Why are the Cowboys such an awful Football team..?
by gee-roj on Sep 8, 2009 12:05 PM CDT
Email
PrintAnswer is, they’re not but you sure would think so if your opinion were based solely on the expert analysis of sports shows like the ones that air on
If I’m honest with myself, I have to admit that I too will take any early season success with a grain of salt until I see this team playing its best football down the stretch. 1 or 2 maybe even 3 straight years of late season collapses is nothing to be that concerned about but 12 straight years of it? That’s a pattern; the type of pattern the Detroit Lions are made out of. If I really think about it the last time the Cowboys played their best football, in the month of December, Jimmy Johnson was the coach; that’s a LONG time ago. I realize that Barry Switzer coached a team that won the Super Bowl in ’95 but even that team had a lousy December and quite honestly lucked out with their playoff match ups in that they didn’t have to face a 49ers team that had their number (as it is they barely squeaked by a vastly inferior Steelers team in that Super Bowl).
The Cowboys have posted a 40-26 record over the past 4 seasons (including the post-season). Over that same period of time they have gone 10-3 in the month of September; 10-7 in the month of October; 13-3 in the month of November; a lousy 7-11 in the month of December and an even uglier 0-2 in January. Why so great in November and so abysmal December? The two months are separated by just one day. Is it scheduling? Are the schedules tougher for the Cowboys in December? That‘s no excuse as the real elite teams win those tough games. Has it been injuries? That’s no excuse as the real elite teams overcome injuries as well. Is it the weather? Are the Cowboys a team that can’t win cold weather games? This never used to be a problem for the Silver and Blue. Over the past two seasons it’s really been the offense that has done the biggest about-face as the holidays approach.
Over the past two seasons Jason Garrett’s offense has put up a staggering average of nearly 29 points a game in months of September – November while putting up a meager average of 14 points a game in months of December and January. That’s more than cutting in half the point production. My biggest fear is that over the course of the season opposing D-Coordinators are putting together game plans that by season’s end Garrett is having a hard time counter adjusting to in a timely matter. My other concern is that Garrett has had a difficult time adjusting his game plans when injuries occur. This was never more evident than last season when Romo went down but Garrett still had his receivers running the same type of deep routes that Johnson just did not have the arm for; rather than adjusting the team’s strategies to play to Johnson’s strengths, (more underneath routes and check down options). Or how about how few touches Choice got after Felix went down (it took an additional injury to Barber before Choice finally saw any significant playing time).
The evidence tells me that when given a full off-season to draw things up and given a healthy offense Garrett can “X’s and O’s” with the best of them but as the circumstances change he has not yet got the experience to modify the strategies it took him an entire off-season to develop. Have the past two years been enough of a learning experience to help him over this hump? Time will tell.
It does feel different this year and quite honestly I’m glad the media is down on Dallas. I’d rather they be underdogs than favorites. If this franchise can finally find a way to finish strong this could truly be a magical season; especially if they start out as hot as they have in recent seasons.
Another user-created commentary provided by a BTB reader.
41 comments
|
1 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
They're not predicting awful, just mediocre.
Let’s face it, on paper, the team got worse, and they were only 9-7 last year.
by Baked Potato Soup on Sep 8, 2009 12:34 PM CDT reply actions
that's
why I hate the term “on paper.” On paper, the Dolphins arent anything great, but they ended up 11-5
Sugar ... water .... and, of course, purple.
I don't think even Dolphins die hards were predicting that.
They have to base their predictions on something, so it makes sense to use last year’s results plus the off season talent change to determine their prediction. Last year the Cowboys were 9-7 and they appear to have a negative result in the talent department, so I can see why predictions would be where they are.
by Baked Potato Soup on Sep 8, 2009 1:05 PM CDT up reply actions
The only part about that
Despite saying we were middle of the pack in injuries, about 4-5 players were playing on Sunday but couldn’t practice last year, many ppl don’t put the adequate time researching, we were down a LG, QB for 3 games, RB for 10 games, RB for 5 games, TE was at 50%, WR had plantar facisus (sp), SS out for almost all year, SS couldn’t practice, FS couldn’t practice, LT had 1 hand, WR missed multiple games, WR missed almost all year, and thats probably not the whole injury reports, and we were still able to make it to 9-7
"We play to win the game" - Herm Edwards
by nicholas.rodriguez on Sep 8, 2009 1:20 PM CDT up reply actions
Injuries are part of the game.
On the one hand, it makes sense that they would be better with guys coming back from injury, but on the other, what happens if guys get hurt again. Or if those guys aren’t 100% recovered. And what about the games they lost when those guys were healthy?
by Baked Potato Soup on Sep 8, 2009 1:31 PM CDT up reply actions
its easy to say "injuries are apart of the game"
but its different when it happens to your best players. For example, the Eagles over the years have been a CLEARLY less dangerous team with westbrook out. The Giants (whose offensive mvp would be the oline) last year lost one ol for two or three games, the sub came in and was so awful he seemed to single handedly stall the run game. Its just a fact of life – 90% of the time, your teams backup plays worse than the starter, which limits what you can do.
