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From a fan’s point of view I’m going to eat some humble pie and officially admit that Coach Sparano’s departure after last season left a big void in our offensive system. So much focus was put on Jason Garrett bringing a new life to the offense last year, thus the 13-3 record and offensive explosiveness, but how much of the success last season was because of Jason Garrett. Yes, Garrett probably had his input in the system, but I’m going to believe that Sparano was the one doing the bulk of the work while Garrett was doing understudy work.

Think about it, how is a young buck coming from a QB coach position in Miami going to come in, design, and know how to prepare against the leagues best defenses? Not likely. What’s more likely is that Sparano was the one doing his due diligence in preparing the offense week in and week out.

On top of Sparano taking care of the offense last season, he was responsible for getting the offensive line in order while he was in Dallas. The  Dallas Offensive Line has been abysmal all season long. They are the same players, so why all the miscues and sloppy play? Don’t give me the LG injuries either, that’s one player. The point is that the line needs order, they have to be coached and told what to do. Hudson Houck has been a bust in his return to Dallas, total garbage.

Without Sparano, the offensive game preperation has not been there, the play calls have been predictable, and Garrett has shown his inexperience in virtually every game. Some of the leagues worst defenses were able to pick apart the offensive schemes, and forget about the best defenses in the league, we saw what they did to us. Garrett is overrated, and if anyone needs to get the boot it needs to be Jason Garrett. I’d advise the Cowboys to bring David Lee back into the fold. Give him the promotion to Offensive Coordinator. He built up Romo and knows how to get Romo back in check, because as it is now, Romo has cart blanche on stupid gametime decisions without consequence. We need someone to be in his ear and get him in check. In addition, Lee worked with Felix Jones while at Arkansas and knows his strengths.

Get rid of Garrett, he’ overrated and useless, he needs more understudy work. Bring in David Lee to repair the offense.

Felix Jones has been placed on injured reserved. Probably the suckiest news in months, this is very disappointing news. Bigtime. So much for the added homerun hitting down the stretch. The Cowboys better get their worth out of Choice and give Barber some relief.

From DMNBlog:

Felix Jones’ season is officially over
1:22 PM Thu, Nov 20, 2008 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Tim MacMahon E-mail News tips

Rookie RB Felix Jones will be placed on the injured reserve and will have surgery to repair a torn ligament underneath his left big toe.

A date has yet to be set for the operation, which will be performed by Dr. Robert Anderson, a foot and ankle specialist in Charlotte, N.C.

Jones, the No. 22 overall pick in the draft, provided a big-play complement to Marion Barber and showed flashes of brilliance in his six games. He had 266 yards on 30 carries (8.9 yards per carry) and scored four touchdowns, including a kickoff return.

Jones suffered a partially torn hamstring on a 14-yard run in the loss to the Cardinals and hasn’t played since. He suffered the toe injury while rehabbing his hamstring during the bye week.

The Cowboys’ medical staff, with input from Dr. Anderson, determined that the best option for Jones’ long-term future would be to have season-ending surgery on the toe.

Latest news has the commish reinstating Adam Jones. He’s back at Dallas and has been slated to start his first game after Thanksgiving against the loser Steelers.

Felix Jones is also back at practice, this is the news we’ve all been hoping to hear. Adding Felix back into the mix at this point of the season will be a very good thing for the offense. The Cowboys have been riding Barber hard for several weeks, and he’s stepped up bigtime, but he really could use some breaks during the game. Tashard Choice looked good in preseason, but for whatever reason he’s been a non factor in spelling Barber for any carries.

Ever heard of a must win sitting at 4-1? Don’t sell the Cardinals short this week, this is an explosive offense, and this is the type of game we should win; but, its well within the realm that we could get upset.

Let’s be honest here, the Cowboys’ 4-1 is a false-positive. On paper, its a good record, but the way in which we got here is way below expectations; sloppy, blundering play and defensive let ups are driving fans crazy. So, here we are at 4-1, and its a must win for Wade Phillips. Jerry Jones was NOT pleased at all with the win over the lowly Bengals, and when you see the owner on the sidelines its not a good sign in general. Phillips better bring the aggressive pass rush in which his scheme was so highly touted in San Diego….we have yet to see this scheme, whats the deal?

Leaving the desert with a lose will be a big blow to this team, in particular, Wade Phillips. I know it may sound crazy, but its not. I’m telling you, that if we lose this game, there WILL be some contraversy fall out from it. This is a must win. Even the fact that I’m writing this is an indictment of how unpredictable and inconsistent this 2008 squad has been. We should be writing about being undefeated and crushing people like the Patriots did last year, but we’re not. Don’t give me that crap about a “win is a win” or we’ll take that “ugly win”…Im sorry, but most teams with aspirations of getting to the Super Bowl don’t want to take that approach.

