Pull Brunell already? NO!
Let's give EVERYONE, including Brunell a chance to get comfortable with the new Saunders playbook first.
Let Portis come back and give us a running attack AND block in front of Brunell first. We won't have a passing game until we can get defenses to respect our running game.
Remember last year...we started out playing badly and were one win away from the NFC championship, with Brunell leading the way.
I saw some bright spots in Brunell's game. Despite being pressured on every play from not having Portis back there to block or get the defense out of pass rush mode, I saw Brunell avoid some sacks and big losses with his legs. Dallas sacked him 6 times, but they should've had a few more. He made SOME nice throws, so I don't think his arm has left him, just his confidence in the playbook. Campbell has the same number of practice days under the new system as Brunell has, without the experience.
We're one loss behind everyone in the division, it's NOT panic time. We seem to start out slow every year and come on strong in the end. When we get Portis and Springs back, it will help IMMENSELY.
We should get our first win in week 3, with or without Portis. We could even consider resting him to make sure he's as healthy as possible for the Jags in week 4.
Even with our watered-down secondary, we played great for the most part on defense. Rumph and Kenny Wright had some great plays, but also had a lot of penalties too. Knocking the TD pass away from Owens was huge at the time. Speaking of knocking and Owens, Sean Taylor rocked him all night. It was great to watch. Arch had some nice hits on him too and led us in tackles. Punishing Owens like we did almost made up for losing, it was great to watch and no one else in the league deserves Taylor's wrath like Owens does. Frost averaged 51.6 yards a punt. That's awesome, especially for him. He seems to have found his foot. Hall made a 39-yard FG. I was cringing when he walked onto the field but he made a perfect kick.
Watching the self-annointed "best player in the NFL" get 3 catches for 19 yards and a broken finger was VERY satisfying.
Rock Cartright can return kicks. Who knew? Even Madden said "how does Dallas let a guy named Rock do that to them?"
Yes, we lost but the game wasn't THAT ugly. I thought we played well on defense for the first 3 quarters. We're missing 2 VERY KEY PLAYERS including one of the best RBs in the NFL and we were still in the game for most of the game. It hurts to lose to the Cowboys, but I saw improvements in many areas over last week. We lost 6 out of 8 games at one point last season but we stepped up when it mattered. We've only improved our roster over the offseason and we'll get better every week. If the playbook is really 700 pages, I can completely understand the leaning curve.
Be thankful there is no undefeated team in the NFC East. We're still in it. I watched the Eagles and Giants game and they didn't impress me very much. Dallas, especially Bledsoe, isn't Super Bowl caliber. When our offense begins rolling like Saunders offenses can, we WILL be the top team in the division. I think benching Brunell right now would only set us back a few weeks as Campbell has to start where Brunell did, in week 1. Even if Campbell does get the offense, it would likely shave 2 wins off our final record, something we can't afford if we want to be in the playoffs in this division.
I have faith in Brunell and Gibbs. Any team that knew we were going to be passing (or trying to) could shut down the passing game. Dallas knew Betts and Duckett were NOT going to replace Portis' role. It was bound to happen.
The last time we were 0-2 under Gibbs, it was 1989. We finished with 10 wins. This year, 10 wins will get us in the postseason.
Don't jump off the bandwagon like Cowboys fans jump ON it.
Hail to the Redskins.