Note to RGIII - Quit running

The Washington Redskins did the Dallas Cowboys a solid by defeating the New York Giants on Monday night to make the NFC East a race:

1. NY Giants 7-5
2. Redskins 6-6
3. Cowboys 6-6 

From a record standpoint, this is the least-good division in the NFL.

As much fun as it is to watch Washington's Robert Griffin III run around - he ran 5 times for 72 yards against the Giants - he has to start sliding, running out of bounds and not getting hit. RGIII throws a wonderful deep ball, but watching him against the Giants he is getting hit too much.

The zone-read is becoming more popular in the NFL and QB's are running a bit more. RGIII leads all NFL passers in rushing attempts and rushing yards. The next closest is Carolina's Cam Newton, who has run 95 times for 524 yards. This is not some stale black-white QB argument. Andrew Luck has run 44 times for 216 yards.

It doesn't matter. RGIII is a sturdy 6-foot-2, 217 pounds and is as tough as any QB, but it doesn't matter. The best QBs are the ones who aren't hit, and know how to avoid being hit. 

It's an acquired skill and one that RGIII needs to quickly learn. The Redskins and owner Dan Snyder sank so much into trading up to draft RGIII it would be a shame if he misses games because of an injury sustained during a run.

He is such a good guy and potentially so good for the NFL the more he is on the field the better it is for everyone involved.

RGIII has rushed 105 times this season for 714 yards with six touchdowns and an absurd 6.8 yards per carry average. Those numbers make it is soooooo enticing to let RGIII run because the 1st down stick is right there. Junk the short term gain for the long term goal.

 

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Dallas Cowboys "Get Real" Chat No. 3: The Giants game really happened

Thanks for checking in for this Dallas Cowboys Get Real chat to cover the wreck that was their 34-18 loss at home against the Chicago Bears on Monday night. Don't worry, it was actually much worse than the final score indicated.
 
Post your comment underneath and we can begin a discourse.

THE COWBOYS BEAT NEW YORK? NOT THE JETS, THE GIANTS? IN NEW JERSEY: After watching the last three games it does seem a bit amazing these same Dallas Cowboys traveled up East and defeated the Giants, 24-17.

The number decrease since then is amazing:

at NYG: 433 yards offense; Romo 22 of 29, 307 yards, 3 TD, 1 int; DeMarco Murray 20 carries, 131 yards
at Sea: 296 yards; Romo 23 of 40, 251 yards, 1 TD, 1 int; DeMarco Murray 13 carries, 44 yards
v. TB: 297 yards; Romo 25 of 39, 283 yards, 0 TD, 1 int; DeMarco Murray 18 carries, 38 yards
v. Chi.: 430 yards; Romo 31 of 43, 307 yards, 1 TD, 5 int; DeMarco Murray 11 carries, 24 yards

WHICH TEAM ARE THEY? The Cowboys have more matchup problems than you might think. The Giants were victims of their own unforced errors - dropped passes, etc. - the Seahawks out-physicaled the Cowboys, the Bucs were equally as ugly, and the Bears are much better defensively.

Despite an upgrade in talent here and there, the Cowboys simply don't look that much different than a year ago, and are playing like they are going to finish between 7-9 and 9-7.

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Cowboys Irrational Reaction - Who are we kidding?

So many things to choose from this latest disappointment made possible by the Dallas Cowboys professional football team.

Chicago Bears 34
Dallas Cowboys 18

The Clownboys are 2-2 entering the bye. After that, it's a trip to Baltimore where lots of teams with wretched offenses win football games. 

Where to begin with this steamling pile of Jerry's Secret?

1. Start with the owner.
2. Go to the team president.
3. Move down to the general manager.

4. The quarterback has eight turnovers in the last two games. Generally, that's not good.

5. The third year WR out of Oklahoma State looks like a rookie. Up, down, right and left. Dez Bryant, your career is calling. You may want to pick up.

6. The offensive line remains a total mess. Since running for 143 yards in the Week 1 win against the Giants, the Cowboys' running game has averaged 3.1, 1.7 and 2.9 yards per carry, respectively, in the following three games.

7. Defending Bears WR Brandon Marshall was deemed completely unnecessary, so much so he had a free route in the fourth quarter. Brandon had 7 receptions for 138 yards and a TD.

8. Cowboys WR Miles Austin had four catches. The Bears defense had five catches. A few of those picks were not on Romo, but enough of them were.

9. The original reason Jerry Jones hired Jason Garrett away from Miami to join Wade Phillips' staff in 2007 was because of his offensive mind, and he wanted him to call the plays.

