Week 2 Recap : Dallas (7) @ Seattle (27)

Not much to say really... well, actually there's tons I could say, but there's not much I really want to say...

Dallas shit the bed majorly in this matchup... talk about bad luck when we go to Seattle (do I really have to remind you how Romo did when we last went to Seattle...)

Romo didn't do too much better this time around, although we certainly can't place the entire blame on him... we could also place blame on Felix Jones, Jason Witten, Dez Bryant, the Defense, the Offensive Line, Jason Garrett, Rob Ryan... it was bad all around...

Giving Seattle 10 points within the first 5 minutes of the game on two horrible Special Teams mistakes set the tone and Dallas could not recover from the blunders.

The rest of the game was pretty much torturous to watch with drop after drop and missed opportunity after missed opportunity...

I have been saying to justify to myself that I figured Dallas would be 1-1 at this point, but I thought the loss would have been to The Giants, certainly not Seattle... That's OK though... besides the fact the Eagles are 2-0, everyone else is 1-1 in our division and we hold 2nd place because we already beat NY so we're still doing pretty good in the division... well it is early though and anything could and will happen... so let's look ahead and not behind... we finally get to play at home next week, and host Tampa Bay... at team that we better not be looking past, because you see what happens when we do that...

Week 1 Recap : Dallas (24) @ NY Giants (17)

Set up to fail... Dallas was matched up against the defending Super-Bowl Champions, the New York football Giants, in New York (welllll... New Jersey,) and placed on a big national stage as the opening game of the 2012 NFL Season. So what happened...

Well Dallas didn't relent and call it quits, they didn't trip over their own feet, they saw the challenge placed before them and attacked it.

After a slow and scoreless first quarter, The Giants picked off a Tony Romo pass and almost ran it back for 6 points when Tyrone Smith decided a horsecollar tackle was better than a touchdown... and in this instance it was because The Giants could only manage a field goal.

Dallas' offense took the reigns and managed to send Kevin Ogletree (that's receiver # 3) into the end zone to catch a 10 yard pass and give Dallas the lead at 7-3. New York couldn't really overcome The Cowboys' defense for the rest of the game and while Dallas soared to 24 points to 10, The Giants got another late touchdown by none other than former Cowboy, Martellus Bennett, but Dallas' defense remained stout and kept Manning and company far from the end zone. The final score 24-17. Win number 1 for Dallas.

It's pretty obvious that the moves made in the off-season have paid off... the defense has been reworked and it is showing. Morris Claiborne and Brandon Carr have made this team a much better team and it will only get better. The defensive line held The Giants to just 82 total rushing yards and 187 passing.

And there was much jubilation....

Next week Dallas goes back on the road to the opposite coast and will face off against The Seattle Seahawks. There is a good chance that certain injuries will improve and Dallas will be ready to strike. Let's Go Cowboys...

Let the (preseason) Games Begin!

Tonight at 8pm kicks off Dallas Cowboys football with their first preseason game of the 2012 season, a trip to Oakland to face off against The Raiders.

As I always state, I have such a love/hate relationship with preseason games, I love that football is back on and it gives me something to watch, but it's preseason so it doesn't count for anything. Starters don't play much at all, and there is, of course, a risk for unneccessary injury.

All of that aside, I am still hype to see The 'Boys back on the field... well some of them... It seems as though for precautionary reasons they will be holding back Austin, Bryant and Mo Claiborne (and a few others,) due to injury. It will also be interesting to watch how they handle the center situation, which is severly hampered due to injury and there is barely any depth to work with.

I suppose that's all I really have to say so far... will update later, or tomorrow (or more likely, never,) with a breakdown of the game...

Updates... Training Camp Woes

I really need to update this thing more frequently because I missed a few fairly relevant news items... so I'll be brief, but Dez Bryant was recently arrested for battery... against his Mom, and it is still undecided if he will miss any game time or if Goodell will enforce any punishments. The charges were dropped and he is already attending training camp (and looking great so far, even though it's only been 2 days so far.)

Besides that, Training Camp did indeed begin this week, and it is hyping me up for the season, but worrisome injuries are already popping up... including the following:

CB; Mike Jenkins; Shoulder; Placed on PUP list
G; Mackenzy Bernadeau; Hip, Knee; Placed on PUP list
G/C; Kevin Kowalski; Ankle; Placed on PUP list
WR; Danny Coale; Foot; Placed on PUP list
S; Gerald Sensabaugh; Knee; Day-to-day
S; Matt Johnson; Hamstring; Day-to-day
NT; Jay Ratliff; Foot; Out indefinitely
G/C; Bill Nagy; Ankle; Out indefinitely

Also, Felix Jones, Brodney Pool and Andre Holmes were unable to practice because they all failed the conditioning test.

