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2017-2018 Regular Season: Cowboys Start Out
Slurred Before Defeating Red Birds And Prepare For Rams, No Longer
Lambs
- September 26, 2017 At 6:14 PM CST
By Eric M. Scharf
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- “America’s Team” was focused on recovering from their rocky
mountain smothering . . . but – in order to do so – they had to take
flight in Arizona against a capable-but-bunged-up Cardinals team
with plenty of fight.
The Cowboys, however, put on a slurred slugfest for the better part
of 2.5 quarters and – aside from Dak Prescott performing a second
period touchdown flip to add a splash to the scoring drip – it
appeared the Cardinals were successfully resembling point hoarders.
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- “The Linehan Clan” faced close (air and ground) combat until almost
midway through the third quarter before opportunities began to grow.
While Dak and his receivers would experience limited-but-efficient
success, Ezekiel Elliott – after a slow start – began to get up and
go . . . allowing the offense to put on a bit more of a show.
“Marinelli’s Men” had their own mixed bag . . . with a
still-undermanned but ever-improving defensive front that had to put
its effort into overdrive to overcome their
promising-but-prepubescent and injury-compromised secondary that
took its Larry Fitzgerald lumps. For a time, it was a drag, but the
Dallas defense rolled with Fitzy’s Hall Of Fame punches . . . and –
otherwise – prevented Carson Palmer and Co. from collecting yards
and points in bunches.
DeMarcus Lawrence continued his incredible QB-hounding tear . . .
picking up sacks – over the first three games – here, there, and
everywhere. While he unthinkably added three more sacks to his
fast-growing collection, the Cardinals (if memory serves) were
missing both starting offensive tackles, and – regardless – he has
not achieved his dominance alone.
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- Cowboys Nation – after seeing a total of six sacks from the
defensive front for the game – would do well to throw the others a bone. Damontre Moore (in returning from
his two-game suspension), Maliek Collins (who produced two sacks of
his own), and even the regularly fan-frowned Tyrone Crawford (who
also nabbed Palmer once) – among others from their band of brothers
– all joined DeMarcus in setting the tone.
While DeMarcus has seemed less like Lawrence and magically more like
Ware, his injury history and (puzzling) inability to distinguish
NFL-approved supplements (from illegal enhancements) should temper an excited fan base . . .
into simply being happy if DeMarcus can – all season long –
reasonably maintain his energy and keep up his current sack-master
pace.
The Dallas Cowboys earned their 28-17 victory and flew the
Cardinals’ coup . . . with just enough gritty proof – following a
Broncos beatdown – that they could, indeed, regroup.
Few victories are perfect these days and the Cowboys – like all
other NFL teams – have plenty of play-call and play execution areas
in which to continue to improve their performance groove. The
defense can only get healthier – and with the pending return of
defensive end David Irving – get talent wealthier.
The forcibly-rebuilt offensive line (naturally) needs a bit more
time to gel in order to give opponents something closer to 2016
hell. Doing so will, of course, grant Dak and Zeke better and longer
opportunities to ring the passing, yardage, and scoring bell.
The wide receivers, however, are a slightly different story. The
Cowboys’ latest set of football retrievers are their most talented
in quite a while . . . yet there is one among them who has turned
into a bit of an X-File. If he can get his mind right, the Dallas
Cowboys will have an even greater shot in their effort to return to
glory.
Separation Anxiety
Dez Bryant – the Cowboys’ highest paid wide receiver – had another
tough night . . . facing Arizona’s Patrick Peterson, another crisp
cover corner determined to ensure Dez would never take flight.
Two catches of two passes thrown for 15 hard-fought yards . . . and
a touchdown – that only on an unviewable technicality – was in the
cards.
“Unviewable technicality?” you ask. Bryant – just short of the end
zone – had reached his maximum beastly burst, and only a quickly
accumulated, camera-obscuring scrum was able to quench the Cowboys’
scoring thirst.
