Virginia 21, Idaho 20, OT
This was one of the more frustrating wins ever. The Cavaliers racked up nearly 500 yards of offense and held Idaho to under 300 yards (although 296 is still too much) but was a two-point conversion attempt away from losing. Virginia is 3-2 and three wins away heading into a bye week, and it has plenty of things to work on if it hopes to eke out three more wins to get to bowl eligibility.
IDAHO TWO-POINT TRY
I like the move by the Vandals to go for two. They probably had just as much a chance to win it right then and there and they would if they went into a second overtime. They had gotten that far, they were right on the cusp of beating an ACC school at their place, why not go for it all. They are Vandals after all.
QB SHUFFLE NEEDS TO STOP
I've got no clue what the coaching staff is thinking when they switch David Watford in for Michael Rocco at quarterback. I think it is Mike London's decision and I don't think offensive coordinator Bill Lazor is all that thrilled with it. There was a Lazor quote after the game where he was saying it is hard to call plays when he has to deal with two different personalities.
Some fans are saying it crushes Rocco's confidence when Watford is brought into the game. I do not think that is true, because so far, these appearances by Watford are scheduled, especially his first appearance. Watford has always been coming in on the team's fourth offensive series. Now, I think there is something to be said for the theory that it hurts Rocco's momentum and rhythm. It was not as apparent in the Idaho game, because Rocco did not turn the ball over (although he was less accurate late in the game), but in the Southern Miss game, Rocco lead the team on two terrific scoring drives before getting pulled. After he reentered, he threw three interceptions which could have cost UVa the game. He needs to be better and if he is a good quarterback, these breaks in playing should not affect him. But he is a first-year starter and it seems as if he is having a hard time just picking up where he leaves off. I don't think the coaches are doing either quarterback a favor by continuing this carousel. The two quarterback system just does not work. Florida's national championship team did it a few years ago with Chris Leake and Tim Tebow, but that was an excellent and superbly-coached team. The Cavaliers are not. They need to stick with one quarterback.
I don't really care who it is. Both have shown good and bad play. Rocco has two TDs and seven INTs, but I think if we were to stick with him for an entire game over the course of a few games, that ratio would improve. Plus, not all seven INTs are his fault and two of them came late in the game against UNC when he was forced to throw down field. Watford has been less accurate overall, but has shown good poise for a freshman and he has raw athletic ability. He nearly led the team to a comeback win over Southern Miss, had a great scramble and run in that game, and converted a crazy two-point conversion in that game where he rolled all the way to the right side of the field before firing a bullet to Kris Burd at the goal line.
I would go with Rocco because he has been able to move the team down the field more consistently, but I'd be ok with Watford, too. I just think it is better for the team to stick with one.
WHAT WAS HE THINKING?
On third and about 2 on Virginia's first offensive series against Idaho, Lazor elected to QB sneak Rocco up the middle. Rocco was unable to get the necessary yardage and Virginia punted. I am no coach, but to me, that is the LAST play I would have called there. Rocco came into the game with sore ribs from a hit he took against Southern Miss, so we run him up the middle? What? Why not run it up the middle with one of our running backs? A pitch out? A short pass? Anything but QB sneak it with an injured quarterback. I don't know why coaches make the decisions they make sometimes.
WHAT'S UP WITH ANTHONY POINDEXTER?
Anthony Poindexter was an all-American safety at Virginia in the 1990s. It is what he knows best. He is currently the safeties and special teams coach. The special teams has not played well so far this year. Besides Robert Randolph's success as a kicker, Virginia has been pretty bad in kickoff returns and punt returns. And Saturday, Virginia had a kick and punt blocked. Perhaps it is time Poindexter turned all of his attention to the safeties and someone else took over as special teams coach.
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Lions 34, Cowboys 30
I was not able to see this game live until the last few minutes, which ended up being the worst time to start watching. When I plan to blog about a game, I like to watch it in its entirety. Sometimes that means watching the recording. In this case though, I watched up until Dallas had a 27-3 lead and then turned it off because I knew it would be too painful to watch. Not to mention I had already seen Tony Romo's interceptions in the highlights for the game. It was painful enough to watch the first part, honestly, because we were dominating the Lions so much and then to blow it was mind-blogging. The Lions had nothing going for them and were well on their way to their first loss of the season until those two pick sixes completely turned the momentum of the game in the Lions' favor.
EVEN WITH THREE INTS, DALLAS STILL HAD A CHANCE TO WIN
Dallas' defense still had a chance to stop the Lions from winning at the end of the game and then the Cowboys offense also had a chance on a final drive. The point is, even with three interceptions -- two of them being returned for touchdowns -- the Lions still almost lost. I think if the Lions had not returned two of those INTs for TDs, the Cowboys might have won, because the Lions offense would have had to work for those two touchdowns. Instead, the defense scored 14 points for the Lions while the offense scored 20. There was lots of skill involved in those pick sixes, but also some luck, too. I can't imagine there are too many games where a team has had two pick sixes. I should have expected luck not to be on Dallas' side in the game, though, because the Cowboys got lots of lucky bounces against the Redskins when none of those bad snaps ended up in a Skins' player's hands.