How we win:

- Be aggressive on offense & defense

- Consistent pressure from the front 7

- Create turnovers

- Feed the Barbarian

- Pass the ball to Felix Jones

How we lose:

- Bad playcalling

- Penalties & Turnovers

- Lack of running game

- Lack of pressure on QB

- Bad special teams play

We better win this game big, none of this close call bs.

NFLGAMECENTER

Madden forecast: Cowboys 21 Cardinals 16

The Cowboys pulled out a win over the lowly Bengals, 31-22. Let me say it again…we “pulled out a win”… What is wrong with that sentence, we shouldn’t be pulling out wins at this stage of the game, we should be killin’ teams. What is going on with Romo and the turn over machine he has become. During the game, the telecasters pointed out a disturbing factoid which stated Romo has the longest consecutive INT per game in the entire NFL. In my previous post I said we needed to win big in a crushing, decisive win; however, if this game was close (and it was) then it would support the notion that we’re overrated. Guess what? We’re overrated, and at this point we’re third best in the NFC East.

The Giants are the team to beat, the Redskins have emerged as a solid team, then there’s us and the Eagles. We better get out ass in gear, this team is playing way under expectations…barely winnning games, turning the ball over, bad play calling. This team looks like they took a step back this year. I’m not in a panic mode yet, but I’m also not fully convinced of our potential. We haven’t wowed anyone with our sloppy play.

Was there anything good to take from this game? Despite our crap play, there were some bright spots, mainly that of Felix Jones. We need to get him more involved in the passing game and have him on the field as the same time as Barber.

Jay Ratliff is a player we’re getting our money’s worth from, this guy is a beast in every game. We need a couple of more motors like Ratliff on this line.

There should be no question who our number two receiver is, and that would be Jason Witten. Witten is Romo’s security blanket, who knows what would happen to Romo if Witten were not here.

NFL Game Center: Post Game

The Cowboys are coming off a very disappointing loss to the Redskins last week, so we’ll see how the Cowboys Coaching Staff has handled all the the events after the game. One thing is for sure, the Cowboys better not lose this game, or its gonna be high drama, and no one will be immune to scrutiny.

On paper, the Bengals are a horrible team, this is a game we are suppose to win easily; but, this is the Cowboys, and we’re playing at home. Under Romo we’ve played better on the road. Homefield advantage is an urban legend for us the last few years. I want to see a complete blowout and nothing but. If this game is even close, its going to be an indictment supporting the notion that we are overrated.

How we win:

- Balanced Air & Ground Attack

- Consistent pressure from the front 7

- Create turnovers

- Get Felix Jones involved

How we lose:

- Bad playcalling

- Penalties & Turnovers

- Lack of running game

- Lack of pressure on QB

- Bad special teams play

We better win this game big.

NFLGAMECENTER

Madden forecast: Bengals 17 Cowboys 24

More from the excuses column. I’m not buying into this whole deal of why the run was abandoned. Now Romo gives his two cents, and it just aggravates me more. He basically says there wasn’t any production early…more excuses. We’ll move onto the Bengals game after this post, but this has to read:

“When you run the ball, you’ve got to see production,” Romo said when asked about the Cowboys abandoning the run. “If a team doesn’t have a very good quarterback and he’s not connecting on passes, you’re probably not going to keep on throwing. The production wasn’t there in the beginning, so we had to throw the ball there in the beginning and we didn’t connect on the third downs.

“We had too many three-and-outs. They weren’t giving us good looks. Too many situations where we were used to getting a lead and then we would give Barber the ball and it adds to the stats. When you’re trailing, that’s one when you get three-and-outs. You’re not extending the drives.”

So much for the theory of letting Marion The Barbarian and the Cowboys’ massive offensive line wear down opponents, huh?

Phillips said that Romo does exactly what the coaches tell him to when he comes up the line. And the coaches will tell him to hand the ball off to Barber a lot more often than last week, whether he sees an eight-man front or not. (DMNBlog)

Sorry, but that’s dumb to me. So, if this happens again, can we expect the same senseless panic and lack of passing accuracy from Romo. Where’s the accountability in this deal. We better see a balanced attack against the Bengals, and Felix needs to get the chance to run for the change of pace, that really hurt us. Nothing was working, why not try it, what was the worse that could of happened? Alright, Im moving on. Thoughts?

