Cowboy Player Grades Through Week 3

John Machota at Dallas Morning News did a nice summary from Pro Football Focus which grades all NFL players... click HERE for Machota's article.

Here's the notable highlights from Cowboys Players doing well so far through Week 3.
I think Doug Free listed as the number one right tackle in the entire league is probably the most notable and unexpected.  Nice to see Barry Church getting good grades after his battle with the achilles injury last year.  Looks like he has come back strong.

OFFENSE
– Of DeMarco Murray’s 175 rushing yards on Sunday, 148 of them came on runs to the left of center Travis Frederick.
– Murray is ranked the No. 2 running back in the league through three games. However, there’s a considerable gap between his 5.7 grade and Eagles running back LeSean McCoy’s 11.1 total. New Orleans’ Darren Sproles is third at 5.2.
– Murray’s grade in just the running game is 23rd best in the NFL, but his blocking grade and passing game grade are both among the league leaders.
– Murray is third in the league in yards after contact at 167, trailing only Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson (213) and Tampa Bay’s Doug Martin (170).
– Doug Free was the top-ranked offensive tackle for Week 3 and is the No. 1 tackle in the league through three weeks. PFF has Free graded as the No.1 run-blocking tackle in the NFL.
– Tony Romo had the highest QB rating for Week 3 at 137.2. He has the fifth-highest rating on the season at 103.9.
– Dez Bryant is ranked 18th among all receivers.
– Frederick had the second-highest grade of any center in Week 3.
– Against the Rams, Mackenzy Bernadeau graded out 13th among all guards, the highest of any Cowboy.
DEFENSE
– DeMarcus Ware is the third-highest graded defensive end. St. Louis’ Robert Quinn and Cincinnati’s Michael Johnson are the only two ahead of Ware.
– George Selvie is tied for fourth in the NFL with 11 QB hurries. Ware has 10.
– Sean Lee ranks 19th among middle linebackers and Bruce Carter is 21st among outside backers.
– Detroit’s Ndamukong Suh and Tennessee’s Jurrell Casey are the only defensive tackles with higher grades than Jason Hatcher.
– Barry Church is the highest graded safety in the league. His pass-coverage grade is the highest among NFL safeties. Church’s run-coverage grade is second only to Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu.
– Brandon Carr is the sixth-highest rated cornerback and Orlando Scandrick is seventh. Morris Claiborne is 88th.
– The longest pass play allowed into Scandrick’s coverage is 11 yards in 184 snaps, third-lowest in the league for a player taking at least 25 percent of his team’s snaps. There have been eight receptions made in Scandrick’s coverage area.
– J.J. Wilcox had the seventh-highest grade among safeties in Week 3, the rookie’s first game as a starter.

Agreeing with Jerrah? This Can't Be Happening!

What's weird is that I am agreeing with what Jerry is saying.  Could it be it is because he is repeating what Jason Garret is telling him????  Either way I certainly agree with his comment below and the drafting of John Randle.  I think Randle will be better than where he was drafted.  The Big 12 gets no respect anymore in college football which is ridiculous.  If you are the leading rusher in the Big 12, that's a big deal.  And he didn't have injury problems like DeMarco throughout his pro AND College careers.

• Jerry Jones - "To totally count on that would give you visions of 8-8, because the last two years, we've had games that we didn't have Murray, and we didn't run the ball as well," Jones said, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Sunday. "We didn't have as good an offense within it. So if we have somebody that could possibly step up there and give you the respite that you need when you don't have Murray, that's a big deal for us."

Cowboys End 2012 Season

The Cowboys end the regular season in familiar fashion.  A win/in or lose/go home scenario.  Once again for the Cowboys, they lose on a Romo interception and go home.  At this point what can you say that has not already been spoken, written or at least thought about.  There are the Romo haters and the Romo lovers, both have valid points.  There are the Jerry Haters (I don't think there are any Jerry Lovers) and they certainly have their justifiable and historical data points.  There are the Jason Garret haters and lovers.

As with most problems I don't think there is a one magic bullet theory.  I think there are issues to be corrected in each of these areas.  Regarding the Romo problem - sure if you could have Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or one of the two hot new QBs Luck and RGIII of course you would trade Romo, but those are not options (well at least not now, Jerry probably could've coaxed Peyton here during his whistle stop tour of franchises last spring).  So you have Romo who is a very good QB.  Not a great QB, but he definitely is better than a lot of the QBs in the league and always helps the team win 3-4 regular season games.  So you keep Romo, you begin an earnest search for his replacement as he is now 33 years old, and you build a team concept that doesn't rely 100% on Romo, which now the Cowboys obviously do.  You do that by beefing up your defensive line to lower the score of opposing teams and thereby letting Romo know that he doesn't have to score 35 points to win.  You do substantial work in upgrading the offensive line so that:
1.  To take pressure off Romo so he won't be rushed into stupid mistakes as often.
2.  An upgraded Offensive line will help an obviously good running back DeMarco Murray run the ball more efficiently which will also take pressure off Romo.

The Jerry problem, nothing you can do about this.  His stamp is all over this team, and because of this there may not be anything that anyone can do.  His dysfunction may ruin this team regardless of any changes made.

Jason Garrett problem.  I for one, believe that in today's world, instant success is expected too often in pro coaching.  However, with the player parity in the league, I also see that Coaching is probably more important now more than ever.  With that said, I think JG should be allowed more time to establish his players and establish his environment.  Now this may be impossible with Jerry Jones running around the premises and getting into fights with Ratliff in the locker room, but I think JG should be given more time.  However, I do think he needs to bring in an Offensive Playcaller.  Being the head coach and offensive play caller is too much for one individual.  You may be able to do both well, but there is no way you can be great at both.  There is no doubt in my mind that this is why JG appears to have problems with time management in some games, it's because he's thinking about the next play to call.  There should be two separate people with these duties.  With Norv Turner and Tony Sporano now on the streets, there is no excuse for JG not hiring an Offensive Coordinator/Play Caller and relieving himself of playcalling duties.  

So while everyone has their theories and ideas, I think if you addressed two of these three problems as outlined above (I say two, because the third one - Jerry Jones problem, there is nothing that can be done about that one), then the Cowboys will at least have a chance at the Playoffs next year.
The most frustrating thing though is to have to write this type of essay year after year.