Put it like this…if McNabb misses 3 games, Westbrook plays hurt through most of the year, McCoy is out after week 4, Peters has a few games where hes totally ineffective, Andrews is done for the year, and Asante Samuel plays hurt half the year…are the Eagles not a worse team? its not debatable.
I know people don’t want to hear it, but luck plays a role in all this. The Arizona cardinals stayed healthy. The philadelphia eagles stayed healthy. The Giants’ top wr shot himself and they went from superbowl favorite to crashing in december and the playoffs.
The Tennesse TItans were the AFCs best team. They smacked the steelers with homefield on the line in week 16 or whatever. In Round 1 of the playoffs, their most explosive/maybe best offensive player Chris Johnson went down and things seemed to go downhill.
+1
I completely agree.
There are injuries and there are injuries. Some are far more important than others. Don’t you know the phrase that no team can survive a serious injury to its starting QB? Guess what. Romo had more than his little finger injured last year. He was so beaten down by the end of the season that he would likely have not played a down had the Boys made the playoffs.
Plus all the other injuries we had last year. SCREW the “good teams overcome injuries” argument. That’s no longer the case in the salary capped, free agency NFL. the best teams are the ones with luck in few injuries, or injuries that do not do irrepairable damage to the team’s ability to compete.
I think the Pats going 11-5...
…without Brady is a pretty damn good season and if the playoff structure wasn’t so out of order, New England would have been in while some of those 9-7 teams would not have. I’m sorry but one team went 11-5 with their back-up missing for the entire season, the other went 9-7 with its starting QB missing some of the games.
Or just think about how much Pittsburgh would have been last year if Rashard Mendenhall had not been injured. News flash, EVERY team has injuries.
It just tells me that some teams have much better depth than others and unfortunately I don’t think the Cowboys have gotten any better in the depth department this off-season. Let’s just hope the Cowboys have a miraculously injury free year.
The NFC East has won 11 Super Bowls; oddly none of those have come courtesy of the Eagles.
I meant..
I’m sorry but one team went 11-5 with their back-up missing playing for the entire season
The NFC East has won 11 Super Bowls; oddly none of those have come courtesy of the Eagles.
That was ONE guy.
Only the QB. And guess what, the backup played pretty decently. Can you say the same about BJ. Just stop it with the “injuries are no excuse” BS. Seriously. The injury has to be one that causes irreparable damage to a team. Romo’s injury was not overcome-able, Brady’s was. That’s just the simple truth. As good as Brady is, the rest of the team was virtually intact and the D was fine. The offensive system still worked with Cassel and with Belichik. Dallas’s system was built around Romo to TO (who was injured in the head, and ineffective against double teams) and Romo to Witten (who was also injured).
Bottom line, injuries do ruin seasons. Period.
same here
that’s why I don’t really care how they predict how we’ll do this year. They just need something to talk about. You wanna say the Boys will be 7-9? Cool. But if they’re 10-6, prepare to eat crow.
Sugar ... water .... and, of course, purple.
I disagree the team got worse
I actually think it very much improved and here is why. First of all, all the overrated and distracting players are gone, T.O., Pacrat, Tank. Second, we upgraded the secondary as Sensabaugh is worlds better than RW1 and Davis, plus Jenkins and Scandrick are one more year experienced and better.
Olshansky as just as good as Canty and Brooking is an upgrade over Thomas. Finally and most importantly, we have key players back healthy such as Kosier and Felix, not to mention Bennett is a year more experienced and better.
Overall, the team is better, even though we might not be quite as deep in certain positions.
In Romo we Trust
But then again...
you ALWAYS disagree with the pundits, Terry.
"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
And you always take their side
as long as it’s negative.
Y’all are two sides of the same coin.
He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors. - Thomas Jefferson
I agree Terry
The “worse on paper” argument makes no sense to me. It seems to only focus on the team cutting TO and nothing else.
Training Camp '09 = Mega Thunder Dome....80 men enter, 53 men leave.
I was trying to figure that out, too. "Worse" based on what?
They don’t have to replace all 38 of TOs touchdowns this year. I have confidence this offensive personnel can operate at a high level. Bennett and Felix Jones will get more touches.
Defense should be even better. Special teams could kick in once the personnel is stable.
Where are we worse and by what criteria?
"We'll see." --Bill Parcells
plus most pundits don't realize how good Felix is
and what kind of an impact he’ll make on this team.
There will be a lot of jaw dropping this season, I guarantee it.
