Monday, December 11, 2006

Saints 42, Cowboys 17 (8-5)

Ouch.

Well, that will bring us all (including our young QB) back to earth. Ouch. 42-17 at home, to a team that seems pretty good, but not great. But the Cowboys made them look invincible with that horrendous concoction of turnovers, bad tackling, and poor QB play.

Poor QB play? Yes. I said it. I think we all said it. He looked very poor. Now, this is what we expected 6 weeks ago from a guy playing his first games in the NFL. How does he respond next week in Atlanta? Cannot wait to find out. Here are as many notes that I can offer you on a day where my life-force is a bit low.

• Well, now this is a fine mess we have found ourselves in. Did we forget that the NFL season is a roller coaster? Haven’t we seen how you can go from the outhouse to the penthouse already this season? So, surely, we cannot be surprised when the opposite threatens to happen. Here is some horrible reality for you: Lose to Atlanta on Saturday, and by Sunday night you are no longer in first place in your own division. The Giants and Eagles play on Sunday, and someone is going to win. If it is the Giants, they have the tie-breakers. If it is the Eagles, it will set up an amazing Christmas Day match-up between Tony Romo and Jeff Garcia Tell me if you saw that in your crystal ball!

• Was there any point in the game when the defense looked close to having control of the play? It really looked like every play Drew Brees was going to have at least one player running totally free and the chains would keep moving and the scoreboard would keep adding up the points.

• Every week, especially following wins, I get emails from two groups of people. The Roy Williams faction and the Terrell Owens faction. Both of these groups tell me that I am too hard on their favorite players for constantly harping on Roy’s complete an utter inability to pass defend in space and for Terrell’s ability to drop passes that should be caught in the NFL. So, with that in mind, I won’t mention that once again Roy and Terrell’s weaknesses were exposed for all the world to see.

• Rowdy tried to jaw with Mike McKenzie. I am not kidding. And, McKenzie fell for it and starting jawing back. It was impossible to determine which one would be a more suitable partner for a game of Scrabble.

• Billy Cundiff is running up the score with a nice onside kick? Can anyone run up the score in the 3rd quarter of a game in the NFL?

• Reason #285 that I will never gamble on football: After seeing the Saints-Cowboys in the preseason, I would have never, ever gambled that the Saints would win 8 games all year. They are now 9-4. It is amazing. Sean Payton is doing such a great job. And honestly, I wonder if the Cowboys utilized any of his talents while he was here. We always heard about the play calling responsibilities being held by Bill Parcells. Well, the Payton offense all season makes you wonder if he is an offensive genius. That was impressive use of Mike Carney.

• I told you before, and I will tell you again; Live by the gunslinger and die by the gunslinger. It happens, bro. Romo could and should have had 5 INTs. It happens to all of them.

• Nice screen pass to Bush, eh? Reggie Bush and Vince Young are 10 times the players that Mario Williams could ever hope to be. The Houston Texans ought to apologize every day for screwing up the 2006 draft. They will be feeling the effects of that for about another 12 years, I would think.

• Nice pass rush. Not. The Cowboys cannot get to the QB with any regularity. That will get you killed quickly in the playoffs.

• Martin Gramatica missed a crucial QB in Vanderjagt fashion. Don’t think we have heard the end of kicker controversy in 2006.

• The Cowboys gave up on the run way too early. That has to be a record for a team that springs a 77 yard Touchdown run, then completely abandons the running game altogether.

• Drew Brees for MVP? I think I would go with LT out in SD, but Brees sure made a nice case in a game where he had to use Mike Carney and Jamal Jones. I cannot believe that without Joe Horn they walked in here and scored at will. But it happened.

• Meanwhile, the Dallas offense could not sustain a drive. They couldn’t move the chains despite playing against the only team in football history (ok, maybe not) with 3 white linebackers. I am not sure how that is relevant, but, it sure would be nice to see you test your former backup linebackers by exposing their weaknesses in such a way that they exposed your former backup QB.

• I guess I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that the Cowboys horribly wet the bed. Now, they trail New Orleans by one game and do not have the tiebreaker. Therefore, they have virtually blown any chance of a bye week. And, by Sunday, they could be back in as a wildcard. It has been a pretty pleasant 6 weeks around here, but now we are going to see what these boys can do when hit in the mouth with a knuckle sandwich. A very dangerous Atlanta Falcons squad lies in wait for Saturday.

6 comments:

Flaco said...

I think that phrase "wet the bed" was well used.

CFB123 said...

I'm glad you mentioned it Bob, because the only thing worse this morning could be the life of a Houston Texans fan.

Vince Young is going to haunt that franchise for at least a decade, and both Gary Kubiak and Charlie Casserly should be hunt down and shot for their absolute total lack of football acumen.

What they did by taking Mario Williams over both Young and Bush almost makes what the Packers did in the 1989 draft look acceptable.

Flaco said...

Plenty of ESPN analysts, and homers here in the metroplex have done plenty of musing about the Cowboys being the best team in the NFC, or the 2nd best. They were perfectly justified in saying that.

And if you call the New Orleans offense anything but "great" you need to watch the game again.

Darling Daughters said...

So, can we now admit that perhaps Plaxico Burress was correct in his assessment of TO? The guy's a loudmouth (like most WR's), but TO has dodged more contact this season that Todd Pinkston.

He can be greatness, but he needs to stop focusing on the footsteps.

Andy Douthitt said...

Cowboy game tidbits:

Outcoached-- Payton's gameplan worked in every way possible. It got to a point where I thought they would score everytime they touched the ball. Did they punt more than once in the second half?

QB-- Brees is just a stud. Because he was in the AFC, I never watched him consistently but after last night, is their anyone that puts up 300+ yards more easily than this guy? Great pickup for them and a top 3 QB in this league.. and a good all around dude.

Defense-- Wow. Dominated in all phases of the game. Why is this unit so up and down? Once again, the middle of the medium to deep part of the field behind the linebackers is a free for all. You could make out with a chick in that part of the field and no one would know your there. Trade possiblities in the offseason need to be looked at for this poor excuse for secondary play.

Big picture-- A win next weekend keeps this season on a good vibe. Beat Atlanta and this goes away.

Romo had a bit of a doo doo effort, but there is no time to talk S---- about him. Pick up the pieces. later

Chance said...

I gotta tell you Sturm..from thebroadcast booth in Houston yesterday...that was hilarious. It was surreal. Oh an incidentally...VY Called it on our air last year on January 11th.
http://chance.mcclain.googlepages.com/lancevinceproject.mp3