ROMO SHOULD NOT RECEIVE ALL THE BLAME
The first interception was not a great decision by Romo, but it was a very athletic play by Lions linebacker and former Cowboy Bobby Carpenter (who was in Romo's wedding, oddly enough). The second interception was partly receiver Laurent Robinson's fault. He did not cut very hard on his route or appear to fight for the ball as hard as the Lions cornerback did. Give credit to the cornerback, too, because he was getting eaten alive early in the game and he stepped up and made a play. All day, Robinson had been making easy catches and so it probably surprised him when the cornerback stepped up and was right there, ready for him and the ball.
COME ON, THINK A LITTLE BIT
The final interception, at least the throw itself, was a bad throw by Romo and definitely his fault. He just kind've threw it up for grabs in the middle of the field. My question, though, is why were we passing the ball from our own end of the field with a three-point lead and about 3-4 minutes left? Run the ball. Whether or not we thought Felix Jones and Tashard Choice were being effective -- which I think they were -- you must run the ball in that situation. Maybe passing on second and third down is fine, but run the ball on first down, at least to get the clock rolling. Again, I am not a coach, but this seems like a simple decision. I've heard coaches and commentators talk about the four-minute drill before, and that is exactly the situation Dallas had. The four-minute drill is a situation where the team with the lead needs to run the ball, possess the ball as long possible, and milk the clock. A pass there on 1st-and-10 goes against the tenants of the four-minute drill.
DALLAS STILL A GOOD TEAM
Dallas goes into a bye now at 2-2 instead of 3-1. The worst part is the Cowboys have to travel to play the Patriots in Week 6 after their bye. A win against the Lions would not make a loss to the Patriots as bad. Now, Dallas could really use a win against New England. The schedule gets softer after that for the Cowboys, though. They still have a good chance of making the playoffs. The team is looking pretty good, overall. The offense can mostly move the ball at will and it has been without Miles Austin at receiver the past two games. He will be back for the Patriots game. After his disappearing act in the second half of the Jets game, Dez Bryant has been effective, even with a quad injury. The defense, when not put into tough situations, is much improved over last year. Rookie kicker Dan Bailey continues to impress.
Honestly, my biggest worry with this team is Romo. He can win and lose the game. Without those INTs against the Lions, Dallas wins easily. But to build that lead, Romo played extremely well. Before the meltdown, Romo had passed for three TDs, just a few incompletions, and over 200 yards. We got the best and worst of Romo against the Lions. Unfortunately, the bad outweighed the good. If he can just somehow limit his mistakes, this team can start to string together some wins.
This was one of the more frustrating wins ever. The Cavaliers racked up nearly 500 yards of offense and held Idaho to under 300 yards (although 296 is still too much) but was a two-point conversion attempt away from losing. Virginia is 3-2 and three wins away heading into a bye week, and it has plenty of things to work on if it hopes to eke out three more wins to get to bowl eligibility.
IDAHO TWO-POINT TRY
I like the move by the Vandals to go for two. They probably had just as much a chance to win it right then and there and they would if they went into a second overtime. They had gotten that far, they were right on the cusp of beating an ACC school at their place, why not go for it all. They are Vandals after all.
QB SHUFFLE NEEDS TO STOP
I've got no clue what the coaching staff is thinking when they switch David Watford in for Michael Rocco at quarterback. I think it is Mike London's decision and I don't think offensive coordinator Bill Lazor is all that thrilled with it. There was a Lazor quote after the game where he was saying it is hard to call plays when he has to deal with two different personalities.
Some fans are saying it crushes Rocco's confidence when Watford is brought into the game. I do not think that is true, because so far, these appearances by Watford are scheduled, especially his first appearance. Watford has always been coming in on the team's fourth offensive series. Now, I think there is something to be said for the theory that it hurts Rocco's momentum and rhythm. It was not as apparent in the Idaho game, because Rocco did not turn the ball over (although he was less accurate late in the game), but in the Southern Miss game, Rocco lead the team on two terrific scoring drives before getting pulled. After he reentered, he threw three interceptions which could have cost UVa the game. He needs to be better and if he is a good quarterback, these breaks in playing should not affect him. But he is a first-year starter and it seems as if he is having a hard time just picking up where he leaves off. I don't think the coaches are doing either quarterback a favor by continuing this carousel. The two quarterback system just does not work. Florida's national championship team did it a few years ago with Chris Leake and Tim Tebow, but that was an excellent and superbly-coached team. The Cavaliers are not. They need to stick with one quarterback.
I don't really care who it is. Both have shown good and bad play. Rocco has two TDs and seven INTs, but I think if we were to stick with him for an entire game over the course of a few games, that ratio would improve. Plus, not all seven INTs are his fault and two of them came late in the game against UNC when he was forced to throw down field. Watford has been less accurate overall, but has shown good poise for a freshman and he has raw athletic ability. He nearly led the team to a comeback win over Southern Miss, had a great scramble and run in that game, and converted a crazy two-point conversion in that game where he rolled all the way to the right side of the field before firing a bullet to Kris Burd at the goal line.