I have no doubt the pieces will fall into place and the injuries will heal up, but we are now (roughly) a month away from the start of the season, so it is crunch time to prepare, and with The Giants first on the schedule, we need to bring our A game, without question.

That's it for now... Will (try) to keep this updated throughout training camp and preseason.

Preseason Schedule

The preseason schedule has been finalized.


Mon., Aug. 13 @ Oakland 7:00 p.m.

Sat. Aug. 18 @ San Diego 8:00 p.m.

Sat. Aug. 25 vs ST. LOUIS 7:00 p.m.

Wed. Aug. 29 vs MIAMI 7:30 p.m.

That's pretty much it.


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Draft!!

Holy Cow, a lot has happened since I last posted on here, including but not limited to Dallas releasing Terence Newman, Bradie James and a few others, and also losing (to free agency) such players as Laurent Robinson and a couple other guys. They did acquire some help though, picking up the outstanding cornerback, Brandon Carr, from Kansas City, and also grabbing a few other players in free agency.

Yesterday was the start of the NFL Draft, and to everyone's surprise, Dallas traded up with St. Louis and went from the 14th overall pick to the 6th overall pick (giving up only a 2nd round pick.) It was a power move to grab the best cornerback in the 2012 draft, Morris Claiborne, which suddenly turns our mediocre (at best) secondary to one of the most dangerous secondaries in the league. Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne will be led by Rob Ryan and should provide a terrorizing threat to anyone trying to pass the ball. Although this means Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick have become expendable all of a sudden, they will still work nicely in certain packages.

The offense doesn't need much improvement, but I imagine they will try to grab at least a center, and maybe a fullback in the remainder of the draft... they will more than likely get a couple more defensive players, like a safety, possibly an ILB. Tonight will be rounds 2 and 3 of the draft, and Dallas won't be picking until somewhere around pick 86 since they gave up their 2nd rounder for Claiborne.

On a personal level, I am ecstatic about the acquisition of Morris Claiborne, and I am extremely happy for him because he was blindsided by this decision (in a good way.) Apparently his family is filled with Cowboys fans, and they never thought he would be picked up by Dallas. The main shocker in this choice was mostly because Claiborne was not approached at all by The Cowboys pre-draft, not even a phone call, and to suddenly be hunted by one of the greatest and most amazing franchises in the league, well, that would be enough to humble anyone.

I will do my best to update this post with the remaining draft picks and my thoughts about them... Go Cowboys!!

**FRIDAY UPDATE**

With the 81st overall pick (3rd round,) The Dallas Cowboys chose...  DE Tyrone Crawford from BSU, who will add another element for Rob Ryan to toy with as more depth is added to the defense.

Well that's it for tonight, tomorrow is the remainder of the draft and I will be back to keep you updated on all of the new Cowboys.

**SATURDAY UPDATE**

To quickly recap the remainder of draft picks (rounds 4-7)

Round 4 - 113th overall pick - LB Kyle Wilbur from Wake Forrest
Round 4 - 135th overall pick - SS Matt Johnson from Eastern Washington University
Round 5 - 152nd overall pick - WR Danny Coale from Virginia Tech
Round 6 - 186th overall pick - TE James Hanna from Oklahoma
Round 7 - 222nd overall pick - LB Caleb McSurdy from Montana
 

Peyton Manning

Not too much news in the NFL in this off-season thus far, oh except a little thing about this Peyton Manning guy who just got cut from The Colts yesterday... say What!?

Yep, looks like Jim Irsay decided they wanted to head in another direction in regards to Peyton and they cut him, which will be an interesting thing to watch to see where he ends up.

That's about it.


***UPDATE***

After a brief period considering many options, Peyton Manning has chosen to go to The Denver Broncos, who then released Jesus' superstar, Tim Tebow who was then picked up by The Jets in a pretty shocking announcement.

Go Ahead and Crown Their Asses...

Well, looks like MVP Eli Manning and the New York Giants did it again and upset The Patriots in the last few minutes of the game... leaving Brady with only a hail mary attempt to win the game... which failed...

Ugh.... Whatever...

Giants win Super Bowl XLVI and will get to boast all year.

Final score was 21 to 17.

Time to move on to the Combine (later this month) and the Draft (April)... 2011 Football Season is officially Dead!

Super Day XLVI

T-Minus 8.5 hours and counting until Super Bowl XLVI (that's 46, I think)... The battle between Eli Manning and his New York Giants taking on Tom Brady and his New England Patriots... Boston vs. New York and just like Palestine and Isreal, these two areas never stop bickering, which means we are in for a good match-up.

I am in a tough position because I hate both of these teams and don't want either to win, but I suppose that's not really an option so I am putting my support behind those dreaded New England Patriots... I really, really, really, really don't want The Giants to succeed tonight... that would be horrible just from an NFC East perspective.

