Tennessee @ Dallas - Pre Season Game 2

You couldn't ask for a better game to open up the new Cowboys Stadium. There was dominance on offense & defense, great plays from starters & rookies, a punt hit the video screen and there was a safety... good times.

Friday night was the inaugural game for Dallas in the newly constructed (and $1.2 billion dollar) Cowboys Stadium against The Tennessee Titans. A preseason game, it's true, but a great start to the new era in a new stadium.

The 30-10 win was much deserved and made evident that the team has definitely improved since last week's loss to The Raiders. It seemed like everybody on offense got their hands on the ball at some point, and the defense was a little tighter than last week (especially the cornerbacks, but keep in mind T-New and Mike Jenkins didn't play against Oakland.)

Romo went 18 for 24 and 192 yards, although there weren't any of his usual bombs, there isn't a T.O. to go out and get them, so I understand. He didn't have a touchdown pass, but was impressive as usual, most notably driving the team 79 yards in 6 plays with only :58 seconds left in the first half. That's what we expect of Romo and he delivered as usual.

The running backs were stiffled a bit, but that's no reason whatsoever to lose confidence in any of them... even Keon Lattimore made an impression (albeit against a 3rd string defense.) Felix Jones turned heads after turning a screen pass into a 42 yard gain. Barber's longest run was for 8, but he fought for yards when it counted and he has the distinction of driving home the first touchdown in Cowboys Stadium history.

Pretty much all the receivers got their hands on the ball and in my opinion the sweetest catch was Sam Hurd's 17 yard spinning grab, followed closely by Kevin Ogletree's one handed grab of a fade in the end zone. 4th and Long star Jesse Holly even got lucky when an almost intercepted pass bounced off a teammate's helmet and landed in his hands.

The tight-ends made some great plays too, led by Jason Witten, the pro and Martellus Bennett, the beast (Beans & Rice.) Bennett led the team in receiving yards with 65 and Witten racked up 46. 3rd string hopeful, Rodney Hannah also brought in the final touchdown of the game on a 22 yard pass from Stephen McGee.

As good as the offense is, it still seems the defense is the strongest aspect of this team (not even going to mention Special Teams because they need too much work!)

Tennesse's offense, who ran all over the place last season with Chris Johnson and Lendale White, couldn't move the ball at all and didn't even have a first down going into the 2nd quarter. Steve Octavian deflected a pass that Stephen Hodge picked off, and Jason Williams got to the QB in the end zone which resulted in a safety. Mike Jenkins made a great case for a starting spot and Sensabaugh showed some good, and some bad, but still a huge improvement over Roy Williams.

30-10 is a good feeling... it was a good showing to open the new stadium and besides a minor Mike Jenkins ankle problem and a Brandon Williams knee sprain, no one was injured. Things are looking good, but amid the celebration is reason for concern.

Penalties...Penalties...Penalties... This has got to stop... more false starts than I can count, holding penalties, an offsides, ect...ect... This has just got to stop... This team could have blanked the Titans if not for a few crucial and foolish penalties. Even the ref got sick of it, announcing a false start as ,"movement by everyone but the center"... which tells me that Cory Proctor is not the guy to play center.

Another little problem is Nick Folk's missed kick. He went from, 'Ice Water' to 'Mudslide.' I don't know if it's a mental thing because the Cowboys brought in David Buehler for kickoffs, but I'm just not used to Folk missing kicks. In all fairness a 46 yarder isn't a sure thing, but this is the dude who had to kick two 53 yard field goals back to back, to win against Buffalo on that spectatular Monday Night Game.

All in all, I'm more excited than ever about the season kicking off... last week gave me a little uneasy feeling, but this game reminded me of what this team can do and reassured all my doubts. Let's Go Cowboys!!

Next week Dallas hosts San Fransisco and for the last preseason game they head up to Minnesota.

Welcome Home...

Tonight is the night... although it is only a preseason game, the new Cowboys stadium will be unveiled in front of a national audience on FOX at 8:00 p.m. (ET). The official season opener at the new stadium (September 20th vs. The Giants) will probably be an even bigger celebration of the facility, but tonight is 'technically' the Grand Opening and fans are beyond exuberant to get a peak. The only thing we can hope for is that The Cowboys keep it exciting and pull off a victory (again, it's preseason, so it doesn't matter that much, but it would be nice.) *photo stolen from Derek Eagleton, beat writer at DallasCowboys.com*

Dallas @ Oakland - Pre Season Game 1

As far as Dallas' first preseason game, there was really only one drive that is worth mentioning from the dismal 31-10 loss to Oakland. The rest of the game looked like a lopsided high school match-up.

