SB Nation User Blog: Mandmeisterx

Time To Eat Crow

Mandmeisterx — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:40:07 -0000

I've never been too shy about letting my feelings about Jason Garrett as an offensive coordinator be known. I've always thought he ran a very vanilla, predictable offense that didn't play to our strengths. I didn't understand how he was being considered for head coaching gigs, and I surely didn't fathom his billing as an "offensive genius". But I'm not ashamed to say that he definitely lived up to that name in week 1. He picked Tampa's defense apart very methodically and did a great job of using motion and formations to exploit them and get us in favorable mismatches. Part of me wonders if it was that he felt he could do more with his personnel this year and part of me hopes he's evolving into a very solid offensive mind. I hope it's the latter. I'll reserve judgement on him in general for at least a few more weeks, but for at least one week, you've definitely earned my respect Red Jesus.

Devils Resign Zajac Prior to Arbitration

Mandmeisterx — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:09:44 -0000

Per the official site

The Devils today re-signed center Travis Zajac to a new multi-year contract. The announcement was made by Devils’ President/CEO/General Manager Lou Lamoriello. As per club policy, no further terms were disclosed.

“During his previous three seasons in the National Hockey League, Travis Zajac has proven to be among the top young players in the game, and has developed into one of the core players on our team,” said Lamoriello. “We are pleased that we were able to work out a long-term agreement.”

This is absolutely good news. As John mentioned many times, arbitration tends to be an ugly thing, and the last thing we want to do is chase off one of the few young members of our core.

B Stew has a new job?

Mandmeisterx — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:48:28 -0000

B Stew has a new job?

Scroll all of the way to the bottom. It seems someone thinks that he can be a defensive coordinator. (If you count the USFL)

B Stew back in work?

Mandmeisterx — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:23:50 -0000

B Stew back in work?

The beleaguered Brian Stewart is reportedly the top candidate for the vacant UCLA defensive coordinating gig.

Jerry sitting out FA?

Mandmeisterx — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:31:33 -0000

Let me preface this by saying that this post isn't based in facts or anything I've read, but merely one man's opinion that scares the living daylights out of him.

We've heard it time and time again since the season ended. Whether it be the scribes over at dc.com spouting the company line, loyal Cowboys bloggers, or even from Jerry himself, we hear time and time again that the Cowboys are sitting out free agency for the most part this offseason. Sure, we'll dip in for a second tier FA, i.e. a cheap safety or a #2 QB. I mean, it makes sense that we wouldn't. We have a good, young core, one that's locked up (sans Ware) for quite a few years. We just made our big move during the season in acquiring the other Roy Williams. We're probably going to use a good part of the cap space we have left to lock up the best defensive player in the game to the biggest contract ever for a defensive player. And besides a good safety and some OL depth, we don't really have any glaring needs. Sounds like a sure contender to me.

But we all know Jerry can't help himself. You think Jerry is going to let those first two weeks of free agency go by without getting the Cowboys at least a little face time? Jerry knows something's broke, but he doesn't know quite what. So what will he do, the same thing he always tries to do, throw money at it. Besides all of this, there's still the biggest reason of all for Jerry to make a move. Jerryworld. Jerry is the showman of all showmen. He wants this thing to open with a bang. He wants it to be not just the talk of the league, but the talk of the sports world. All we had to do was win the Super Bowl this year, and everyone would come flocking to it. Only one problem, we finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs. Now Jerry is left with a conundrum. There has to be some kind of buzz going into this new joint, and the only way Jerry will see to create it is with a big name FA coming in to get people excited. Think about it, it worked for the Jets. Sure, they didn't make the playoffs this year either, but with Favre coming in this year, they became something other than the other New York team. They had buzz all around them this year. They were the talk of the league, the "it" girl. You think Jerry didn't see that and take notice?

If frightens me to think so, but I can't help but think that Jerry is going to outsmart himself. He can't sleep at night unless the Boys take up 25% of every episode of Sportscenter, and he surely won't let Jerryworld be outdone by the new stadium in New York. At this point, we can only hope Jerry manages to maintain some degree of sanity.

Garrett gets the business

Mandmeisterx — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:57:10 -0000

From the DMN

Quite frankly, it's about time in my opinion. Every single one of us have noticed all season long that our talent, especially at WR, is being misused. I know Witt is great, but we have some great playmakers in this offense that aren't being used. I know they throw the ball to TO 3000 times a game, but it's the way they try to get him the ball. Smoke screens aren't effective in the NFL. Give this guy the ball on slants and drags and let him make plays. Use Roy in the same way. These are big, stong dudes. I also have to applaud them for doing it in private. If TO had ripped Garrett in the press, it would have been news. But since he did things the right way, behind closed doors, this will be a side note.

Potential Good Pacman News

Mandmeisterx — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:54:06 -0000

Apparently Pac had a second opinion done with a move favorable result. From PFT

The early indications this week were that Cowboys cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones had suffered a neck injury that was career threatening. But a second opinion gave Jones good news.

Adam Schefter of NFL Network is reporting that another doctor has told Jones he could resume playing in a few weeks. That doctor told Jones he has fluid in his spine but will not need surgery.

With only three games remaining in the regular season, even an injury that keeps Jones out for a few weeks could lead the Cowboys to put him on injured reserve. But Jones is hoping that he can play for the Cowboys in the playoffs, if they make it.

Jones has been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Giants.

