Frustrating, but in some games he really laid the wood. Does he get caught behind plays at times for you guys?

Igor was a value pickup for us, compared to what it would have cost us to keep Chris Canty. The Giants’ price was nothing in the range of what Jerry was willing to spend, especially considering DeMarcus Ware was due for an extension.

yep

Mike Jenkins has been a stud at CB this year, which makes me think that Rivers will attack Terence Newman or our slot guy, Orlando Scandrick. Because the defense was burned for big gains last week, they may ask the CBs to play more man-to-man. A mix of Scandrick and SS Gerald Sensabaugh will follow Gates around, and as usual, Wade will bring some pressure in various ways with his front seven.

Anthony Spencer is a guy who has been stepping up in the pass-rushing department, but he looked to be one of the guys responsible for Brandon Jacobs’ long catch-and-run last week. Perhaps they’ll keep him in to rush more and out of coverage.

On offense, OC Jason Garrett will probably try early on to establish the run. He will also use Witten early to get a feel for your coverages. Romo has been hot though, so expect to see him throwing alot.

I have to say that I see the Cowboys playing up to the level of the Chargers. Considering that we’re looking at New Orleans, the always tough Redskins, and the Eagles to finish the season, the team is in that “must win” mode every week.

A guy not practicing but it has nothing to do with injury, assume it’s nothing. Assume his wife is giving birth or his grandmother passed away.

eats so many cheese burgers I would think that more athletic 34 line up matches better against that

Saying he figured the Cowboys would make it to the playoffs in okay shape if they win 2 of their next 4 games. Of course, those aren’t gimmes against the Chargers, Saints, Redskins and Eagles and there are some in the Cowboy’s fanbase that starts calling for heads after every Cowboy’s loss. But, 10-6 doesn’t seem to bad to me given who they have to go through to get it. If I was a Cowboys fan though that would be the break even point and I’d want to see 11-5 or 12-4 in order to like my team’s playoff chances, both of which probably mean beating the Chargers, so I could see why a loss on Sunday would be tough to take.

In the beginning of the year, defenses were bracketing Witten. Then, when Miles Austin busted out, they rolled coverages towards him to eliminate the big play.

The Cowboys’ other WRs have been inconsistent, in the fact that they are doing little to help take coverage off of Romo’s top two guys. Recently, Roy Williams has been finding some soft spots in the end zone and he’s looked pretty good on the screen or two they throw to him per game.

The running game has not been much help since the beginning of the season. As one of our writers has pointed out, they are big but not the kind of big that blows DL straight back. They’re more agile-big, if that makes sense.

The D, on the other hand, is usually pretty solid.

Some of the guys I touched upon above: CB Mike Jenkins, OLB Anthony Spencer, WR Miles Austin, though you’ve probably heard of him.

Our FA guys are doing well. Keith Brooking has proven to be a beast on defense and is a valuable team leader. He and NT Jay Ratliff, along with Spencer and SS Gerald Sensabaugh have helped to shutdown have all been dominant at times. 4th-round pick OLB Victor Bulter comes in for pass rush situations and can get to the QB.

On offense, the weapons kind of shift. Fans adore UDFA WR Kevin Ogletree, but he hasn’t been used much recently. TE Martellus Bennett may miss this game with a concussion, so 6th-round pick John Phillips will take his place. He’s been a good blocker, so it will be interesting to see if he contributes to the passing game.

Rookie kickoff specialist, David Buehler, is our Chuck Norris-type guy. He outbenched several Olinemen at the combine and also works on the punt coverage teams. In training camp, he beat one of the DBs (now waived) in a foot race. Also, P Mat McBriar has been awesome in pinning PRs back inside their 20.

someone talk about the training staff… where’s Tec?

How is your SS? Gregory, right? The Cowboys have exploited teams with big plays when they don’t keep their safeties back.

On defense, I would have to say Cromartie. Romo can be deadly in his accuracy, but he squeezes throws in to really tight windows at times. He could easily have more picks this year that defenders simply dropped. Plus, Cromartie can take it the distance at any time.

They have yet to throw from it, though.

BTW, they call it the Razorback even tho Tashard Choice rather than Felix Jones (ARK alum) is utilized more in it.

They also have some formation where Miles Austin lines up in the backfield. It was effective last week, and helped Roy get open for a score.

…what happened last week in Cleveland? My buddy is a big Browns’ fan (gawd bless him) and he was proud with how they handled the Chargers.

I didn’t see the game and he may embellish things becuz they’re rebuilding, but was some of that 23 in garbage time or something?

Boy, that Civil War game made me really miss Eugene.

RE: Barber, I hope he does get going because he brings alot of heart to the offense, to the team.

The dude’s a monster…he’s like 3rd in the league in YAC. He’s also helped me to 1st in my FF league—thanks!

My hope is that Jenkins, our most physical CB, can take on big ol’ Jackson. Some combo of SS Sensabaugh, slot-CB Scandrick, and nickel LB Bobby Carpenter will he shadowing Gates.

Throughout the season, the Cowboys have been much better in preventing the big play rather than preventing 3rd-down pickups. That’s been a weakness. It seems like teams can have 3rd-and-17 and still complete passes that make 1sts.

