An Eagles-Redskins related post

NFC East blogger Matt Moseley is picking the Eagles in a tight one against Washington today. He says that though everything points to a Philadelphia win, he doesn't trust them, and that "I just watched the Redskins outplay the division-leading Cowboys."

I can understand not trusting Philly, and believing it will be a close game, as I do (if for no other reason than it's a division rivalry). Still, I don't quite understand how "I just watched the Redskins outplay the division-leading Cowboys" is any kind of positive statement for Washington. They "outplayed" a completely schizophrenic team... and LOST, scoring a whopping six points on four fieldgoal attempts. That's, frankly, sad. When you're an NFL team and you look AWFUL and still win the game (Dallas), your opponent (Washington) isn't that great.

Giants = BAD

As I write the Broncos are about to finish up an absolute dismantling of the New York Giants. Frankly, the Giants haven't done ANYTHING impressive this season. I don't consider them very good at all.

Dallas travels to New York a week from Sunday. It'll be a tough game because a) it's a divisional matchup, which are never easy, and b) even though the Giants aren't good, in recent history they're MUCH better late in the season than Dallas is. Now, I don't know how much will change between tonight (where the Giants look awful) and 10 days from now, but I'll be honest and say that I'm not completely confident in a Cowboys win, but they'll definitely be the better team on the field. Unfortunately, that doesn't always translate to wins.

Quick Thanksgiving day recap

Dallas took care of the Raiders today with a plethora of big-time plays. Felix Jones had a 46-yard run for a touchdown. Miles Austin had almost 150 yards receiving with a touchdown. Romo threw for more than 300 yards. Marion Barber had a long catch-and-run. Jason Witten had his best game of the year -- 5 catches for 107 yards. Roy Williams caught a touchdown pass. Oh yeah, and the defense gave up just 7 points. It probably would've been 10 if Oakland had decided to kick a field goal from deep in Dallas territory in garbage time at the end of the game (they instead tried to go for it, and failed).

The Raiders are no great team, but they're supposed to have a really great defensive secondary. Apparently nobody told that to Austin or Witten, who ate the Raider defense alive all day long.

It was a solid win, and for the first time since playing Philadelphia three weeks ago the Dallas offense looked like it knew what it was doing. Now the Cowboys head into December, the month in which they've struggled for years, with an 8-3 record. Their last five games include the Giants, Saints, Chargers, Eagles, and Redskins. I'm guessing that 11-5 will win them the division (which would mean 3-2 the rest of the way), but 10-6 would still put them in the playoffs (2-3 the rest of the way). I'd like to think that both of those are very doable, but if recent history means anything, I'm none too confident!

Remember Gordon Bombay?

In my previous post about Bill Belichick and his decision to go for it on 4th and 2 at the end of the game, I meant to make a Coach Riley connection from The Mighty Ducks.

"It's not worth winning if you CAN'T WIN BIG!!!" Sometimes I think Belichick is just like that guy... but with less personality.

Mighty Belichick STRUCK OUT!

If you didn't catch the Patriots-Colts game on Sunday night, you missed out. For future reference, it's ALWAYS a good idea to watch this matchup as long as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are the quarterbacks involved.

It was a FABULOUS game, but what I want to focus on (no surprise) is what Peter King named "The Call Heard Round the World."

With 2:08 left and the Pats leading by 6 with no timeouts (Indy had 1 left) they faced a 4th and 2 at their own 28 yard line.

If you punt it, you give Manning and the Colts the ball somewhere around their own 30 (most likely), with 2:00 to go and 1 timeout. Manning has to drive 70ish yards for a winning touchdown.

If you go for it and make it, you effectively win the game. With just one Colts timeout left and the two-minute warning, New England could run the clock WAY down, and if they didn't convert another first down, Indy would get the ball back with very little time on the clock.

If you go for it and DON'T make it, Manning and his 1 timeout (plus the warning) have to go less than 30 yards for a winning touchdown.

Belichick decided to go for it. The Pats were stopped just short of the first down marker. Manning took about four plays to put the ball in the endzone on a 1-yard slant to Reggie Wayne with just 13 seconds left. Colts win.

