Where’s All That Motivation I Heard About Mr. Crayton? And Where is the Defense?

TO Owens, again, was double covered much of the game vs. Cincinnati but managed to break away on a 57 yard touch down. I’ve heard people say that he should be able to break whatever coverage he has and get open…Jerry Rice faced double coverage much of his career and look what he did. That true…but Jerry Rice also had John Taylor on the opposite side catching passes too. Which brings me to my next point, where has Patrick Crayton gone to? Yes, he was in the wrong place at the right time Sunday to get the game winning touchdown but other than that, what has he done the past few games? The answer…not much. Here is Crayton’s production since catching 10 balls for 125 yards and a touchdown in the season opener vs. Cleveland: vs. Filthy – 2 catches, 23 yards, 0 TD; vs. Green Bay – 0 catches, 0 yards, 0 TDs; vs. Washington – 7 catches, 87 yards, 0 TD; vs. Cincinnati – 1 catch, 12 yards, 1 TD. So in 5 games this year, he’s had a great game, a solid game, 2 duds and a non factor.

All I heard during the off season was that Patrick Crayton was using that 3rd down pass he dropped, during the playoff game vs the Giants, as motivation and that he would make amends this season for his playoff performance. Well, he had a golden chance on Sunday when Romo threw him a long pass that hit him in the hands…but he dropped it, again. I’m not saying that Crayton has to catch every pass thrown to him…even Jerry Rice didn’t do that. But Rice certainly would have caught the pass Crayton dropped on Sunday. I know Crayton caught the winning touchdown last week but I really do think that was more luck than anything else. And the fact that teams are doubling Owens sends the message that they are willing to take their chances with one-on-one coverage with Crayton because they don’t think he will hurt them like Owens could. Crayton needs to find a way to get open and create more plays down field so teams will have to respect him. He did that against Cleveland, but then again they have a sieve-like pass defense. The offense, which ranks towards the top in the NFL, needs Crayton to be at least a factor in these games. If I were TO Owens, I wouldn’t be mad at the media, at Romo, at Jason Garret or anyone else besides Crayton because if Crayton would do his job, Owens wouldn’t be doubled as much and would have more opportunities to catch balls.

Another thing that is concerning me is the defense and more specifically the pass defense. They are just not playing like a defense with 9 #1 draft choices. They did get their first interception and recovered a fumble…I give them that and those were good plays. But outside of those, I don’t really remember too many great plays. I do, however, remember TJ Houshmandzadeh being WIDE open on both of his touchdowns. I also remember that Carson Palmer was 23 of 39 for 217 yards…with a bum elbow. So the idea of facing Kurt Warner, who is the #1 rated passer in the NFC, is making me quite nervous.

One thing that will rattle Kurt Warner and make him less of an effective passer is to get up in his face, put pressure on him and make him throw the ball before he wants to. If that happens, he starts getting antsy and makes poor decisions. Unfortunately, Dallas hasn’t been really good about getting consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks this year. They just haven’t. The Cowboys only have one real effective pass rusher, DeMarcus Ware, and he gets double teamed, just like TO Owens does, on a regular basis. And even with those double teams, he’s gotten several sacks this year. But he can’t do it all himself. Jay Ratliff has also been effective but only in spots. The defensive front seven has got to be more productive and cause more chaos for the opposing offense than they have. If the minimal pressure Dallas has put on opposing QBs remains the same, the Cowboys defense will continue to look mediocre if not worse, especially against a pass happy offense like the Cardinals have.