Stock Report: Dez Bryant is up and Doug Free is down

[bkeavs]

Stock Report: Dez Bryant is up and Doug Free is down
After the Cowboys' 23-20 overtime victory against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday afternoon, we give you our weekly review on who played well and who didn't in our Stock Report.

Stock Up

Dez Bryant. He continues to be the playmaker the Cowboys need. He had 12 catches for a career-high 145 yards and a 28 yard touchdown reception. Bryant is beating defenders on double-moves and is just a physical presence after he catches the ball. No need to put him back on punt returns because all his energies should be devoted to the offense.

Dan Bailey. Sure the kicks were 32 and 38 yards, but they were game-tying and game-winning field goals, and Bailey made both. Bailey is 19-of-20 on total field goals this season and is 9-9 from 30-39 yards. If there's a reliable player on this team he's one of them.

Danny McCray. The safety had his best game of the season with six solo tackles on defense and two special teams tackles. He was a presence against a tough runner like Trent Richardson (95 yards rushing) and did fine job in the passing game. While yes the Cowboys miss Barry Church (torn Achilles) but they've discovered McCray can be a valuable member of the defense as well.

Stock Down

Doug Free. Officially quarterback Tony Romo was sacked a career-high seven times and Free unofficially allowed two of them. He just isn't athletic enough to man his position on a consistent basis. He's a strong guy, but maybe he's using the wrong technique in defending pass rushers. Something is wrong with Free. Health? Skill? Mental? Something is wrong. Cowboys need to fix their starting right tackle.

Jason Garrett. The quarterback attempted 50 passes, there were 27 attempts to Miles Austin and Bryant combined, but somehow the offense can't produce points. Dallas scored just two touchdowns on Sunday, Felix Jones' run and Bryant's catch, against the Browns. Garrett's offense is hampered by an inconsistent offensive line but the head coach has to do something better than this.

The rest of the offensive line. Yes the line missed left tackle Tyron Smith (ankle) but there was inconsistency from the rest of the crew. It has to perform better. Cowboys averaged just three yards per carry and Romo was hit 10 times. That's not unacceptable

 

[dbair1967]

McCray was pretty bad in coverage, not sure what they were looking at.

Free's stock being down is pretty funny, it cant possibly get any lower than it already was.

 

[Everlastingxxx]

I would have replaced McCray with Harris as stock being up. The PI and Punt return were huge plays in the game.

 

[cmd34]

McCray and Sensabaugh made Ben Watson look like a Pro Bowler.

 

[LAZARUS_LOGAN]

Doug Free to pass rusher: Good afternoon sir. Lovely day sir. May I take your coat and hat there sir? Thank you sir. QB right ahead there, sir.

On play it looked like he literally escorted the pass rusher to Romo.

 

[Bonecrusher#31]

Doug Free to pass rusher: Good afternoon sir. Lovely day sir. May I take your coat and hat there sir? Thank you sir. QB right ahead there, sir.

On play it looked like he literally escorted the pass rusher to Romo.

He has to be the worse starting tackle in the league bar none. He's Hot Garbage

 

[marionbarberthe4th]

How does a player who's not injured get so much worse?

Is he in his head? Is the coaching slacking? I slowed down some of his worst blocks and he is just praying to make contact on some of these plays. Definite restructure/cut coming

 

[superpunk]

He has no feet. Neither does Dockery. They play upright, and they have lead feet. Plus Free is scared, so in pass protection he sits back and waits for contact rather than setting up and then initiating it.

 

[ZeroClub]

How does a player who's not injured get so much worse?

Is he in his head? Is the coaching slacking? I slowed down some of his worst blocks and he is just praying to make contact on some of these plays. Definite restructure/cut coming

I think that's a great question.

Pure speculation on my part, but discontinued use of performance enhancing drugs?

Who knows....

 

[Jon88]

​

We need to quit handing out these extensions to people who don't deserve them. I don't know whose was worse, Free's or Scandrick's. They're both horrible. I'm going with Scandrick. He's never shown a thing and then out of nowhere gets this big new contract. This team is a joke.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Or Gerald Sensabaugh

Or Barry Church

 

[superpunk]

Or Gerald Sensabaugh

Or Barry Church

Both players are a steal.

Sensabaugh is giving us excellent play at the safety position for a steal. He flies around, rarely gets beat deep and is great in run support. Dude completely sold out to stop Richardson on third down last week, noone should say anything to him for a few weeks after that beastly stop.

 

[marionbarberthe4th]

Trent absolutely leveled spencer , so To see sensy stick his nose in there was crazy. Even though Trent stopped moving his feet

Almost makes up for quitting in that giants game 2 years back

 

[superpunk]

Spencer got him back a little bit later. Kind of.

 

[dbair1967]

​

We need to quit handing out these extensions to people who don't deserve them. I don't know whose was worse, Free's or Scandrick's. They're both horrible. I'm going with Scandrick. He's never shown a thing and then out of nowhere gets this big new contract. This team is a joke.

Free deserved his, and several other teams were bidding to get him. Its just bad luck that he went south after re-signing.

 

[Jon88]

Free deserved his, and several other teams were bidding to get him. Its just bad luck that he went south after re-signing.

You're right, now I remember the Eagles trying to steal him.

This has more to do with the atmosphere and lack of accountability on this team. At least 8 out of 10 guys who get rewarded with nice contract extensions just mail it in afterwards. We've seen it over and over. Some players have 0 pride - and that's perfectly fine here.