Who wants to get beat by the Patriots?

Dave St.Onge · Joined: 28 Sep 2007 Posts: 8

> Time of Possession -- Patriots had the
> ball 38:25, the Cowboys 21:45. That's
> got to be closer, or else the Cowboys
> won't be able to compete against this
> team.
>

And that was with mostly passing plays. Sorry, but I don't think Henry in
the secondary will be able to alleviate that much...especially when you
consider the Pats were raping the Cowboys with their slot WR (Welker)...

Dave

Archived from group: alt>sports>football>pro>dallas-cowboys

MZ · Joined: 28 Sep 2007 Posts: 130

"observer" wrote in message $0$12157$a82e2bb9@reader.athenanews.com...
>
> "Dave St.Onge" wrote in message
> @corp.supernews.com...
>>
>> "observer" wrote ...
>> >
>> > Time of Possession -- Patriots had the
>> > ball 38:25, the Cowboys 21:45. That's
>> > got to be closer, or else the Cowboys
>> > won't be able to compete against this
>> > team.
>> >
>>
>> And that was with mostly passing plays. Sorry, but I don't think Henry
>> in
>> the secondary will be able to alleviate that much...especially when you
>> consider the Pats were raping the Cowboys with their slot WR (Welker)...
>
> Phillips said, after the game, his defensive
> plan was to "stop the run, first". Some com-
> mented, thereafter, that a better plan would've
> been to "stop the pass, first". With Henry, and
> Reeves as 3rd corner, and Newman in his
> pre-injury corner slot, and Ellis back to
> starter status, and the Cowboys able to score
> a TD in the 1st quarter (for a change), and
> Tank Johnson (whom I mistakenly referred
> to as Tank Williams, a post-Vikings faux
> pas), and Terry Glenn, I like their chances
> were a rematch to occur.

Enough ifs? One is particularly confusing to me though. How did you come
to the conclusion that the Cowboys would be more likely to score a TD in the
1st quarter? Aren't the Pats among the best in the league at preventing
first quarter scores? So even if the Cowboys managed to fix their broken
first quarter scoring trend, why would they be more likely to score early
than other teams? Sounds almost like you're saying "if the Cowboys offense
plays better in the 1st quarter this time around...".

MZ · Joined: 28 Sep 2007 Posts: 130

"observer" wrote in message $0$12184$a82e2bb9@reader.athenanews.com...
>
> "MZ" wrote ...
>>
>> "observer" wrote ...
>> >
>> > "Dave St.Onge" wrote ...
>> >>
>> >> "observer" wrote ...
>> >> >
>> >> > Time of Possession -- Patriots had the
>> >> > ball 38:25, the Cowboys 21:45. That's
>> >> > got to be closer, or else the Cowboys
>> >> > won't be able to compete against this
>> >> > team.
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >> And that was with mostly passing plays. Sorry, but I don't think
>> >> Henry in the secondary will be able to alleviate that much...
>> >> especially when you consider the Pats were raping the Cowboys
>> >> with their slot WR (Welker)...
>> >
>> > Phillips said, after the game, his defensive
>> > plan was to "stop the run, first". Some com-
>> > mented, thereafter, that a better plan would've
>> > been to "stop the pass, first". With Henry, and
>> > Reeves as 3rd corner, and Newman in his
>> > pre-injury corner slot, and Ellis back to
>> > starter status, and the Cowboys able to score
>> > a TD in the 1st quarter (for a change), and
>> > Tank Johnson (whom I mistakenly referred
>> > to as Tank Williams, a post-Vikings faux
>> > pas), and Terry Glenn, I like their chances
>> > were a rematch to occur.
>>
>> Enough ifs? One is particularly confusing to me though. How did you
>> come
>> to the conclusion that the Cowboys would be more likely to score a TD in
>> the
>> 1st quarter? Aren't the Pats among the best in the league at preventing
>> first quarter scores? So even if the Cowboys managed to fix their broken
>> first quarter scoring trend, why would they be more likely to score early
>> than other teams? Sounds almost like you're saying "if the Cowboys
>> offense
>> plays better in the 1st quarter this time around...".
>
> Well, on that same 'if' plane of thought,
> -if- Seymour significantly improves the
> Pats' 'D', and Brady continues his record-
> setting pace unabated, and the Pats' trio
> of receivers are unable to be slowed
> down by any team, and no team is able
> to figure out a Pats' weakness, and no
> team is able to come within a hair of
> defeating the Pats, then I'll have to
> accept that the Cowboys' chances in
> a rematch are not as good as I'd hoped. (-:

Well sure, there are always ifs. If Tom Brady doesn't get hurt, etc.

