Chicago Bears 33, Washington Redskins 31 – RGIII looked more like a rookie in this one but he didn’t look horrible. He’s just having a few growing pains. QB Kirk Cousins threw 3 TD passes with the second team. Bears WR Alshon Jeffery looks like the player “they THOUGHT they were” (getting, that is – hat tip to Denny Green). The biggest concern was when Redskins OLB and Pro-Bowler Brian Orakpo injured his right pectoral muscle on a tackle – the same one he injured last year. Hopefully it’s just a strain, but a tear would keep him out possibly the entire season. It’s too early to know yet but listen for news as it develops. Redskins starting safety Brandon Meriweather hurt his knee, was helped off the field, and didn’t return in the game. I wonder if the GEICO caveman is gloating?

Houston Texans 20, San Francisco 49′ers 9 – Matt Schaub looked sharp once again and Andre Johnson looked horse-healthy on a 43 yard completion as the Texans’ first teams looked impressive once again. 9′ers RB Brandon Jacobs left the game after a tackler speared his right thigh/knee area on a tackle. It looked quite painful to be sure, but probably will wind up being a deep bruise. Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter are still the top two backs and that shouldn’t change. Jim Harbaugh seems to be interweaving his new receiving bodies into his run-based offense nicely and they’ll be a force in the NFC. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me all that much if this game is a Super Bowl Preview.

St. Louis Rams 31, Kansas City Chiefs 17 – Rams’ QB Sam Bradford looked sharp, throwing 2 TD passes on 6 of 9 passing and appears to be healthy again after an ankle injury hampered his sophomore season. Rookie WR Brian Quick had 3 catches and he was considered a talent who needs a little seasoning but seems to be developing nicely so far. Danny Amendola had 3 catches for 58 yards and a TD. Matt Cassel of the Chiefs had a nice outing as well while RBs Peyton Hillis and Jamaal Charles, both injured much of last season, got a little work and looked nice on a few runs. If that duo can get going, they could possibly be the best “Thunder (Hillis) and Lightning (Charles)” combo in the NFL if they live up to their talent…and if Hillis doesn’t get Strep Throat again. Rookie NT Dontari Poe’s struggles continue as he recorded a single tackle on the contest.

Seattle Seahawks 30, Denver Broncos 10 – 38 year-old WR Terrell Owens dropped a sure 48 yard TD pass from QB Matt Flynn, but the Seahawks won anyway. Peyton Manning had a good day other than a couple of interceptions – one on a tipped pass and the other on a throw that drifted on him a bit when he had to make a perfect pass. Don’t worry about Manning; he’s Manning and will be fine. Fantasy owners should take notice that Brandon Stokley and Manning seem to be getting familiar with each other again. Keep tabs on the pair; Stokley might be worth a late-round pick as a bit of a sleeper that some owners will pass over due to his age and injury history, but might see some production in this offense.

San Diego Chargers 28, Dallas Cowboys 20 – Dallas loses their second preseason game but their starting defense is really looking good. All of the Chargers’ points came in the second half. Lots going on in this game. First, Chargers’ apparent #1 receiver Vincent Brown broke his ankle and will miss at least 8 weeks. The Chargers WR group as a whole isn’t the most durable even while they have depth. QB Philip Rivers continued throwing picks like last year. It’s not all his fault, however, as his line is giving up ground so he can’t step into some of his throws. That Cowboy first-team looks pretty good on both sides but especially on defense as they have yet to allow a score in two games. Undrafted rookie free agent Cole Beasley from SMU had 7 catches and 104 yards as he stated his case for the #3 WR behind Miles Austin and Dez Bryant. Bryant made a would-be spectacular one-handed catch in the back of the endzone, leaping high to snag it out of the air. He came down JUST out of bounds and there was a holding penalty anyway, but the spectacle clearly demonstrated his talent and ability. They don’t make many like him.

Jan 1, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (9) is sacked by New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul (90) during the first half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Chris Faytok/The Star-Ledger via US PRESSWIRE

The 2011 Dallas Cowboys lost games in which they had a 4th-quarter lead, exposing their secondary and their pass-rush for what they were – completely average at best. The organization went into the 2012 draft eyeing Alabama SS Mark Barron and in fact traded up to get help. Here’s how their draft came out:

1 6 Morris Claiborne CB LSU
3 81 Tyrone Crawford DE Boise State
4 113 Kyle Wilber DE Wake Forest
4 135 Matt Johnson SS Eastern Washington
5 152 Danny Coale WR Virginia Tech
6 186 James Hanna TE Oklahoma
7 222 Caleb McSurdy LB Montana

As you can see, instead of taking Barron at #6 overall, they went with the best cover corner in the draft – LSU’s Morris Claiborne. LSU is getting a reputation for being “Defensive Back U” with Patrick Peterson coming off the board in the top 5 in the 2011 draft. Claiborne wasn’t the only LSU DB to be taken in the top few rounds either, so that should give you an idea of their pass defense last season that led them to the BCS title game.

The Cowboys now have the deepest group of cornerbacks in the entire NFL. With Claiborne, they have Mike Jenkins, Orlando Scandrick, and Brandon Carr. Their biggest worry at the position is who plays inside and who plays outside. Most franchises would kill to have that worry.

Instead of landing Barron, they settled for Matt Johnson from Eastern Michigan in round 4. With DeMarcus Ware being their only real pass-rush threat, they drafted rookies Tyrone Crawford and Kyle Wilber to try to bolster that part of the defense. Marcus Spears is a solid end against the run but never has been a threat to consistently pressure the quarterback and to be successful these days you really need at least two and you can never have enough of them.

