Hello,
Last night was kind of a weird night for me. My Dallas Cowboys played their season opener and I didn't get emotionally wrapped up in it. I didn't get either too high or too low. Based on their past chokes, and in spite of the score, I didn't expect Dallas to win. I kept on expecting Dallas to find some way to lose or New York finding some way to win. When the Giants cut the Cowboys lead from 24-10 to 24-17, I just thought it was just a matter of time until the Giants took the lead. I didn't feel completely secure until the Tony Romo to Kevin Ogletree completion with about two minutes left in the game. Was that big time completion between the two much maligned Cowboys players a sign for the future?
Dallas went on to win 24-17. Surprisingly the Cowboys are now 1-0 on the season. It was a great win, but needless to say I'm not rushing out to buy Super Bowl tickets yet. I still doubt how good the Cowboys and Tony Romo will be this season. Sorry I've had my heart broken by this core group of the Cowboys too many times. These Cowboys just aren't the Aikman/Smith/Irvan/Moose Cowboys of the past. If anything I think this win could be a prelude to yet another heartbreak.
I have hardly any athletic ability so I know very little about playing quarterback. However I'm a passionate Cowboys fan who has followed the Cowboys for as long as I can remember. My 16 year old son is named after Emmitt Smith. So yeah I'm a big Cowboys fan. It's just that I've had my heart broken by both the Cowboys and Romo too much. Please read the following with that in mind.
I understand the "never played the game" argument. However I still can recognize the difference between good and bad. I don't need someone that has "played the game" to tell me Tom Brady is good and that Tim Tebow sucks. I can see that very clearly. I'm not sure if I'll ever buy into Romo as a great quarterback, even if he wins a Super Bowl. Yes, even then I still don't know if I will. For hell's sake Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl. Does anyone that "played the game" suggest that Dilfer was a great quarterback? Eli Manning has won two Super Bowls, yet I still don't want him on my team. Jerry Jones has won three Super Bowls as Cowboys owner, but I wish that he would sell.
If I had to put money on it, I still think that Romo will meltdown in a crucial situation yet again. Sorry, I just have the memories of his choke against the Seahawks, his horrific pass against the Jets last season and even his ill advised pass to Jason Witten this preseason. The same pass Romo had no reason to throw, the result of which was Witten getting injured. Even though Witten played last night, I don't think that means he's 100% out of the woods. How about the time that Romo went on vacation in Mexico with Jessica Simpson after the Cowboys went 13-3. Then Dallas promptly went out and lost to the Giants at home! Or even the delay of game penalties called on the Cowboys last night. Another bad Romo decision is him wearing his hat backwards in the Sunday Night Football introductions. When is someone going to tell him how much of a d bag he looks like with his hat on backwards? I think that would be a good thing for his wife to tell him. Forgive me if I don't think all of Romo's bad decisions are in the past.
Driving to work this morning, I was listening to Colin Cowherd. He was praising Tony Romo, quoting many of his stats and he convinced me a bit more how good Romo is. But Cowherd doesn't watch the Cowboys with the eyes of a fan. He hasn't been constantly disappointed by Romo's too many ill timed miscues over the years. Romo had a great game last night undoubtedly. He completed 22 of 29 passes for 307 yards and 3 touchdowns. Yes, there's a but coming. He only threw one interception but it was a really bad interception. He hit Michael Boley perfectly with a pass. Thanks to Tyron Smith's superb effort, Boley was prevented from turning that interception into a pick six. But that was just such a bad Romoesque moment that many Cowboys fans have come to expect. Next time Tony, please just throw that ball away. But yes Tony Romo played a great game last night, no matter how hard that is for me to write it.
I'm still expecting Dez Bryant to make yet another bonehead move or the tissue thin Miles Austin to get injured and need to miss 6 games. The offensive line must get better, I believe they had 5 false start penalties last night. They also had a couple of delay of game penalties and came close to having a couple more delays. It did seem they got better as the game went on, of course it helps to have a mobile quarterback.
But that's enough negativity. It was a great victory for the Cowboys, no matter what else happens this season. I just hope it's not their peak. Positives from last night's game include Romo playing a complete game, his mobility was a great asset last night. He also minimized the mental errors, maybe the only one was the interception. Where the hell did Kevin Ogletree come from? Where has this performance been the first three seasons of his career? He caught 8 passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns. Did Jerry Jones pay someone to switch the minds of Victor Cruz and Ogletree? Cruz, the much hyped Giants receiver, had a very Ogletreeesque game last night. I can't believe how many passes Cruz dropped. Both DeMarco Murray and DeMarcus Ware had great games last night. Ware broke the 100 career sack mark, he now has 101.5. Murray rushed for over 130 yards and showed a knack for finding space to run.
Oh yeah, what about that revamped Cowboys secondary? They looked good. I think Brandon Carr is going to be a nice addition to the Cowboys. I didn't see too many of Morris Claiborne's plays. But as he pointed out after the game, if you don't hear a cornerback's name that's a good thing. Cowboys fans heard Terrance Newman's name way too many times last season. Welcome Brandon and Morris!
Finally a couple of notes. I'm so glad Martellus Bennett is no longer a Dallas Cowboy. He played like crap too much of the time and he acted a lot like he didn't care. Even after he caught that touchdown pass last night I was still glad he's no longer a Cowboy. Also can we please not show Jones anymore, he has to be the most annoying owner in the NFL. I did love the camera catching someone cleaning his glasses for him. I was wondering if that was a boy toy of Jerry Jones. According to The Big Lead, via sportressofblogitude.com, the glasses wiper was Jones son-in-law. Jones can't even clean his own glasses? That's such a Jerry Jones thing to do. If you want to watch the exciting video go to this website: http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php/2012/09/05/jerry-jones-has-a-personal-glasses-cleaner/
I'm glad the Cowboys won last night, although I do have several reservations still. I would love to be proven wrong though. Go Cowboys!
Finally I thought the replacement officials did a pretty good job. They missed the one play where Orlando Scandrick mauled the Giants wide receiver. But at halftime Tony Dungy said the regular refs might have missed that penalty as well. I say the refs did well in spite of them calling 13 penalties on the Cowboys vs. only 4 on the Giants. But those penalties they were correct on. I thought they might have missed 1 or 2 delay of game penalties against the Cowboys also.
I also loved that the head replacement ref, sorry I couldn't find his name on-line, was a teacher from Boise. Just a regular guy on the huge NFL stage doing a good job. I bet he's the coolest teacher in his school today. And since he's just a working guy, he might have had to be back at his real job today.
themusicaddict
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