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Latest News
2007 SCHEDULE
PRE-SEASON
Thu Aug 9 INDIANAPOLIS
(FOX) 7:00 pm
Sat Aug 18 DENVER (BSM)
7:00 pm
Sat Aug 25 @ Houston
(BSM) 7:00 pm
Thu Aug 30 @ Minnesota
(BSM) 7:00 pm
REGULAR SEASON
1. Sun, Sept. 9 NY GIANTS
(NBC) 7:15 pm
2. Sun, Sept. 16 @ Miami
(FOX) 3:05 pm
3. Sun, Sept. 23 @
Chicago (NBC) 7:15 pm
4. Sun, Sept. 30 ST. LOUIS
(FOX) Noon
5. Mon, Oct. 8 @ Buffalo
(ESPN) 7:30 pm
6. Sun, Oct. 14 NEW
ENGLAND (CBS) 3:15 pm
7. Sun, Oct. 21
MINNESOTA (FOX) Noon
8. Sun, Oct. 28 BYE WEEK
9. Sun, Nov 4 @
Philadelphia (NBC) 7:15
pm
10. Sun, Nov. 11 @ NY
Giants (FOX) 3:15 pm
11. Sun, Nov. 18
WASHINGTON (FOX) Noon
12. Thu, Nov. 22 NY JETS
(CBS) 3:15 pm
13. Thu, Nov. 29 GREEN
BAY (NFL) 7:15 pm
14. Sun, Dec. 9 @ Detroit
(FOX) Noon
15. Sun, Dec. 16 PHILLY
(FOX) 3:15 pm
16. Sat, Dec. 22 @
Carolina (NFL) 7:15 pm
17. Sun, Dec. 30 @
Washington (FOX) Noon
PRE-SEASON
Thu Aug 9 INDIANAPOLIS
(FOX) 7:00 pm
Sat Aug 18 DENVER (BSM)
7:00 pm
Sat Aug 25 @ Houston
(BSM) 7:00 pm
Thu Aug 30 @ Minnesota
(BSM) 7:00 pm
REGULAR SEASON
1. Sun, Sept. 9 NY GIANTS
(NBC) 7:15 pm
2. Sun, Sept. 16 @ Miami
(FOX) 3:05 pm
3. Sun, Sept. 23 @
Chicago (NBC) 7:15 pm
4. Sun, Sept. 30 ST. LOUIS
(FOX) Noon
5. Mon, Oct. 8 @ Buffalo
(ESPN) 7:30 pm
6. Sun, Oct. 14 NEW
ENGLAND (CBS) 3:15 pm
7. Sun, Oct. 21
MINNESOTA (FOX) Noon
8. Sun, Oct. 28 BYE WEEK
9. Sun, Nov 4 @
Philadelphia (NBC) 7:15
pm
10. Sun, Nov. 11 @ NY
Giants (FOX) 3:15 pm
11. Sun, Nov. 18
WASHINGTON (FOX) Noon
12. Thu, Nov. 22 NY JETS
(CBS) 3:15 pm
13. Thu, Nov. 29 GREEN
BAY (NFL) 7:15 pm
14. Sun, Dec. 9 @ Detroit
(FOX) Noon
15. Sun, Dec. 16 PHILLY
(FOX) 3:15 pm
16. Sat, Dec. 22 @
Carolina (NFL) 7:15 pm
17. Sun, Dec. 30 @
Washington (FOX) Noon
| Cowboy's Trivia Question of the Week! Who is the oldest player on the Cowboys' roster? Last Week's Answer: Danny White |
Giants vs. Cowboys Preview
I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready for some football. I'm
super pumped for the LSU vs. Virginia Tech tonight and I can't wait
for the Sunday night game. I hate Sunday night games because I
wait around all weekend for the game.
Many people think Dallas is going to roll the Giants in this game,
but I'm not so sure. I think it will be a close game. Here is the
breakdown.
NYG Run Offense vs. DAL Run Defense
Edge: Slight DAL
The Giants probably won't run the ball very well in this game. The
key will be though if it only takes 7 guys to do it or if you need a
safety or two in the box. I think we can do it with 7. I'm not scared
of Brandon Jacobs. He is a scary change of pace, but he isn't
nearly as dangerous as Tiki Barber. The only thing you have to
worry about with Jacobs is him running down hill and carrying a few
guys with him. Barber was a threat to convert 3rd & longs on draw
plays. Barber was a threat to batch a pass out of the backfield and
shred the defense. Barber was a threat to make four guys miss in
route to the endzone. Again, Jacobs is a good player, but he isn't
that scary. Barber is the one guy we weren't able to consistently
stop over the last three years.
