Blogging The Boys

Oh, he's gone. Good.

All we need now

Is to replace the whole secondary and the two dinosaurs in the middle of our LB corps and we’ll be fine… Oh and our D line… And Spencer… And…..

Cuban Cowboy - January 17, 2012 via mobile reply

Jenks can stay but thats about all fromour secondary that i want back

Well you'll be keeping Sensabaugh for two years minimum.

So get used to that :)

Nickthegrip - January 17, 2012 reply

Dont remind me LOL

I wouldnt mind as much if we put him back at SS where he belongs.

I don't think that will happen

unless we end up with a top ball hawk in the draft or FA

Terry - January 17, 2012 reply

one can wish

Scandrick can play slot corner

Ish

I’m not so sure anymore he had all kinds of position on Cruz but didnt even attempt to locate the ball. On top of that he had his arm in between Cruz’s chest and the ball yet still couldn’t knock it out? I’m not ok with Scan any more, until he either starts laying the wood to the other teams and injuring their players instead of our own, or if he starts paying attention to where the ball is and grabbing a couple picks.

Maybe the new Secondary Coach will help?

I found it kind of odd that all the corners “played the ball” in the same way. Could have been Campo coaching that did that. Maybe not.

Jace M - January 17, 2012 reply

I'm actually hopefully that the new secondary coach will improve the DB play.

Per Jenkins:

Like I said, the coaches really don’t have any input. They gave us leeway this year and we’ve pretty much played how we wanted to play. Just freestyling out there. Going back to the basics. You’ve just got to back to what work and obviously the basics worked for me.

Here’s the link to the article that was in: http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/cowboys/post/_/id/4688541/mike-jenkins-goes-back-to-basics

Now, maybe I’m taking that quote out of context, but to me, it reads as if the coaching staff didn’t do much to try and improve the playing of DBs. If that is the case, then a coach trying to coach the DB is bound to have an impact.

Grimlock83 - January 17, 2012 reply

Wow I had no idea!

Well then here’s hoping I guess we’ll see in TC

agreed CA

scan & jenks seemed to be in position a lot of the time so if the coaches can just get the guys to locate the ball perhaps we could see more ints.

DarkKnight88 - January 17, 2012 reply

What an unbelievable quote, Grimlock.

Gee, what the eff was Ryan allowing and Garrett condoning Campo to do? This regime has some really serious flaws that are NOT going to be corrected by firing Campo. It is much worse than even I imagined.

Actually i believe that that was the technique that coach campo was teaching.

All our corners do that they all played the hands eyes and shoulders of reciever never turned and watched the qbs eyes and make a play on the ball. Don’t give up on players who show the natural ability to keep with the reciever. Just time to get them some real.coaches.

Sado44 - January 17, 2012 via mobile reply

Jenkins just needs to work on staying healthy

and hopefully not regress to his 2010 form

Antonio S - January 17, 2012 reply

From what I saw this year those days are behind him.

It took a lot more toughness and skill then he displayed in 09 to do what he did this year. I really think RR has helped him get back to where he needed to be. I look forward to having him be our #1 CB cuz I really think he can hang with any WR out there.

also add Scandrick to that list with his new contract.

i like Scandrick but he lacks the ability to cover or make plays on the ball. i’ve seen him sitting in the recievers back pocket & thought he had an easy INT/PBU but the reciever made the catch. i didnt think a DB needed to be any closer to make a play on the ball but he froze or lacks a burst. maybe i’m wrong but it sure seems like teams in the past have abused him from the slot position.
i think Scandicks a good football player & maybe a better zone cb but i didnt see the how they got better resigning him. same thing with Sensabaugh, the dudes okay in a pinch but i dont want to see him playing SS for the next 2 years lol. teams know they can create mismatches with him & his 42,000 inch vert hasn’t helped against any of the bigger WRs or TEs.
one things for sure i bet Dallas fixes the CB through the draft & possibly in FA also. i wouldn’t be shocked to see 1 vet starter or top draft pick to man the left side & take another potential contributor in the 3rd-5th round. the same goes for the OLB/DL, if they dont get it fixed in the first round then i wouldn’t be shocked to see them active on some big fish

That would be nice.

