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2008-2009 Regular Season: Postgame -
When One Just Will Not Do
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- October 12, 2008 At
8:54 PM EST
- By
Eric M. Scharf
This is another one of those losses that, if you like, you can try
to pin on one person, like Nick Folk (for missing a gimme' kick in
regulation) or Jason Witten for the bone-headed-and-untimely penalty
or a dropped pass, but that kind of
pin-the-tail-on-the-singular-guilty-party simply will not do.
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- This
was as much a team loss as there ever could be. Yes, the interior
defense did a pretty good job for most of the game, and, then, when
it counted most in the early part of the 4th quarter, when we needed
to stop the Cardinals from scoring, they fell flat (maybe from
exhaustion, maybe from a brain fart, or maybe from both).
Do not forget that the final sack of Kurt Warner that got us the
ball back, with about a minute to play in regulation, was not the
opponent-stopper that was needed on either of the second half
touchdowns Warner threw, nor was it the play that was needed to stop
those 20 and 30 yard passing plays by Warner either.
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- Yes, Fitzgerald
is very good, but Pacman’s poor on-the-field decisions got all
"gobbled up" for most of the game. Maybe the security guy and his
girlfriend slapped the nerve out of him back in that hotel bathroom
(where the fight, involving all three of them evidently occurred).
BTW, add a healthy Anquan Boldin, and we WOULD HAVE been dead meat,
most likely losing by double-digits.
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- Yeah? If we had a healthy
Terence Newman, Roy Williams, and Pat Watkins, we would have WHAT?
We would have NOTHING. Having healthy, smart players is different
than having healthy, confused players (as all three have looked at
different times over the first six games . . . and some for much
longer than that).
Again, this was a team loss. Special teams? If they had done this
and that, the Cowboys would have won? Uh-huh. Right. Again, the last
time I checked, special teams did not play offense, nor did they
allow repeated jailbreaks that got Romo repeatedly killed. This was
a team loss.
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- Would Romo have benefited from
remembering how he used to run like a crazy chicken whenever the
pocket would collapse (a la the Rams game last year)? Darn straight,
but, for some reason, he feels the need to pretend that he is Tom
"Stand Still In The Face Of Punishment" Brady, on every bloody play
(as he suggested he would do back in training camp). Soon, Romo will
have to ask himself if that is the smartest, most successful way he
can use his skill set.
Red Ball? I will say, again, and objectively speaking, that Cowboys
fans tend to forget how quickly Norv Turner’s and Ernie Zampese’s
schemes, were figured out when even one of their offensive starters
were out of the line-up. It really appears that Garrett, who has
chosen to follow the same system, becomes dysfunctional in much the
same way his mentors did (and, in Norv’s case, still does).
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- So, what
do all good coaches do when their system has been figured out? They
get creative by, yes, doing end-arounds to T.O. on offense, but,
end-arounds are not enough, are they? Yes, even with the injuries to
two of our safeties and one of our corners, I believe we still have
a very talented defensive team and overall team.
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- So, if, in fact, I
am correct, and we have all of this talent, the players are either
incredibly dense, or, the coaches are doing a poor job of adjusting
their play-calling.
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- I have a hard time believing that a coaching
staff would field an entire team of numb skulls (police blotter
activity aside). So, again, it must be the play-calling (with the
idea in mind that you fit the system to the available talent; not
the other way around). So, not only was this a team loss, it was an
organizational loss.
I will take this moment to make one final plea to Jerry Jones to see
logic. How long did it take for Miles Austin to break into the
line-up, even as a back-up? The wide receiver position is one of
those positions where you cannot take any chances with an also-ran.
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- You should be preparing a reasonable package of draft choices, with
which you can stomach parting, in exchange for a T.O.-or-better
quality wide receiver. The lack of a healthy Terry Glenn is making a
much bigger dent in our capabilities than any believed possible.
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