October 2006 - Posts
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 Don’t think this loss of Tyson Thompson, placed on injured reserve Tuesday, is frivolous. Do you realize he leads the NFC with a 26-yard kickoff return average and is tied for fourth in the NFL? And to think the three guys averaging more and the guy he’s tied with all have a long this year of at least 65 yards. Thompson’s long is 41, which means his average is not distorted by a big return.
Finding a replacement will not be easy. Now the Cowboys on Monday did work out Aveion Cason, who spent the 2003 season here, and then on Tuesday signed running back Keylon Kincade, who was released from the practice squad Sept. 6. They also likely will consider for return duty Skyler Green and Aaron Glenn, who took over for Thompson against the Panthers, including returning that woefully-short 65-yard field-goal attempt. Man, if Bill Parcells had a lot of nerve, he’d put Julius Jones back there. Jones returned kickoffs and punts at Notre Dame, totaling 2,104 career yards to set the school record previously held by Tim Brown. That’s impressive to me.
That Parcells, he’s a beaut. He was talking about trying not to put too much pressure on Tony Romo in his first NFL start, and how he warned passing-game coordinator Todd Haley against overloading him with information during the game, saying, “Let’s not try to talk a cat down off a fish truck by telling him everything we know. Let’s try to keep him calm.” Tell me you heard that one before.
This number continues to impress me: The Cowboys lead the NFC by converting 45 percent of their third downs. Romo has been good, too, turning 50 percent of his third-down opportunities (18) into first downs (nine). Here is the one that must continue to rise: The turnover differential is now even (0) after having been negative the past few weeks. Finishing the last game a plus-2 sure beats the previous game’s against the Giants minus-2 and the Philly game’s minus-3. That’s ends up being nine of their 15 giveaways in just two games, not to mention 10 of their 12 thrown interceptions in the three losses.
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Wish you could have seen the wide, satisfying smile on Tony Romo’s face as he calmly walked off the field following the Cowboys’ 35-14 victory over Carolina, escorted by a bevy of cameramen. If smiles can talk, he was saying, you know, you guys doubted I could do this, but by golly I just showed you.
Now isn’t this something, the Cowboys recovering from a 14-0 deficit becomes only the second time in Bill Parcells’ head coaching career one of his teams came back from a 14-point first-quarter deficit to win a game, the only other time occurring in 1986 when the Giants beat New Orleans.
Don’t know if this was Romo’s doing, the Carolina defense’s or a better job by the Cowboys’ offensive line, but finally the Cowboys took advantage of teams playing their safeties in a deep Cover-2, tight end Jason Witten carving up the Panthers underneath with six catches for 80 yards and one touchdown.
Before the game, I said on the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network pre-game show, the team with the best Julius would win. The Cowboys won, their Julius, Jones, rushing for 92 yards, including a beauty of a 14-yard run for a touchdown on a draw right up the cut. Carolina’s Julius, Peppers, was held to just two tackles and no sacks.
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So what does Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells most like about Tony Romo? “I think he’s a competitive, and he’s smart, good release – gets the ball out – and can get you out of trouble.” Now if he can just add “doesn’t make impulsive decisions,” he just might have something here.
Gotta love Keyshawn Johnson. Guess I don’t watch enough network TV to realize NBC has been promoting Sunday night’s telecast as “Keyshawn’s Revenge.” Revenge? For what? Keyshawn wasn’t going to play for the $2 million base he was due this year. No way. He would have held out or simply walked. The Cowboys knew that, and that’s why they avoided the headache before paying his roster bonus. And Johnson said as much this week in Charlotte, N.C., telling The Charlotte Observer, “Everybody's getting the story kind of twisted and wrong from a national standpoint. (Carolina-Dallas) is not a revenge game. It's my team versus their team. It's not T.O. versus Philadelphia."
Gosh, only Parcells could invoke the name of Johnny Unitas during a quarterback discussion, as he did Wednesday when revealing Romo would be his starting quarterback. Asked about Romo taking over with a three-game road trip on the horizon, Parcells said, “I don’t know, Johnny Unitas did it.” Well, almost. For the record, Unitas, a ninth-round pick of Pittsburgh who washed out there and played semi-pro ball before hooking up with the Baltimore Colts, started his first game Oct. 28, 1956, defeating the Green Bay Packers, 28-21, to end the Colts’ three-game losing streak. But the game was played at home before the Colts went on a two-game road trip, where they beat Cleveland and lost to Detroit.
Oh, there’s a game this Sunday . . . and the score . . . Panthers 23, Cowboys 20. If this is to be reversed, then the Cowboys must hold Carolina to less than 20 points. Can you say, “Defense?”
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Not sure what you guys think, but to me, the decision Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells made at halftime to go with Tony Romo and bench Drew Bledsoe was not just for the second half against the Giants but the season. Come on, the game still was winnable at that point, trailing by five and getting the ball to start the second half. To me, Parcells was convinced Romo would come in and play well enough to save the day. Otherwise, why would he have said afterward when asked if Romo’s performance was part of the growing pains that go along with a young quarterback, “I don’t know. I would hope not, he has been here four years.”
While Romo completed 14 of 25 passes for 227 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions in the second half, the majority of his work came after the Giants had built a 26-7 lead with 1:26 left in the third quarter. From that point on, the fourth-year quarterback went 12 of 20 for 196 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. The Cowboys only twice ran the ball from then on and the Giants certainly were trying to prevent big plays, even though they somehow managed to give up that 53-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Crayton with 2:03 remaining.
Didn’t take SI.com long to spring into action with one of their polls, asking readers Tuesday morning to vote for the Cowboys quarterback who best gives the team a chance to make the playoffs this year. And the results from 15,617 votes were . . . Bledsoe 52 percent of the vote and Romo 48 percent.
The Cowboys’ defense is catching a lot of grief, especially from those solely looking at the final point total of 36. But up to the point Terrell Owens dropped the first-down pass on fourth down around the Eagles’ 25, the defense, on its own, really had given up just 10 points with the Cowboys trailing 19-10 at 9:30 of the third quarter. That would be the first-drive touchdown on the 50-yard bomb to Plaxico Burress and a field goal, basically. Two points came on the safety and the Giants set up at the Cowboys’ 14 for the other touchdown following Romo’s first pass getting picked.
Speaking of points, the Cowboys have been nicked for 30 points twice in six games – Monday night’s 36 and Philly’s 38. That’s as many 30-point games in six games as the Cowboys gave up in 16 games last year – Washington tallying 35 and San Francisco 31.
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So far so good for right tackle Marc Colombo at right tackle, but this will be his biggest test, having to Monday night face Giants defensive end Michael Strahan, the NFL’s active career sack leader (130.5). Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells told his crusty veteran backup tackle Jason Fabini, who with the Jets played many a game against Strahan – regular season and preseason – to “talk to this guy and tell him what you know.” That should have been a valuable in-service.
The Cowboys need Flozell Adams to come up big in this game in his match-up with Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who leads the Giants with four sacks and led the NFC last year with 14.5. Flo-of-Old is a must, so if Colombo happens to struggle with Strahan, then the Cowboys can slide some help protection his way. But you can’t help both guys and still function offensively.
Julius Jones needs to take the next step. Sure, he has three consecutive 100-yard games rushing and is on pace for a 1,500-yard season. But until he breaks a big one for a touchdown and makes defenses pay for playing that cozy cover-two to better track Terrell Owens and Terry Glenn, they will stay back there and absorb those 10-yard runs. They’d rather do that, and bet against the Cowboys moving efficiently 80 yards in like 12 plays, than give up the big one to Owens or Glenn. Once he does, then look out, it will be bombs away with some single coverage back there if a safety is forced to step into the box.
And the score . . . Cowboys 24, Giants 23 . . . meet the real Cowboys, and for the first time this year, rising to the occasion, they will put together a four-quarter, complete performance to give everyone an indication of what they are capable of doing. And you know what? They had better if they know what’s good for them.
