dbair1967
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Was it perfect, no definitely not. Are we suddenly Soup Bowl legitimate contenders. Nope. Did we have a bunch of flash and dash "shiny new toys" to make splash plays and sell jerseys for Jerry? Nope.
But after a rough 1st drive, the Cowboys showed something that I don't think we've seen in a long time. They've got some hardnosed football to them, on both sides of the ball. We've heard Schottenheimer talk about it since day one and many of us wrote it off as coach-speak that would never amount to anything because Circus Leader Jerry only likes high scoring football that helps with ratings and marketing.
No starters (save Caleb Downs for a half dozen plays or so and Shavon Revel, same pay counts) saw the field. But we saw a different style and it's one that could pay huge dividends down the road. These guys played HARD.
1) We all wanted to see the new D and it didn't disappoint, even though you could tell it was pretty vanilla stuff. But the tackling was exceptional. The pass rush started getting home in the 2nd half. The run defense was exceptional except for some QB scrambles. The GL stand stuff after back to back fuck up plays on ST was definitely a breath of fresh air.
2) Seattle had 80 yards on their opening drive. They managed 76 for the REST of the game. There were sacks. There were run stuffs. There was great coverage (with a few exceptions). Loved what we saw from Edge James Houston, S Julius Wood and UDFA DT Kelvin Gilliam. LB Justin Barron continued to show well and is probably getting close to being on the 53 now. Shavon Revel didnt make it through the first drive but nearly had a pick 6 early.
3) Caleb Downs didn't even make it for one full series either so officially had no stats, however review of his play by play showed him completely suffocating his receiver on the 3 or 4 pass plays he was out there. Malachi Lawrence had a decent debut notching 3 tackles, a couple of pressures, one run stuff. John Owning's review showed him still struggling some with the "false step" on his get off, though he noted its nowhere near as pronounced as it was in college. LT Overton had some moments but plenty to work on there too.
4) Was disappointed with Sam Williams, thought after there were murmurs of a good camp he might show better against Seattle's backups but he really didnt. Marist Liufau had one or two nice plays but wasn't great either IMO. Definitely a tough night for Caelen Carson with 3 penalties (although I still think he was hosed on the initial 3rd down PI call on the first series) but he did have a really nice PBU/near pick on the next drive. Curtis Robinson led the team with 8 tackles, but he also messed up a couple of QB containments and didnt really jump off the page to me with anything else he did. DB Derion Kendrick probably was a longshot to make the team anyway but got roasted bad on what probably should have been a long TD, fortunately ball was overthrown. Put Schoonmaker in the class with Sam Williams. He probably needs impressive performances (esp going against backups) and did nothing of note at all. Was clearly outplayed by UDFA Trigg.
5) Thought both QB's looked good. Howell got less "help" from the OL and WRs but still fared well. I was really surprised at how good Joe Milton looked. His throwing mechanics and accuracy are vastly improved and he showed impressive touch of a few nice throws as well. Only had 3 incompletions and at least 1 of those was a bad drop. Definitely looks like a real competition for the backup spot. In addition to throwing the ball well, both QBs made plays with their legs. As Schotty noted after the game, Milton is virtually unstoppable on QB sneaks.
6) Extremely poor showing by the OL in the 1st half, pass protection was no more than average at best and the run blocking was horrendous. They got zero movement up front and Blue/Mafah paid the price by getting pretty much stuffed over and over. Nate Thomas was very poor and was finally removed from the game during a drive (Howell's TD drive). He was replaced by Marcellus Johnson (who had a couple of penalties) but his blocking was definitely better I though. Ajani Conelius was a day three pick last yr as a RT prospect and they moved him inside to G this yr in camp. He notched ALOT of snaps and definitely showed some spunk. The 2nd half run blocking was much better as those guys starting getting some consistent push and opened a few nice holes.
