NFL Week 4 (2008)

In a word...no. And if anyone says yes, they're liars.

As for the Dallas game, whatever. 3-1 is a success considering how tough their opening schedule has been. From what I watched, they didn't really deserve to be in the game anyways. Their pass defense in the first half was awful. Newman got torched on a couple occasions and also totally blew a sack. And not running the ball? What the hell Garrett? You've got an absolute best in Marion Barber, why not fucking use him? Completely inexcusable to not get him and Felix involved in the run game.

 

Yeah Garrett really blew it today. Romo had a good game today (hard to ignore his stats), but there were way too many drops/overthrown balls. Based on what we know as casual fans, I think it's only fair to place blame on both the QB and receiver.

TO wanted to be more involved in the offense (as he was in the second half), but he really did a sub-par job in catching the football today.

Zero carries by Felix really tells the story for me. Washington did a good job of stopping Marion at the LOS, some speed would have done wonders against them.

 

I did sorry with my picks..

Wow , who would of guessed the Titans of New York,I mean NY Jets would have scored 56 points?

 

T.O. wasn't bitching. Though, I don't doubt ESPN will play it up like that.

Garrett abandoned the run because the "defense dictated that." That's complete crap.

 

Pretty much agree, they need to relax a little.

 

It was still an idiotic thing to say. The Cowboys threw the ball to him 20 times that game. He had more catches than everybody else on the team. That offense didn't sputter when it counted, because T.O. wasn't touching the ball enough. They did because they completely neglected the running game for some reason. If anything, trying to hard to force the ball to Owens was part of the problem.

The media spin is absolutely ridiculous (anybody read the AP report?). But that's surrounded him ever since he left the 49'ers and he continues to be too thick-headed to avoid these sort of situations.

 

Things T.O. also said....

When asked if he thought he got the ball enough?

Emphasis on the "we just didn't make the plays." We = inclusive.

This is the part every wants to bring up (I'm assuming anyway... its the only remote thing where one could possibly entertain the idea of him being [insert whatever ESPN is saying].

And... there is some truth to that; some not. Offense rolled fine last week without getting Owens involved. Offense flowed better against Philly when Owens was more involved... So... at worst, he speaks a partial truth.



And of course, where was ESPN last week and Owens had 2 catches for 17 yards? OMGOWNESBLOWZUP!!!!

Oh wait.

Didn't work.

Because he said he was proud of Austin for having such a big game, he felt he contributed in other ways, the opportunities he had he didn't deliver on, he said he apologized to Romo and the team for dropping some passes, and he vowed to spend extra time working on how to break double/triple coverage....

Guess that wouldn't have worked out too well for the ESPN storyline.

The reality of it is... Owens screwed up plenty in San Fran and Philly and has the rep he has for a reason. ESPN thought he'd carry his antics over to Dallas and made proclamations about it. Almost every ESPN "expert" thought he'd blow up at some point and made proclamations about it. Problem is, it hasn't. And now they look stupid. And their grasping for straws.

And its extremely transparent by those of us who actually do follow the situation quite closely.

 

To me... the quotes that really pissed me off are this:

and

The former was said by Wade. Really? Down 3... and we have to abandon the "game plan" because we are trying to play catch up? That's crap.

The latter, by Garrett.

We are letting the Skins dictate what we want to do offensively? 8 carries? What?


Those are FAR more troubling quotes than anything Owens said (even if taken out of context).

Is ESPN reporting on that?

I doubt it.

 

In Philly he was also acting like a bitch to get out of there and get a new contract.

My problem was some of the things he said in San Fran, but I'd still want him on my team.

 

I'm telling you man, ESPN's reporting is nowhere near as bad as this AP article (link). It's just dripping with spin.

I do think people have the right to pick apart that last comment, because the fact of the matter is it's not true. There's no denying Owens is a fundamental part of that offense, but his stats don't make-or-break that offense either. Dallas has far too many weapons (a whole bunch that they neglected to use yesterday, for some reason). We saw a bunch of games last year where teams would focus too much on Owens and Dallas' offense would be just as explosive taking what was given to them.

Of course that's not really a selfish comment. Just a dumb one. It would've made more sense if he'd said "when I'm on the field, things move." Because there's no denying that. He's a constant threat on the field that helps his team regardless of whether or not he's touching the ball.

 

I agree. It came off as if they were intimidated by Washington's run D before they even tested it.

 

If he had said that quote the way he worded it.... last year... it would make complete sense.

But this year.... granted, it was only one game where Owens has been a nonfactor... but we can move the ball without him getting overly involved. Though, it remains to be seen if we can move the ball without Owens drawing attention (as in... if he was injured).

My biggest problem with yesterday (other than the defense) is how quickly we rolled over on the run game.

And how we did not find a way to get Felix any touches.

Not sure which pisses me off more. But both rank pretty high on the "you have to be fucking kidding me" meter.

 

It was just blatant stupidity on both their parts.

Stupid on Garrett for not sticking to the run. We'll stick to the passing game even if it struggles early... but if the run game struggled; we abandon it. He did that here. He did that against you guys in the 2nd half of the playoff game. He can be a brilliant O.C. But he does have a tendency to abandon the run every now and then... and get too cute.

And then it falls on Wade... for not telling Garrett to run the ball. You're the H.C. Wade; force feed that sucker if need be. 8 carries for Barber is a joke. IIRC, we are something like 22-1 when Barber gets more than 11 carries. Obviously... if we gave him 3 more carries, it doesn't mean we necessarily win. Rather... its about getting the ball in the hands of producers..... which will lead to scoring opportunities.

We were outcoached; outplayed; out-everything.

 

I know it sounds like I am ripping into the offense quite a bit.... (and I am).

But...

This really does fall on the heads of the defense. I am pissed at some of the things we did offensively; yeah. But the defense really laid an egg.

 

Yea, what was the deal with Newman getting completely owned by Santana Moss? I never would've thought I'd see that happen.

btw, Eagles and Cowboys losing on the same night is awesome... and rare.

 

No clue.

Can't tell if its just the "every CB gets roasted once in awhile" type of things..... in which case, he's probably long overdue.

Or... he did sit out of most of preseason, missed the first game, played sparingly in the second game, and this was just his 2nd start of the season.... as in... he could be a little off yet timing wise.

Or... he is playing through the injury.

My guess would be the first. Obviously, there is no way of telling. I think what's more concerning is... Henry hasn't played well yet. And when you look at our top 4 CBs (Newman, Henry, Jones, Jenkins) 3 are better in man 2 man coverage.... and we are playing zone, zone, zone....

Again, I am left with more questions than answers.

Though... I'm not worried about Newman moving forward. Unfortunately, on a night when we needed him to play well, he disappeared and so did the entire defense. I think that probably says something about how much we need him.

And originally, I thought Adam Jones wouldn't get a start this year... but if Henry keeps this up, I think its possible.

 

newman had a terrible game. it seemed like he wasn't even trying the first half the game. on more than one occasion(including the td) he was way behind the receiver in motion leaving him wide open(which i think happened on the play before the td also but it either a run or they didn't throw it to him).

the cowboys just played a very shitty game all around(offense, defense, coaching) and the redskins took advantage of it and did what they had to do to win the game.

 

Nice to see that Boldin is fine now.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/6390/news;_ylt=ApnM466rt3OdbNejvu4GfCT.uLYF