Chicago

[PDay8810]

Last year's Chicago game was a top ten all time low for me. Dallas flat out quit and wanted no part of the cold. I hope that becomes the rally cry within the team. That gutless quitter feeling within that locker room last year.

New week and the timing for another December Chicago night game seems most appropriate to me

[Romotodez]

Although I think this game is going to be about our offense, I think the defense is gonna have to tackle better. Chicagos game plan has been a short, quick passing attack lately - protecting Cutler more. I wonder if they continue that or get a little more risky considering we don't get much pressure. Either way the middle of the defense has got to stop Forte. Definitely going to be tough.

[bluejerseyjinx]

Can you guys help me out here? I'm looking at the current standings. I guess I am behind the 8-ball here. Why is Seattle in and we are on the outside looking in? I thought the first tie breaker was head to head. Has that changed and why is Seattle ahead of us with the same record?

[Jarntt]

With a 3 team tie you can't necessarily do the head to head. So probably (without looking at standings) conference record

[Romotodez]

If us and Seattle end up tied by ourselves then we would have it. Since Detroit is in the mix it goes to conference record. Since we are 3-0 vs AFC , I would say our conference record is worse than the other 2.

[bluejerseyjinx]

With a 3 team tie you can't necessarily do the head to head. So probably (without looking at standings) conference record

I guess that would make sense, thank you. If the NFL is now using conference records to deciding seeding, we shouldn't reward a division winner like New Orleans or Atlanta with a home playoff game with a losing record vs. a team with a winning or better record. JMHO.

[Romotodez]

We have to take care of our own business and somehow win 3 of 4. I'm not into odds making, but the odds of us winning out - I would guess is very low. With that being said, it's probably better for us if Philly beats Seattle. Blast away

[Schmoopy1000]

We have to take care of our own business and somehow win 3 of 4. I'm not into odds making, but the odds of us winning out - I would guess is very low. With that being said, it's probably better for us if Philly beats Seattle. Blast away

well that all depends on what happens through out the next few weeks.

If we are tied with seattle alone & not in a 3 way tie. It would mean better for Seattle to lose. Since we would end up with the tie breaker.
If the Eagles lose to seattle & then lose to us, that puts us in the drivers seat for the remaider of the season (until we blow it)
If we do blow it & tie with the Eagles. I am pretty sure we will lose the divisional tie breaker, which would mean be better for seattle to lose to the eagles I mean depending on what so many other teams do, is what depends on which would be better of the two teams to lose. So it is hard to say right now which would be better to lose.

Gut feeling. I think Seattle is now on a roll so even with one loss to the eagles they may win out any ways afterwards. Think our chances of the eagles losing more than one game is more likely than seattle losing more than one game. So I would rather shoot for the division than hope for a tiebreaker for a wild card spot. At this stage if we lose more than one game I think we are out. Even at 10-6. What we need to hope for is for the other teams like the Lions to lose, since then we could fall back on a tie breaker against the hawks if we tie. Also we need the Cards to start winning, because if the hawks pass the cards, & we tie with the cards they own the tiebreaker with us. So like I said way to many scenario's for us to know which one the eagles or Hawks loss would be better for us right now. We just need to get back to winning or none of it will even matter. (says Capt. Obvious )

[Romotodez]

Exactly. The only way Though I think we win the division is to win out. We are really in a tough spot with the tie breakers

[Romotodez]

Hell the real bad thing is we could go 11-5 and miss the playoffs.

[snookdad]

Back to the topic at hand. For us to beat Chicago 2 things need to happen IMO. Number 1 we have to get back to running the ball affectively. Murray looks like he's pressing sometimes trying to go for the homerun always looking to bounce outside. Sometimes I wish he'd just hit the hole make 1 cut and explode. That said I know our OL likes to pull a lot with the zone blocking. Lets get back to being smash mouth. JG and Tony Romo lets stop throwing the ball on 3rd and 2, 3rd and 1, and 2nd and 4. We have gotten this far because we weren't trying to be cute. Run the freaking ball in the correct situations. Second thing to get back on track is Defense. This defense has never been great but they were like a bunch of ants on the attack. Being in the right spot gang tackling being an angry mob. It seems that for whatever reason we're not seeing that same tenacious effort anymore. LOL here we go this is almost a must win. Just my opinion what's yours.

