Preseason Notes - Cowboys vs Seahawks
Did you catch the Cowboys first preseason game last night? I did so here is my brief assessment.
Who impressed:
Tony Romo. Wow! Romo played the entire game and finished with 117.9 QB rating. Romo moved excellent in the pocket, had good placement on his passes, and generally manged the game well. More on Romo’s performance here.
The Cowboys O-line in pass protection. The line didn’t give up a single sack Saturday night and anyone who watched this line last year knows that is a marked improvement.
Greg Ellis. Ellis looked unstoppable on the first few series. His swim move was on and he was entirely too much for the right tackle and backs to block. Ellis also did an excellent job against the run and even made an open field tackle one on one against Bobby Engram.
Junior Glymph. Who? Exactly. That beast had two sacks and two forced fumbles! Bet you know him now.
The defensive pass rush. I’ve already mentioned Ellis and Glymph coming off the edge but the defensive line caved the Seahawks pocket all night. The Cowboys obviously held off on blitzes in the first preseason game but they really didn’t need them Saturday night. I believe the D finished with six sacks. Impressive indeed.
The defensive pass coverage. I want to go on record as being the official creator of T-New’s newest nickname. I call him Michael Jackson’s son ‘cuz Newman blanketed his man in coverage. But it wasn’t just Newman, Seattle’s wideouts simply couldn’t run away from Dallas’ DB’s on their routes. I know towards the end of the game, Dallas gave up some passing yardage but it looked to be mostly receivers getting open against a soft zone. In man coverage, there were several passes knocked away by Dallas defenders.
Who disappointed:
Cowboys’ running game. Just never seemed to get on track. I kept waiting for the big run but it never came. MB3 was hesitant on a few runs. The line never opened up clear running lanes.
Young rook Bobby Carpenter. Carpenter didn’t do anything terrible but at the same time he didn’t do anything great. I would have liked to see him in on more plays. I think he finished with just one tackle.
Young rook Sam Hurd. I know, I know, Hurd had some great catches and piled up some receiving yards, but he makes this list for his two dropped balls on easily catchable passes. Gotta make the routine play first.
Skyler Green. The numbers will disagree with me, one kickoff return for 29 yards and 11.7 yards average on three punt returns, but I didn’t like the way Green appeared to dance around after fielding the ball on his punt returns. He seemed to be looking for the home run return instead of just getting up the field.
Mike Vanderjagt. I know Vandy made his only attempt at a field goal, but that’s just it. I would have liked to see him get some more work instead of the other kickers as there is no way they will be kicking field goals when the season starts. Add that to the fact that I haven’t been hearing rave reviews about Vanderjagt from camp and he disappointed me. Oh, and did you see his interview during one of the breaks? Vanderjagt basically anointed himself as the greatest kicker of all time and he actually complained that it was a negative to be as good as he was in previous years because he doesn’t know if he can improve on his unbelievable accuracy. I am just going to assume he was liquored up again.
Unfortunately, the Cowboys’ game was the only game I was able to watch yesterday, as nothing else was televised in my area. Other than a few highlights and clips from the game I don’t feel that I saw enough to make a valid assessment. Therefore, I will reserve comment on how other players/teams looked. However, I do feel it necessary to comment on one play. I have to comment on Reggie Bush’s “amazing” 44 yard scamper. As I said before, since the Saints/Titans game wasn’t televised in my area, I had to rely on secondhand info to know what was going on in the game. All I heard and read over and over was that Bush was spectacular in his first game and that he rattled off an impressive long gain. Well, I finally saw the play on Sportscenter and I have to say I wasn’t that impressed. Chalk that “amazing” run up to poor defense more than to spectacular running. Bush made decent cut, then out-ran an over pursuing defense (where was the containment? I guarantee some defensive end got chewed out). I will give Reggie props on his speed to outrun the defense, but I will maintain what you saw was the exception in the NFL rather than the norm. What was more impressive than Reggie’s 44 yard run was the hit he took on the sideline after catching a pass in the flat. Why was that impressive? Because the big stick came from Pac-Man Jones who usually chicken wings more than Colonel Sanders.
So that's my assessment. What's yours? Did you get to see another game? How'd your team do? Let me know what you think.
Who impressed:
Tony Romo. Wow! Romo played the entire game and finished with 117.9 QB rating. Romo moved excellent in the pocket, had good placement on his passes, and generally manged the game well. More on Romo’s performance here.The Cowboys O-line in pass protection. The line didn’t give up a single sack Saturday night and anyone who watched this line last year knows that is a marked improvement.