Live Game Observations

Mandmeisterx — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:02:32 -0000

Unfortunately for me, this past weeks game was my first Cowboys game. It was quite an experience, in spite of the outcome. The sight of the Boys coming out for pre game warm-ups is something I'll never forget. But enough about that, here are some things I noted from the game, without the benefit of instant replay, multiple camera angles, or Tivo to back me up on this.

The elements were brutal It was extremely cold and windy at the game. Down in the open end, there was a really strong wind blowing from left to right. I noticed that during pre game warmups Folk and Reed (two of the leagues most accurate kickers) were both pushing a lot of kicks wide right. I had feared before the game this could be an issue during the game. Fortunately for us, that was the end that Reed pushed his field goal wide right and put another one off the post. He also very nearly missed an extra point wide right on that end, as did Folk. I also can't help but think the cold and wind had some effect on the passing games, as both QB's looked terribly inaccurate and had many passes sail on them. I know I had a hard time holding on to my phone, so I can imagine gripping a football and throwing it 20 yards or more downfield would have been exceedingly difficult.

Romo and his receivers never looked to be on the same page I can't tell you how many times it looked to me like Romo's receivers either ran the wrong route or he threw to the wrong spot. The first and third INT's definitely fall under that category. I saw it posted on other threads on here, and I agree, that those two were not necessarily Romo's fault. The one to Owens, it seemed clear that Owens slowed up, as it also did on the deep ball on third down on the last drive. There were also several passes that it was hard to distinguish if Romo just threw the pass horribly, or if he expected his receiver to run his route differently.

Romo=Bad Cold weather and receivers aside, Romo did not play a good game at all. During the last drive of the half and the first two of the third quarter, he looked like vintage Romo. For one reason or another, he just didn't seem to be making the right reads. Guys were running wide open while he was throwing into double coverage. He also seemed to take a lesson from Ben and was holding onto the ball WAY too long. He seemed to be really antsy as well, and seemed to actually run into the pressure when he had a clean pocket to stand in. The INT to Taylor was just a horrible throw. If he had at least put some air on it, the receiver could have tried to make a play on it.

Offensive scheme I thought Jason Garrett did a decent job in the way he handled the running game. Although running the ball wasn't netting us huge plays, it was at least picking up yardage and allowing us to stay in manageable third downs. The third down draw play was effective, but he went to the well too many times with that play. I didn't like the play calling on the short yardage situations. Owens and Williams were getting 8+ yard cushions for the entire game. Why not just sling it out to them and let them fall forward? Speaking of those cushions, if that was the coverage the Steelers were going to play, why not attack them with short routes? Also, the Steelers two deep safeties seemed to float around the numbers to try and keep from being beaten down the sidelines, yet our routes played into their hands. The intermediate middle of the field was open all game long. Bennett could have caught the ball about every play he was in, as he was running free most of the night. I also thought we should have ran more quick passes to try and beat some of the pressure they were bringing.

Defensive scheme This game was, in my opinion, by far the best defensive game of the season. Especially considering that, of the 20 they scored, 13 of the Steelers' points were gimme's from the offense or special teams. I know they gave up a lot of yards late, but most of that was due to Wade bringing out the bogus prevent zone, and Ben picked us apart. I would have continued to challenge Ben to make plays down the field in the weather to beat us. I know earlier in the season, Bradie James was ridiculed for his blitzing, because he'd always seem to just run into the line. Well in this game, that was Zach Thomas. I can recall at least two occassions where on first down, the defense run blitzed the two ILB's. Both times, it seemed like Zach and Bradie blitzed the same gap, and Zach got caught inside allowing a decent run to his side. I don't know if that's something that has consistently happened, or if it was just this game. Although he was everything short of a miracle in the return game, Pacman showed no rust in pass defense and made several excellent plays in coverage (that the Steeler fans thought were penalties, of course). We also got lucky a number of times when Ward was running free, and Ben just couldn't seem to find him. Overall, I thought our front 7 played an outstanding game, and our secondary was just above average.

Roy Williams Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't seem like he and Romo have their timing down yet. I noticed multiple occassions where Roy would run a double move (mostly posts and flags) where Roy would come out of his break in between the corner and the safety wide open, and Romo couldn't find him. It seemed like one of those things where he should come out of his break and the ball is already in the air. I don't know if Romo doesn't have him down or if he just doesn't trust him. I've noticed that Romo never goes to him in critical spots or if he's hurried. Roy did have a pretty effective game run blocking though.

Random Thoughts On second down of the final drive, Romo had Crayton wide open down the seam for an easy touchdown and never saw him. I don't know if you guys would have been able to see that on tv...The Steeler fans only seemed to be rowdy when the game first started, and when they tied the game up. While they were losing, they were a very tame bunch. I even noticed quite a few people left the game after the goal line stand we had...There was a play we ran Choice to the left on where Troy P caught him from behind in backside pursuit for a medium gain. I guarantee you that play would have resulted in 6 with Felix's speed.

Portis in, Springs out

Mandmeisterx — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:30:47 -0000

It seems we will have to face the Skins with top back Clinton Portis afterall. On the good news side, CB Shawn Springs, who completely manhandled TO in our last game, will be inactive for the game. It remains to be seen how effective Portis can actually be with his injured MCL.

Link

Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words. Needs 75 words.

Good News....I think

Mandmeisterx — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:45:11 -0000

TO should most definitely have a good game after the bye. Not only is Romo back, but his personal whipping boy just joined the division. Who knows maybe you guys think more of the guy than I do. I just know Owens has a pretty good track record against him. Then again, so does every other receiver he's covered this year. If Michael Jenkins can score two long TD's on him....

Link

The Washington Redskins have reached a one-year contract agreement with free-agent cornerback DeAngelo Hall.