Cowboys @ Chargers Game Day Thread / Post Game Discussion

[Budsman]

I agree with a lot too. I still think Special Teams stink, KJ Hill put the team inside the ten. Vizcaino missed a FG and than Pipkins added 15 more yards

The offense - needs to get in some kind of sync but the coaching staff left Norton out there all alone. Leave 82 in to help block. Give Herbert some damn time.

I will say this - Staley going for 2 and going for that 4th down - there is not one coach the last 20 years that goes for it on his own 35 there.

Yeah definitely some stuff to work on and I’m sure the coaches are saying the right things and will focus on next week and getting the team better. As a fan I’m mad as hell that we were jobbed by the refs.

[powderblueboy]

They should be keeping an eye out for a PK’er. Vizcaino missed the fg at the end of the half and nearly missed the one at the end to tie it.

He did fine.

Being a Charger fan, the bar has been set low.

The miss had a Cowboy defender coming on fast. Push it right more and it might have been blocked

[Boltgang74]

or even throw a td to cooks and get jobbed by the refs.

https://youtu.be/LhSbQwWwmTc

[like54ninjas]

bottom line, is if you cannot stop the run, the other team will control games, field position and the score...... only fumbles and other fluke plays can save you...... temporarily

Question is is the reason we cannot stop the run, design? or lack of that kind of talent??

We won TOP. lost the TO battle, 1 missed FG, never punted, and had 6 offensive possessions inside the cowboy 33 YL resulting in only 17 points.
Defense wasn’t the big issue today.

[captaind]

Not sure where that post went that showed the illegal shift, but in reference to what the call was:



The receiver at the top of the screen recognizes there are only 3 men off the line and takes a half step back, so are they considering this two men in motion at the same time? Pretty cheap call if you ask me.

[equivocation]

It's a tough loss but the talent is there. We're not going to win every game.

[powderblueboy]

I think some patience is in order, but Staley did blow the first half clock management. There needed to be a timeout before the converted third down and not no timeout plus a huddle. That was Anthony Lynn caliber bad.

Also, the red zone play calling has been ineffective.

And there were a bunch of bad penalties today.

The talent is there, but we have not been sharp this season yet.

Next week would be a good time to bring it.

Yeah, its a long season. The offense and defense have a lot of moving parts.

McCoy needed a few games before he got rolling; Lynn needed a few games.

Staley will be no different.

Its a bummer when a God has been reduced to mere demi mortals.

[Xenos]

I agree with you on that first and goal after the KA play. Run the ball -- so much has to go right to complete a pass from the two . But running it - Dallas defense isn't that good.

Lombardi got too cute there. Too pass happy a lot of the game.

It’s early but we seem to be having the opposite problem as Lynn. He was too run happy while Lombardi, like Sean Payton, is becoming too pass happy. We need to just do a better job if utilizing the running game after getting into the redzone. Doesn’t mean we should only run run pass when we get there. But there’s times for it.

[Velo]

I don't think this loss is a big deal. It's a new coaching staff with new schemes on both sides of the ball. The Bucs' defense gave up 29 points to this very offense last week. This is a non-conference loss. It is going to be a long season. The Chargers were not dominated. I think the defense was actually pretty good. It surrendered 9 fewer points than the Bucs' vaunted defense last week. It's the offense that is lacking, against WFT last week and again today. Besides the obvious - the struggles in the Red Zone and the penalties - here are some observations:

Norton and Pipkins are not NFL caliber OTs. I watched Parsons blow by Norton multiple times. An even below average veteran tackle would have slowed Parsons down. But Norton couldn't even do that. Right tackle is a problem with Bulaga being so unreliable. Why not dump Norton and/or Pipkins now and sign a free agent who at least has some experience. This should have been done right after the preseason IMO. Maybe even trade for somebody. They could probably get a decent RT for depth for a low-round pick next year. Don't put Herbert in the position to have dodge edge rushers coming of the right side because our backup swing tackles can't block.

Josh Palmer is going to take some time to develop. I still maintain it is was a mistake to let Tyron Johnson go. Palmer is nowhere near ready to fill Johnson's shoes. Herbert is not taking the deep shots downfield he was last year when he had Guyton and Johnson able to get behind the defense. There is nothing that can be done about this now. I just wanted to biatch about it some more. I do think Johnson's absence is holding the offense back, compared to where it was at the end of last season. It averaged 26 pts per game the last four games of the 2020 season, but is only averaging 18.5 pts through the first two games in 2021. I do think the offense will find its footing as the season progresses though, and that Josh Palmer will develop by the end of the season into a pretty decent target for Herbert.

In conclusion though, there is a lot of time left to for this team to mold into the elite team we were expecting. Perhaps we were expecting it too early. Again, this is a new team in terms of coaching and schemes. Give it time. You all know that the teams who are hottest at the beginning of the season are are rarely the teams that are the hottest in December and into the playoffs. Being 1-1 with no conference losses not a bad position to be in.

[powderblueboy]

I was at the game so I can’t really comment on the penalties that negated 2 Charger TDs.

I will say that Lombardi is not impressing me. Depending on a Lot of Herbert hero ball. No imagination in the offense. And the RZ failures are just horrific. With 1st and 2 I don’t care if you call 4 straight QB sneaks but you have the best center in the game and you have to be able to run that in.

team beat themselves today. Way too many penalties and mental mistakes.

you can take the team out of San Diego, hire a new fresh faced coach, get lucky with a franchise qb and still beat yourselves in a game you should have won. Smh.

staley needs to be better. Dallas only scored 20 but seemed to be able to do what they wanted.

thoroughly disappointing loss.

There was a lot of that. Too often, they needed to get bailed out by those plays.

I guess that's grist for the mill for Mahomes and the Chiefs,
but with this offense, it seemed a bit like desperation.

Nothing smooth about the offenses' performance anywhere on the field today.

[jamrock]

When you add the fumble called against Herbert in WFT game to what we saw today it’s hard not to conclude that somebody hates the Spanos

[Go_Herbo]

Unprofessional refs influenced the outcome of this game.... As this poster said... "Brady or Mahomes would have never been called for a sack"
https://twitter.com/BadSportsRefs/st...rsial%2F584171