Notes, Scribbles, and Things Jotted Down: Cowboys Edition

what might rank in the top 3 of ridiculous Lovie Smith challenges of all time. OF ALL TIME!

It was awesome! The stadium was about 1/3 Bears fans in a conservative estimation and everyone was pumped. Seeing Cutler getting harassed in the 1st Quarter I thought we were in for a long game. Mike Martz earned his money yesterday with his adjustments after the first few drives. Truly the difference in the game.

I’d like to see Hester learn to stretch out a little on those long throws. The pass along the right sideline was only about 6 inches too long but a catch that a more experienced WR should make. That happened a few times last year as well so it’s something that I’d like to see the coaches work on with him.

0/2 for onside kickoffs. Means a lot.

He made adjustments on the move, than no other coordinator we have ever seen would have done. And to think… the arrogant Bears didn’t even really want him for the job. Unreal. They didn’t even want to interview him… but they ran out of options!

I hope we can keep him alive this year.

In a game where Demarcus Ware was all over the place.

You are right about Manumaleuna. More is definitely needed from this guy.

Tommie Harris was criticized by some because when he was in open space he occasionally seemed busy without doing anything. The blind dog syndrome.

Without Urlacher in there holding things together and providing leadership, we don’t win this game.

Martz and Tice adapted well to changing circumstances during the course of the game. Props to them!

Peppers played a hell of a game, he was real close to Romo all game and was gassed. Romo is real tough to get to.

Go Bears!!

that I’m very impressed with the Bears but I’m equally as concerned in some areas. I’m impressed with Cutler and the offensive skill position players. They are balling. But the offensive line is terrible and when the weathe starts to get bad and the Bears have to run the ball more, they are in trouble.

The front 7 is great. The secondary is bad. Romo torched them, especially Tillman and Bowman who Miles Austin abused. It seems the secondary still has the bend don’t break mentality and that’s going to backfire against teams that don’t shoot themselves in the foot in the redzone. The D can be really good, but still too many 3rd and long conversions.

All in all, I’m very excited about this season and hope that they spend their first 3 picks on the best offensive lineman available.

- Jay Cutler was sacked on the second play of the game. The Bears then caled a timeout. Why?

He got up a bit woozy.

The announcer said the said the same thing, then saw him look a bit shakey and said I think Jay may have been a bit shaken up by that sack.

Tommie Harris was drawing double teams early, and seemed to be freeing up space for Anthony Adams and Matt Toeina. Not sure why the criticism towards Tommie in the game threads last night. If he is getting doubled all game, then he is being effective by default.

I agree.

But, I think the what he was doing was maintaining the pocket so that the DEs could roll around to the QB and that the Cowboys running game would be stifled. Looking at the stats, the Cowboys could not get their running game going which I said would be “key” in the Bears holding the offense to a maintainable number.

Harris played the gaps well and did EXACTLY what Sapp said his problem has been— pocket control. He held it up so that the other DLs could get to the QB.

One, our special teams really seem to be slipping a bit. Poor punting, coverage etc.. 2nd i am really concerned about harris coverage ability and some of the poor angles he is taking on underneath routes. Yes he had a nice hit on Rwilliams but wouldn’t it have been nicer to make a play on the ball instead of laying him out with a completion??

Speaking of lowering the boom, how in the hell did Roy WIlliams hold on to the ball when Chris Harris drove over him?

Hit of the game!

Also, that hit by Charles Tillman on Miles Austin was nasty. Austin looked timid going over the middle the rest of the game.

The Bears D was laying wood that entire game. It was inspiring to see as a fan!

… 1988 Roger Craig?

As I said on the post game thread, I thought he was recovering from a rough game one against the Lions. Cutler led him in to some pretty big hits that game and that had to be a bit much for a guy who really isn’t built like a T.O. or a Andre Johnson.

I think he made a few drops because he was taking some whacks throughout the game. I think he’ll be back in week 3.

Bennett did well in his place though.

The line actually looked better without Williams. Tommie Harris wasn’t getting double teamed as much as he should’ve been, and was consistently getting pushed back even when not double teamed.

I don’t play but I prefer NFL radio over ESPN anytime. The guys were rambling on about how poor of a QB Cutler is and how he didnt have anyone to throw to. The greatest part was his statline prediction. He strongly suggested Cutler would throw for 156 yards no td’s and 3 picks. He also said the Bears would be blown out of the building.
  
Now I’ve never called into a radio show but I think I am going to call and ask this guy why he still has a job why it has anything to do with talking about football.

Man… if the Vikings don’t resemble the 2007 Chicago Bears I do not know what!

The QB’s inconsistency, the lack of receivers, and the secondary is eerily familiar to this Bears fan.

