TexanSam
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Out of respect for @dryans59 I will not touch #59. I will choose another #. #BullsOnParade
https://twitter.com/#!/bradiejamesgang/status/190856879491129344
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Out of respect for @dryans59 I will not touch #59. I will choose another #. #BullsOnParade
the bolded says it all. I've watched enough cowboys games over the years to have noticed a bit of a drop off in his game. Read H-frog's post just above ours; it pretty much sums up my thoughts on the guy.
Good. Now we can draft a QB or RB in the 1st round.
From a die hard Cowboy fan I know at work (the kind that doesn't come into work if your team beat his or always brings up his team no matter what you are talking about when it comes to football):
bradie james was the 6th leader tackler all time in cowboys history, he was on pace to break it until he slowed down a few years ago
he is great in run support, no so great in pass
and he's lost a little toughness, can't stay on the field all game anymore
but he's smart and i would call him a leader
i think he'll do well also, and i would try to find a way to get him in the game on 1st and long or 3rd and short, plays well in the box
So...Demeco Ryans light?
Demeco Ryans Older
From a die hard Cowboy fan I know at work (the kind that doesn't come into work if your team beat his or always brings up his team no matter what you are talking about when it comes to football):
bradie james was the 6th leader tackler all time in cowboys history, he was on pace to break it until he slowed down a few years ago
he is great in run support, no so great in pass
and he's lost a little toughness, can't stay on the field all game anymore
but he's smart and i would call him a leader
i think he'll do well also, and i would try to find a way to get him in the game on 1st and long or 3rd and short, plays well in the box
That is just wrong. Here are his career stats from epsn:
You can clearly see the dropoff in production occurred last year after Rob Ryan took over and Wade was gone. Sean Lee became one of the starting ILBs for the Cowboys, while Brooking and James shared the other ILB spot for the most part. I can't find stats on the number of snaps played by James, but I believe his number went down quite a bit last year. I don't think James was that much worse last year, but he wasn't on the field enough to get 100 tackles like he did the previous 5 years. Sean Lee on the other hand became the Cowboys 3-down ILB and had over 100 tackles last year.
Give him a chance, I'm sure he will show up in run defense like he always has for the Cowboys. We primarily used Demeco for that role, so getting James at vet minimum to fill that spot makes a lot of sense, even if he's only a 2-down LB. I trust Wade knows how to use him and will get the most out of him.
A few more days for these types of moves allowing me to change my mock. WHo be next? A vet QB? WR? TE? RB? FB? I'm still excited.
Hmm, that appears to leave #'s 52 and 53 as the remaining numbers currently available in the 50's. I think the only other numbers LB's can take are 90-99. The only one's available are 90 and 93.
So which one will he choose? You have a 25% chance to get it right.
52
53
90
93
I'm going with 52
Hmm, that appears to leave #'s 52 and 53 as the remaining numbers currently available in the 50's. I think the only other numbers LB's can take are 90-99. The only one's available are 90 and 93.
So which one will he choose? You have a 25% chance to get it right.
52
53
90
93
I'm going with 52
the bolded says it all. I've watched enough cowboys games over the years to have noticed a bit of a drop off in his game. Read H-frog's post just above ours; it pretty much sums up my thoughts on the guy.
I keep trying to understand how the words "compromised" and "less talented" and "not as competitive as last year" is somehow different than "doomed."
...
I really don't think it is so hard to understand if one tries to understand what I'm saying rather than interpret it in a way to make it sound stupid or easy to argue against. I'll try some examples.
Doomed: a 3-12 season
Not as good as last year: a 9-7 season
Doomed: come in third in the division
Not as good as last year: win the division and lose the wild card game
IMO, if someone characterizes winning the division and losing the wild card game as "doomed", then in comparison I'm the glass half full optimist.
Ok, now I see what your definitions are.
"Not as good as last year: win the division and lose the wold card game."
This is where I think the crux of the topic is. Is it necessarily a failure to lose a wild card game? It's possible to lose the opening playoff game and still have been as good as we were last year, IMO.
What if the only reason we lost the next playoff game in 2013 was due to a bad ref call or a fluke Jacoby'ish play? Does that mean we weren't as good as we were in 2011? Or does it mean we're still at the same level and not really making the jump to Top 3 or Top 4 team status yet? To me, there's a difference there in the two.
Signing Dobbins and James is a clue that we're valuing talent as long as it's priced within our means (for purposes of keeping the tier 1 guys like Brown and Cushing) AND that the talent has on-field production. We replaced Ryans with James and it appears to be a sound football move since the guy had phenomenal years 4 years straight with Wade as d-coord.
What if what if what if.
How about the simple answer, what if they lose because they've slipped some in talent and depth because of salary cap issues? That's what has happened so far, next man up jingoism and assume a strong draft aside.
I contend the team did not lose those players because they were unneeded, but because they were deemed the most expendable to meet the cap. I assume if Kubes had his way he'd rather still have some of those players; the realities of the cap made that impossible.
.Spinning these moves to show the team is more talented without them makes no sense to me. They are gone because the Texans couldn't afford them, not because they weren't important to the team.
Further, if he was starting these guys ahead of better players, that wouldn't bode well for his identifying better replacements in the draft or through other means.
I think you also have to evaluate the teams that will/should be the playoff competition. These teams were not static in the offseason, either.I stated that the loss of four starters would make them less competitive this year. I think they will still win the weak division but will find the playoffs tougher.
Great. Fall back to claiming I say the Texans will suck. Keep arguing against that straw man, you certainly aren't addressing anything I've said.
