A comment on Chris's post that turned into a post
I was going to post about the Bill's but I couldn't get it right and gave up so I decided to just comment on Chris' post. Then it got so long that I decided to make it into a post. So here it is.
While I agree by and large with you that there really no reason to get down about the game. (It happens, trap game, road out of conference game, bad team playing about their heads for about 3 quarters, etc). There are a couple areas of concern.
1. Did Tony Romo simply have a bad game that every player has every once in a while or is this sign of things to come? Did the Bills "figure out" Romo and give everyone else in the NFL the key to solving him?
2. While the defense did play really well, I don't think you can say that no one played poorly. Terrell Owens dropped a number of passes, including the 2 point conversion. He's been a model citizens so far this year. But I hope that him throwing Romo under the bus about that thrown isn't a harbinger of things to come. Also, the running game never got going. While the offensive line has done a great job of keeping people off Romo in the passing game, the running game has not been gang busters.
It is a tribute to the tenacity of the team for them to win that game that seemed to desperately want to give away, but there are plenty of things to be concerned about. I'm not just talking about the Patriots. Remember last year when the Colts came into Texas Stadium undefeated and left with their first loss as the Cowboys held them to 14 points. Even if they do lose, it's just their first loss and an out of division loss as well. It really won't be that big of a deal.
However, there are areas that need work for this team to really be what we all think it can be. The NFC East looks strong, with Jason Campbell looking strong for the Redskins, the Giants having recovered from their awful start, and the Eagles are always dangerous. In the past several years, the Cowboys have started strong and then tailed off at the end. They need to be consistent this year to reach the Super Bowl. I still consider them the best team in the NFC, but there is still a long way to go.
3 comments:
Rus, I agree with your concerns. My post yesterday does not take anything away from my post last week, particularly concerning the running game. I think they have the players to have a good running game, but they aren't calling the plays. Jones and Barber combined for 20 carries Monday night, which is nowhere near enough. Buffalo challenged the Cowboys passing game and they fell right into it when they should have countered with the run. It's not like they were having to play from too far behind. I put that on Garrett, as I mentioned last week.
How much of T.O.'s drops had to do with Romo's poor delivery? I'm not saying Owens was a star Monday, but I think the two are related.
And I think the game was an aberration for Romo. He's not Manning/Brady yet, but he isn't Ryan Leaf either.
At this point, my biggest concerns are establishing the run and special teams coverage. But overall, Monday night's game was not doom and gloom for Cowboys fans.
FWIW, I think the Bills game was an aberration for Romo as well. But if it wasn't and the Bills figured out how to confuse him then it's gonna be a long season. One good thing about playing a team like the Pats now is that we will figure out right away if the league is about to figure Romo out because if anyone can it'll be the Pats.
This town is soooo knee-jerk, that by half-time, I'm sure many Cowboys fans were ready to call for Brad Johnson to be the starter. And once the game was over, Romo was "obviously" the right choice. I'm with the both of you in that this was probably a freak thing for Romo. If anything, it has strengthened this team and shown again how he can overcome adversity. I'm a little concerned with TO. After the first few games, I was convinced he would be back to the elite receiver that he was. Since then, it hasn't happened. He's not fighting through the double-teams that he could and that will hurt the team.
On the other hand, he was mauled on the two-point conversion (which I knew they wouldn't through the flag for), the delay of game penalty for his "spike" was a joke, and I'm still not convinced that he didn't get his elbow down before the ball came loose at the end. Here's hoping he keeps his cool.
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