I would go with Rocco because he has been able to move the team down the field more consistently, but I'd be ok with Watford, too. I just think it is better for the team to stick with one.
WHAT WAS HE THINKING?
On third and about 2 on Virginia's first offensive series against Idaho, Lazor elected to QB sneak Rocco up the middle. Rocco was unable to get the necessary yardage and Virginia punted. I am no coach, but to me, that is the LAST play I would have called there. Rocco came into the game with sore ribs from a hit he took against Southern Miss, so we run him up the middle? What? Why not run it up the middle with one of our running backs? A pitch out? A short pass? Anything but QB sneak it with an injured quarterback. I don't know why coaches make the decisions they make sometimes.
WHAT'S UP WITH ANTHONY POINDEXTER?
Anthony Poindexter was an all-American safety at Virginia in the 1990s. It is what he knows best. He is currently the safeties and special teams coach. The special teams has not played well so far this year. Besides Robert Randolph's success as a kicker, Virginia has been pretty bad in kickoff returns and punt returns. And Saturday, Virginia had a kick and punt blocked. Perhaps it is time Poindexter turned all of his attention to the safeties and someone else took over as special teams coach.
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Lions 34, Cowboys 30
I was not able to see this game live until the last few minutes, which ended up being the worst time to start watching. When I plan to blog about a game, I like to watch it in its entirety. Sometimes that means watching the recording. In this case though, I watched up until Dallas had a 27-3 lead and then turned it off because I knew it would be too painful to watch. Not to mention I had already seen Tony Romo's interceptions in the highlights for the game. It was painful enough to watch the first part, honestly, because we were dominating the Lions so much and then to blow it was mind-blogging. The Lions had nothing going for them and were well on their way to their first loss of the season until those two pick sixes completely turned the momentum of the game in the Lions' favor.
EVEN WITH THREE INTS, DALLAS STILL HAD A CHANCE TO WIN
Dallas' defense still had a chance to stop the Lions from winning at the end of the game and then the Cowboys offense also had a chance on a final drive. The point is, even with three interceptions -- two of them being returned for touchdowns -- the Lions still almost lost. I think if the Lions had not returned two of those INTs for TDs, the Cowboys might have won, because the Lions offense would have had to work for those two touchdowns. Instead, the defense scored 14 points for the Lions while the offense scored 20. There was lots of skill involved in those pick sixes, but also some luck, too. I can't imagine there are too many games where a team has had two pick sixes. I should have expected luck not to be on Dallas' side in the game, though, because the Cowboys got lots of lucky bounces against the Redskins when none of those bad snaps ended up in a Skins' player's hands.
ROMO SHOULD NOT RECEIVE ALL THE BLAME
The first interception was not a great decision by Romo, but it was a very athletic play by Lions linebacker and former Cowboy Bobby Carpenter (who was in Romo's wedding, oddly enough). The second interception was partly receiver Laurent Robinson's fault. He did not cut very hard on his route or appear to fight for the ball as hard as the Lions cornerback did. Give credit to the cornerback, too, because he was getting eaten alive early in the game and he stepped up and made a play. All day, Robinson had been making easy catches and so it probably surprised him when the cornerback stepped up and was right there, ready for him and the ball.
COME ON, THINK A LITTLE BIT
The final interception, at least the throw itself, was a bad throw by Romo and definitely his fault. He just kind've threw it up for grabs in the middle of the field. My question, though, is why were we passing the ball from our own end of the field with a three-point lead and about 3-4 minutes left? Run the ball. Whether or not we thought Felix Jones and Tashard Choice were being effective -- which I think they were -- you must run the ball in that situation. Maybe passing on second and third down is fine, but run the ball on first down, at least to get the clock rolling. Again, I am not a coach, but this seems like a simple decision. I've heard coaches and commentators talk about the four-minute drill before, and that is exactly the situation Dallas had. The four-minute drill is a situation where the team with the lead needs to run the ball, possess the ball as long possible, and milk the clock. A pass there on 1st-and-10 goes against the tenants of the four-minute drill.
DALLAS STILL A GOOD TEAM
Dallas goes into a bye now at 2-2 instead of 3-1. The worst part is the Cowboys have to travel to play the Patriots in Week 6 after their bye. A win against the Lions would not make a loss to the Patriots as bad. Now, Dallas could really use a win against New England. The schedule gets softer after that for the Cowboys, though. They still have a good chance of making the playoffs. The team is looking pretty good, overall. The offense can mostly move the ball at will and it has been without Miles Austin at receiver the past two games. He will be back for the Patriots game. After his disappearing act in the second half of the Jets game, Dez Bryant has been effective, even with a quad injury. The defense, when not put into tough situations, is much improved over last year. Rookie kicker Dan Bailey continues to impress.
Honestly, my biggest worry with this team is Romo. He can win and lose the game. Without those INTs against the Lions, Dallas wins easily. But to build that lead, Romo played extremely well. Before the meltdown, Romo had passed for three TDs, just a few incompletions, and over 200 yards. We got the best and worst of Romo against the Lions. Unfortunately, the bad outweighed the good. If he can just somehow limit his mistakes, this team can start to string together some wins.
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