6) Star of game was obviously UDFA WR Camden Brown who showed the buzz generated during the first couple weeks+ of camp was more than warranted. Two spectacular TD grabs, one while he was being massive interfered with (which wasnt called) and the other a one hander. He also had a nice catch and run of 20+ yards on a great throw from Milton on a intermediate area slant/crossing type route. May have already made the team with the great start to camp and last nights stellar performance, but hopefully he keeps showing well to finsih strong. Fellow UDFA TE Michael Trigg also showed the positive chatter around him was legit, 4 catches for 30 yds and a couple nice catches in there with some decent blocking too.
7) Impossible to judge Blue and Mafah with how bad the OL was for them, but both Malik Davis and Izzy Abanikanda performed very well in the 2nd half. Tough running and consistent gains for both on their combined 14 carries for 75 yards.
8) Special teams were just fucking abysmal. They were bad last yr and last night appeared far worse. Terrible coverage and set ups for our own returns, and penalties galore which fucked the team constantly. Traeshon Holden was one of the talks of camp last yr with how he performed and stayed on the PS all yr, but he probably got himself cut with his two massive gaffes in the 4th qtr. While he fucked up, to me it was just another sign of how poorly coached the unit is as whole. Nick Sorensen is an awful ST coach and I am still stunned he was brought back. If they don't fix this it's going to cost us a game or two.
9) Don't think Mingo is going to make our team but last nights game is one that might help him get noticed enough with his traits/size that somebody might flip us a late rd pick in 27 or 28 to get him. Couple nice routes and catches and sensational effort to save a TD on horrendous blown punt coverage play. Might be 2 or 3 down-roster type guys we can nab a late pick for.
10) Plenty of stuff to work on, of which OT depth and maybe another decent 4th CB option are high on the list I would think. Will also be interesting to see if the "big move" for a star pass rusher continues to be whispered about. It really might be the final piece to what could be a vastly improved defense.
That said, seeing how we played was a nice change. They bullied the Seahawks around some especially in the 2nd half. You can see the attitude of the team has changed and it's been sorely needed for eons. Enjoyed watching this one despite no starters doing anything and no big offensive "stats" or "thrills". Just no nonsense, hard-nosed football.
But after a rough 1st drive, the Cowboys showed something that I don't think we've seen in a long time. They've got some hardnosed football to them, on both sides of the ball. We've heard Schottenheimer talk about it since day one and many of us wrote it off as coach-speak that would never amount to anything because Circus Leader Jerry only likes high scoring football that helps with ratings and marketing.
No starters (save Caleb Downs for a half dozen plays or so and Shavon Revel, same pay counts) saw the field. But we saw a different style and it's one that could pay huge dividends down the road. These guys played HARD.
1) We all wanted to see the new D and it didn't disappoint, even though you could tell it was pretty vanilla stuff. But the tackling was exceptional. The pass rush started getting home in the 2nd half. The run defense was exceptional except for some QB scrambles. The GL stand stuff after back to back fuck up plays on ST was definitely a breath of fresh air.
2) Seattle had 80 yards on their opening drive. They managed 76 for the REST of the game. There were sacks. There were run stuffs. There was great coverage (with a few exceptions). Loved what we saw from Edge James Houston, S Julius Wood and UDFA DT Kelvin Gilliam. LB Justin Barron continued to show well and is probably getting close to being on the 53 now. Shavon Revel didnt make it through the first drive but nearly had a pick 6 early.
3) Caleb Downs didn't even make it for one full series either so officially had no stats, however review of his play by play showed him completely suffocating his receiver on the 3 or 4 pass plays he was out there. Malachi Lawrence had a decent debut notching 3 tackles, a couple of pressures, one run stuff. John Owning's review showed him still struggling some with the "false step" on his get off, though he noted its nowhere near as pronounced as it was in college. LT Overton had some moments but plenty to work on there too.
