Cowboys vs Redskins

[Guest Reality]

Some of you may know me as the owner of CowboysZone.com (formerly TheCowboys.net). Before anyone gets their feathers ruffled, most people will tell you I don't trash talk nor do I wear goggles of any color. This is my first post ever at ES so be kind!

Before I start, I'd like to say hello to Bufford and Henry, two Redskins' fans I have long respected and enjoyed talking with on various boards.

First off, I seriously would like to congratulate you on finally getting a good coach leading your team. As much as I despised losing to the Redskins when Gibbs last coached your team, I always respected him. He isn't a trash talking, plays-to-the-camera coach. Gibbs is all about football and doing what it takes to win. Even without the player additions and changes, Gibbs elevates the Redskins up a level or two just like Parcells elevated the Cowboys from the wish-it-was-all-a-bad-dream Campo years.

Anyway, on to the game at hand. Monday night looks to be a fairly even battle at this point. I'll definitely give the Redskins the edge due to home field advantage. Ramsey did look a little shaky last week after Brunell got hurt, but I expect he will be more relaxed and will play better in his home stadium. He will also have a week to prepare for the game and Gibbs will make sure he is prepared.

Clinton Portis was a great pick-up for the Redskins. While most people will throw out a quick "DUH!", I didn't like the trade in the off-season. Good running backs are far easier to find and are more often hurt than good cornerbacks. However, it seems your defensive backs have stepped up a notch without Champ and now the trade is looking at worst, even and at best like the Redskins got the better end of the deal.

I wasn't too impressed with the signing of Mark Brunell because of his age and I just don't feel like he's that special. Then again, I felt the exact same way when Parcells brought in Vinny. I really liked Ramsey last year and would have gladly taken him in Dallas over Quincy Carter before we played Quarterback musical chairs this past off-season. The one positive of Brunell's injury is that it will at least give Gibbs (and the fans) a chance to see if Ramsey is your future (oh I hate this term) franchise quarterback in Gibbs' offense.

Here are some things to watch during the game, at least from the Cowboys side. Despite our defensive rankings last year and our performance last week versus the Browns, our defense still follows a bend, don't break concept. Teams that can stretch the field early and often will exploit the defense badly. This even happened last year when we had the number one ranked defense. The biggest hole in the Cowboys' defense is right in the middle of the field, especially when the targets are running backs and tight-ends that either come out of the backfield or fake a block at the line and drift into the middle.

Another pattern you will see is that Portis will probably have several great runs on the Redskins' first offensive series. For some reason, the Cowboys rarely stop opposing team running backs from gaining 5-10 yards per carry on the first series. No idea why this happens, but even mediocre running backs look great on the first series. After the first series, the Cowboys will look much better against the run. This causes a lot of teams to abandon the run by half-time as the primary focus which in my opinion is a huge mistake. Now, Gibbs is known for his run-it-down-their-throat philosophy, but there were many times last year that run-oriented teams gave up focusing on the run by half-time.

If there is one thing I will never understand or agree with, it is that the Dallas Cowboys defensive backs play the receivers, not the ball. That is also why they get called for so many pass interference and illegal touch penalties. The Redskins' (and most other teams') defensive backs play the ball, which is what I really wish Dallas would do. The problem is that playing the ball gives up big plays and Parcells plays a numbers game with the bend-don't-break defense by focusing on making the other team make mistakes. However, playing the ball also leads to more turnovers and that is one thing the Cowboys rarely see, at least from a defensive standpoint. Last week, the Cowboys intercepted three balls in the game. The first one was thrown right at a linebacker. The second one was very catchable by the receiver but instead he tipped it right into the hands of the cornerback playing 5-7 yards BEHIND him (still scratching my head over that one). The third one was actually earned and was the first time I have seen Terrance Newman actually go for the interception (read: play the ball) since he joined the Cowboys.

Notable injuries for the Cowboys:

• Darren Woodson (safety, out 3-4 more games) - The biggest hole we have is at safety. Roy Williams is awesome but we have no other good safeties on the team. Dixon, Scott and Davis would be hard-pressed to make other teams as back-ups. This injury hurts.
  
• Julius Jones (running back, out 8-10 games, possible IR candidate) - Not a huge loss here. Cowboys' fans are more upset about not getting to see what he can bring to the team this season. Rashard Lee has been our best running back so far.

