortly there after by up the middle pressure. With D-Ware seeing double and triple teams, they must be able to apply pressure consistently. When they play a team with a back such as Westbrook he is looking for one thing and one thing only, CUTBACK LANES!!!! Was this not discussed throughout the week? If it was the team was not listening. It is the D-Lines job to push the runner outside and protect against the cutback, but for the whole first half of the game the entire D-Line chased to the sideline leaving huge holes back to the middle which Westbrook so kindly took advantage of.
LINEBACKERS:The linebackers in this game for the most part played pretty solid. D-Ware saw double and triple teams all night but was still able to apply pressure and containment. Greg Ellis I thought did ok, just wish he spent more time focusing on his job rather than practicing his dance moves after making a tackle after losing containment. Zach Thomas appears to be back to his old self as he continues to be around the ball on every play. He even made an exceptional play in pass coverage on a throw that would have gone for 6. Kevin Burnett played well, although his pass coverage could use some work. The one that is bothering me is Bradie James this makes 2 games in a row in which his name was rarely called and he was rarely seen. I truly expected him to get better with the addition of Zach Thomas, but unfortunately that has not been the case.

SECONDARY:
I have but two main points to make on this unit. First, STOP PLAYING ZONE!!!! And THANK GOD ROY WILLY IS SIDELINED FOR 3 to 4 WEEKS!!! I cannot understand why with the athletes we have in the secondary that we continue to play so many zone coverage’s. Can someone please tell Wade Phillips and Brian Stewart that it does not matter how much time or effort they spend with Roy Willy, that he will never grasp the concept of zone coverage. If not for Desean Jackson being a complete idiot he would have gotten beat deep for the first time according to Wade Phillips. I watched that play several times and it amazes me how a player that has played football his entire life, cannot know what his responsibility is on that play! When you are playing cover two the safeties responsibility is the hash marks. So can someone please tell me why Roy Willy is standing less than 10 feet from Adam Jones, who is defending against the out route? This has become very old and I for one am sick of watching this loser! The rest of the secondary played extremely well, Other than a couple of rookie miscues from Mike Jenkins. Anthony Henry got the shaft on the pass interference call, he played that perfectly. It was obvious that T-New was still recovering and not quite himself yet. The only other thing I got is A.J. can you please pick up the damn ball when its rolling around on the field, even if you think it was a touchdown.
You guys better get your act together, stop bullshitting around, and start busting some people in the mouth!

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The Browns take the “NO DEFENSE” route

Well week one is in finally in the books. Only the Cowboys first win of the season and already I can see the potential of this electric offense. I was very satisfied with the Dallas Offense in how they manufactured an 86, 80, and two 69 yard TD drives. The Brown’s defense was like a colander. Full of holes. It was almost like a practice for the Cowboys where the d-line just stands up at the snap.

All night long Romo looked very comfortable in the pocket and made very good reads for the majority of the time. He pretty much picked apart the Browns secondary all night. Mainly due to the fact that he barely felt any pressure all night. Cory Procter filled in nicely for Kosier and was a big reason Romo was not sacked for 32 pass attempts. Witten had a big night as always, 6 rec. for 96 yards, as well as T.O. who looked extremely focused with 5 rec. for 87 yards and a TD. T.O. led the league in dropped passes last year and he almost had one against the Brown’s that he some how used his ASS cheek and long ass arm to reel it in. I was pretty amazed that he managed to hold on to it. Patty Crayton had a decent night receiving as well, 6 rec. for 82 yards. I really think he took the loss to the Giants last year personal and is going to have a impressive season.

Even though Marion left the game early with “bruised ribs” he still had a great performance. 16 carries for 80 yards and 2 TD’s. Hopefully he takes it easy this week and gets ready to molest the Eagles on Monday night. Felix Jones erased any doubts in my mind with a very solid performance for his first game. On his 11 yard TD run he showed how well he can run behind his pads and gave an unbelievable effort to power his way through the line of scrimmage. All in all a good performance by the offense, and that is 1 tally in the win column!
This next game against Philly should be a good one. Although I must say I FUCKING HATE THE EAGLES. And oh yeah, Donovan McNabb….You suck. I hope we drop a bomb on the Eagles and show them what it is like to play against a REAL football team. Anyone can put up 38 points on the Rams who are the worst football team in North America. So if any Eagles Fans are reading this…..GETCHA POPCORN READY!

Going from good to great

On the first Sunday in September, the start of the NFL regular season got under way. The beginning of a new brand of Cowboy defense began as well! The performance put forth against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday was, well let’s say very good! I say very good because, well it’s week one. I am trying to stay grounded and not go overboard with my review, but if this happens next weekend it will be hard for me to hold it back!
If you watched “Hard Knocks” on HBO you would have heard a phrase used repeatedly by defensive coordinator Brian Stewart; “Good to Great”. This is the battle cry for this defense now. This defensive unit has apparently come to grips with the fact that this year excuses will not be tolerated! Being young and in a new system are no longer facts, and Stewart has let it be known that they must perform or else. I am by no means saying that they played a great game. They did not however sit back and let the browns dictate the game.
The Browns had possession eight times in this game for a total of 22:31, and four of those possessions they were forced to a three and out! One of their possessions was just before half and they had enough time to run the ball once. They had one 16 play 78 yard drive for a touchdown, and a 9 play 61 yard drive that ended with a 34 yard field goal. As I thought about this game throughout the week I wondered what the scheme would be. Well it was very evident what the scheme was KEEP THE BALL OUT OF WINSLOWS HANDS, and did they ever succeed at this. Now for the last 4 years or so this would have been next to impossible, mainly because they did not have a safety who could cover Winslow, and well they still don’t. What they do have though is one Anthony Henry. Roy Willy spent a lot of time watching from the sidelines. This was somewhat surprising given the fact that Terrence Newman was unavailable for this game. This left Scandrick the 5th round rookie covering Braylon Edwards, and I thought Scandrick did a nice job on him (although Edwards had a hard time catching the ball when he was open). Henry did a masterful job all day, he was very physical at the line of scrimmage not allowing their receivers to get off the line clean. They played more zone than I would like to see, zone coverage in my opinion only causes missed assignments when you are playing a mobile quarterback. This specific thing happened to the Boys a couple of times.
The D-Line played very well against the run only allowing 91 yards (24 of that was from Derek Anderson) as the only time the browns were successful on the ground was in passing situations ( Draw play). Marcus Spears continued his stellar play that he started in the pre season. I would like to see more pressure up the middle, but I am not going to complain.
The Linebackers were exceptional Greg Ellis in particular; Ellis was a big contributor to stopping Winslow. Whether he was covering him or getting a good chip on him at the line, I am sure Winslow is in no hurry to see Greg again! Demarcus Ware saw double and triple teams all day and still managed a sack and a forced fumble on Anderson. Zach Thomas was every where, he reads and reacts to a play better than just about anybody I have ever seen. Bradie James had ZERO tackles, yes the starting inside linebacker, leader of the defense had ZERO tackles.
Step one for this defense is now complete, they are a legitimately GOOD defense. We will see what they are made of next Monday night against the Eagles. The end result for this defense will not be known until the end of the year, but if they can continue what they have started they will have certainly gone from GOOD to GREAT!

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