A Late Sunday Night Snack

Rafael,

I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment that the ending of the 1986 season was the greatest collapse in Cowboys history. I would think that going 1-7 over the final 8 weeks, including losing the last 5 games, would more than qualify for anyone with a moderate sense of Cowboys history (or anyone with access to a computer and a desire for accuracy).

Other candidates, that I submit were worse than the 2005 season, were the 1984 season, when the Cowboys started out 9-5, but lost their last two, including a 2-point loss to the Redskins at home, to finish out of the playoffs, and the 1997 season, when the Cowboys started out 6-5, but lost their last 5 games.

I notice that Matt Mosley made an identical claim, about the end of the 2005 season, in a recent article. I don’t know if he was serious, or whether he was ridiculing Fisher.

Yeah, that ’97 team gets 2nd place in my book. They got tired of Barry and quit on him, starting with a stinker in Green Bay that gave those poor saps their ONE win over Dallas in ten games that decade.

Fisher points out something I have been saying all year .. no one in the NFC scars me. The Cowboys weren’t too far from a Super Bowl this season, but I think the two best teams are there in the Conference Championship game. Another year of stregth training for some players and developing some youth can translate into an even better possibility next season.

The more I watch Steve Smith and Santana Moss, the more I can see Dallas taking a few shots at smaller and faster WRs in this years draft. The rules for contact have seemed to really help these types of WRs.

The way I see it, unless they can trade up to get D’Brickshaw Ferguson, the Cowboys will probably draft a defensive player with their first pick. Chad Greenway has made his way onto my radar. A player that I thought was out of range a few weeks ago is now moving down on draft boards because of underclassman declaring their elgibility.

Eric, the Cowboys had Peerless Price, who is similar in many respects to Santana Moss. Steve Smith is a physical anomoly. There isn’t a Steve Smith store where we can buy a few.

The Cowboys should’ve beaten the Seahawks and Broncos, and they did beat the Panthers silly. However, the Steelers, I’m certain, would’ve taken the 2005 Cowboys behind the woodshed and committed unspeakable acts.
I think we’re minor upgrades away from being very competitive. Solid RT, massive OLB with a big motor, standard FS, NFL-quality FB, effective blocking TE… perhaps a bigger Center too.
The tackle, center and FB keep Bledsoe clean in the pocket, and a clean Bledsoe is a happy, Pro Bowl-bound Bledsoe.
FB, Center and blocking TE make the block at the 2nd level (LBs, Safeties) and seal the cutback blocks. This allows Julius Jones to play instinctively, and we could be looking at a perennial 1,400 yd rusher, which will also put Bledsoe in the Pro Bowl.
Big OLB gets natural, non-blitzing pressure on the QB, and sheds blocks and seals off runs to his side.
A standard FS, maybe a cut above, pulls down 4 INTs through the year, and that’s enough to turn the tide of 2 ball games.
Free Agency could solve all these, and we could just draft for talent.
But yeah, we’re close. Tantalizingly close.

Yes, I remeber the ’86 season. I was in the Army then and my unit left for a 6 week field exercise just before the second Giants game. What was a promising season turned into dust upon returning a month and a half later and and being able to recieve news of the world again.

Raf,

While it definitely was the year of the kicker…..no reason to go after Vandy. Remember his hangover interview in Hawaii…..where he ripped Peyton and Dungy. Although honestly they should have picked up a first down and used there timeouts instead of the plays peyton chose……still Vandy wide right? Even good kickers missing this year…..never seen anything like it. Cundiff used to be money inside 40? I am not for getting rid of kickers….it just stinks for the football players that it comes down to some soccer reject…..and I nominate the Broncos Punter as kicker of the year for the tackle and fumble!!! Who cares how he kicks…..he hits like a LB!

It will be interesting to see what Dallas does about the position.

while losing more in the latter part of the season was bad…..the only games that were disappointing were the game in DC and the Rams. We did not show up in those two. Dallas played tough the rest of the year and won some close ones and lost some. Still this team is a reliable field goal kicker and bookend OLB away from a deep run in postseason.

I cannot believe the Bears scored 21 points and lost. How good is TNEW to shutdown Steve Smith, I cannot believe the blown coverages by the Bears.

Panthers are beat up a bit now, Foster out and Peppers questionable….still they look like a team that will beat Seattle. They are peaking at the right time……the conference championships and the Super Bowl should all be hotly contested and good football games.

joey,

Open your ears!! “No NFC team scars me.” Dallas could have made the Super Bowl, I never said they would win it.

You are kidding yourself if you think Peerless Price is anywhere close to Santana Moss. There is something in the NFL called “talent”, and Moss is much more talented. So what if they have similar size and speed, Moss is the better player .. by far. Steve Smith store huh? Do you know what round he was taken in? He wasn’t a high profile prospect. … You lost my point on this totally. My point is the speedy return type / playmaking college WR are becoming much more prevailant in the NFL because of the contact rules. I hope Dallas takes a shot in the draft at one or two of these types. Players like Brandon Williams or Devin Hester are very dangerous guys when the ball is in their hands. .. Steve Smith is the sub-190lbs/sub-6’0 WR, thats popularity was loosing ground to the big physical WRs. Moss and Smith are the same type, but they are the heads of this class, which you might also include Price. Price though ran a 4.61 forty out of college .. not even close to Smith nor Moss. .. If the Boys do draft a sub-190lb WR, I sure hope they get a guy that runs the forty in 4.40 or less!!

