Week 2 Analysis: 2-0

Before I begin with my analysis of last nights game, I would like to say, WOW! When I turn on a football game and watch two of the top teams play each other, that is the type of game I'm wanting. If you missed this game, you truly missed a beauty. It had it all, lead changes galore, costly turnovers, and yes, even stupidity, a la DeSean Jackson

Offense:

On our first first drive, it appeared as if the unique Eagles' blitzing scheme was going to make it a long night for Romo and the O-line after. After facing a 3rd and long, Romo converted. Then on the very next sequence, third an long again. This time, it was a 72 yard bomb to T.O. (I'll be saying his name this year because it's been awhile since T.O. has been an idiot. I reserve the right to switch back to Parcell's "the player" at any time I wish, although T.O will determine that by his actions and mouth).

After another Eagle field goal, Felix Jones took the Kick off return 98 yards into the end zone.

The second quarter was when a lot of the drama happened. Romo fumbled in the end zone (was it three times on the same play?)for an Eagled TD. This was a costly turnover that gave the Eagles the lead.

But on the next drive, Romo drove down the field for yet another T.O. TD pass.

After that drive, was one of those unforgettable moments of laughter when the Eagles hooked up with a long pass with DeSean Jackson, but Jackson decided to start his end zone celebration one yard too early, but more on that when we discuss the defensive side of the ball.

Both teams then kicked a field goal which brought us to halftime.

In the second half, Dallas realized that they have a running back, so they figured they might as well give it to him a few times. Marion the Barbarian responded. In the second half he had a 1 yd rushing TD and a 17 yd TD reception. Add in a couple more Folk Field goals and Dallas limiting Philly to one TD in the second half, and Dallas rode the Marion the Barbarian to a victory as he wound down the clock in the 4th.

Witten led the team in receptions and yardage, with 7 for 110 yards. T.O. had 3 for 89, two of those three were TDs.

MB3 rushed 18 times for 63 and had 1 TD. Nearly all of his damage was done in the second half, particularly the 4th quarter.

[Lack of] Defense:
Well, the other team scored 37 points. So...how do you think our D was? Exactly.

It might be worth mentioning that T. Newman only played in the nickel package. Hopefully he'll be back to 100% next week. Still, it's difficult to say how much he would have helped.

In the first half, there really isn't much to write about. Neither team had much of a defense whatsoever (the exception, of course, was the Asante Samuel INT). It's almost like both teams were just running through their plays like they do in practice without a defense.

The defense on the DeSean Jackson play was interesting. Pacman (am I not supposed to call him that anymore?) Jones was burnt by Jackson, but as we already know, Jackson decided to throw the ball behind him at the 1 yard line. I'm not really sure if I should be upset with Pacman for not jumping on that ball. When you think about it at first, you think, "Well yeah, of course he should have jumped on it. Then it would be Dallas ball and Jackson would have looked like a moron." But at the same time, if you think about it long enough, the refs blew the whistle and signaled a touchdown, would jumping on the ball do any good? I know a lot of fans are upset that he didn't jump on it, but I think I'm going to give Pacman the benefit of the doubt. Not because I'm a Cowboy fan or because I think Pacman is a great guy (ha!), but because rarely do you see somebody like Jackson do such a stupid thing. That was absolutely ridiculous and he's lucky that they ended up with a TD on the next play.

In the second half, our defense improved greatly.

Burnett and Watkins ended the game as the team leaders in tackling, with 6 each. Ellis had 2 sacks, Ware and Ratliff each had one.

Other comments:
Penalties, ouch! 10 penalties for 108 yards. Penalties was this team's achilles heel last week in the Cleveland game and penalties was this team's achilles all throughout last year. Although this team has been more successful under Wade (thus far) than it was under Parcells, Parcells was much better about keeping the penalties under control. I know that everybody expects Dallas to go deep into the playoffs, but it's going to be tough to win in the playoffs if we are giving the other team a free 100 yards.

Everyone talked about the unique blitzing scheme that Philly uses to confuse the offensive line. True, Philly does a lot of fake blitzing and are usually quite successful at getting to the QB. But the O-line gave a very encouraging performance. Romo wasn't sacked the entire game.

The ESPN camera crew loves looking at Jerry Jones.

That's it! Next week we have a tough one against Green Bay.