The Breakdown: Cowboys Vs. Titans
After a bad loss last sunday. The Cowboys take to the road this week to face the Tennessee Titans. This Titans team is off of a week one win against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Titans have a series of running backs which includes Shonn Green and rookie Bishop Sankey. If that wasn't bad enough Tennessee's passing game is even better. No, Jake Locker is not looking like a typical franchise "give him the ball and he'll make plays" quarterback. However having Justin Hunter, Kendall Wright and Nate Washington beside him. Along with Titian's coach Ken Whisenhunt has had a big hand in helping out Locker making him look impressive in the Titans opener.
One of the stronger point for the Titans is there offensive line. The Dallas defense played marginally well last week against the 49ers. The Titian's O-line is heads above that of San Francisco's. I'm not going to keep mentioning (like most sports stations) how bad the Dallas defense was last year. This is a new year with 4 new starters on it. If this defensive line truly has gotten better this will be the first test. Rolando McClain played well in the season opener. With Durant out Sunday, McClain should fill in nicely for him. The question yet to be seen is how well Wilbur and Hitches do rolling to the weak side to deal with McClain going to the mike spot.
Put an X on Em'
Put an X on ANYONE BUT TONY ROMO. Last week was the first time (in history, I think) that I put an X on Romo. I noted that I didn't like to put all of the spotlight on Tony and what happened. The pressure busted the pipe. I promise you Cowboy Nation I will NEVER do that again. With that said, I'll put an X on a player later.
The Titans are reeling at the Linebacker position as well losing their inside linebacker, Zach Brown, for the year. The Titian's front four had the Chiefs O-line on it's toes giving up 4 sacks and also making Alex Smith throw three interception, the same number that Romo threw. The one thing that this Dallas offensive has going for them is the Titans defensive personnel. What I mean by that is that Tennessee has switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4. Normally any team that makes a change to their front 7 never has the personnel to cover it, like Washington last year and us a few years ago. When a team goes to a 3-4 the key to the front seven is their nose tackle.
Titans have Sammie Hill in at nose tackle and hasn't taken the league by storm at Tennessee or in Detriot. He won't as a player in a transitional spot. This 3-4 scheme is dependent upon him to succeed and no matter how impressive they look against a Chiefs team that has no offense, even last year. The team has to perform. The weakness in the defense is that fact that they like to (and have to) bring pressure from the linebacking spot. A linebacking core that is missing one of their inside players.
This weakness will leave one person with a free release on any plays that the Titans bring more than three rushers. This player is Jason WItten. Sometime before the half the Titans are going to figure out if they want to put pressure on Tony Romo via the blitz or stop Jason Witten. I expect for Witten to have 4-5 catches before halftime and finish the game with 11 receptions for 110 yards and 2 TD's.
Therefore Put an X on Jason Witten. Witten is also coming back to Tennessee, which makes this his homecoming game. This pick wasn't breaking down a game plan it was science! Plus the fact that the last time we played in Tennessee the Cowboys came up big.
Keys to the game:
Let Jake Locker make a mistake and capitalize off of it. Yesterday the news of the new NFL drug policy had Cowboys fans cheering as one of. If not the top Cowboys cornerback, Orlando Scandrick, would be back. The NFL hasn't fully ironed out the fine details and approved the new policy on their end so Scandrick will not be playing and did not travel with the team. This just means that the defensive instead of creating an opportunity, needs to wait for an opportunity. Jake Locker will give us the ball. It will be up to the Cowboys to catch it.
Keep feeding DeMarco. Last week was the first time the Cowboys lost when DeMarco Murray had more than 20+ carries. Just because our failsafe stat didn't work it doesn't mean it's time to give it up. Outside of the first possession of the game Murray and this line looked solid. We were starting to see the fruits of this draft come to bloom. Keep going with that same game plan. If it wasn't for us being down so much in that game, Dallas could have kept it competitive.
The player from last week that needs to have a big game is DeWayne Harris, not Tony Romo. We come to expect what happened to Romo to happen from time to time. DeWayne Harris is almost as sure as Dan Bailey when it comes to special teams. Harris muffed 2 returns Sunday. While the Titans defensive sits and waits for a comeback from Romo, the player that will be thinking that he must play better is DeWayne Harris. I expect Harris to put us in good field position on any return that is not a touchback. I do not predict that he takes one back but I do predict that Harris worst return sets us up at our 30 yard line.
