Week 3: 3-0

I kept reading and hearing all summer that the Eagles/Bears will be the top team in the NFC. I got tired of it, but played it humble and didn't express my opinion. I was confused as to why not many people were giving the cowboys love. Nonetheless, i figured, "Big-D will have their chance to show the world the truth."

Last night, they did just that. These boys are a force to be reckoned with.

Offense:
Big D started out running the ball a lot. But that wasn't getting anywhere. so then they decided to pass the ball a lot. a whole lot. That got us everywhere. 15 of the last 17 first half plays were passing. Romo was extremely effective. Much credit does go to the receivers however. Chicago has some really good defensive backs, but the Dallas offense made them look really average. The player had 8 catches for 145 yards. Jason Witten had 6 for 90.

Statswise, it appears as if the rushing attack did pretty well, which might be halfway true. Marion Barber III did have a 100+ yard game, getting the majority of the carries (15). The majority of his (and almost all) carries occured in the 4th when we simply were trying to ice the game away. We really hardly rushed the ball at all.

Defense:
Defense also posted a solid game. We were weak in week 1. Then in week 2 we took a baby step of improvement. this week, we took a giant leap forward. Anthony Henry had his second straight game with 2 INTs. We stopped the run exceptionally well. I felt like we should have stopped the pass a bit better, but they stepped it up in the redzone and recovered well. It's worth noting that Terrence Newman was back in his first game of this season. Nothing really good or bad game from a play he was involved in. He had a very quiet game. Grossman hardly threw his way.

Special teams:
I know, I know, I don't normally include ST in my reviews. today is a special occasion though, because of what Dallas was able to do to Devin Hester. Most teams are very conservative with him on the other end of the field, and hesitant to kick at him (with good reason). The Dallas coverage, however, challenged him and embarassed him. Take a look at what Raf says about the Dallas coverage:

Nick Folk erred on the opening kickoff, knocking the ball out of bounds and giving Chicago great field position. After that, Special Team’s coach Bruce Read had to love his unit’s production. Folk kicked off five times to Hester and the coverage guys produced the following line:

1. Folk kicks off four yards deep. Hester returns to the Chicago 18;
2. Folk kicks off to the 1. Hester returns to the Chicago 14;
3. Folks kicks to the 7. Hester returns to the Chicago 35;
4. Folk kicks off the the Chicago 5. Hester returns to the Chicago 16 and fumbles after a Keith Davis hit;
5. Folk kicks off four yards deep. Hester returns to the Chicago 8.

That’s an average of the Bears’ 18 for you scoring at home.

Very nice, indeed, and good analysis, Raf!

Penalties
Penalties killed us! The entire first half, especially, it seemed as if we were going backwards more than forwards. thankfully, coach wade talked some sense into his team during halftime and penalties were down in the second half. But still we have got to get those penalties under control if we are going to continue to be a competitive team. This goes for offense and defense. We had some completely unnecessary interferences, facemasks, holdings, false starts, it was an incredibly frustrating experience, especially in the first half.

Next week we are at Home against Rams. In fact, the next 2 weeks we go against two teams that have struggling offenses (Rams and Bills). It may be a good idea to give Terrence Newman a rest those two weeks to let him rest up for the Patriots game in three weeks. It was a good win this week, one that really makes a statement to the rest of the league.