10. The Packers, Cowboys, Patriots and Broncos are all 2-2. Plan the parade!

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Now what are we going to whine about? Refs & NFL close to a deal

It looks as if The Replacement Era of NFL football is just about over.  ESPN NFL reporter Chris Mortensen is reporting that an agreement in principle is here. The regular crews could be back at work this weekend.

How sad. Scab Refs have provided a constant source of entertainment and suspense.

So now a business that was created to make money no longer has to worry about the "integrity" of its product. Whew.

Unfortunately, this sets up the expectation that the "real" referees who will return to work will now do something they have never been before: been perfect.

Please do not forget that referees inherently suck and that this is a no-win job. Sometimes a game is going to be lost because of a bad call. They are going to whiff on calls and not see everything just like the replacement guys. 

It is better to have the "real" ones back to work, but they are going to screw up, too. 

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Martellus Bennett serving up a giant plate of crow

No one ever doubted Martellus Bennett's ability, but the "want to" chip awlays seemed to be lacking. It is turning out he wanted it more than maybe so many of us, me included, realized.

Marty B is doing with the Giants what he never did with the Texas A&M Aggies or certainly the Dallas Cowboys. Perhaps maybe it was playing for a head coach in College Station who didn't feature him the right way, or playing behind a tight end in Dallas whom he was never going to get the opportunity to be anything other than his caddie.

In his first season with the Giants, Marty B is tearing it up.

In three games he has 15 receptions for 185 yards and three touchdowns. Marty B has touchdown catches in every game this season, including NYG's 36-7 win in Carolina on Thursday night. Those are his first TD catches since 2008 when he was a rookie with the Cowboys. He is on pace to shatter any previous career high in every category.

So whose fault is this that Marty B didn't do this, ever, with the Cowboys?

Some of it is on the coaches who simply were never going to give Marty B the chance to be ahead of Witten.
Some of it is on Marty B. He may be thriving now because the opportunity is there, and perhaps leaving the Cowboys and the state of Texas was the best thing for his career.

Marty B signed a one-year, $1 million deal with the Giants in this past offseason and claimed it was his time to shine. It is turning out he was right.

 

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The Dallas Cowboys should not be saying they need to play Dallas Cowboys football

IRVING, Texas - One of the great and rapidly growing cliches in sports are athletes and coaches saying, "We just need to play TEAM X" kickball.

And when you play for the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, New York Yankees, LA Kings, etc. you should do that. To play to that brand means you are winning.

On Wednesday, Cowboys defensive end Jason Hatcher said, "We just need to go out and play Dallas Cowboys football."

Jason Hatcher is truly one of the good guys on this team, and in this league, but I have to respectfully disagree with Mr. Hatcher. The Dallas Cowboys should NOT be playing Dallas Cowboys football. Winning on the road against the Giants and then following that with a bad loss in Seattle is Dallas Cowboys football.

The Dallas Cowboys should be playing New England Patriots football. The Dallas Cowboys should be playing Baltimore Ravens football.

The brand of football and identity of the Dallas Cowboys for more than a decade is that of mediocrity, and that is not good enough.

I asked Hatcher what 'Dallas Cowboys' football is.

"It's aggressive, physical, fast, loose, physical football," he said. "It's the way the Dallas Cowboys were in the '90s. I grew up on those teams."

That is an admirable aspiration. If the Dallas Cowboys want to play 'Cowboys football' as defined by this century, prepare for more stink.

If the Cowboys want to follow Hatcher's lead and try to define 'Cowboys football' as established by that collection of bad asses in the '90s, great. 

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A big loss for the NFL: NFL films exec Steve Sabol passes

One of the most iconic images in Dallas Cowboys history is that of a shadowy Tom Landry walking around Texas Stadium. The picture was captured by NFL FIlms in the '70s, and inside an editing room the shot was immediately recognized by NFL Films exec Steve Sabol, one of the most important people to the growth of the league.

Today, after a long fight with a brain tumor, Sabol died. The story was reported on NFL.com.

Sabol started out at NFL Films, which was founded by his father Ed, as a camerman and eventually became the voice and face of what was arguably the single biggest, and most important, media arm to the league for many years.

What Ed and Steve Sabol did was to produced movies based on an NFL game, or season. They used expensive technology and coupled it with script writing, stirring background music, and an extensive use of slow motion mixed in with sound bites from players and coaches no one could get anywhere else to create memorable scenes.

"He was such an innovator in the way they put together the highlights for the NFL. How many cameras they put out; it was documentary style. It was cutting edge," said TV sports producer Dave Keeney. "It was building on the popularity of the game. It's one of the reasons you had the NFL Network is so popular is because of what they did at NFL Films. The library is huge. They did such an awesome job. You knew what it was the minute you heard the music. You didn't need to see the pictures. You knew it was an NFL game. He and his dad created a brand is what they did."

