SB Nation User Blog: HEpennypacker

We go big or we go home...

HEpennypacker — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:45:23 -0000

I just can't help but feel there is no middle ground this weekend. No "Hey we lost, but it was close and we'll get 'em next time."

No "Hey, we won, but it was close and we could do better."

Nope. Not this time. We go big, or we go home. That's my prediction. This game, I think, will go one of two ways:

Scenario #1

Cowboys score early and often. We give up one big play to Jackson, and stumble and give up a big play on special teams, but our D-backs step up for the most part, D-ware and the Rat get a couple sacks each, and our offense is lights out. Miles has a 90 yard game, Roy gets in the mix to hush the Media, the trio in the backfield have a solid day, and Crayton gets us good yardage on all those punts that the D forces.

and then there's that other option...

Scenario #2

Dismal. Remnants of last season's closing game. McNabb makes our D-backs look foolish. d-ware and Rat get shut out. Romo slips back into the turnover machine mode. Crayton fumbles the few punts we force.

Not sure why, I just feel like this won't be a "shoot out that;s decided on the last possession" like the NFL films guy said.

But, I could be wrong. And if I'm right, God let it be scenario 1.

D-Ware....the model of a man

HEpennypacker — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:15:06 -0000

If you guys haven't already seen this, you need to check it out. I put it in a fanPost rather than a fanShot because I think it is important for everyone to see, especially if you're young and trying to start a family.

Maybe I'm oblivious, but I didn't know any of this went on. While we had to hear about every sit up that TO did, and every girlfriend that Romo had, and blah blah blah, DeMarcus was going through stuff that most people cannot even imagine. And what did he do? His job. No talking, no excuses, just a bad ass black man sacking some QB's.

You want a role model for your kids? You want to see what a man looks like? Look at DeMarcus Ware. A family man that goes to work, gets the job done, and then comes home to his family. No clownin' in nightclubs, no bashing people in the media. Just straight up a Man.

It's like 12 minutes long. Watch it anyway.

Another Pointless (but fun) Poll

HEpennypacker — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:29:16 -0000

Here's my optimistic view of the rest of the season:

cheifs - W

falcons - L

seahawks - W

eagles - W

packers - W

redskins - W

raiders - W

giants - W

chargers - L

saints - L

redskins - W

eagles - W

Leaving us 11 - 5 - and hopeful. Obviously improvement is needed to accomplish this. And yes, I have us sweeping the Eagles, and getting revenge in week 17 for last year. In fact I hope it comes down to us v. Eagles to get into the playoffs again, and we stick it to 'em.

At 25% through the season, where do you see us come January?

Poll

Final Regular Season Record?

worse

25 votes

9-7

30 votes

10-6

36 votes

11-5

3 votes

better

6 votes

100 votes | Poll has closed

Not a bad problem to have?

HEpennypacker — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:59:15 -0000

Piggy-backing off the previous fanpost about not jumping ship on your team, here's my always-optimistic two cents:

Why are we frustrated? Is it because we're 2-2? Only partly. We are frustrated because we are 2-2 and we *could* be 4-0. Let's put things in perspective gentlemen. How about those Raiders? Cheifs? Rams? Bucs? At least we have hope for next week. We always have hope for next week, because we have talented guys.

Now, I too would like to see that talent start translating into more cohesive play. But for now, I'm glad I'm not a redskins fan, or a fan of any of the teams above.

And also, think about this....there are teams liek us with talent that are playing worse. Examples? Sure. Buffalo. They have a crappy QB, but great receivers. They should be better than they are. Even better example. Some people's superbowl pick (drumroll please) I present the tenesee titans. 0-4. Damn. Makes 2-2 look at least a bit better, huh?

All I'm saying is we have hope still. Hope that the offense will come out of this funk, and the d-backs will become consistent. We could still go 14-2, techinically.

The Morning After...

HEpennypacker — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:29:30 -0000

Here are my thoughts after last night's game:

~Grizz, thanks for the warning to the unruly folks. I will never again hang out on the thread during a game. People are rude to each other, and obviously have no confidence in this team. After one or two crappy plays over half the people here gave up on the game, gave up on our quarterback, gave up on our coach, and gave up on the season. I'm emotional too, but let's be rational.

~ Our D-backs were bad. On the flip side, the Manningham kid is for real, and Eli is truly a solid QB.

~ Romo played a terrible game, this loss is on him. But he still marched down and scored on the last drive. Unfortunately it left NY a bit too much time.

~ Flo got another one. Ended up being a 6 yd penalty, but we would've been out by midfield, so all in all about a 42 yarder. In a 2-point game, against the Giants, that matters, just like I said last week. Oh....and if we were out by midfield, Romo doesn't throw short to Witten, which bounces off his heel for an INT. Flo is up around 75 yards which he cost us this year. Go ahead, say he saved Romo....I was watching too, and I don't buy it.

I could go on, but I won't. Bottom line is this: We played a Terrible game and had even worse Luck. Yet we still took many people's Super Bowl pick to the wire. I'm not much for moral victories, but one question looms in my mind.....

What if we played well against the Giants?