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Here’s one for you mobile quarterback fans: Strahan has dropped 58 quarterbacks for his career total of 130.5 sacks. Bledsoe sits tied for fourth on that list, going down five times. Guess who’s tops? That would be Donovan McNabb, 11.5 times. And he’s a mobile quarterback. Second? Well, Jake Plummer, 7.5. Mobile quarterback. Tied with Bledsoe? Quincy Carter, mobile quarterback. Next, Tony Banks (4.5), Aaron Brooks (4.0) and Brett Favre (4.0). Mobile quarterbacks?
The Cowboys re-signed veteran safety Marcus Coleman to basically the same base salary he had before getting suspended and then released last week. He will receive 11/17ths of his $810,000 base, but instead of being eligible to earn the $40,000 bonus, now he will only have a chance for an extra $20,000 thanks to the suspension. Other difference, the remaining $524,017 will not be guaranteed as would his $810,000 had he been on the roster the first week of the season.
One more thing on blitzes and quarterback pressure. The quarterback, while he has to feel the rush, must be mostly oblivious to what’s going on in front of him, otherwise if he’s worried about himself, he’ll never find his receivers down field. Says Bill Parcells on what Drew Bledsoe should be doing in the pocket, “Drew can’t worry about that. If he’s worrying about the rush, he isn’t going to play very well. He just has to see the blitzes, know where to go with the ball and he can’t be worrying about the rush is doing. That’s not his job. If he’s looking at the rush, he’s in trouble. If Eli Manning is looking at the rush, he’s in trouble.”
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Boy, wonder if the nine teams passing on quarterback Matt Leinart tuned into Monday night’s game. What more could you have asked from a rookie starting his second NFL game? Especially on that last drive, systematically marching the Cardinals into field-goal position. Had the Cards more nerve, Leinart might have marched them right into the end zone for the winning score instead of being forced to settle for the field-goal attempt that Neil Rackers missed.
According to Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, the club was fishing for a trade before Tuesday’s deadline, but nothing materialized. ‘Bout the only last-second deal in the league was the Colts sending a 2007 second-round pick to Tampa Bay for defensive tackle Anthony McFarland, better known as “Booger.”
For the few misguided souls who suggested the Cowboys should pick up wide receiver Koren Robinson, this one is for you – and please remember this, this time: The NFL just suspended Robinson for another year.
Saw where the Lions signed former Cowboys guard Stephen Peterman to the practice squad.
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The NFL trade deadline strikes at 3 p.m. (CDT) Tuesday. Sure got the idea listening to Bill Parcells Monday afternoon the Cowboys might have something up their sleeve – or at least will be trying to pull something off. Parcells said when talking about his roster, “It’s not going to be status quo around here. I’ll be looking for opportunities to improve the team.” And if he needs a spot to add a player, Parcells made room on Monday, waiving Jamaica Rector. Could see him looking for more help on the defensive line now that rookie Jason Hatcher will be out with that sprained right ankle, at safety and a special teams cover guy.
Now if the Cowboys have any surplus at one position to use in a trade, that likely would be linebacker. Veteran Al Singleton is in the final year of his contract, and while active each game so far, has done no more than play special teams. And remember, the Cowboys do have Bobby Carpenter to back up Greg Ellis on the left side, but he’s rarely active. A trade could open a spot for him if indeed he can play and also help on special teams.
Did you see who has the NFL’s No. 1 rushing defense going into tonight’s Chicago-Arizona game? Your Dallas Cowboys, giving up 67 yards a game. But that certainly will be tested next Monday when they must take on the league’s leading rusher, the Giants’ Tiki Barber, who has 533 yards in five games, buoyed by Sunday’s 185-yard performance against Atlanta, previously giving up just 69.3 yards a game.
Oh my (sorry, *** Enberg rubbed off on Sunday), the Giants sacked Michael Vick seven times on Sunday. Geez, I thought the answer to incurring fewer sacks was to have a mobile quarterback. Hmmm, I see where Vick has been sacked 18 times (five games) while throwing the ball 118 times. Drew Bledsoe has been sacked 12 times (five games) throwing the ball 159 times. What’s up with that?
