dbair1967
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1-0 and beating a division rival at home is better than 0-1, but there's a whole lot of work that needs to be done and areas of concern for sure. After years of seeing the ball always bounce their way, it was nice to finally see us get some of those lucky ones. Obviously we needed every one of those six to win too.
1) After all the hoopla over who was going to call plays and how it would impact us, after 1 game it definitely leaves a lot to be desired. The run/pass balance was still totally out of whack and the passing game was the most dink and dunk stuff I've ever seen here. It did appear that Romo called a lot of the plays himself, with very mixed results. Despite a massive time of possession advantage, they never really wore the Giants out because they didn't make them (their defenders) run enough. They kept almost everything within 10 yds of the LOS it seemed. Maybe it was done on purpose over concerns about the OL, but you gotta stretch the field some too. Even if its just for show. It concerns me that despite a lot of injury and talent issues in the Giant back 7, we never really hurt them and still struggled to score points even when we had a short field.
2) Overall I didn't think the OL had a bad game, but clearly Bernadeau has to go. Hopefully Waters is ready this week and Bernadeau goes to the bench forever. Leary was understandably up and down, although some of the good things he did were pretty impressive. Tyron Smith had a great game. Frederick had a solid outing for a first time and if Waters is solid enough then Fred and Leary will benefit a lot because they can help each other, instead of Fred having to help so much with Bernadeau.
3) Witten, Austin and Murray also had good games IMO. Murray ran hard and caught a lot of passes too, and I think it was him who ran down the Giant DB on that pick the length of the field, which saved us 4 pts. Dez really never had a chance with all the double coverage they ran at him, but until we make teams pay everyone is going to copy it.
4) Phillip Tanner probably earned his way back to the bench with his fumble last night. Dunbar may be ready to return next week and if so, would get the majority of backup snaps to Murray. Not a good debut for Terrance Williams either with a pick caused by blown route and an absolute stone handed drop of a nice intermediate pass from Romo.
5) The ST, after a disastrous training camp/preseason really played well. Dwayne Harris turned into a real demon on ST coverages. Bailey was his usual perfect self and boomed pretty much all his kickoffs for touchbacks.
6) On defense, other than 1 play in the first half it really looked good. Then the Giants figured it out and just ripped them a new one. These safeties simply don't have the range to cover some of the distances they need to get to and with only a so-so pass rush because of our front line injuries, this is going to continue to get exposed. I think we'll see JJ Wilcox on defense sooner rather than later assuming he does what he needs to in practice, because he does have some range and playmaking ability. We really need Spencer and that thief Ratliff to get on the field. The DL was just totally gassed in the 4th qtr. Maybe once both of them return the front 4 can generate enough of a rush that it will allow the LB's to get deeper into their drops quicker, helping to cover up for the safeties.
7) Claiborne didn't have a good game, although I think some of it is rust and not having enough practice time in the scheme. Some of the completions he appeared to give up were clearly because he didn't know when (or which guy) to turn someone loose or because he thought help was going to be there inside (and it never was). Wasn't impressed with Justin Durant and wonder how long it will be before Sims or Holloman takes his job. The safeties were fine vs the run, but they just don't have the footspeed to cover the areas in the middle as they need to. It didn't matter which side of the field, those deep in cuts/slants were wide open all throughout the 2nd half.
8) I know I do this almost every game, but JFC why does the league allow Demarcus Ware to basically be raped on the field and almost never get a flag? I saw him tackled from behind twice last night. On one of them the entire stadium and Cowboys bench saw it and groaned, and the ref staring right at it ignored it. We were flagged for 3, maybe 4 holding calls in the game. They had only 1 (and that was on a play we got a sack) despite starting a rookie and a scrub who never plays. I hope this is something Marinelli will start riding the officials about, because its gone on forever and was very obvious again last night.
9) 16 turnovers all last year and it seems like forever that we've struggled to get them. 6 last night. Yes a couple were lucky, but whatever Marinelli and Kiffin preach must work.
They have a lot of things to clean up and we need to get some injured guys healthy (in addition to hoping Romo, Claiborne and Dez are all ok after major scares last night). You cant get gashed like we did in the 2nd half every game and expect to get 6 turnovers to bail you out. Going +5 in turnover ratio at home should get you a comfortable, if not blowout win and we barely hung on.
