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META NAME="TITLE" CONTENT="Tim's Talk: Week 5">
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
Cowboy's Trivia Question of the Week!
Who is the oldest player on the Cowboys' roster?
Last Week's Answer:
Danny White
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Another Convincing Victory
Things couldn't be much better for me right now. LSU is #1, the
Cowboys are 4-0, and so is my fantasy team, but I digress.
The most encouraging thing I took from this game was our defense.
I was glad to see our defense perform well without a bunch of
turnovers. Against the Bears and even more so against the
Dolphins, our defense thrived off the turnovers. If it wasn't for
having nine turnovers in that game, our defensive performance
wasn't that great.
Against the Rams we showed we can simply shut a team down by
simply not allowing them to move the ball. This is important
because you aren't going to get three or turnovers from a guy like
Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. You have to be able to get these
guys off the field. Week 1 was a prime example of this problem. Eli
only made one mistake the entire game and the rest of the time he
was carving up our secondary. I think we are playing a whole lot
better than we were then though.
Ken Hamlin is looking really good playing deep. He seems to get to
all the balls he is supposed to get to. The Rams kept throwing over
the top of the corners, but Hamlin was getting to the ball ahead of
the receiver every time. His interception was also great because it
was so timely. The one time the Rams actually moved the ball and
were about to score he made a play and kept the defensive shutout
intact.
Welcome back Greg Ellis!. Ellis looked as athletic as ever. He beat
a guy on a straight edge rush on his first sack. That is rare for
even a healthy Greg Ellis. I like what the Cowboys are doing with
him. I love him as a nickel rusher, but they shouldn't put him at
outside linebacker. Not only does it sound like he would struggle in
coverage, I don't want to stop the development of Anthony
Spencer. Spencer has been solid thus far and he is the future. I
don't want to his progress to be stalled because of Ellis.
I still wasn't impressed with our rush as a whole. Again, we didn't
blitz a lot but still. Three sacks against that offensive line isn't that
great. We still can't seem to get much pressure up the middle from
our lineman. Ratliff gets pressure once in awhile, but his impact is
greatly reduced playing nose tackle since he doesn't play the nickel
anymore.
Tony Romo had another amazing game. I don't even have to
mention the high snap. I will say it again, who would you rather
have? I can only think of two, Brady and Manning and both those
guys are Hall of Famers. Romo will shatter every single season
passing record for the Cowboys this season.
I'd been disappointed with Patrick Crayton until this game. He
hadn't really stepped up like I thought he would. This was his
coming out party. He shows you that you don't have to be a blazer
to catch long TD passes. He showed his speed (or lack of) when
Owens ran him and the DB down.
It was a routine day for the offensive line. 175 yards rushing and
one sack! This is the best offensive line in football through four
games. We didn't run with much success in the first half because
Jim Haslett was run blitzing on nearly every play. We kind of
abandoned it like we did against Chicago. Its funny how good we
run at the end of the game. We held the ball for the final six
minutes on about a 70 yard drive that consisted of nothing but
hand-offs to Tyson Thompson.
I thought all three backs looked solid. I'm happy Julius got a
touchdown. Tyson Thompson showed me he would be a fairly
capable backup to Barber next season. He doesn't get a lot of 4
and 5 yard gains, but he will break a 10+ yarder pretty regularly.
Team him Barber, and a 3rd or 4th round draft pick and we are
fine. No first round runners for me. It doesn't look like McFadden
is a realistic option after Cleveland's start. The Browns aren't
great, but expect them to win seven games.
The secondary really stepped up without Henry. This team is
showing traits of a great team. Great teams play at a high level no
matter who is out. I keep hearing skepticism with this secondary
saying that a good quarterback will really give them problems. That
is a stupid statement. Good quarterbacks are good quarterbacks
because they make defenses look bad. Tony Romo made the
Giants, Rams, and Bears defense look like middle schoolers. Will
Tom Brady and Randy Moss give us trouble, heck yes. Will our
offense cause them problems, YES! That is what good offenses do.
