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Another nice win. I'd have loved seeing us flog them by a couple tds or so more, but in the end seeing Raperburger throw a game killing pic was pretty sweet too.
I still dont think we're all that good of a team, but they do play hard for 60 minutes every week and they are starting to find ways to win instead of inventing new ways to lose, so thats a positive. We were 3-5, then 5-6 and seemingly dead in the water. We're 3-0 in December and by winning out, would win the NFC East and have a home playoff game.
1) Romo was awesome Sunday. It was the 3rd time in 5 weeks that he's completed at least 70% of his passes. His December QB rating is now 107.4. He has an outside shot at 5000 yards for the season. He has 12 tds and 3 picks during this winning 5 of 6 streak. He's definitely playing his best football of the season now.
2) Its obvious but its hard to not state again, we're a different team when Demarco Murray is out there and able to do what he's been doing. He could have easily eclipsed 100yds had they given him a few more carries, and he is an outstanding receiver out of the backfield. He looked like he had more explosiveness this past weekend than the previous two, so he may be getting closer to 100%. The Saints have the second worst rush defense in football (almost 150 yds per game) and give up 5.0 yds per carry. I suspect we'll see Murray get the ball a ton this weekend.
3) The last two games, they finally seem to be incorporating James Hanna more into the passing game. He had two really nice plays Sunday and has the size, speed and run after catch skills to be quite a weapon for us in the passing game, especially when he's out the with Witten at the same time. Looks like OU produced another quality skill guy for us (in addition to Murray)
4) The OL has been poor all year, save for a few games. Sunday might have been their best overall game. The run blocking was pretty good and the pass protection was really solid. I didnt notice Doug Free or Parnell at all, which is a good thing. Tyron Smith had two false starts, but his blocking (run and pass) was really really good. Nate Livings looked like he had a much better game than the previous week.
5) If you dont like my rant on officials, stop reading now. But Sunday was a major hose job against us by these garbage refs. It started on the first series with the bogus overturning of an OBVIOUS fumble, and continued throughout the game. Its not that I thought any of the calls (penalties) against us were partcularly bad, most seemed legit. But they(Pitt) got away with freaking murder. I bet DeCastro got away with 6 holding calls all by himself. Spencer nearly had his jersey taken off on one long running play. Ware was just flat out and out tackled on 2 or 3 occassions. Kinda fitting that on the long punt return the Steelers had at the end of the game, that they fumbled the ball after the refs ignored an obvious block in the back call not far from where the guy caught the ball. Had they not blocked him in the back, we probably tackle him for little or no gain on the return and he might not have fumbled.
6) There's now apparently been 52 regular season games since the AFL/NFL merger where a team had zero enforced penalties against them. For the 2nd straight time, it was for an opponent of ours. (Jets last year, Steelers this yr). Prior to last years game against NYJ, the last time a team went without a penalty was 2008. As an aside to this, in Super Bowl X against Pittsburgh, they had zero penalties against us, despite leading the league in penalties for the season. I'm sure its just a coincidence though.
7) Kudos to Brabdon Carr, 2nd straight game with a major game turning INT. He made a great play on the ball and should have been given a TD for his pick. Ball appeared to defintiely cross the plain and despite being reviewed, it was still missed. Funny how they didnt see enough evidence there to overturn that one, but somehow found enough evidence to overturn that obvious fumble on the first series of the game.
8) Anthony Spencer now has double digit sacks for first time in his career. He also leads the team in tackles and should have gotten his first pick of the season on that opening drive. He's having a really really good year. Anyone still want to claim franchising him this year was a bad call?
9) Two things these coaches do which drives me insane. Garrett on offense going with tight, 3TE/No WR sets on virtually every short yardage situation, despite the fact the OL cant get a push and Rob Ryan with his gay ass 3 man line, give the other QB 10 hours to pass defense call. Niether of these work with any regularity. Hey ASSHOLES- STOP CALLING THESE PLAYS. They are wasted plays.
10) Dez didnt have a huge game, but he impacted it a decent amount. The Steelers definitely rolled two guys to him on most pass plays and he still had the one TD as well, giving him 10 now on the season. I thought Miles Austin had a great game, especially in the first half. Both he and Witten are closing in 1000 yards and we could end up with three guys over 1000 pretty easily. Austin needs 102 yds, Witten needs 77. That TD to Witten was one of the best scoring plays we've had this year IMO. Great call, good play design and great fake/throw by Romo.
11) I know most everyone thought that naked bootleg call on 3rd and short was a bad call, but that play had worked in the past. They called that same play with Jon Kitna at QB vs Detroit in 2010, and it helped ice away a win that day. Kitna took it almost 30 yds for a TD on 4th and inches on the same play call. Still, I'd rather see them line up in a normal set with WR's split out, to take away so many defenders from the LOS area. The OL doesnt generate enough push on their own, and by making other teams cover the whole field they would seem to have a better chance to create enough space to pick up a yard here or there.
12) Dan Bailey is one helluva kicker. He absolutely nailed that 50 yarder and for the year is now 27/29. I believe both misses were from over 50. He has made 3 of over 50 yards and has a ton of touchbacks. In close games, he gives us a huge advantage.
13) Another thing I'm sure thats obvious to everyone, but our safety play is epic bad. I know Danny McCray was never counted on to be anything more than a backup/ST stud, but his play has gotten worse, not better despite playing everydown every week. Sensabaugh comes up with a nice hit once or twice a week, but he takes the worst angles deep down field and has no ball skills whatsoever (niether does McCray).