The first series was definitely not what The Cowboys had in mind to kick off the new season. They won the coin-toss and opted to receive, unfortunately, a holding penalty forced the 'Boys to start the drive inside their own 10 yard line. To add a little insult to injury, the first play from scrimmage was a pass that got deflected by none other than recently released DE Greg Ellis... it looked like it was about to be picked off in the end zone too. Needless to say, they went 3 and out.

The starting defense struggled a bit as well, allowing a huge gain due to pass interference penalty by newly acquired saftey Gerald Sensabaugh. Luckily the Raiders were held to only a field goal.

The next drive for the Dallas offense was pure beauty. Isaiah Stanback returned the kickoff for 27 yards, Romo passed to Martellus Bennett, who stampeded over defenders for 7 yards, Barber went up the middle for 8 yards, Roy Williams caught a pass for 12 yards, Felix Jones tap-danced for a 14 yard run, Crayton took an end-around for 12 yards, Felix Jones got a screen pass for 9 yards, Barber rushed for 3 yards... and although the next play was brought back due to another holding penalty, it couldn't stop the good ol' Romo/Witten connection as Witten grabbed the pass in the end zone for a Touchdown.

The remainder of the game was not as eventful, and although I watched until the clock struck 00:00, I'm not going to go into depth about 4th string linebackers and reality show winners, so in closing, there was one really good drive and that's about it. Next week should be more exciting as Dallas hosts Tennessee for the very first game in their newly built stadium. I would imagine that the starters may play a bit longer, if only to get a feel for the new stadium, and although Tennessee is not a team to write-off at all, let's hope Dallas can grab a 'W', if only to get a little pride. Texas Stadium closed with an embarrassing loss, hopefully Cowboys Stadium will open with a bang and turn their luck around.

Training Camp Update 1

Training Camp is about 5 days deep and so far, things are going smooth... for the most part.

The playbook has apparently been revamped with a variety of new plays, formations and schemes, most notably the Wildcat... err, I mean the Razorback formation. As every other team in the league seems to be jumping on the Wildcat bandwagon, why not the Cowboys too. There's definitely a place for it, or at least to practice against it.

Also being utilized more are 2 tight end sets and 2 running back sets. The pure overall athleticism of second year TE Martellus Bennett has forced the coaches to get him on the field with pro-bowler Jason Witten, as much as possible. The same can be said for all three running backs, Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice... Smash, Dash and Tash will be a big part of this season's success.

The defense has been the true star of practice. Demarcus Ware is doing great as expected, and newcomers Gerald Sensabaugh and Igor Olshansky (sp) are preforming well... so is Bobby Carpenter, actually. Cornerbacks Orlando Scandrick and Mike Jenkins are also doing great, and it's anyone's guess as to which will receive the starting #2 CB spot.

The offense has been a little slow out of the gate, but is in position to make great strides. The Tony Romo/Roy Williams connection could use some work, but there's plenty of time. It seems that Kitna has been connecting better with Williams than Romo, but of course, they do have years of history in Detroit, so that isn't saying too much.

There have been a few hiccups that include rookie Robert Brewster missing the whole season with a pectoral injury. Also troubling is WR/QB Isaiah Stanback, who hasn't lived up to his potential since he was drafted and now he faces a strained hamstring and already missed a couple days of practice. If Stanback can't step it up and make an impact and/or stay away from injuries, I doubt he will make the 53.

Overall though, things are looking great for Dallas in '09 and since they aren't loaded with pressure from being touted in the media as sure-things to reach the Super Bowl, they are in a good position to come out from underdog status and prove a lot of doubters wrong. Hopefully.

P.S. 4th and Long winner, WR Jesse Holley is doing pretty well in camp. He has a very slim chance of actually making the team, but if players like Stanback are forced out from injury, he may actually have a shot. I'd still bet that the furthest he gets is the practice squad, but we shall see... in this league, you never know what you're gonna get.