FSSW: Sturm: The Morning After: Remembering that wins are good

[WoodysGirl]

September 24, 2012
A quick thought or two before we get into the meat of the day's events; wins are hard to come by in the National Football League. Every week, some teams play their hearts out and still do not get to leave with the victory. Wins are the entire point to sports, and while there are personal statistics, fantasy teams, style points, opinions that matter, opinions that don't matter, execution, point spreads, and countless other subjective and objective ways to analyze a sporting competition, the win is all that truly matters in the long run. They will not ask "how" at the end of the season when they are deciding which 12 teams advance to the playoffs, they will ask "how many" wins do you have?

The Dallas Cowboys set the bar pretty high for this franchise. They do not value a win like the Carolina Panthers or Cincinnati Bengals value a win. They have a higher goal in mind at all times based on the 5 Lombardi Trophies and world titles. This has turned the modern-day Cowboys' fan into one of the more self-loathing fan bases in sports today.

In a normal 9 or 10 win season, based on the fans I hear from, the Cowboys win about 3 games a year against teams so bad that the fans won't allow themselves to smile. Then, the Cowboys win about 3 more other games each year where the team didn't play well. So they aren't happy about those wins either because "that will never do in January" or "If this team thinks they can win with that effort each week, they have another thing coming".

Read more: http://www.foxsportssouthwest.com/09/24/12/Remembering-that-wins-are-good/landing.html?blockID=794839&feedID=10194

[bbailey423]

He starts the article at length discussing how spoiled we are as fans...and how we should appreciate a win....then he starts to detail how bad the offense was on Sunday.....which is WHY as fans we were terrified at what we saw. So which one is it?

[CyberB0b]

He starts the article at length discussing how spoiled we are as fans...and how we should appreciate a win....then he starts to detail how bad the offense was on Sunday.....which is WHY as fans we were terrified at what we saw. So which one is it?

It is called a preface.

[visionary]

He starts the article at length discussing how spoiled we are as fans...and how we should appreciate a win....then he starts to detail how bad the offense was on Sunday.....which is WHY as fans we were terrified at what we saw. So which one is it?

:laugh1:

i agree with you

clearly he thinks that the offense (and OL in particular) are seriously flawed

he is just trying to give himself an "out" on the off chance they are able to turn it around

kind of the same logic CZ homers use to refuse to see the obvious flaws because so if the OL does play decent for a game, they can rush in here and tell everyone else how right they were and what chicken littles the rest of us are for not believing

[Idgit]

He starts the article at length discussing how spoiled we are as fans...and how we should appreciate a win....then he starts to detail how bad the offense was on Sunday.....which is WHY as fans we were terrified at what we saw. So which one is it?

He's saying you're overreacting. And he's right.

We won a game with the offense playing poorly. Worse things have happened.

[Doomsday101]

He starts the article at length discussing how spoiled we are as fans...and how we should appreciate a win....then he starts to detail how bad the offense was on Sunday.....which is WHY as fans we were terrified at what we saw. So which one is it?

Both. Wins are the object of the game and Dallas did do that. Dallas also understands they did not play well and that they will have to improve a lot. Unlike some I don't turn my nose up on a win, I watched several teams yesterday that would gladly like to be a 2-1 right now.

[bbailey423]

I watched the Saints week one against the Redskins. And I told everyone within earshot that it was not a fluke....the Saints will not be a good team this year. They looked like they were moving in mud.

So I have to be honest about this team. We have 8-8 written all over us. Our skill position players on offense may have good top end speed...but we do not have any quickness. And with this OL...we need more quickness...quick players...quick hitting plays etc....I mean are we the ONLY team in the NFL that CANNOT run a WR screen? Dez was going off on the sideline....so what do we do. The first play on the next possesion was a WR screen...that lost 2 yards.

When you are a team with the size we are on offense...you should be able to RUN the ball...and play off that. But we are dreadful trying to run the ball. Let's not sugarcoat this...we look like an expansion team on offense right now.

[elcowboi]

Both. Wins are the object of the game and Dallas did do that. Dallas also understands they did not play well and that they will have to improve a lot. Unlike some I don't turn my nose up on a win, I watched several teams yesterday that would gladly like to be a 2-1 right now.

Agreed. I'm not overly excited when they win and I'm not depressed when they lose. It seems like some are more angry with a win then when they lose.

[ravidubey]

It seems like some are more angry with a win then when they lose.

Many have high expectations for this team, and seeing the performance of the OL there's no way to deny those expectations are likely to be dashed.

Dallas has gone 1-1 and not looked good vs. two very flawed football teams who will each be lucky to go 7-9.

That's frustrating, so I can understand the anger. It was one thing for many to know the OL was bad before the season started, but it is quite another to see it in action and poised to wreck the season.

