Just a little video recap of last nights game – there were some good things happening at the start, which is good to see. Now we just need some more of it.
Monthly Archives: August 2009
Bryan’s Brain: Hell Yea I’m Ready for Some Football!
Hey guys just wanna give you something tasteful to read as you enjoy the beginning of football season. The media keeps saying don’t expect to see much but you know what it’s football so SCREW YOU MEDIA. Just knowing my boys are on the field, that’s enough to me, so take your 6 figure salaries and SHOVE THEM! Now here are the things on my mind.
- Michael Vick just signed a 2 year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles… If you’re worried about this, you’re crazy. Expect it to take some serious time to pick up the game speed and knowledge as well as the mechanics. Just another issue to add to the demise of the injured birds.
- I was listening to 105.3 the fan the other day and they were discussing the toughest guy on the field. Most of the consensus said Jay Ratliff or Marc Columbo…we’ll you oversized loving radio hosts who have a better job then I do, I think your wrong! You want to know who the toughest guy on the Cowboys is? I’ll give you 2 Joe Decamillis or Jason Witten.
- Lastly, I just want you guys to know my take on the wide receiver situation. If Sam Hurd doesn’t get a fair chance to be the 2 receiver then something is wrong. He has shown speed and ability, making fantastic catch after fantastic catch. More often then not he’s out performing Austin and Crayton. Be fair Coach…Be fair!
That’s a look into my brain tonight, game night, and lets do one last thing….everyone take a deep breath, pray to god, that no one gets freaking injured tonight!
Expect The Worst When The Cowboy’s Meet The Raiders Tonight
I know, I know, I know. You are probably hoping this game will be the cold smooth tasting beer that chases that bitter cold shot that was 44 to 6 at the hands of the Eagles out of your mouth. But the truth is, especially if Tuesday’s practice was any indication, tonight very well may get ugly. But for all of you who felt that Wade was soft in past camps, that aforementioned ugly is largely the result of him listening to your pleas for more intensity. These guy’s are tired. They are sore. The rookies brains likely feel as though they are going to explode. Chances are this will be a game filled with mental errors, misreads, bad timing, and poor execution. Now, I’m not certain on that point, but it would be a mistake to expect otherwise.
But just because it’s probably going to be ugly, doesn’t mean there won’t be anything worthy of watching. Rather than looking for a great team effort, look for great individual efforts. That’s what Wade will be looking for. Watch for those guy’s who realize their chances to shine are limited and give this game everything they got, regardless of how little the win actually means. Watch for those guys competing for the last spot of their perspective position. There are more battles in this camp than there has been in a long time with the Cowboy’s which should generate some fervency from specific players and yield some pretty good results of players who, at least, reach benchwarmer status. Which is exactly what the Cowboy’s organization had in mind when they forgoed the temptation to trade up for specific players and actually drafted 12 rookies.
My main concern for tonight is the over-reaction we are likely to see tomorrow if thing’s don’t happen the way we need them to in the regular season. Don’t be an idiot and lament the miscues of Romo and Roy Williams. The fact that Roy will likely be shadowed by the highest paid CB in the business, Nnamdi Asomugha, may contribute to their lack of connections. Don’t crucify the rookie LB’s who all are converting from different positions played in college. Take it easy on the rookie QB who spent the vast majority of his career handing the ball off. And let’s definitely not jump off the nearest bridge, should DeCamallis Dallas Cowboy’s debut as special team’s coach, fall flat because rookies bite on the temptation to move out of their lanes to go directly after the returning ball carrier.
This football team is a work in progress. You wouldn’t judge an artist by a painting 1/4 of the way finished. You wouldn’t judge an author by a book’s rough draft. You wouldn’t judge a president by his first year in office. So, please, don’t judge these Cowboy’s by their first game in preseason.
Live Game Day Chat
Every week on gameday, we want to get some good topics going about the game while it’s being played, so we’ll open the chat that can be accessed from anywhere on the site. You can even browse the site while chatting and it won’t lose your text.
