yeah the penalties were infuriating as per the usual

the defense played great. Claiborne appeared to be the real deal. its nice to see the corners be able to play a little press on the outside and not get constantly torched.

Just one game. There's more to be optimistic about with the defense given this game and preseason, but that offense isn't going to be top 5 at anything until they can get that line to gel at least a little bit.

Romo isn't an Aikman or Bledsoe type where he needs a brick wall of protection to function, but you can't have guys flying up the middle untouched or blasting by tackles, or all those penalties. That's not going to hold up for them. I don't know about Cook but they clearly need another option at guard even if only for depth. Holland is a must-sign imo, or find a trade partner for Felix or Jenkins. It's really a glaring hole on what looks like a decent roster otherwise.

Feels great!

Someone said "good win", I'm still trying to decide if it was, or if Romo basically saved the day with freakish play. Romo played like a QB who deserves a ring.

The new defense seems sweet. Few big plays to Bradshaw, but as a whole it seemed like the d made plays at times that didn't exist last year.

The oline is a bad as advertised as a whole. Romo didn't get knocked on his ass nearly a much as expected, and Murray had holes to run to. But the false starts and holds...that's why I can't agree with "good win". That was awful.

Is it just me, or does this new punter have a cannon leg? Was watching in a bar so I don't know the stats. But buddy was rocking those early. And lastly I wonder if people in my fantasy leagues were surprised to find I already owned Ogletree. Figured with Austin maybe hurt he would be gold. Pretty happy I spotted that (thanks to you guys).

If the oline can just improve to the point of being average/competent, I think our ceiling is very high...that's a big "if" though.

One thing that struck me last night: when we were faced with the 3rd down with 2:09 left, for the first time in the last four years or so, I wasn't instinctively thinking "okay, so if we don't make this we're automatically going to overtime". I know it's just based on one game, but I feel like we finally have a defense that won't make me throw things at the TV every week.

Also wanted to mention that Spencer was a monster last night.

I'm pretty much the only person on earth who didn't mind giving him the franchise tender, was very glad to see it.

I think you guys are overreacting a little about the oline. It was their first time playing together and the center went down after 3 snaps. Olines need time to mesh together. In the running game that means coming off double teams to pick up lbs. In pass protection it involves switching off to pick up stunts and blitzes. You can only do this if you get to practice and play with the guy next to you. Tyron Smith is going to have a long season but thats okay as long as he can handle it mentally. His foot work in pass protection sucked but hell get it with time. I thought Doug Free did ok except on the TD to ogletree where JPP threw him back into Romo. I thought Cook did a very good job filling in after 3 days with the team. The penalties sucked but remember 5 were fall starts against one of the best dlines in a hostile stadium, it happens and it can be corrected.

I think the big thing to take away was that there were holes in the second half meaning they were able to get on the same page.

No I think the o-line is in trouble, and I don't think they'll have the time to get good. I don't even think the talent is there. I'm holding out hope for Livings and the tackles which are pretty much what we've got, but the center situation and Bernadeau @ right guard is a disaster waiting to happen by the look of it.

If they like Cook/Costa/Bernadeau, that's cool, but they don't need to be starters this season and all have some interior flexibility. By every account Holland looked the best out of the guys they brought in and did his job well last year. The $ difference was a drop in the bucket (which they wound up spending on Dockery anyway). I think it's very likely they can acquire a better veteran center also with some phone calls, if not off the street. Wer'e talking about a stop-gap guy that we can rotate in and out, so it can be an older dude. Doesn't need to be an All Pro just a good, steady veteran with a fair season left in him.

What was the total between the holds, false starts, and the illegal hands. Felt like 9 penalties off the top of my head, but it could have been more. That's really starting at a low point by professional standards.

I don't really know what to think about the false starts. Just feels like opening night jitters more than anything.

False starts are meh... On the road season opener I can excuse that.

I don't think Romo did anything different t than we should expect. Ppl are saying this is his best game and all, but he ended last season like 2400/19/3 or something absurd in his last 9 games. Not even the best game he played against the Giants, last year at home was better (perfect basically except obv missed one throw/ball in lights /whatever)


Think that was just Romo being Romo.

Agree. Frankly if you give Romo the team Troy had, he gets those 3 rings or more.

Romo can makes some nice moves in a pinch but it's not something you can rely on or want to rely on. It worked this game but we've seen more that enough where it hasn't. Without better protection he'll have a good game like that, then the next he might take 4-5 sacks and have a critical turnover.

