Cowboys Sign The A -train

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Westbrook always gets loads of carries and catches but he really doesn't break too many tackles. I know I'll catch shit for this, but I think he is vastly overrated. I feel if he was plugged into 90% of any of the other teams in the league, he wouldn't put up the numbers he did last season.

[skin4Life28]

Westbrook is not that good in my opinion either. On any other team the best he would be is a third down back. Of all of Dallas's backs this year, I worry about Marion Barber III. He was a fourth round draft pick and had a hell of a college career at Minnesota. Marion may not do anything this year with A-Train now, but will be a good back in the future.

[Redskins8588]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

Which power back are you talking about? Anthony Thomas averaged 3.3 yards per carry last year behind a Bears offensive line that was considered pretty solid. Thomas Jones beat him out for that Bears starting RB job last year, and he's not exactly headed to the Hall of Fame. Anthony Thomas is not a concern and not much of a power back, he's 6'2" and weighs 225. I wouldn't put that physique in the Bettis or Jamal Lewis mold.

Julius Jones rushed for 4.2 yards per carry last year. He had 819 yards in 8 games. We did shut him down pretty well last year. Neither of these two backs scare me like a Brian Westbrook, LaDainian Tomlinson, or Priest Holmes.

In comparison to Julius Jones, Thomas is about 20lbs heavier. Yeah Jones may have had 4.2 yard per carry last year but not against us, in fact only 3 running backs ran for 100 yards against us last year they were Lewis, Bettis, and Johnson. All which are heavier than Jones. I also dont recall saying that Thomas is bound for the hall of fame anytime soon. My point was that last year the bigger backs had better games against us than backs that weighed what Jones weighed. If you go back and look backs that weighed more that 205 played better against us...

Brian Westbrook only scares me because of his ability to catch out of the backfield, certainly not his rushing ability. Priest Holmes is good but after seeing how Blaylock and Johnson were just pluged in to KC's offense last year, that just tells me that KC just has a good system.

[Redskins8588]

I do agree that Julius Jones will have a good year this year, but I think that our D can handle him as long as Greg Williams can keep our D at the same level we ended last season. It is the bigger backs that we had a harder time with last season, like I posted earlier only 3 backs had 100 yard rushing games on us, they were the teams that had bigger backs, running backs that weighed more than 205lbs.

[firstdown]

The only reason any back gained over 100 yards on us was do to lack of offense. Most of the yards were late in 3rd and 4th qtr when our defense was worn down. I think we would have beeen the number on de if we only had some help from or offense with some long drives and not three and outs.

[Redskins8588]

Originally Posted by firstdown

The only reason any back gained over 100 yards on us was do to lack of offense. Most of the yards were late in 3rd and 4th qtr when our defense was worn down. I think we would have beeen the number on de if we only had some help from or offense with some long drives and not three and outs.

Rightfully so, our offense did not help us any and the yards came late in the game when there were 220lbs up to 255lbs slaming into our D. Where as the smaller backs really didnt hurt us that much come 3rd and 4th quarters.

[Schneed10]

Redskins8588, I don't understand what you're saying. You do know that Julius Jones is Bill Parcells' guy right? After running for over 100 yards per game last year, you better believe Parcells is going to go with him. So why would you be concerned about Anthony Thomas wearing us down by "slamming" into our defense over and over throughout the game? Anthony Thomas is never going to get more than 10 or 15 carries in a game as long as Julius Jones is healthy. There's no way we have to worry about Anthony Thomas wearing us down.

First off, Anthony Thomas is not a big back. Secondly, he is easy to stop, he had 3.3 yards per carry last year, which is about as lame as Eddie George. Thirdly, take a look at how long he remained a free agent! Doesn't that tell you something? He wasn't exactly in high demand. He sucks, he's not a concern.

[Redskins8588]

Parcells will go with Jones you are correct, but you do know that this is dallas we are talking about here. I can remember when Dallas would run all over us, hell dallas has had games against us where there 1st RB (Emmit Smith) and his backup at the time (Troy Hambrook) each gained 100yards against us in the same game. Just because Thomas had a not so steller year with the bears, does not mean that he wont have a better year with dallas, after all I am betting that it was PARCELLS that wanted him in dallas!!!

