Lone Star Struck

Last Sunday game against the Giants was another rerun, one that has played over and over again in recent years. I have talked about it before, and sadly it seems I will be talking about it for a while still.

Watching the game, I remember being extremely happy that we scored on a great touchdown catch by Roy Williams, I was ecstatic. Up 10-0, looking as if we would be able to beat the Giants with less than 2 minutes before halftime and we had been doing a good job on shutting down the Giants. Then it happened. The defense let them go down and score pretty easily.

I ran upstairs to check on my son and came back down and see we are losing 14-10. I thought, what in the world happened!?

Come to find out, Marion Barber had fumbled the ball back to the Giants. Then I seen the replay of Brandon Jacobs running for a 74-yard touchdown. I was in shock, to say the least!

All of my dreams of beating the Giants were being shattered. Then it gets worse. We let them run back a punt for a touchdown. That’s when it really became a nightmare.

So continues the talk of how we can’t win a game in December. We definitely have to do something to stop this pattern.

We have the Chargers coming up and then the almighty, undefeated Saints. The Cowboys really need to figure out how to win in December or else we will be left sitting at home watching the Eagles win the division and head to playoffs.

On Thanksgiving day the Cowboys showed us that they can be a team to be reckoned with and that WR Miles Austin can very well be the playmaker the team has been searching for over the last season and a half.

Against the Raiders last Thursday, Austin caught seven passes for 145 yards and hauled in another touchdown after being denied one minutes earlier in the game.

Austin had a field day against the Raiders’ tight man to man coverage, and ironically he could have had a few more catches had he simply held on to them.

All in all he, Austin showed us that he is back on track after experiencing some down time in the two games prior. Most importantly, he delivered a big game against a Raider secondary that ranks in the upper half of the league, and features two of the league’s best man to man coverage cornerbacks. Take a bow Miles!

Additionally, even Roy Williams hauled in a touchdown of his own, while Jason Witten made a couple of long grabs en route to yet another 100+ yard day for the Pro Bowl tightend.

It was a great game to watch as the Cowboys seemingly had everything working for them, and not just in the air but on the ground as well.

Felix Jones finally showed the explosiveness that had been lacking since his knee injury, and dazzled the crowd with an electrifying run for touchdown, and Tashard Choice made a nifty run of his own out of the Razorback formation.

Next week we go to New York for a rematch against the Giants. It’s a game that we need to win so that we can finally take control of the division, and put the NFC East race to bed.

GO COWBOYS!

Edited by Joe D.

Well Cowboys fans, it looks like we were hit with a dose of reality Sunday in Green Bay. The Cowboys offense did not show up to play and once again we are left wondering why?

It seems that when the Cowboys play teams they are supposed to beat, the other teams ends up looking like world beaters.

We had no running game to speak of (gaining only 61 yards) and Tony Romo went 24 for 39 passing, for only 251. We were left wondering what happened to Miles Austin (4 catches for 20 yards). We seen Roy Williams have his best day statistically as a Cowboy yet we seen him fumble on a 42 yard completion and he dropped another pass that he should have caught down the sideline.

We had an injury on the offensive line as Columbo went down to a broken fibula and high ankle sprain, Mike Jenkins went out with a deep bicep bruise and Ken Hamlin was lost to a high ankle sprain as well.

The day was not a good one, but now we have to regroup and beat the Washington Redskins this weekend.

This would have been a great day to get a win as the Eagles lost to San Diego and the Giants were on a bye week, however we are left with the fact that we are still in first place for now.

Lets just hope that the Redskins do not look like super bowl champs this coming weekend and leave us again wondering why?

Roy Williams stirred up a little controversy this past week saying the balls Romo was throwing to him were all over the place.

Well Sunday night against Philadelphia they finally connected. It was not a ton of catches nor was it for a ton of yards, but it was nice to see Williams catch five for 75 yards. It was great to see Williams thrust his hand forward after making a first down.

I am not sure what the issues were, but the extra work put in at practice must have helped. Maybe it was the fact the Miles Austin was drawing double coverage and that left Williams one on one or maybe it was Williams running crisper routes and getting open. Whatever it was, it was great to see.

Hopefully we will continue to see the Romo to Williams connection and hopefully it will account for more touchdowns.

The Cowboys are learning to play well together in all phases of the game. That becomes more evident along the way as we ride this four game winning streak.

Next up are the Cheeseheads from Green Bay lets show them how our team can play. GO COWBOYS!!!

The Dallas Cowboys once again played a game where all phases came together, this time against against the Seahawks. It was really nice to see all of the wide receivers get into the action.

Miles Austin scored another touchdown, Roy Williams scored a touchdown on a nice slant route, Patrick Crayton scored on another punt return, Sam Hurd scored a touchdown on nice pass, and although Kevin Ogletree did not score, he did make a nice catch and run for a first down.

I will admit it I have had my doubts about our wide receiver corps, but it seems that they might be coming along and they are doing some good things. It has been nice to see Miles Austin doing so well, he has catches totaling 482 yards. That is the best that a wide receiver has ever done in their first three games.

