The Morning After the Morning After

I realize I am in the minority when I tell you that I still think the Cowboys can accomplish their missions despite losing 2 of their first 4 games. I still think that Drew Bledsoe can get them there. (and no, it has nothing to do with us having a radio show with the guy. Frankly, if you follow my thoughts on this team over the years, you know that I did not want to see Clint Stoerner when many of you did; I did not call for Drew Henson, Chad Hutchinson, and now, Tony Romo. In this city, we look for the next pretty girl. And right now, that is Tony Romo – a guy who has never thrown an official pass in pro football. I will stick with Bledsoe until further notice – much like I did last year when we did not have a radio show with him.)

And to all of you that dream of Romo being another Tom Brady, let's not forget one thing: The Patriots did not put Brady in because they thought he was better than Bledsoe. They put him out there because of INJURY. They had no choice. They would never have put him in there based on a wild assumption that despite the fact that 200 teams passed on him in the draft he was better than a QB that was in the Pro Bowl 4 times for them. The Patriots found him like you might find a $20 in your jeans that just came out of the dryer - dumb luck. It worked well, but to try to re-create dumb luck is impossible.

But, having said all of that, I do think you should coach the Cowboys with certain things in mind when you play a team like Philadelphia with a QB like Drew:

Protect the QB! Why would they go empty backfield so often? Philadelphia rightfully blitzed on this situations and generally whipped the Offensive Line by outnumbering them. On many plays, I wish they would have stayed in “Max Protect” and just had Glenn and Owens in routes. But, they decided to keep 5 in routes and their QB got killed.

Shotgun – I know the Burger King picked him off when he was in the shotgun, but I believe that Bledsoe would benefit from that extra second if you start him back there on passing/blitzing situations.

Run the Ball – I am not sure the Eagles ever slowed down the Cowboys running attack. But the Cowboys stopped forcing the run and I think that allowed the Eagles to pin their ears back.

Work the ball to Owens – I surely thought a 3 yard slant to Owens in the first possession or two would have got him into the game and more importantly showed the Eagles that they need to focus on #81 more than they thought. But, the Cowboys acted like they were freezing him out until the 4th Quarter.

How they were shocked by the Eagles ability to kill the QB has me wondering what the Cowboys coaches were thinking. The QB was awful and the OL was poor, but let’s not excuse the coaching staff with a puzzling game plan on Sunday.

Lebreton looks at the QB situation …

After watching his starting quarterback, however, again shoot himself -- and the Cowboys -- in their collective posteriors Sunday in Philadelphia, Parcells seems to have at least a transcendental moment in mind.

The team's "Things to Do" list, after all, is short.

"We absolutely have to make protecting the football our No. 1 priority," Parcells said.

"We're doing everything else."

Parcells went down the checklist. Scoring points, check. Rushing the football, just fine. Winning the time of possession battle, usually. Converting third downs, absolutely.

But the Cowboys have won only two of four games this season, Judge Bill seemed to be saying, mostly because their starting quarterback has gift-wrapped two defeats.
It was Blame Day at Valley Ranch, less than 24 hours after the Philadelphia Eagles had swarmed and plucked the Cowboys 38-24. Parcells often takes a vaguely judicious stance after defeats, but this time he played along.

Rookie safety Pat Watkins. Punter Mat McBriar. Quarterback Bledsoe. And at least two members of the offensive line who didn't have a clue where the Eagles were coming from.

"Look it," Parcells said, fielding a question about Sunday's defense, "last night was one player."

He was talking about Watkins, who was spotted in the vicinity of three Eagles passes that totaled 187 yards.

Any advice for Watkins, the coach was asked?

Parcells slowly shook his head and said, simply, "He needs to get it going."
The candor was refreshing, if nothing else. Parcells also seemed to be trying to throw offensive tackle Flozell Adams under the proverbial bus, but in keeping with Sunday's theme, the bus breezed right past Flozell's right hip.

And without using the word "Bledsoe" two dozen times, Parcells made it clear, as he said above, that the offense (read: the quarterback) has to take much better care of the football.