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There will be no celebratory hangover from this victory. Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells, not 30 seconds into his post-game comments, went way out of his way to U-turn and say, “We have the Giants coming in here Monday night, so it will be a big division game coming up. We have to win at home here.”
Maybe the biggest play of this game came on third-and-two from the Houston 3, when after off-setting penalties, the Cowboys got a redo still trailing 6-3. That’s when Drew Bledsoe lobbed one left to Terrell Owens, who was too much for the 6-foot-1 Lewis Sanders, out-positioning the Texans corner for his first regular-season touchdown catch at Texas Stadium. Evidently Bledsoe listened to Owens, who at halftime with one catch told Bledsoe, told his quarterback, “Drew just trust me. When the ball is in the air, I know how to go get it.”
Even if you don’t play particularly well, as the Cowboys did in the first half, amazing how you can hang in there when you don’t commit turnovers and you don’t give up big plays. Save the blueprint.
My Player of the Game? Anthony Henry. Not only did he finally get his pick and break up five passes, but he had a big hand in limiting Houston’s leading receiver Andre Johnson to averaging a measly 8.3 yards on his nine catches. Shoot, those are tight end numbers.
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So Bill Parcells put up the T.O.-talk stop sign on Thursday, refusing to get into a he-said, what-do-you-say dialogue the day after Terrell Owens reaffirmed his inner most thoughts from Sunday about wondering “why am I here?” Actually, good for him. This is getting a bit tiresome.
Although, give me some leeway here for this quote from Houston safety C.C. Brown, who told the Houston Chronicle when asked out having to deal with Owens come Sunday, “In my eyes (Terry Glenn) has been getting most of the balls. I don’t know if that’s because they scheme him to get most of the balls or what, but that’s how it goes in my eyes.” Oh my. Wait until he hears that.
The little SI.com polls are fun to check out, and the latest listed the Top 10 running back tandems in the NFL. The Cowboys’ tandem of Julius Jones and Marion Barber ranked sixth. Leading was the Saints’ duo of Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister.
And the score . . . Cowboys 30, Texans 13 . . . getting back on track as they need to for the next four-game stretch of the Giants the next Monday night and then those three consecutive road games.
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Hey, when doing a little research, came across this quote from Nate Newton after the Eagles pummeled the Cowboys, 24-0, the third game of the 1991 season when they sacked Troy Aikman 11 times and knocked him down at least another half-dozen times: “It’s like having kids and letting them run out in the street.” Bet Drew Bledsoe felt the same Sunday in Philly.
So now we have sunk to quoting stadium employees about what they hear as players file into the locker room after the game. Yep, that’s what the Associated Press evidently did, even if the chap at Lincoln Financial Field didn’t want to use his name after claiming Terrell Owens ran toward the locker room following Sunday’s loss wondering way out loud why the Cowboys signed him in the first place. What next? Man, if you could only hear some of the stuff guys say immediately after a game.
The Cowboys (i.e. Bledsoe) have suffered 10 sacks so far this season, on pace for a 40-sack season. Sixteen other teams in the NFL have suffered more, with seven having played no more than the four games the Cowboys have.
Now would you just look at this. In a recent <i>Sports Illustrated</i> players poll, guess who was voted as the league’s best receiver? You got it, Terrell Owens. Here is the voting breakdown by percentages from the 361 participating players: Cowboys’ Terrell Owens 28%, Panthers’ Steve Smith 23%, Colts’ Marvin Harrison 20% and Bengals’ Chad Johnson 13%.
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Because Terrell Owens caught just three passes for 45 yards, the assumption is he was not involved in the offense. Well, by my account Drew Bledsoe threw Owens’ way at least 10 times. And who knows how many more times he might have if he wasn’t sacked those seven times.
At least six times I counted while re-watching the game where Cowboys left offensive tackle Flozell Adams either got beat for a sack, allowed his guy to hit Bledsoe to force an incompletion or missed a block on a running play to cause a loss or no gain. Funny how we rarely talk about the right tackle position these days.
