dbair1967

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Game kinda ended up being what I expected all week, that we'd win but it wouldn't be overly impressive. The game should have been a 4 or 5 TD blowout and I firmly believe the Bears would have been beaten at least that badly by virtually any good team last night.

1) Seems with each passing week, Dak Prescott makes the pending decision on when to bring back Tony Romo more and more difficult. he looks like a 4 or 5 yr vet out there. Am happy to admit I was grossly wrong on this kid. His throwing ability is far more advanced right now than I really ever thought it'd be, but more important than that is probably the intangible stuff that he excels at. Absolutely love this kid, the way he plays and the dedication to the game that he has. Definitely appears we hit a grand slam with this pick.

2) Big game from Zeke and I think it'll be more the norm as the season goes on. He is a special talent and can dominate games. He seems to get that tough yard or two almost every time and is strong in finishing runs. I have no doubt the breakaway runs are not far off. He caught a couple passes last night, am hopeful we see more of this going forward as well as he's quite a weapon on those. The hurdle move makes all highlight clips and was impressive, but would rather not see him do that because you never know when he could land awkwardly and sprain/blow out a knee.

3) Guess we'll be holding our breath all day today on Dez Bryant's status. He came back in and caught a couple passes, including a nice TD but he was apparently sore after the game and will have an MRI today. Needless to say, we cant really afford to be without him.

4) Chaz Green had three penalties but his blocking was pretty solid all night. Didn't really appear we were giving him any help either. He's definitely come a long ways since that first preseason game and I'm starting to feel pretty good about his ability to be a regular starter at some point. Ronald Leary came in for an injured Lael Collins and while Leary looks like he is a little out of shape, he played pretty damn well. I don't think Collins has been overly impressive these first three games, if he misses any significant time with this foot/toe sprain thing I wonder if he gets his starting job back.

5) Great game by Cole Beasley and T Williams had a nice game, right up to the point that he had a bad fumble after a long gain. If we score 7 there the game is probably over for sure, instead we turn it over and Bears march right down field for easy TD. Another example in the Garrett era of the Cowboys being unable to put away a bad team. Instead of a cake walk and getting some of the other backups more time, we ended up having to fight just to win by 14.

6) I think last night might have been the worst pass rush I have ever seen since watching this team. It was completely non existent. I know the Bears OL is decent, but their backup QB is garbage and he completed 30 balls on us for over 300 yards, wasn't sacked any and I don't think he ever came close to a pick. As a team, we were credited with only ONE (FUCKING ONE!) QB hit on 49 drop backs. I think Maliek Collins is developing nicely and T McClain has exceeded expectations, but otherwise this DL is a trainwreck right now. It might seriously be time to hit the panic button on Tyrone Crawford in terms of rushing the passer, none of the DE's got any noticeable pass rush at all even when we were up huge and knew the pass was coming. I Know getting D Lawrence back will help some, but they really need to think about making a move for a proven DE I think. For the season we now have a paltry 4 sacks in 3 games. The Vikings had 8 (EIGHT!) in yesterdays game alone.

7) As bad as the DL is, the LB group isn't far behind. They seem to try hard, but they have no speed or range and right now are all liabilities (even Lee IMO) on pass plays. They are all zeros as blitzers so far this year too. Lee appears to be extremely limited with whatever that knee problem is he has. Glad he is toughing it out and staying out there, but he is clearly not the same. Durant, Hitchens and Wilbur have all been awful for the most part.

8) Shit, Barry Church made a good play against a pass for the 2nd straight game- what the hell? Thought B Jones and Claiborne had decent games, although I could do without Claiborne celebrating ever incomplete pass the way he does. JJ Wilcox forced a fumble (that we recovered and wasted) but was bad downfield, as usual.

9) Sound like a parrot with this, but they waste three roster spots every weekend on those two FB's and RB Dunbar. And 190 lb (maybe) RB Dunbar in the GL offense from the 1yd line? Who's genius idea was that?