Truth be told, on a day where the catches were rare, the passes were
equally few. It was not that Dak Prescott was not playing well or
the usual suspects (Dez, Jason Witten, Terrance Williams, and Cole
Beasley) did not care. They, in fact, did (almost) all they could
do.
“Almost?” you ask. Dez – who has inexplicably been suffering from
steadily increasing “Separation Anxiety” since 2016 – must realistically be taken to
task . . . through a story retelling oh so compelling.
On a night where Jason Witten and Cole Beasley were strangely
matched by raw-but-promising rookie Noah Brown with one catch each .
. . arguably the most inconsistent flanker on the team - Brice (The)
Butler (Did It) - was the highest-producing peach. He - like Jason
Witten, Terrance Williams, and Cole Beasley at an expanding pace -
took over what used to exclusively be Dez Bryant's theme.
Yes, Dez regularly commands the attention of an opponent’s greatest
defensive back . . . but he used to regularly attract double-teams
to ensure he could never start his beastly attack. Yes, almost
everyone else in the Cowboys’ 3-4-and-5-receiver sets benefit from
single-and-less-talented coverage with which none take umbrage. When
Dez receives all the downfield focus, his aerial teammates should
perform (more often than not) with few to no mistakes. Still, Dez no
longer regularly receives the defensive double-down. He has been
struggling with single coverage. Players not named Bryant (and not
nearly as physically capable) have been running free . . . and
procuring more passes on their collective play call route tree.
It is no big secret that Dez excels when play calls run aground and
he gets to - completely unscripted - run around. Tony Romo and Dez
(as ridiculous as it may sound) may have occasionally preferred when
even the very best play call hit a wall . . . resulting in Romo
escaping, wrist-flipping a deep ball, and allowing Dez to run right
under - or go up and get - it for yet another touchdown haul.
Romo both treated and tormented Cowboys Nation to his Houdini
ability and with his (largely) impulsive desire . . . to fit the
football into any (open) and every (not-so-open) space as if the
ball was on fire. Romo never really required Dez to run even
semi-perfect routes, because Romo was always willing to lead (and
loft so ideally soft) to Dez . . . allowing him to gobble up passes
like PEZ. Romo - up until 2014 - was far more willing (and often out
of poor pass protection necessity) to scramble out of a given play
call in order to magically survive or aggressively win it all. Romo
was regularly (and rightfully) accused of trying to overcome an
occasionally deficient roster – in every way on every way – and
would maddeningly, unpredictably go from delivering aerial amazement
to resembling a QB imposter. Romo made Cowboys Nation both
exhilarated and infuriated . . . in his ability to do a lot more
with less or his unintentional impulsivity to make an untimely mess.
Romo may have retired (without having formally filed in the event
the right team ever inquired) . . . to perform a
brilliantly-informative broadcast that could, in fact, be built to
last – but he, of course, remains highly admired.
If you ignore a few sparkling minutes of spot duty in the final game
of last year’s regular season, Romo has been long gone from the
Cowboys’ game day landscape . . . leaving Cowboys Nation’s mouth
agape at seeing Dez turn one-dimensional during moments when
flexibility is most essential.
Dak Prescott – who has more than earned his role as both a team
captain and Cowboys’ starting QB – has repeatedly (and
approximately) stated: “If you want a pass from me, you better be
reasonably defender-free. If you are open, in your direction I will
be scopin’. Just get (a bit more) open, bro . . . and we will be
good to go.”
Any argument that Dak spreads the football around far more than Tony
ever did is also pure fiction . . . in the face of only ONE of the
Cowboys’ current receivers suffering from a deep-seeded get-open
affliction.
