lol just kidding
maybe 11-5 if we’re lucky
let’s see how everything turns out

7-9

MIght even be just a little bit harder playing every team from the NFC South.

Home – Washington-W, Philadelphia-W, New York-L, Atlanta-W, Carolina-L, Seattle-W, Oakland-W and San Diego-W.

Away – Washington-W, Philadelphia-L, New York-W, New Orleans-L, Tampa Bay-W, Denver-W, Kansas City-W and Green Bay-W

12-4, I said.. I bet we play in Denver and GB in late november and december..

If we retain Jason Garrett, he will fix the problems on O.

because some teams that look tough now, will not look so good next season and visa versa.

That being said, this team will win 9-10 games and it could be higher if the team chemistry problem is addressed and fixed.

We wait and see what this team looks like when it’s healthy. They either lost or had playing hurt a TON of players this season. More than most.

All this talk of getting rid of MBIII is just asinine. Same with Newman.

Marion played with a separated toe for the entire month of December. Of course his production was doomed to fall off from that. Just think back to the 11/9 Redskins game to get a better idea of how he will produce when healthy.

Personally I can’t wait to see the 3 headed monster that Dallas will have at running back next year with everyone healthy. MB will get back to his overpowering self, Felix Jones looked like the 2nd coming of Marshall Faulk before he went down, (so there are no limits to how much his returned presence will help this offense), and then Choice rounds it all out very nicely. This threesome should rival if not surpass what the Giants have next year.

Then of course the offensive line must be healthy. The loss of Kosier hurt this team more than anyone will admit. The difference in pass perfection in the games in which he played compared to all those games he missed is astonishing, (for the entire month of December Romo was running for his life at the snap of the ball). The whole thing just crumbled without him. In the running game it was Kosier who used to pull out all the time when the Cowboys would run Barber in their version of the counter trey. Without Kosier that play (a very successful one in 2007) was taken out of the play book.

This team needs some depth on the o-line (of the non-proctor variety) and some help on the D-line and Safety. Then of course the coaching staff must start outsmarting there opponents in some capacity.

cereal is great … and for only 2 bucks a box? Unbelievable.

A LOT of assistants last off season. I do have some concerns that they were not replaced by the same level of quality.

Green Bay’s a tough draw as a 3rd place opponent, though. I bet they win the North next year.

and it doesn’t seem like an easier schedule one bit. shouldn’t we have an easier schedule next year? i mean, we did miss the playoffs. ATL, carolina, denver, N.O. are all going to be hard games. On top of the divisional schedule…… we could go 10-6 or 11-5 with that schedule…but as recent seasons have shown, we can work our magic and push otu a 9-7 clunker…just depends on injuries and our focus….if MB3 stays healthy, montrae holland stays healthy, kosier stays healthy, i really do believe we might’ve made the playoffs…..but then again, i’m so disappointed in the boys right now, i don’t know if there is anything that could’ve been done to avoid this disaster….

Winnable games, but all tough places to play. I suspect all three teams will be better than this year, too.

Then we can see who actually sucks the worst in December. Both teams faded down the stretch the last couple seasons.

I got faith this team will turn it around.

NFC South got a lot of wins playing a very down AFC west this year.

We always seem to play GB and seattle. SEATTLE like EVERY DANG YEAR

Remember the 2nd to last time Bill Cower went 6-10? his contract was up. The Rooney’s decided to re up him despite sinking seasons. The Rooney’s said something like
“He’s a good coach, that doesn’t go away. Even if he had some bad seasons, if he was a good coach once, why wouldn’t he be now again.” I think thats true of the Dallas Coaches

My God!? Take a breath. We sound like all the Red Sox fans from all those losing years. Are there problems? Christ yes, and we certainly all suffered from expectations, but dang? We are not in the hell of a Detroit or Kansas City or Oakland. I don’t care what anyone thinks about this team, I thank the sweet lord every day we are not one of those teams.

If we simply fixed the turnover problem and we have a few less key injuries, we probably win 1-2 more games. Are we a Super Bowl team – I don’t think so with our attitude, but attitude can change. They have to believe they can win, not hope. But get real on trading good players, firing everyone and starting over. Screw that. We tried that with Gailey, Campo, etc.

The outcome of the PHI game would have been different if MB III was 100%?

Many seem very eager to blame Jerry, Wade and the players themselves for the mindset of these players, but no other team in the league has to deal with media-born rumors to the same degree that Dallas does.

