When the pre-season with all its hype and predictions ended, we as fans and the Cowboys sports media all pointed out the many strengths of this team coupled with the areas of the team where we are vulnerable. This is a very talented football team. But, like all NFL teams, it does have problems.
In my view the three biggest vulnerabilities and question marks about this team showed up yesterday:
- The OL depth is a concern- we all knew go into the season that Tyron Smith is a ticking time bomb for an injury. Then Tyler Biadz went down and Zack Martin too. Suddenly having 3 backup lineman for one game was a problem. Edoga looked awful at LT. Apparently Tyler Smith’s ham is still too tender to allow him to play LT. We all have loved TJ Bass and his UFA story. But he’s still very raw with a lot to learn.
- The inability to stop the run has dogged this team for years- are we back to this being a problem? This team gave up 185 yards in the first half! And our LBs looked out position or easily blocked by the cards most of the day. I don’t think we’re as bad against the run as we saw yesterday but it has been a problem for so long, it does make you wonder.
- This team has been mentally soft for most of the last 27 years, regardless of coaches. For far too long, the Cowboys have been soft. Especially mentally. Adversity strikes and this team stumbles. Not 100% of the time of course, but far too often.
It’s a long season and we still have 14 games left. No need to push any panic buttons. But the above problems are not a surprise. This team’s ability to improve in those areas will say a lot about our chances of post season success.
Discuss this on CowboysZone (101 comments)
