FanPost

The Unwritten Book: The 2014 Dallas Cowboys

Here is my ten cents on the state of the Dallas Cowboys this year.

We have a lot of questions that have yet to be answered. All we can do is make guesses on what could happen. A lot of hope is in order and most importantly faith. For all the people who are jumping ship already? The players aren't. They aren't jumping ship and relegating themselves to a lost season. The coaches aren't either. And to be honest they know a hell of a lot more about the situation of the team any any of us do. So that is why I am not pressing the panic button or asking to trade the entire team for picks that in themselves are just more question marks. It is not like picks are absolute guarantees. Because they are not and never have been. If they were I could understand the need for a total reconstruction. But we haven't even seen what this year's team is supposed to look like yet. We sure had hope last year at the same time in the season. I guess fool me once and it's frack you time now? I just don't get this constant stream of hatred, ill will and complete lack of hope and faith for this team this season. It makes me question what it really means to be a fan of the Dallas Cowboys, and that is not what this offseason should be about. Sure there are questions about the upcoming season, and issues that have arisen that are cause for concern. But does the negative really outweigh the positive? I think not. I think there is plenty to look forward to this season and plenty of room for improvement. Does this mean I am a rainbow spewing cowboy fan riding a pink unicorn? No. It just means I have a positive outlook for a season that has yet to begin as does the rest of the entire team. Fans wear the jerseys and the colors of their team. It makes sense to share their outlook too. But go right ahead and jump ship. You are entitled to that. But do not say that other fans aren't entitled to not do so.

Being negative gets you nowhere in life. I am not saying be positive all the time. No. That would be another way to get you nowhere. But if you can appreciate both? That is the best way to live your life. This is how I approach this season. Trust me. I do see the negative side of the equation. The possibility that the defense could be worse than last year, the lack of pass rushing defensive ends, the question mark that is the linebacking corps, McKenzie Bernadeau, Lack Of Depth on Defense, Tony Romo's health, and so on. I see those problems. And I acknowledge them. But I also see the positives. Scott Linehan's new playbook, Gavin Escobar's development, Zack Martin, Dex Bryant, Special Teams, Dan Bailey, A healthy Demarco Murray, and more. To be honest I see just as many positives as I do negatives. To be honest folks? We are a lot better off than most of us think. There are plenty of teams that are in even worse shape than we are. Sure they might have winning records in the preseason but that doesn't mean squat at the end of the day. We have a high octane offense in the making that is getting swept under the rug lately just because of one bad showing in Miami. No one said it was going to be flawless. That in itself is ridiculous. Take a look at the situation as a whole. Do not look at the team in a biased vacuum. If you do so of course your opinion will be slanted towards the negative or the positive. This isn't a test. There is no right or wrong answer. But in my opinion it is wrong to assume that people who have faith for this season are illogical dullards who are blowing rainbow sunshine up people's behinds.

Let's face it. For a lot of us Football is like our religion. And like any religion it takes faith. Lose that and say all is lost before the season has even started shows a lack of faith. Some of us need a benediction. Will we get one this season? Who knows. That's another question we don't have the answer to.

As for the question marks of who on defense is going to suit for San Francisco? I think almost of all of them will. Minus Spencer, Lee, and R. McClain. I think this preseason was an obviously over overcautious one. Barely any type of originality in play calling on both offense and defense. Special Teams wasn't as solid as usual. Mainly because they were trying to figure things out. And that's a key word. "Figure things out." This preseason I think was all about figuring things out. Winning wasn't even on their minds. What does winning in the preseason do for you anyway? Do you get an extra draft pick for the best record? Do you get a mulligan for a game if you mess up? No. Then what is the big deal exactly? I never understood the importance of Preseason games and still don't to this day. And the way some of the fanbase is reacting is like this team doesn't even play any football until they play in a preseason game which is totally not true. There is a thing called practice? Plus a lot of players were held out to avoid season ending injuries in pointless preseason games. So what we went 0-4. We went 3-1 in 1989 and went 1-15. The Lions went 4-0 the season they went 0-16. Sure there are examples of teams that went winless and missed the playoffs but in my opinion they end up cancelling out with the times when teams did make the playoffs. Nothing is absoulute in the NFL. PFF scores, predictions from experts, or even statistics sometimes aren't reliable. The NFL is anything but predictable most of the time. If you do get the answer right? It is just a lucky guess. So there is a chance this team could make the playoffs with an 0-4 record in the preseason. There is also a chance they don't. It goes both ways. This season is not a one way door.

