Dallas Cowboys

All posts tagged Dallas Cowboys

WK17: COWBOYS

Posted by The BEAST on 2017/01/02
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Offense, Players, Reviews, Rivals, stats, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . 2 Comments

 

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EAGLES 27 – Cowboys 13

WITH nothing left to play for in the regular season, the Dallas Cowboys treated the game like a preseason exercise. They played all three of their QB’s, and sat RB Ezekiel Elliott to keep him from getting hurt for no damned reason whatsoever. QB Tony Romo (remember him?) threw the Cowboys only TD on the day.

HEY! Speaking of throwing touchdowns, Carson Wentz (27/43 – 62.7% – 245 – 2 – 0) threw 2 scores, without throwing any picks in this game, bringing his rookie totals to 16 TD and 14 picks. Speaking of picks, Jordan “Cowboy Killer” Hicks (5 – 0 – 2 – 0) grabbed two of those tasty treats, and did his part to kill the Cowboys once again.

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While all the talk on Offense will likely be about Wentz or TE Zach Ertz (13 – 139 – 10.6 – 2), the guy who really caught my eye was 6’1, 240lb RB Terrell Watson (9 – 28 – 3.1 – 1 – 0). The young man was signed off the street this week, but he brought a passion and energy, that I hope the coaching staff doesn’t let get away. Even when he was running outside, there was a physicality to his running that the Eagles have lacked since Correll Buckhalter last played here in 2008. What I liked the most however, was how after his TD run, while on the sideline, he went to each O-lineman and thanked them for their blocking. There was no “treating it like a business”. He just looked like a guy enjoying the game. That sort of thing can be infectious when there’s something to play for. I hope to see him back here next season.

The pass rush was there in this game. Given that DT Bennie Logan (1 – 0 – 0 – 0) is a Free Agent after this season, I found it interesting that A) DT’s Beau Allen (2 – 0 – 0 – 0) and Destiny Vaeao (2 – 0 – 0 – 0) got to play as much as they did, and B) that our Defensive Front still handled business against “the best offensive line in the entire-” (insert slurping noises from commentators). The only weak link in the Defense were our CB’s, specifically Nolan Carroll (4 – 0 – 0 – 1), whom the rusty Romo beat for an easy TD pass to WR Terrance Williams.

Did you notice?

The Eagles yet again desperately tried to give RB Byron Marshall (10 – 42 – 4.2 – 0) every opportunity they could give him, to show that he can take over RB Darren Sproles (9 – 32 – 3.5 – 0) role next year. So far the rookie simply hasn’t shown the potential.

FOUR THINGS REVIEWED: COWBOYS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/10/31
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, Four Things, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Reviews, Rivals. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

 

THIS game could have been a turning point for this franchise. By itself it would have been just a win for a fluid first place spot. However, paired with beating a formerly undefeated team, a road win to take over first place would be impossible to ignore by either the national media or the Eagles Front Office. (More on that in an upcoming article.)

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Last night’s 23 – 29 overtime loss to Dallas was a back and forth struggle, complete with lead changes, and a sudden end on a touchdown in overtime. If this shocked you or surprised you in any way, welcome to rivalry games in the NFC East.

Aside from our Defense holding Dallas to 4/14 on third down, there wasn’t a whole lot to write home about in this game. With the way plays were called on Offense, it felt like we had more of a hand in our loss, than the Cowboys could have hoped to have.

You’d think on a night when the Defense was getting the opponent off the field, that 74.4% passing accuracy and averaging 4.0 yards per run would be enough to win a ball game. You’d think that until you noticed the 4.6 yards per pass attempt/6.3 yards per completion that we floated out there.

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But what about the stuff that the stats don’t reveal? That’s the reason for these “Four Things” articles. To have an idea of what needs addressing BEFORE the game, so that we’re forced to honestly answer questions AFTER the game.

So, of the Four Things we were looking for in this last game, what exactly did we see?