One of the stronger point for the Titans is there offensive line. The Dallas defense played marginally well last week against the 49ers. The Titian's O-line is heads above that of San Francisco's. I'm not going to keep mentioning (like most sports stations) how bad the Dallas defense was last year. This is a new year with 4 new starters on it. If this defensive line truly has gotten better this will be the first test. Rolando McClain played well in the season opener. With Durant out Sunday, McClain should fill in nicely for him. The question yet to be seen is how well Wilbur and Hitches do rolling to the weak side to deal with McClain going to the mike spot.
Put an X on Em'
Put an X on ANYONE BUT TONY ROMO. Last week was the first time (in history, I think) that I put an X on Romo. I noted that I didn't like to put all of the spotlight on Tony and what happened. The pressure busted the pipe. I promise you Cowboy Nation I will NEVER do that again. With that said, I'll put an X on a player later.
The Titans are reeling at the Linebacker position as well losing their inside linebacker, Zach Brown, for the year. The Titian's front four had the Chiefs O-line on it's toes giving up 4 sacks and also making Alex Smith throw three interception, the same number that Romo threw. The one thing that this Dallas offensive has going for them is the Titans defensive personnel. What I mean by that is that Tennessee has switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4. Normally any team that makes a change to their front 7 never has the personnel to cover it, like Washington last year and us a few years ago. When a team goes to a 3-4 the key to the front seven is their nose tackle.
Titans have Sammie Hill in at nose tackle and hasn't taken the league by storm at Tennessee or in Detriot. He won't as a player in a transitional spot. This 3-4 scheme is dependent upon him to succeed and no matter how impressive they look against a Chiefs team that has no offense, even last year. The team has to perform. The weakness in the defense is that fact that they like to (and have to) bring pressure from the linebacking spot. A linebacking core that is missing one of their inside players.
This weakness will leave one person with a free release on any plays that the Titans bring more than three rushers. This player is Jason WItten. Sometime before the half the Titans are going to figure out if they want to put pressure on Tony Romo via the blitz or stop Jason Witten. I expect for Witten to have 4-5 catches before halftime and finish the game with 11 receptions for 110 yards and 2 TD's.
Therefore Put an X on Jason Witten. Witten is also coming back to Tennessee, which makes this his homecoming game. This pick wasn't breaking down a game plan it was science! Plus the fact that the last time we played in Tennessee the Cowboys came up big.
Keys to the game:
Let Jake Locker make a mistake and capitalize off of it. Yesterday the news of the new NFL drug policy had Cowboys fans cheering as one of. If not the top Cowboys cornerback, Orlando Scandrick, would be back. The NFL hasn't fully ironed out the fine details and approved the new policy on their end so Scandrick will not be playing and did not travel with the team. This just means that the defensive instead of creating an opportunity, needs to wait for an opportunity. Jake Locker will give us the ball. It will be up to the Cowboys to catch it.
Keep feeding DeMarco. Last week was the first time the Cowboys lost when DeMarco Murray had more than 20+ carries. Just because our failsafe stat didn't work it doesn't mean it's time to give it up. Outside of the first possession of the game Murray and this line looked solid. We were starting to see the fruits of this draft come to bloom. Keep going with that same game plan. If it wasn't for us being down so much in that game, Dallas could have kept it competitive.
The player from last week that needs to have a big game is DeWayne Harris, not Tony Romo. We come to expect what happened to Romo to happen from time to time. DeWayne Harris is almost as sure as Dan Bailey when it comes to special teams. Harris muffed 2 returns Sunday. While the Titans defensive sits and waits for a comeback from Romo, the player that will be thinking that he must play better is DeWayne Harris. I expect Harris to put us in good field position on any return that is not a touchback. I do not predict that he takes one back but I do predict that Harris worst return sets us up at our 30 yard line.
The Breakdown: Cowboys Vs. Titans
Reviewed by Mr. DCStands4
on
8:45:00 PM
Rating:
Reviewed by Mr. DCStands4
on
8:45:00 PM
Rating:
