Except For Miles Austin, Cowboys Need Counseling For 'December Denial'

there’s one thing I think this team needs to push them over the edge, it’s mental toughness. I knew that the team would deflate once they saw their best player being carted off the field with a neck injury. They’re human. But I think they need to be more tough. that’s the major thing that’s missing, in my opinion.

and Vincent Jackson and Floyd are 6’5. Their WR’s average 2.5 inches more than us.

Before the season I would have said that WR was something we need to look at in the draft, but now I’m not sure. I would say OL and S are our biggest concerns.

I guess the fact that I’m thinking about his means I don’t think we are going to get into the playoffs or if we do it will be another loss.

Hope I’m wrong.

Actually, I disagree with you and some of the press on the “garbage time.” Romo was moving the ball in those waning minutes trying to put the team in position to try an onsides kick. In particular against New York, if the Cowboys recover that ball, who knows what could have happened? I realize that time just ran out yesterday, but Romo wasn’t just driving down to fluff his stats. He was trying to put them in position to tie or win.

I’ll just add that someone is getting those balls to your shining star, since he’s not throwing them to himself.

Dallas opens +7 against NO. The only other game Dallas has been the underdog this year was the Eagles game. Do you see a pattern here. :>)

I wonder if you’re ignoring some facts to further your theme here.

Witten has had a few good games in a row, with decent YPC. To say he’s only getting free for “dump offs” is misleading.

Also, I would call Tony Romo a bright spot on offense. 3 picks in 9 games. Excellent completion percentage and QB rating of late. Little to no help from his OL. To ignore him in favor of Austin as our “lone bright spot” seems a bit much.

Lastly, the runs that got us up the field on that drive that you cite were draws and runs out of the shotgun. As I think Raf noted previously, these are the runs that we are good at, but they not runs that work well in a goal line situation. So thinking that calling more traditional power running type of plays on the goal line would work seems a bit foolhardy (especially considering we were now facing an 11-in-the-box defensive front).

I think it may be much deeper. How often have you heard phrases like ‘Dallas has all the talent in the world’, ‘We have all the talent we need to win almost any game that we play’ or ‘Our talent level is better than our record’.

But is it really true? Or is it just a marketing story we’ve all been suckered into?

There is one question that Jerry needs to ask himself, and that is “Is this team really as talented as everyone, and especially me, is saying?”

If it is, then the whole coaching staff needs to go. Simple really.

If it isn’t, then Jerry & Co need to rebuild this team around a core of perhaps 10 players, and give up two or three crown jewel players along the way.

Over the next three weeks, Jerry will need to take a long, hard and honest look at the overall talent level on this team. All else follows.

Yes, even Romo. Simply for the fact that for the first time in his career, he’s actually still playing good football in December.

that was the cowboys’ season landing. dallas will finish 9-7 and wade will be or should be fired right there on sidelines after last whistle. several of you have already said it, this team lacks mental toughness. most times teams tend to emulate the coach in mindset. i think thats right in dallas’ case. sense of urgency, never saw it. from either wade or team. i don’t even want wade coaching defense. dallas needs heart not wade. and mine is not a knee jerk reaction. it’s reality imo.

but there were more than one bright spot on this team. We have a lot of gifted athletes but players alot of the time resemble their coaches. Tough minded offseason, practices, meetings, etc. , we just don’t get that with Wade I am sorry. He is a decent D- coach but not head coach to me. You change the mindset from the get go with a coach with the likes of Cowher, Dungy, etc.

Romo has really matured, have we heard how many mistakes he has of late? The d-line shut down the run except for on drive only, so LB’s playeda part in that. I am sorry but Hamlin is better playing in the safety position than who we are throwing out there in his place. The running backs are doing what they are supposed too ….well that is until they need a season defining 1 yard gain and they fail. Like I said that is the will to more than anything. We have talent and we can draft and pursue FA’s but what we really need is a guy to lead them over the top. most of the teams winning either have a good established HC or one that is young and onfire with alot of spirit ( aka the HC of NO).

If, (and this is a big if) Folk had made it, they could then have tried the onside kick, and if (a bigger if) they’d recovered it they may have had time enough to get in the endzone for the tie. 7 meant nothing with 7 seconds on the clock. , time was everything. We lost, okay, bring on the Saints.

Just wanted to point out that Romo didnt have a “brain cramp” when he was holding up two fingers. He wasnt demonstrating that the ‘boys would go for two. He was simply saying there’s two seconds left on the clock.

the Boys were in position to win every game except the GB game. No team has blown out this team, as a matter of fact the Boys have outplayed most of the teams that beat them. Here we stand head in hand backed up to the wall.

they kept showing fans wearing them during the game, and every time they showed an adult I wondered out loud why they don’t take them off and actually watch the game.