And another thing: Shelley Smith had an injury that shelved him for awhile. Butler was i.r.'d after the second week. LeStar Jean i.r.'d in preseason. Roc Carmichael too, IIRC. We've got a list of guys who were clearly capable but injured. Throw in Caldwell whom CnD states was playing with two high ankle sprains.
Furthermore, in an attempt to answer your question: Why didn't Kubiak play them over Winston and Brisiel? Well, why does he play Jacoby when Jacoby sucks so badly? Why does he continue to let JJ handle punts all game long after blowing the punt that eventually was the difference making boneheaded play in the Ravens game? Because Kubiak has loyalties. To a fault.
But his "let the seniors play and freshmen you'll get your shot in a couple of years" mindset doesn't mean the Shelley Smiths or Butlers etc. are lesser guys. He's always done this. Outside of our first rounders...very few Kubiak draft picks take over in year one OR even in year two. It's how he works.
I think I answered your original question, basically why do I bristle when people say I think the team sucks now. I've never said they sucked and are doomed. I've said they've lost talent. They have, or Kubes was a poor coach last year playing those guys when the backups are so clearly superior. Further, if he was starting these guys ahead of better players, that wouldn't bode well for his identifying better replacements in the draft or through other means.
I don't want to put words in Runner's mouth, but I think what he's getting at is we've lost known talented starters on this team: Winston, Brisiel, Ryans, and Williams. Though I tend to agree with his view on Mario, I just don't think the team really got what it envisioned when they drafted him with the physical measurements.
The guys we have replacing those guys, James now aside, we don't have much to go on.
This really is a watershed year for Gary and Rick far as finally getting to the top of the division, losing some good talent, and having the players behind them to keep the momentum going.
This is where we see if Gary and the staff HE assembled can coach up players and have a system in place to maximize their abilities.
Doesn't Kubiak get credit for not cutting Foster though?
I am not quite sure I understand the question or the logic behind it.
Foster was signed to a two year deal as a UDFA, meaning we pursued Foster pretty heavily considering most teams offered one year deals. We also had a really weak backfield at the time too, and that also likely played a factor into Foster opting to come here as well. Prior to his senior season he also had a second round draft grade.
If he "gets credit for not cutting him" does he "get blame for waiting so long to get him into the lineup regularly?"
I don't get it.
Foster himself has stated that he wasn't ready. He came into camp with a bad mind-set because he hadn't been drafted. He did not do the things in camp that he should have and he wasn't ready to be on the field. Then when he got cut and PSd, he gave up.
It wasn't until he was watching a MNF game and the announcer mentioned that one of the guys playing had been called up from the practice squad that Foster realized that he wasn't done for the year. That's when he turned it around and started busting his ass.
There's no way Kubiak should have just given Foster a spot on the team if he wasn't ready to play. And he wasn't.
So we're blaming Kubiak for not playing a guy who wasn't ready to play? And we're not giving any credit to Kubiak for sticking with a kid with an attitude problem and working him through it and helping him turn into the gem we have today?
Lots of teams would have just kicked him to the curb and been done with it.
What year was this? I recall him having an injury during his first year that kept him from playing or being called up from p-squad. I think that had more to do with him not getting a chance for some time than motivation or preparation.
It was a domino effect.
The injury was prior to the Combine. He tweaked his hamstring during his senior year and he wasn't totally healed by the Combine. People advised him not to run but he felt he had to do it. That's why he ran such a slow time and one of the big reasons why he fell off so many draft boards. Cause that man is not slow on game day.
From what he said, he was still kinda sulking about that in training camp and that's what led to the lack of motivation. The hamstring might have still been bothering him in TC, too. But I don't recall that being mentioned. I tried looking on NFL.com but they don't have the stats from the 2009 pre-season.
The guy who got injured bad that year was Jeremiah Johnson. He looked like he was going to be a great fit in the team, iirc, in preseason and then got injured and that was it. We had been psyched to get both Foster and Johnson after the draft (after being so pissed off that they didn't draft a RB) and then both guys looked pretty good in the preseason but neither one made the 53-man roster.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong about that.
LINK"I don't mind throwing it on the table, we're pretty pleased with picking Bradie (James) up, because we feel like we gained back what we lost with DeMeco leaving, and then some to be honest with you," Texans linebackers Reggie Herring coach said Tuesday.
Yes, of course. Ryan's wasn't a scheme fit. James apparently is.... I wonder if he was referring more to 'within the scheme'...
Quite an inflammatory comment from the coach there, I wonder if he was referring more to 'within the scheme' than in terms of overall ability, because given James' age and taking salary out of the equation, most would have Demeco over him in a flash, even those who are comfortable with the move all things considered.
We saw video of a Texans public relations staffer promptly ending the interview while yanking Herring away after he made that statement. (UPDATE: The Texans contacted ATL and said Herring was late for a meeting.)
Kubiak on day 2 of OTAs ..from Texan' website( on his first impressions of ILB Bradie James now that he's on the field) "A leader. You can tell he's been a leader of a group before. He's very much under control with the defense. Fit right in with the group real quick. He's been there every day. That's what we asked of him. He's come in and been everything (defensive coordinator) Wade (Phillips) and (linebackers coach) Reggie (Herring) said he would be."
Kubiak on day 2 of OTAs ..from Texan' website
I think Phillips and Herring were thrilled when James was released by Dallas. It allowed them to trade Ryans for a mid-third round pick* and they got a replacement for nothing. I also think Herring is someone you might want to keep away from the microphone. It makes me wonder if any other Dallas players are on Phillips' radar (CB Mike Jenkins).
*you do the math...selection #99 and moved up from #89 to #76 = #85.
http://www.drafttek.com/tradechart.html
I also think Herring is someone you might want to keep away from the microphone.
How much is Jenkins making?
If we could get him at a bargain I'd be all over that.