10 things we can take away…Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10 Dallas Cowboys 16
After such an ugly, ugly, ugly game for the Dallas Cowboys this is what we can leave with.
1. Defense Bounced Back - After laying an egg in Seattle last week the defense bounced back by shutting down the Tampa Bay offense. They also set up a short field for the offense to score a TD after a Sean Lee interception. If it wasn’t for that the Cowboys may have never scored a TD.
2. Vincent Jackson…LOCKDOWN !!! - Brandon Carr and Mike Jenkins did a great job locking up Jackson, who only had 1 reception for 29 yards.
3. Offense…have you seen it ??? - This was a horrible game offensively, very hard to watch. The Cowboys O was the real reason why the Buccaneers were able to hang around in the game due to the penalties and turnovers. They can’t expect to win next week versus the Chicago Bears playing that way.
4. The O Line - The Buccs were having a field day with the Cowboys offensive line. Michael Bennett and Gerald McCoy were laying some big hits on Tony Romo, not to mention all the false starts. Doug Free has really been MIA. It’s going to be a long year for Tony.
5. Witten on the downside ? - Jason Witten’s pass two games have been very bad. He’s been dropping more balls than usual and it seems his overall play is diminishing. Some think that he’s still hurt, some think that he’s just going through a slump, but I believe that “Father Time” is calling his name. Witten may only be 30 but he has taken (and dished out) a lot more punishment than other players at his position. I don’t expect his play to continue to decline any further but I don’t expect to see the same Witten we are used to.
6. Barry Church Done For The Year - Church ruptured his achilles tendon and will be out for the rest of the year but the Cowboys made the adjustment of moving cornerback Brandon Carr to the free safety position and then bringing Mike Jenkins off the bench to fill Carr’s spot. Great adjustment by Rob Ryan.
7. Mike Jenkins - The Cowboys knew what they were doing all along by not trading Mike Jenkins because they knew a injury situation like the one with Barry Church could happen. Despite not getting regular snaps this season Jenkins did well coming off the bench.
8. Replacement Refs = Horrible - It seems like week by week the replacement refs have more and more goof ups. The biggest one this week had to be the ref that threw his hat in the end zone interrupting Kevin Ogletree’s route. I’m glad Ogletree only slipped because that could have been a lot worse. Bring back the real refs.
9. Dez on Punts - Dez Bryant on punt returns are a high risk, high reward. He can give you a return where he almost takes it in for six or he will give you a return where he is running more horizontal than straight ahead.
10. Cutler /Romo Intervention - Maybe Tony and Jay are calling each other this week swapping stories of how their lines are getting them killed.
Ron Murray Jr.
@FlippDaBurd
