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2010-2011 Regular Season:
Colts Corralled
With All Eyes On An Eagles Engagement
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- December 9,
2010
At 10:20 PM CST
By Eric M. Scharf
The Cowboys’ fan faithful had
extra time to get over their inconveniently inconceivable Turkey Day
indigestion.
Most people expected the Cowboys to continue playing with renewed
Red Ball heart but, ultimately, lose to a healthier and better
functioning Orleans opponent – creating inconvenient but expected
indigestion.
Most people expected the Cowboys to continue being blown out in the
second half of that game and, ultimately, lose to a healthier and
better functioning Orleans opponent.
The Cowboys came roaring back, had and lost the lead late in the
fourth quarter, and nearly won the game on a last second field goal
– going from inconvenient but expected to inconceivable indigestion.
Most people – more than a week later – expected the Cowboys to face
a downtrodden but deathly determined Colts team at Lucas Oil
Stadium, otherwise known as the Big Horseshoe.
Most people expected the Men of Manning to bring their frustrated
fight to the suddenly collected and coordinated Cowboys.
Most people expected the Indianapolis Colts to free themselves from
their football funk just in time to derail and control the Dallas
Cowboys caboose.
Most people were wrong.
Horseplay
I watched the Thursday night game between the Colts and the
Tennessee Titans from beginning to end. I needed to satiate a shared
curiosity as to when Peyton Manning might finally break out of his
passing prison and begin punishing pass defenders in his normal way.
The game resembled the typical back and forth brawl football fans
have come to expect of the Colts and Titans over the past few years.
If you had not seen the Colts’ prior three games, you would have
never known that NFL defenses had been “picking” on Peyton as of
late . . . or that Manning’s own men had been man-handling him with
mainly miserable route running.
The Colts ended the evening victorious against the Titans – and
having terminated their terrible turnovers for at least one game.
The Colts team that faced the Cowboys last Sunday, however, featured
four interceptions – all thrown by Peyton. The Cowboys secondary
suddenly seemed so picky.
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- The Colts had every
intention of galloping out of the starting gate, but they came up
lame again as they approached the finish line.
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- Did Manning and his
stable of receivers have on the wrong horseshoes . . . or just the
wrong shoes altogether?
There had been speculation – during the Colts’ three game cave-in –
that Manning has really manned up this year, playing with a throwing
arm ailment which has adversely affected everything about his
normally professional-grade passing game.
Peyton has played through pain over the last few years – some of
which is similar in source to what Troy Aikman endured over his
career.
“Injuries are part of the game” but poor pass protection, dumb
drops, raw route
running, and ripe rushing have simply been adding insult to
injury for Peyton the passing perfectionist.
Then, again, when game day rolls around, you roll with the roster
you have received – injuries or not, experience or not, smart or
stupid.
The Cowboys brought their own banged up bunch to the brawl.
Garrett’s gang gave the best game plan they could against a Colts
quarterback just champing at the bit to regain his passing powers.
The Cowboys played keep away from Peyton’s still-potent passing
attack – dusting off a masterful rushing effort to rankle the raging
Colts.
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- While feline-fast Felix
Jones started and succeeded in space, Tashard "The People's" Choice
once again did what he has always done in his young career every
time he is given the keys to the Cowboys Carrera: he delivered like
a starting NFL running back.
And to think that Jerry Jones had a straight face last week when he
explained that Choice had to choose better special teams
performances before procuring more playing time at running back. If
Jerry was testing his skills in reverse psychology, he must be a
Jedi Master . . . because it worked.
Choice hopes to see less and less of special teams and more and more
of the special position he covets behind the Cowboys offensive line.
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- Former Cowboys rushing
great and Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett knows a thing or two about that
special position. Dorsett thinks Choice is a baller and that if he
is not starting for the Dallas Cowboys . . . he should be starting
for someone else. Maybe Marion Barber's fade will finally factor
into Choice's future field time . . . but I digress.
The Cowboys rousing rushing rhythm allowed Jon Kitna to deliver an
efficient if pedestrian performance with one touchdown pass . . .
and no Manning-like mistakes. Kitna drove the bus slow and steady .
. . with his receivers being reception ready whenever Cowboys
running backs were run down on the rug.
The Cowboys opportunistic defense operated like the Salvation Army
benefiting from Manning’s dandy donations.