T-rom - January 17, 2012 reply

Who's

Replacing brett maxie

cjs.93 - January 17, 2012 via mobile reply

This

complete the transition from Wade Phillips’ crew to Ryan’s men

BlueNSilverBlood - January 17, 2012 reply

Nice sig,

And as much as I hate to say it, Wade did take the Texans to the POs with a pretty nice D.

Yes he did but look what he did to do that.

He grabbed up probably the best FA CB last year in Jonathen Joseph and also that S uh Manning (or something close to that) and helped out his last ranked pass defense. Before you could throw all day on the Texans and now they are a top 5 D. Yes Wade did do very well over there but I believe he is a great coordinator but still a lousy HC.

maybe Jerry should've let Wade pick his own players lol.

seemed like every player Wade picked was a home run & look at the stable of LB’s on that roster. a game changer at DE fell in his lap & went for the best CB in FA while Jerry was chasing Nnamdi around.

Good points

He also got JJ Watt

Bermystar - January 17, 2012 reply

Wade also had much more talent to work with as well

We have only four really talented defensive players…thats it

Terry - January 17, 2012 reply

which 4 are "really" talented? i counted Ware twice & i still only came up with 2.

Lee looked good this season but i want to see him get it done being the main man. i still noticed Brooking helping Lee get lined up after the offense changed the play.
Lee could be our most experienced ILB on the roster & thats an important position in the 3-4. i wouldn’t be surprised to see them bring a 2nd tier vet ILB just to bring some extra expereince with fresher legs then Brooking

and he only had to worry about the D

thebigham - January 17, 2012 reply

Eh I'm still not sold on RR.

The Cowboys D went from 23rd to 14th in total yards

and that was with Newman, James, and Brooking a year older, Bowen leaving, and Abe Elam as the only major addition. I’m not saying he’s the next Jim Johnson but we all knew the defense would stink coming in this year.

RR was the one who ran his mouth about having all this talent to work with.

He runs a gimmicky 3-4. The 3-4 hasn’t worked in Dallas. Jerry doesn’t know how to draft 3-4 players. We never have the right pieces. All of a sudden everyone seems on board with getting a real nt. I have been on that soap box since they started playing the 3-4 in Dallas. We don’t have 3-4 de’s either. We don’t have a d lineman who can do what Justin Smith does. Too much projection goes into the 3-4. You draft 4-3 de’s and project them to olb. You draft bigger 4-3 de’s and hope they project to end in a 3-4.

I don’t care about yards I care about points allowed. That is the most important stat. Now Romo qb’ing the Lions to a victory didn’t help. I think the Lions uniforms being similar Romo forgot who he played for.

But you have to remember

Ryan runs a complicated defensive scheme and having a full off-season to implement it will help tremendously. Ryan wants to bring pressure from everywhere, but it was hard to do that this year because the secondary was so poor, he had to leave the safeties deep. Not to mention it looked like a lot of times, our D looked confused on where to line up and such, which will get better with practice.

I say we give Rob a chance to get his guys in and coach them up they way he wants them coached up, then make a judgment about our defense. I feel it will be much improved next season.

blackgallagher - January 17, 2012 reply

We'll see what happens this season.

And Ryan says he is ready to be a head coach- he needs to fix his defense first.

T-rom - January 17, 2012 reply

ahmen brother!

I don’t know all the details about RR but he does not impress me with his results!!

noFBexpert7 - January 17, 2012 reply

I like Ryan.

Yes, he must show better results in his SECOND year. But he IS accountable and I think he understands Defense and players. Garrett ,on the other hand, has had plenty of time to understand this team which he clearly does not understand. Nor does he understand the basic principles of play-calling and has shown himself to be very reluctant to accept responsibility. It’s this last point which is the most damning. The players are supposed to follow HIS example? Bad idea.

I agree. It's hard to condemn a guy who had no offseason to implement

his schemes and who received no help with talent (in fact the veterans got older). Let him have a full season with better players (hopefully) before we make judgments.

I agree with giving RR more time, but I think he also struggles (like JG with the offense) with often times being “too cute.” I think both our OC and DC have a tendency to over think EVERYTHING.