Forget the score, what I wanted to see is how the first teamers would do in their time on the field. If tonight’s game is a dress rehearsal and a sneak peek of things to come, then I’m nearly satisfied, not completely, but almost.

First things first….do we need to redo Marion Barber’s contract already? I mean, this guy is the real deal, and is playing in Pro Bowl form already, give him a raise, lol. Just kidding, but c’mon, Barber is the man. Wow. Let’s take a look at what stuck out in this game.

Special Teams is Done

Alright, let’s get the negative portion of this game out of the way. There’s just no way to sugar coat this, and there’s no one that is going to convince me otherwise, but we need a change on special teams. Bruce Read is not getting these guys ready, they are not taking his coaching or something. There is something wrong here. Too many inconsistencies, and this will be a liability. The opening play of the game was a huge return into Cowboys territory. Kickoffs are so inconsistent it would almost be better to try onside kicking it. Wade, make a change please. I could see your frustrations from here.

Isaiah Stanback had some good returns, and looks to be the guy to win out the kick return spot. He needs to work on holding the ball, I knew he would put the ball on the ground with that one arm cradle - bit him in the butt tonight. Unfortunately, Stanback injured his left shoulder tonight, the severity of the injury is not known at this time, he is scheduled to have an MRI tomorrow. One of Stanback’s knocks has been his durability in college and in the pros its the same. I was just now beginning to see some value in this pick, but if he’s injured again that’s not good.

First Team Offense

These guys were firing on all cylinders. The Cowboys established dominance on the line of scrimmage and manhandled the Texans’ defensive lineman. Barber, Romo, Crayton, Owens, Hurd, Witten, O-line, everyone looked pretty good and this is exactly what we needed to see. If Crayton can play like this every game, then we’re going to do well at WR. Good job all around, any concerns or worries about the first teamers this preseason should be silenced now. With the exception of Romo’s poor decision for an INT, Romo looked really good out there. This will be it for the starters, some may not get much playing time at all in the final preseason game.

First Team Defense

DeMarcus Ware was bringing the pressure all half and it effected Matt Schaub. Schaub made some bad throws, as a result of the pressure frome Ware and the rest of the starting defense. Adam Jones did a good job out there, he pretty much shutdown Andre Johnson. The pressure upfront made a real difference in the secondary coverages, this is what we’re going to need going into the season as well. We were able to slow down the Texans without Newman, so when the season comes around, we’re going to be stacked in the secondary with Newman, Henry, Jones, Jenkins, and Scandrick. The rookies are going to be good players for us, they play with confidence and are ready to contribute. The only strike I would give the defense are the “let downs” after we take a lead in the game or after a mistake by our offense. If you haven’t noticed you’ll see the defense become complacent after we take a somewhat comfortable lead, and then they let the opposing offense back in game. The Cowboys were set to go up 17-3, until Romo threw the INT in the endzone, the defense then gave up 80 yards for a TD without much resistance.

Martellus Bennett

I have to hand it to the rookie, he’s made some plays when he’s caught the ball, he’s been hard to take down after the catch on several instances, not too bad. He get’s some love from the fans tonight for the second straight preseason game. Keep making plays.

Brad Johnson took over in the 2nd half and had another solid outing in the passing game 9/13 for 107 yards. You can pretty much forget about us dumping Johnson for another QB. I don’t think there’s an urgency like we had once believed there to be. Of course, I’d like an upgrade here, but its not looking like it will happen this year at least.
Felix Jones had a strange night, he never got going, and had a fumble. I thought we would see Jones out with the first teamers tonight, but I think we’ll see that next game, I dont see Barber playing much at all next game, so this could give us a better look at Jones with the first team offensive line. I’m not concerned about this at all, I just want to see how much damage Jones and Barber are going to do together with the first team o-line.

Orland Scandrick could be a steal in the 5th round, he’s looking pretty good out there in the nickel and dime packages, he can play. Scandrick has been an instant upgrade in the package formations.

Bobby Carpenter looks average to me out there, he just doesn’t seem to attack much at all, I think he’s still stuck in the Parcells’ read and react approach, or maybe he’s succumbed to the backup role and peaked, he’s a good backup. Yes he had several tackles, but he played most of the game, so the stats don’t sell me; moreover, he definitely hasn’t done anything to make us remember his play.

Fundamentals

Two dumb turnovers by Stanback and Jones resulted in scoring drives by the Texans, they need to cover up the ball. One thing I have noticed is that Bennett is actually doing well in this arena. I think Garrett has coached him well in covering up the ball once defenders come at him, he’s been covering the ball with both hands. Stanback has a bad habit like Patrick Crayton, they run around all crazy with their arms out in the open cradling the ball with one arm out in the open, easy to knock that ball out. These are fundamentals, that need to be fixed. Same for Jones, he shouldn’t have fumbled that ball, but it was the same deal with him.