It’s a gameday only thing though so don’t forget to come back and check it out.
Tonight we’ll be discussing the Raiders and Cowboys preseason opener. See you there!
Preseason Week 1 Preview: Cowboys at Raiders
The 2009 NFL season is just around the corner now. We’re four games away from the first regular season game – but that doesn’t mean we don’t still have some football to look at this month. The Titans and Bill got the preseason started and in a pleasing way I might add, but the Dallas Cowboys start this Thursday night against Oakland, in Oakland.
Millions are watching to see what the Cowboys are going to do this season. Not only because Terrell Owens was cut, not only because of how badly they lost to the Eagles in the 2008 regular season finale, and not only because our injury prone team is seeming just that, injury prone – and it’s still before their first preseason game.
Training camp injuries for us are like pads and helmets – don’t step on the field without ‘em. That’s how it’s been going since Felix Jones first went down last year, and he wasn’t even the first injury of the year. Terence Newman was the first last year, and he was either first or a damn close second this year too, with Mike Jenkins possibly edging him out on that one. Their injuries aren’t supposed to be serious, but our DB core will be missing both of its starting corners for this weeks game and why shouldn’t they sit out? After last year, I don’t think there is a man in this organization that doesn’t think long and hard about playing a hurt guy.
But there’s still so much more to it – the first preseason game – so I’ve got my fellow fans here to help me break it all down for you, one unit at a time. First up?
Bleeding Silver and Blue
As a Dallas Cowboys fan I am excited to know that it’s only two days until the first game of the season, albeit only a preseason game I’m still looking forward to seeing my ‘Boys in blue kicking some tail on the turf once again.
Needless to say, I, and many of you too, was left with a bitter taste in my mouth after the crushing defeat at the hands of the Eagles last season. It was the icing on a crap cake after all the injuries and drama fueled on by the mediots in need of a story. So some of it turned out to be true, or more true than the Cowboys organization wanted us to believe at the time, it merely turned a sad and frustrating situation into a disappointing end of an era and end of a season that started so full of promise.
But as a blogger I’ve been feeling somewhat without during this training camp.
Maybe it’s because my fandom has found itself in the backseat for the last month as life presented me with much more pressing issues to contend with than finding a way to watch the games at work and the best places for complete camp coverage.
From the numerous and annoying references to “Coachable” Roy Williams on the DMN – you know what I’m talking about – to the news of players being held of practices and those slated to miss the preseason opener in California this Thursday evening. It’s been enough to read, but nothing to get excited about.
The only real bright spot coming out of camp, considering that we don’t get the full scoop on everything being done as far as plays and schemes go is the increased communication between Williams and Tony Romo. You know, the kind of communication that makes Cowboys fans cheer until their throats are sore and opposing fans boo their own teams’ secondary. Pass and catch.
So now we have Terence Newman and mike Jenkins both out and while the word is that neither injury is serious, it causes me great concern. Didn’t we hear the same thing last year when Newman got hurt in camp? Didn’t he end up missing like six games in total because of that “not too serious” injury?
What about the injuries that aren’t too serious, after last season how can any of us really believe that the severity of the injury at first means anything? I mean we pretty much knew what was up with Felix Jones last year, and it was a totally different and non-football related injury that landed him on injured reserve for more than half of the season.
It makes it harder to be a fan when you see things like I am seeing them now, undoubtedly, but it’s the eternal optimist in me that still peaks it’s head to let know these Cowboys could do it this year.
We’ve got all but one of the weapons that we had in 2007 when we outscored all but one team in the league and lead the NFC. The one weapon we’re missing is missing because he began to backfire on us every other game by doing interviews with the likes of Deion Sanders and steadily causing the ball to be forced his way far too often, and I might add into the hands of a quick defender far too often as well.