NYG Pass Offense vs. DAL Pass Defense
Edge: Slight NYG
I don't think either team is going to have much trouble passing the
ball. We are going to have problems stopping Eli Manning and
company whether we have Newman or not. Obviously Newman
would help though. I think Phillips is going to blitz Manning heavily.
Manning can be good, but he is prone to making mistakes. He will
throw for his share of yards, but we should be able to force a
turnover or two from him.
DAL Run Offense vs. NYG Run Defense
Edge: Even
This is going to be a very interesting matchup. Dallas can run the
ball against the Giants front seven, but new DC Spagnoulo may
stack the line and run blitz heavy early on to frustrate the Dallas
offense. He was the Philly LB coach and they did this to great
effect last season. The best way for us to counter this is throw
short underneath passes and slowly loosen up the D so that we can
start running against them. We should also run right at Strahan
assuming he plays and see how he reacts to his first action in about
six months. This could be the one matchup that really effects the
outcome of the game. If the Giants can force Dallas to be one
dimensional we could struggle. If the Cowboys run for 150 yards
this game won't even be close.
DAL Pass Offense vs. NYG Pass Defense
Edge: DAL
The Cowboys shouldn't have any problems throwing on the Giants
weak secondary. Romo just needs to be patient because even
without Terry Glenn he shouldn't have too much trouble finding an
open man. The Giants might blitz quite a bit with Kiwanuka playing
SOLB. Teamed with Strahan and Umenyiora that is a fairly
formidable rush. If we can protect Romo though the Giants will be
in trouble if they try to cover Witten with Kiwanuka which will almost
have to happen some because you can't be a SOLB if you can't
cover the tight end standing right in front of you. Whoever is
against Sam Madson should al
Overall
I see this being a really good game. Dallas is a superior team, but
they have injury concerns although the Giants do as well with Sam
Madison and Plaxico Burress. Like all games turnovers and
miscues will have a huge impact on the game. The Giants will have
to play quite a bit crisper than the Cowboys to win, but that isn't a
farfetched though. I think the Cowboys are too much though.
Cowboys 27, Giants 20.
I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready for some football. I'm
super pumped for the LSU vs. Virginia Tech tonight and I can't wait
for the Sunday night game. I hate Sunday night games because I
wait around all weekend for the game.
Many people think Dallas is going to roll the Giants in this game,
but I'm not so sure. I think it will be a close game. Here is the
breakdown.
NYG Run Offense vs. DAL Run Defense
Edge: Slight DAL
The Giants probably won't run the ball very well in this game. The
key will be though if it only takes 7 guys to do it or if you need a
safety or two in the box. I think we can do it with 7. I'm not scared
of Brandon Jacobs. He is a scary change of pace, but he isn't
nearly as dangerous as Tiki Barber. The only thing you have to
worry about with Jacobs is him running down hill and carrying a few
guys with him. Barber was a threat to convert 3rd & longs on draw
plays. Barber was a threat to batch a pass out of the backfield and
shred the defense. Barber was a threat to make four guys miss in
route to the endzone. Again, Jacobs is a good player, but he isn't
that scary. Barber is the one guy we weren't able to consistently
stop over the last three years.
NYG Pass Offense vs. DAL Pass Defense
Edge: Slight NYG
I don't think either team is going to have much trouble passing the
ball. We are going to have problems stopping Eli Manning and
company whether we have Newman or not. Obviously Newman
would help though. I think Phillips is going to blitz Manning heavily.
Manning can be good, but he is prone to making mistakes. He will
throw for his share of yards, but we should be able to force a
turnover or two from him.
DAL Run Offense vs. NYG Run Defense
Edge: Even
This is going to be a very interesting matchup. Dallas can run the
ball against the Giants front seven, but new DC Spagnoulo may
stack the line and run blitz heavy early on to frustrate the Dallas
offense. He was the Philly LB coach and they did this to great
effect last season. The best way for us to counter this is throw
short underneath passes and slowly loosen up the D so that we can
start running against them. We should also run right at Strahan
assuming he plays and see how he reacts to his first action in about
six months. This could be the one matchup that really effects the
outcome of the game. If the Giants can force Dallas to be one
dimensional we could struggle. If the Cowboys run for 150 yards
this game won't even be close.