1) Hit the QB. We sacked QB Dak Prescott twice and hit him six times. Not the brutal beating I was hoping for, but the pressure was enough to unsettle him and make him not resemble the phenom that everyone wants to make him out to be. DONE

2) Lock down the run. The Cowboys went into last nights game averaging 161 rushing yards per game. Because of the 187 we allowed that average is now higher. Our DE’s DID NOT keep contain, and too often our DT’s allowed themselves to be washed down the line, which allowed Dallas’s straight line runners to pick up easy yards up the gut. NOT DONE

3) Settle the hash. TE Zach Ertz caught 4 balls for 19 yards but at no point was he really working the middle. I was glad to see a few Slant routes, but more has to be done to clear out space over the top, so our receivers can get the actual YAC (yards after catch) that the West Coast Offense thrives on. As for this game…NOT DONE

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4) Run the ball. A LOT. 24 rushes to 43 pass attempts. Our leading rusher was RB Darren Sproles with 15 carries. Not exactly a “wear you down and work the clock” approach. RB Ryan Mathews was allowed to play for about 25 footsteps, during which time he scored on a 1 yard touchdown run. After that, he was placed back in Witness Protection. NOT DONE

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This week’s score is a pathetic 1 out of 4. I say ‘pathetic’ because everything here is fundamental football. Our coaching staff is so in love with trying to show how smart they are, that they don’t prioritize the things that make teams successful over the long run. The good news? Next week we get a New York giants team that operates pretty much the same way.

WK8: COWBOYS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/10/31
Posted in: Coaching, Defense, NFL, Offense, Players, Rivals. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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EAGLES 23 – Cowboys 29 OT

IT was your typical Eagles/Cowboys game. It went back and forth of course. We were down (3 -10), then they were down (23 – 13), then we wouldn’t knock off the fucking Screen passes, fumbled the ball… Just generally played without an edge on Offense. So basically, the Eagles gave away this game.

QB Carson Wentz (32/43 – 74.4% – 202 – 1 – 0) was his usual poised self out there, as he directed a bland Offense. Statistically his game looks fine, but if you watched him in action, you had to be left wanting more. RB Darren Sproles (15 – 86 – 5.7 – 0 – 0) for some reason got about 2/3 of the Eagles carries. The most telling stat of the night belonged to WR Jordan Matthews (11 – 65 – 5.9 – 1), as his receiving stats looked more like rushing stats. The ball simply did not get downfield enough in this game. (As in others)

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Except for Jordan “Cowboy Killer” Hicks (4 – 0 – 1 – 0) picking off a pass in the end zone to kill a drive, there weren’t many standout moments in this game for this unit. The 187 rushing yards we surrendered were a sure sign that we were missing DT Bennie Logan this week. Also it seemed the only way for us to get pressure, was to blitz.

Did you notice?

A rare moment of aggression from Doug Pederson, when he called the same WR pass that Dallas tried to run against us. Doug seems to be a good tactician, but ballsy he is not. It was good to see him “man up” for a change.

WK8: COWBOYS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/10/29
Posted in: Coaching, Conversations, Defense, NFL, Offense, Players, Preview, Roster, Special Teams. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

 

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Dallas Cowboys

Sunday 8:30        AT&T Stadium, Arlington TX

NEEDS TO STEP UP:

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DT Beau Allen: DT Fletcher Cox already draws a great deal of attention from interior offensive linemen. With DT Bennie Logan being out again this week, we’ll need the Beau Allen we saw flashes of in the preseason. Getting off one-on-one blocks, taking away the cutback lane, and keeping bodies off of MLB Jordan Hicks is what we need from him this week. Stats are nice, but better than him getting stats ,would be him helping limit the opponent from getting them. If we can keep Dallas to 80 yards on the ground, he d have had a great game. Even if he doesn’t record a single tackle.

WE MUST CONTAIN:

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RB Ezekiel Elliott: All the rage is about their rookie QB, but he’s only able to do what he does because he has the run game propping him up with 161 yards per game. Shutting down the run would force Dallas into being carried by their QB, and historically they don’t do well in that mode. Any time that team is worth a damn, the RB position is the engine that drives them. So let’s remove their engine.

EAGLES STORY LINE:

I doubt that we’ll get a kick return touchdown for a third week in a row. So that means after weeks of offensively fumbling about (sometimes literally), the Eagles have to get back on track offensively, in order to have a chance this week. Specifically with regard to our passing attack.

BOTTOM LINE:

The cold hard truth is, since the Bye we’ve been cold on the road. Until we prove otherwise, it’s BS to call us a favorite in any road game.

PREDICTION:

Eagles 21 – Cowboys 25

FOUR THINGS: EAGLES/COWBOYS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/10/27
Posted in: Coaching, Conspiracy Corner, Defense, Fans, Four Things, Front Office (F.O.), NFL, Offense, Players, Preview, Special Teams. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 3 Comments

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THIS is a mid-season battle for first place, on the road, against the team currently holding that top spot in the NFC East. The Eagles (and if they’re wise, the Cowboys) have to approach this game with a playoff mindset, because this game could be as close as the loser will get to postseason play this year.