The Cowboys put a lot of pressure on rookie free safety Pat Watkins in single coverage in this game, really the first time it seems a team has been able to isolate him in man coverage so much. This wasn’t particularly good news, and as Parcells said when asked about Watkins, “He needs to get it going.” If not, we could see Keith Davis returning to the starting lineup or possibly even the Cowboys deciding to keep veteran Marcus Coleman, who comes off his four-game suspension for violation of the league’s substance abuse policy this week.
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Maybe the biggest play in the game? Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb turning a Cowboys corner blitz into an 87-yard touchdown pass to Hank Baskett. And while McNabb was able to shrug off the hard-charging Greg Ellis to throw the ball and Baskett was able to shrug off rookie safety Pat Watkins at the 20, the biggest part of the play was provided by left tackle William “Don’t Call Me Tra Anymore” Thomas. He was blocking Ellis, but at the last second saw Anthony Henry streaking in from the outside, and stepped out to his left to nick Henry, giving McNabb just enough time to throw deep.
Funny thing about the flea-flicker McNabb used to throw the 40-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Brown. The flea part really didn’t work. Watkins was running stride for stride in the slot with Brown and Roy Williams, playing single safety over the top since the Eagles lined up both wide receivers to the left, leaving Watkins on Brown, never bit. In fact, Williams was ahead of the play and appeared poised to beat Brown to the ball for the interception. But when Williams hit the goal line, he must have lost the ball or something, because once again he took a bad angle and let Brown get behind him.
Lost in the ending was DeMarcus Ware catching McNabb’s fumbled forced by Ellis in the air and outrunning tight end L.J. Smith 69 yards for his first NFL touchdown. In the first half alone, Ware had 1½ sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery for a touchdown, a quarterback hit, a batted pass and three tackles. Unfortunately, the Eagles were on to him, and those stats never increased the entire second half.
Very rarely did the Eagles leave Terrell Owens in single coverage, either leaving a safety over the top, playing press coverage with a safety shading his way and playing off while widening out a linebacker to take away the slant. They seemed willing let him run those short crossing routes, but didn’t want him to get behind them, which he did twice, both resulting in interceptions. Go figure.
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Asked Bill Parcells what he’ll be thinking about when he emerges from the tunnel coming out onto the field with the Cowboys for introductions right before the game. “I’m sure I’ll be listening to some vile comments – ‘Parcells, you S.O.B.,’” Parcells said. “That’s OK, I like it.”
Maybe you’ve been wondering where tight end Jason Witten has been, sitting there with nine catches for 97 yards after three games, but just know the Eagles will know exactly where he is. In two games last year against the Eagles, Witten had 10 catches for 107 yards, and safety Brian Dawkins says he might be involved with a little more coverage on him this time around.
Did you realize that since Oct. 23 of last season, just a week before the Eagles sat down Owens for good, the only team Philadelphia has beaten at The Linc since has been Green Bay? Did it this past Monday night and beat the Pack Nov. 27 of last year. But other than beating Green Bay, the Eagles have lost their other six home games since the San Diego win.
And the score . . . Cowboys 24, Eagles 20 . . . a coming of age game for this team, which has a darn good defense and an offense capable of exploiting the gambling Eagles’ D. You watch.
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Did you realize the Eagles were the second opponent for the upstart Cowboys in 1960, barely avoiding the ignominious distinction of becoming the first team to lose to this expansion team from Dallas, holding on for a 27-25 victory?
Didn’t see Andre Gurode at The Ranch Tuesday, the players’ day off, but the guys down the block at the gas station tell me he stopped in and said he was feeling fine following Monday’s plastic surgery to help piece together the left side of his face after Albert Haynesworth’s stomping. Hey, you never know who can help you out.
Tell me I didn’t really read Haynesworth was considering protesting his five-game suspension by the league? Hey, Al buddy, if the NFL has to think about its decision some more, it might give you 10. Best to move on.
One last leftover from Sunday’s game at Tennessee. Hopefully I never again hear the Pledge of Allegiance spliced into the National Anthem as it was before the game at LP Field. Take a page out of Irma Thomas’ songbook from a week ago Monday at the Superdome’s reopening: Just sing the song.
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