DAL Pass Offense vs. NYG Pass Defense
Edge: DAL
The Cowboys shouldn't have any problems throwing on the Giants
weak secondary. Romo just needs to be patient because even
without Terry Glenn he shouldn't have too much trouble finding an
open man. The Giants might blitz quite a bit with Kiwanuka playing
SOLB. Teamed with Strahan and Umenyiora that is a fairly
formidable rush. If we can protect Romo though the Giants will be
in trouble if they try to cover Witten with Kiwanuka which will almost
have to happen some because you can't be a SOLB if you can't
cover the tight end standing right in front of you. Whoever is
against Sam Madson should al
Overall
I see this being a really good game. Dallas is a superior team, but
they have injury concerns although the Giants do as well with Sam
Madison and Plaxico Burress. Like all games turnovers and
miscues will have a huge impact on the game. The Giants will have
to play quite a bit crisper than the Cowboys to win, but that isn't a
farfetched though. I think the Cowboys are too much though.
Cowboys 27, Giants 20.
Putting This One In Perspective
A team's first week performance usually isn't a good barometer of
how their season will go. I do however think you can take a lot from
this game.
The biggest news from this game is Jason Ferguson's torn bicep.
He is out for the season. Jay Ratliff looked pretty good and he got
a lot of playing time because Ferguson was hurt in the 1st half. Our
run defense will suffer a bit without Ferguson, but Ratliff will help
our pass rush because he will be the best rusher on our starting
defensive line. I'm not sure that isn't a good trade-off when
considering the strengths and weaknesses of this team. We should
be able to weather this injury as long as we can find someone who
can give Ratliff a breather every once in awhile. Ratliff has had
nagging injuries the past two seasons so hopefully he can play in
every game because if he can't we are screwed.
I'm more optimistic about this situation now than I was thinking about
this exact thing happening this off-season. I was thinking we were
in trouble without Ferguson but now I think we will be okay. Maybe I
just refuse to get bummed this early in the season. It is good
though that Phillips seemed genuinely comfortable with Ratliff
saying the defense didn't drop off with Ratliff in the game. It is
interesting how they played Ratliff at NT. He was often lined up
directly over the RG with both DEs lining up over the tackles. That
meant there was about a six foot gap between RG and LT. We
usually stunted one of the ends into that gap, but that definitely
puts stress on James and Ayodele. They are big strong run
stuffers though so they should be able to handle it. I'd be worried if
these guys weren't so stout against the run.
Our run defense was pretty good last night. The Giants weren't
opening holes, but we did a poor job of tackling. The one play they
did open a sizeable hole ended up being a 40+ yard run because of
a missed tackle. If we can clean up the tackling we will be fine
stopping the run even with Ratliff at nose tackle.
The pass rush struggled last night. We weren't able to rattle
Manning early on and we watched him pick apart the defense all
night. Last night's game reinforces what I've been saying. A
scheme can help players, but good players are good players.
Canty and Spears were twisting and stunting all over the place last
night and they still couldn't sniff the quarterback. Ratliff had the
only sack and I believe it was in the base defense as the nose
tackle.
Anthony Spencer played fairly well. He played the run okay and put
pressure on Manning a few times. He is no Ware, but I can
definitely see him being a valuable piece to this defense by the
second half of the season. I would guess he will have six or seven
sacks by the end of the season if he keeps playing a bunch.
The secondary was toasted all night. They weren't helped by the
lack of pass rush but still. Henry was burned by Burress on the
game's opening series. Jacques Reeves had an interception and
actually played okay. He didn't look like he should be starting, but
he didn't do a terrible job. He should be fine as the 3rd corner.
This game reinforces that cornerback is the number one priority
going into next year's draft. You have to give Eli credit though, he
was fitting the ball into some tight spaces and the ball was on target
every time. Romo's WRs were a lot more open than Eli's.
Roy Williams had a terrible night. He whiffed on a couple of tackles
and he was beaten in coverage at least twice. He allowed a TD to
Burress that was just dumb. It wasn't a matter of him not being
athletic enough, he just didn't get deep enough in his short drop to
stop the post pattern. He could have easily made a play on the ball
because Reeves was responsible for the outside and all Roy had to
do was sit on an inside cut. Roy's only good play was when he
hammered a sliding Jared Lorenzen on a 4th down play late in the
4th quarter.
Ken Hamlin had a solid first outing. He had a personal foul penalty
though. I didn't see him get beat in coverage or miss a tackle, but
he also didn't make any big plays.
Any questions about Tony Romo? The dude was on fire last night.
