So, how will the coaches use this loss to prepare them for the Patriots? Well, the good news is the next game is at home. The Cowboys seem to play better at home (sadly though, we probably won’t have a home playoff game this year). I think the biggest things the coaches can do is the following:
1. Better tackling – the tackling effort, especially in the first half, was appalling. Absolutely disgusting effort on the tackling, especially from Kearse. They need to tighten up the tackling going into the Pats game. Otherwise, Zeke is going to run through us.
2. Discipline – the penalties were ridiculous. There were some that I thought were unfair, and there were some missed DPIs on the Cardinals. That said, the discipline from the Cowboys was awful. The penalties were idiotic, and shouldn’t have happened.
3. Health – we were down a lot of players. I’m not sure what was going on in practice this week, but we had a lot of injuries. It’s hard to win in the NFL, and it’s even harder when you have injuries. Mike McCarthy needs to revamp the practices to where the players are less likely to pick up injuries, but still be effective enough to where the players know what they’re supposed to do.
4. Catching – finally, everyone who’s job it is to catch passes needs to catch the ball better. I’m sick of seeing our players dropping passes. Especially from the TEs. This is the NFL. Catching passes is basic football. This has been an issue for a while.
If these get cleaned up, we should be able to beat the Patriots. If not, well….