Another thing I wonder.. Why run a fake pitch on the goal line? Running on the goal line was fine, but the play on 4th down, IMO, was horrible. The fb dive, fake pitch is a good play, but for one yard? Ok, so you keep the backside honest… ok? It does nothing to help open up the hole and only takes away another blocker AND only gives Barber two steps of momentum before he hits the line.

Another thought. Can someone explain why I saw Phillips lined up wide so often? I thought he was a blocking TE? He was the guy Romo tried to force it to on third down before they had to settle for a FG. Why? Bennett didn’t even line up wide that much lol.

Romo was not a bright spot?

Ha.

OK, here goes:
*Romo’s final numbers are solid. But the 7-of-9 at the end was largely meaningless. So I’m pretty stuck on completing 12 passes and scoring 10 points over the course of 58 minutes … Am I being too hard on him?
*On heights, I’m rounding up to make a point. Malcolm Floyd could be SEVEN-foot-5 and that shouldn’t be any reason for him to be a more productive NFL WR than Roy.
*I agree with the FG-first idea … (I believe Simms addressed it on the CBS telecast.) And with the Madden observation; someday there will be an NFL GM who grew up on Madden and who will admit that it’s a scouting/management aid. …
*We can presume that Tony’s 2 fingers meant 2 seconds. I guess. But even then. … what does it mean? A 90-percent chance of not recovering, a decent chance of all those 2 seconds expiring while the onside bounds about … but yeah, ok, hooray, 2.
*’Jersey Shore’ vs Garfield, NJ … All I know about it is it’s up yonder and it ain’t Texas … so it’s all the same to me. :)
Fish

but the first think that I think we need to address is the offensive line. We currently have an offensive line that is full of relatively well-known offensive lineman whose play doesn’t match up with their resumes (pro bowl appearances, etc.). More importantly though, their play is rife with mental mistakes along with an inability to successfully execute power running plays. As a result, Tony is constantly having to bob and weave through the pocket and our running game struggles in really short-line situations. This obviously hampers our offense and really limits exactly what we can do.

Also, for those of you that hate the shotgun, you should perhaps turn your vitriol towards the offensive line. It is their shortcomings that force Garrett to put Romo in the shotgun so that he can actually see the blitzes in the most effective manner (since he can’t trust the offensive line to actually effectively pick up blitzes) as well as give Dallas a chance to run the ball with draws.

Ultimately, these offensive line issues are what I see as the root of this offense’s struggles. They limit our passing abilities, and make it extremely hard to successfully execute those short runs that you need to convert in close games against good teams. Until they are addressed, I am not sure what to expect week to week from this team. What I do know though is that Flozell’s spot is the first place to upgrade and I think the draft (since free agency doesn’t exactly allow too many young, great OTs to hit the market) is the place we must do it (trading up would be just fine with me – especially considering we don’t have a whole ton of needs). After that, I think we need to invest some later draft picks in other line positions and in turn get rid of guys like McQuistan and Proctor that have been on this team for awhile and have failed to do anything significant. Hopefully Jerry will carpet bomb the offensive line like he did the linebacking corp. last year.

three games left with wade phillips at HC. We can look forward to a more competent coach being hired (hopefully). The two most rumored HC names out there are Shanahan and Holmgren. It looks as though Holmgren wants more of a GM role, so that probably leaves shanahan. So, if shanahan is the guy, then think about this, he won two superbowls in denver after taking the job from Wade Phillips. How cool would it be to play in a home game in the superbowl next year?

i also think jerry the gm needs to take a long look at himself. this dec slide has one thing in common-jerry. i don’t know what he does or says but he needs to butt out more. look at the yankees when steinbrenner was suspended in early 90s they finally righted their ship.

the hard thing about this year has been that i’m a cowboys’ fan not a jerry or wade fan. i will root for and support dallas no matter what. even if wade stays. i mean i wasn’t happy when they signed to but i’m a fan so what can i do. i will root for and support dallas but unfortunately that will benefit jerry. and i will keep buying merchandise and watching games. i know this helps jerry but i’m not supporting him, i’m doing it in support of the dallas cowboys.

please just fire Coach Wade
..he makes me fall asleep when i watch him
and i cant believe that first year coach, Jim Caldwell from Indy, has a 13-0 start in just his first season. *sighs