Don't criticize the coach on this one. He has coddled his veteran quarterback, and he now has challenged him.

Spare me the Tony Romo e-mail, please. If Romo had been the quarterback against that Philly defense Sunday, there would have been carnage.

Parcells knows what he has. If he thought that starting Romo gave the Cowboys their best chance of winning this season, he would be starting Romo.

On the other hand, it wouldn't be a reach to speculate that Parcells' confidence in Bledsoe is waning. Bledsoe can either rise to the occasion and not throw away the football over these next five or six weeks, or he can watch from the sideline.

Parcells seems to be telling us that.

Peter King offers some thoughts on Owens …

When Owens came back from his hospital visit 12 days ago, and once the Cowboys found out he was OK, two of the players lay down in the locker room, imitating being in a coma. My interpretation of this boys-will-be-boys scene is that his Dallas teammates will give him more tough love than he's gotten elsewhere.

And I don't think they will give him a pass on his behavior as his enablers will. His media houseman, Sanders, was stoking the fire late Sunday night on NFL Network, blaming Bledsoe for not getting Owens the ball earlier and more often in the game. "Coach Parcells holds everyone accountable but his quarterback,'' Sanders said on TV.

That was one idiotic statement by Sanders. I wonder if he watched the game. I know he hasn't seen much Parcells-Bledsoe interaction. Parcells doesn't hold Bledsoe accountable? Ha! Sanders has never heard the reamings Bledsoe's taken from Parcells on the practice field or in games, apparently -- some within earshot of the media. In training camp one day, Parcells stopped practice and screamed at Bledsoe, "I NEED A COMMANDER OUT HERE!'' This T.O. mess has nothing to do with Parcells not holding Bledsoe accountable, because he certainly does.

Deion has said some foolish things over the years -- in fact, he set the all-time NFL record for dumb pregame-show statements at CBS -- but blaming Bledsoe for not trying to get the ball to Owens is a classic. Let's analyze Bledsoe's day, and let's count, according to the official NFL play-by-play, how many balls were thrown to Owens and the other stud receiver, Terry Glenn -- who, by the way, led the NFL in average yards per catch last year and is Bledsoe's favorite receiver ever.

Total pass plays: 49. (Bledsoe threw 37 passes to receivers, had one intentional-grounding for his 38th attempt, was sacked seven times and scrambled four times when flushed out of the pocket. Another rushing attempt was a quarterback sneak for a first down.)

Now let's see how those 37 throws were distributed.

Owens: 13. Glenn: 8. Jason Witten: 5. Marion Barber: 4. Patrick Crayton: 3. Julius Jones: 2. Anthony Fasano: 1. Lousaka Polite: 1

If you watched the game, you saw that Bledsoe rarely had a moment's peace. The pocket was in disarray all afternoon. When Owens watches tape of the game (I'd recommend the same to Mr. Football, Sanders), he'll see what he couldn't see when the ball was coming out so inaccurately. He'll see that Bledsoe never had a chance. This is certainly no time to blame Bledsoe for anything other than playing a lousy game -- quasi-heroically, I thought -- while running for his life for three hours and 24 minutes.

JJ Taylor tells us the Cowboys are not for real …

Maybe the Cowboys will win enough games to sneak into the playoffs for the first time since 2003. Maybe they'll even win a postseason game for the first time since the 1996 season, ending the longest drought in franchise history.

But they're not going to play in Super Bowl XLI, which means they're not a contender.

Contenders don't allow seven sacks in a game. Contenders don't give up three completions of 40 yards or more. Contenders don't have a quarterback who throws three of the ugliest interceptions in recorded history.

Contenders don't commit five turnovers. Contenders don't have their punter drop a snap. Contenders don't give up an 87-yard touchdown when the coach says the defensive coordinator called a perfect play.

Contenders don't have an offensive line that remains consistently inconsistent. Contenders don't have a quarterback controversy every other week. Contenders don't turn a five-time Pro Bowl receiver into a role player.