BRANDtheSKY - January 17, 2012 via mobile reply

Gimmick plays and cute calls

Are what you have to do to be successful when you are under talented. We need the talent, size and speed to be able to execute the plan. That is the problem with Ratliff, who is working his tail off at NT. Teams have been able to counter his ability. We need a guy with size and skill so that they cant stop him. Even a double team will allow him to collapse the pocket a bit.

Oakster41 - January 17, 2012 reply

LOL

I think the Lions uniforms being similar Romo forgot who he played for.

Great right there! I don’t mind a singular run stuffing de but when thats all we have AND our other OLB is a run stuffer too just plain bad business right there. We have needed another pass specialist on that line for forever now. Probably since Ellis went from De to Olb, but that might be a bit exaggerated not sure. Anybody else miss Canty and Ferguson as at least a backup besides me?

Not for the money that Canty signed for, no.

I don’t miss Ferguson’s torn bicep either, but I do understand your point.

Nickthegrip - January 17, 2012 reply

there still trying to replace Canty & Ellis

Say all you like but your just making points on rob being a good coord.

So we all know this is the first time we’ve ever even heard about the move with Ratliff. Hmmm maybe its the coach. Gotta say the signs point to rob knowing what he needs compared to a wade who wanted to make Jerry happy. He drafted cause others influenced his decision. I think as just coordinator rob will be able to be the one influencing. There is a huge difference in having a head coach in.Jerry pocket who is also the defensive coordinator and a new defensive coordinator lets see how it works out.

Sado44 - January 17, 2012 via mobile reply

Well....

Good for you. He didn’t perform well enough to merit a head coaching job elsewhere, and the luster has faded on his brother, which inevitably wears on him. They brought all of his coaches in purposely, he’s obviously staying another year minimum. I still don’t think they’ll have enough pieces next season, which will probably keep him here another year.

Love/hate him, get used to it.

Nickthegrip - January 17, 2012 reply

I never get used to losing !

The point was that the defense got a little better even though the talent was probably

a bit worse. I don’t know what everyone was expecting. The D was atrocious in 2010 and we did nothing, substantially, to shore it up and the veterans got older. When he pulled a few miracles and tricks at the beginning of the year, the D did alright and he was considered a genius and a certain HC candidate, but tricks only go so far.

+1

Boy did his tricks fool everybody though for that short time. I’ll hope for now but if there arent any key FA signings and we dont draft heavy and early for our D then it aint gonna change much.

Of course not.

The Cowboys hired him. They could hire Dick LeBeau or bring Jim Johnson back from the dead and you wouldn’t be sold on them.

Jace M - January 17, 2012 reply

You wouldnt be now would you.

I believe that rob can get it done if we give the man the things he asks for. He has a shit core of dbs and backup at best defensive line starting. Look at the improvement over last season. But its also been what 6 months that he has had wight these guys. Give them time to understand rob and give rob time to get what he needs.

Sado44 - January 17, 2012 via mobile reply

99% of this blog was fired up for RR thinking he would be a difference maker.

I don’t know what everyone was expecting.

You must make everyone in your life miserable

biggest bitcher on this site – bar none!

And RR did take the same defense WP had last year and improved it so 99% of this blog was correct in their prediction

livemontana - January 17, 2012 reply

he is by far not the biggest

we’ve had far bigger and more useless ones on here like star16 I think his name was he hates Romo and thinks we’d have been better of dumping him and grabbing up Garrard! So while mensa may have non-jaded views he is by far logical about it and does give compliments to this team when warrented. We can’t all be extreme Homers like myself and you it’s good to read some objective stuff too.

No, no he isn't.

Logical? Laughable.

danielt - January 17, 2012 reply

All depends doesn't it haha

Not logical? How so?

Look at what mensa says there’s truth in some of his statements.. Do i always agree with what he says? No but he offers some objective.. When Rob was signed there was alot of folks on this blog who thought he would turn water into wine despite having the same “talent” that statistically was 1 of the worst D’s in franchise history just the season prior

He’s spot on about jerry the gm putting avg to below avg talent on the team the past 15 yrs & the 3-4 not becoming elite since the tuna made the switch.. Whether ur a pessimist/optimist, glass half-empty/half-full type of a fan is on u but i think the 1 thing in common we all want is to see our boys bring another sb, some fans are more patient & others are tired of mediocre results like me.