Players to watch on the Cowboys:

• Rashard Lee (running back) - Despite the high profile signing of Eddie George, most Cowboys' fans prefer Rashard Lee over him. Rashard was injured all of last year but has looked great this season. He runs hard and fast and has the ability to drive for more yards when tackled. Very pleasant surprise for us this year. A lot of teams wanted him during training camp.
  
• Jason Whitten (tight-end) - The best tight-end the Cowboys have had since Novacek was forced to retire. Great hands, great blocker, will fight for every yard he can get and will not go down on hard hits .. you have to tackle him. Let's put it like this, I wouldn't want to trade him for a healthy Jeremy Shockey.
  

It looks like it will be a game that will live up to the NFL marketing hype. I will not tarnish this post by throwing out yet another meaningless fan prediction, but I will say it should be a very close game. I also expect it to be a conservative game (at least if the score remains close) as both coaches try to control the clock by focusing on running the ball.

Well, that sums up my thoughts on the game. While of course I want the Cowboys to win, I also hope that neither team suffers any serious injuries.

-Reality

Isn't Reality funny?

[afparent]

hmmmmmnnnn....spy from the other side

[mark327]

WELCOME Reality , to extremeskins,

i hope you don't mind if i run this analysis over to JG , i'm sure he could us these facts about your boys .

enjoy the site , these guys h ere are all ok

oh and one more thing :dallasuck :dallasuck

:ravensuck :eaglesuck :gaintsuck

[The Rook]

Reality - welcome aboard. I enjoyed your post and your serious discussion and evaluation of the Cowboys.

Question - How often do you feel the Boys will blitz? (Over/under 50%). Watching Mark and Pat, they both seem to give up the ball when they get rattled.

:wewantd:

[SPare]

You know, rivalries like Boys-Skins are really only worthwhile when both teams are good. When one team's up and the other is down, it's just not meaningful- even if a 4-12 Cowboys team manages to beat the skins twice in one year...

I expect this to be the first year of a really good rivalry in about, oh, I dunno, 12 years.

I really hope that it's an exciting, back and forth kind of game- though naturally one that the Skins win by a touchdown or more...

[Brave]

Welcome Reality.

I wish I felt more confident about this game, but 6 years of futility have dimmed my outlook. Call it lingering Norvitis where the Cowboys are concerned. We never seem to match up well and we never seem as emotional as the Cowboys. I sincerely hope Gibbs can turn that around. Beating Dallas is the height of sports to me.

I'm thinking this will not be a high-scoring game, as both defenses appear to be better than the offenses. So, as usual, you will probably be able to look at the turnover stats to find the winner. Perhaps after last week, this could be an edge for the Skins. I'm sure they will be focusing on this all week.

Witten looks fantastic. Watched him against Cleveland and you're absolutely right ... great hands. Good TEs seem to have lots of success against the Skins, so I'll be watching out for him Monday Night.

Julius Jones. Hmmmmm. Bit of a shaky start from him. I saw him slip (untouched), drop a pass and fumble before getting injured. Not sure how much of a loss that is.

Good luck (not really ) and here's no both teams coming out as healthy as they go in.

[Blondie]

Welcome Reality.

(Now THAT sounds really funny!)

Living here in Dallas I have seen the games, preseason and now. I listen to "Tuna Talks" every night.

I agree that Rashard Lee and Whitten are the players to watch. Geroge really hasn't been much of an issue, has he?

Newman was much more aggressive in the game Sunday, and got burned, I think twice. But his aggressiveness also put him in place for interceptions. He can be a threat on both sides of the ball.

This should be a great MNF match up. One I think we can win.

We are going be the 12th man!

Blondie

[Aikmaniac]

I see Reality has made the trip over here also. You won't read any smack from us...just pure football discussion...X's and O's.

Eddie said he felt lost in the offense up until last week. I have a feeling he's starting to get in the groove. He's a 4th quarter back that needs many carries to be effective. Kinda like how Riggo/S. Davis/E. Byner used to be.

Yep, Julius is out for awhile. ReShard Lee's golden opportunity is at-hand so he's got to make the best of it. We'll see how he does with more carries.

Jason Witten is definitely coming along...quietly becoming one of the best TE's in the league. I believe Vinny will use him even more this season.

Glenn, Bryant, Keyshawn form a good trio of WRs...and they are all happy Vinny is at QB. Glenn has said that when Quincy was back there, they all knew who was getting the ball after the huddle broke. Now they all have to be ready.