[InmanRoshi]

This has turned the modern-day Cowboys' fan into one of the more self-loathing fan bases in sports today.

Ignorant, Bob. You forgot ignorant.

[visionary]

Ignorant, Bob. You forgot ignorant.

completely agree with you that those fans that refused to acknowledge that the OL was a very important weak link on the team and the GM had not adequately addresed it were ignorant

thanx for bringing it up IR

[InmanRoshi]

Dallas has gone 1-1 and not looked good vs. two very flawed football teams who will each be lucky to go 7-9.

You mean like Seattle went 7-9 last year?

Yeah, even going 7-9, they still beat the Superbowl Champions Giants and a Ravens team that was a dropped TD away from going to the Superbowl.

The last two Superbowl Champions include the Giants who had a 9-7 record and a negative point differential and a 4 game losing streak in the season, and a 2010 Packers team that barely sneaked into the playoffs with the #6 seed Wildcard.

Welcome to the modern NFL. Buckle up your helmet and put on your big boy pants, it's never a smooth ride even in the best case scenerio.

[InmanRoshi]

completely agree with you that those fans that refused to acknowledge that the OL was a very important weak link on the team and the GM had not adequately addresed it were ignorant

thanx for bringing it up IR

Yeah, we should have spent $50 million for the premiere offensive guard on the market and just ignored the secondary that won the game for us on Sunday, and trotted out Newman and Alan Ball for another year. It's clearly worked wonders for Tampa Bay's problems and appears to have been a great allocation of resources. Without that $50 million guard, they wouldn't be able to put up that prolific 166 Total Yards they put up on Sunday.

Or let's talk about what gigantic leap in advancement New Orleans has made since paying all that money for Ben Grubbs. Obvsiously he's been a huge, huge difference maker.

[visionary]

It's clearly worked wonders for Tampa Bay's problems and appears to have been a great allocation of resources. Without that $50 million guard, they wouldn't be able to put up that prolific 166 Total Yards they put up on Sunday.

.


this is sort of like saying "how'd that 50 million CB and trading a 1st and 2nd for a CB in the draft work out for dallas" right after the seattle loss

in one word "disingenuous"

[jjktkk]

this is sort of like saying "how'd that 50 million CB and trading a 1st and 2nd for a CB in the draft work out for dallas" right after the seattle loss

in one word "disingenuous"


Both units needed serious upgrades. One, the secondary, was obviously where the most money was spent. The other, was addressed, but so far, the Oline has been a failure. It would of been nice if both units were adequately addressed, but thats not easy in one off-season haul.

[InmanRoshi]

this is sort of like saying "how'd that 50 million CB and trading a 1st and 2nd for a CB in the draft work out for dallas" right after the seattle loss

in one word "disingenuous"

There would have been nothing "disingenuous" about saying the CBs paid off for us in the Seattle game. We allowed 270 total yards in the game. If that's our secondary's worst game of the season, I'll gladly take it.

Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay offense has been utter garbage in all three games, and investing $50 million dollar guard has proven to provide absolute atrocious allocation of resources.

[ravidubey]

Yeah, we should have spent $50 million for the premiere offensive guard on the market and just ignored the secondary that won the game for us on Sunday, and trotted out Newman and Alan Ball for another year. It's clearly worked wonders for Tampa Bay's problems and appears to have been a great allocation of resources. Without that $50 million guard, they wouldn't be able to put up that prolific 166 Total Yards they put up on Sunday.


He's made an immediate impact for them. I watched every preseason Bucs 1st quarter game and some snaps of the Panthers game. Nicks is outstanding and provides Freeman an amazing pocket from which to throw. He never gets blown backwards and gives Doug Martin at least some positive running room on every play.

He'd have been terrific in Dallas. In hindsight Dallas didn't know they'd be able to get Morris Claiborne, and had they known I wonder if they'd have altered their free agency approach.

The impact to the Cowboys would be huge given the negative situation they have at guard now.

Or let's talk about what gigantic leap in advancement New Orleans has made since paying all that money for Ben Grubbs. Obvsiously he's been a huge, huge difference maker.

Grubbs was a step back from Nicks. Nicks was All-Pro for a reason.

[Fletch]

He's made an immediate impact for them. I watched every preseason Bucs 1st quarter game and some snaps of the Panthers game. Nicks is outstanding and provides Freeman an amazing pocket from which to throw. He never gets blown backwards and gives Doug Martin at least some positive running room on every play.

He'd have been terrific in Dallas. In hindsight Dallas didn't know they'd be able to get Morris Claiborne, and had they known I wonder if they'd have altered their free agency approach.

The impact to the Cowboys would be huge given the negative situation they have at guard now.



Grubbs was a step back from Nicks. Nicks was All-Pro for a reason.

And the Bucs record is.... Survey saaaays? ....... You're funny! IR just owned this entire thread.Move along.