Flo, Flo, Flo

HEpennypacker — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:54:18 -0000

I think I'm going to start keeping track...here we go.

Yesterday Flozell Adams had one penalty for 15 yards. But, actually, As I pointed out last year, many penalties cost more than their allotment of yards, and Flo seems to have a knack for this. His play negated a 16 yard play. That means that Flo cost the Cowboys 31 yards, at what was still a bit of a critical point in the game. 31 yards. That's a lot folks.

Combined, Choice and Felix had 32 yards of rushing. So basically, Flozell Adams negated two backs worth of production, not to mention the killing of momentum after picking up a nice 1st down inside enemy territory.

I had to post on this, because of all the things in this game that were less than stellar, this is the one that had me swearing at my computer screen. This is a leftover problem that hasn't been fixed in six years.

At what point are we gonna start yelling to get this guy outta here? That may sound extreme, but think about this. If we've got third and 10 at the NYG 40 yard line next week and we have a nice 16 yard throw and catch, but Flo has a penalty, then what. When we are backed up to our own side of the field, rather than well within field goal range against a good team, 31 yards becomes a lot.

Sorry, had to get that off my chest.

USAtoday hates us

HEpennypacker — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:26:05 -0000

So usatoday came out with offseason grades for all the teams in the NFL.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2009-09-07-offseason-grades_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Our grade? C-

Meanwhie they agve the Fav-rah led Vikes an A-

Something is fishy here. Did we really do that bad? We have healthier backs than last year, hopefully a healthier quarterback, a more polished Roy wi11iams, some new defensive talent, especially the upgraded safety...

OK, so we lost TO. I call the ellis for spencer a wash. Other than that who did we really lose?

I would argue for a B. Arguably slightly less talented @ wideout, but improved greatly on pass coverage = at least as good as last year, and if you plan on barber, felix, and romo all staying healthy through the year (God Help Us), then I'd say our offense is significantly better.

Poll

How would you grade the Cowboys offseason moves, now that the offseason is coming to a close?

A

4 votes

A-

11 votes

B

33 votes

B-

23 votes

C

8 votes

C-

32 votes

111 votes | Poll has closed

Pacman Jones, Eh?

HEpennypacker — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:48:58 -0000

Sorry if this should be a fanshot, I don't exactly remember the guidelines. I figured someone here would be interested in the news that Adam Jones is headed north of the border. He'll be playing this season for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL. Fantastic. On one hand, the United States is probably better off, since a less than stellar citizen has left. On the other hand, this means if he does well we'll definitely see him back in the NFL, which means we all have to hear about his antics.

Anyway, he's definitely out of Dallas. which is great news. Let' keep it that way, even if he qualifies for the CFL hall of fame.

Expanded Regular Season...18 Games?

HEpennypacker — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:13:08 -0000

Has anyone else heard this talk of expanding the regular season to 17 or possibly 18 games?

I just read it in an article at USAtoday.com:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2009-03-26-schedule-possibilities_N.htm

Let me be the first to say I would love an 18 game schedule. More football = Happy Pennypacker! The preseason is bitter-sweet to me. Yeah, we can evaluate a few younger guys, but it's not really that fun to watch, plus you have to hear the (insert local team here if you don't live in Dallas) fans talk about how they went 4 - 0 in the preseason this year so they can't wait for the real season to start so they can kick some butt.

Anyway, who's in favor?

(In case you didn't actually read the article, 17 games would mean 3 preseason games, 18 obviously means 2 preseason games.)

Poll

How should the NFL Season look?

Don't Change a Thing!

19 votes

17 regular season games, 3 preseason games

15 votes

18 regular season games, 2 preseason games

39 votes

More regular season with the same number of preseason...make the whole thing longer baby!

6 votes

79 votes | Poll has closed

The Banner is still hanging....

HEpennypacker — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:18:23 -0000

Ok, so first I must say, I'm not making any of this up. It may sound that way, but I swear it's true. I haven't touched the thing.

So I work in computers. There is also a large poster printer there. Last year someone made superbowl banners, but they made them early, and made a Cowboys one. It hurt when they didn't need it, but it was great, because I got a high-quality decoration for my office. It hangs on a white board that has a strip of cork at the top. There are (were) tacks in the top two corners, and tape on the bottom two. It stayed this way all thorugh the offseason, I haven't touched it since I hung it.

The day after the Arizona game when Romo got hurt, I was sitting at my desk, and one piece of tape came undone, leaving the corner flapping.

The next week, after losing to the Rams, the same thing happened on the other corner.

I figured, ah well, the tacks will hold it, and they have, for a few good weeks. This morning, about ten minutes ago, one of the tacks fell out. The banner now hangs cockeyed and disheveled. I will not touch it. But it looks like one more misstep means the season is over for our beloved Boys. That is, if the banner is any indicator.

I'm trying to decide if I will adjust it back to it's correct position when the playoffs start, if we make the playoffs. What do you think about this?

Poll

If we make the playoffs, should I rehang the banner, or leave it hanging all crooked?

Rehang it - the playoffs are a new season!

6 votes

Let it hang - we have to remember our mistakes

11 votes

Rehang that crap now, maybe it'll save us!

6 votes

23 votes | Poll has closed