10) One positive defensively was on run defense, other than two runs the defense stuffed the run game. Bears got 59 yds on two carries, but the other 13 carries they netted 14 yards. Need to tighten up some obviously but it was a decent night stopping the run. They also had 4 rush plays stopped for negative yards.

11) Cant believe Dan Bailey missed a FG indoors from under 50 yards. I guess it further shows how great he really is when we would just assume a 47 yarder is a gimmee for him.

12) Interesting stat- last year the team had only 8 rushing touchdowns all year (16 games). Already this year we have 7. The short yardage rushing in general has definitely improved over a year ago, when it seemed we failed almost every time on 3rd or 4th and 1. Its a good sign that we're back to converting most of these now and getting tds via rushing inside the 5.

13) Jason Garrett with the knucklehead coaching move of the night again, challenging on the Witten play. It was going to be 1st and goal inside the 1 yd line in the 1st quarter against an injury riddled defense. Did he really think they couldn't get a half fucking yard?

Like I said above, should have been a blowout but wasn't. To me that's more telling about where the team is than the win itself. The positives through 3 games are clearly Prescott & the offense in general, but the negatives are also quite apparent and as the season goes on and we face better teams with better QB's, we're gonna get worked bad I'm afraid. Upcoming games against top end or elite QB's like Dalton, Rodgers, Raperburger, Flacco and star in making Mr Wentz don't bode well for us.
 
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13) Jason Garrett with the knucklehead coaching move of the night again, challenging on the Witten play. It was going to be 1st and goal inside the 1 yd line in the 1st quarter against an injury riddled defense. Did he really think they couldn't get a half fucking yard?

This challenge was beyond stupid. It was plain to see Witten had a foot out of bounds before he even started to extend the ball.

I can't stand Garrett.


And I'm surprised the game wasn't a blow out. We were killing them going into half time. They looked completely lifeless, especially on defense. How we went the 2nd half with only scoring 7 more points is confusing to me.
 

cmd34

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1) Seems with each passing week, Dak Prescott makes the pending decision on when to bring back Tony Romo more and more difficult. he looks like a 4 or 5 yr vet out there. Am happy to admit I was grossly wrong on this kid. His throwing ability is far more advanced right now than I really ever thought it'd be, but more important than that is probably the intangible stuff that he excels at. Absolutely love this kid, the way he plays and the dedication to the game that he has. Definitely appears we hit a grand slam with this pick.
I really don't think it will be a decision at all, Tony gets his job back. What Dak is accomplishing is two things for me. One, if Romo gets hurt again, this kid gives us a chance. Different type of QB but unlike previous back-up's, he gives us a real chance of winning. Two, the team may want to think about some Dak packages, I think it keeps defenses on their toes, gives Romo some plays off, and keeps Dak involved.

2) Big game from Zeke and I think it'll be more than norm as the season goes on. He is a special talent and can dominate games. He seems to get that tough yard or two almost every time and is strong in finishing runs. I have no doubt the breakaway runs are not far off. He caught a couple passes last night, am hopeful we see more of this going forward as well as he's quite a weapon on those. The hurdle move makes all highlight clips and was impressive, but would rather not see him do that because you never know when he could land awkwardly and sprain/blow out a knee.
I think the announcers were dead on, he just needs to be patient. The fact that the team has said they are going to play Morris every 3 series just to ground Elliott some just goes to show that he's way too anxious.


3) Guess we'll be holding our breath all day today on Dez Bryant's status. He came back in and caught a couple passes, including a nice TD but he was apparently sore after the game and will have an MRI today. Needless to say, we cant really afford to be without him.
When I watched the play live, I told my son that the aggressive way he runs makes him vulnerable to injuries. Wish I was wrong.

4) Chaz Green had three penalties but his blocking was pretty solid all night. Didn't really appear we were giving him any help either. He's definitely come a long ways since that first preseason game and I'm starting to feel pretty good about his ability to be a regular starter at some point. Ronald Leary came in for an injured Lael Collins and while Leary looks like he is a little out of shape, he played pretty damn well. I don't think Collins has been overly impressive these first three games, if he misses any significant time with this foot/toe sprain thing I wonder if he gets his starting job back.
He's getting an audition so the team can make an informed decision on Doug Free this off-season. Free has one year left on his deal.