Romo dates Jessica Simpson…we never hear the end of it. What about Brady or Leinart’s relationships. I’ve never heard a thing about what Eli, Campbell or McNabb do off the field. We can’t blame Romo for what he’s doing; we should blame ESPN for not being able to leave him alone.

TO seems to be the type of teammate Michael Jordan was…the media just hates him and is begging to create a story around him. Listen to the questions they ask him and then ask yourself, “is there a smart way to answer this question?”

I didn’t hear anyone ask Jeffrey Laurie if he was going to fire Andy Reid a few days before they played Dallas…Why not? Until Sunday, it appeared Dallas would make the playoffs and the Eagles had no shot.

ESPN and other media outlets have been trying to MAKE news rather than report it and have turned the truth into their bastardized, high-selling version. I don’t blame them entirely. The Cowboys have many fans (one of the most popular teams in the NFL), but the Cowboys are also the most hated team in football (think NFC East-we’re each team’s biggest rival, but we don’t really have a biggest rival). Because we are so hated, people will stop at ESPN or click on a link if they see “Turmoil in Dallas” before they would stop to see “Boring day at the Ranch” or “Fight in Titans Locker room.”

Do you all remember the “Jones questions Barber’s toughness” thing? That was some of the most irresponsible reporting I’ve seen (and I used to live in a communist country). Jones said “The toe is good” never mentions the word “toughness” yet somehow these boneheads get the headline that they want-the headline that sells.

Most of you will say that I am just making excuses…those who are a little more rational will say that professional athletes should not allow themselves to be affected by Werder and Collinsworth, but where’s the control in this experiment? You cannot point to a time where a team was subject to as much scrutiny and was successful (I’m not sure any team has been subject to so much scrutiny-NOT EVEN THE RAIDERS OR LIONS!).

The Cowboys organization as a whole needs to boycott the media. Don’t give interviews, do as few press conferences as the league will allow and refuse to answer any question that the same reporter would not have even considered asking a coach, owner or player on another team.

I agree completely with someone who posted above that Jerry needs to stand up for his team with the media. He needs to just say “We will not acknowledge you until you begin to REPORT THE NEWS AS IT IS and stop trying to STIR UP CONTROVERSY.”

There may be problems in the Cowboys locker room, but there are problems in most locker rooms and the problems in our locker room exist, in part, and have been exacerbated by “reporters”

They talked about what the Cowboys should do this offseason..

When a team as talented as Dallas misses the playoffs, something has gone wrong.

But wasn’t everyone a little hard on the Cowboys last week (before the Eagles game) when it appeared that they were going to make the playoffs despite such a serious injury streak.

This season, Dallas has been without: starting QB, Starting RB, Backup RB, Starting LG, 3,4,5th WR, Starting CB, other Starting CB, 3rd CB, Both Starting Safeties, Both Backup safeties, somehow the D-Linemen and Linebackers only missed parts of games.

Moreover, many injured players played through injury because of the lack of depth behind them: Jason Witten had an amazing year, but you have to believe he was at least somewhat hindere by the broken ribs, jaw injury, chest contusion, ankle sprain, etc.
Flozell Adams was so injured all year that he would have been sitting on most teams-we just couldn’t afford to put in Pat McQuistan, because he’s terrible.
Cory Proctor was so bad, I would have cut him midway through the Giants game. The thing is, he’s our 3rd string guard. What can you do about losing your starter and your better backup?

I would like to keep Kosier around as an all around backup because of his versatility and bring in a very good LG.

Throughout the year, I heard people (on here and elsewhere) talk about how Columbo has been playing well, but I actually think he’s the player who needed to be replaced (not Flozell). Giving him his extension was a dumb move. The left side of the line was awful, but Flozell was plaing hurt and the LG might as well have been replaced by Tony Curtis (the TE).

Basically, let this team get healthy and then criticize them. Until the Eagles blow out, Dallas had been doing a pretty good job given the circumstances.

I think the AFC west is going to be better next year. Denver is a few defensive players away from being really good, and their passing game will give the Dallas secondary fits. San Diego will have Merriman back healthy and it will be LT’s homecoming party (he went to TCU and I still see LT for Heisman bumper stickers here in Fort Worth).

KC could be better depending on what they have for a head coach and quarterback. Oakland has an AWESOME running game and finished the season strong, although I’m not sure that’s sustainable. It will be interesting to see a McFadden / F. Jones run off.

