O line

To be honest, I thought on quite a few of Brunells sacks, that he had adequate time. I counted once that he had 6 seconds, which lets face it, is a lightyear of time in the NFL. Now while hte line didnt play great, I dont think they played " 6 sacks " bad. Ya know?

You have to factor in the coverage on some of sacks those too.

ultimately, blitzing is what really has made our offense "dink and dunk".

Brunell is much more ball conscious and ends up checking down quick or scrambling to beat the rush. I think Ramsey literally doesn't care about the rush and is just dying to throw it downfield, hence the stigma of holding it too long and the absolute laser beams he throws when they do come out.

regardless, i think it's safe to say the modern day NFL blitz is what's hardest for Joe Gibbs to deal with this time around and what ran Spurrier out of town.

How do we stop it? Gibbs already tried 'max protect' and it didn't work, is it really a personnel issue (as glanced upon in the O Line thread), is our line really not as good as we say they are? our TE's not good at blocking? i don't think Clinton Portis could block one iota better at his current size.

is a true possession receiver a possible cure? i thought Cooley was going to play that role, but he was barely in Brunell's sights in Dallas. Cooley can't run those quick inside slants anyway and our WRs are too small for it. (this was one thing Coles was very good for).

if we're going to take more shots at Moss and Patten downfield, what can we do to get the QB some time? while i appreciate the ability, Brunell's scrambling isn't what it used to be and he really shouldn't have to do it or wait until fourth quarter to wait for the defense to play lazy.

oops i just started a Blitz thread, but this one really took off. sorry, Merge away

You have to factor in the coverage on some of sacks those too.

Yeah, to me it looked like there was really no one open. One time they pointed that out actually. However, on a full-on blitz then someone must have been left open right? Or at the least in one-on-one coverage.

You have to factor in the coverage on some of sacks those too.

Oh absolutley. It wasent a knock on Brunell as much as it was a defending of the oline.

Yeah, to me it looked like there was really no one open. One time they pointed that out actually. However, on a full-on blitz then someone must have been left open right? Or at the least in one-on-one coverage.

well there's only 11 on their side too right?

are Santana and Patten not fast enough to break single coverage? or is Brunell waiting till they're TOO open to throw the ball to them and not check down? the eternal question.

if all those Blitzes were done by the LBs, why wasn't Cooley getting more balls in the middle instead of Portis in the flat?

and can we please lose the WR screen? or at least keep it to once a game.

I think Patten has been a bit of a disappointment so far. I haven't really seen him get separation the way he did in the preseason.

And it seemed like Brunell was looking to Robert Royal before he thought of Cooley.

I think Patten will be ok.

Brunell underthrew him once and another time had one tipped that was headed his way.

I think Patten has been a bit of a disappointment so far. I haven't really seen him get separation the way he did in the preseason.

And it seemed like Brunell was looking to Robert Royal before he thought of Cooley.
Interesting observation about Royal. I have two theories:

1) The Dallas coaching staff got tired of reading about Cooley as a "secret weapon", and clamped down. Every writer in the league has Cooley pegged as the only big receiving threat on the team. While I expect him to do well this year, it will be difficult if he is considered the top receving threat on the team. Passes to Royal and the WRs will alleviate that.

2) Brunell had been practicing will the second team in practice until this week. He's used to throwing to Royal, who sees snaps with that unit. I remember a few years ago when (I think) Jeff George came in in relief of Johnson. They brought in 3rd WR Thrash to the lineup as well, and Thrash caught like 8 balls. George knew what Thrash was going to do, because they'd worked together. Same thing here.

Remember that Cooley's production jumped when Ramsey took over, I think it's only a matter of time before Brunell gets in sync with Cooley.