Concerns

Special teams, special teams, special teams. Wade, Jerry, I think enough is enough, make a change here please. If anything, we can only get better with a coaching change, I don’t see how we could play any worse on special teams at this point. Phillips is a smart guy, I can’t see how we could go into the season with this liability in place.

The game was blacked out for me, and attempting to watch the game online didn’t cut it for me. After I saw the game replay on NFL Network I found myself not to concerned. Some of the comments during the game had me concerned, but after watching the game myself I knew it wasn’t as bad as I thought.

The main beef was the penalties, yes we had a lot of penalties, but I would say at least half of those were total BS nit-picky calls. Sometimes I think the refs are also getting their practice in by being extra picky, so they can get their verbiage down pat. There were some stupid calls out there. Of course the other half were legit and that can be attributed to discipline. Whether you agree with the penalty calls or not, the Cowboys have racked up alot of penalty yards. These are mistakes, and Wade said himself that the mistakes were on him and effort was on the team. We can’t go into the season with these types of penalty riddled games.

As for the gameplay, the Bronco’s 1st teamers manhandled our 1st team defenders, bigtime. Besides Zach Thomas, there was a lot of sloppy tackling and inability to wrap up players. The secondary had some struggles tackling after the catch as well, just plain sloppy.
Special Teams -  the special teams looked somewhat better, but I want to see more consistency. There were some seams in the return game for Adam Jones and Isaiah Stanback.

Mike Jenkins - the Broncos went after Jenkins and were able to capitalize several times. Brandon Marshall scored a easy TD on Jenkins. Overall Jenkins didn’t have such a good night in my opinion.

Bobby Carpenter - missed a couple of tackles, Andre Hall ran right through him early in the game, he just didn’t make any plays that stood out. He, along with the rest of the defense didn’t seem to have an answer to the zone blocking early on. They’ll get another shot next week when we play the Texans, they use the same style.

Adam Jones - looked better in this game, looks like his timing is getting better, he had several near INTs in this game, coupled with his nice punt return. Its just a matter of time before Jones is back and free from the rust. He looked good.

Zach Thomas - this dude is bad to the bone. Thomas has the type of intensity we need at LB, bigtime upgrade over Akin Ayodele.

Felix Jones - when you watch Jones you can “feel” something is going to happen, as in big yardage or a breakaway homerun TD. I’m excited about this rookie. When we have Barber and Jones back there in the backfield, watch out. Defenses will have to pick their poison. Jones has really good hands, and has been money in the passing game. The cat is out the bag.

Tashard Choice - they didn’t run him much tonight, he had negative yardage on 2 plays, and had one catch for 9 yards; however, he did have a nice punt block. Very good. Not too bad for a short night of work.

Danny Amendola - wasn’t much of a factor, he had 1 catch for 12 yards and 1 punt return for 9 yards. There was that INT that Bartel threw at the end of the game, its questionable whether or not Amendola has some fault since the pass came his way he inadvertedly faked out Bartel and then the INT happened. I’m not sure that was his fault, but its there for the coaches to look at.

Martellus Bennett - gotta give him some props. He didn’t do anything that deserved any lashings, he had a nice catch and bulldozed for a few yards and covered up the ball too. Looks to be taking the coaching from John Garrett after all. Now, I’m not completely sold, he’s a rookie and needs to keep it going. I don’t want to see him show up at the Texans game and screw up. Keep it going.

Brad Johnson - he had some better blocking in this game, and he looked better. Let’s just hope the line keeps protecting Romo most of all. I don’t feel comfortable with Johnson for any stretch during the season.

Alan Ball - I don’t think he makes the team, he’s not playing well at all. He’s definitely looking like a late round pick, he had a rough night in coverage.

Dreadlocks - either I missed something, but looks like there’s some sort of mandate on the dreadlocks for players. Over the last few games, I’ve noticed the players donning pony tails to hold there’s dreadlocks together. Not just Cowboys players but other players in the league.

Well that’s it. Its the preseason, we’re always going to have work to do, but we can’t give away our new plays, and we can’t reveal our full arsenal. I’m not too worried; however, I would like to see more intensity and swagger from other players, we just don’t have enough of that.

The Texans are next, and expect another Texas sized brawl. The Texans are no longer the caretakers of the NFL’s basement, these guys are turning the ship around. I’ll take a closer look later in the week. Its going to be a tough game.