People are shocked Belichick decided to go for it. I'm not. As much as I respect the guy (and I do) for being a brilliant coach (there's no denying it), he's an arrogant son-of-a-gun who wants to win more than anything, but only slightly less than his desire to win is his desire to win big, defiantly, and to rub the losers' faces in it. In 2007 when the Pats were on their 18-win tear that took them all the way to the Super Bowl before they were beaten, they did this kind of thing all the time. The annoying thing is, they most often convert that 4th-down and win the game. It's frustrating to me because I just wanted a team to stop them (like they should) and make Belichick eat his hot-headed rub-it-in playcalling -- make him pay for his risky decisions.

Well, Sunday night that happened.

P.S. Not only were the last two minutes thrilling, but so was most of the fourth quarter. The Pats entered the 4th with a 17-point lead over the Colts. Under Belichick the Pats had NEVER lost a game in which they led by 13 or more points heading into the 4th. Now they have. I like Peyton Manning quite a bit.

Nearly shutout? C'mon, guys.

I watched the game via NFL.com's live gamecast thingie. From what I hear, the Cowboys looked about as good in person and on television as they did on my little computer graphic tracker (which is to say, not very).

What I noticed while following what's essentially a play-by-play written description of the game was:

LOTS of penalties

FIVE sacks of Tony Romo. FIVE!??!!?

Giving up 1st downs on Packer 3rd downs constantly

Major, costly fumbles. Interceptions.

Complete lack of rhythm on offense

and perhaps most avoidably and stupid...

COMPLETE ABANDON OF THE RUNNING GAME!!! Marion Barber had 4 carries for something like 27 yards in the first quarter (almost 7 yards/carry). I'm pretty sure I read that he then had ONE carry the rest of the game. Dear Jason Garrett, for a guy who aspires to be an NFL head coach, you sure make some STUPID decisions. How about this stat: In this decade the Cowboys are 1-16 when rushing the ball fewer than 20 times. 1-16!!!! Geez, with a stat like that, if I'm the offensive coordinator I'd start the game off with 20 straight runs and THEN rely on my own whims for play-calling strategy. Completely ridiculous.

Roy Williams took the blame for the loss because of one play in the 2nd quarter when he caught a 42-yard pass... and then fumbled it. The most promising Cowboys drive of the game was halted in its tracks. No points. I appreciate Williams' shouldering the burden, and that was a costly mistake. BUT, the guy had his first 100-yard game as a Cowboy, and with how poorly the rest of the team looked, it's not all your fault, big guy.

Pretty much seems like the 'Boys played like they looked at the end of last season, and that's not comforting. I was beginning to think they were completely different.

(Stay in your seat... I've got another post on its way in just a few minutes! Hint: It has to do with a very entertaining Sunday Night game.)

mid-game

For the third time in the last four Cowboys games, they're not being shown here in Denver. So, as I watch the Chargers completely smoke the Eagles on the TV, I'm watching the NFL gamecast of the Cowboys-Packers game online.

Not actually being able to view the game, I won't say that these comments won't need some tweaking.

Right now the score is 3-0 Green Bay, midway through the 3rd quarter, and that sounds shocking. Dallas is supposed to score more than that! It appears they can't really get into a rhythm on offense, and when they do make a big play, they fumble it. I feel like there's been at least three Romo sacks, and that's far too many.

On the other hand, the Dallas pass rush seems like it's starting to come alive, as they've sacked Rodgers a couple of times already in the 3rd quarter.

Let's hope they click at some point on offense and score a few points.

Wow

I'm watching the Broncos-Redskins game right now. I'm not sure I've ever seen a team more inept than these Washington Redskins. They've allowed Brandon Marshall to run a deep fly route, twice, COMPLETELY wide open. No one anywhere near him. Marshall has two LONG touchdown catches. They also allowed Eddie Royal to do the same thing on the Broncos' last drive, but Orton misfired and didn't hit him (it would have been a long touchdown too). Ironically, heading into this week Washington is apparently the 1st-ranked pass defense in the league. They certainly don't look like it right now. It kinda makes me excited for the Cowboys-Redskins game next week. If Washington plays at all like this next week, Miles Austin, Roy Williams, Patrick Crayton, Sam Hurd, Kevin Ogletree, and every other wide-out on the team will have a field day.

P.S. I can't figure out how ESPN still power-ranks the 'Skins at 26. They've been this bad for WEEKS, and I KNOW that every other team in the league could beat them.