Some of us fans have been discussing a growing gut feeling shared among fans about this game. That feeling is that if the Eagles win, the Front Office will let it ride and we’ll chase the division crown this year. However, if we lose the F.O. will focus on the re-tooling of the team. There’s no smoking gun in terms of evidence, but we fans have been talking.

Our Defense and Special Teams have kept us in the last two games, but that won’t be enough this week. Our Offense must show up again this week. We don’t need the Offense from Weeks 1 and 2. We need the Offense that has learned the lessons from Weeks 5, 6 and 7.

In those last 3 games, the Eagles have a Four Things score of 4 out of 12. We were 2/4 vs the Vikings; 2/4 vs the Redskins; and 0/4 vs the Lions. That sort of effort (Is that okay? Can we call that “effort”?), won’t be good enough this week.

So let’s talk about the Four Things we need to look for, Week 8 versus the Cowboys :

1) Hit the QB. Dak Prescott has only been sacked 9 times and hit 22. Only the Oakland Raiders boast better numbers those categories. At first it seems like Dallas’ offensive line is doing a great job. The reality is they haven’t faced many real pass rushing threats so far. It’s very easy to make good decisions as a QB with no one in your face. So we need to change that this week.

2) Lock down the run and crossing routes. We need our Front Seven to step it up this week. That means that our DE’s have to keep contain, and our DT’s have to keep MLB Jordan “Cowboy Killer” Hicks free to flow to the ball carrier vs the run, and drop into coverage to make plays like this:

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3) Settle the hash. Get the ball to TE Zach Ertz in the middle of the field. I’ve been saying this since The 12. This would open up the entire Offense and make life easier on QB Carson Wentz.

4) Run the ball. A LOT. RB Ryan Mathews has been effective when he gets the chance to carry the ball. But more than that, Dallas’ reliance on the run, means they need to win the time of possession. If we run the ball a lot and take time of possession from them, it forces them to have to rush things on offense.

We can win this game, but we have to take it, to do so. Dallas plays a style that is no nonsense at it’s core, despite the pansy-ish way they execute it. We won’t win this game by trying to be cute. We have to take it to them old school.

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ONCE UPON A TIME… (Cowboys)

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/08/16
Posted in: Crazy Talk, Rivals, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

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KIDS! Get your asses in here! I want to tell you a story about your heritage. Everyone sit down and Grandpa will tell you about how once upon a time, he became a Dallas Cowboys fan.

Did you know that Grandpa started out as a Redskins fan? It’s true! Born and raised right here in New York City. After many years I decided I needed a change. The year was 1993 and since the ‘skins didn’t make it to the Super Bowl, Grandpa decided to jump ship. Someone told me that the Dallas Cowboys were America’s Team, and I said “Okay then. If it’s good enough for Americans, then it’s good enough for me too.”

Right then and there I felt a change coming over me. I couldn’t stop saying words like “hater”, and “Jerrah”. I’d wake up at night screaming “Dez caught it!”, though I wouldn’t know why for 22 more years.

See these five metal washers on my fingers? These are Grandpa’s Super Bowl rings. All fans get them whenever we win a Super Bowl. And we have five rings. Five. We have five rings. Jerrah hasn’t sent mine yet, so I wear these as stand-ins. But any day now…

One day you’ll all be proud and loud Cowboys fans like your gramps here. You’ll make a trip to Dallas, and the Texas weather will try to murder you. You’ll take your jersey and have it autographed by your favorite player during visiting hours at the penitentiary. You’ll sit in the stadium that Jerrah built for Eli Manning to win in, and you’ll watch go-go dancers and cheerleaders distract you from what’s happening down on the field. Later you can reminisce about the 1990’s, and how swindling Minnesota made it possible for us to win three rings, even though Barry Switzer was legally retarded for one of ’em.

Ah yes…good times. Now all you ugly bastards get scarce! We just lost to the Rams and these excuses won’t create themselves.

WHY I WRITE ABOUT OUR RIVALS

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/06/20
Posted in: NFL, Rants, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

 

NFC EAST

GENERALLY I don’t. I only write about our rivals in as far as it pertains to the Eagles. I rarely ever mention our rivals in any stand-alone fashion. Could I write about them if I wanted to? Sure. Could it be meaningful content that even their fans may find interesting? Definitely.