4) Was disappointed with Sam Williams, thought after there were murmurs of a good camp he might show better against Seattle's backups but he really didnt. Marist Liufau had one or two nice plays but wasn't great either IMO. Definitely a tough night for Caelen Carson with 3 penalties (although I still think he was hosed on the initial 3rd down PI call on the first series) but he did have a really nice PBU/near pick on the next drive. Curtis Robinson led the team with 8 tackles, but he also messed up a couple of QB containments and didnt really jump off the page to me with anything else he did. DB Derion Kendrick probably was a longshot to make the team anyway but got roasted bad on what probably should have been a long TD, fortunately ball was overthrown. Put Schoonmaker in the class with Sam Williams. He probably needs impressive performances (esp going against backups) and did nothing of note at all. Was clearly outplayed by UDFA Trigg.
5) Thought both QB's looked good. Howell got less "help" from the OL and WRs but still fared well. I was really surprised at how good Joe Milton looked. His throwing mechanics and accuracy are vastly improved and he showed impressive touch of a few nice throws as well. Only had 3 incompletions and at least 1 of those was a bad drop. Definitely looks like a real competition for the backup spot. In addition to throwing the ball well, both QBs made plays with their legs. As Schotty noted after the game, Milton is virtually unstoppable on QB sneaks.
6) Extremely poor showing by the OL in the 1st half, pass protection was no more than average at best and the run blocking was horrendous. They got zero movement up front and Blue/Mafah paid the price by getting pretty much stuffed over and over. Nate Thomas was very poor and was finally removed from the game during a drive (Howell's TD drive). He was replaced by Marcellus Johnson (who had a couple of penalties) but his blocking was definitely better I though. Ajani Conelius was a day three pick last yr as a RT prospect and they moved him inside to G this yr in camp. He notched ALOT of snaps and definitely showed some spunk. The 2nd half run blocking was much better as those guys starting getting some consistent push and opened a few nice holes.
6) Star of game was obviously UDFA WR Camden Brown who showed the buzz generated during the first couple weeks+ of camp was more than warranted. Two spectacular TD grabs, one while he was being massive interfered with (which wasnt called) and the other a one hander. He also had a nice catch and run of 20+ yards on a great throw from Milton on a intermediate area slant/crossing type route. May have already made the team with the great start to camp and last nights stellar performance, but hopefully he keeps showing well to finsih strong. Fellow UDFA TE Michael Trigg also showed the positive chatter around him was legit, 4 catches for 30 yds and a couple nice catches in there with some decent blocking too.
7) Impossible to judge Blue and Mafah with how bad the OL was for them, but both Malik Davis and Izzy Abanikanda performed very well in the 2nd half. Tough running and consistent gains for both on their combined 14 carries for 75 yards.
8) Special teams were just fucking abysmal. They were bad last yr and last night appeared far worse. Terrible coverage and set ups for our own returns, and penalties galore which fucked the team constantly. Traeshon Holden was one of the talks of camp last yr with how he performed and stayed on the PS all yr, but he probably got himself cut with his two massive gaffes in the 4th qtr. While he fucked up, to me it was just another sign of how poorly coached the unit is as whole. Nick Sorensen is an awful ST coach and I am still stunned he was brought back. If they don't fix this it's going to cost us a game or two.
9) Don't think Mingo is going to make our team but last nights game is one that might help him get noticed enough with his traits/size that somebody might flip us a late rd pick in 27 or 28 to get him. Couple nice routes and catches and sensational effort to save a TD on horrendous blown punt coverage play. Might be 2 or 3 down-roster type guys we can nab a late pick for.
10) Plenty of stuff to work on, of which OT depth and maybe another decent 4th CB option are high on the list I would think. Will also be interesting to see if the "big move" for a star pass rusher continues to be whispered about. It really might be the final piece to what could be a vastly improved defense.
That said, seeing how we played was a nice change. They bullied the Seahawks around some especially in the 2nd half. You can see the attitude of the team has changed and it's been sorely needed for eons. Enjoyed watching this one despite no starters doing anything and no big offensive "stats" or "thrills". Just no nonsense, hard-nosed football.