5) Great game by Cole Beasley and T Williams had a nice game, right up to the point that he had a bad fumble after a long gain. If we score 7 there the game is probably over for sure, instead we turn it over and Bears march right down field for easy TD. Another example in the Garrett era of the Cowboys being unable to put away a bad team. Instead of a cake walk and getting some of the other backups more time, we ended up having to fight just to win by 14.

Love the way Beasley is playing but I'm absolutely ready to move on from Terrence Williams.

6) I think last night might have been the worst pass rush I have ever seen since watching this team. It was completely non existent. I know the Bears OL is decent, but their backup QB is garbage and he completed 30 balls on us for over 300 yards, wasn't sacked any and I don't think he ever came close to a pick. As a team, we were credited with only ONE (FUCKING ONE!) QB hit on 49 drop backs. I think Maliek Collins is developing nicely and T McClain has exceeded expectations, but otherwise this DL is a trainwreck right now. It might seriously be time to hit the panic button on Tyrone Crawford in terms of rushing the passer, none of the DE's got any noticeable pass rush at all even when we were up huge and knew the pass was coming. I Know getting D Lawrence back will help some, but they really need to think about making a move for a proven DE I think. For the season we now have a paltry 4 sacks in 3 games. The Vikings had 8 (EIGHT!) in yesterdays game alone.
There has to be some reason why he doesn't play more but every time David Irving is in there, he looks good. Mayowa is a disaster. McClay should have to answer for him and Thornton.

7) As bad as the DL is, the LB group isn't far behind. They seem to try hard, but they have no speed or range and right now are all liabilities (even Lee IMO) on pass plays. They are all zeros as blitzers so far this year too. Lee appears to be extremely limited with whatever that knee problem is he has. Glad he is toughing it out and staying out there, but he is clearly not the same. Durant, Hitchens and Wilbur have all been awful for the most part.
Saw Wilber in deep coverage one play. I have no idea what this staff is thinking.

8) Shit, Barry Church made a good play against a pass for the 2nd straight game. What the hell? Thought B Jones and Claiborne had decent games, although I could do without Claiborne celebrating ever incomplete pass the way he does. JJ Wilcox forced a fumble (that we recovered and wasted) but was bad downfield, as usual.
Church is fine coming forward, which I believe happened on the play you are referencing. He can't go backwards, which is key in safety play.

9) Sound like a parrot with this, but they waste three roster spots every weekend on those two FB's and RB Dunbar. And 190 lb (maybe) RB Dunbar in the GL offense from the 1yd line? Who's genius idea was that?
I really hope this team can get anything for McFadden and Escobar at the trading deadline, even if it's 7th round picks.

11) Cant believe Dan Bailey missed a FG indoors from under 50 yards. I guess it further shows how great he really is when we would just assume a 47 yarder is a gimmee for him.
Not to make excuses for him but weren't we up by a bunch? I know the Bears made a push later but at the time, it felt like a who cares FG. I get what you are saying though.


13) Jason Garrett with the knucklehead coaching move of the night again, challenging on the Witten play. It was going to be 1st and goal inside the 1 yd line in the 1st quarter against an injury riddled defense. Did he really think they couldn't get a half fucking yard?
Yep, unnecessary and foolish.
 
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bbgun

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Lee's decline is stark. He should not be on the field in situations where the opponent has to pass pass pass to get back into the game. the farther he is from the line of scrimmage, the bigger liability he is.
 

dbair1967

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Lee's decline is stark. He should not be on the field in situations where the opponent has to pass pass pass to get back into the game. the farther he is from the line of scrimmage, the bigger liability he is.

He normally isn't like that though and has consistently had a knack for reading a QB and getting into pass lanes. He just doesn't have that range right now.

