The truth about the Cowboys that people don't wanna hear...

[D-Unit]

Let's hear your truths. Here's mine.

1. The Defensive Line is simply inadequate. I can't emphasize this enough. Everything on defense starts up front. Jay Ratliff is a back up DE forced to play NT but he's no more talented than a spot starter at NT. Few more weeks before we find out if Tank Johnson can help us out there. Marcus Spears is a complete bust! Jason Hatcher is no more valuable than Kenyon Coleman ever was. He displays no flashes of upside. I see him no better than a career backup. Chris Canty is a stable player, but not a playmaker. If Dallas ever expects to become a better team it's going to have to start from the trenches. Right now, any success shown is merely fools gold. Every good defense has at least 1 or 2 guys up front that can wreak havoc. Dallas has 0.


2. Bradie James and Akin Ayodele are not good enough. Everyone thinks our LB unit is set and we don't need to address it. Well I say Bull S***! We need to find a way to get better play out of them or cut them. I hope our front office won't look past them when they look to upgrade our defense. In fact, I hope Wade is smart enough to realize that he needs to start fading them out and fading Burnett and Carpenter in more. The trade mark of a successful defense starts with the leadership and inspiration play at the middle linebacker position. The Dallas ILBs are just a mirage. They look like they're out there, but there not.


3. Roy Williams coverage skills are improving. Roy hasn't been beat deep all year. Nobody has recognized that. He got beat on one incredible pass by Tom Brady to Ben Watson today, but his coverage was tight. After he took out Watson, no TE became a factor for them.


4. Kyle Kosier needs to be replaced. We should be looking at OG in FA and/or the first day of the draft. He's just another example of how poor Bill Parcells evaluates Offensive Lineman. I honestly didn't like his signing from the start.


5. Anthony Fasano needs to be used better. He has the talent to be a real weapon out there. It's on Garrett to know how to utilize his strengths and hide his weaknesses. He's the type of player that with more playing time, will limit his mistakes and use his smarts to be a really irritating player for defenses to have to pay attention to.

[Gribble]

I think we should wait until the transition from the two gap system is complete before giving out an grades on the line. Plus, we stopped the run extremely well today.

[M.O.T.H.]

I disagree w/ your assessment of our ILB's...Bradie James is easily the most underrated player on the Cowboys on these boards. All he does is make plays...he's in on damn near every tackle. He has been exceptional this season and looks to lead our team in tackles for the 3rd straight season.

As for Roy improving in coverage, that's not true. They broke everything down on NFL matchup. He looks completely lost in zone coverage. While playing zone he doesnt know what the hell he is doing...it's embarassing. He really has zero clue how to cover, it's really bad, it was almost as if the guys on the show were making fun of him. He should be playing in the box at all times ala Adrian Wilson the last few years or be playing LB in a different defense. He really isnt a great fit for this defense...Shockey, Cooley, and Smith are normally going to be his responsibility and he cant cover any of them.

[M.O.T.H.]

One more...

Marcus has been a complete bust as a pass rusher but, he is a major reason why our run defense is so good. He is excellent against the rush. But yes, we def. need to find a way to get more pressure from the end positions.

[D-Unit]

Originally Posted by Gribble

I think we should wait until the transition from the two gap system is complete before giving out an grades on the line. Plus, we stopped the run extremely well today.

That's the problem. We need to transition our guys OUT.

We did NOT stop the run well today. Especially when it counted. Luckily for us Maroney was out and Sammy got hurt early. Even then, Faulk ran straight through for several nice runs.

[thule]

Morris was held to 25 yards or something....we shut him down the whole game.

[M.O.T.H.]

Originally Posted by D-Unit

That's the problem. We need to transition our guys OUT.

We did NOT stop the run well today. Especially when it counted. Luckily for us Maroney was out and Sammy got hurt early. Even then, Faulk ran straight through for several nice runs.

Actually, we were great against the run today...we struggled at the end but, what do you expect when our defense is on the field that long? Time of possession was ridiculous. We were on defense the entire game.

[D-Unit]

Originally Posted by M.O.T.H.

I disagree w/ your assessment of our ILB's...Bradie James is easily the most underrated player on the Cowboys on these boards. All he does is make plays...he's in on damn near every tackle. He has been exceptional this season and looks to lead our team in tackles for the 3rd straight season.