Greg Ellis. Ellis looked unstoppable on the first few series. His swim move was on and he was entirely too much for the right tackle and backs to block. Ellis also did an excellent job against the run and even made an open field tackle one on one against Bobby Engram.
Junior Glymph. Who? Exactly. That beast had two sacks and two forced fumbles! Bet you know him now.
The defensive pass rush. I’ve already mentioned Ellis and Glymph coming off the edge but the defensive line caved the Seahawks pocket all night. The Cowboys obviously held off on blitzes in the first preseason game but they really didn’t need them Saturday night. I believe the D finished with six sacks. Impressive indeed.
The defensive pass coverage. I want to go on record as being the official creator of T-New’s newest nickname. I call him Michael Jackson’s son ‘cuz Newman blanketed his man in coverage. But it wasn’t just Newman, Seattle’s wideouts simply couldn’t run away from Dallas’ DB’s on their routes. I know towards the end of the game, Dallas gave up some passing yardage but it looked to be mostly receivers getting open against a soft zone. In man coverage, there were several passes knocked away by Dallas defenders.
Who disappointed:
Cowboys’ running game. Just never seemed to get on track. I kept waiting for the big run but it never came. MB3 was hesitant on a few runs. The line never opened up clear running lanes.
Young rook Bobby Carpenter. Carpenter didn’t do anything terrible but at the same time he didn’t do anything great. I would have liked to see him in on more plays. I think he finished with just one tackle.
Young rook Sam Hurd. I know, I know, Hurd had some great catches and piled up some receiving yards, but he makes this list for his two dropped balls on easily catchable passes. Gotta make the routine play first.
Skyler Green. The numbers will disagree with me, one kickoff return for 29 yards and 11.7 yards average on three punt returns, but I didn’t like the way Green appeared to dance around after fielding the ball on his punt returns. He seemed to be looking for the home run return instead of just getting up the field.
Mike Vanderjagt. I know Vandy made his only attempt at a field goal, but that’s just it. I would have liked to see him get some more work instead of the other kickers as there is no way they will be kicking field goals when the season starts. Add that to the fact that I haven’t been hearing rave reviews about Vanderjagt from camp and he disappointed me. Oh, and did you see his interview during one of the breaks? Vanderjagt basically anointed himself as the greatest kicker of all time and he actually complained that it was a negative to be as good as he was in previous years because he doesn’t know if he can improve on his unbelievable accuracy. I am just going to assume he was liquored up again.
Unfortunately, the Cowboys’ game was the only game I was able to watch yesterday, as nothing else was televised in my area. Other than a few highlights and clips from the game I don’t feel that I saw enough to make a valid assessment. Therefore, I will reserve comment on how other players/teams looked. However, I do feel it necessary to comment on one play. I have to comment on Reggie Bush’s “amazing” 44 yard scamper. As I said before, since the Saints/Titans game wasn’t televised in my area, I had to rely on secondhand info to know what was going on in the game. All I heard and read over and over was that Bush was spectacular in his first game and that he rattled off an impressive long gain. Well, I finally saw the play on Sportscenter and I have to say I wasn’t that impressed. Chalk that “amazing” run up to poor defense more than to spectacular running. Bush made decent cut, then out-ran an over pursuing defense (where was the containment? I guarantee some defensive end got chewed out). I will give Reggie props on his speed to outrun the defense, but I will maintain what you saw was the exception in the NFL rather than the norm. What was more impressive than Reggie’s 44 yard run was the hit he took on the sideline after catching a pass in the flat. Why was that impressive? Because the big stick came from Pac-Man Jones who usually chicken wings more than Colonel Sanders.
So that's my assessment. What's yours? Did you get to see another game? How'd your team do? Let me know what you think.
posted by Andrew at 8:17 AM
2 Comments:
I gotta defend my boy Mario. Everyone is making a big deal saying he only had .5 a tackle. Well he only played 1st quarter so that averages out to 2 a game which averages out to 32 a year. D-lineman don't make many tackles and 32 in a season would be about avg. Mario will be the first to admit he still has a lot to learn, but even the best DE's in the league aren't measured by the stats. Peppers had 38 tkls last year and Freeney only 34. Mario will be fine.
erry buddy gets lucky sometimes. guarantee Mario slipped. I also saw Turley come flying out of his stance like a madman. Only problem is no one else did. Pay attention to the snap count BB!
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