In Romo we Trust
All upgrades on defense.
Secondary: Mike Jenkins/Orlando Scandrick are a much better answer in the secondary than what we had last year in Jones. Sensabaugh is much less of a liability than Roy/KD.
Linebackers: Brooking > Zach Thomas. And another camp year for Spencer should have him set to make everybody forget Greg Ellis was even here last year.
D-Line: The Igor and Canty thing may be a push, but I see Spears having a solid contract year and Ratliff doing nothing, but getting better. Siavvi can’t be much worse than Tank was, and Bowen and Hatcher should be coming into their own.
The season begins in 3...2...
http://twitter.com/BloggingTheBoys
by Aaron Novinger on Sep 9, 2009 11:32 AM CDT up reply actions
December play
I know many of you are not going to agree with this but you simply can not predict a NFL football’s teams record for a particular month, based on what their record has been in past years. What the team’s record was for December 5 years ago means nothing as far as what their record might be this year.
When people write that the Cowboys have not won a post season game in 12 years, that means nothing in so far as what they might do this year. Who was on the team in 1997? Are those same players playing the exact same teams, with the same players now?
Remember the saying that on any given Sunday an NFL team might beat another team? Usually, the best teams win in the NFL but that isn’t always the case. Which team wins on any given Sunday, or in any given month, involves many, many factors. What that teams record was last year, or 12 years ago, ain’t among those factors.
well i see the same this year...
i will begin by saying i have been a die hard fan since i knew what football was (i am now 41) and i live in primarily Giant country (the South West corner of Connecticut).
I see us winning the Superbowl just as likely as going 4th in the division and no where near the playoffs, with somewhere in between the most probable.
Looking at our schedule, and i try to be optomistic however realistic i can see us going 10 and 6, with home wins over our division opponents and road losses to our division opponents (you can never tell in this division, so that is how i treat those 6 games).
however, through the same optomisitc / realistic view i see us losing 3 of our last 5 games (all of this is assuming we have no catastrophic injuries).
last 5 games:
Loss – @ Giants – as it’s a division game on the road and man we always seem to lose this one
Loss – Chargers – real solid team
Win – @ Saints – again, real solid team – and you could flip flop these two games i bet we won’t win both or lose both but will go 1 and 1 in them
Loss – @ Redskins – again division opponent on the road
Win – Eagles – i think this will mean a TON to both teams and we take it and break through the ‘jinx’ of not winning a big game in Dec / Jan
Now, no matter how you slice it those last 5 are REALLY tough games, division games on the road, solid teams etc… so regardless, IF this is how it plays out, we lose 3 of the last 5 games and the critics have a field day with the ‘late season slump’ banter.
now, again the way i see it using the same optomistic / realistic outlook, going into those last 5 games we are 8 and 3, looking pretty solid…
now, i guess you could totally reverse the schedule and with my logic we start 2 and 3, but then finish 8 and 3 probably looking like we are headed to the big show…
obviously this is all speculation and not factoring in any sort of ‘weather’ or major injuries to us or our opponents…
so this year i can truely see us doing well, but still having the critics be down on us by January, saying ‘well, look at their last 5 games, they are only 2 and 3, with some significant losses in the division’
ahhh.. fun to speculate and share opinions but i guess we will see starting on Sunday..
ahhh.. fun to speculate and share opinions but i guess we will see starting on Sunday..let’s go ’Boys.
The odds are 31 out of 32
in any season that we see a late season collapse ;-)
But seriously, I actually do get what you’re saying about a lack of playoff success (including not getting in). I made this point on another thread, but I’m not sure previous years have anything to do with this year.
I certainly understand that 12 years can be viewed as a trend. But last year essentially the same team that finished 13-3 the year before didn’t even make the playoffs. All the predictions for last season were based on the year before (and sadly, all wrong).
And in recent history, the number of playoff teams who didn’t make it the next year (and vice versa) is pretty significant, which suggests that each season is what it is.
"Everybody wants something but nobody wants to pay the price" - Michael Irvin
I think you're on to something.
And I think it has to do with the free agency structure and salary cap today.
Prior to the cap, you could take players and develop them along with your star veterans, who were going to stick around as long as they were productive (or even a little longer in some cases). You bring along your young players and they gain experience by fire coupled with some sage veteran advice. They gradually learn how to be a championship team, learn how to win those grueling road division games in December, how to put away the playoff win.
Who on this team, talented as it is, “knows” how to win a championship?
Teams don’t stay together long enough now. Consistent winners like Patriots seem to have a successful system in place through which rotate certain player “types” for specific “roles” in the system. Allowances are made for particular player skill sets (i. e. Randy Moss, Brady), but for the most part it’s a blue collar work ethic and solidarity. What’s consistent is the system and the coaching.
