FanPost

My State Of Mind

This is the point in the week where I usually hand out some game balls, but that will not be taking place this week. For starters I was at the Yankees game and my phone had died. I never saw this game and I doubt if I will review it now knowing what happened. I can't put my self through that type of torture right now.

I will say this though, when I found out we had lost our 24 point lead. I got up out of my seat and walked away from my friends casually and began puking all over the corner of the bleachers. The outcome of that game literally made me sick.

Instead of handing out game balls, I will be just discussing what is on my mind in Cowboys Nation right now.

The Tony Romo Issue

Really don't know where to even start here, so let's start off two weeks ago. I wrote an article on Romo and his mistakes. I said they were stupid and reckless decisions. Now against the Lions we see the same thing from Romo once again.

The true problem with Romo has become trust and consistency. Right now Romo is far too inconsistent and the fan base, possibly the Cowboys, are beginning to lose trust in Romo. The problem is the guy plays great football for basically the entire game. But then come the 2-3 reckless and scrub decisions we are unfortunately getting accustomed to. How a guy can play so well for 95 percent of the game and then play like a scrub for the other 5 percent is mind boggling to me, it always will be.

Truly the most irritating part of this whole ordeal is that Tony Romo is not a rookie or young quarterback. The type of mistakes he is making is rookie and young quarterback type stuff. Romo has been in this league far too long to be making reckless and stupid decisions like that in football games. Romo should be learning from his mistakes, but does anyone feel he is actually improving in that area?

In 2009 he totally improved on his decision making. Romo took what was there and at the same time took shots down the field. On two of those interceptions yesterday, Romo had John Phillips as the check down. Instead of taking the 5-6 yards and playing another play, Romo just chucked it up there, with awful footwork, falling off his back foot.

Romo got played twice now on comeback interceptions he has thrown. The Jets did it and was a huge play in the game. The Lions did their homework on Romo and did it yesterday. Good old Barbie Carpenter returned it for a pick six. Same type of play, same type of result. Romo is not getting better at making decisions. Don't believe me? That's fine, than you will believe Raf right? http://www.cowboysnation.com/2011/10/learning-to-live-with-romo.html

Overall this is the major area I want to harp on. Romo is still not learning from his mistakes and still makes 2-3 reckless scrub plays that costs his team the game. I just don't understand the big deal Romo. Is it that hard to not play like a scrub? One Week Romo looks like Tony Romo and the next week he looks like Jake Delhomme.The inconsistency is driving me nuts and he needs to be more consistent.

Look I know people will defend Romo but I don't want to hear the stats anymore. This is why stats are overrated. Romo is a great stat guy, hey I have won 2 fantasy titles because of him, but this is the real world. I don't care anymore if Romo has better stats than Joe Montana or Tom Brady. When your talking to someone and all you got is stats "but but Romo has this stat and that stat!", you look lame. Trust me I use to do the same thing with my friends but I refuse to do it anymore. The stat defense is getting old folks, its time to start seeing big plays in big games type of defense method for Romo. All Romo has to do is cut out the stupid reckless decisions, that's the only lapse in his game, but it's huge one. It needs to stop Tony, come on man your better than that!

Romo is a good quarterback bordering on great. If he continues to make these type of decisions he will never be great and I have to admit he is going to have a short leash if he continues to play like that throughout the season. That leads us into the future.

What do the Cowboys do in the offseason?

I wish I had an easy answer or a nice slick response for everyone, but I don't. Obviously Romo is the quarterback this year, that's a no brainer because he still gives us the best chance to win games. But his ability to meltdown at any given time during the game is the exact reason we need to look for the next starting quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.

This is a deep QB draft class and I say now is the year to go out and get a guy Jason Garrett wants to groom. Stephen McGee is a nice option to have, but I want a stud quarterback. It even doesn't have to be the first round, but we need to draft a quarterback, the time is now. I happen to like Ryan Tannenhill and if you drafted him you could bench him for a year, let him learn from Romo. Also it adds competition to the job, something maybe Romo truly needs now.

Really Romo could be gone by next year, I am serious. I don't know if I would get rid of him that soon but if he continues this inconsistency we are seeing the front office will have to consider that option. This leads me into something I didn't like seeing when I got home wet, soaked and cold last night. The first video I saw was the one with Romo throwing a tamper tantrum after Jerry patted him on the back on the sideline. Look, we all know Jerry Jones is a dork who annoys us all, but the guy defends you Romo every single time, no matter what. So that is how you repay the guy who has done nothing but nice things for you? The guy who made this team more oriented towards yourself? That was classless Romo, I am just going to keep it real with everyone here. What Romo did was not smart. The entire nation saw what he did and Jerry was probably more upset than mad when he found out.

It's just not a wise move showing up the one guy who runs everything and that one guy has happened to have your back through all the ups and downs. Romo is a better person than that, it was shocking to see that from a guy like Romo.

Romo needs to get his act together. This guy tears teams up basically the entire game and gives it away a couple of reckless plays. It needs to stop, it's not funny anymore. This team is far from done and we need to start winning games on a roll. We should be 4-0 or 3-1 right now, in those two losses Romo was a major factor in losing those games. I am tired of seeing the apoligies after the game from Tony. I am tired of seeing Romo throwing temper tantrums and hissy fits. I am tired of Romo putting his head down and walking off the field.

This needs to stop Romo, step your game up because you are so much better than that. Our success hinges on what direction you take.