And like I said before Thomas is bigger than Julius Jones by atleast 20lbs. All I am trying to say is that just because Thomas is deamed as to be washed up or a bust doesnt mean that the possibilty isnt there for him to have a good game against us. Dallas always seems to be able to do that to us. Hell I am pretty sure that Thomas is alittle more talented than Hambrook is and like I said he even had a good game against us.

Also we handled Julius Jones and running backs that are his built last year.

[Schneed10]

I see your point, but if we're going to start getting scared of Anthony Thomas, aren't we really starting to say we're scared of anyone who wears a Cowboys uniform?

Thomas is a chump in my eyes, just like Hambrick. Sure we've been burned by chumps before, so I see your point.

I'm just sayin it's not like they just signed Priest Holmes. If we're going to lose at the hands of Anthony Thomas, we don't deserve to win that game anyway.

[MTK]

It's not the size of the back that matters here, it's the teams we should be concerned about. Teams like Pittsburgh run all day, and the Cowboys probably will too.

[firstdown]

I'm not worried about any teams running game against us this year as of now. If we can reproduce the de of last yaer that will be of no concern. Our concern should be in our running and passing game. We have to sustain long drives and give or de their needed rest and put some more points on the board. If we can take that step on offense we will have a winning season.

[BossHog]

Originally Posted by htownskinfan

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2051923
The cowboys are just killing us with their offseason,at least on paper,Thomas is a good pickup for them,if Julius Jones gets injured thomas is a good backup

I don't think DAL will be much of a threat in the NFL this year although, they always seem to have the upper hand on us. Marcus Spears looks like a good draftee but I didn't think DeMarcus Ware was worth such a high pick. He's pretty light. Whether DAL uses the 3-4 or 4-3, he'll be an OLB for sure. And saying that, he's a liability in coverage.

[RedskinsJunkie]

Originally Posted by Redskins8588

I am not sold on that, I would be more worried about Thomas than Jones. Our D was tough against the run last year that is for sure, but when we played against teams that had bigger backs like the Ravens with Lewis and the Steelers with Bettis we had a tougher time against them than we had aginst like Ahman Green, Tiki Barber, and even Westbrook was held under 100 yards both times we played the Eagles.

If we can duplicate the same D this year that we had last year I would rather we played against more scat backs than power backs.

Great points here, although if you remember in those games we held those big backs in check through most of the game, but our weak offensive output let them just run and run and run until our D was on the field so long they just wore out at the end of the game...

[sportscurmudgeon]

1. Obviously, RBs on good teans - ones with good OLs - are made to look better than they would look if they were on bad teams with bad OLs. Having said that, if anyone thinks Brian Westbrook is less valuable than Marion Barber III, they are showing just why they have not been hired on by an NFL team as a talent scout/evaluator. Hate the Eagles all you want, but please remain in contact with Planet Earth.


2. Someone said that the only reason backs gained 100 yards against the Skins' defense last year was because the offense sucked and the defense got worn down. A very comforting perspective to be sure. Now consider that really great defenses don't get worn down. In fact, great defenses take up the slack for impotent offenses by scoring TDs whilst the other team has the ball. For examples see Ravens, Baltimore and Bucs, Tampa Bay during their Super Bowl years. Now go back and check last year's games and stats for the Redskins' defense and the team as a whole...


3. Anthony Thomas provides the Cowboys with depth at a position where they had little or none last year. You cannot dismiss that acquisition as meaningless in this thread and then go to some other thread and proclaim that the signing of some undrafted free agent who may or may not have the football skills of a compost heap will provide critical depth for the Redskins. Anthony Thomas is not likely to get a single Pro-Bowl vote, but he is an NFL-caliber RB and that will help the Cowboys.


4. Dallas was 6-10 last year. Washington was 6-10 last year. It sin't as if the Cowboys have this huge gap to span in order to catch up to where the Skins were as of the end of the 2003/4 season.

[SmootSmack]

Raise your hand if you think that had the Redskins signed Anthony Thomas for depth Curmudgeon would have ripped the move?