His 378 yards and 5 TDs helped erase a 50 point deficit in my
fantasy league. He led the NFL by nearly a yard last season in
yards per attempt with over 9 yards per attempt. Just in case you
are wondering, he averaged 14.8 last night. Remember, that is
yards per ATTEMPT, not completion. Just ponder that for awhile. I
don't think I've ever seen that many yards on only 24 attempts.
The offensive line was amazing last night. We ran 27 times for 131
yards which comes out to nearly five yards a carry. Tony Romo
had all day to throw getting sacked only once. The reason he was
finding wide open receivers is that he had three or four seconds to
do so every time he dropped back.
An odd stat from last night is that we only ran 54 plays on offense.
That is an extraordinarily low number for scoring 45 points. It was
mainly do to the quick strike ability of the offense.
I'm sure by now you know about Terry Glenn and his two options for
surgery. Neither one guarantees him ever playing again and he
appears to be leaning towards just removing the cartilage which
would only require him to miss four or five weeks. The problem
though is that it is far from a sure thing that it will fix his knee
problems. The microfracture surgery that would put him out for the
year is dangerous too though because the rehab on it is so long
and intense that he may never play again if he opts for that.
I love Glenn, but I think we will be okay without him. Jason Witten
had a huge night. Owens only had three catches but two of them
went for touchdowns. He was double teamed on nearly every play
and he made the Giants pay when they didn't double him. Owens
just needs to be a good team player and not complain if he isn't
getting the ball. He didn't get the ball in the 1st half, but Witten had
linebackers on him because the Giants were so worried about T.O.
Witten will have a monster year if Glenn doesn't make it back.
Crayton and Hurd did a fine job last night. Crayton had three nice
catches for 51 yards and Hurd had one long TD catch. Even
without Glenn we have one of the better receiving corps in the NFL.
Julius Jones and Marion Barber both had good nights. Jones didn't
have many holes, but he did a great job of turning nothing into
three or four yards. Barber was a beast as usual. He scored on a
4th & 1 from 18 yards out. Their where four Giants on the play that
had a shot at him and nobody could bring him down. I swear that
guy is like a machine inside the 20. I'm not saying he is the better
runner, but his style seems to energize the entire offense. Corey
Webster is probably still having nightmares of Barber running him
over one two different occasions.
Special teams was pretty average last night. Thompson's fumble at
the end of the first half hurt. We had two or three nice kick-off
returns, but we also gave up one or two nice ones. Nick Folk made
his only field goal attempt, but it was a chip shot. McBriar only
punted twice I believe and he looked great as always.
Overall, I would be ecstatic about the offense and worried about the
defense. We pretty much looked like the same team from late last
season, but it might take awhile for the defense to get hitting on all
cylinders.
A team's first week performance usually isn't a good barometer of
how their season will go. I do however think you can take a lot from
this game.
The biggest news from this game is Jason Ferguson's torn bicep.
He is out for the season. Jay Ratliff looked pretty good and he got
a lot of playing time because Ferguson was hurt in the 1st half. Our
run defense will suffer a bit without Ferguson, but Ratliff will help
our pass rush because he will be the best rusher on our starting
defensive line. I'm not sure that isn't a good trade-off when
considering the strengths and weaknesses of this team. We should
be able to weather this injury as long as we can find someone who
can give Ratliff a breather every once in awhile. Ratliff has had
nagging injuries the past two seasons so hopefully he can play in
every game because if he can't we are screwed.
I'm more optimistic about this situation now than I was thinking about
this exact thing happening this off-season. I was thinking we were
in trouble without Ferguson but now I think we will be okay. Maybe I
just refuse to get bummed this early in the season. It is good
though that Phillips seemed genuinely comfortable with Ratliff
saying the defense didn't drop off with Ratliff in the game. It is
interesting how they played Ratliff at NT. He was often lined up
directly over the RG with both DEs lining up over the tackles. That
meant there was about a six foot gap between RG and LT. We
usually stunted one of the ends into that gap, but that definitely
puts stress on James and Ayodele. They are big strong run
stuffers though so they should be able to handle it. I'd be worried if
these guys weren't so stout against the run.
Our run defense was pretty good last night. The Giants weren't
opening holes, but we did a poor job of tackling. The one play they
did open a sizeable hole ended up being a 40+ yard run because of
a missed tackle. If we can clean up the tackling we will be fine
stopping the run even with Ratliff at nose tackle.
