Five in a row!

I watched the game last night and frankly never felt much of a nervous feeling. They seemed to be controlling the game from start to finish. Have you ever seen a more quiet 150 yards by Zeke? I sat there and expected every yard and more with each carry. The play calling by Linehan was very impressive in getting Lucky wide open on 3rd and 1 and the jet sweep reaped huge dividends. Dak did just about everything you could want. Probably struggled more in this game than he had in the prior 5 games, but rallied with big play after big play. Nice blitz p/u by Zeke on 3rd and 5 to Witten for a key 1st down. Turnovers were bound to happen, so I looked on them as unfortunate but something to be expected at some point. The shame was giving them the ball back deep in the red zone but holding them to a FG was key.

We don't feel great or even good about our pass rush, yet this squad doesn't give up many points, holding teams to 3's and not 7's, a great recipe for W's. My "pet cat" from the draft was this Anthony Brown. Brugler had him in the 4th and Broaddus had him in the 3rd and we got him in the 6th round! Cat runs 4.33 and it shows when he comes up to tackle. He's not as good in coverage as Scandrick, though he does make windows tight and remember he's going to be targeted being the rookie. I tend to think he plays it a little conservative not to be beat over the top. He's a sure tackler and I've seen times where he just closes on the underneath routes where he comes up, makes the tackle and we're off the field on 3rd down.

We're getting key plays by any number of guys on both sides of the ball. David Irving was disruptive and caused fumbles yesterday. Byron Jones a key knock down and wasn't hearing his name as teams don't really test him all that often. Another guy we didn't hear his name was Brandon Carr, whom I'm usually yelling at during a game. Can only remember one pass his way, where Rodgers had all day to find his WR. On offense, Beasley was picture perfect with 2 scores and Williams had a good game, nice double move on that 42 yard completion. The player who had highs and lows was Brice Butler, a dropped deep throw that went right through his hands and that blocking in the back penalty on a big gainer by the Beaze. Came down with that TD in the right corner, great route, great throw. But that CB was being abused by us, so that tempered my take on that reception. Can only play against the guy lining up across from you, but I noticed the abuse the guy got from us. Down the stretch, Rodgers kept after Anthony Brown without great success. Bot over Brown in zone coverage to Nelson with a great throw over the top and before the safety closed. Big plays with and to Lucky! Ho hum, 153 yards from Zeke! I heard people talking this morning about not seeing enough Morris yesterday and I looked at the attempts as nothing special and he gets a whole week to rest up. The guy is clearly special in how he rolls, plants that foot and hits the hole.

Tip your cap to Marinelli for the magic he's doing with this defense void of a pass rush. We've not been a good zone team, given two CB's who are more man coverage guys. I have to feel that the new coach in the secondary has a lot to do with guys understanding the nuances of zone coverage and how to tighten the windows. Team hasn't given up more than 17 points in weeks and that sure makes it easier to get the W.

I'm happy that we went into a hostile place such as Green Bay, where we were 1-9 historically, and came out with a win with a rookie QB and rookie RB who is now leading the league in rushing.

I loved going against the "number one" rushing defense in the league and showing how historical stats often times are not good predictors of the future. 

Their defense looked a little amped up last night against Chicago. Nothing like a beat up Bears team to lick the wounds inflicted by the Cowboys rushing game. 

I can't wait for Philly to see what the Cowboys rushing game can do to them. The real test will be Minny, but one week at a time.

I wasn't concerned with the Packers run defense. When teams get behind they abandon the run and with Rodgers, they fear waiting too long before doing that. So I didn't view their D as anything I was concerned with. Spagnola predicted that Zeke would gain more yards on his own, than the Packers allowed all season on the ground. The total rushing yardage was 20 yards better than their miserly total had been . Also too, their starting CB's were all out, even the back ups were falling by the wayside, so passing on them wasn't going to be a challenge. My fear was Rodgers lighting up our defense and whether we were on the short end of TD's versus FG's. It went in our favor as we know, so we got the W.

Philly will be a big test as their DT's have given us trouble. Minny will be the big test up there and while a winnable game, it will be tough getting out of there with the win. Their defense is solid. They bend early then shut you down. My brother comes over to watch their games so that's what I've seen. They lock teams down and score on defense too. That's where if Dak plays, I only see us having about a 25% chance of winning. If Romo plays I'd bump that up to 50-75% in a final drive battle for one or the other.

I think you keep underestimating Dak, caddy. The guy has nerves of steel, and if there's a final drive for a win I like our chances with him behind center.

You can see how confident the coaching staff is in Dak, because they've opened up the offense a lot more than they ever tried to last year with Weeden and Cassel. There's no checking down on purpose here.

The impressive thing about the Cowboys' winning streak is that, more than it's been in a long time, it's a total team effort. The lines are getting the job done, and that's allowing the other guys to do more. On the OL, Zeke is getting holes he can read, and he's done a terrific job finding them and getting through them quickly. And the DL, while still average at best, is winning enough battles that the LBs and DBs are able to make plays. I'm still not convinced that this is a championship defense yet, but for now it's getting the job done. As the season goes on and the schedule toughens, they will get tested. We'll see how much more growth and improvement is left in this particular group of guys. I still think this defense is at least another draft away from where it needs to be.

It's very fun to watch the Cowboys these days, which is not something we've been able to say very often over the past 20 years. They seem to have more confidence and enthusiasm than I've seen in a long time, and I think even the veterans are getting a jolt out of our rookie backfield. This is a team on the rise, and the only unknown factor right now is how they'll handle the adversity of losing a game. I sure don't want to find out this week, of all weeks, but it's an open question. Honestly, I think Dak and Zeke are too young to let it affect them too deeply, and as they go so, I believe, does the team.

If/when Romo gets back into playing shape, we'll have gone from one of the worst offseason 1-2 QB groups in the league to, perhaps, the absolute best. Should be fun.

Oh, it has the look of being a lot of fun! My view is perhaps different, but knowing that this defense isn't very good, I don't see us going far. We're similar to the Vikings in that we have a top 5 team on one side of the ball and a questionable or sub par team on the other. Felt the Nikes were fortunate to win without an OL and RB, while we're fortunate to win with this defense. We've been fortunate but that's due to execution that we're scoring early TD's. The game we only scored FG's we lost. If we don't score early then we'll struggle to win those games. Tough games will be good for Dak's development, but W's will be hard to come by. We've enjoyed these games as scoring early has allowed us to control those games. If we don't get out of the gate early, then our defense will be on the field more. Less Zeke + more defense = L's, IMO. I'd love to be wrong but I analyze everything as I scout my team as much as I do opponents. I love the Marinelli Magic, but it boggles my mind how these guys can be taken advantage of without a pass rush. Two or three new players on the D would make a huge difference in 2017 if we can get some good picks. But for now, this defense has me on the defensive in looking at the QB situation. I'm not in a rush to put Romo back in, but they do need to see what they have with him and then make a decision. They have to really decide what to do next year with him. Until this they had planned on having Romo thru 2017, while being ready to let him go in 2018 if they found someone. Let's get past Philly and let the chips fall where they may.