Team attitude: It's not that they don't have enough pride, it's that they have entirely too much.

by mdlusk on Dec 30, 2008 8:27 AM CST

Why do the good team laugh at us? Why does the team seem to step on the field and lay eggs in big games? Why did the Patriots and Ravens treat us like jokes (just to name 2)?

The problem is clearly too much hot air being generated, and not enough backing it up being done. Good teams boast about how they are going to destroy you. Elite teams don't have to boast, they know they will, and they let their playing do the talking. They let the merely good teams keep on boasting, they just keep preparing all the harder.

Proposal: put a gag order on the entire team. Or better yet, but actual gags on the entire team. No one says a word until they've actually accomplished something that PROVES they are an elite team.

Get rid of the boasting braggadocio, that makes zero believers anyway, and start playing like it. Preparing harder, not talking louder wins games. Stop trying to convince yourself that you'll win due to all your talent, and start believing due to all the preparation you do during the week.

Until the coaching staff demands it, the owner demands it, and the leaders on the team itself demand it, it won't happen. That's what I see as one essential ingredient changing the attitude of the team and going from a "collection of toys" (or a collection of individual talent) to an elite team.

Just my $.02

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“…and the leaders on the team itself demand it…”

And therein lies the problem with the Cowboys. There isn’t a leader who is vocal. TO doesn’t count because of his continual wolf cries – nobody takes him seriously. Romo has the leadership qualities of a 9-year-old girl…Witten could do it if he wanted, but I don’t think he’s interested in that type of rah-rah role. Ware, same as Witten.

Who is the unquestioned leader on offense and on defense? There isn’t one so far as I can tell.

by Tech92 on Dec 30, 2008 9:25 AM CST reply actions

you don't have to be vocal to be a leader

that is the biggest misconception in all of sports.

In Romo we Trust

by Terry on Dec 30, 2008 9:30 AM CST up reply actions

But you have to do SOMETHING to be seen as a leader. Just being good at your job doesn’t make you a leader. You have to make the players around you better, you have to help motivate, you have to help be part of the solution.

I admit that being vocal is just a small part of it…but who on the team does the other stuff? Nobody.

by Tech92 on Dec 30, 2008 9:34 AM CST up reply actions

I disagree 100%

Great leaders let their actions speak for themselves….when teammates see a player working hard, doing what it takes to be the best and producing on the field…that is leadership.

Romo and Witten are great leaders for that reason, but leadership isn’t the problem on this team, the lack of chemistry is the problem, most of the players are not committed to the team concept.

In Romo we Trust

by Terry on Dec 30, 2008 9:42 AM CST up reply actions

Terry, you seriously think there is good leadership on this team? Pretty much every talking head/reporter/writer/ex-player out there is saying what I’m saying…that the team clearly lacks internal leadership.

Playing well is NOT leadership. It’s doing your job. Leadership is earned, not given because you’re good. It’s by being a 100% of the time football player…film, off season, practice, meetings, road trips, accountability. To state that Romo is a leader is laughable. And to state that leadership on the team isn’t an issue is even more laughable. Dude, we can just agree to completely disagree on this point.

by Tech92 on Dec 30, 2008 2:36 PM CST up reply actions

I agree in part

I think you have to prove what you are doing works to get buy-in. Once you have buy-in you have their ear and you can begin to moled the direction of the team. Romo has the buy-in it is time he takes hold of this team and turns us in to a championship team. Demarcus needs to do the same.

I am not a McNabb fan, but he and WR’s going to AZ in the off-season to get on the same page helps the team on so many levels. Why do you think DeSean and McNabb have such great chemistry? How else do you make sub-par WR’s work? There timing is on point.. That makes a great team.. Not a group of talented players.

"Protect the Romo, Save the Cowboys!!"

by Wmillion on Dec 30, 2008 6:42 PM CST up reply actions

+1

There are people who execute well, and there are people who elevate the level of play or work or effort around them.

Dallas has some good players who do their jobs well, but no true leaders.

No player on this roster sets the tone for the others.

"Well, we didn't block real good but we made up for it by not tackling."

- John McKay, the first coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

by 5Blings on Dec 30, 2008 11:43 AM CST up reply actions

exactly

we feel like we deserve to win against weaker opponents but fail to actually play for the victory
and they walk away with the win

Superbowl or Bust?

by MrMinority on Dec 30, 2008 10:12 AM CST reply actions

I agree

each new play deserves the utmost concentration, the utmost effort and discipline. Because each new play can be the difference between a win and a loss. This has to be done on a teamwide scale. Each has to trust the other guy will be there doing his job, and do their own job in anticipation of it. If someone screws up their job on a particular play, demand that they get it right on the next one, and the next one….

Be accountable to each other, to the coaches and to the owner/GM. And vice versa. That’s what creates an elite team and dynasties. Talent is just a building block. It has to be molded into the team and organization in general.

by mdlusk on Dec 30, 2008 10:53 AM CST up reply actions