The Football Thread

I can't wait for this Sunday!

Sunday should be cool. The Cowboys are the NFLs version of "Glass Joe", tho...

How so?

Dallas is scoring about on par with New England, and the defenses have both given up 8 touchdowns to their opponents.

They are damn near equal. And they've practically played the same competition, so no one can fall back on the "Dallas hasn't played anyone" argument unless we can do the same for New England.

There are three reasons we can regard New England as better than Dallas:

1) Saying "the defenses have both given up 8 touchdowns" is highly misleading. That may be relevant when discussing Dallas' defensively, but not as a team. As a team, they've given up more points; points which count just as much as any other. Dallas is average defensively (13th) and New England is very good defensively (tied for 3rd).

2) They haven't really played the same competition, because AFC teams are obviously a bit better on average. New England hasn't played any very good teams, but you can't go by records alone. A slight bump has to be given to the AFC.

3) Dallas almost lost a game to a very poor team, and managed to win only on the strength of Buffalo's incompetence. New England hasn't come close to losing to anyone yet.

Also, anyone who says otherwise is a dirty evil liar.

Otherwise!

You dirty, evil liar...

They aren't even close to being equal. Not even close. Joe Montana was interviewed in the Herald yesterday, and he said that Brady is basically on course to have the best season any Quarterback has ever played. He came right out and said he may just be the best ever. He went on to say that, on both sides of the ball, The Pats are playing at a whole different level than the rest of the league right now, making it look easy, and dominating in EVERY facet of the game, from coaching to administration to team spirit and unity (something The Cowboys CLEARLY do not possess). Commentators are throwing around statements like "The best offensive unit ever," and "Perhaps the most cohesive football teams to play the game since it's been played."

Have you watched a Pats game? They do indeed make it look easy... On Monday night, The Cowboys just didn't look like a great football team, on both sides of the ball. Romo was awsul, and looked like a high-school kid stuck in a man's game. His expression was not one of a confident, experienced player. Please, try to defend his abysmal performance Monday night, I'd like to hear it.

Joe Montana "...about the Donte Stahlworth TD. Most people think this was all Stahlworth, and he did perform admirably, shedding defenders and slicing through to the endzone, but I disagree. Watch that play again, watch Tom Brady ignore pressure as his eyes calmly move over all his options...one, two, three, all covered, then....boom, he finds Stahlworth and drills an incredibly difficult to hit pass right to the guy. That is what makes an exceptional quarterback, that confidence... that level of understanding for the game. The guy is one of the best ever, if not the best. .. If he was as good looking as me, I would be worried. OK, He's got that covered, too..."

Goofy jokes aside, if you have Montana tooting your horn like that, it means something.

If they are about equal, why did The Cowboys have so much trouble with The Bills, a team The Pats rolled over like they weren't there.

But hey, who knows, Romo and company, playing at home, might click in and play like the Super Bowl team they clearly have the potential to be, and The Pats might not show up fully for the game, have an off day, and give one to The Cowboys. Alas, if both teams show up full of vim and vigor, focused to play... It's gonna be all Pats...

Me? I am hoping it IS an evenly matched, exciting game. Time will tell...

Please don't tell me we're going to start the "They beat this team, and they didn't, so this team is better" argument.

The 1992 Dallas Cowboys lost AT HOME to a 6-10 LA Rams team, 27-23. Earlier in the year, the Bills beat that same team 40-7.

Huh, guess Buffalo was better since they demolished a bad team and Dallas lost to them at home.

Oh, but let's not forget that Dallas beat the Bills in the Super Bowl later that year 52-17 and forced an unheard of 9 turnovers.

Is New England better? Of course they are...for right now.

But to call Dallas the Joe Glass of the NFL? You gotta be kidding me.

This is so reminiscent of last year when the 9-0 Indianapolis Colts rolled into Dallas and everyone was proclaiming them the greatest thing ever. People laughed at the possibility of Dallas beating Indy.

But they did it.

Here's how Dallas can beat New England.

- Terence Newman is a top 3 corner in the NFL. He has amazing coverage abilities and has given up 2 touchdowns in the last 35 games he's played. He'll be on Moss and it appears that he is finally 100%.

- Anthony Henry is our other corner. I actually see us putting Henry on Welker and not Stallworth. Welker is a small dude. Henry is a big corner. Welker is a really good player, so we're going to use Henry to abuse Welker in the size/weight matchup. I really think Henry will do a good job of containing him.

- Jacques Reeves will be on Donte Stallworth. Not a preferred matchup, but it's what we're stuck with. Reeves has this horrible tendency to play ten yards off of the opponent. I look for him to play closer this game and get safety help from Ken Hamlin. The key to this whole deal is Newman containing Moss. If he does that, we can afford to send the double to Stallworth and put Henry on Welker to abuse his size.