Romo and Williams have some work to do and even they admit that they have not been on the same page a lot this year.

I am sure Jason Witten is happy we are winning, but not so happy that he is not getting his normal amount of catches.

Its nice to see that the receivers have finally found a way to get open and make some nice catches and runs.

Patrick Crayton has stepped it up in the return game, scoring a touchdown in each of the last two games.

We have the Eagles this weekend and we are tied with them for first place in the division, we need to step it up again and beat them.

GO COWBOYS!

For the first time all season everything came together for the Dallas Cowboys. On Sunday playing against the Atlanta Falcons the Cowboys played a complete game.

Yes, a complete game. The offense was clicking. Romo threw for over 300 yards and went 21 of 29. Miles Austin showed up again with over 100 yards and two touchdowns. The defense came through with four sacks and two turnovers, and the special teams was outstanding. Patrick Crayton ran back a punt for 77 yards and a touchdown and he caught a touchdown as well.

We still had eight penalties in the game, but other than that all phases of the game were clicking. Although we did not have a 100 yard rusher, all backs combined for over a 100 yards.

The Cowboys finally showed us what they are capable of and boy was it nice. I was so happy to see them play so well against a good team. I guess the bye week was good to us and the Cowboys.

With the Giants losing on Sunday, winning this game was huge. Not only did we gain some ground on the Giants, but we beat a team that we may be fighting with down the road to get into the playoffs. This one was really nice! Now bring on the Seahawks we are ready to win another one! GO COWBOYS!

As I watched the Cowboys squeak by the winless Kansas City Chiefs, I could see that my prediction was coming true. I told all of my coworkers that this game would probably turn out like this. It seems that for the last couple of years every time the Cowboys play against a team they should beat, that team looks like world beaters and that they could win the Super Bowl. I am not sure what it is, but it should not be this way. We should be able to beat teams like this, everyone else does so why not us?

This year it can be explained by inefficiency on both the offense and defense. I am not sure what is wrong with the offense, some of it is untimely penalties, you know the ones that come in the redzone or after we make a big play. Penalties are really killing us. It seems that the coaches do not make the players accountable.

After Flozell Adams’ third or fourth false start or holding call, I don’t see Coach Phillips get mad or anything. Matter of fact, what coach is yelling at him? No one that I can see. Flozell is a good player, but he has been the most penalized player in the last two years and probably will be again this year. It makes no sense to me at all and if it is not a penalty he is getting beat. I think he should be benched, but the coaching staff obviously does not feel the same way.

Then there is the defense. I have seen in the last couple of years, every time we go down and score the defense just lets the other team come right back down the field and score themselves. I just knew when we scored on Sunday that the Chiefs would be able to march back and tie the game, I just knew it.

The defense is preventing us from winning. The defense has been inconsistent just as much as the offense has. Yes, Miles Austin was able to get 10 catches for 250 yards, but we did not do much for the first three quarters of the game. It seemed fumbles and punts were all that we were good at.

The Cowboys have a lot of work to do and someone needs take this seriously, especially the penalties. Hold players accountable for mistakes.

It is hard to believe that we have four wide receivers on most plays, on some we have three, plus two good tight ends, yet none of them can get open. We have seen this in every game so far with the exception of Week 1 at Tampa Bay.

This game was one of the worst that we’ve seen for the Dallas offense. Every time Romo dropped back to pass, it seemed like there were no receivers going down field. When Romo did throw the ball it was either overthrown, underthrown or picked off.

What exactly is the problem this year? Even the Detroit Lions can throw to an open wide receiver, and they have only won one game out of their last 21.

I’m not sure if it is the play calling or the play execution. Whatever it is, the Cowboys need to get it corrected. We will not even make it to a .500 record if we cannot throw the ball.

We cannot depend solely on the run, as we seen against the Broncos. Sure, Denver has the number one defense in the league, but could we at least complete something when we need to? Romo completed 25 passes, but they were passes that only netted a couple of yards (with the exception of one to Sam Hurd in the final minutes).

Oh yeah, then there was the slant pattern two times in a row to Hurd in the last 30 seconds. I know we have better plays than that.

This week we may be without Roy Williams. Kevin Ogletree needs to come in and do something, along with the other receivers. Some how they need to get open.

Like most other Cowboys fans I love them and always will, but this is getting so frustrating. It does not seem to be getting any better.

The Cowboys offense did something last night that has not been done since 1979, they ran for at least 200 yards in two consecutive games.

Last night they rushed for 214 yards and that was without Marion Barber. Felix Jones was also hurt in the third quarter, but Tashard Choice kept the ball running and RUN he did.

The Cowboys’ offense was still lacking in the receiving area. Jason Witten caught the majority of passes.

I believe the Cowboys have found the running game and some say they should have kept running last week and maybe they would have beaten the Giants.

