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Some quick observations...

Danny Smith's picture

 I have been buried at work with a deadline and have really missed out on adding some commentary about the current state of our boys...
 
With that said - here are some quick notes:
 
I hate to say this but the Cowboys have a few too many bad players or unproven players on the field to make it to the next level.  Until they fix this, we "might" be in a little trouble but it is hard to tell right now.  Here are the main issues as I see them:
 
1)  Marion Barber, as a starting running back, is a bad player. He has no lateral speed, below average vision and no elusiveness. Basically, a handoff to him early in a series or in the game is starting to become a wasted down. He is a very effective goalline back, pass blocker and a good "closer" if we have a lead late. If we relegate him to that role, our running game will improve dramatically. 
 
2)  Roy Williams, as a starting wide receiver, is at best an average player. The points have been made numerous times about this - I won't waste everyone's time doing it again.
 
3)  Alan Ball is a below average player at this point. Free safety is a key position on the defense - and we now have one with below average angles of pursuit on the run, poor tackling technique and average coverage skills. His play recognition at this point is also very poor. If we don't see some improvement here we might be in trouble in the secondary. The fact that we evaluated him as a starter during a time when our defense was dominating up front and he was barely challenged at all to me is very silly.
 
4)  Bueler is unproven at kicker. I have been riding the Cowboys about their kicking choices for years. I loved Folk when he was on but I was lobbying to get rid of him early last year. We waited too long, lost about 2-3 games due to poor kicking and thus lost home field advantage. The rest was history. Kicker is not a position to play around with and I am tired of the Cowboys doing it. They did not pursue some very good free agent kickers this offseason and if we get burned because of poor kicking that will be hard to forgive. 
 
5)  Finally - coaching. Our head coach is not top caliber - everyone around the league and even most fans know this. he is a good defensive coordinator - that is about it.  The fact that Miles Austin needed an injury in week 6 to crack the starting lineup is a crime which again probably cost us 2 games last season because we had very little offensive threats.  If they keep either Dez Bryant or Crayton behind Williams on the depth chart they will be making the same mistake again. Also remember these were the same guys that though Brad Johnson could still play when there were reporters and even radio disc jockeys who knew he couldn't .
 
Now - the good news is we do have top caliber talent at many positions. The issue I think is great teams do not have weak players on the field. Until we recognize this and make changes we could be in for a very dissapointing year...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 Some replies, in

Submitted by Tim on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 13:51.

 Some replies, in order:

  1. When Marion Barber was in his prime, every analyst said "With that punishing style, he may not play too long." He has played five seasons for the Cowboys now, and is two and a half years from the mythical age of 30 - the wall for normal running backs. It's no knock on Barber to point out that his career is playing out pretty much the way everybody thought it would five years ago. I'm not quite as down on him as you, I don't think, and I agree that there still can be a role for him on this offense.
  2. You are far too kind. Roy Williams, average?
  3. I'm not sure we got a really fair look with Sensabaugh missing, too. Going into preseason my take was that Ball held up fine in two starts (and most of three games) last year, so at least it would not be a downgrade from Ken Hamlin. That's still where I am on him, but I thought we'd see Mike Hamlin push him a little more than we did over the summer. For me he is still a question mark. Great back-up guy for both S and CB, though.
  4. I know you wrote your notes before the preseason finale, but I feel a lot better about Buehler after that. A kick at the whistle to end both halves - one from 51 yards, and the other to win the game. It ain't Lambeau Field in November, but it's something. It does seem like the team got burned on one high priced kicker and suddenly it's back to the old way of doing things. On the other hand, they did draft Buehler, too, and it's not like he's never kicked field goals. No doubt this is a big, and scary question mark, though.
  5. Coaching...well, too many thoughts for this format. At kick-off opening night, this will officially be Wade's longest-held head coaching job of his career. I think we will learn more about him as a coach this year thna in any previous one. I hope that's a good thing.