DarkKnight88 - January 17, 2012 reply

+1

Garrard? The guy who had spine/disk surgery after he was cut?

LOL. I wish I would have seen that guy’s post at the time, I would have lit into him.

fs65 - January 17, 2012 reply

I don't like negative nellies either

If we want to hear people bitch about how bad the Cowboys are, we can just listen to ESPN or NFL Network.

Terry - January 17, 2012 reply

Mensa, you're alright in my books

By far not the biggest bitcher.

Rohpuri - January 17, 2012 via mobile reply

Its not that he doesnt like you mensa

Just you sound like alittle teenage girl. Seriously you hate any and everything about the cowboys.

Sado44 - January 17, 2012 via mobile reply

Mensa

Seems like a pretty cool guy. I enjoy having conversations with him because he offers different perspective than mine. In the end we’re all rooting for the Cowboys to win it all.

BrickTop - January 17, 2012 via mobile reply

If you don't know, Mensa,

you’ve just been paid a huge compliment. There are only a few of us that have replaced the rose tinted lenses in our glasses for clear ones.

Thanx Stu.....I enjoy reading everyone's posting's....

on this blog.The things that confound me most are the obvious. Like the 3-4 not working in Dallas. How can that be defended ? Why continue beating your head on the wall ? How Jerry can still be revered ? So many on this blog continue to live in the early 90’s.

Say you’re 35 years old. Fondly you remeber your highschool graduation. Hypothetically speaking here say your parents give you a car for your graduation. That car will always have a place in your heart. You will remember that car when you are 60. However chances are you aren’t still driving the car. You now have better model with all the latest gizmo’s.

That’s the way I see Jerry. He was good 15 years ago. Since then he has run this team in to terminal mediocrity. It’s time for a better version with new gizmo’s.

Posters like sado44 and Terry have a right to their opinion and postings. None of the stuff they say bothers me. I think the biggest problem on this blog is people take this stuff personal. Whether it’s a conversation or an argument, whether you are defending or arguing against , it should never be misconstrued as personal.

We all want to win. Some are just tired of the yearly bs and incompetence from Jones and then some like Jones think we are 2 players away. I will not stop taking shots at Jones until he puts a product on the field that actually has a legit chance at making a sustained run in the playoffs. Some will not stop defending him even if this team goes 0-16.

I will say agin however most thought RR would come in and make a huge difference on this team. Those same people are now saying we need to give him what he wants. The problem is this team doesn’t know how to draft for the 3-4. Even the goggle wearing fans can see that.

football mensa - January 18, 2012 reply

+1000 mens

DarkKnight88 - January 18, 2012 reply

C'mon Man! I'm at least in the running right?

I remember in preseason the whole blog was down on the D and said the offense would carry the team

We were fired up bc he was a Ryan and we assumed we’d get better players.

Not all of us, I wasn't on board with the hire, but I support him because he's the Dallas DC.

agree.....

If we could swap out Ryan for Nolan, I’d do it in a heartbeat. Not going to happen, but if I were running the team, I’d jump at it.

texstar - January 17, 2012 reply

Do we replace him now too?

BrickTop - January 17, 2012 via mobile reply

Eh the 3-4 hasn't worked in Dallas. It would be easier to draft for the 4-3.....

As I have said before…. too much projection in drafting for the 3-4. Not mention a lot of teams are going to the 3-4 which makes for a smaller pool of players.

+1

I’ve seen the light and its even more glaring now that we are once again a passing league. the 3-4 is geared more to stopping the run which we did fairly well actually save the divisional games that is. We do need to go back to the 4-3 to keep with the times.

Well you may have seen the light, but you haven't seen the reality of today's NFL.

The five leading defenses in opposing QB rating are all 3-4 defenses.

Creasy729 - January 17, 2012 reply

Creasy and what will your opinion be if the Giants win the superbowl ?

You know why they hit on the d line more than we don’t hit on olb’s and d linemen ? They aren’t having to project as much. They just line up and bring it. Leaving 7 in coverage.

football mensa - January 18, 2012 reply

The 3-4 is supposed to be geared toward rushing the passer

because the other team is not supposed to know where the 4th pass rusher is coming from. It hasn’t quite worked that way for us because of the lack of pass rush outside Ware. If we had a better bookend to Ware and a decent pass rush from the DL the 3-4 would be better against todays passing league. Sadly there’s that whole ‘if’ word in there a little too much.