As for Roy improving in coverage, that's not true. They broke everything down on NFL matchup. He looks completely lost in zone coverage. While playing zone he doesnt know what the hell he is doing...it's embarassing. He really has zero clue how to cover, it's really bad, it was almost as if the guys on the show were making fun of him. He should be playing in the box at all times ala Adrian Wilson the last few years or be playing LB in a different defense. He really isnt a great fit for this defense...Shockey, Cooley, and Smith are normally going to be his responsibility and he cant cover any of them.

James underrated on these boards? LOL. Are you kidding me? Everyone here LOVES him. I'm the only one who think's he's JAG. He's so average it's pitiful. I want Burnett to phase into the picture more to steal some of his time.

The guys on NFL match up are not proof that Roy is terrible. They show one play over and over to help them look like they know what they are talking about. Roy has done way better than he did last year. He's not a smooth cover guy, but he has stayed with his man and nobody has torched him deep this year. And as far as your hypothetical talk about him covering TEs... last I check, Shockey was held in check in Game 1.

[D-Unit]

Originally Posted by thule

Morris was held to 25 yards or something....we shut him down the whole game.

That's because D-Ware owned him today. Ware stopped him 5 times out of his 10 carries.

[D-Unit]

Originally Posted by M.O.T.H.

Actually, we were great against the run today...we struggled at the end but, what do you expect when our defense is on the field that long? Time of possession was ridiculous. We were on defense the entire game.

Why do you think our defense was on the field all day??? We couldn't make a ******* stop to save our lives. If we had a DL and a MLB that can actually do something other than react, we'd have given our offense more time on the field.

[M.O.T.H.]

Bradie just started getting some love this season on here...he was def. one of the most bashed players this off-season. There were plenty of posters on here that were calling for Carp or Burnett to start over him pre-season.

[leroyisgod]

DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA...it's all for your momma!!!!

Everyone here is blowing this game out of proportion!!!

[D-Unit]

Originally Posted by M.O.T.H.

One more...

Marcus has been a complete bust as a pass rusher but, he is a major reason why our run defense is so good. He is excellent against the rush. But yes, we def. need to find a way to get more pressure from the end positions.

I'm of the belief that Spears doesn't contribute more than any average DE would in his place.

[M.O.T.H.]

Originally Posted by D-Unit

Why do you think our defense was on the field all day??? We couldn't make a ******* stop to save our lives. If we had a DL and a MLB that can actually do something other than react, we'd have given our offense more time on the field.

Our D-Line and MLB were great against the run today. They forced a bunch of 3rd downs. We couldn't get a stop because, Jacque Reeves and Nate Jones are garbage. Our Nickel defense is downright horrible when we don't have Henry or Newman...Jones shouldn't be on the field.

[D-Unit]

Originally Posted by leroyisgod

DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA...it's all for your momma!!!!

Everyone here is blowing this game out of proportion!!!

Nah. We played tough and competitive through 3 quarters. If not for those damaging penalties, the game could've been closer. I'm just saying what I think we need to do in order become on a better competitive level. Patriots didn't have Maroney, Watson or Morris for the entire game and they still wasted us at home.

[M.O.T.H.]

Originally Posted by leroyisgod

DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA...it's all for your momma!!!!

Everyone here is blowing this game out of proportion!!!

Nope. I think this loss is good for us, It will help us in the long run. This isnt the type of game that you can come in and 100% believe you are going to win, as a fan. This just shows us that we still have a lot of work to do. Hey, fully healthy 10+ weeks from now...we may be able to take them in the Super Bowl.

[D-Unit]

Originally Posted by M.O.T.H.

Our D-Line and MLB were great against the run today. They forced a bunch of 3rd downs. We couldn't get a stop because, Jacque Reeves and Nate Jones are garbage. Our Nickel defense is downright horrible when we don't Henry or Newman...Jones shouldn't be on the field.

I don't see enough hunger in the DL. I don't see enough talent or smarts a MLB. I'll give them credit for stopping the run when they did. However, they didn't do it when it really counted. They owned us on 3rd down. They made 11 third downs and were 2 for 2 on fourth down. We had no force to counter their moves.

Reeves and Jones are pathetic. I'm not going to ignore them from the blame. However, they are supposed to be back ups. I'm trying to focus the blame on our starters who are inefficient.