The pass rush struggled last night. We weren't able to rattle
Manning early on and we watched him pick apart the defense all
night. Last night's game reinforces what I've been saying. A
scheme can help players, but good players are good players.
Canty and Spears were twisting and stunting all over the place last
night and they still couldn't sniff the quarterback. Ratliff had the
only sack and I believe it was in the base defense as the nose
tackle.
Anthony Spencer played fairly well. He played the run okay and put
pressure on Manning a few times. He is no Ware, but I can
definitely see him being a valuable piece to this defense by the
second half of the season. I would guess he will have six or seven
sacks by the end of the season if he keeps playing a bunch.
The secondary was toasted all night. They weren't helped by the
lack of pass rush but still. Henry was burned by Burress on the
game's opening series. Jacques Reeves had an interception and
actually played okay. He didn't look like he should be starting, but
he didn't do a terrible job. He should be fine as the 3rd corner.
This game reinforces that cornerback is the number one priority
going into next year's draft. You have to give Eli credit though, he
was fitting the ball into some tight spaces and the ball was on target
every time. Romo's WRs were a lot more open than Eli's.
Roy Williams had a terrible night. He whiffed on a couple of tackles
and he was beaten in coverage at least twice. He allowed a TD to
Burress that was just dumb. It wasn't a matter of him not being
athletic enough, he just didn't get deep enough in his short drop to
stop the post pattern. He could have easily made a play on the ball
because Reeves was responsible for the outside and all Roy had to
do was sit on an inside cut. Roy's only good play was when he
hammered a sliding Jared Lorenzen on a 4th down play late in the
4th quarter.
Ken Hamlin had a solid first outing. He had a personal foul penalty
though. I didn't see him get beat in coverage or miss a tackle, but
he also didn't make any big plays.
Any questions about Tony Romo? The dude was on fire last night.
His 378 yards and 5 TDs helped erase a 50 point deficit in my
fantasy league. He led the NFL by nearly a yard last season in
yards per attempt with over 9 yards per attempt. Just in case you
are wondering, he averaged 14.8 last night. Remember, that is
yards per ATTEMPT, not completion. Just ponder that for awhile. I
don't think I've ever seen that many yards on only 24 attempts.
The offensive line was amazing last night. We ran 27 times for 131
yards which comes out to nearly five yards a carry. Tony Romo
had all day to throw getting sacked only once. The reason he was
finding wide open receivers is that he had three or four seconds to
do so every time he dropped back.
An odd stat from last night is that we only ran 54 plays on offense.
That is an extraordinarily low number for scoring 45 points. It was
mainly do to the quick strike ability of the offense.
I'm sure by now you know about Terry Glenn and his two options for
surgery. Neither one guarantees him ever playing again and he
appears to be leaning towards just removing the cartilage which
would only require him to miss four or five weeks. The problem
though is that it is far from a sure thing that it will fix his knee
problems. The microfracture surgery that would put him out for the
year is dangerous too though because the rehab on it is so long
and intense that he may never play again if he opts for that.
I love Glenn, but I think we will be okay without him. Jason Witten
had a huge night. Owens only had three catches but two of them
went for touchdowns. He was double teamed on nearly every play
and he made the Giants pay when they didn't double him. Owens
just needs to be a good team player and not complain if he isn't
getting the ball. He didn't get the ball in the 1st half, but Witten had
linebackers on him because the Giants were so worried about T.O.
Witten will have a monster year if Glenn doesn't make it back.
Crayton and Hurd did a fine job last night. Crayton had three nice
catches for 51 yards and Hurd had one long TD catch. Even
without Glenn we have one of the better receiving corps in the NFL.
Julius Jones and Marion Barber both had good nights. Jones didn't
have many holes, but he did a great job of turning nothing into
three or four yards. Barber was a beast as usual. He scored on a
4th & 1 from 18 yards out. Their where four Giants on the play that
had a shot at him and nobody could bring him down. I swear that
guy is like a machine inside the 20. I'm not saying he is the better
runner, but his style seems to energize the entire offense. Corey
Webster is probably still having nightmares of Barber running him
over one two different occasions.
Special teams was pretty average last night. Thompson's fumble at
the end of the first half hurt. We had two or three nice kick-off
returns, but we also gave up one or two nice ones. Nick Folk made
his only field goal attempt, but it was a chip shot. McBriar only
punted twice I believe and he looked great as always.
Overall, I would be ecstatic about the offense and worried about the
defense. We pretty much looked like the same team from late last
season, but it might take awhile for the defense to get hitting on all
cylinders.