A couple more tidbits

Keep an eye on Kevin Ogletree. He's a rookie wide receiver (from Virginia or Virginia Tech, I can't remember which one) and he made a couple of big plays against the Eagles the other night. Both were in Eagles territory and set up scores. They were screen plays that went for 21 and 17 yards. Obviously, a screen play is designed to gain yards after the catch, but his athleticism was rather impressive.

People didn't think a Tom Coughlin-coached team could lose 4 straight, but that's what the Giants have done. Remarkably, they can't be counted out yet (but I don't think it'll be long). People keep asking, "What's happened to the Giants?" and I think Joel and I would both say, "They were never as good as you thought they were."

HUGE win in Philadelphia

You could argue that Tony Romo was largely responsible for the Cowboys win last night. He threw for 307 yards and a touchdown. Although he threw his first interception in more than three games, he also played the way Cowboys fans have wanted him to play for about three years now. He looked confident. He played smart, opting to take a sack in multiple instances instead of forcing passes that weren’t there, risking more interceptions. And he hit the open man when he needed to.

You could argue that Roy Williams was largely responsible. For the first time as a Cowboy he caught five passes. Many are considering it his “coming out party” of sorts. He’s obviously a long way from the #1 wideout that Jerry Jones gave up half of Texas for, but he made his biggest impact yet as a Cowboy.

You could argue the Cowboys defense was largely responsible. DeMarcus Ware disrupted the Eagles passing game all night. Jay Ratliff had two huge sacks of Donovan McNabb. Marcus Spears and the rest of the defensive line stopped Philadelphia cold on several important 3^rd- and 4^th-and-1 situations. Mike Jenkins and Gerald Sensabaugh each had an interception. The linebackers and the Dallas secondary all but shut down the big-play threats Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson.

I might be in the huge minority, but I would argue that (among a couple of the others above) Marion Barber was largely responsible for the Cowboys win. The guy didn’t do anything terribly impressive most of the game. But with something like four and a half minutes left, the Cowboys started a drive with a 4-point lead and the Eagles had no timeouts. Everyone in the WORLD who was watching the game knew that what was coming next was a heavy dose of Marion Barber. The Eagles could have left every tight-end and widereceiver uncovered and stacked all 11 defenders in the box to keep Barber from getting 1^st downs… and they couldn’t do it. Somehow the machine that is Marion Barber actually gets fresher, stronger, and better as games wear on, and when it’s time to run out the clock I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team stop him. The guy’s unreal.

There is a bigger, more convincing argument for the success of these Cowboys, however, and here it is: The Dallas Cowboys as a team were responsible for maybe their biggest win since 2007.

After getting clobbered 44-6 in Philadelphia in Week 17 last season, in a game with the NFC’s last playoff spot on the line, the Cowboys were in a pit. Jerry Jones then made some of the best decisions he could possibly have made. He released T.O. He released Tank Johnson. He released Pacman Jones. These moves suggested that he wished to create a more team-oriented atmosphere than the me-first teams of the past few years. This year, I believe we’re watching the Cowboys grow up before our eyes. Roy Williams thinks winning is more important than whether or not he’s getting 100-yard games. Miles Austin had only one catch last night (for what ended up being the winning touchdown) and it came midway through the final quarter. After the game SI’s Peter King asked him if he was a little testy having had such huge games in the last month and then not contributing 50 minutes into such a big game last night. Austin responded (I’m paraphrasing from memory), “There are times when I think I’m open and I want the ball, but I’m not Tony and I don’t know what Tony’s going through back there. A lot of times he’s got a 300 pound defensive lineman coming after him and trying to rip his head off, so no, it doesn’t upset me when I don’t always get the ball.”

These are the kinds of quotations you hear from TEAM-oriented players.

The Cowboys next three games are Green Bay, Washington, and Oakland. None of those are gimmes, but they’ll likely be favored in each of them. Although I would argue that this year’s team looks different from the December-collapsing Cowboys teams of the last several years, it would be nice to come out of Thanksgiving at 9-2, needing only a couple of wins out of the last five (which I think are New York, Philadelphia, Washington, New Orleans, and San Diego – not in that order) to make the playoffs.

This is a new and different team. Watch out.

Comments from Week 8

I'll start with the Cowboys because my poor mother's been waiting patiently for my commentary for days now.

