We’ve Got Answers, and A Lot of Points
By Matt Cordon (kh). Filed in Questions Waiting for Answers |
Giving up 35 points wasn’t what most of us had in mind for the opener, but the win was still a good step for this team. The answers below are probably more optimistic than they ought to be, but we haven’t had many opening day wins in the past few years.
(1) Can the Cowboys find a way to generate any pressure? The blitz packages should be more aggressive this season, but the faces– with the exception of Anthony Spencer– are largely the same. If Eli Manning has more than five seconds to throw the ball, we may conclude that our problems are much more personnel-related than system-related.
The pressure wasn’t consistent, but the Cowboys started getting to Manning in the second half. Jay Ratliff, who will start now that Jason Ferguson is out for the year, had a sack, and Anthony Spencer injured Manning.
(2) Does Julius Jones prove that he belongs in a Cowboys uniform after this year? Does Marion Barber push Julius right out the door?
In reading the question from last season, I had forgotten that the running game had struggled so much.
Jones was not bad, but Barber breaks those tackles and gives that extra effort that makes you want to see more of him. Here is a post from Dallas Cowboys 24/7 on this debate.
(3) Can the Cowboys take advantage of a Giants’ secondary that might be without Sam Madison? I personally have faith that Tony Romo will have a very good season but that it might not be enough to overcome some nagging injuries (see below).
I am not sure what the cause was, but the Giants left the middle of the field open almost all night. Jason Witten looked all-world– but all-alone might be more like it.
(4) Will Romo continue to have his turnover problems? I did not notice any big mechanical problems during preseason, but it has now been 18 years since I played, so who am I to judge?
Romo’s ill-advised interception to Gibril Wilson could have been more costly, but Romo’s plusses far outweigh his minuses.
(5).500 isn’t a bad percentage, is it? I’ll kick myself for typing this, but I’m starting to get used to Owens.
Owens did not have any drops, and his touchdowns came at critical points.
(6) Does anyone mind if I borrow from Vic Carucci? His general questions about the Cowboys:
Will the Dallas Cowboys’ season of high expectations get off to a bad start because of a long injury list that includes cornerback Terence Newman (heel), wide receiver Terry Glenn (knee), and linebackers Greg Ellis (Achilles) and Kevin Burnett (ankle)? Also, given the angry public reaction of safety Roy Williams, will there be any lingering acrimony from the Cowboys’ decision to release veteran cornerback Aaron Glenn? And how much will the surprising suspension of quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson, who will miss the first five games for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances, affect the early season progress of Tony Romo?
None of these references turned out to be problematic in the first game. The biggest problem was the continued subpar play of Williams, who took himself out of a few plays, misses tackles when failing to wrap, and… then there’s the coverage.
(7) Can the Cowboys Win?
Answer: Yes. Dallas has more talent than anyone in the NFC East, and the Giants are currently retooling. And in all honesty, a loss in the opener is really inexcusable unless all of the injured players (Terry Glenn, Terence Newman, Greg Ellis) end up missing the game.
(a) Sam Hurd and Patrick Crayton are quality players. Glenn would be a great addition, but Dallas has more talent than we probably knew.
(b) Anthony Henry is a waste of money at this point. We can only hope that Newman would have shut down Plaxico Burress.
(c) I am not convinced that Ellis is going to contribute much, but any help to our pass rush is a good thing.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Ellis and Newman may return to practice this week. This could help, but I am not sure this is the answer defensively.
That said, though, Dallas found a way to beat at division foe without these three, which gives us plenty of room for optimism.
Wednesday, September 12th 2007 at 11:36 pm
I do think we need to crush Miami to show the Deadskins we mean business. I thought the Deadskins offense looked horrible….can they score on us like the Giants did?
I hope things shape up.
Saturday, September 15th 2007 at 11:50 am
I think the Giants have a much better offense than the Redskins. One thing the Giants definitely have is a pretty darn good O-line, imo.