There are only a handful of ways . . . in which Dez can steadily and
eventually overcome his separation anxiety on so many future game
days. Dak can force the football to Bryant . . . with a
previously-proven result so abhorrent. Dak can superhumanly develop
his topnotch touch pass technique much earlier . . . allowing Dez to
return to his days of being much burlier. The most aggressive and
capable of opponents’ defensive backs can suddenly fall ill or be
deposited onto injury reserve or forget how to play . . . allowing
Dez to go on his merry receiving-and-scoring way.
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- Oh, who is The Tortured Cowboys Fan fooling? Dez can scream and yell
from the highest peak . . . that it does not matter if
prognosticators, some opposing teams, and even some (but certainly
not all) fans think he has fallen from his one-time perch as the
preeminent receiving freak. While Dez would absolutely only be
helping himself with a crisper, wider range of routes, there is
something else under the surface that has him on the outs. Fans will
recall Roy “The Hefty Hitting Safety” Williams who was devastating
running backs and receivers up until implementation of the “Horse
Collar Tackle” rule . . . which – like night and day – immediately
changed his style of play in a way so cruel. Well-known DFW-area
sports journalist Jean-Jacques Taylor (formerly of ESPN) once
referenced to The Tortured Cowboys Fan during a Twitter exchange
“something else,” perhaps something off-the-field – rather than
penalty fear – that was contributing to Williams devolving during
the last few years of his Cowboys career.
The difference – on the field – is the NFL created no such “Down
With Dez” rule that would make him so regularly and bizarrely yield.
The Tortured Cowboys Fan (perhaps naively) does not believe Dez has
lost a step . . . but something clear needs to change in his
pre-game mental prep. “Something” is spooking him and making his
current production look unreasonably dim. Only Dez can remove his
receiving roadblock and rediscover the physical might he used to
display during nearly every route-running fight. Then and only then
can he return to dominating the cover corners with whom he is
dueling.
The Tortured Cowboys Fan would LOVE nothing more than for Dez to
empower himself to get off the “Throw Me Open” shelf. While the
Cowboys face at least 11 unique teams each year, not all of them
have topflight corners of which Dez must steer clear. After the
Giants’ Janoris Jenkins, the Broncos’ Aqib Talib, and the Cardinals’
Patrick Peterson, Dez next gets to face one or both of the Los
Angeles Rams less-heralded duo of Trumaine Johnson and Kayvon
Webster. If-and-when Dak Prescott receives enough time (away from
Aaron Donald) to properly survey the AT&T Stadium skyline, perhaps
Dez will (finally) come away looking mighty fine.
Will They Or Won’t They
After a two-game road trip, the Dallas Cowboys return home against
another team ready to cause a(n unplanned) slip.
The Los Angeles Rams – in just one offseason, complete with a tweak
in schemes and an overhauled coaching staff – no longer resemble the
LA Lambs, nor illicit an immediate laugh.
Jared Goff and the Rams’ offense lead the league in scoring . . .
and their results through three games have been rather goring. While
they are not perfect, defenses have been put on early notice not to
neglect.
The Rams’ Aaron Donald-led defense has been one of the better units
in the NFL for the past few years and – when their offense does not
often hang them out to dry – they use quite the collective non-stop
motor to try, try, and try.
The Dallas Cowboys – once again – face no game day mystery . . . and
they understand their latest opponent is more prepared than ever
before to erase a very one-sided recent series history.
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- Will “The Great Wall Of Dallas” be ready for any tape-study tricks
from a defensive front eagerly seeking to pound their bricks?
Will Dak-to-Dez see more light of day . . . with something more
positive and substantial on every other play?
Will Zeke be able to continue (imperfectly) compartmentalizing his
concerns over his off-the-field legal fight . . . in favor of an
even brighter on-the-field performance light?
Will the Cowboys demonstrate a continuance of their rediscovered
firm footing . . . or will a little home cooking distract them just
enough to get caught looking?
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- Will Dallas dare to sleep on this full-tilt flock of male sheep?
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- Will Wade Phillips return to his old stomping grounds to
triumphantly cause offensive hiccups?
We shall see. We always do.
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