I think I'm mainly watching for the commercials this year :P

2012 Schedule

I didn't post on here yet, but for 2012 here are Dallas' opponents. (AFC North and NFC South)

Home> New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Chicago... (and of course NFC East rivals)

Away> Atlanta, Carolina, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Seattle... (and of course NFC East rivals)

That is all for now...

This weekend is the Pro Bowl but there's only two Dallas Players, DeMarcus Ware and I think Jay Ratliff... so I'll watch but, eh...

R.I.P. Joe Paterno

I felt it was only right to pay a little respect to Joe Paterno, 85, former Penn State head coach, who passed away on Sunday, January 22nd due to complications with lung cancer.

Paterno had a storied 46 year career with Penn State and a record 409 wins as head coach. His legacy will live on despite the Sandusky scandal which brought about his dismissal and slightly tarnished his name.

With the scandal, Paterno's firing, and the announcement of his lung cancer, it created a whirlwind of news these past few months, and it is no doubt that all of this stress highly contributed to his downturn in health.

R.I.P. Joe Paterno, you will not be forgotten.

Deja Vu

Championship weekend is over and the winners are very familiar...

Baltimore was playing against New England, and played a great game, keeping it very close. It all ended, however, with a missed Billy Cundiff 31 yard field goal that would have sent the game into overtime, and The Patriots end up going to yet another Super Bowl.

San Francisco was hosting The Giants and they also played pretty well, although they made just enough mistakes to fail in overtime and the New York football Giants are once again sailing to the Bowl.

So there you have it... Giants vs Patriots, a rematch 5 years in the making... Will the underdog Giants once again rise against all challenges and claim victory or will The Patriots enact their revenge for their spoiled perfect 2007 season?

2011 AJay Awards

It's not that it hasn't been done in a hundred different places by many people, but I wanted to do my own little bit of recognition for who I believe were the top performers for the Dallas Cowboys in the 2011 season.

- Tony Romo - There isn't enough that can be said for Romo. He may have a couple games in him where he makes mistakes that cause a loss, but overall, he gives Dallas the best chance at winning and he puts his heart into his play. Many will criticize different aspects of Romo, but he's absolutely been the best option Dallas has had at quarterback since Aikman.

- DeMarcus Ware - I don't think anyone questions how good Ware is... this was a productive year for him, which was a nice surprise because he was getting double teamed almost every down. He still battled all season long with Jarred Allen for the league lead in sacks, and if it weren't for injuries, he may have topped Allen and won NFC Defensive Player of the Year himself.

- Laurent Robinson - Speaking of surprise, this guy was one of the biggest surprises of the season. Signed midway through the first half of the year, Robinson quickly became a reliable and valuable asset, making clutch catches and clutch touchdowns. He was pretty consistent all year as well, while Miles Austin and Dez Bryant both flip flopped injuries throughout.

- Sean Lee - This was practically Sean Lee's first season, since

he was injured all of last year, and it has been quite a year for the Penn State alum. Lee's performance was exceptional, and when he got injured and missed a game, it was evident how valuable he was... there is a huge drop off between him and the next guy (Keith Brooking.)

- DeMarco Murray - Another shock which nobody saw coming was the emergence of Murray, who took over when Felix Jones and Tashard Choice got hurt and cut, respectively. His first major game was against St. Louis, in that game he not only took his first carry for a 90-some yard touchdown, but he ended up with 250 rushing yards and broke a Cowboys record in the process. If it weren't for injury, he was on pace to break single season records as well, and he didn't even play much for the first 5 games.

Those players are tops on my list... there were certainly other players who I thought had a great year, but these five stuck out enough to stay in my memory.

Dez Nuts

I wanted to editorialize a bit about talented, second year wideout, Dez Bryant and his off-field troubles.

When he was chosen by Dallas in the draft two years ago there were already many who worried about his attitude off-field. He was reported to have a problem with practices and some of the other basic things about getting ready for games.

The talent was not a question, which was proven when he returned a punt for a touchdown in one of his first games as a Cowboy. He just seemed a little lazy and a little cocky.

In his two years, there have been a number of off-field incidents which are starting to put him in the 'Pacman' Jones category. There are issues of citations for wearing his pants too low at a mall and a couple reports about him not paying for jewelry. Most recently, he has apparently been involved in an altercation of some kind at a Miami club which may or may not have involved the rapper, Lil' Wayne. No police report has been revealed however.

Regardless, these problems keep adding up and what that means is trouble for The Dallas Cowboys.

I want nothing more than Dez to become one of the most elite wide receivers in the league, he has the potential. I can't even put him in the same category as T.O. because T.O. does put a lot of time into working out and preparing, he just has a monsterous ego. Dez doesn't put in the work he should and he's causing incidents off-field, which like I said earlier, puts him moreso in the 'Pacman' Jones category.

He is young, I will give him that, and I can only hope that he sees the light sooner rather than later, because right now, Dallas needs him.