Many Redskins fans may want to learn about the two things that keep their offense from being consistently explosive, regardless of who plays QB.

And of course some giants fans have noticed that their team is actually worse since Odell Beckham became a starter. They might like for someone to finally bring that up and discuss why it’s happening.

Cowboys fans may want to discuss why their team can’t seem to find a decent back-up QB, or why the team has a .479 winning percentage since Dez Bryant was drafted in 2010.

If I wanted, I could write about any of those things and even make fun of those situations. I keep a sharp eye on the NFC East, but I’m largely quiet about what I see. Mostly because none of those things have much direct bearing on the Eagles. I only mention our rivals as a backdrop. They are a circumstance. A bi-annual situation with a shelf-life of roughly seven days each time.

Yesterday’s article ‘WHY THE REDSKINS KEPT BEATING US’, was clearly (to anyone looking past the headline), written with a a focus on what the Eagles needed to improve. In that article I hardly mention the ‘skins at all. Why would I? They weren’t why we kept losing.

At one point this website did have a section devoted to all things NFC East.

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However, it didn’t draw enough readers to be worth the effort. However if my rivals truly want me to give the same detailed look at their teams as I do my own, I’m more than game! Then I can show you what it looks like when I really do have your team on my mind.

(Fair warning to Redskins fans: That glass house you live in, is far more delicate than you think. I assure you, you DON’T want me to hip you to the truth about your team. Especially if your tickets are non-refundable.)

AND THE WINNER IS…

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/06/06
Posted in: Conversations, Fans, poll, Rivals, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . 2 Comments

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YESTERDAY’S “Most Delusional Fan Base” poll, was won by the Dallas Cowboys in a landslide. Or more accurately, it was won by their fans. It wasn’t even close. Cowboys fans took more than half of the votes, with the next closest team (Redskins) only garnering 25%.

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This poll was placed on not just on this website, but also on Twitter, Google Plus and a number of trash talk groups on Facebook. Putting this in just Eagles groups would have been unfair and dishonest. It would have served as rigging the poll, and not given me the cross-section that I myself was curious about, when I came up with the idea.

Full disclosure, I voted for the Redskins. Their fall back to Earth this year is going to be epic, and I’m blown away that their fans are completely oblivious to it. Imagine if Thelma and Louise didn’t know that cliff was there. That’s what this is, and I can’t wait to watch it all unfold.

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I was pretty sure the giants would finish last. They’ve won Super Bowls in this millennium, but their fans have at least had the decency to shut the fuck up while their team wallows in mediocrity on a yearly basis now.

The fact that such a low percentage of fans picked Eagles fans as delusional surprised me frankly. I didn’t expect us to “win” this, but I expected more rivals would think we were nuts for believing in our team. This poll says that they don’t think our resurgence is such a crazy idea. Fellow Eagles fans, our rivals are watching us. And they are apparently very concerned with what they see.

The Cowboys getting so much of the vote was a stunner. Like many NFC East contests, I expected it to be close, but clearly the voters felt otherwise. To be fair though, the number of voters did not equal the number of readers; and this poll would likely have had more of both had I not released it on a Sunday.

Fact is, not only do division rivals read these articles, but even some AFC West, NFC West and NFC South fans make their way by here. (Thank you for your readership.) It makes me wonder how many of those fans also voted.

In any case, (barring a recount) we have our Champion. Dallas Cowboys Fans, you are the 2016 Most Delusional Fan Base of the NFC East.

MOST DELUSIONAL FAN BASE

Posted by The BEAST on 2016/06/05
Posted in: Conversations, Crazy Talk, Fans, NFL, Rivals. Tagged: , , , , . 1 Comment

NFC EAST

WHICH fan base in the NFC East is the most delusional about their team?

Is it Redskins fans for looking past this year’s schedule, expecting wins because the team was above .500 last season, and ignoring the fact that their QB can’t beat decent teams?

Is it Eagles fans, for thinking the team has a chance despite navigating a coaching regime change, a new Offensive AND Defensive system, and Sam Bradford as our starting QB?

Is it the giants fans for telling everyone that their QB is elite, saying that Josh Norman being a Redskin doesn’t matter, and not telling Cornelius Beckham that beards belong only on faces?

Is it Cowboys fans for trusting Jerry with another Draft, calling themselves America’s team despite 31 more fan bases, and saying “The quest for six” despite being one hit away from being a JV squad?

Vote in the poll to see which team has the most delusional fan base in the division.