I think Ziggy is in a bad position as to what to do to re-mediate the situation. If you go get V. Jackson who will want a big contract, you set a bad precedence to Sidney Rice who is in the final year of his first contract. IF you don’t, you are now saddling your HUGE offseason investment (Favre) with a bunch of inexperienced receivers that he has YET to find chemistry with.

I mentioned early in the offseason that I didn’t think the VIkings were going to be the “toast of the North” and so far it looks to be holding true.

They really didn’t impress me in that category. That could be because of the lack of a rushing attack or the fact that they passed early on in series and had 2nd and long to deal with on most downs.

Safety Major Wright had only a slight hitch in his walk after the game, the result of a hamstring pull he suffered trying to chase down Dez Bryant at the end of the rookie’s 62-yard punt return for a touchdown.

The third-round pick from Florida is suddenly snake-bitten. This is the third injury he has suffered since a week into training camp when a groin muscle pull cost him a week or so.

Speaking of needing to get right, the Bears will re-evaluate left tackle Chris Williams after his pulled right hamstring sent him to the locker room after three plays. The play of Frank Omiyale in his absence was encouraging, but there will be a push to get Williams going again soon.

You have to wonder if it will be easier for a lineman to return from a hamstring pull than say a wide receiver or a defensive back, a player who relies on running much more.

Here’s the link back to Biggs’ article. Please click the link for all of his thoughts.

Unbelievable, right?

" Wade Phillips is fat! He has no personal discipline so how could we ever hope that he could coach a disciplined team"

Freaking hilarious..

And Lovie takes the penalty anyway.

are freaking out down here….Kinda of nice to walk around today with all the cowboy fans hiding from me…..Though some will come up be brave and talk about the game and how they beat themselves a little (though they do give the Bears more credit especially Jay Cutler)…..Had a few fans say that the cowboys should get rid of phillips, the kicker, roy williams, and trade romo…..

They did look really good – post adjustments. I winced after Cutler spent most of the first series on the turf – thought it would be a long afternoon.

We started out slow, and even though we lost Williams, and Wright, the team picked up the slack. They actually looked like a team out there – very encouraging.

The Cowboys looked somewhat shell-shocked and are having lots of struggles of their own. They are a quality team, and the Bears beat them handily. Take away the Bryant return for a TD and this game wasn’t even close.

The real test comes next week against the meat Packers at home. I’d love to see our guys put in a repeat effort (win or lose) against what some say is the best team in the NFC.

on his Monday morning QB. He says week 2 was the tale of the QB’s and Sizzle is not one of them?? His only mention of the bears was that their OLine may be worst than he thought. That is crap, probably the biggest upset of the day.

“the bears O-line, who has actually been good this year…” it was at that point I knew he didn’t do homework for his upcoming games. While he can be tolerable at times, I can’t stand when CC guys randomly add false information, just to have air filled with talk.

How much of it was max-protection schemes that the Cowboys were calling? I saw Pepp being double-covered quite a bit. Not sure about Harris, but neither of them recorded a tackle. I guess the result is all that matters though….where’s Greg Blache?!

- Brandon Manumaleuna is a big boy, and needs to keep developing into a FB. We’ll need him on the goal line.

You must have a man-crush on him, cause he was our worst linemen yesterday. I don’t even think it was close. He did the “olay” like on three straight passing plays where he was required to help on the edge. Not only did he not do this, but also took the tackles out of the play and nearly got Jay killed.

Was when Peppers absolutely destroyed Barber on that goal line play. A man possessed..

• Bennett is great at making the catch. But he’s also the best I’ve seen at making the catch, scrambling and still failing to make the first down. I understand “Throw short and let him make the play for the first,” but it’s not like Bennett is the danger with the ball that Hester or Knox are.

• That TD catch showed exactly what Olsen is about. Outran the LBs perfectly. I don’t care how Charmin soft a player is if he’s able to run away from the angry men into the endzone.

• Roy Williams is not a great NFL receiver. Please cease your celebrating while you’re behind. Thank you.

• Amazing how the better penetrators (penetrationers? penetraters? What will make you happy, Firefox? Apparantly none of these) on the defensive line were those who aren’t collecting the large paychecks. Peppers, though, had a very good game for not showing up often on the stat sheet. Consistent doubles on him and Harris freed up Izzy/Adams/Big Toe on several plays.

• Cutler has exactly one INT to go with his five TDs over two games.

• For what it’s worth, Matt Forte has three times the rushing yards of Jay Cutler (~75 to 25).

After playing on grass for long periods of time it can become hard to adjust to, especially when you have to guard a lethal receiver like Austin.