Its obvious to me now whatever that "tweak" of the knee he had in the Seattle game was more than that. I wonder if more surgery for the knee is in his future.
 

dbair1967

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. And 190 lb (maybe) RB Dunbar in the GL offense from the 1yd line? Who's genius idea was that?

.

So I did read a blurb from Broaddus that addressed this. They didn't want the Bears to be able to make any subs from whatever personnel they had in so the coaches kept our same group in to hurry up and run the play.

I still wince at the thought of Dunbar carrying in a GL/short yardage situation, but at least their reasoning makes a little more sense now.
 

dbair1967

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I really don't think it will be a decision at all, Tony gets his job back. What Dak is accomplishing is two things for me. One, if Romo gets hurt again, this kid gives us a chance. Different type of QB but unlike previous back-up's, he gives us a real chance of winning. Two, the team may want to think about some Dak packages, I think it keeps defenses on their toes, gives Romo some plays off, and keeps Dak involved.

I still think it depends, but I do think he's been so good that they at least have to think about it. The worst thing for us would be putting Romo back out there for that Philly game, him be rusty, get beat up and us get beaten badly in that Sunday night game.

When I watched the play live, I told my son that the aggressive way he runs makes him vulnerable to injuries. Wish I was wrong.

Yeah he feels he can run over or through just about everything. Plays with a no fear attitude, and yeah it does expose him some.

He's getting an audition so the team can make an informed decision on Doug Free this off-season. Free has one year left on his deal.

Agree

Love the way Beasley is playing but I'm absolutely ready to move on from Terrence Williams.

Its too bad because Williams has some playmaking and run after catch ability. But he makes too many of these boneheaded plays.

There has to be some reason why he doesn't play more but every time David Irving is in there, he looks good. Mayowa is a disaster. McClay should have to answer for him and Thornton.

Of the DE's I agree, Irving seems to have more impact. But last night I didn't see him doing that much either. At least he looks like he has some talent to keep working with. Mayowa was pretty bad last night I thought. Thornton surprises me, thought he'd be better than this but it isn't like he was awful and they handed the job to McClain. McClain just played better.

Saw Wilber in deep coverage one play. I have no idea what this staff is thinking.

Yeah its definitely mind boggling. Dude cant cover anything.

Church is fine coming forward, which I believe happened on the play you are referencing. He can't go backwards, which is key in safety play.

I think you and I have agreed on this for several seasons now, Church should be a nickel/dime LB and play up closer to LOS in all those sets. Church sux in space, but I bet he'd be better than Durant, Hitchens or even Lee right now if he played up closer to LOS on passing downs. This seems like an obvious change better coaching staffs would make to me.

I really hope this team can get anything for McFadden and Escobar at the trading deadline, even if it's 7th round picks.

Totally agree

Yep, unnecessary and foolish.

I just thought it was pure stupidity and further proof he has no game management skill.
 

dbair1967

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And I'm surprised the game wasn't a blow out. We were killing them going into half time. They looked completely lifeless, especially on defense. How we went the 2nd half with only scoring 7 more points is confusing to me.

I'm not
 

theoneandonly

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10) One positive defensively was on run defense, other than two runs the defense stuffed the run game. Bears got 59 yds on two carries, but the other 13 carries they netted 14 yards. Need to tighten up some obviously but it was a decent night stopping the run. They also had 4 rush plays stopped for negative yards.

My take is more they abandoned the run when they fell behind a couple scores. Think they would have no problem running if they really wanted to.

12) Interesting stat- last year the team had only 8 rushing touchdowns all year (16 games). Already this year we have 7. The short yardage rushing in general has definitely improved over a year ago, when it seemed we failed almost every time on 3rd or 4th and 1. Its a good sign that we're back to converting most of these now and getting tds via rushing inside the 5.

I think that is more from a commitment to the running game with Dak behind center. When Romo is out there balance on offense goes out the window. Always better to keep the opposing DC guessing though you still have to have the horses to push the pile.
 