1) After all the hoopla over who was going to call plays and how it would impact us, after 1 game it definitely leaves a lot to be desired. The run/pass balance was still totally out of whack and the passing game was the most dink and dunk stuff I've ever seen here. It did appear that Romo called a lot of the plays himself, with very mixed results. Despite a massive time of possession advantage, they never really wore the Giants out because they didn't make them (their defenders) run enough. They kept almost everything within 10 yds of the LOS it seemed. Maybe it was done on purpose over concerns about the OL, but you gotta stretch the field some too. Even if its just for show. It concerns me that despite a lot of injury and talent issues in the Giant back 7, we never really hurt them and still struggled to score points even when we had a short field.
2) Overall I didn't think the OL had a bad game, but clearly Bernadeau has to go. Hopefully Waters is ready this week and Bernadeau goes to the bench forever. Leary was understandably up and down, although some of the good things he did were pretty impressive. Tyron Smith had a great game. Frederick had a solid outing for a first time and if Waters is solid enough then Fred and Leary will benefit a lot because they can help each other, instead of Fred having to help so much with Bernadeau.
3) Witten, Austin and Murray also had good games IMO. Murray ran hard and caught a lot of passes too, and I think it was him who ran down the Giant DB on that pick the length of the field, which saved us 4 pts. Dez really never had a chance with all the double coverage they ran at him, but until we make teams pay everyone is going to copy it.
4) Phillip Tanner probably earned his way back to the bench with his fumble last night. Dunbar may be ready to return next week and if so, would get the majority of backup snaps to Murray. Not a good debut for Terrance Williams either with a pick caused by blown route and an absolute stone handed drop of a nice intermediate pass from Romo.
5) The ST, after a disastrous training camp/preseason really played well. Dwayne Harris turned into a real demon on ST coverages. Bailey was his usual perfect self and boomed pretty much all his kickoffs for touchbacks.
6) On defense, other than 1 play in the first half it really looked good. Then the Giants figured it out and just ripped them a new one. These safeties simply don't have the range to cover some of the distances they need to get to and with only a so-so pass rush because of our front line injuries, this is going to continue to get exposed. I think we'll see JJ Wilcox on defense sooner rather than later assuming he does what he needs to in practice, because he does have some range and playmaking ability. We really need Spencer and that thief Ratliff to get on the field. The DL was just totally gassed in the 4th qtr. Maybe once both of them return the front 4 can generate enough of a rush that it will allow the LB's to get deeper into their drops quicker, helping to cover up for the safeties.
7) Claiborne didn't have a good game, although I think some of it is rust and not having enough practice time in the scheme. Some of the completions he appeared to give up were clearly because he didn't know when (or which guy) to turn someone loose or because he thought help was going to be there inside (and it never was). Wasn't impressed with Justin Durant and wonder how long it will be before Sims or Holloman takes his job. The safeties were fine vs the run, but they just don't have the footspeed to cover the areas in the middle as they need to. It didn't matter which side of the field, those deep in cuts/slants were wide open all throughout the 2nd half.
8) I know I do this almost every game, but JFC why does the league allow Demarcus Ware to basically be raped on the field and almost never get a flag? I saw him tackled from behind twice last night. On one of them the entire stadium and Cowboys bench saw it and groaned, and the ref staring right at it ignored it. We were flagged for 3, maybe 4 holding calls in the game. They had only 1 (and that was on a play we got a sack) despite starting a rookie and a scrub who never plays. I hope this is something Marinelli will start riding the officials about, because its gone on forever and was very obvious again last night.
9) 16 turnovers all last year and it seems like forever that we've struggled to get them. 6 last night. Yes a couple were lucky, but whatever Marinelli and Kiffin preach must work.
They have a lot of things to clean up and we need to get some injured guys healthy (in addition to hoping Romo, Claiborne and Dez are all ok after major scares last night). You cant get gashed like we did in the 2nd half every game and expect to get 6 turnovers to bail you out. Going +5 in turnover ratio at home should get you a comfortable, if not blowout win and we barely hung on.