Our defense is missing some of the bigger and long standing forces of the past in guys like Greg Ellis and Anthony Henry. But we’ve finally broken free of the liability known very simply as Mr. Horse Collar a.k.a. SS Roy Williams. Not only that, but we also replaced him with a guy that can do what safety in a 3-4 defense should do best – cover – and he does it better than a lot of other guys around the league at his position. Now maybe that’s an overstatement since we haven’t seen him in a game yet and especially since the first preseason game will be a very short one for him. Gerald Sensabaugh is likely the biggest upgrade we’ve made on defense in several years, aside from the miracle of drafting DeMarcus Ware.
We even get the sheer joy of having one the leagues all-time defensive minds not only leading our defense, but taking direct and hands on control of it as the new defensive coordinator by title and duty.
Even the special teams unit has gotten a huge face lift with a new coach known for running a tight and very effective unit in Joe DeCamillis. Add to it the return of a healthy core of kick and punt returners and the addition of some muscle and athleticism from the new linebackers drafted this year, and you’ve got a special teams unit that should be vastly better than the one we booed so often in 2008.
So yeah, maybe the steady and somewhat unremarkable progress during camp has made things boring for a blogger like me, but for a fan, things are definitely looking up.
Are you ready for some football?
Weekly Roundup: Cowboys vs Raiders
The Dallas Cowboys are soon headed to start their preseason against the Raiders, and to get us ready for the first game of 2009, we’ve put together a quick Q&A with Silver and Black Forever. It’s what we like to call our Weekly Roundup!
Silver and Black Forever also sent some questions to us about the Cowboys – you can view our answers to their questions by going to Dallas vs. Oakland.
1. Do you have a preseason prediction on how the Raiders season will end up?
My general sense is that the Raiders will improve upon last seasons’ 5 win total and field a much more competitive team overall than in 2008. Although the Raiders have a very difficult schedule facing off against such playoff caliber teams like the Chargers, Steelers, Ravens, Eagles, Cowboys, and Giants, I predict the Raiders will end the season at 8-8, 2nd place in the AFC West, and out of the playoffs.
I am hopeful that the Raiders win more than 8 games this year but the core players on offense are still in the developmental stage of their careers and Head Coach Cable is still trying to gain traction. The difference between a small incremental gain in victories and a big leap will be the improvement of JaMarcus Russell, the run defense, and passing attack.
2. Is it true that Al Davis sleeps in a casket?
Very funny Cowboy Nation! No, it is categorically false although Davis is known for being a late night person or nocturnal owl.
3. What happened to Darren McFadden? Is he just struggling with the NFL game, or did we really get the best running back from Arkansas last year?
Unfortunately Darren McFadden suffered a severe turf toe injury in the 2nd game of last season vs. KC and was never completely 100% healthy or able to get into a rhythm for the vast majority of the season. My projections for McFadden this year are 1,800 yards total from scrimmage (run + reception yardage) and 10 TDs. And no, you didn’t get the best RB from Arkansas last year. McFadden is on the cusp of super stardom.
4. Darrius Heyward-Bey? Really??? What the heck happened there?
The Raiders drafted the best available WR that fit their system. As you probably know, the Raiders put a premium on speed and the ability to stretch the field with the vertical offense. DHB was the fastest player at the combine and came from a pro style offense at Maryland. WRs that came from a spread offense like (Crabtree or Maclin or Harvin) were not looked upon as a good fit for the Raiders offense. My personal preference for our #7 pick would have been LT Monroe or DT Raji.
5. Do Raiders fans have something to look forward too this year, or is this season going to be a struggle?
I’m quite certain that this season will have it’s peaks and valleys. The Raider fans have a lot to look forward to in 2009. There is a sense in Raider Nation that Tom Cable is the right guy, at the right time to work in harmony with Al Davis. Stability at Head Coach and a core of very exciting, talented young players such as Russell, McFadden, Bush, Schillens beings hope. In addition, the way that the Raiders concluded their 2008 campaign on a positive note with wins vs. Houston and Tampa Bay showed the promise of a better future.
We want to extend our thanks to Silver and Black Forever for participating in this week’s edition of Weekly Roundup, and wish them luck as they face off against a much better team!