[M.O.T.H.]

We need to just scrap Jones and Reeves this off-season. Bring in a vet or two and a high draft pick (1st or 2nd rounder).

[M.O.T.H.]

Originally Posted by D-Unit

I don't see enough hunger in the DL. I don't see enough talent or smarts a MLB. I'll give them credit for stopping the run when they did. However, they didn't do it when it really counted. They owned us on 3rd down. They made 11 third downs and were 2 for 2 on fourth down. We had no force to counter their moves.

Reeves and Jones are pathetic. I'm not going to ignore them from the blame. However, they are supposed to be back ups. I'm trying to focus the blame on our starters who are inefficient.

Well, your placing the blame in the wrong place. The majority of their 3rd down conversions came through the air...when Reeves, Jones, and sometimes Ellis were in coverage. More blame should be placed on these three more so than any other, imo. We have depth problems and it def. needs to be addressed. Our starters played well for the most part...the nickel defense used on third downs was the problem.

[D-Unit]

Originally Posted by M.O.T.H.

Nope. I think this loss is good for us, It will help us in the long run. This isnt the type of game that you can come in and 100% believe you are going to win, as a fan. This just shows us that we still have a lot of work to do. Hey, fully healthy 10+ weeks from now...we may be able to take them in the Super Bowl.

Let's vow not to talk about the SB until Julius Jones and MB3 swap roles and our defense proves that their early success wasn't a fluke.

Really MB3 should be the one softening up the defense for JJ. I think we saw the effectiveness of that today. JJ started off terrible. Just terrible. When MB3 came in, he broke down their D and humbled them a bit. JJ came in late in the game and busted those 2 nice runs before transforming back into that shell of a RB he calls himself.

Wish we had our Defensive MVP Anthony Henry out there today. Newman got toasted more than I like to see.

[M.O.T.H.]

Originally Posted by D-Unit

Let's vow not to talk about the SB until Julius Jones and MB3 swap roles and our defense proves that their early success wasn't a fluke.

Really MB3 should be the one softening up the defense for JJ. I think we saw the effectiveness of that today. JJ started off terrible. Just terrible. When MB3 came in, he broke down their D and humbled them a bit. JJ came in late in the game and busted those 2 nice runs before transforming back into that shell of a RB he calls himself.

Wish we had our Defensive MVP Anthony Henry out there today. Newman got toasted more than I like to see.

Honestly, I wouldnt mind seeing it that way. Julius looked like a man tonight...havent seen that from him since his rookie year. I still doubt that would happen. You can't really say he reverted back to that shell of an RB...he only had like 6 carries, who knows what he would have done, given more touches. Let's hope we see that player next week against a better run defense.

[D-Unit]

Originally Posted by M.O.T.H.

Well, your placing the blame in the wrong place. The majority of their 3rd down conversions came through the air...when Reeves, Jones, and sometimes Ellis were in coverage. More blame should be placed on these three more so than any other, imo. We have depth problems and it def. needs to be addressed. Our starters played well for the most part...the nickel defense used on third downs was the problem.

I think it's no secret that the way to beat the Patriots is to rattle Tom Brady. He left the game with a clean jersey. Considering how easily he goes down, it's sad we didn't get more pressure on him.

[D-Unit]

Originally Posted by M.O.T.H.

Honestly, I wouldnt mind seeing it that way. Julius looked like a man tonight...havent seen that from him since his rookie year. I still doubt that would happen. You can't really say he reverted back to that shell of an RB...he only had like 6 carries, who knows what he would have done, given more touches. Let's hope we see that player next week against a better run defense.

Let's not get carried away. He had 2 good runs.

[M.O.T.H.]

Originally Posted by D-Unit

Let's not get carried away. He had 2 good runs.

haha...yes but, they were pretty. You should have heard me screaming. I miss that player.

[M.O.T.H.]

Originally Posted by D-Unit

I think it's no secret that the way to beat the Patriots is to rattle Tom Brady. He left the game with a clean jersey. Considering how easily he goes down, it's sad we didn't get more pressure on him.

We got decent pressure...just couldnt get him down that much. We gave him more pressure than he's seen all year...we did better than the Chargers in this department. It still wasnt enough though, that team is just too good.