Oft-injured rookie linebacker Sean Lee finally showed his true
capabilities in picking off two of Peyton’s passes.
The pick party was turned into scores of points that balanced
against the bunch that Manning made in the fourth quarter – leaving
David Beuhler’s name to be called twice – once to tie the game
before going to overtime and once again to win in overtime . . .
after yet another Manning mishap.
“Beuhler? Beuhler?” never sounded so sweat outside of a famous
feature film. Beuhler bucked up, bought in, booted two beauties, and
has a band of brothers who believe in him just a little more.
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- The Colts were not
horsing around at the Big Horseshoe, but the Cowboys kept their cool
and corralled their combatants with their own brand of horseplay . .
. along with a pair of Cowboy boots for an overtime victory.
Heavenly Tea Is
A Dandy
I wanted to take a moment to remember Meredith – “Dandy Don”
Meredith – former Dallas Cowboys quarterback great who reached the
ultimate retirement this past Sunday.
Dallas fans may never quite appreciate what he accomplished so many
decades ago in taking a winless expansion team to within minutes of
being crowned champions in 1966 – behind an inferior offensive line,
getting picked up off the grid iron numerous times, and visiting a
hospital room a time or two . . . as a patient, not a guest.
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- Meredith was one of the
few players who – with a big smile and a mouthful of comedy – was
able to make Tom Landry's rigid approach to football more palatable.
You could say Meredith was the original Joe Cool years before a man
named Montana began his North Bay winning ways.
While Meredith may have gained the most notoriety from his
successful stint as part of the first crew of Monday Night Football,
I will actually remember him more for his Lipton and Tetley tea
commercials – which seemed to run 24-7 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area
for so many years.
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If a person could ever become inebriated from drinking too much tea,
it would have been Dandy Don – whose thirst for good tea was like
that of a vampire for warm blood.-
- There may never again be
the same combination of player, personality, and person like Dandy
Don.
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- 17 will be missed . . .
and maybe another former 17 - Jason Garrett - will honor his passing
with playoff quality coaching to finish out a missed season.
- The lights may be out on
Dandy Don's time on Earth, but the party is probably just continuing
wherever he is headed up there in the ethereal air.
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- He is probably enjoying
some heavenly tea right now.
Banged Up But
Still Battling
The Cowboys are just about as beaten up as anyone, and there are no
pity parties scheduled for this weekend’s game at Cowboys Stadium.
The Cowboys must continue to play through the booboos, ouchies, and
season altering losses – like Tony Romo early, Marcus Spears middle, and Dez Bryant late.
The Cowboys must continue exposing their bench players to game day
experience . . . in the absence of those starters who have it.
The Cowboys must continue building their depth to better protect
against untimely injuries . . . in the absence of those starters who
have sustained them and played through them.
The Cowboys must continue to do what all other NFL teams must do
week in and week out: roll the roster roulette wheel, reel in a few
free agent raw hides (as they have recently done), and see where
it stops spinning at the end of each game.
Quality Versus
Quantity
Cowboys’ fans must continue keeping the good results of Garrett’s
Gang in perspective.
The Cowboys are 3-1 under Garrett – having displayed solid effort in
all four games of his head coaching tenure – but no one will know
this team’s true capabilities until next year . . . when the Cowboys
and their competitors have the chance to start another season in
complete health with a full complement of starting players.
This team could start next season with everyone healthy . . . and
turn in another terrible turd.
Only the most myopic and naïve of fans would dare to believe
otherwise.
Just like the World Champion New Orleans Saints are having to show
the NFL world that they are not merely one hit wonders, the Dallas
Cowboys are going to have to show everyone next year that they can
repeat any of the quality play they have displayed under Garrett . .
. assuming the quality continues and assuming Garrett goes from
interim to permanent.
Assuming the existence of quality where less than expected may exist
. . . is a dangerous mechanic in the game of quality versus
quantity.
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- Going With Garrett
Or The Next Guy?
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- While Garrett publicly
continues doing a good (or better) job in leading the Cowboys
through the remainder of the regular season – and Jerry privately
continues preparing for his "Catch A Coach Competition" that will
occur throughout the immediate off-season – fans, just like Jerry,
must avoid falling into the trap.
