here we are as a fanbase. Looking into the future with this teams destiny for the 2008 season. The situation is set, its up to them now to succeed or fail; as a fan its bittersweet. On the one hand if they can show signs of life then there is hope after romo comes back; but it they come out flat then they will have started to slog downhill that they will probably not come back from. Personally I do not know what will happen, I will say that if they lose a close one but its is due to the fact that BJ is just not up to the task then I will not lose hope in the team. The D needs a huge game for their own sake. I have heard ideas floated around that players should be cut or demoted to put in a sense of urgency. The idea is flawwed because that would be something you would do at the beginning of the season by bringing in possible replacements to your team to compete with the players in question that have under performed. The truth could be that this team could be beyond any coaching and just not have it in them to push harder than they already do. I have not lost hope in this team; sunday will be the deciding game for me.

i’m kind of surprised the commish is leaving the door open as much as he is to pac’s return. i’d also gotten to the point where i was sick of hearing about it and just wanted to write him off. figured it was good he helped us out for the first few games, and was kind of a bonus because of the low-risk way that jerry arranged it. but with our secondary so weak, i wouldn’t mind if he came back, either. we could very easily come out of the bye 5-4 or even 4-5 with all the key injuries. we’ll have to really make a run in the last seven games to have any chance of making the playoffs, and hopefully we’ll get back to more of a fully loaded team, with Romo, Felix, TNew, Kosier and others back. But strictly from a skill standpoint, we could use Pacman in the secondary. granted, he didn’t play fantastic, but he did make some plays, and made more pass breakups than anyone else (some of which should have been INTs). So, I’m not holding my breath, and if he doesn’t come back c’est la vie, but if the commish lets him return, I’d welcome it.

my question, though, do we get that draft pick back from the Titans because he was suspended, even if he gets reintstated again?

and it is worrisome. Many of the core players on this team have been around for the folding over the last few years. They have found different ways to give up with different coaches and if they don’t have a fire in their bellies and a sense of urgency now, they never will.

I feel for Jerry because people like to paint him as the meddlesome owner but the guy has tried so many differerent ways to get this team back to the super bowl and nothing has worked. I truly believe that a different coach gets a ring last year and unfortunately, that may have been this team’s best shot.

If they could find the will to turn this season around and make some postseason noise (besides the sound of a giant choke), it would go down as a turning point in the history of this franchise.

As Tuna wrote, our history of choking stretches back a few years. Somehow, every season the past few years, we manage to p!ss away all the momentum we build early on, and the culture of choking etches itself deeper and deeper into our players’ minds.

Now, maybe an early- or mid-season slump is exactly what the Cowboys need — a funk to snap out of before it’s too late to make changes. But make no mistake about it: this feels like a last chance to turn around the fortunes of this franchise. I believe nothing less than at least one win in the playoffs will qualify as a turnaround, otherwise not even a coach like Cowher will be able to right the ship if he comes in next year.

We are wed to a number of players, for better or worse, for the next few years. I’m sure when the contracts were handed out, Jerry felt like he was assembling a perennial contender. In our despair, we realize that this strategy could lead to a team stuck with bloated contracts for players past their expiration date. Then the only option is breaking up the team and bringing in players that don’t have an ingrained losing mentality.

I’m not saying the next game is a must-win game. Every game should be a must-win game. But the season needs to be salvaged and soon. Otherwise, watch us slowly circle the drain for the next couple of years until the major contracts start coming off the books and we enter the dreaded “rebuilding phase.”