The 2008 Dallas Cowboys Thread

[Transplanted Caper]

Wow...congrats, you're the Patrick Stefan of football.

[IcedOutPhilly]

Nice leap by westy! This game is gonna be HIGH SCORING

[Transplanted Caper]

I think I might appreciate Nick Folk more than anyone else on this team.

[Goose]

Man Folk was so clutch last night. I was watching him in warm ups and he was money from about 58.

[klingsor]

Fun to watch but that sack on McNabb in the last series was inexcusable (especially for a smart veteran). He was out of the pocket and had plenty of time to throw an incompletion and stop the clock.

Lots of scoring but the Cowboys played excellent defense when they had to.

Barber just amazes me. Such unbelievable determination on ever play. Guy's a throwback. Probably would have played both ways in the old days.

[Gzus]

Great game, I think it wouldn't have been so close if Romo didn't have the pick or the fumble. But all in all an exciting game that kept my heart racing till the very end. Cowboys D needs to shape up, but you can't argue that the Eagles offense wasn't solid.

[Goose]

My take aways...

Philly owned the trenches early on both sides of the ball... we came through when it mattered. I think the Cowboys are a far supperior team but I am afraid we know it and play down thinking we can win on skill alone. Andy far out coached Wade last night, and Philly played better as a team, we won that game by having far better talent. I look back on these last 2 games and we should have won by a far greater margin in both games. We can not play like this next week or we will lose to GB.

Philly is a great team, Westbrook and McNabb are such a great duo. Jackson is going to be a difference maker in this league and when their WR corp is healthy they are maybe the 3rd best team in the NFC. That defense is not the defense of past years, they didn't get to Romo once and our O-line played like crap for an entire half. If they don't sure up that D I don't see them going very deep into the playoffs... and I should know this has been the Cowboys vice for the last several seasons.

[Gzus]

All the experts are picking the Packers to beat the Cowboys. They mostly blame a quick turnaround from the Monday nighter, but credit the Boys with a better overall team. Do I agree with their analysis? NO.

I agree it'll be tiresome to go for the quick turnaround, but if any team can do it the Boys can. Also the Boys throughout the season have been without Kyle Kosier, who I think is a very underrated guard, and even without him they have given Romo one of the cleanest pockets in the league to work from. Reports indicate Kosier will be back in the starting lineup come Sunday night, which gives Romo even more time and protection to pick apart the Green Bay defense.

QB: Edge goes to Romo, more experience and shows an intangible that I don't think Rodgers has. Though Rodgers has an advantage in that it is hard to game plan for a guy who has very little game tape, Romo has an overall experience and IMO skill set advantage.

RB: Edge has to go to the Boys. They have Marion the Barbarian who is punishing as well as Felix Jones who is a home run hitter, not to mention a rumbler in Tashard Choice should Marion go down. The only legitimate runner on the Pack is Ryan Grant, who is a great runner, both power and speed but his energy and stamina will wane in the 3-4 quarter in contrast to Marion and Felix who the Boys will rotate to keep them fresh.

WR: THe edge here goes to the Pack. They have way more depth at the position. Though T.O. is heads and shoulders above any receiver they have, after him the talent kinda drops off. The Pack have both depth and speed at the WR, something that the Boys lack. The Pack WRs have a great ability to get yards after the catch, turning what is a 5 yard reception to a 25 yard catch-and-scramble (The Boys have to tackle those recievers and tackle early).

TE: Both teams have a legitimate threat at TE, Pack with Donald Lee and Boys with Witten. But I have to give the edge here to the Boys. Mainly because of depth at the position and how they love to play the hybrid TE/FB scheme. You have to factor in Martellus Bennett, even if his one catch doesn't scare you, they guy can catch and move. All the Dallas TEs can block as well as catch, which will also contribute greatly to the run game. Donald Lee however will be a nightmare to a Cowboy D that may actually benefit from the Roy Williams injury, if they can match up Henry on Lee and keep him in check they will be ok.