No, i’m hearing you.
i’m just saying there aren’t a lot of mosses and Smiths around. I want Devin Hester, and the book on him is he’s too raw and unfinished and positionless to be taken before the early 4th.
But he could be like the Heismann trophy Michigan U. Green Bay Super Bowl MVP kind of guy who was a bust. Drafted by the skins, traded to Green Bay. Name escapes me.

Desmond Howard? … Hester I have only heard about here, at this site. Williams, I have seen play a little, and he is an exceptional return guy. He doesn’t think, just reacts. … But what you are saying is what I am saying, there aren’t many players like Moss and Smith. Right now with the rules and all, I would draft a couple of WRs with a bunch of speed, and hope to get lucky. .. The thing that makes Smith is his heart to get every ball thrown his way, and his excellent hands, not just his speed. Moss too had to overcome injuries and his lack of size to become the player he is. So while speed is great, it may be the combination of speed and heart that makes the player. But I would definately use a selection or two with the chance to develope a player like either one of these guys.

I agree Eric,

WR should be our #1 pick. Obviously, the OL gets 2 or three of the next picks, but you have to take skill positions in round 1 (DE, RB, QB, OLT).

However, this may be the year the ’Boys take a flyer on a premier OT (Winston Justice or Marcus McNeil).

Getting Max-Jean Gilles or another OG or one of the top 2 centers in the 2nd, combined with some WR, LB, and “Best Athletes” in the later rounds would have to be in the mix.

FA is going to determine our OL mix. Say we get Mawae and Runyon (or similar talent) in FA, then I could see FS, WR, and LB as our top priorities for Round 1.

My Christmas wish is for Huff to drop to us at #18.

I am a little fuzzy on the draft analysis. If Dallas had one pick, they would choose OL. OL was the fatal flaw. If Dallas had only 2 picks, 1 OL 2. OL Yes, I said OL. And I think that Dallas may trade down to get more picks to do that very thing. I think BP is more comfortable plugging in FA on defense now that he has his young DL.

The need for a kicker is one area I think that is directly linked to a poor judgement by BP. I recall in the several years prior to BP we always seemed to be able to pick-up cheap, no-name kickers and turn them into strong performers. After a couple years they would get pinched by another team for more money and we would promptly go and find another.

I recall we had a kicking coach at that time (Steve Hoffman I think his name was) that BP didn’t think we needed…..

Last time I checked, coaches don’t count against the salary cap and kickers win (or lose) games….

We were the only team in the NFL with a kicking coach. BP didn’t like the go between for mental midgets. He wants direct access.

That being said, we’ll sign the best FA available. No other team will outbid us.

And yes, OL, OL, and OL are the priorities for the draft.

But you can find a bunch with talent in the latter rounds. Remember, Pettiti was a 6th round pick. Our 2nd & 3rd rounders will be OL.

Our first round pick will most likely come from the skill positions or an impact LB.

OK, we’re back to the who should we draft? discussion. We don’t know until the free agency period is over! What pieces we get there will shape the draft to an extent.
But Raf, back to original question-no way I agree with you! That was not a “collapse” the year White got hurt! You lose your starting QB who is playing at a high level, and you have an avg. defense, you lose. That is not a collapse iin my book-Actually, I can’t think of any years the Cowboys had a real “choke”-“collapse”. When they’ve done poorly it’s been years they just weren’t that good-incl. this year…

Anyone see Abdul Hodge play??

Is he someone we could use to back up James, Burnett and Fowler? Could we get him in the later rounds?

larry,

You are what you are, and a ‘collapse’ is a ‘collapse’. Most teams which fold at the end of the season will have an excuse or six.

The dictionary defines ‘collapse’ as “a sudden, complete failure; a breakdown.” There are no qualifying clauses about injuries to quarterbacks. So, 0-5 qualifies as a ‘collapse’, regardless of the excuses (or reasons, if you prefer).

Any team is going to have trouble when it loses its starting quarterback. However, many teams [see Patriots, 2001] still manage to keep themselves afloat. Also, this was prior to the salary cap, back when teams could actually retain quality backup players on the team.

You are correct, losing a quality quarterback like White obviously contributed to those losses. It really doesn’t matter in this context. They still happened.

This year, we lost our starting left tackle (a Pro Bowl player the previous two years), two starting linebackers on an already shallow unit, had our running back limping for half the season, and lost our high-priced starting right corner (who was considered the defensive MVP of the first half of the season), etc, etc. Those are legitimate excuses for our ‘collapse’ at the end of this last season. It was still a ‘collapse’.

… Actually, I can’t think of any years the Cowboys had a real “choke”-“collapse”. …

Does not showing up to play count? As happened in 1997.

Actually, the Cowboys have given up on two of their coaches in the last 10 years — Switzer in ‘97 and Gailey in 1999. [Campo never did gain the team’s respect, to have the opportunity to give it up.]

‘Choking’ can be one reason for a ‘collapse’. But there are others that are far more common, including catastrophic injuries, a team which other teams finally figure out how to beat [like this year’s Colts], outside issues that preoccupy a team, and a team that stops believing in and listening to its coaching staff. Regardless, if a ‘collapse’ ensues, it’s still a ‘collapse’.