"We'll see." --Bill Parcells
Very interesting, I think YOU'RE on to something.
Hadn’t thought so much about why each year is a completely different beast. I agree with you that the stability of the roster would include guys who “know” how to win a championship, and can demonstrate that to the younger guys.
Especially regarding consistency in the system and coaching. How many teams have that any more? We certainly don’t. How long has any coach lasted since Landry?
"Everybody wants something but nobody wants to pay the price" - Michael Irvin
Right. The attitude from above is always, "Replace the coach."
But every time you do you bring in a new system, philosophy, coaching techniques, etc.
I think now, under the cap system, stability and consistency is to be found in keeping your coach in place, assuming you’ve found one you like. Examples: New England, Philadelphia, Pittsburg. Hated rivals but consistent products over the last ten years. Everybody else is replacing coaches every 3 or 4 years.
"We'll see." --Bill Parcells
I have to agree as well as long as...
…the coach you have is a good one.
The NFC East has won 11 Super Bowls; oddly none of those have come courtesy of the Eagles.
Let's consider that even with stability of the coach and system,
Philthy and Tennessee have yet to win a Super Bowl, while Pittsburgh and New England, of course, have. But the key is that all of those teams are constantly in the hunt, and Philthy and Tenn. have at least played in a Super Bowl during those years.
I agree that even a long tenure by a poor coach is not going to be successful.
No one can say the Wade Phillips doesn’t know how to coordinate a defense. Lot’s of people will say that he isn’t a good head coach, but they’re basing that opinion on several very short head coaching tenures.
I’m not trying to co-opt this thread and turn it into yet another Wade referendum, and I’m not suggesting that we should sacrifice 5 or 6 seasons to see whether Wade has it in him or not. But it is the job of Jerry to hire good head coaching prospects, and determine from day-to-day knowledge of the team operations whether problems are with the head coach or elsewhere in the organization.
So the big question is: do we trust Jerry to know what he’s doing?
"Everybody wants something but nobody wants to pay the price" - Michael Irvin
i also bet that if u looked at our opponents record u would find that we typically face much tougher teams in dec and jan. its my opinion that garret panics when losing games and just starts wiffing the ball downfield every play even when down by a single score(even early) in games. now this can lead to victory against less talented teams but when we face the playoff caliber teams it doesnt fare so well. i hope he knows this isnt an option anymore without TO
yea...
theres solid evidence of that actually. He did it against washington. If I remember right he kinds did it against arizona. And we sure as heck seemed to do it against philly, but maybe thats because the turnovers stick out so far in my mind.
Even Emmitt Smith
is doubting us. He said we can’t win more than 7 games. Whatever, everyone who has been paying attention this off-season knows the sky is the limit as to what this Cowboys team can do.
Heard that interview when stuck in traffic this AM. Emmitt is way down on this team in terms of 'heart' or whatever you want to call it.
I say ‘focus.’ Like Troy, if you read between the lines Emmitt was really putting this team down. I was shocked when he said 7 wins! He’s REALLY not a fan of RW.
Most here will dismiss what he says as sour grapes. But the truth is he and Aikman won and know what it takes. And it would be a lot easier for them to put on rosy glasses. So you have to take what they say as having some credibility.
I’m not predicting great things this year but no way would I predict 7 wins. 9-10 is about right.
Then he ends the interview an extremely lame plug for pork! “theotherwhitemeat.com” Not done smoothly at all. Left a sour taste in my mouth, and that’s never happened w/Emmitt.
by Realist Larry on Sep 8, 2009 8:29 PM CDT up reply actions
I loved Emmitt as a running back
But he definitely sucks when there’s a microphone/camera around. Anyway, his and all the medias’ preseason prognostications mean less than zero at this point in the season.
It's sad to me because besides at RB I have a lot of respect for him as a person.
He’s carried himself well, and done the right thing most of the time-didn’t get sucked into the drugs, etc. like some. Considering the temptations open to him I think he can be proud of his life.
But he maybe has too much respect for the almighty dollar, referring to the crazy pushing of a pork sponsorship into an interview.
by Realist Larry on Sep 8, 2009 10:36 PM CDT up reply actions
I kind of ignored that part of your post on purpose
because it is really sad that he’s lowered himself to that. I hope he finds another avenue other than broadcasting of any sort to sustain himself. It really cheapens his legacy in my opinion.
I'll respect what Aikman says
Emmit….seriously, how can you take anything he says seriously?
Emmitt admitted to not watching any of their preseason games, or attending any part of TC, he is
speculating at the radio jock level. Emmitt’s depth of knowledge on this year’s team is on thin ice.
Ignore the Mainstream Media, EMBRACE THE HATE!!!!
Great Post
I think you are on to something I think Red Hair needs to learn to vary his gameplan towards the end of the season
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