They did great despite not being able to convert twice inside the 2 yard line. The defense came up big in this game, recording 3 sacks, 2 interceptions and a fumble recovery. Terence Newman took one back for six in the middle of the 4th quarter.

Now the Cowboys are 2-1 and maybe they have found their mojo.

After watching the first two games of season I have to admit, I am not sure that our secondary is taking this seriously. I understand that Gerald Sensabaugh is new to the team, and that Jenkins and Scandrick are now rotating starts, and Terence Newman has had some injury issues, but come on. We gave up 300 plus passing yards to Tampa Bay and another 300 plus to the Giants.

Something is wrong with this picture. I watched both games and I’ve seen things such as playing 10-15 yards off the line of scrimmage. That allows the receiver to come out and makes an easy catch. Sometimes the corners are playing as if they have safety help, but the help never shows up.

According to head coach Wade Phillips we are playing more man coverage, yet how do we let receivers made easy catches time after time? If the D-line and linebackers do not get pressure on the QB the secondary cannot cover all day, but a lot of the yards are not due to this. Yes it may take some time for the secondary to gel and understand what their responsibilities are, I just hope it does not take until late in the season otherwise we will be again sitting at home for the playoffs.

We have good corners and Sensabaugh is supposed to be a coverage safety, so lets hope that they get it together soon.

On Sunday the Cowboys played the Buccaneers and in the first half, the Cowboys defense looked a little lost to me. They were giving up gains of 7-yards,14-yards to Tampa’s running back “Cadillac” Williams. I was not sure what the defense was doing.

C. Williams gained almost 80 yards in the first half and frankly, I was a little bit worried. I do not know what the problem was, but Tampa Bay was ripping off big gains in the running game and almost the same in the passing game.

The secondary had quite a few blown coverages. Even though Mike Jenkins was solid, he did give up some big gains. On most of them it seemed as though he thought he had help. He was not playing the right technique which allowed the receiver to get inside for easy catches.

In the second half the defense clamped down on the running game, however the secondary still gave up some big catches.

The coaches really have to look at this game and see what was going on. The Giants are next and we really need to be able to shut down the run and pass.

All in all the defense did enough to help us win, however we need some big improvements.

I have been saying all pre-season long, that Isaiah Stanback should not be on this team. With all of his injuries throughout his career with the Cowboys, I couldn’t understand why he was still here. Well, on Saturday the Cowboys finally realized what we were all thinking, and finally cut Stanback to trim the roster to 52 players. You have to remember the NFL is a business and cuts are a part of it, if you don’t play well or play at all, you should be cut.

And by the way, Stanback, who was a converted quarterback trying to transition into a wide receiver, was picked up by the New England Patriots as a backup quarterback on Saturday.

Replacing his spot on the roster is the up and coming Kevin Ogletree, who had himself an outstanding pre-season and impressed many coaches, players and fans alike in the process. Ogletree even scored a touchdown in the final pre-season game to put the icing on the cake and secure a spot on the roster. With oft injured reeivers Sam Hurd and Miles Austin already on the team, having Ogletree on board will give the Cowboys some solid depth at the position.

All’s well that ends well…

This post was edited by Joe D.

Well it looks as if there is a slim possibility that the Cowboys could keep six, yes six, wide receivers on the roster. Right now with injuries to the Roy Williams, Sam Hurd, and Isaiah Stanback, it looks as though Kevin Ogletree will make the roster.

With Patrick Crayton as the number two receiver that would make six on the roster.

However, it will be tough to keep six, so that means Stanback may be cut soon. Stanback has been injured for most of the time that he has been with the Cowboys, so it would make sense to go ahead and cut bait.

I said this in my first blog this year and I stand by it, he should have been released two years ago. Why the Cowboys have tried to hang on I do not know.

Anyway, if Ogletree makes the team, that would be great since he has shown a lot of great things in the pre-season.

We shall see what happens, but it looks like Ogletree has beat out all others trying to get a spot.

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The Titans think they have revealed a flaw in the new Cowboys Stadium and it looks like maybe they have.

Punting is a normal part of a football game and always will be. In the new $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium the video board that was installed is sitting at 100 feet above the field and cost $40 million, it extends from 20 yard to 20 yard line. It is a great thing for the fans in the stadium because it allows you to see the action no matter where you are in the stadium, however it may very well be in the way of some punts.

Punters are going have to find a way not to punt the ball to high, because if they do the ball could hit as it did in the Cowboys’ second pre-season game against the Titans. Titans’ punter A.J. Trapasso actually hit the bottom of the video board and due to the dead ball ruling was allowed to re-punt.

Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones believes that this not an issue and that the rule is clear - if it hits it, just re-punt.

Yes, when the stadium was built this possiblity should have been thought of and maybe it was and could have been deemed as not an issue, since both teams have to deal with it. Yet it is still a weird thing because it may cause punters to punt the ball a little differently in the Cowboys’ stadium. I guess maybe they should do what the arena league did with the nets at the end of the field and just play the ball off of the video board… hee hee.