Archer: Early bye helps Cowboys, but only to a point

Cotton

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Early bye helps Cowboys, but only to a point

Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer

IRVING, Texas -- In a perfect world, the Dallas Cowboys would have liked their bye to be later in the season.

But in a perfect world they would not be without Tony Romo and Dez Bryant either.

“It always comes at the right time,” coach Jason Garrett said. “It really does. I think if you ask the players and coaches around this league, they’ll always say that. Typically there are some guys banged up and need to heal up a little bit. That’s the case for our team just like it would be for anybody in the league. We’re going to use it as an opportunity to evaluate everything we’re doing, scheme, and personnel. Use it as an opportunity to kind of hit the reset button and have a good couple of days of work with our players and get back to work getting ready for the Giants next week.”

The last time the Cowboys had a bye this early was in 2012, when it came in week 5. The Cowboys were 2-2 and on their way to a second straight 8-8 finish, their playoff chances undone by an 0-2 finish to the season.

Teams like to have a bye later in the season because of the soreness that builds up over time. In the last two seasons it came in Week 11.

“Rest up, watch this film (of the loss to the New England Patriots) and get everything concentrated and focused,” defensive end Jeremy Mincey said. “Make everything right.”

The misnomer about a bye week, however, is that many changes can be made. The players were off Monday and are off again today.

They will practice Wednesday and Thursday, but they will be shorter sessions and without pads. The players will be off through the weekend.

Garrett said the practice plan has not been set.

“Oftentimes you work on kind of going back to the basics; you focus on technique and spend a little more time on that and spend more time on letting the younger players who don’t get as many reps, you give them an opportunity to get some work,” Garrett said. “You heal some of the other guys up. But we’ll sit down and have some discussions about how we want to structure those practices here in the next day or so.”
 

ravidubey

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The bye week can't fix broken bones or Tony's IR status.

Sad that two players can cripple the entire team.

Forget Seattle. Giants, Eagles, and Bucs are must-wins.
 

Clay_Allison

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The bye week can't fix broken bones or Tony's IR status.

Sad that two players can cripple the entire team.

Forget Seattle. Giants, Eagles, and Bucs are must-wins.
If we beat the Giants and Eagles our nostrils remain above water in the division. Those season sweeps would give us any future tie breakers with them.
 

DLK150

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Our best chance for the playoffs is to stay afloat in a weak division for a few weeks, get Romo and Dez back, then hope we can get on a roll the last quarter of the season. The NFCE is so mediocre, I could see 8-8 winning it. Getting Hardy, Gregory and McClain back relatively fresh can only help the defense down the stretch.

@Giants is a toss up but I feel like it could be a road loss because they seem to be getting their act together and that would leave us at 2-4. I doubt we have much of a shot against Seattle, so we're potentially 2-5 after seven games. Eagles, Bucs and Fins are winnable with some decent game management from the QB position. If we're at .500 going into the Turkey Day game against Carolina, I believe we'll still be in the thick of things in the division.

It's hard to gauge potential with question marks at key positions though. My gut says we finish 8-8. The optimist in me sees 9-7, potentially. 10-6 isn't out of the question but doubtful.
 

Genghis Khan

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If guys like Cassel and Michael don't help the offense play way better we have no shot this season. Unless we can get some contributions from the offense we will be 2-7 or 2-8 when Romo comes back and the season will essentially already be over.
 

L.T. Fan

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If guys like Cassel and Michael don't help the offense play way better we have no shot this season. Unless we can get some contributions from the offense we will be 2-7 or 2-8 when Romo comes back and the season will essentially already be over.
There is only one thing that can help Dallas now and that is to get a vertical game in place and Bryant is the only hope to fulfill that role. Williams as the primary is no solution. If the vertical game gets respect the running game will get some help. If the running game gets help the ball control element kicks in. If the ball control element kicks in the QB gets more time to keep the long ball in play. That's the cycle and it is predicated on having a deep receiving threat.
 

Carp

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If guys like Cassel and Michael don't help the offense play way better we have no shot this season. Unless we can get some contributions from the offense we will be 2-7 or 2-8 when Romo comes back and the season will essentially already be over.
Romo said we would be in the SB though.
 

Genghis Khan

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There is only one thing that can help Dallas now and that is to get a vertical game in place and Bryant is the only hope to fulfill that role. Williams as the primary is no solution. If the vertical game gets respect the running game will get some help. If the running game gets help the ball control element kicks in. If the ball control element kicks in the QB gets more time to keep the long ball in play. That's the cycle and it is predicated on having a deep receiving threat.
It works both ways, if we are running the ball well it opens things up downfield. We had that synergy last year and it was the biggest reason for our success. We ignored the formula this off season and we have been paying dearly for it.
 

Cowboysrock55

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We ignored the formula this off season and we have been paying dearly for it.
I don't know about that. We are paying dearly for serious injuries to our two best players. Without them we would be 4-1 or 5-0 and everyone would be high fiving.

The only mistake we made in the offseason was not finding a better backup QB and maybe adding more WRs.
 

Genghis Khan

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I don't know about that. We are paying dearly for serious injuries to our two best players. Without them we would be 4-1 or 5-0 and everyone would be high fiving.

The only mistake we made in the offseason was not finding a better backup QB and maybe adding more WRs.
:picard
 

NoDak

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We ignored the formula this off season and we have been paying dearly for it.
I don't agree. Not completely, anyway. Yeah, we didn't replace Murray with somebody that we thought was acceptable, but the team clearly thought they did.

And considering we lost our two biggest offensive weapons in the first 6 quarters of the season, I don't think a reasonable judgment can be made on how well the running game would have performed if things had gone as planned. Once we lost Romo and Bryant, teams lost all respect for our passing game and could load up to stop the run. Now, I'm not saying our running game would have been as good as last years, but I'd bet anything it would have been a lot better than it is if we still had our pro bowl QB and WR to keep teams honest.
 

L.T. Fan

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It works both ways, if we are running the ball well it opens things up downfield. We had that synergy last year and it was the biggest reason for our success. We ignored the formula this off season and we have been paying dearly for it.
The defense has to first respect the possibility of a down field threat or else they will continue to stack and load the box for the run.
 

Cowboysrock55

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The defense has to first respect the possibility of a down field threat or else they will continue to stack and load the box for the run.
We just need to be able to complete passes to WRs. God I hope Dez is back. I think Romo could make it work with this WR crew, but I think a dominant WR like Dez will be able to help a below average QB look better then he is. When in doubt just throw it at Dez.
 

Clay_Allison

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We just need to be able to complete passes to WRs. God I hope Dez is back. I think Romo could make it work with this WR crew, but I think a dominant WR like Dez will be able to help a below average QB look better then he is. When in doubt just throw it at Dez.
It worked for him once with Randy Moss.
 

kidd

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It worked for him once with Randy Moss.
My thoughts as well.

Surely Dallas isn't dumb enough to try and rush him back too soon. I mean they gotta look at the 5 year contract and not just this season.
 

L.T. Fan

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My thoughts as well.

Surely Dallas isn't dumb enough to try and rush him back too soon. I mean they gotta look at the 5 year contract and not just this season.
I think the call will be made through the team doctor in consultation with Bryants medical people.
 
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