We didn’t have a first day pick that year as we traded away our first for Roy and moved back into the third round from the second.

Third rounders to 7th rounders are normally not first year starters, plus all our starting players were locked in from day one. So there was not an opportunity for any of our draftees to crack the starting lineup.

I’ll give you a break down of our draft:
3a. ILBJason Williams – Raw player from a small program with incredible physical talent. He came on strong towards the end of training camp and probably will be starting after Brooking leaves.

3b. OT/OG Robert Brewster – tore pectoral muscle right before Training camp started and is essentially on IR. We’ll see with him.

4a. QB Stephen McGee – Has some intriguing physical tools and definitely has a NFL arm, but he is really cautious and was given the nickname “checkdown” McGee in TC. His job right now is to sit and learn from Kitna and Romo as the third QB.

4b. OLB Victor Butler – On draft day he was seen as a reach, but now he has turned out to be one of our better picks. He is a good pass rusher, and every now and then he’ll come in to give Spencer or Ware a breather.

4c. OLB Brandon Williams – He too got injured during TC and was put on IR. He is probably a more developed than Butler, but doesn’t have Butler’s pass rush skills or potential.

5a. Safety Deangelo Smith – He was cut and someone picked him up.

5b. Safety Michael Hamlin – Probably are best value pick of this draft. He had a strong training camp and looks to be starting material two or so years down the road.

5c. K/ST David Buehler – A lot of people were initially upset with this pick, but ironically he has become sort of a fan favorite. He is a kick off specialist, but is athletic and built like a linebacker, so he is also used to cover punts.

6a. ILB Stephen Hodge – Had knee issues in TC and was put on IR. Although from what was seen of him he appears to be a good coverage linebacker.

6b. TE John Phillips – is an OK receiver, but is a very good blocker and has earned playing time based on that.

7a. CB Mike Mickens – had a pretty poor training camp, though he showed flashes at times. Unfortunately Tampa picked him off our practice squad.

7b. WR Manny Johnson – Didn’t really stand out in any way, and is currently on the practice squad.

UDFA. WR Kevin Ogletree – fast athletic receiver who runs good routes and can get YAC. Came in undrafted, earned his way onto the 53 man roster, and eventually earned some playing time. He might be a steal, and given our history with undrafted free agents it wouldn’t surprise me if he became a starter a few years down the road.

Bennett is a cool cat and all, but he’s not been the threat in the passing game that he looked to be in camp and preseason. Grant it, they’ve been working his blocking skills in the 2TE set, but he’s been catching a few as of late.

His backup, rookie John Phillips, has played more snaps this year than expected. Often, he lines up as a FB and is a physical blocker. He’s been a project of the TE coach, John Garrett, who also coached him at Virginia.

While they lose Bennett’s athleticism this week, it hasn’t been a weapon they’ve depended on. He dropped a big 3rd-down grab last week that drew the ire of fans.

At times this season, Hamlin has seemed non-existent. This could be because they’ve used him more as a true centerfielder to help double-up on #1WRs, or simply because he just isn’t a playmaker.

His backup, Alan Ball, bounces between CB and FS in a pinch. He’s 188lbs and looks thin, but he’s brought the wood at times. Still, I feel that Hamlin is a bit better in run support, while Ball is the better cover guy.

At camp, he was a fan favorite. People would applaud just when he caught a ball.

Personally, I was disappointed that he won the competition rather than Andrew Hawkins. Although Holley is 6-3, 215 pounds compared to the 5-foot-8, 165-pound Hawkins, I felt that the little guy had more to offer the team as a kickoff and punt returner. He is also 3 years younger than Holley, so he had more time to develop as a WR. Both performed well on the show, but Hawkins blew away expectations, IMO.

Now, Dallas just has another big WR deep, deep down on the depth chart. My wish to get a shifty little Wes Welker-type weapon will have to wait.

I would think the Chargers players would know the Phillips D, better than Wade can know what the old players can do in Norv’s system. Rivers was a first year starter in Wade’s last year. VJ was a shell of his current self. It was McNeill’s rookie year. Naanee wasn’t year. Floyd was just starting to find his way. The running game was good back then and LoNeal was still here. 6 different starters and 2 guys still starting who had started for 1 season and 1 guy that’s gone from MVP to second rate. How familiar could he be?

I heard Gates on the radio this morning talking about what Phillips liked to do to TEs when he was here. I’d like to think the Charger’s O has the advantage.

That’s probably where he learned much of his vertical passing attack.

That may have been true in the first year where the offenses were similar, but now that Norv has implemented the whole thing and continued to develop there is no way they share a lot of similarities. Especially now that the power running game is no where near what it was when Cam was here. That has to change the types of plays that are installed and called on Sunday. On top of that, its not like Phillips was here dissecting the Cameron’s offense so he could beat in practice. He was gameplanning his own stuff for our opponents. The only familiarity is going to come from knowing the players and how they run routes, get off blocks, pass protect, run protect, etc and there’s not many of the same guys left and the ones that are different than when he was here.

I thought you did a great job with the thread, one of the best this year. I’m glad it looks like Ware is OK, he is a class act.