2013 Dallas Cowboys: Secret Sauce and Glory Holes

Our President and GM for the next 30 years:





Trust fund babies being handed things their whole life never turns out well.

Well you've got your new offensive line, for better or worse. Just a reminder that last year's interior was Livings (16 games), Bernadeau (16), Cook (11), Costa (3), Dockery (2). Only two of them remain on the active roster and both are now backups as they should be.

Now it's Leary, Frederick & Waters. Two guys with no regular-season experience and one who's been retired for close to two years. Not quite what I had in mind, but I'll take it.

I'm still a little nervous about the tackle situation. Tyron getting mixed reviews but practices against Ware. Free supposedly looking much better but he's been matched up against scrubs with Spencer out. Parnell not overly impressing, and Weems I know zip about. The fact that he's on his 5th team in 1.5 years and has never been active for an NFL game doesn't do much for me, not sure if he hangs around long.

Hopefully it's enough. I expect they'll get off to a rough start, what with no-experience Leary just coming back from injury, Waters coming off the street. Frederick at least has been practicing but is still a rookie. First practice together for the expected starting group was yesterday. Ouch.

lol I just depressed myself, randomly went to check the 2008 draft when I was looking at some fantasy stuff.

So Dallas selected Felix Jones ahead of:

Charles, Forte, and Ray Rice.

Felix was bad for a lot reasons. He was a backup in college. He wasn't the best player on their board or even the top RB on their board at the time of the pick (Mendenhall was). MB3 was coming off a monster year and was to be the featured back, so Felix was picked as a complimentary back. Who takes a complimentary anything in the first round.

That, and you don't really want to use a 1st on halfbacks in today's league. A first-rounder should be an-every down impact player, not someone who will sit on the sidelines for half the offensive snaps. It's an inexpensive position you can fill relatively easily.

Problem is they were coming off a 13-win season and had two 1sts, so they figured they could spare one on a specialized role player. Everybody else is trying to draft the meat and potatoes of their future rosters.

Same thing with Martellus that year. Granted it was the end of the 2nd round and he was an interesting prospect, but you've got a 26-year-old All-Pro in Jason Witten and a young Anthony Fasano they were barely using. Who by the way gets given to Miami and catches a bunch of TDs as a starter immediately. And, like RB, it's an affordable position where talent is more common later in the draft and cheaper in free agency.

If you're going to draft low-value type positions up high, you need to be right and have an immediate opening for a Day 1 starter. Not niche players or backups. Seeing someone like Felix wash out is so much more frustrating than say a Bobby Carpenter.

Please, one time, let them be right about this 2nd round TE. The Lions eventually drafted a good receiver with enough tries, let it be the Cowboys' turn and see this guy annihilate in the red zone and score like 9 TDs. But I mean

They're saying Ben Bass dislocated his shoulder at practice today, out 2-4 weeks. With Spencer's knee swelling up, I guess we're counting on Selvie to play a lot of snaps opposite D Ware Sunday night?

Escobar looks slow out there to me and he can't block.

Is a big target though. 2nd rounder.

There's a place for a good receiving tight end and TE speed isn't really that correlated with success the way it is for say a RB. For this season I don't think they'll be leaning on him too heavily wrt blocking assignments his rookie season, just maybe some chips here and there. Smith is better suited for that role.

What I need to see from Escobar this year is about 30 receptions, a drop rate under 9%, and 6 or more touchdowns. That would be a good start. There's time to get him up to speed on the rest of his game but he needs to be that big reliable receiver & red zone threat right away.

Problem is he just hasn't been very good and I don't think we're going to get what I hope for. James Hanna looks more ready to play. Between a 2nd, 6th & Smith, please SOMEBODY step the hell up and be a real NFL tight end. I don't care which.

I thought hanna looked good last season in his limited time (as a receiver)

a+ thread title

might be Romo's year boys.

Ben Bass to IR, Jerome Long brought back.

That makes Brent, Bass, Lissemore, and Crawford all gone, with Ratliff out, and Spencer doubtful. Thankfully they still have Hatcher and Ware. Looks like Selvie and Hayden are getting their first start though and that's a mean dropoff. See if Marinelli did a good job with these young guys or not.

So you're saying bet the over...

whats the glory hole in reference to?

Let me know for sure who's playing Sunday first, but I'm inclined to say yes. If both JPP and Spencer are out and Cruz is in, I'd absolutely say yes. It looks like JPP is in though.

It's been a while since I've seen the offense this healthy going in. DeMarco is good to go, Miles stayed healthy while is essentially a miracle, Witten/Dez ok, and Romo's throwing looks way better than last year when it was all weird early on. And you've got your complete o-line if somewhat hastily assembled. All the O backups are healthy save for Dunbar but there are plenty of backs. There only real injury loss was Nate Livings and I think it's fair to say he's been at least comparably replaced.

I think NYG's d-line is has some names but don't look dominating, especially if JPP is out or banged up. Nothing about their LBs or DBs scare me. In fact have you seen their linebackers? Dan Connor is starting at MLB ffs and he might be the best they have.

I'm much more concerned about their offense vs half a d-line and the safeties Cowboys are fielding. But I think a full-strength Cowboys offense is a matchup problem almost everywhere for them other than at the line, and even then I'm not really sure. Who can cover Miles, let alone Witten and Dez?

I don't see a problem with the Cowboys getting points this game. Maybe NYG's can keep up if the DAL d-line reserves get handled by their o-line reserves. Dallas isn't helpless at corner or certainly LB, and a healthy Ware is always a factor. Still, new system, the secondary might not work, and there are 5 new players starting this week.

Each team could hit 30 easy I think, unless it's one of those games where one team starts fumbling and muffing punts. Special teams makes it worse, one of their ST aces was signed by the Cowboys and both squads are a little questionable at the moment.

The more I think about it the more I do like the over. Both of these teams have their **** together on offense more so then their defense. Slop fest games between these two tend to rack up points.

Get the **** out! hahahahah

since I like you guys:

total for David Wilson rushing yards o/u 66.5 -135 on bet 365.

You may not see a worse line all year. Go get some. No idea how long it stays up, I've maxed it twice.

David Wilson under confirmed lock.

MONTE ****ING KIFFIN

Morris Claiborne- sigh. 1st and 2nd round pick.

worst win of all time? win though.

Thank god the teams in our division are mediocre as well.

Hardly. If Dez, Claiborne & Romo were lost then yeah. This one's just a win. They need to have a little chat with T. Williams and W. Allen, and get Waters in playing shape fast. But for everything the did wrong they did some things very right that they normally don't.

I was impressed with Selvie, and on the few plays I looked Hayden seemed to do okay. So that's a plus, even against a weaker Giants o-line.

Not that many penalties, and the team has Dunbar, Waters and Spencer on deck and hopefully Ratliff by mid-season. I'll take it. Just need to shape up some of those passing plays a bit.

I actually didn't mind it too much. We were ahead for more of that game than what felt like the whole season last year. It may have been ugly as **** but at least there was a ton of LOL ELI