Unfortunately, the last two Cowboys games (you know, the ones in which they've played really well) have not been shown in my local area. As far as I can tell, though, they're performing at a decently high level. They defeated a very good Atlanta team two weeks ago (quite handily), and put away the Seahawks early in the game on Sunday. Both of those impressed me, because prior to these two games the 'Boys had won an overtime game against a BAD team (Kansas City), a home game against Carolina that they didn't put away until fairly late, and a Tampa Bay team that may not get a victory this season (have you seen them play? they're awful). It was exciting to see them beat a good team with room to spare, and even though the Seahawks aren't impressive by any means, Dallas never really let them stay in the game with any hope.

This week's game is a Sunday nighter in Philadelphia in a battle for 1st place in the NFC East against the Eagles. Both teams enter the game 5-2, and the winner will be in the proverbial driver's seat for the division championship. Cowboys receiver Patrick Crayton was asked about this game and said something like (I'm quoting from memory), "I'm not gonna call it a must-win, but it's definitely a have-to win." He's gotten a little bit of jeering from Cowboys bloggers (from what I've read), but I actually think that's a very accurate way to describe the upcoming showdown. It's not a must-win in the sense that a loss would break the Cowboys season or anything. If they lose they'll still be sitting in an okay spot. But it is kind of a have-to win game in the sense that good teams win games like these. You go on the road against a division opponent (and not just any road game, but into hostile, blue-collar Lincoln Financial Field in Philly) who's playing really well, and you beat 'em, putting yourself in a very good spot for playoff contention. Last season Dallas played in Philadelphia in their last regular season game, if you remember. The winner of the game was to earn a playoff berth, and Dallas got walloped. The official score was 44-6, but it looked far less close than that. That was an example of a team with no heart. We'll have to see if 1) that loss provides motivation for the 'Boys this week, and 2) throughout the rest of this season we'll determine if this year's team does have heart or not.

A couple of weeks ago, prior to the Giants-Cardinals Sunday night game, I commented to a close friend (Eagles fan -- fellow NFC East follower) that the Giants could lose that game and then Philadelphia and Dallas would be in decent shape in the division. He told me, "No way. Against the Cardinals? Giants by 20." I told him I'd take that bet. If you recall, Arizona won the game, and New York looked bad losing. The week before that the Giants had been trounced (and I mean absolutely go-home-crying-to-momma-because-you've-been-embarassed kind of trounced) by the Saints, so everyone thought that "This team'll bounce back. Tom Coughlin won't let them lose two straight." So after falling to the Cardinals, people said, "Well they certainly won't lose THREE straight," but they went to Philadelphia last week and got killed again. Finally everyone's starting to say, "Maybe this team isn't as great as we thought." Something my brother and I have been saying all along. Other than the last-second fieldgoal win over Dallas in Week 2 (a game in which New York looked good, but not great), the Giants haven't beaten anyone decent. They're in an absolute freefall, and I'm pretty sure they face San Diego this week. They're 5-3, but on a quick slide, and if they get beat by the Chargers I will (first, have a party, but then) consider them quite a long-shot for the playoffs. Right now, they look like they're in the hunt for worst-looking team on the field in the whole league.

Denver suffered its first loss at the hands of the Ravens on Sunday. The Ravens are good (they had lost three straight, but those were to Cincinnati, New England, and Minnesota... three of the better teams in the league) and they were coming off a bye-week. Denver went to Baltimore and lost 30-7. Some say that's a killing, and it's obvious Denver was never that good. I won't say that until we see how they rebound against Pittsburgh on Monday night. With all of the negativity that surrounded Broncos coach Josh McDaniels over the first 6+ months of his arrival to town, the guy seems like a pretty decent coach to me. After the loss he didn't make any excuses. He said, we'll see how we respond next week. As for right now, I'm going to consider this one of those kinds of losses that's good for a team to experience. My prediction is that they come out fighting at home against the hated Steelers.

And Brett Favre is still playing like a 28-year old. Someone pointed out that Favre hasn't missed a start since Percy Harvin (Vikings receiver and likely rookie-of-the-year candidate) was four years old. I thought that was funny. After a bye this week Favre will make his 300th consecutive start against the Detroit Lions. For those of you who aren't aware, that's a ridiculously impressive stat.