Sabol's work has been recognized and celebrated by the NFL, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and earned him countless media awards, etc. 

He was 69.

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How DeMarco Murray let down the fantasy geeks who have him on their team

IRVING, Texas - Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray had one of the best Week 1's of any NFL running back, but his decision to turn left rather than stay straight cost both he and the fantasy owners/nerds who have him on their team.

In the third quarter of the Cowboys' Week 1 win against the Giants, Murray was nearly stopped for a loss by a Giants defender, then by fullback Lawrence Vickers, when he broke loose on the right side for a 48 yard run. Should have been longer.

He had Dez Bryant in front as a blocker, but rather than remain straight on the right sideline he opted to turn left towards some chasing Giant defenders where he was stopped at the 25-yard line.

Murray said he thought the Giant defenders were much closer than they were and he did not think he was going to be about to out-run them.

"Looking at the film I could have just walked into," Murray said. "Hopefully that won't happen again."

The additional 25 yards would not have made him the week's most productive back, but his fantasy owners would have been grateful for the points.

1. C.J. Spiller, Bills: 14 carries, 169 yards, 1 TD
2. DeMarco Murray, Cowboys: 20 carries, 131 yards
3. Steven Ridley, Patriots: 21 carries, 125 yards, 1 TD
4. Frank Gore, 49ers: 16 carries, 112 yards, 1 TD
5. LeSean McCoy, Eagles: 20 carries, 110 yards 

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Cowboys chit chat No. 5: Brandon Carr & Morris Claiborne make Rob Ryan look genius

In the first of what will be a season-long, next day chat with you - the greatest people on earth - we will chat about the Dallas Cowboys' previous game.Post your comment underneath and we can begin a discourse.

Question: Does Rob Ryan suddenly have great hair?

Answer: Yes. The mop atop Ryan's head is likely more a source of envy, but the way the Cowboys defense played against the Giants every thing looks pretty good. And even if you are no good at lip reading, it was pretty easy to determine what Ryan was screaming from the sidelines on Wednesday night: "Play some bleep bleep bleep defense! If you want to bleep bleep bleep bleep win bleep bleep bleep this bleep bleep bleep game you have to bleep bleep bleep ... I forgot what I was going to bleep bleep bleep bleep say!"

Props to corners Morris Claiborne and Brandon Carr, each of whom held coverage longer than their predecessors allowing a front seven to get a little more pressure on Eli Manning.

Jason Hatcher, whom not enough people realized what a raw project he was coming out of Grambling, was solid as a starter as was nose tackle Josh Brent, who filled in for the injured Jay Ratliff. Brent is developing into a solid nose tackle; he doesn't have Ratliff's motor, but he is a bigger body who can occupy space.

Sean Lee forced a fumble, had more than 10 tackles, and is chasing DeMarcus Ware as this team's best defensive player. The guy makes quality plays all the time. Second-year LB Bruce Carter continues to make the Cowboys look good for drafting him last year even though he was coming off a torn ACL. He has the speed, and looks like he has the instincts.

The Cowboys held Eli Manning to 187 yards passing and sacked him three times; the Giants were 4-of-12 on third downs, and ran for 82 yards.

And a tip of the cap to Cowboys LT Tyron Smith for hustling to tackle Giants LB Michael Boley at the 2-yard line after he intercepted a second-quarter pass. The Cowboys defense held on the ensuing possession and forced a Giants field goal after a 1st-and-goal from the 1.

Anything about this defense you didn't like?

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Cowboys chit chat No. 3: The weekly dunk tank

In the first of what will be a season-long, next day chat with you - the greatest people on earth - we will chat about the Dallas Cowboys' previous game.Post your comment underneath and we can begin a discourse.

Question: Who deserves to be in the Dallas Cowboys dunk tank after their first game?

Answer: Jerry Jones. As much as we love us some Jerry Jones, he will be in the dunk tank throughout the season.

Tyron Smith and the interior of the offensive line. In his first game at left tackle, Smith was painfully overmatched against Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul. There may not be a more dominant and disprutive end than JPP. JPP was not credited with monster numbers, but in watching the game there was a pile of anecdotal evidence to show that the Cowboys could not handle him.

Smith is still the youngest player on the Cowboys roster, and this matchup is hard for any left tackle. He will get better.

The interior of the offensive line was not particularly great. The names changed from last season but the results looked the same. Center Phil Costa left early with an injury and recently acquired Ryan Cook had no choice but to play.  

And still not a big fan of the safety combination of Barry Church and Gerald Sensabough. Plays need to come from the safety position.

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