- Someone needs to be on Watson. I'm not sure if we'd put Ware or Williams on him. I'll guess we'll put a jam on him from a linebacker like Spencer and then have Williams cover him

- For the most part, I think everyone else blitzes straight up the gut. Not the edge. Spears, Canty, Ratliff, Ware, Spencer, James and Ayodele will all be coming straight up the gut. This will help us a lot in those iffy matchups of Newman/Moss and Williams/Watson. Hopefully it'll force Brady to make bad decisions. Teams have been afraid to go all out on the blitz against New England, and it's really the only thing nobody has tried. I think Dallas will do it on Sunday.

- On offense, we have Romo. The dude is resilient. I think Romo will go out and sling the ball like he did against New York in the opener. I look for one back most the game (I'm thinking this is where we finally stick Barber out there for most of the game) and then have Crayton and Hurd on the outside with Owens and Witten in the slots.

Continued...

Putting are two most dynamic receivers, Witten and Owens, in the slot, give them the entire field to work with and doesn't limit their space. It's much harder to cover. Crayton and Hurd are more than good enough to hold their own on the outside.

Barber is also a good back to dump the ball off to if the rush gets to be too much on Romo. He can dump it and Barber can shake his way through a defense covering 20 yards down field. And with the spread out offense, it opens things up through the middle for Barber to bull his way through.

Let's also not forget that the Dallas offensive line has been great this year.

All of these factors are key to Dallas winning the game and very realistic. So let's not make it sound impossible.

This is all accurate, but, it avoids my main point, which is that Dallas is clearly not gelling as well as they should be. I don't see any of The Pats throwing little hissy fits on the sidelines like TO was doing after the (many, many) interceptions Romo threw Monday night. This week is a great example, with Brady also performing under-par, but not to the extent Romo did. Brady was clearly off, and was also upset with his own performance, and was in a rough headspace from what I could tell. The difference is that the rest of the team did their jobs just like Brady was playing perfectly. Supportive comments and back slaps for 'ol Tom, while Romo was the recipient of icy stares from his receivers when he made a mistake, followed by TO whining on the sidelines.

That is my main point, they aren't as cohesive of a TEAM, regardless of individual talent, and in a hyped match like this, with as much talent on both teams as we see here, it will come down to who shows up playing well together.

I am not going to sit here and hack on The Cowboys for lack of talent, that would be silly, Whitten is the best TE in the league right now, hands down. TO is a monster, and an exceptional receiver, and we don't need to mention the ice water in Nick Folk's veins.

This is about Teamwork.

__________________

Mike, I don't know where you're getting that.

After every interception, Owens was upset, but that's because they were messing up. But then they would cut to Romo and Owens would be standing next to him and talking to him very calmly.

Plus, lets see how Moss would react if Brady turns the ball over 6 times. I bet he isn't as contained as Owens.

Honestly, commentators, writers and fans were praising Owens for keeping his cool and encouraging Romo. I don't know where you got the idea that he was whining.

By watching him on the screen, whining and shaking his head, while complaining to other players.

So, I'll ask it this way/

Do you think The Cowboys are as cohesive an organization as The Patriots?

Oh, and... Brady will never, ever throw 5 interceptions in a game. He's the best quarterback to play the game, and he just won't do something like that...

Moss would probably act out, tho, you are right about that.

Well, in the sense of the way they play, no. The Cowboys will probably never be as cohesive as the Patriots.

But off the field...the chemistry that resembles that of a family? I'd say Dallas goes unmatched. That's a tight group of people, they just don't play as cohesive a game as the Patriots.

And who's to say Brady will never throw 5 interceptions? He's thrown 4 interceptions 5 different times and once a year since he became a starter (Except the 2002 season)

That was Thom Brady, his evil twin. He kidnapped The real Tom and put him in a suspended animation in his haunted amusement park. If it wasn't for those meddling kids, we would still be watching pick after pick.

I wonder if Romo will have another 41 yard fun for a gain of 3... Now THAT was a well executed play!



Really though, kudos for getting positive yardage out of a bad snap. Clearly, the center blew this play, and Romo managed to pull them out of it. It does look funny, though!

Other than shaking the first tackler or two, Romo just got lucky that the ball fell where it did, away from all the other defenders. LOL

One more day until the big game... I am getting psyched!

Only a few more hours until kickoff. I can't wait any longer! I think this game will go to New England. It just seems like the kind of game to me where Dallas is trailing by 7-10 points the whole game and that they end out losing by that margin.

31-21 New England

I'll buy that. This won't be the typical NE blowout we have seen so far this year, but, Brady et al. will pull out the victory by a maximum of 13 points...


Meanwhile, my fantasy roster is back in shape this week, and I plan on having a fun day dorking out over stats as the teams play...