Jacques Reeves is growing up before our eyes. After seeing him
improve, I'm not sure he couldn't start on a regular basis for us
down the road if needed. He is the best cornerback I've seen at
stripping the ball as the receiver tries to secure the ball. He forced
a Torry Holt fumble doing this, and he has forced five or six
incompletions doing this.
The coverage units get the only blame from this game. Keith Davis
is the glue to our coverage units, but we have to be able to play
well without him. We struggled in pre-season before we plugged
him in. Matt McBriar's punt was also an uncharacteristic line drive
on the TD return too.
DISCUSS AT COWBOYS-FAN.COM BLOG
Tim's Talk: Week 5
1. I thought it was a trap game. I felt the Rams were going to be
tough to beat becomes a team that is 0-3 will play tougher and
harder than a team that is 3-0 and for a while I thought that was the
case. Until the botched snap. Then all hell broke loose. That is a
play that will be remembered for a long time. I don't care what
anyone says. The way they play Donovan McNabbs run against the
Cowboys in 2004 they will play the longest 4 yard run by Tony
Romo. What a statement. I mean with the Rams and that fresh
momentum from the return for a touchdown, it seemed the Rams
would go into the locker room with a fire in them. But Romo quickly
put it out. After connecting on passes for two first downs
afterwards, he finishes with a scramble on his own. No trap, but a
complete dominance.
2. I don't think the Cowboy fans need to worry about a contract with
Tony Romo. The Cowboys can franchise him for the next two years
so I am not worried about him going anywhere. That said, I think the
Cowboys should sign him before they can put the franchise tag on
him. The franchise tag was originally designed so a team can still
own the rights to a player without having to lose him in free agency,
costing first round picks for any team that wanted to sign a
franchise player. In return, the player would be guaranteed to have
a minimum salary of the top 5 players in his position combined. Now
it is used as an advantage to keep players from leaving and from
paying them what they are worth in the open market, keeping them
from the big contracts. Jerry Jones has yet to use the franchise tag
on any player. The closest I recall was after the 1995 season with
Darren Woodson, but they were able to ink out a deal. I know Jones
wants to be careful with his money, especially on a QB considering
the roller coaster of QBS that have come in since Troy Aikman
retired. I feel a deal will be done around Thanksgiving week or
shortly thereafter. They won't let this linger.
3. I told you we did not have to worry about Terry Glenn's injury.
Patrick Crayton is showing what most Cowboys already knew. He
has good hands and yesterday showed he had deceptive speed.
So as long as defenses keep sending a safety over the top to
cover Owens and Witten, Crayton will be on single coverage and
usually with the teams second corner or the nickel back covering
him. This will burn defenses. My only concern is defenses will be
wise to this and send their best corner to cover Crayton and have
the double teams on Ownes and Witten. And if Glenn comes back
this year, what then? Crayton is another Cowboy I feel needs to be
resigned long term, because I don't feel he will be a number 1
receiver, I think he would make a solid Number 2 receiver.
4. 2 penalties for 10 yards. After a week when they had 10+
penalties for nearly 100 yards. Will the real Cowboys show up!
5. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were commenting on how great this
offensive line was playing. Excuse me, I already said this but other
than Leonard Davis, is this the same line last year that could not
block anybody? What a difference the quarterback makes.
6. I did not think Greg Ellis was going to play this year. But he
played and had a good game. Also read this morning how Jones
worked out a contract situation with him at his home the previous
day. Gee, what a difference a contract makes as far as playing
status goes.
7. Well the defense essentially pitched a shutout considering the
lone TD was a special team one. Where are all the naysayers
about the bad D from week 1. I said the defense would not give up
35 points a game and I was right.
8. Terence Newman stepped up when CB Anthony Henry went out.
Hopefully Henry's injury is not serious. The last thing this defense
needed is two hobbling defensive backs.
9. The Buffalo Bills are another trap potential game. The Bills now
have a QB controversy brewing as their new QB, Trent Edwards
showed more poise in the game than their highly touted QB JP
Losman. Remember they gave up on Drew Bledsoe for Losman. So
I would not get to complacent especially with another big game
coming up in two weeks. Can't look ahead now.