Gameday Chatter Thread |Cowboys v. Dolphins| - 8/4/13

Seeing the replay for Holloman again...that was excellent.
 
So like I said in the thread about us picking him up, George Selvie is a beast.

:unsure
 
Randle did not show as much as Tanner and Dunbar did IMO...Garrett said it himself that Randle still has a long way to go.
 
Rapid Reaction: Cowboys 24, Dolphins 20

August, 4, 2013

By Todd Archer | ESPNDallas.com

CANTON, Ohio – The Cowboys opened their preseason with a 24-20 win against Miami on Sunday in the Hall of Fame Game thanks to a stingy defense and a solid running game, which was something they did not really have last year.

The Cowboys hae now won their preseason opener four straight years. What does that mean? Not much, since they have missed the playoffs in three of the last four seasons.

What it means?: With a new playcaller on offense in Bill Callahan and a new defense led by Monte Kiffin, getting off to a good start is a positive. The only starters that played were tackles Tyron Smith and Doug Free, center Travis Frederick and linebacker Justin Durant. Free and Smith played a series. Frederick moved over to guard in the second quarter and some of the third. Durant played a handful of series. While it’s still a question, the Cowboys found some answers for depth in guys like George Selvie, Phillip Tanner and Joseph Randle.

DeVonte Holloman with a pick-six: The rookie linebacker had the most athletic play of the night when he reached back to snag a Matt Moore throw intended for Chad Bumphis. Holloman was able to compose himself and then sprint 75 yards for the touchdown, slamming Moore to the turf with a facemask. Last year the Cowboys forced turnovers at an alarmingly infrequent rate, which led to Rob Ryan’s firing and Kiffin’s arrival. On the first series, Nick Hayden came up with a fumble recovery that set up Tanner’s touchdown run. In the second half, the defense forced two fourth-down stops.

There’s a running game: One of the biggest complaints about Jason Garrett was his willingness to abandon the run. Callahan’s background as an offensive coordinator has many believing the Cowboys will have more balance. In the first half, the Cowboys’ three runners – Tanner, Randle and Lance Dunbar averaged more than five yards per carry. In the second half, Randle did a nice job of picking up yards on his own. The Dolphins weren’t playing many of their regulars, but the fact that the Cowboys ran it 17 times for 97 yards in the first two quarters was a good sign. Last year, the Cowboys had four games in which they had fewer than 17 carries. Even undrafted rookie Kendial Lawrence got into the act with a 7-yard touchdown run with 1:57 to play in the game.

Injury concerns: Safety Matt Johnson was off to a good start as he started the game, but he was hurt tracking down Bumphis on a 45-yard catch-and-run. He suffered a left ankle sprain and did not return. Defensive end Ben Bass hurt his left knee and did not return to the game, but appeared to be fine on the sideline. He did not go to the locker room for an X-ray and he did not receive extra attention from the athletic training staff. Tanner hurt his left arm in the first quarter but was able to return to the game.

What’s next? The Cowboys play at Oakland on Friday in preseason game No. 2 and the starters will see some playing time against the Raiders.
 
 
Dude who is the assistant coach with the Travis Frederick beard? Grizzly Adams looks good on this team. i
 
Iamtdg said:
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It sounds super fucked up in Spanish. Like, real weird.

Y'all are funny as hell tonight. Seriously.

How about Tanner? Holloman? Booze looks like you were right. Frederick's is friggin really big. He looks really really good. We looked solid up front. And like shit sometimes.

Monte cup o soup dear God......just.....put a Jack Daniels label on it.

Holy shit. Feel much better about the d line.

Gents, this team is going to be fantastic. Most excited I've been in years.

These were the 2s and GD MF'N ROOKIES!
 
I really liked what I saw from Frederick, he's going to solidify the interior for years to come. It was clear to me that he looked much more comfortable at center as he was beaten a time or two when he switched over to OG. The guards looked surprisingly decent as well and while you can say it's just preseason, that definitely wasn't the case last year as the OL looked horrid from basically the first series against Oakland.

I think Leary will probably start for us at one spot and it'll be interesting to see what happens at the other between Arkin, Bernadeau and perhaps Livings.

All the RB's looked good which shows how well the OL played. Dunbar coming out after one series shows how much the staff thinks of him, Tanner was solid and Randle looked decent enough as well. I'm not in love with any of these guys as bellcow types but we could probably get by with the three of them if Murray misses time, I think we keep all 4 on the roster.