Dez Bryant Legend Is Growing

Dez is my favorite football player for a reason and he continues to show it. The kid is a flat out stud that is going to be one of the best wide receivers in the NFL in just his second season. Dez isn't healthy right now and it's showing, so the bye week is a great thing for us right now. Dez and Miles get back to 100% and we have the two best pairing of wide receivers in the NFL. I am serious, nobody is better than that pairing right now.

I know Dez is injured and that is taking it's toll on his second half play, but Dez is not being used properly in this offense. Dez is a big play threat every single time he gets a target. Look at all of his touchdowns this season, they are all fades, jump balls or backshoulders down the field. We need to get him more of those opportunities because I know they will lead to big plays.

When Dez goes up for the ball he gets it almost every time. It amazes me how he is still getting single coverage. We need to use Dez more, there is no way around it. Use him like Vincent Jackson and Megatron, seems to work out well for their teams right?

Felix Jones? What The Hell Are You Doing?

When I finally saw this play I got really angry. It looked like to me anyway, that he quit on the play and the game. Now I love Felix Jones, I think he is a great running back with break away ability on any play. But what I saw yesterday was flat out disrespectful to the Cowboys and their fans. You don't run out of bounds there Felix, do you even know situational football? Down? Distance? Time? Score?

Once again mental mistakes, which I call stupid football, is tearing us up in key places of football games. Maybe we should go out and draft a stud running back or sign one in free agency. We need a closer, not a Marion Barber type of closer I mean a guy who actually finishes games. Look around the league, look at some of the running backs we passed on. If we had a real stud running back who is good enough to just give him the rock and put in work, we would be closing games out a lot easier.

I know it's only one play, but I have seen far too much stupid play. Maybe we have some stupid football players and when the time comes to get rid of them, maybe we should take advantage of it and get rid of them. Bring in a smart stud running back who can move the chains and feed him the rock late into games.

When I see something like that I cannot help but think about upgrading the RB position next year. I am not writing off Felix just yet, but he really is on the hot seat now in my book. There are going to be closer/feature type backs available next years draft. Nobodies job is safe anymore, and that is the way it should be.

Dan Bailey Is For REAL

How David Buehler is still on this team is another hot topic for me. I had a good feeling about Dan Bailey in training camp and I am so happy to see this kid work out well for us. We have finally found our kicker of the present and future. Buehler is wasting a roster spot, there is no real use for him when we could add another position of need. Thank god for you Dan Bailey, now if we can only limit ourselves from ruining you, then releasing you and then seeing you kick for another team. Now that is truly the trick to the trade here.

The Defense

Rob Ryan has done a tremendous job of installing a new system in limited time and the results are starting to pay off big. This defense is a totally different unit than the Wade Phillips led group in 2010. Everyone should love what Rob has done for this defense and they get better every week. For me that is the best part of the defense, knowing that they will improve each game. This defense could be really good by December, crunch time.

We all know how good Sean Lee has been (besides yesterday), but one player I want to recognize is Gerald Sensabaugh. Many of you know my distaste for Sensi, but he is making me eat my words and I am loving it. I am right about so many things in football, but I also am wrong quite a bit. I love nothing more when a player proves me wrong. So far, so good for Sensi.

Sensabaugh really has been fantastic in the first four games of the season. Some players just thrive under a new coaches system and style, this is obviously evident in Gerald Sensabaugh this season. Look at how important he truly is to the defense now. Once he left the game with a concussion, the Cowboys defense lost their quarterback back there. Sensabaugh was vital in deep coverage and covering Lions TE Brandon Pettigrew. After Sensi was replaced with Barry Church, the Lions passing game came to life. Megatron was making big plays and Pettigrew took Church to church in the second half.

I am glad that Sensabaugh is finally playing up to his level and I can't wait for him to get back to us healthy. What a season he has had so far, keep it up Gerald, keep up the good work.

Perfect Time For A Bye

When the schedule was first released I was a tad bit disappointed by the bye week so early into the season. With all the injuries we have right now this bye week is perfect. We could possibly be entering our game with the Patriots at 100% for the first time in a long time.

Romo needs more time to heal, nobody is going to argue that. He can also use that time to get into the film room and work out some kinks. Miles Austin should be close to 100% and we need him badly. If Dez and Miles come back 100%, we will have serious firepower on offense. Felix is another one who is banged up and needs some time to heal.

It's the same thing with the defense, we need the time to heal up and study in the film room. I truly believe these 2 weeks will be great in preparing for the Patriots. This game eerily reminds me of the Saints game from 2009. The game was a huge swing win and basically was our season. Nobody predicted us to win that game and I see the same thing happening in two weeks.

Getting healthy and using this time to work in the film room is going to be great for us. The coaches should also take advantage of this time in getting this team back on track.

2-2 is a 500 record, we are far from done folks. Things could be so much worse right now and I will give you that it isn't exactly sunshine and rainbows right now. The thing is, we are still in great shape this season. The bye allows us to get healthy for the first time all season. We can use this time to our advantage, we cannot afford to waste this time. This team is far from done and if we win this Patriots game we can get on a roll. Our remaining schedule looks fairly winnable. There are a bunch of games we should win easily and there are some real tough ones.

The worst part so far for me is being 2-2 due to the losses we had. We should easily be 4-0 or 3-1, if Romo doesn't play like a scrub in those areas of the game who knows what happens. It's time to move on once again and look forward to the great unknown. But the season isn't over, the sky isn't falling just yet. Have faith Cowboys Nation and maybe we turn this thing around........................yet again.

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