The past 2 season after defeating GB, the team fell apart. Now make that 3 years in a row.

how you can already talk about next season and make predictions and all. It has barely been 48 hours since our 08 season ended. I find it too early for various reasons, mostly writen about some posts above, but also because I am kind of still in this season. Too hard to already concentrate on next one, too far away. But hey, it’s still entertaining to read your posts :-)

Tony Romo came back from injury, was hit multiple times per drive and still had some pretty good stats.
He was #8 in QB rating in his worst season yet. His TD/Int ratio was close to 2-1…pretty good.
He was #6 in TDs despite missing 3 games and playing most not at 100%.

Romo’s sack total was really low at 20. This is NOT a testament to good O-Line play, but rather to his evasiveness. Brees was only sacked 13 times because his O-Line could block for him. Same with Peyton, Collins, Cutler, Ryan, Delhomme…

Let’s look at other teams with BAD O-Lines

The Steelers, despite their TEAM success (courtesy of the LEAGUE’s best DEFENSE) has been terrible passing the ball. Big Ben was sacked 47 times, threw 15 picks (to Romo’s 14) and only threw 17 TDs (to ROMO’s 26!!!). Ben wasn’t alone, Garrard didn’t fare well behind a bad Jaguars line either.

Favre had a decent line in NY (at least compared to the Cowboys) and threw 22 picks.

Cutler’s line did a great job, yet he threw 18 picks (4 more than Romo)

Romo is not the best QB in the league right now, but if Brady doesn’t come back and the line can block like it did a year ago next season, he sure has a shot at it.

Everyone needs to stop trying to assess an individual’s performance without factoring in the play of those around him. Witten played great, but that was it. The line played horribly (which made it difficult to get the ball downfield) to other receivers. TO, Crayton and RWII let Romo down all the time.

Ask yourself this: did any QB do a better job than Romo this year given the circumstances the whole team was in? or better yet…Could anyone else have stepped in and done a better job with this team…this year with all else that happened? and with such a horrible O-Line?

Brees-Maybe? But his Offense was pretty good. Only the D on that team stunk. I don’t think he would have gotten out of trouble as often as Romo did.

Warner-No-he’s the only QB with a better receiving corps than Romo, but the Line kept him clean. Warner would have played 3 games for the boys this year before being broken in half. No way he would have played through the back injury!

Cassel-NO WAY-he’s on a team that went 15-1 last year (with Brady) but is still a good team. He was sacked 46 times, but mostly because he was indecisive. When he got sacked, it was mostly because

Manning-Maybe, still haven’t seen him play without a capable O-Line. He gets rid of the ball well, but he’s not going to get out of the pocket when it collapses.

Eli-You’ve got to be kidding me. Let’s see how he does without Plex in the playoffs this year. No one’s there to catch those jump balls this year, Eli!!!!

Cutler-No, No, No——Similar stats to Romos with a much better Line.

Matt Ryan-No. He would have looked like a deer in the headlights all year…same with Flacco.

Favre-HAHA! 22 picks this year. and with a much better line that Dallas has. He would have thrown 30 here.

So…now you guys tell me who you want to replace ROMO? Let him feel comfortable in the Pocket and then see if he makes those hasty decisions that we all hate. Even when he’s not pressured, he has to think it’s bound to come. This year, Brees had a great season because he KNEW he would have time. Romo KNEW HE WOULDNT

335 of 520 64.4% completion, 4,211 yards, 8.1 yds/attmpt, 36 TDS! 19 picks, 24 sacks, 97.4 QB rating, and 2 rushing TDs!

I’ll take him over Cassel (Schaub 2.0) ANYDAY!

By alternative, of course, I mean a guy who might be Romo’s replacement as soon as 2011 if the grinning gunslinger continues to regress. Even if Romo proves himself to be the man or another big name is brought in as soon as 2010 to replace him, a guy like Daniel is a good young arm to pick up in the middle round and develop.

That must have been some dynamite bar-b-que the Panthers swapped to Jerry for Matt Moore. Something goofy like Moore taking over for Delhomme in 2010 and Delhomme replacing Romo will probably actually end up happening.

Seriously, though, the upcoming list of free agent QB’s is pretty lacklustre. Most of the guys are at least upgrades over Brad and Brooke as back-ups but they’ve all had their shots to be “the man” elsewhere and been run out of town except Matt Cassel and your guess is as good as mine as to what he actually is.