That’s why the New York Giants have been so successful against the New England Patriots in both recent Super Bowl matchups.

With that in mind, the Cowboys have another issue: protecting Tony Romo.

In two of the past four seasons, Romo has missed significant playing time due to injury – the most recent being a broken collar bone in 2010. When he’s upright and protected, he puts up gawdy statistics but the knock on him has been his play in the 4th quarter. Overall last season, he had 31 TD passes vs. only 10 INTs and has greater than a 2:1 TD:INT ratio over his career.

Those numbers are outstanding but they’ve not translated into postseason success for the franchise.

Playing in the NFC East, they have to improve their own team or be left behind. Washington has just added RG3, a dynamic and cerebral athlete to call the signals. Physically, he’s like Michael Vick when he was 21 or so. Mentally, I’d compare him to a rookie Peyton Manning.

That’s the GOOD news for the Cowboys.

The bad? Well, the REAL Michael Vick plays in the division with the Eagles, and two-time Super Bowl champion Eli Manning runs the offense for the Giants. The Cowboys are going to need that “Four Corner Defense” against these guys, but at least they’ve apparently really beefed up their pass defense.

On the other side of the ball, they still have issues. They’ve got a good young tackle in Tyron Smith, who is probably their best offensive lineman and can be penciled in to start at LT while 2011 LT Doug Free moves to the right side. That gives them a solid if unspectacular duo to protect against the outside rush.

The inside is another matter. I had Stanford guard David DeCastro go to the ‘boys in round one of my 2012 Mock Draft since Claiborne and Barron would have been gone by then, but ALL offensive linemen slid down the charts. Dallas’ loss became the OL-needy Pittsburgh Steelers’ gain.

However, it’s very difficult to mock drafts now that the rookie wage scale is in place. Teams feel much freer to move up and down the board for a particular player or to get more bodies depending on their overall roster situation.

The inside trio is going to be much harder to project, but suffice it to say they have no big talent there. Names like Phil Costa, Kevin Kowalski aren’t exactly household names, and they added free agents Mackenzy Bernadeau and Nate Livings in the offseason. They’re going to need to find 3 guys with good chemistry with the tackles to solidify things and that takes time. They don’t have the depth to afford any injuries, and that’s a problem.

Another problem with depth they have is at wide receiver. Since they let Laurent Robinson walk via free agency to the Jags, they’re left with only 3 players that caught a pass in 2011 – Miles Austin and Dez Bryant are the 2 starters on the outside, and you can write that in granite.

What about the slot or their 3rd WR? That’ll fall to Kevin Ogletree with his blistering 2011 season of 15 catches for 164 yards an no TDs.

After that? The cupboard is completely bare.

They do still have the most reliable and dependable TE in the NFL over the past 5 seasons in Jason Witten. He’s had 900+ yards receiving in each of his last 5 years and has only missed a single game his entire career. As long as they don’t have any injuries AT ALL on offense, they should be okay.

History says differently. Players do get injured in the NFL all the time and the Cowboys’ backfield is no exception. RB Felix Jones hasn’t been able to stay healthy in any of his first few seasons and last year’s rookie surprise, Demarco Murray, had several monster games before he got injured as well. They have talent at the skill positions, just no depth.

Considering the fact they play in the toughest division in the NFL and did do a lot for the pass defense over the offseason as well as attempt to shore up their interior OL, they’ve done about all they could reasonably do to improve their team. They just have too many holes to fill at once but took care of some of that. The defense should be the strength of their squad this season.

DeMarcus Ware is an All-Pro at the weakside linebacker spot and they signed Dan Connor, a very good but injury-prone ILB, during the offseason from the Carolina Panthers. Sean Lee joins him inside and Anthony Spencer, the strongside OLB/DE, returns under the franchise tag. Very solid group, but again – if they stay healthy, but have a little depth.

The defensive tackles include Jay Ratliff, Kenyon Coleman, and a 3rd-year pro with immense physical skills in Sean Lissemore. Marcus Spears is a good run anchor as I’ve mentioned, and Jason Hatcher, Anthony Spencer, and Bruce Carter round out a deep rotation between the DL and OLB sub-packages. This team has a very good defensive front seven with a lot of depth and with good, versatile players for their 3-4 set.

With that in mind, I think they….

are standing still. I would say they took a step forward if they played in the AFC East, West or NFC West but they don’t. I think they’ll lack the offensive firepower to push past teams in the division and may actually wind up winning a game or two with their defense, unlike last season. However, they’ve not improved their offense much. If they can keep Romo upright, healthy, and get SOMETHING out of some of those WRs on the depth chart, that’ll be the best they can hope for.

Better in the secondary and pass rush, but less talent to work with on the offense. It’s a wash, but keep eyes on those receivers in the preseason. If someone breaks out, that could make the difference. They’re close, but likely another year away from the playoffs. Jason Garrett’s seat will feel a lot warmer after this season in which they should finish around .500, plus or minus a game in the murderous NFC East.

Next up: the Denver Broncos.

I swore I wouldn’t watch the Pro Bowl this year, but when I read that the panthers had two more players–Ryan Kalil and Jon Beason–being added into the Pro Bowl roster, I felt this might be worth watching.

I know; favoritism, favoritism, favoritism. Panthers blinders, rose-colored lenses, and the other adjective that describes my Panthers fandom–biased. What do you expect? I write an all-Panthers blog.

Anyway, it was a pretty entertaining game this evening, and against my stubborn will, I was glad I watched the game.

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