Yes, I think the Cowboys will blitz...and blitz a lot Monday night. Zimmer has been moving Roy closer to the LOS to make some plays. He'll definitely be up there to help stop Portis.

[Dallsux]

I wonder if this has anything to do with that post about the Cowboys fans trying to "infest" FedEx & this is just the beginning. First, it's Extremeskins, next it's FedEx, then...Ugh, I don't even wanna think about it...:doh:

A reluctant welcome to you...:ahhhhh:

:wewantd: :dallasuck :dallasuck :dallasuck :wewantd: :dallasuck :dallasuck :dallasuck :wewantd:

[Riggo-toni]

Reality -

Great post - Please visit us more often.

Personally I think Ramsey gives us a better chance to win. Unlike Testaverde, Brunell has no arm left. He simply is unable to stretch defenses, which makes him a bad fit for Gibbs' offense.

The biggest deficiencies on the Skins side:

Mediocre at best coverage skills by our safeties. Sean Taylor may correct this weakness after he has a year under his belt, but neither Bowen nor Lott is particularly skilled in this regard. This will likely present problems for us going against Witten and your trio of WRs. I'm hoping we don't give up some long plays.

I'm guessing both teams are going to blitz heavily. Parcells will want to rattle Ramsey, and Greg Williams will want to get at Vinny before he can look downfield. I'd like to see us throw a few RB screens to counter this, but doubt it will happen.

[Guest Reality]

Originally posted by mark327

WELCOME Reality , to extremeskins,

i hope you don't mind if i run this analysis over to JG , i'm sure he could us these facts about your boys .

As long as you refer to me as "an anonymous insider" and gloat about "your source" never being wrong about anything. (A common tag line associated with all rumors posted on sports forums these days).

[Guest Reality]

Originally posted by The Rook

Reality - welcome aboard. I enjoyed your post and your serious discussion and evaluation of the Cowboys.

Thank you! I promise, win or lose, I usually remain objective in my observations.

Question - How often do you feel the Boys will blitz? (Over/under 50%). Watching Mark and Pat, they both seem to give up the ball when they get rattled.

Well, as a Cowboys' fan, it is hard to even remember the last time our front four defensive linemen put any type of consistent pressure on opposing team quarterbacks. You would probably have to go back to the Charles Haley era and even then, we had to pry him away from the 49ers. Greg Ellis and La'roi Glover are solid linemen that any team would love to have, but they need other linemen beside them that can beat one-on-one blocking since they regularly get double-teamed and unfortunately, the Cowboys haven't had it and still don't have it this year.

I wish I could say we would blitz a lot every game, at least run-blitzes. However, the Cowboys haven't done much of that the first two games (they did it more often against the Browns) because our defensive backs are young and the cornerbacks outside of Newman need safety help constantly. I agree that in the past, the Cowboys blitzed Ramsey a lot and once he made a mistake, his confidence seemed to go downhill quickly leading to more mistakes. However, I honestly think that had a lot more to do with coaching and playcalling than anything.

Spurrier was an ego-maniac (not meaning to offend anyone, but I've followed him for years at Florida) and that is why he failed miserably in the NFL. It is one thing to have the mindset that you won't let another team beat you, it is a completely different (and stupid) thing to say they won't beat you doing it the way you want to do it. Good coaches will adjust gameplans based on what the other teams are doing. For instance, I do expect the Cowboys to blitz more, primarily run-blitz against Ramsey on Monday night. However, Gibbs loves the outside runs and Portis definitely has the speed to round the corners.

Last year, when the Cowboys blitzed up the middle, Ramsey stayed in the pocket and tried to beat the one-on-one converage on his receivers using the fun-n-gun offense no matter how often it failed. This year, if Gibbs sees the Cowboys blitzing up the middle, I guarantee you he will call outside runs and gain some serious yardage. Again, it's all about taking what the defense will give you, not trying to prove to the world your preferred offensive style can beat anything thrown at it.

So, to answer your question, yes I do believe the Cowboys will blitz more than they have the first two games, but I don't believe it will be on every down. I would expect they will blitz when it is 3rd and 5 or longer. I also don't expect Gibbs will leave Ramsey to face the wolves (blitz) by making him stand in the pocket and pass every time they blitz. If Portis has one or two long runs when the Cowboys blitz, I can assure you the Cowboys will back way off of the blitz. Again, the Cowboys play a bend, don't break style of defense and if they get burned one or two times, they get way more conservative.

-Reality

Isn't Reality funny?