[Jarntt]

Hell the real bad thing is we could go 11-5 and miss the playoffs.

Philly is ahead of us for the Division, Detroit has two easy wins coming up, Seattle seems to be playing better now and the 49ers are right behind us...BUT if we go 11-5 I'm sure we will end up in one way or another. Unfortunately I don't see us getting to 11 wins.

[PDay8810]

Back to the topic at hand. For us to beat Chicago 2 things need to happen IMO. Number 1 we have to get back to running the ball affectively. Murray looks like he's pressing sometimes trying to go for the homerun always looking to bounce outside. Sometimes I wish he'd just hit the hole make 1 cut and explode. That said I know our OL likes to pull a lot with the zone blocking. Lets get back to being smash mouth. JG and Tony Romo lets stop throwing the ball on 3rd and 2, 3rd and 1, and 2nd and 4. We have gotten this far because we weren't trying to be cute. Run the freaking ball in the correct situations. Second thing to get back on track is Defense. This defense has never been great but they were like a bunch of ants on the attack. Being in the right spot gang tackling being an angry mob. It seems that for whatever reason we're not seeing that same tenacious effort anymore. LOL here we go this is almost a must win. Just my opinion what's yours.

I always feel like professionals play for both sides and while I'm happy we've committed to the running game, balance is required. We feel in love with the running game last week early and I think that was a mistake. Throw the football DOWN the field early...throw to setup the run still seems like a better plan than pounding like we're the 1970 Texas wishbone attack. It's stupid to run against 8/9 man fronts all the time just to prove you can. That gets you beat as much as throwing on every down IMO....professionals on both sides tells me you need to mix it up

[PDay8810]

Todd Archer agrees with Pday...or Pday agrees with Todd Archer

"Against the Eagles the Cowboys ran it on 14 of their first 18 first-down plays. When the game got out of whack, they threw it. By running it so much the Cowboys are putting even more pressure on converting on third down. Their numbers on third down the past five games are awful. They are converting just 34 percent of the time. I’m not asking the Cowboys to chuck it all over the yard, but I think it’s OK to make a first down on first down. They are averaging 8.76 yards per pass play on first down, by the way"

[Jarntt]

Balance is definitely required both ways. But, my belief is that our running on first down has been very succesful and was last week too and is the best thing for not only our Offense, but our defense too. The problem is we aren't running as much on 2nd down the way I see it. That is the down that determines what you are committed to more often than not. Most teams run on 1st down and pass on 3rd down the majority of the time. Early in the year we ran more on 2nd down and had shorter 3rd down conversions required because of it and had a better time of possesion because of it. This is where Witten and Beasley excel and Dez can just use his size. If we don't throw it often on 1st down then obviously when we do we will gain more yards on average because we are going against our tendency and throwing it with 8 or 9 in the box. But, If you throw more on 1st down, that goes away and your average likely comes down. Come out and pound the ball early and then the play action works better that has always been when Romo is at his best IMO. He hides the ball well and gets to lob it out to a wide open receiver.

[Romotodez]

I think we are going to need 30 plus a game over the next 3 to win, if not more. I think it's important from here on out to get Dez going early. I'm tired of these 3 and 4 catches out of him. It's time for him to dominate. It would also be nice to see Williams check in sometime soon. Murray May be tired. Randle looked so quick on his carry the other day.

[Romotodez]

I think we are going to need 30 plus a game over the next 3 to win, if not more. I think it's important from here on out to get Dez going early. I'm tired of these 3 and 4 catches out of him. It's time for him to dominate. It would also be nice to see Williams check in sometime soon. Murray May be tired. Randle looked so quick on his carry the other day.

[Romotodez]

I think we are going to need 30 plus a game over the next 3 to win, if not more. I think it's important from here on out to get Dez going early. I'm tired of these 3 and 4 catches out of him. It's time for him to dominate. It would also be nice to see Williams check in sometime soon. Murray May be tired. Randle looked so quick on his carry the other day.

[Romotodez]

Z

[Romotodez]

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