The Cowboys will get a good test tonight against the Broncos, and its expected that the Cowboys starters will play about a quarter, the offensive line starters may see action upto the half. The Cowboys want to see how Brad Johnson fares with the offensive line starters. The Broncos will challenge the Cowboys run defense since they utilize an effective zone blocking scheme, something the Cowboys don’t go up against much. In a sense this game against the Broncos will simultaneously help prepare the Cowboys for next weeks opponent in the Houston Texans. The Texans use the same schemes as the Broncos, and that will be our dress rehersal game.

Let’s take a look at a few players we should be watching tonight:

Bobby Carpenter - if Carpenter wanted a chance to breakthrough from the shadows of a backup then tonight is the night, it starts now. Carpenter won’t get an easy pass tonight. The Broncos are one of the better run blocking teams in all of the NFL, their effective zone blocking will be a big challenge for Carpenter. Will he make the proper reads and adjustments? We will see. This really is a make or break season for Carpenter, with the health issues around Burnett and Thomas’ concussion concerns, Carpenter needs to make a statement. If he gets the job done and looks the part of his 1st round pick status he could be a huge piece in 2009, if not, look for us to draft LB early, that’s just the plain and simple truth of the matter. I’m hoping for some big games from Carp the rest of the way.

Adam Jones - Jones did not have a good outing last time around and that can be attributed to “rust,” but he needs to be able to show he can become that player we had hoped him to be - a shutdown corner. There’s no doubt in my mind that Jones will be a factor this season, but I would be more confident once we see him return to his old ways on the field.

Mike Jenkins - Jenkins had a relatively good showing last weekend, but there’s always room for improvement, you can bet the Broncos will zero in on the rookie and test him early and frequently. I want to see how he progresses in this second game.

Brad Johnson - Johnson should be getting some snaps with the first team offensive line, and if he looks like crap again, it would be safe to say we’d be looking at adding another QB, if not I would be surprised. The Cowboys are obviously scouting players and leaving their options open, so another poor performance could lead to change. We’ll see how it goes.

Martellus Bennett - he didn’t have a good game last week. We’re all seeing the same thing, so there’s not much else that needs to be said. This subject is getting old; however, Bennett needs to show he can play in this league, he hasn’t shown much yet. He’ll be given some slack due to his draft status, but that won’t last long. Let’s see how he makes adjustments to his game, will he block better, will he catch the ball in traffic? I already know Tony Curtis can do all this, can Bennett over take him for the #2 spot, not yet, not even close, tonight he’ll get another chance to.

Danny Amendola - its crunch time for Amendola, he needs to do some solid things on special teams, in coverage, and in the return game. He cannot afford to have any errors whatsoever, otherwise we can scratch him off the starting 53. As much as we all like him, he has too play exceptionally well in tonight’s game to stay in the hunt. Right now Amedola is on the bubble, he has to distance himself from the other bubble players, and special teams may be the only way he gets on the field. I do expect Amendola to get some looks tonight in the passing game though. He didn’t get any passes last preseason game, but we should see him in action tonight.

Felix Jones/Tashard Choice - so far so good with these two guys. I can’t wait to see how they perform again. I want to see that same authoratative running again tonight. I’d like to see Jones out there in a two back set with Choice and go after people with them. I know we’re going to see some two back sets with Barber and Jones, but we could also see the same thing with Jones and Choice when Barber gets a breather. The Cowboys have really set themselves up with alot of options with these guys. Let’s see how they do tonight.

Austin vs. Hurd - That’s the battle we’re going to see tonight, this is clearly a two player battle for the #3 WR. Stanback is not even in this competition, I think we’ve come to the fact that Stanback won’t be a factor this season and still in a development mode…wasted pick. For now it’ll be time for Austin to replicate his performance from last week. My biggest knock on Austin has been his consistency and his hands. Can he keep catching the ball and can he get open and make plays. I’m not completely sold on Austin’s ressurgence from last week, we’ll see. Hurd didn’t do much at all last week, and that was surprising that he did not step up. Hurd needs to make a statement, catch everything that comes your way and get open. I’d like to see both these guys do well, but we need at least one of them to seperate themselves from the rest going into the season.

Special Teams - we have the players to be decent, and the Cowboys special teams units have been horrid, the same story from last season. If we do into the season with the same crap play it WILL come back to bite us in the butt. If we’re in a close game and we let the opposing team start near field goal range due to bad tackling on a punt or kickoff then forget it. Phillips has been touted as a coach who is good at making adjustments from half to half and from game to game. Surely, if the special teams woes continue we’ll see a change at the coaching position. Read better have these guys playing, or he needs to be let go.

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