I still dont think we're all that good of a team, but they do play hard for 60 minutes every week and they are starting to find ways to win instead of inventing new ways to lose, so thats a positive. We were 3-5, then 5-6 and seemingly dead in the water. We're 3-0 in December and by winning out, would win the NFC East and have a home playoff game.
1) Romo was awesome Sunday. It was the 3rd time in 5 weeks that he's completed at least 70% of his passes. His December QB rating is now 107.4. He has an outside shot at 5000 yards for the season. He has 12 tds and 3 picks during this winning 5 of 6 streak. He's definitely playing his best football of the season now.
2) Its obvious but its hard to not state again, we're a different team when Demarco Murray is out there and able to do what he's been doing. He could have easily eclipsed 100yds had they given him a few more carries, and he is an outstanding receiver out of the backfield. He looked like he had more explosiveness this past weekend than the previous two, so he may be getting closer to 100%. The Saints have the second worst rush defense in football (almost 150 yds per game) and give up 5.0 yds per carry. I suspect we'll see Murray get the ball a ton this weekend.
3) The last two games, they finally seem to be incorporating James Hanna more into the passing game. He had two really nice plays Sunday and has the size, speed and run after catch skills to be quite a weapon for us in the passing game, especially when he's out the with Witten at the same time. Looks like OU produced another quality skill guy for us (in addition to Murray)
4) The OL has been poor all year, save for a few games. Sunday might have been their best overall game. The run blocking was pretty good and the pass protection was really solid. I didnt notice Doug Free or Parnell at all, which is a good thing. Tyron Smith had two false starts, but his blocking (run and pass) was really really good. Nate Livings looked like he had a much better game than the previous week.
5) If you dont like my rant on officials, stop reading now. But Sunday was a major hose job against us by these garbage refs. It started on the first series with the bogus overturning of an OBVIOUS fumble, and continued throughout the game. Its not that I thought any of the calls (penalties) against us were partcularly bad, most seemed legit. But they(Pitt) got away with freaking murder. I bet DeCastro got away with 6 holding calls all by himself. Spencer nearly had his jersey taken off on one long running play. Ware was just flat out and out tackled on 2 or 3 occassions. Kinda fitting that on the long punt return the Steelers had at the end of the game, that they fumbled the ball after the refs ignored an obvious block in the back call not far from where the guy caught the ball. Had they not blocked him in the back, we probably tackle him for little or no gain on the return and he might not have fumbled.
6) There's now apparently been 52 regular season games since the AFL/NFL merger where a team had zero enforced penalties against them. For the 2nd straight time, it was for an opponent of ours. (Jets last year, Steelers this yr). Prior to last years game against NYJ, the last time a team went without a penalty was 2008. As an aside to this, in Super Bowl X against Pittsburgh, they had zero penalties against us, despite leading the league in penalties for the season. I'm sure its just a coincidence though.
7) Kudos to Brabdon Carr, 2nd straight game with a major game turning INT. He made a great play on the ball and should have been given a TD for his pick. Ball appeared to defintiely cross the plain and despite being reviewed, it was still missed. Funny how they didnt see enough evidence there to overturn that one, but somehow found enough evidence to overturn that obvious fumble on the first series of the game.
8) Anthony Spencer now has double digit sacks for first time in his career. He also leads the team in tackles and should have gotten his first pick of the season on that opening drive. He's having a really really good year. Anyone still want to claim franchising him this year was a bad call?
9) Two things these coaches do which drives me insane. Garrett on offense going with tight, 3TE/No WR sets on virtually every short yardage situation, despite the fact the OL cant get a push and Rob Ryan with his gay ass 3 man line, give the other QB 10 hours to pass defense call. Niether of these work with any regularity. Hey ASSHOLES- STOP CALLING THESE PLAYS. They are wasted plays.
10) Dez didnt have a huge game, but he impacted it a decent amount. The Steelers definitely rolled two guys to him on most pass plays and he still had the one TD as well, giving him 10 now on the season. I thought Miles Austin had a great game, especially in the first half. Both he and Witten are closing in 1000 yards and we could end up with three guys over 1000 pretty easily. Austin needs 102 yds, Witten needs 77. That TD to Witten was one of the best scoring plays we've had this year IMO. Great call, good play design and great fake/throw by Romo.
11) I know most everyone thought that naked bootleg call on 3rd and short was a bad call, but that play had worked in the past. They called that same play with Jon Kitna at QB vs Detroit in 2010, and it helped ice away a win that day. Kitna took it almost 30 yds for a TD on 4th and inches on the same play call. Still, I'd rather see them line up in a normal set with WR's split out, to take away so many defenders from the LOS area. The OL doesnt generate enough push on their own, and by making other teams cover the whole field they would seem to have a better chance to create enough space to pick up a yard here or there.
12) Dan Bailey is one helluva kicker. He absolutely nailed that 50 yarder and for the year is now 27/29. I believe both misses were from over 50. He has made 3 of over 50 yards and has a ton of touchbacks. In close games, he gives us a huge advantage.
13) Another thing I'm sure thats obvious to everyone, but our safety play is epic bad. I know Danny McCray was never counted on to be anything more than a backup/ST stud, but his play has gotten worse, not better despite playing everydown every week. Sensabaugh comes up with a nice hit once or twice a week, but he takes the worst angles deep down field and has no ball skills whatsoever (niether does McCray).
