The Dallas Cowboys are Awful

I would say the biggest loss was Chris Canty who went on to get a 50m contract from the G-men.

Dallas could not afford to keep Canty while they are trying to negotiate the contract extension for DeMarcus Ware.

They signed Igor Olashansky in the off-season. They see him as a "cheaper" version of Canty, and they signed him for much less than Canty was looking for.

Cheaper version I guess. You get what you pay for. Olshansky is no Canty.

This has nothing to do with this thread but...did you know Michael Irvin is going to be on Dancing with the Stars? (no, I don't really care either)...so is Joanna Krupa so that could be interesting.

Complete hijack warning: I think Krupa will take it, she has past dancing experience as a Juggie Dancer for two years on the Man Show.

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread.

Olshansky is a tough 3-4 end. Their D is underachieving at times, but Brooking at ILB should help. They have a talented team w/holes on both sides of the ball, just like us & many teams.

Our problem w/them in the 2nd game in 08 was getting enough time for JC. If we can't block Ware, Spencer & Ratliff, our only hope of beating them is on spec. teams & D scores.

I don't take too much from either team's 1st preseason game. Both teams have unproven players (Wash- thomas, kelly, heyer, rinehart, orakpo, Dall - austin, jenkins, scandrick) that need to step up for their teams to be successful. Both teams also have proven vets that will be solid & vets that may be on the downside more than they realize (wash - samuels, fletcher, dall - flozell adams, colombo).

their fans are probably saying the same about us :(

Of course. They're supposed to as rivals...however, we have facts on our side of the argument. Dallas has so many roster holes and seems to have lost more pieces than filled them in the offseason. Also, Wade is still their coach and Romo is still grossly overrated.

Say hello to 14 years in a row without a playoff win.

They'll be battling the Eagles for the NFC East basement.

they might be awful, and I hope they are but they did score more points than we did in their first outing, what does that make us? super awful?


No, this makes you Chicken Little.

Olshansky is a tough 3-4 end. Their D is underachieving at times, but Brooking at ILB should help. They have a talented team w/holes on both sides of the ball, just like us & many teams.

Our problem w/them in the 2nd game in 08 was getting enough time for JC. If we can't block Ware, Spencer & Ratliff, our only hope of beating them is on spec. teams & D scores.

I don't take too much from either team's 1st preseason game. Both teams have unproven players (Wash- thomas, kelly, heyer, rinehart, orakpo, Dall - austin, jenkins, scandrick) that need to step up for their teams to be successful. Both teams also have proven vets that will be solid & vets that may be on the downside more than they realize (wash - samuels, fletcher, dall - flozell adams, colombo).
Their D will be solid, if WP focuses on it, if he has to do more HC and less DC tasks the D will suffer. as for their line vs ours. I think ours will be much more up to the task. I think they will see age strike fiercely (I believe all of their OLine is 30+) and they have not done much in ways of drafting either. The only way we really struggle is if Samuels goes down the day after Levi Jones signs somewhere else ;)

I would say the biggest loss was Chris Canty who went on to get a 50m contract from the G-men.

Dallas could not afford to keep Canty while they are trying to negotiate the contract extension for DeMarcus Ware.

They signed Igor Olashansky in the off-season. They see him as a "cheaper" version of Canty, and they signed him for much less than Canty was looking for.

LOST:
Chris Canty
Ter Owens
Greg Ellis
Horsecollar Williams
Brad Johnson
Anthony Henry

GAINED:
Jon Kitna
Igor Olshansky
*Nobody else of significance*


KEPT:
Wade Phillips


Nothing but downgrades. No great #1 WR, no clear #1 RB (this is why they're a RRBC), a QB with a track record of choking, aging O-line, very questionable secondary. Their only real strengths are LBs and possibly D-line...but they're still weaker than the Skins and Giants in these departments.

LOST:
Chris Canty
Ter Owens
Greg Ellis
Horsecollar Williams
Brad Johnson
Anthony Henry

GAINED:
Jon Kitna
Igor Olshansky
*Nobody else of significance*


KEPT:
Wade Phillips


Nothing but downgrades. No great #1 WR, no clear #1 RB (this is why they're a RRBC), a QB with a track record of choking, aging O-line, very questionable secondary. Their only real strengths are LBs and possibly D-line...but they're still weaker than the Skins and Giants in these departments.

Chris Canty - Tough to replace, but wanted too much money when signing Ware long term is a priority. If you cant have both, who would you rather keep? Ware or Canty?

Ter Owens - mouth, attitude yes, but put up 1000+ yard and double digit TD's each year he was there. We'll see how this one works out.

Greg Ellis - cry baby veteran who was very long in the tooth who's replacement was drafted 2 years ago (Spencer).

Horsecollar Williams - Liability in coverage. Sensabaugh takes his place, this is a huge upgrade in the secondary.

Brad Johnson - spaghetti arms, good riddance

Anthony Henry - injured each of the past 3 years, not getting any younger. Scandrick and Jenkins showed they are starting material and made Henry expendable.

GAINED:
Jon Kitna - Dont laugh, but he is an upgrade over Johnson. Much better arm strength. And he was QB in Detroit when Roy Williams went to the pro bowl.

Igor Olshansky - cheaper version of Canty. Not as good, but cheaper. Compare his stats and Canty's over the last 3 years. Almost identical in every category. Difference being Olshansky played in a weak division and Canty in the strongest in the league. And he (Olshansky) was drafted by Wade Phillips in San Diego. So there is some famialiarity there.

*Nobody else of significance*

Chris Canty - Tough to replace, but wanted too much money when signing Ware long term is a priority. If you cant have both, who would you rather keep? Ware or Canty?

Ter Owens - mouth, attitude yes, but put up 1000+ yard and double digit TD's each year he was there. We'll see how this one works out.

Greg Ellis - cry baby veteran who was very long in the tooth who's replacement was drafted 2 years ago (Spencer).

Horsecollar Williams - Liability in coverage. Sensabaugh takes his place, this is a huge upgrade in the secondary.

Brad Johnson - spaghetti arms, good riddance

Anthony Henry - injured each of the past 3 years, not getting any younger. Scandrick and Jenkins showed they are starting material and made Henry expendable.

GAINED:
Jon Kitna - Dont laugh, but he is an upgrade over Johnson. Much better arm strength. And he was QB in Detroit when Roy Williams went to the pro bowl.

Igor Olshansky - cheaper version of Canty. Not as good, but cheaper. Compare his stats and Canty's over the last 3 years. Almost identical in every category. Difference being Olshansky played in a weak division and Canty in the strongest in the league. And he (Olshansky) was drafted by Wade Phillips in San Diego. So there is some famialiarity there.

*Nobody else of significance*

Don't laugh, Kitna is an upgrade over Romo the fumble-a-saurus.'

Nice to see you at least admit that your team opened up a lot of positional holes in the offseason, upgraded MAYBE one (backup QB) and did not even fill most of them.

Kitna is a great backup QB. I doubt Romo will miss any time though. Romo just seems like a QB that will play for years w/out serious injury.

The whole division is up for grabs really. I think Philly got better. The Skins should sustain if not get better. NY is NY and they have talent. The Cowboys should be good unfortunately. They've got some great backs, Jones, Barber, and a good Qb who makes plays (i really do hate him). Their D is a Wade Phillips D which is generally pretty good.