Holloman was a playmaker in college and it was good to see him show it tonight, I think he was a bit of a steal in the 6th. Escobar didn't show anything but Stephens and Tanney are incompetent QB's so I don't hold it against him or the other WR's/TE's. Webb was invisible which isn't a bad thing at CB although I was underwhelmed by the play of the backup safeties in general, the middle of the field looked wide open.

It was nice to see Selvie make plays, I just hope he doesn't disappear for the next month. He doesn't have to rack up 3 sacks a game every week but if he can get somewhat consistent pressure and give us a solid 4th/5th DE, that'd be huge. Wilber flashed a few times in his limited snaps too so that was nice to see, guys like him and Selvie just have to give us maybe 10-15 quality snaps a game and it'd be a win for us.

I was also livid for about 20 seconds watching our POS backup punter until I realized that it wasn't Jones, that dude is horrific.
 
This game was tough to evaluate because the QBs other than Orton suck and because Miami's left tackle is dreadful.
 
Simpleton said:
I really liked what I saw from Frederick, he's going to solidify the interior for years to come. It was clear to me that he looked much more comfortable at center as he was beaten a time or two when he switched over to OG. The guards looked surprisingly decent as well and while you can say it's just preseason, that definitely wasn't the case last year as the OL looked horrid from basically the first series against Oakland.

I think Leary will probably start for us at one spot and it'll be interesting to see what happens at the other between Arkin, Bernadeau and perhaps Livings.

All the RB's looked good which shows how well the OL played. Dunbar coming out after one series shows how much the staff thinks of him, Tanner was solid and Randle looked decent enough as well. I'm not in love with any of these guys as bellcow types but we could probably get by with the three of them if Murray misses time, I think we keep all 4 on the roster.

Holloman was a playmaker in college and it was good to see him show it tonight, I think he was a bit of a steal in the 6th. Escobar didn't show anything but Stephens and Tanney are incompetent QB's so I don't hold it against him or the other WR's/TE's. Webb was invisible which isn't a bad thing at CB although I was underwhelmed by the play of the backup safeties in general, the middle of the field looked wide open.

It was nice to see Selvie make plays, I just hope he doesn't disappear for the next month. He doesn't have to rack up 3 sacks a game every week but if he can get somewhat consistent pressure and give us a solid 4th/5th DE, that'd be huge. Wilber flashed a few times in his limited snaps too so that was nice to see, guys like him and Selvie just have to give us maybe 10-15 quality snaps a game and it'd be a win for us.

I was also livid for about 20 seconds watching our POS backup punter until I realized that it wasn't Jones, that dude is horrific.
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Yeah, Frederick looked rock solid at center. At guard, not so much. He needs to stay at center; there is no scenario where him playing guard and Costa playing center, thus creating two less than solid positions, could be better than just leaving him at center and putting ANYONE at guard.

It'd be nice if Selvie can be a decent backup. Him and Wilber looking ok at least make you think that the DE spot isn't as abysmal. DL still needs to be addressed though because I don't think any of those guys are future starters.
 
Genghis Khan said:
This game was tough to evaluate because the QBs other than Orton suck and because Miami's left tackle is dreadful.
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It's the same crap we dealt with when McGee was on the team.

Our 3rd QB's have been so bad that it's tough to evaluate the receivers that are on the field with them.
 
mschmidt64 said:
Yeah, Frederick looked rock solid at center. At guard, not so much. He needs to stay at center; there is no scenario where him playing guard and Costa playing center, thus creating two less than solid positions, could be better than just leaving him at center and putting ANYONE at guard.
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Honestly the best O-line combination yesterday was Leary, Frederick, and Arkin. I know Arkin sucked dick last year when he was playing center and guard in preseason and I'm certainly not sold on him yet but at this point I would rather go with that interior O-line over Leary, Costa, Frederick any day. I also think it helps everyone on the O-line when a guy like Frederick is playing center. He does such a good job combo blocking with the guards and helping them out.

I'm sure Frederick could be a solid guard if he concentrated there but why the hell would you do that when I think he has probowl potential at center. Not to mention our coaches have said multiple times the second most important position on the O-line is center.
 
Texas Ace said:
It's the same crap we dealt with when McGee was on the team.

Our 3rd QB's have been so bad that it's tough to evaluate the receivers that are on the field with them.
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Each QB had approximately one pass that impressed me. That's not very good. Of course it also doesn't help that our backup OT's are extremely bad and they were going up against an elite high draft pick the entire game.
 
What's with all this positive commentary. Someone is in for a verbal thrashing.:art
 
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