The Giants went undefeated and can you really say that they looked better than we did? Not talking about the backups whom obviously tried to do more than any of ours did. The starters especially on offense looked downright horrendous. Yes our starting offense didn't look that great against Miami. But Miami has a very underrated defensive line with a heck of a player in Cameron Wake. It wasn't going to be easy anyway. And just because of that ugly outing it is ok to just ignore the stellar performance against Baltimore by the starting offense? Really? So if the starting offense scored one Touchdown against Miami and Romo wasn't sacked as many times would people be changing their tune? If we won one Preseason game or two? What does it matter? Look at what good playing preseason games did for the Rams. Lost Sam Bradford for the season.

I really do believe the front office made a decision to sit players to avoid injuries and let the bottom of the roster take the brunt of the blow. Whether or not that will end up working? We shall see. Either way this division isn't looking like a juggernaut. And I don't see a 0-4 start folks. All of the sudden we are scared of the Titans and the Rams? And The 49ers who looked even worse than we did this preseason at points? The Saints? I will give you them. Even I think we Ain't gonna win that game. But keep overlooking the impact this offense will have this year. Keep thinking Romo is a china doll who won't make it 16 games, keep believing this defense is worse than last year when you haven't even actually seen the full defense on the field yet to say if it really is or not. Go right ahead but don't be too surprised when you find out otherwise. Same goes for the other side of the equation. Don't over evaluate the preseason. It is not the regular season. That is a fact. Plays are nowhere near the same, most of the time there is no game plan, and every team when they start the season starts 0-0. Until mid season none of us can really say with absolute certainty that this team is good or bad. Even the best teams could get derailed. It happens all the time. What looks good on paper isn't necessarily good. What looks bad on paper? Isn't necessarily bad either. In other words? Don't judge a book by it's cover. Especially when that book hasn't even been written yet.

Now. I am not saying everything is peachy. It isn't. The defense is definitely a worry for me. But we can compete for this division crown. Does that mean we will win the NFC East? No. Time will tell if that comes to pass. But we can compete. We have done so for the past three seasons and as long as our quarterback is still standing(knock on wood) this team always has a puncher's chance and that's better than a lot of teams can say for themselves this offseason.

Never has preseason games been as important than this year for some reason. You would think the coaches were game planning every game and using their entire playbook and playing their entire starting roster all four quarters by the way a lot of people's outlook is for the season as of late.

There is a reason why the term "Any Given Sunday" exists. And I am not counting my team out before the season even starts. The fans that are? Go right ahead. Be my guest. We all have questions I grant you that. But we don't have the answers. And if you think you have them? You are guessing. Doesn't matter if those guesses are based on "Facts" or "Hope" they are still guesses. That's it. No one has a crystal ball for this season so put it away. All you have are questions and no definite answers yet. Just like every other fanbase in the NFL until the season starts. There is no absolute reality of the situation yet. There is only speculation. So do your heart and mind a favor and stop acting like their is no hope and go with the flow. It may not be a smooth ride but it sure as hell beats whining and crying and moaning all the time. And you want to cry havoc about this team? Go ahead. That is your god given right. But do not try to make others who have no desire to do the same cry havoc with you, and please do yourself a favor and have a little faith. At least until the mid season mark. Then we will actually have a definitive idea of what this team is and not just questions answered with speculation and hearsay that are deemed as "reality" or "facts" when in all honesty they are just about as unrealistic as the "Rainbow Spewing Unicorn Humpers". There is no such thing as a 75 percent fact. It is either a fact or it is fiction. Predictions and outlooks on this season down to the win loss record is fiction. It is not FACT that we are in for a long season nor is it a fact that this team is destined to be 6-10, struggle to be 8-8 or go 11-5. No one really will know for sure what this team's record will be until the end of the season. Why worry until then? What favor are you doing yourself by raising your blood pressure over something you have absolutely no control over?

We want answers though, and this season we will get them. But we have to be patient. But after this winless preseason we still don't have the answers we are looking for. And even if we did win a few games we still wouldn't have all the answers yet. So there would be questions left unanswered no matter how things played out this off season.

Out of all of these unwritten pages and unanswered questions there is one answer that I do know for sure.

"The Doom and Gloomers", "The Realists", "The Pessimists", "The Optimists", and "The Kool Aid Drinkers" all share one thing in common. They all want the Cowboys to win. It just sucks to be in the situation that we are in as a fanbase at the moment. Searching for answers, Searching for Success, Searching for Consistency, Searching for an Identity. This is a weird place for us to be in. We see the process being implented but we haven't seen results. We don't know who to trust or if we can trust in anybody anymore. But I know one thing that we can all put our trust in.

TRUST IN THE STAR.

So let's wait till the book of the 2014 Dallas Cowboys has been written before we deem it to the garbage bin because it just might become a best seller.

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