Besides that, the team could stand a little more o-line depth. Anyone want to see Dockery or Arkin take the field if a guard or center goes down?

Anyway, PFF grades, take with a grain of salt as usual:

Definitely surprised Jason Hatcher made so many plays. Knew Bernadeau was awful. Tyron grading out that bad is Not worried on that front though. He'll get there.

Hatcher did even better, he got a kind of weak penalty on what I thought was a decent QB hit the play before the sack. As called though he loses that play and gains a penalty to his score. But he played well for sure.

Tyron wasn't that bad, he got -2.5 for penalties.

Kind of excited about Livings being good. I really hope that long BTB post about him being used incorrectly was right.

I know Witten has earned his spot out there, and his "emotional" blah blah. But he probably had no right playing much on Wednesday.

Yeah, I'm just happy Witten didn't re-injure himself or anything, I think of it as "live" practice for him which fortunately didn't cost us. Having 11 more days to recover before next game should help a lot.

A couple of things about pff grading:
1- Eli graded out higher than Romo. They explained this as Eli making less missed throws and Romo having more opportunities with blown coverage. Well thats all well and good but a completion into tight coverage has the same outcome as a completion into busted coverage.
2- Their whole grading system is also a little objective in my opinion. They grade each play from-2 to +2 in .5 point increments which leaves a little too much to opinion. When I played oline in college we were graded as -/0/+ for each play. You either do your assignment or you dont. The 0 would be for a sack given up where the qb held the ball for 5 seconds or if you blocked your guy long enough for the rb to get through but didnt get movement. I think this is a more accurate system though I guess each one has its flaws.

Im not bashing pff but I think its like the 40yd dash where its useful for comparative purposes but not really a good stand alone indicator.

It's extremely subjective, like as of those measures are. Then do at least claim to review every player on every play, which most viewers can't do.

Tyron didn't have a good game. It wasn't just the 3 penalties, it's the 4 QB hurries that he gave up.

Eli played fine. A couple throws could have been better but mostly it was Cruz & co dropping passes.

Kinda concerned about Tyron, not gonna lie. Like, dude, we really, really need you to be a man-eater-upper, or at the very least extremely reliable.

Well he's 21 and hasn't played LT since high school. JPP is a scary mofo. Would obviously be a lot more concerned if he didn't beef mode on the right side last year.

Yeah JPP can play, but Tyron's job is to shut down the weak-side pass rush. He needs to be good against the the elite players too, not just the mediocre or bad ones. Definitely didn't do that Wednesday night. He's young and has room to grow so there's no panic, but that's something to keep an eye on this season.

Smith did well on the right last year esp for a rookie but it was far from perfect. A lot of concerns now about him handling the bull rush and he can definitely expect more teams to do throw that at him if it continues to be a weak point in his game.

Speculation warning

Was just reading that Brian Waters still hasn't reported to the Pats, and they want him to take a pay cut. They may be forced to cut him if he refuses... he said that he was looking to play closer to his home. Out of curiosity, I looked up where he lived. Turns out to be about 30 miles south of Arlington. That'd be the easiest money Jerry would ever spend. See ya Dockery and/or Arkin!

Houston also has a desperate need for a RG. Probably never happening but would have a full on boner obv.

Ive been paying attention to the Waters situation too. Would be an instant upgrade to the oline. Would be interesting if JJ tried to trade for him. The Pats price would probably be too expensive for my liking though so well see.

Regarding Smith he just needs to get his footwork down. Its hard playing on one side for 4 yrs and then switching, especially at the tackle position where youre less protected than a guard. I know hes had the offseason to work on it but its just so much different in a game where your mistakes can get the qb killed. He looked like he didnt trust his technique which is why he was so sloppy. He will improve throughout the season and will hopefully be comfortable with it by next year if not sooner.

Well they're talking like Costa might be out a good while. Kowalski has weeks before he can be brought back from the PUP list. That leaves Cook at center, and despite reports he's really played very little center in his career.

So it's not really a question that they need to go out and get at least one guy tomorrow. Colin Cochart is obviously the first cut to make room, and probably Arkin or Dockery after that if a 2nd interior guy is brought in. I'm holding out some hope they can get two useful bodies and not just total randoms. Can reevaluate Costa and Kowalski later on.

Still wouldn't rule out some kind of trade.