But there are likely ifs and then there are baseless ifs. We're essentially
trying to predict the future here. But some things are more likely than
others. For example, the NY Jets winning the rest of their games is not a
likely if. The best defensive player on the Pats replacing their worst
defensive starter leading to an improvement is a likely if. It's actually
based on more than guesswork. It's based on history, it's based on logic
(unless we believe that Green and Wright are really as good as Seymour, and
that the added depth won't matter). The Cowboys' receiving corps improving
when Glenn comes back is likely also (again, unless we believe that Hurd is
as good as Glenn).

Expecting the Cowboys to score more first quarter points against the Pats
doesn't appear to actually be based on anything. So that's what I call a
pulled-out-of-your-ass if. Smile

observer · Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 196

"MZ" wrote ...
>
> "observer" wrote in message
> $0$12184$a82e2bb9@reader.athenanews.com...
> >
> > "MZ" wrote ...
> >>
> >> "observer" wrote ...
> >> >
> >> > "Dave St.Onge" wrote ...
> >> >>
> >> >> "observer" wrote ...
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Time of Possession -- Patriots had the
> >> >> > ball 38:25, the Cowboys 21:45. That's
> >> >> > got to be closer, or else the Cowboys
> >> >> > won't be able to compete against this
> >> >> > team.
> >> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >> And that was with mostly passing plays. Sorry, but I don't think
> >> >> Henry in the secondary will be able to alleviate that much...
> >> >> especially when you consider the Pats were raping the Cowboys
> >> >> with their slot WR (Welker)...
> >> >
> >> > Phillips said, after the game, his defensive
> >> > plan was to "stop the run, first". Some com-
> >> > mented, thereafter, that a better plan would've
> >> > been to "stop the pass, first". With Henry, and
> >> > Reeves as 3rd corner, and Newman in his
> >> > pre-injury corner slot, and Ellis back to
> >> > starter status, and the Cowboys able to score
> >> > a TD in the 1st quarter (for a change), and
> >> > Tank Johnson (whom I mistakenly referred
> >> > to as Tank Williams, a post-Vikings faux
> >> > pas), and Terry Glenn, I like their chances
> >> > were a rematch to occur.
> >>
> >> Enough ifs? One is particularly confusing to me though. How did you
> >> come
> >> to the conclusion that the Cowboys would be more likely to score a TD in
> >> the
> >> 1st quarter? Aren't the Pats among the best in the league at preventing
> >> first quarter scores? So even if the Cowboys managed to fix their broken
> >> first quarter scoring trend, why would they be more likely to score early
> >> than other teams? Sounds almost like you're saying "if the Cowboys
> >> offense
> >> plays better in the 1st quarter this time around...".
> >
> > Well, on that same 'if' plane of thought,
> > -if- Seymour significantly improves the
> > Pats' 'D', and Brady continues his record-
> > setting pace unabated, and the Pats' trio
> > of receivers are unable to be slowed
> > down by any team, and no team is able
> > to figure out a Pats' weakness, and no
> > team is able to come within a hair of
> > defeating the Pats, then I'll have to
> > accept that the Cowboys' chances in
> > a rematch are not as good as I'd hoped. (-:
>
> Well sure, there are always ifs. If Tom Brady doesn't get hurt, etc.
>
> But there are likely ifs and then there are baseless ifs. We're essentially
> trying to predict the future here. But some things are more likely than
> others. For example, the NY Jets winning the rest of their games is not a
> likely if. The best defensive player on the Pats replacing their worst
> defensive starter leading to an improvement is a likely if. It's actually
> based on more than guesswork. It's based on history, it's based on logic
> (unless we believe that Green and Wright are really as good as Seymour, and
> that the added depth won't matter). The Cowboys' receiving corps improving
> when Glenn comes back is likely also (again, unless we believe that Hurd is
> as good as Glenn).
>
> Expecting the Cowboys to score more first quarter points against the Pats
> doesn't appear to actually be based on anything. So that's what I call a
> pulled-out-of-your-ass if. Smile

Glenn. No huddle success vs. the Vikings.
Henry. Tank. 0 last time. 14-0 start, last
time. 24-7 follow-up, thereafter, Cowboys
favor, last time. Next time? You see a
near-perfect Pats team improving, more
than overcoming any Cowboys improve-
ment. I see the likelihood of the Pats run-
ning into problems and the Cowboys con-
tinuing to improve as quite probable, based
simply on the difficulty in maintaining the
level of perfection the Pats have achieved
to-date, and the manner the Cowboys have
been able to overcome their innumerable
injury problems, thus far, in all-but the
Pats game.

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