Parcells wants you to know that losing to Philadelphia doesn't mean the season is over. The players concur. Cowboys optimists will tell you only a really good team could make as many mistakes as Dallas made and have an opportunity to tie the score in the final minute.

Whatever.

A contender wins the games it's supposed to win, even if they're not aesthetically
pleasing, and figures out a way to win a game or two it has no business winning. The Cowboys have won the two games they should have won, but they found creative ways to lose at Jacksonville and Philadelphia.

Uncle Barky on the sale of youtube …

Spurrier pulls a jerk move …
Letters, oh I get letters….

===

While there is plenty of blame to go around, I put this loss squarely on the Cows defense. When you consider all of the 'top talent' on the Dallas D,the spare-ness of the Eagles receivers, to give up this many big plays, shouldn;t happen. Spare Jack-town recievers exposed our secondary and eagles took advantage. What is INDY going to do to us?

Scoring Drives

Eagles:
1. 2 plays (12 yds) 36 secs
2. 4 plays (5 yds) 1:10
3. 4 plays (61 yds) 1:17
4. 1 play (87 yds) 14 secs
5. 4 plays (76 yds) 2:01

15 plays to cover 241 yds to score 31 pts

Avg Scoring Drive: 3 plays, 1:04

Cows:
1. 10 plays (57 yds) 5:48
2. 12 plays (75 yds) 5:50
3. 11 plays (57 yds) 3:53

33 plays to cover 189 yds and score 17 pts

Avg. Scoring Drive: 11 plays, 5:11

On positive side, with 6 turnovers, we should have been blown out and we still had chance to send it to O.T. at the end...

Willy
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Hey BaD radio. Don't know if you'll get this email in enough time to comment on it but I wanted to get your opinion on Bledsoe's comments. I remember during the week Bledsoe saying that he almost dared the Eagles to blitz because if they did he would pick their secondary apart. Well they blitzed. What happened? I'm not saying they need to replace Bledsoe but maybe you should watch what you say.

Scott
P1
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Hi guys,

The cowboys had the chance and one QB executed over the other. Meaning Mc Nabb over Bledsoe. The fact is I am not trying to say put Romo in, but what I am saying is if one player any player is not performing then you must try something else. That was a horrible performance on Bledsoe’s fault. Bottom line he sucked and he did not show me any resolve or fire to get his team going. He must make decisions with authority and find the open receiver. They had their chance to win, and yes other people did make mistakes, but they were in the game. Who is the football team built around, Bledsoe or Roy Williams. That is my point someone has to take the blame, maybe the players, maybe the passing game coordinators, maybe the head coach. I do know that Eli Manning was in the same position as Bledsoe and Manning performed when the Giants played in Philly and the game was up for reach. Manning made the pass and not the INT. Bledsoe did not make the pass and he did make the INT. (2 INT in the last part of the game.)

Ryan
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Sturminator-

I don't know where you stand…but seriously…

Don't people realize how freakin lost Romo would've been against those blitzes yesterday? Why don't people step back and think, "hmmm…maybe they should've thought about the shotgun." I am not defending Bledsoe's play, because he didn't play good…but I don't think he lost the game either. What about a rookie safety that got beat twice? Or seeing once again that Roy Williams isn't that great in coverage and his angles of approach? Or dropped passes? Or terrible route running on some plays?

Or an o-line…specifically Flozell…that got beat a whole freakin lot.
QB controversies give me such tired head.
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I think that if Romo was in there yesterday he would’ve been ruined for his career. He would have been completely out classed. Bledsoe got worse as the game went on, because the Eagles knocked the ever-loving begeebes out of him.

Romo would’ve been scared and running for his life. After that kind of experience,
he might have been gunshy for the rest of his career.

Cowboys still had a chance to win yesterday with the entire team eating the monkey. With Romo, they wouldn’t have had a chance. It would’ve been the blow-out it should’ve been

Anyone get over on Lee Corso this week?

BRIAN MATTINGLY

Brilliant Trick play from Arkansas - :50



Who thought Pole Dancing could be on Bob’s Blog? - :19



Snoop from the Wire – Guy or Girl? 3:02 (language warning)