Tag: Dallas Cowboys (Page 24 of 62)

Cowboys end Saints’ run at perfection

Here are five, quick-hit observations from the Cowboys’ 24-17 upset over the Saints on Saturday night.

1. The Saints might be a team of destiny, but they’re not perfect.
There’s a reason why there have only been two undefeated teams in the history of the NFL: Because it’s freaking hard to run the table. It doesn’t matter that the Cowboys had lost two in a row or have always struggled in December under Wade Phillips; they had a great chance coming into Saturday night because the law of averages were eventually going to catch up with the Saints. And that’s exactly what happened.

2. The Saints have a problem defensively.
Three weeks ago when the Saints narrowly escaped Washington with a win, I noted that they better get healthy defensively or else they would have problems down the road. Not having DT Sedrick Ellis really hurt the Saints tonight, as Dallas churned out 145 yards on the ground and seized control of the game in the first half. New coordinator Gregg Williams has done a great job turning around the New Orleans’ defense, but this is not a unit that can overcome injuries and win a Super Bowl. They’re just not that deep.

3. Jermon Bushrod had a tough night.
Not to pile it on, but every defensive end that lined up across from Saints’ right tackle Jermon Bushrod abused him tonight. DeMarcus Ware was beating him so bad to the outside that on the final play of the game, Bushrod just fell over because he couldn’t get into his backpedal quick enough. (The play resulted in Drew Brees fumbling, which sealed the win for Dallas.) If Phillips’ defense can play with that much aggressiveness, energy and focus in the playoffs, the Cowboys are going to be a tough out.

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Roy Williams likes the Cowboys chances of beating the Saints

Roy Williams doesn’t believe that this Saturday’s game between the Cowboys and Saints will be the only time these two teams meet this season. He also likes his team’s chances of victory in New Orleans this weekend.

From ESPN.com:

“Might as well crown them, right?” Williams said with more than a hint of saracasm Tuesday. “They’re undefeated. It’s December. We don’t have a chance.”

“This is a two-round fight, and this is just the first round, in my eyes,” Williams said. “I don’t know about everybody else, but I think we’re going to see this team in the playoffs down the road.”

“If we pack our bags and show up in New Orleans on Saturday night,” he said, “we should be victorious.”

Given that the Saints are undefeated and the Cowboys have dropped two in a row, Williams’ claims seem humorous. But let’s not forget that the Saints had to scratch and claw for their last two victories, which came against the struggling Redskins and the depleted Falcons. It’s not a stretch to think the Cowboys can win this Saturday.

That said, New Orleans has been damn near unbeatable at home this season and Dallas is in the midst of another December collapse. Here’s hoping the game lives up to the hype.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

Cowboys right on time with another December collapse

I know this is such a cliché, but I’m going to use it anyway, so eat it: There are three things we can count on in life: Death, taxes and the Cowboys collapsing in December under Wade Phillips.

The Chargers won their eighth straight game on Sunday by knocking off the Cowboys, 20-17 in Week 14. Vincent Jackson turned in a banner performance by catching seven passes for 120 yards, which should appease fantasy football owners because he had just nine grabs for 147 yards in the previous four weeks.

But getting back to Dallas, the ‘Boys have started off the month of December by dropping their first two games. They’re now 3-7 under Phillips, but it’s hardly fair to blame all of the Cowboys’ struggles in the fatal month on the head coach.

In December and January, Tony Romo is 5-12 as a starter and the defense is allowing 25.1 points per game. So if owner Jerry Jones is getting an itchy firing finger again, he might want to clean house because it’s been a collection of things that have lead to the Cowboys’ woes in the final month of the season.

Of course, Romo wasn’t that bad today. The Cowboys went run-heavy in the first half and he still managed to throw for 249 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. (Granted, he was helped by a last-second touchdown pass to Patrick Crayton.)

That said, neither he nor the defense did enough to earn a win. There’s no shame in losing to a good Chargers team that can throw at will most Sundays. But the bottom line is that Dallas put together a lackluster effort at home in crunch time of the season. It doesn’t matter who’s most to blame – they just need to win.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

2009 NFL Week 13 Top Observations: Giants 31, Cowboys 24

Here are five quick-hit observations from the Giants’ 31-24 huge win over the Cowboys in Week 13.

1. Can’t blame this one on Romo.
Normally when the Cowboys lose, the attention immediately shifts to how well Tony Romo has played. But considering the man completed 41-of-55 passes for 392 yards and three touchdowns, nobody can pin this loss on Romo. The Cowboys’ defense and running game let them down tonight.

2. Somebody found where Brandon Jacobs was hiding.
For much of this season, Brandon Jacobs has been a ghost. But he emerged today by producing a huge 74-yard touchdown reception in which he actually outran the entire Dallas secondary to the end zone. He only finished with 39 rushing yards on 13 carries, but he did score his fourth rushing touchdown of the year and the key was that he contributed period. Along with Domenik Hixon’s wild 79-yard punt return, Jacobs’ touchdown reception keyed the Giants’ victory.

3. What the hell has gotten into Roy Williams?
After hauling in six passes for 60 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday, Roy Williams has now reached pay dirt five times in the last six games. Granted, he has benefited from more teams paying attention to Miles Austin (who had another big day today, catching 10 passes for 104 yards and a TD), but he nonetheless is starting to produce. Given his lack of explosion and playmaking ability, he’ll never be worth the compensation that Dallas gave up to acquire him, but at least he’s not as useless as he was at the start of the season.

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NFL Week 12 COY Power Rankings

Just like Drew Brees, we have to give Saints’ coach Sean Payton love for the way his team manhandled the Patriots on Monday night. It wasn’t so much the fact that the Saints’ offense resembled an arena league team again, it was the way their defense made Tom Brady and company look terribly average—and of course, beatable.

1. Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints—Once again the fact that Payton gave up a quarter million dollars of his own money to lure Gregg Williams to run his defense was a stroke of genius, because this defense is suddenly shutting people down. And by people, we mean guys named Brady, Moss and Welker.

2. Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis Colts—The bottom line is, no matter how much talent the Colts have, or how they have had to come from behind a lot lately, they still have a rookie head coach who is 11-0 and has already clinched the AFC South.

3 Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals—It’s positively mind-blowing to think that the Bengals are not only sitting in first place in the AFC North with a 2-game lead on both the Steelers and Ravens, but that they have run the table in their own very tough division at 6-0. Don’t think these guys won’t make some noise in January.

4. Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings—When you have guys named Favre, Peterson, Allen and Harvin making you look good, it’s easy to say anyone can be Brad Childress. But remember, he stuck his neck out to bring in half of those guys, so we prefer to use the words “borderline genius.”

5. Josh McDaniels, Denver Broncos—We like the fire this guy displayed last week when he dropped the F-bomb on national TV, but we also like the way he has won at least 3 more games to this point than we all thought he would.

6. Jeff Fisher, Tennessee Titans—We had to add one more name in here this week, because turning a team from 0-6 into 5-6 and a dark horse playoff contender takes more than sticking Vince Young under center.

Honorable mention: Ken Whisenhunt, Cardinals; Jack Del Rio, Jaguars; Wade Phillips, Cowboys; Mike McCarthy, Packers

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