OL: Dallas has a powerful and beefy O-line that both protects Romo extremely well and gets a great push to move the pile and open up lanes for both Barber and Felix. I have to admit though I haven't seen much of the Green Bay line, but from all I hear they are a solid bunch as well. If anything I would have to say this was a draw, but I'd give the Boys a slight edge just because of their size.

DL: Defensive Line is one of those things that is a very underappreciated position in the league. The Boys have seemingly integrated Tank Johnson into the 3-4 system and the D-line looks somewhat solid. The advantage that the Boys have with this line is that they can rotate just about every guy on there. The run stopping ability of the Dallas D-line is it's strength, although the main question for them is their ability to create a pass rush. The Packers on the other hand have one of the better DEs on their line with Kampman, but other than him no one really stands out. I give the edge to the Boys here, though the Pack D-line is good at generating some pass-rush the Boys ability to stop the run at the line is way more important IMO (Boys 9th in rush def vs. Pack 22nd)

LB: Both teams are stacked and talented at LB. With the Boys you've got DeMarcus Ware, Bradie James, Zach Thomas (a 13 yr veteran but still a beast), Greg Ellis, and I'll have to throw in Kevin Burnett. With the Pack you've got A.J. Hawk, Nick Barnett, and Brady Poppinga. The thing with the 3-4 vs. the 4-3 is where the pass rush (QB pressure) is supposed to be generated from (LB or DL). In Dallas's case the LBs are supposed to generate the pressure, which is what in the Boys case what they excel at. In the Packs case the LBs are supposed to do run stopping and stopping the ballcarrier. In comparing the two and looking who excels more at what they do, they both are for the most part tied, though I'd give a slight edge to the Boys. The run D of the Pack is not as great as it should be especially with the LBs they have on their D, but their ability to move to the ball carrier is supurb. I give the Boys the edge here, just because they are just monsters when it comes to hounding the QB, and the two ILBs do a great job just headhunting out there.

DB: I have to give the edge to the Boys just due to depth. Pack only have two stellar DBs on the team, whereas the Boys have Newman, Pacman, Henry, Hamlin. The talent comparison between the two top DBs though have to go to the Pack who's two starting CBs are the best in the league.

(I'm tapering off here cause I'm tired)

ST: It's a wash. Felix and Pacman Jones are great returners, but Blackmon is as well. The team to return one for a TD will likely win the game.

My pick: The Boys over the Pack 41-34, high scoring affair but the Dallas D will come through again in the 4th.

[Transplanted Caper]

Damn Romo. Terrible time for a pick.

[Transplanted Caper]

Felix Jones>>>Julius Jones

[Transplanted Caper]

Nice win. Probably the nicest one of the season because of the way the defense played against a team that's been playing quite well offensively. Marion Barber is a beast and how about Miles Austin??? Nice game for him.

3-0. Nice start to the season. No gimmes at all this season. The Giants are 3-0 and Washington and Philadelphia are 2-1. Gonna be a heckuva race.

[magwhump]

If the boys get too cocky about that 3-0 start... Watch the Skins hand their arses to 'em here @ home.

Nice win @ Lambeau Field! Finally broke the curse!

I thought the game would be a lot closer though.

[HISTORY]

green bay tools them next week

[klingsor]

Originally Posted by Transplanted Caper

Nice win. Probably the nicest one of the season because of the way the defense played against a team that's been playing quite well offensively. Marion Barber is a beast and how about Miles Austin??? Nice game for him.

3-0. Nice start to the season. No gimmes at all this season. The Giants are 3-0 and Washington and Philadelphia are 2-1. Gonna be a heckuva race.

And Washington and Philadelphia losses were both to NFC East teams.

[Goose]

Wow... we gave away 2 TDs with redzone turnovers and gave them a trash time TD and still won by 11.

We sured up the penalties this week, but the turnovers bother me. We wont get away with this when it counts. I am looking at this 3-0 start thinking we should have a margin of victory of 35. We still aren't playing to our potential.

side note... Witten may be the most valuable player on this team. He's clutch. Forget all of his catches... he was the key block on both TD runs. What a beast! We are so lucky to have a cat like that on this team.