Yes, BTB readers, its time once again for the segment you've all been waiting for: the FanPost of the Week! Normally, I select one excellent FanPost from among many and shine some front page light upon it. This week, however, there was such a cornucopia of worthy candidates that I'm going to begin by doling out two honorable mentions before I announce the Past of the Week. Without further ado:
Our first honorable mention goes to last week's winner and consistently strong FanPoster, Fan in Thick and Thin. In last week's two-part edition of WMQB (part II is here), Thick examines Dallas' team strengths and, among other things, eloquently demonstrates that the key to winning is a strong passing game, regardless of run success. As per usual, Thick's work is statistically savvy and well-reasoned--so much so that I could feature him here every week. I suggest you make his posts part of your required Cowboys reading. I certainly have.
Much more after the jump, including this week's winner...
Honorable mention #2 goes to another frequent poster who, in all his work, offers a delicate balance between passion and level-headed insight: 5Blings. This week, Blings invites us to ask (and to answer) the questions all of us have ruminated upon at some point in our Cowboys fandom: What would I do if I ran the circus? Given this season's collapse, this question is particularly resonant; Blings articulates just what he would to to fix what ails the 'Boys--breaking it down into four key areas: Front Office, Coaching, Roster, and Culture. What would you do if you were wearing the ringmaster's hat? I encourage you to visit his post and weigh in.
Which brings us to this week's winner. Its a Cinderella story: a first time poster hits a lead off home run in his first major-league at bat. Please welcome to FanPost Valhalla one G_SWAG, whose historical analysis of Wade Phillips defenses might have lacked polish but more than made up for it in passion insight and good old fashioned chutzpah. Looking at Phillips' defenses, Swag opines:
A stark common thread runs through all of these stints as a head coach; for all of the initial success it’s ultimately the defense that will fail Wade Phillips’ teams.
Oh the irony! But wait, there's more: as he wraps up his analysis, Swag goes for the critical jugular:
I'm going to go ahead and say it, Wade's defenses are selfish. He eschews the special teams and places excessive emphasis on one side of the ball. In fact, it seems to me that every single defense that Wade Phillips has run has an almost exceedingly more talented Offense on the other side to make it sparkle. Why does a defense work best when it doesn't optimize it's pressure and force turnovers? Because it's the offense making the defense look good; giving them tons of room to maneuver with long fields after sustaining equally long drives against the opposing defense.
No wilting flower, that Swag. He goes on to offer props to Jason Garret and the offense, who, he claims, have made Wade's D-boys look good for several years now. Go here to read all of Swag's premiere post. And contribute! Think to yourself: "if Swag can do it, so can I!"