Cowboys 37, Packers 27
Posted by
tgirsch
A few thoughts, in no particular order:
- First, I thought going in that the Cowboys were the better team (I’ve been saying most of the season that I don’t think the Packers are as good as their record), and it looks like I was right.
- That said, neither team looks to me like a championship caliber team. They both have a lot of talent, but are simply too inconsistent, and too prone to giving up the big play.
- I knew that “Bad Brett” was still hiding in there somewhere. But a lot of that had to do with coaching yesterday. More on this later. I will say, though, that as bad as Brett’s first INT looked, the guy was open — he simply underthrew him, probably because he was hurried. If he’d thrown the ball about 5 yards farther, that’s a probable touchdown.
- Tony Romo is the real deal. But I don’t understand the constant comparisons to Brett Favre. Yes, he’s got a gun for an arm, but that’s where the similarities end, in my opinion. Romo’s much less cavalier with the football; I didn’t see him make any of the kinds of cover-your-eyes throws that Favre is prone to making (and often getting away with).
- Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Romo had all day and then some to throw the ball. My kingdom for a pass rush. If you want my opinion of the single most important difference-maker in the game, it was that Dallas had a good pass rush (especially early and late), and Green Bay didn’t.
- Is it just me, or was the game terribly officiated? The only saving grace was that it was bad in a way that didn’t favor one team over the other. I saw several blatant holds go uncalled in both directions; ditto for several blatant occurrences of offensive interference. I don’t think Green Bay got the first down near the goal line in the third, but the officials said “close enough.” Al Harris’ clear interception in the first quarter was called a completion to Owens. The list goes on.
- Despite my complaints about the officiating, I do think that the late pass interference call against Green Bay was the right call. Although I would like to see a two-tiered pass interference rule (think facemask), with a flagrant, spot-of-the-foul variety, and a less severe, 10-yards-and-automatic-first-down variety. But with the rule the way it is today, I think you have to call that.
- As I alluded to above, the game was coached terribly. Both teams demonstrated a maddening refusal to stick with what works. McCarthy seemed to think that the Packers needed to hit a home run, and called several long plays and getting away from the controlled, short passing attack that has worked so well all season. (Indeed, when Favre went out and Rodgers came in, he reverted to that plan, with a couple of ugly exceptions, and lo and behold, it worked pretty well.)
- Wade Phillips (or perhaps Jason Garrett), on the other hand, went with a “that worked, let’s not try it again” approach. Every time the Cowboys put Owens in motion, it confused the Green Bay corners and resulted in a big play. Yet they only did it a few times, and stopped altogether when they built up a big lead, only going back to it after the Packers pulled to within 3.
- WTF was up with that Owens bobble in the end zone that resulted in Romo’s only INT? Romo should be allowed to punch him in the nose for that…
- Speaking of Owens, he pretty much took Al Harris to school. He also provided a blueprint for how to beat Harris: don’t worry about gaining position on him, because on several plays Harris was in perfect defensive position and then merely stood there while Owens went up and made the catch.
- Not to make excuses, but I would like to see how the game would have played out if Green Bay didn’t have injuries to its top pass rusher, one of its top two corners, and one of its best offensive lineman. I think the injury to Favre actually helped the Packers, though: Favre tends to get psyched out in Dallas, and the switch to Rodgers made the Cowboys [stupidly] switch to a more conservative game plan.
- On the bright side, Rodgers showed a lot of promise. As uncomfortable as he looked, he got the job done; you certainly can’t pin the loss on him. If he gets comfortable, the Packers will be just fine at the QB position for quite some time.
- Finally, Chris Collinsworth gets the trifecta: He managed to give glowing verbal hand jobs to Favre, Romo, and Rodgers, all in the same game. Apparently, all you have to do is either be effective or have a good history in order to be worshipped by Collinsworth…
- OK, I lied, one more thing: Bryant Gumbel is awful. I can’t even count how many times he called a three yard gain “almost nothing,” and in the end, he can’t even count, because he said something like “Cowboys win by 7.” It’s not every day someone can make me long for Joe Buck, but Gumbel does it.
i have been comparing Romo with Montana for quite some time. Same kind of effort-less agility, and the exact same release. Cool, for the most part, under pressure. As for Owens dropping the ball, I think he’s banked mad points with Romo for leaping up and catching some poorly thrown balls, and he bails Romo out more often than he disappoints. The thing about repeating a certain offensive strategy too often is that the defense will adjust, and then you have to do something else. Sometimes, its better to save what works for when you need it.
I actually love Gumbel and Collinsworth together.
Comment 11/30/2007
One should not be surprised by TO’s bad hands. They were never good, and have gotten progressively worse. If he had hands like, say, Moss, he would be the athletic equivalent of Tiger Woods/Michael Jordan/Roger Federer.
Comment 11/30/2007