Week 10 Analysis: 8-1

By my count, Dallas just moved ahead of Indy in the power rankings. If you disagree, I don't really care.


Offense:
I could give you a bunch of stats from the receivers and from Romo, but the truth is the offensive stat of the game belongs to the O-Line. All night long they were blocking and blocking well. NY displayed a variety of unique blitz formations, but the O-Line did what O linemen do best. Flozell Adams has had two solid games in a row by neutralizing T. Cole and O. Umenyiora. I still stick to my previous comments on Mr. Adams, calling him the "False start champion", but I just felt the need to acknowledge the good job he has been doing lately. And yes, perhaps he's a bit better and waiting for the snap before he pushes fatties around. It's a contract year for Flozell. I'm not sure if the it'll be the Cowboys but someone will give him decent money. Anyways, onto the juicy stuff.

T. Romo went 20 for 28 with 247 yards, 4 TDs and a pick. The player (who is tempting me to start calling him by his name after his very humbling interview) hooked up for 6 catches, 125 yards and a coupla TDs. Jason Witten was almost non existent, being doubled nearly every play (which I guess is why the player was in single coverage nearly every play). Witten just had 2 catches for 12 yards. Romo's other two TD passes went to P. Crayton and T. Curtis. It was Curtis's third reception of the season. It was also Curtis's third TD catch of the season. He doesn't catch that many but we he does, he's making them count apparently.

Running the ball was a struggle. JuJo led the team with 48 yards on 11 carries. MB3 was right behind with 34 yds on 12 caries. The Giants stopped the run very well. Late in the game, it seems as if we did our clock management using 3-4 yard passes, instead of runs. After JuJo broke his 20 yard run in the first quarter, that pretty much did it for the run. It doesn't really worry me at this point at least. The Giants were blitzing quite a bit, which contributed to stopping the run. Since they were blitzing so much, they didn't really get very many attempts. Besides, why would you run the ball if the player is consistently being left in single coverage?

Defense:
K. Burnett, although he led the team with 10 tackles, had a very stupid taunting penalty which practically gave the Giants an extra field goal before halftime. Boo Burnett!

Even though we won, I have acquired a new worry about our defense. The worry is this: covering Tight Ends. I know it's Jeremy Shockey, and so standards should be lowered when covering a Tight End like that. But what worries me is that Roy Williams is who Jeremy Shockey was matched up with. No wonder Shockey had 12 catches for 129 yards! We need to find a new way to cover TEs than simply sticking Williams on them. Williams is an incredible safety, but he's more like a contact lusting linebacker who just plays at the Safety spot. He is horrible when it comes to coverage. If I was an Offensive Coordinator playing against the Dallas D, I would take a page out of what the Giants did yesterday, and I would quite frequently set up a Tight End and have him run Roy Williams direction.

We need to find a better way to cover TEs. I don't think there is a team that can beat the Cowboys in a defensive brawl, type game. If the Cowboys are going to be beat, it will be by out lasting them in an offensive marathon (as the Pats did). One way to do that is by taking advantage of the R. Williams, TE matchup. Hopefully Wade and Co. can think of something else to do there.

Enough on that rant. In other defensive news, T. Johnson made his Cowboy/Season debut yesterday. He also sacked E. Manning in the 4th. K. Hamlin and P. Watkins had INTs each.

Good win yesterday. I know it's only mid November, but we are at a good place having swept the 2nd place team in the division. This was a big "statement win" for the Cowboys. No longer should I hear this "the cowboys haven't beaten anybody good" garbage. They are in the NFC east for crying out loud...and that was the SECOND time they beat the Giants, no the first. I understand the Giants started slow, but why does the first matchup not seem to count? It's especially satisfying after Skip Bayless predicted the Giants to win this game, even though his reason for that prediction made absolutely no sense.

As I said, good statement win. The power rankings will probably show Dallas move ahead of Indy to the #2 spot, since the Colts lost. I'm not sure how long we can stay at the #2 spot though. Truthfully, Indy probably is the better team (although I'd take the Dallas defense over Indy's). But it'll be nice to be up there for however long it is. Who knows, I could be flat wrong and not know the power ranking system as good as I think I do. We'll see. If I'm wrong, it's still a good statement win.

Next week we have the Skins at Home.