40th Anniversary

I almost let the day pass without realizing that today, January 16 2012, is the 40th anniversary of The Dallas Cowboys first Super Bowl Victory! Super Bowl VI to be exact.

It was their second appearance in the Big Game,

the first appearance was the year prior, in Super Bowl V in 1971 (the 1970 season,) and they lost 16-13 to the (then) Baltimore Colts.

In 1972 (1971 season) after a fairly successful run, Roger Staubach took Dallas into Super Bowl VI and convincingly won against the Miami Dolphins, 24-3.

While I have your attention, I figured I would continue looking back to the 'Good Times' and list all 8 of Dallas' Super Bowl appearances and the results. They have a 5-3 record... not bad, but now that Pittsburgh has 6 rings, it's about due time that Dallas reclaimed their throne.

- 1970 - Super Bowl V - Lost 16-13 (Baltimore Colts)

- 1971 - Super Bowl VI - Won 24-3 (Miami Dolphins)

- 1975 - Super Bowl X - Lost 21-17 (Pittsburgh Steelers)

- 1977 - Super Bowl XII - Won 27-10 (Denver Broncos)

- 1978 - Super Bowl XIII - Lost 35-31 (Pittsburgh Steelers)

- 1992 - Super Bowl XXVII - Won 52-17 (Buffalo Bills)

- 1993 - Super Bowl XXVIII - Won 30-13 (Buffalo Bills)

- 1995 - Super Bowl XXX - Won 27-17 (Pittsburgh Steelers)

Playoffs - Thus Far

It's been another wacky and wild NFL playoffs... Wild Card Weekend is over and now Division Weekend is over too... It all comes down to 4 teams, two of which will be heading to Indianapolis for Super Bowl XBBIIDN (or whatever.)

- Baltimore beat Houston this weekend so they will now head up to New England to face The Patriots (who whooped on Denver on Saturday night.)

- The Giants shockingly won against The Packers, and they will travel up to San Fransisco to face the 49ers, who shockingly beat The Saints.

So there you have it... I don't want The Giants to get into the big game, so I'm rooting like crazy for the 49ers... I also hate The Patriots, so it would be nice for Baltimore to have another crack at a title. I have a bad feeling that it might be a 2007 rematch between Giants/Patriots. We shall see...

New Year! Same Old?

Well another year will bring another season for Dallas, and although it is early and I am still sobering up from this pathetically mediocre season which led to nothing, I am hopeful for the future... I guess I have to be.

The schedule won't be released until April, and I'm not even positive which divisions Dallas will play next year, but I'm hoping that enough changes are made to inspire a 'winning' season.

DEFENSE:

The main changes need to come from defense... there is no question. Rob Ryan has a lot of fire in his belly (as well as a lot of food,) and his energy can lead to good things, but this season the defense fizzled out. Maybe it was the lockout, maybe it was poor talent, but there has to be changes this upcoming season.

First and foremost, Terrence Newman has got to go... I always liked the guy and hoped for him to succeed, but these last two seasons in particular demonstrate that he should not be the #1 cornerback for this team, nor any team. Jenkins and Scandrick are mediocre as well, so the whole backfield needs re-evaluated.

OFFENSE:

The offense wasn't too much of an issue... sure there was a game here and there in which Tony Romo made foolish mistakes that led to a loss, and the injury bug kept inflicting this team. It almost seemed that if Felix Jones was healthy, Demarcus Murray was hurt, or if Dez Bryant was healthy, Miles Austin was injured. With an offensive roster full of healthy players, Dallas can probably match any offense in the league (my opinion, of course.)

SPECIAL TEAMS:

Not much to say about special teams, they didn't really win us any games, but didn't really lose us any games either. They could tighten up some screws and whatnot, but they are what we thought they were.

D-feated...

Well, Happy New Year!

My lack of posts these past three weeks should probably tell you a little something. As it always seems, Dallas had two games in which to take care of business and get into the playoffs but as they always do, they blew it.

Against Philly, which was a game that meant nothing since The Giants won earlier in the day knocking out Philly, Romo got hurt on the first drive and the rest of the team played like they were all hurt... they managed one touchdown within the last couple of seconds just so they weren't blown out.

And in the finale' against The Giants, in a do-or-die game, Dallas' defense was practically not playing. It was a horror show, and it ended The Cowboy's season, just like that...

Now the Giants are already plowing through the playoffs, having beaten Atlanta in the wild card game, they will now go up to Green Bay to see if they can survive against Rodger's crew.

As for the rest of the playoffs... New Orleans beat Detroit and will head to San Fransisco next week... and for the AFC, Houston destroyed Cincinnati and will now head to Baltimore, and just last night Denver got more 'Tebow Magic' and won in overtime against Pittsburgh... Denver now plays New England.

So there you have it.