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- Jason has done a
nice-if-imperfect job with the Cowboys so far, and good sports fans
prefer a win to a loss any day – unless it prevents acquisition of a
fantastic draft pick – but that is in April 2011 . . . and this is
now.
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- Jerry has done a
nice-if-imperfect job of allowing Garrett to do his interim best,
and good sports fans prefer an uninterrupted coach doing his job any
day – unless that uninterrupted coach prevents acquisition of
multiple wins expected of the talented roster in his possession.
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- Fans – even knowledgeable
fans – can dream of Garrett getting the full-time long-term head
coaching title, and it is their collective right, but Rooney Rule or
not . . . a full-blooded and relatively public head coaching search
will on full display the moment this season comes to a close.
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- If Garrett remains head
coach upon completion of Jerry's CIA (Coaching Investigation
Activity) search – after finishing with a face saving 8-8 or
forgivable 7-9 record – then Garrett should feel pretty darn good
about how he finished the season and earned the top job, because he
will have probably staved off a who's-who of carnivorous coaching
competitors.
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- Head coach of the Dallas
Cowboys remains one of the top jobs in sports. Baggage will always
come with such a crown jewel. It is Jerry's job to make sure the
next holder of that crown jewel adds brings as much pilot as
possible . . . and adds barely any baggage to the belly of Air
Cowboys.
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- Garrett fully understands
and will forgive Jerry's due diligence on behalf of the
international legion and high expectations of Dallas Cowboys fans.
Philly Formula
There is a Philly Formula that goes both ways.
One part of the formula favors Philly.
Eagles’ quarterback Michael Vick will slice and dice your defense if
you do not apply consistent pressure in the pocket – and take a few
lucky risks with the blitz.
Eagles’ quarterback Michael Vick will slice and dice your defense if
you do not apply consistent pressure in the secondary.
Another part of the formula favors the opponents Philly must fend
off.
The New York Giants and the Chicago Bears proved in successive games
over the past three weeks that Vick can, in fact, be stopped . . .
with consistent pressure and “controlled aggression” – keeping Vick
isolated in the pocket, forcing him to his right to encourage
inaccuracy, and utilizing zone coverage to create confusion.
The key, of course, is encouraging inaccuracy and creating confusion
for Vick with his reads and progressions, rather than for the Dallas
secondary.
While the Cowboys defensive front does not have the depth of the
Giants nor quite the speed of the Bears, the Dallas defensive line
is the key to a complete, solid, and victorious performance against
Vick.
The Cowboys will not be chasing the relatively immobile Manning this
Sunday. They will have to employ controlled aggression – where they
get after Vick with their heads up at all times, stunting towards
Vick rather than away, wrapping up on tackles for losses, swinging
their arms like axes for strip sacks, and putting their mitts up to
deflect passes.
DeMarcus Ware and Jay Ratliff cannot do it alone, either. While
Anthony Spencer must continue to rebuild himself towards shades of
last season, Igor Olshansky and Jason Hatcher need to continue
trying to perform a little beyond their given roles.
The entire defensive line – rather than just a part of it – must be
clicking early and often against Vick, and the Cowboys know they
must be extremely judicious with any desire to blitz.
Controlled aggression is the key – almost like the good old Flex
Defense. Know your gaps, control your gaps, and if nothing is
heading towards your gaps, head towards the opposing quarterback in
earnest. The defensive linemen have their own prioritized reads and
progressions, just like the quarterback they seek to stop and
against a constant flight risk like Vick, the Dallas defensive front
needs to match is patience with some of their own . . . controlled
aggression.
The Cowboys secondary has favored a zone scheme ever since Paul
Pasqualoni assumed control of the defense – which has done a lot to
combat the some of the slip-and-slide performances from earlier in
the season. It has also done a lot to mask man-to-man deficiencies
by "shot down" corners Mike "Juked And Jived" Jenkins and Terence
"Toast" Newman.
Pasqualoni understands, however, that his players must, gulp, mix in and
disguise a little man coverage to help prevent Vick from patiently
dinking and dunking his way down the field to the likes of running
back LeSean “I Am Not Brian Westbrook” McCoy – and hitting the seams
in stride with tough out tight end Brent Celek.
The Cowboys secondary has been doing a fairly bang up job over the
past few weeks, but it has simply become a banged up secondary that
is fighting every game to field a healthy group.