DEL1SLE - January 17, 2012 reply

Steelers, 49ers, Texans, and Jets all use the 3-4

and I think the Ravens used it back in the early 2000s. The problem has been, perhaps, we don’t have much of a draft some years (2009, when we selected the DLs and OLBs in the later rounds), and we’ve struck out on same later picks used on secondary (AOA, the CB last year, Josh something?). We haven’t spent many higher picks on OLB or DL in awhile.

I like the 4/3 also, but our personal doesn't fit at this point.

We have one proven LB “Lee” Spencer and Ware aren’t 4/3 LBs, the two old guys should be gone. All others are still unproven.

Lee played a 4-3 in college. He would be fine.

Ware played 4-3 de in college he would be fine. Cut Spencer. he also played 4-3 de in college. Strahan weighed 252lbs the last time the Gmen won a superbowl. You don’t need a huge de to play on the qb’s blindside.

Spears a 4-3 de in college. Hatcher a 4-3 de in college. Rat a 4-3 dt in college. Ya we have 4-3 personnel.

Who plays strong and weak LBs?

The front 4 is no problem.

Carter plays either....Albright at strong......or Albright in the middle and Lee on weak side

it’s easier to find 4-3 lb’s since 99.9% of them play in a 4-3 in college. It wouldn’t be hard to find lb’s for a 4-3.

Like I said unproven, 3/4 is a better option right now.

Not even close.

football mensa - January 18, 2012 reply

Josh Thomas

man I regret that one we tried to Practice Squad him but the Ravens snatched him up. The Steelers are in a very heavy run dominant division with the Ravens(R. Rice), Bengals(C. Benson), Browns(P. Hillis) the last was really dominant but thanks to the ~~madden~~ ~~curse~~ injury bug he hasnt this year. The Jets well they have Revis so they don’t need to be in the 4-3 all the time but look what happens to Croamarties side of the field. Texans have to contend with CJ2K and MJD so they need ot be in 3-4. And the Niners have to deal with Jackson and Lynch who has been back ot his old self lately.

I am Ironman!!! - January 18, 2012 reply

Josh Thomas

He was nabbed by the Panthers.

Final Frame - January 17, 2012 reply

Raven Snatched up McCann

Who shouldn’t have been cut IMO

Thats right our only "ballhawk" type player

you don’t just cut game changers like McCann was.

Cowboys_Attack - January 18, 2012 reply

Your right my bad mixed em up thanks!

Cowboys_Attack - January 18, 2012 reply

I'm going to give him a chance to show he can work to improve us

Lets see who we release from our D .

That will tell us a lot about where he wants to take us.

In the meantime let’s shore up our lines.

If the playoffs showed one thing it’s all about protection, and penetration into the backfield ,
and creating fumbles which are recovered.

As best I can recall there weren’t any game changing interceptions, minus Ed Reeds protection pick in the Ravens game.

oldtimer - January 17, 2012 reply

I agree, I think RR was forced to farm someone else's land

I still think he was playing the media all season with his snippets about how great his defense was going to be. He’s not stupid, he knew what he had to work with. What was he supposed to say? That 1/2 the coaches can’t coach the way he wants them to for his system and 2/3 of the players he inherited can’t “get it” or just plain stink.

It came down to “farming someone else’s land” instead of burning bridges. I give him another year to see what he can do.

WVUBarbuilder - January 17, 2012 reply

The 3-4 isn't a bad defense to use

I actually like it, because you can do a lot of things with it from a pressure perspective.

The problem was not spending quality draft picks on DE, and DT, OLB # 2 for the coaching staff to work with. Hopefully now, Rob Ryan and his staff can get the players they want to make it work.

Rohpuri - January 17, 2012 via mobile reply

You have to spend at least one high draft

Rohpuri - January 17, 2012 via mobile reply

choice for DE, DT, and OLB

to build depth at the position every year.

I’m talking either 1st, 2nd or 3rd round.

Rohpuri - January 17, 2012 via mobile reply

Uh Spencer and Spears are both 1st rounders

They’ve spent the picks just not wisely