Doomsday

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Seems with each passing week, Dak Prescott makes the pending decision on when to bring back Tony Romo more and more difficult.
I really don't think it will be a decision at all, Tony gets his job back.
Yes but what I think dbair is saying is that Dak makes it not so much of a rush to bring Tony back. He says that makes it harder, I say it makes it easier. Rushing Tony back in too early would be just stupid, Dak perhaps gives you confidence that you can delay that return at least a week or two more than you could if Dak wasn't performing so well.

If we don't develop some modicum of a pass rush we can forget playoff success, or even making the playoffs. We don't have any more Hoyers on the schedule.
And I'm surprised the game wasn't a blow out.
With this horrid defense there will be no blowout wins.
 

dbair1967

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My take is more they abandoned the run when they fell behind a couple scores. Think they would have no problem running if they really wanted to.

.

13 carries for 14 yds is still bad, whether you abandon the run or not.
 

NoMoRedJ

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Garrett's challenge on that Witten play was ridiculous. If it wasnt for his typical bonehead game mismanagement routinely it wouldnt be all that big of a deal probably. But its the sum total of the routine screw ups that makes this stand out. Its just always something.
 

Bob Sacamano

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Garrett's challenge on that Witten play was ridiculous. If it wasnt for his typical bonehead game mismanagement routinely it wouldnt be all that big of a deal probably. But its the sum total of the routine screw ups that makes this stand out. Its just always something.

What if the officials miscalled the Dak rushing TD? Garrett has to challenge it and then he's already out of all challenges just in the 1st quarter.

It's crazy how all of Garrett's coaching mismanagements always tend to to be major, game crushing liabilities.

He's just lucky that the Cowboys were that close to the endzone and Dak and CO were able to subsequently bail his ass out.
 

ThoughtExperiment

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At least Garrett admitted he screwed up in the pc today. That's one of the very few times he's actually accepted responsibility like that.
 

dbair1967

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At least Garrett admitted he screwed up in the pc today. That's one of the very few times he's actually accepted responsibility like that.

Wow really? That is a first I think.

Still, he's been a HC since 2010, this shouldn't have been something that needed a lot of thought to do correctly. Maybe if it had been 3rd down or something or much later in the game you challenge it, but not that early in the game when its first and goal from the 2 foot line.
 

cmd34

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It was like he challenged it because he wanted to show he was involved. Just stupid.

1st and Goal from the 1, beginning of the game, we'll never get another shot!!!!!!
 

dbair1967

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Starting to get a really ugly feeling on this Dez thing. Still no official word and there's a blurb in CZ that says it might be a torn LCL or something.
 

Scot

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I agree
He was supposed to have his MRI on the knee last night after the game. We should have had the report already

The Cowboy app stated that they were still evaluating Dez and Le'al's injuries earlier today. We now have the status on Le'al but no word on Dez

That tells me it's worse than they want to let on and are trying to hide or delay the injury announcement for some damn reason

Dak is absolutely a grand slam for a fourth round pick! Jerry gets lucky on his next franchise QB!

Thank god we didn't trade Leary when we started getting offers on him.

T Willy needs to be gone. His down side far outweighs his up side. He fails when we need to count on him and when he's needed the most. Repeatedly! With this being his contract year he should be balling like Dez did in his contract year to boost his value. Instead this dumbfuck makes two game changing plays in two games. The fumble last night then the staying in bounds in game one. The only reason he didn't fuck anything up in game two is because he was grounded by Dak because he didn't trust him and he never even targeted him once. Not to mention he totally failed to step up last season while Dez was out. That was his opportunity to shine. Instead he proved why he's a career #2 WR

I want to see more of Butler and less of T Willy
 

dbair1967

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Saints now 0-3 and have the looks of a 3-13 or 4-12 type season.

They probably wouldn't move him, but if I was Jones and co I'd be at least inquiring about what it might take to get DE Cam Jordan.
 
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This is just my opinion, and all, but the reason TWill fucked up again is because he was patted on the back for his fuck up in the Giants game thus enabling more fuck ups.
 
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