Slot specialist Orlando Scandrick is recovering from a friendly fire
concussion and Gerald Sensabaugh painfully tweaked his thigh – with both
injuries coming against the Colts.
They will simply have to dig down deep into the depth of their
roster with Bryan McCann, Barry Church, and Danny McCray – among the
few healthy alternatives that exist – to see if they can
successfully alter the flight patterns of the Eagles envoy of
electric receivers.
The Eagles’ defense is a slightly different story. Their defensive
front and linebackers are aggressive but not dominating. Outside of
the Eagles’ star cornerback Asante Samuel – their secondary takes
much the same approach.
The absence of Asante’s assault has exposed man-to-man deficiencies in the Eagles’
secondary – which should encourage Garrett to utilize a few more
spread offensive sets . . . especially if Asante is absent once more.
The Cowboys offense – at minimum – must simply not underestimate
what a hard-nosed team defense can do to even the best laid
offensive plans.
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- The team really has
rallied around Tony Romo's replacement, Cool Hand Kitna – after a
slow start under the last few games of the Phillips Fiasco. Kitna
commands the huddle, has limited the risks he can control, and truly seems to be respected up and down the
roster.
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- Dez Bryant may be lost
for the rest of the season, but the Cowboys were still pretty good
without him on the team last year. Dez was not a replacement for the
dearly departed Patrick Crayton – as they are two completely
different players.
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- Once Dez returns from his
season-ending injury – among other nagging maladies – he will begin
to become more and more of the automatic clutch crutch Jason Witten has
become over the years. Until that time comes to pass, Kitna and the Cowboys
still have other
fully functional touchdown tools in their 2009 offensive tool chest.
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- Kitna is clicking well
enough in the passing game – with Witten and Austin – to spread
Dez's lost receptions around between Roy “Two Passes Per Game”
Williams, Sam “Playing Hard On Special Teams” Hurd, and Kevin
“Staying Alive” Ogletree.
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- Fans might even expect
Roy Williams – who "is a big fan of Kitna," and thinks "Kitna is
just as good as Romo," and has "played well with Kitna in the past"
– will use Dez's derailment to remind everyone who was a big part of
the Cowboys 2009 wake up call . . . and he may just receive more
than two chances per game to prove it.
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- Martellus “I’m A Blocker
Not A Catcher” Bennett is naturally and normally overdue to get a
little more involved in the offense – and Jesse "Alley Dog" Holley
remains ready to receive any aerial afterthoughts as well.
Can fans expect Williams, Hurd, Ogletree, Bennett, and Holley will
collectively attack
their potentially expanded assignments with the same ferocity as Dez
“The Beast” Bryant? Holley - out of this entire group of role
receivers - seems to be the only player who publicly and regularly
reminds fans how much he appreciates the opportunity he has been
given . . . and the performance-based roster spot he maintains.
Assuming the existence of quality where less than expected may exist
– again – is a dangerous mechanic in the game of quality versus
quantity.
Bird Beaters
The Dallas Cowboys have beaten the Philadelphia Eagles in three
straight competitions . . . and they could make it four in a row –
but not without what is expected to be a serious fight between two
changed teams.
The Cowboys decided to begin playing well too late in the season and
the Eagles – no longer playing like the Iggles – have been playing
much better than the team the Cowboys beat three times last season.
While the resurgent Cowboys – objectively – could care less about
the Eagles’ revenge factor, they would be foolish to ignore it.
The Cowboys cannot afford a tryptophan-induced Turkey Day display.
The defense has a big task on hand, and it will not always find four picks in its pocket.
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- The
offense must start quickly – playing keep away from Vick – with
great ground gainers, potent passing, and rousing receptions.
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- Special teams must also
continue to do their thankless best to deliver a long field for the
opposition and a short field for Kitna. A shorter field for Kitna
only defeats the keep away concept if he does not make those shorter
distances count in the positive.
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- While Michael Vick has
returned to the NFL as a bird of a different feather with a
surprisingly
accurate eagle eye, can the Cowboys bash his beak on the way to
another win?
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- The irony is not lost on
me – as an aside – that Vick's face is (unintentionally) displayed
opposite such a gruesome injury to another of the highly-regarded
animals of our planet.
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- Most people are picking
the Eagles to win by three but – maybe, just maybe – the Cowboys
will beat the big bad birds for the fourth time in a row.
Will most people be wrong?
We shall see. We always do.
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