Wow. There was some terrible football played on Monday night. The "starting" offense for the Cowboys was terrible. The offensive line is a mess and it was dangerous for Tony Romo to even play the few snaps that he did. Obviously the line needs to improve. But was there anything else useful to be gained from the first preseason game?
The starting safeties looked good. Barry Church was aggressive and Gerald Sensabaugh had a nice interception. I'm excited to see what the secondary can do this season with Claiborne and Jenkins on the field along with Scandrick and Carr.
David Arkin wasn't terrible. I did notice that he was blown off the ball a couple of times early in the game, but he held his own. You have to give the guy credit for playing nearly the entire game after learning how to snap the ball less than two weeks ago. If nothing else, Arkin is earning a spot on the roster since he can now play guard and center. And the experience he got Monday night was invaluable.
Andre Holmes made a couple of nice plays catching the ball. He doesn't appear to run the best routes but his pure athletic ability is easy to see. Hopefully he can keep refining his game because he could be a big weapon in the offense.
Marcus Spears was playing great. He is on the bubble to make the roster since there are young guys playing well in camp. Spears is going to make it tough to get rid of him. If nothing else, he is raising his trade stock.
Ben Bass, the rookie defensive end from Texas A&M, was impressive. If he can keep showing up on game day he could play his way onto the final roster.
I liked how the Cowboys mixed in some 4-3 defense with Sean Lee, Bruce Carter and Dan Connor all on the field. The Cowboys could really makes things tough on the opposing offense if they can go back and forth between the 3-4 and the 4-3.
Kyle Wilbur looked good but broke his thumb. He will be out until the regular season starts. But he looks like a guy who can help in passing situations.
Chris Jones showed why the Cowboys decided to let Matt McBriar leave after his workout a few weeks ago. The Cowboys have gotten younger at punter and, hopefully, better. McBriar was one of the best when healthy so Jones has some big shoes to fill.
I think Stephen McGee is done as a Dallas Cowboy. He just continues to have the same problems year after year. He just doesn't push the ball down the field and he hesitates on his reads.
Adrian Hamilton needs to get some time with better players on the field. He seems to have a vast array of pass rush moves but it is hard to judge what he can do when he plays against 3rd and 4th teamers. Hopefully he'll get some playing time against San Diego against better competition.
It is pretty apparent that the Cowboys need to get healthy. Luckily there is time to get all of the starters back on the field before the real games start. There were some positives to be found in what was probably the most boring preseason game I have ever seen. The Cowboys seem to be developing some good depth on the defensive side of the ball. Now the offense needs to round into shape.
Something terrible to note is that Kyle Orton came out for a series and out performed Romo in my opinion. Romo needs to start sweating his job a little more and KO might be the one to do that for him.
ReplyDeleteThe terrible part of this is that a guy that got dropped by two teams last year is out performing Romo. Begs the question is Romo great? Or are his receivers great. Romo will get hurt first few games anyways probably due to lack of offensive line. Thinking this might be Romo's last season as a Cowboy.
WBF
First off, they guy WBF is COMPLETELY OFF BASE. Orton can't even carry Tony's jock strap. I get so tired of these guys saying crap about Tony and they don't have NO idea what they are talking about.
ReplyDeleteWith that being said, 1st preseason game of the year, what did we really expect? We still have a ton of work, but if the O-line doesn't block, we won't make the season with Tony or Kyle, plain and simple. R2W, correct me if i'm wrong, but out of Tony's 6 pass attempts, 4 of them he was either running for his life or rushing because the D got past our O-line.
I'll keep the rest of my comments until after the 3rd preseason game.
I do know this, they our refs aren't the best by far, but they are better than the scab squad we have now.
Just my 2 cents
Mike
Glad your back R2W, was worried like everyone else you had given up or something had happened.
Mike not to disagree with you. But Tony Romo is the only position not replaced on the team and yet the team still performs as it has since he became #1 QB. Linemen have changed, receivers have changed, head coach has changed, Offensive and defensive coordinators have changed, hell even the kickers have changed. But Romo is still the same, and yet still without Orton we would have tied the game at 0-0.
ReplyDeleteAnd believe it or not there are quarterbacks that can be rushed and still throw the ball.
WBF
First off, your right, we need to keep Tony off of defense, he is killing us there. With that being said, they areas we addressed last year on defense....pfffff we was a joke. We can't cover, we can't rush the passer, safety was a serious problem. WBF, just because we replace, doesn't make it right. Even if you went off of Tony's stats alone, with a AVERAGE defense, which we did not have last year, we should have won more games than we did. And apparently, i'm not thinking your watching the same games i am, I see Tony scrambling, running for his life, making things happen all the time. I for one do not watch nor pay attention to what NFL or ESPN networks say. Most of them guys are cowboy haters and they love to beat up on us any chance they get. Tony is a superbowl quarterback, however, since this is a "Team" game, he can't do it by himself.
ReplyDeleteWBF, come on!!!!!!! it was a PREASON game! I guess New Orleans should trade Breese because he went 1 for 5 or whatever it was and they lost to NE in a PREASON game???
Like I said earlier, I'll have more comments after the 3rd presason game, that will tell us more where we are at than any other preason game.
Personally, I would prefer to go 1-3 or 2-2 in preason anyway.
Again, just my 2 cents.
Mike