[perrykemp]

Man I have a lot of respect for Bob Sturm.

He is a rarity today -- a sportswriter who puts time, effort, research, and thought into his work.

I don't always agree with all of his hypothesis, however, he makes the vast majority of other knee-jerk, sensationalistic Cowboy's writers look like rank amateurs.

[CowboysYanksLakers]

You take the win but also recognize the offense must improve. The defense is there!

[InmanRoshi]

He's made an immediate impact for them. I watched every preseason Bucs 1st quarter game and some snaps of the Panthers game. Nicks is outstanding and provides Freeman an amazing pocket from which to throw. He never gets blown backwards and gives Doug Martin at least some positive running room on every play.

Yeah, without a $50 million guard the Bucs might be getting only 130 total net yards of offense in a game instead of the 166 they had on Sunday. Huge impact.

[Dave_in-NC]

Yeah, without a $50 million guard the Bucs might be getting only 130 total net yards of offense in a game instead of the 166 they had on Sunday. Huge impact.

Even a good O line cant make a bad or inexperienced QB better. And we knew they were going to run the ball.........

But he could help Romo.

[visionary]

Even a good O line cant make a bad or inexperienced QB better. And we knew they were going to run the ball.........

But he could help Romo.

sshhh...dont ruin a perfectly good agenda

[InmanRoshi]

Even a good O line cant make a bad or inexperienced QB better. And we knew they were going to run the ball.........

But he could help Romo.

Even a Pro Bowl QB and an All Pro guard doesn't make a good team. See Dallas Cowboys circa 1996-2000. Which then begs the question what amount of game impact does a guard truly have even when he's great? Even if he stalemates his guy on every snap, he's still just neutralizing one man on a 7-8 man defensive front and it's typically not the defense's most high impact player. I'd much rather take that $50 million and spread it out among several positions and/or spend it on a higher impact position. But fans don't like offensive line acquisition that don't involve huge names, because fans grade OL 95% based on name recognition.

[Dave_in-NC]

Even a Pro Bowl QB and an All Pro guard doesn't make a good team. See Dallas Cowboys circa 1996-2000. Which then begs the question what amount of game impact does a guard truly have even when he's great? Even if he stalemates his guy every snaps, he's still just neutralizing one man on a 7-8 man defensive front and it's typically not the defense's most high impact player. I'd much rather take that $50 million and spread it out among several positions and/or spend it on a higher impact position. But fans don't like it, because they only value name recognition in offensive linemen and if they don't recognize a name then he iz teh suxors!!1111

No argument there. The flip side is one guy can help make the others better, just at what price? I wouldn't have signed him for that money either unless he was the one missing piece. The problem is we signed no one that is significant enough to help on the line and it's clear as day.

[Idgit]

..The problem is we signed no one that is significant enough to help on the line and it's clear as day.

That's just not true. Nate Livings has been a fine acquisition. We're having problems on the right side of the line right now, and one of those players, Doug Free, was not a player we were realistically going to make any sort of move on at all during the offseason.

People are upset, as near as I can tell, because they spent months not liking Phil Costa, not liking the FA OG acquisitions and now, in game three, our RT is getting beaten regularly in pass protection. These things aren't related except that DF happens to be in the same position group and so--by whatever transitive property of whining prevails in situations like these--it's obviously Jerry's fault. Also, our play calling is to blame despite ample obvious evidence that the miscues and poor execution are sufficient to explain what's really stalling our drives.

This whole OL thing this week is nothing more than a sloppy attempt at confirmation bias and a huge distraction from what's really wrong with the team right now. Saying otherwise--even when it entails building a logical case against the HC--is shouted down as sunshine-pumping.

The good news is, in a few weeks, if we get the snap-related penalties, the drops, and the miscues ironed out, our OLs are going to get a lot better (great job in advance, Callahan) and our HC is going to get a lot less predictable and a lot better at calling plays again. That'll be fun up until the next unexpected loss and all hell breaks loose because we haven't won anything at all in the last 16 years.

[cowboys2233]

So I have to be honest about this team. We have 8-8 written all over us. Our skill position players on offense may have good top end speed...but we do not have any quickness. And with this OL...we need more quickness...quick players...quick hitting plays etc....

I question your observation skills. We were hitting quick slants all day and then some against the Giants. So much so that Coughlin came out after the game and said it seemed as if his defense had never seen a slant pattern before. Quick hitting plays all day.

[EGG]

This whole OL thing this week is nothing more than a sloppy attempt at confirmation bias* and a huge distraction from what's really wrong with the team right now. Saying otherwise--even when it entails building a logical case against the HC--is shouted down as sunshine-pumping.

.

What a load of horse crap, obfuscation, and Projection*... the OL argument has been raging for years with a handful of Jerry's water-carrying sycophants telling everybody how wrong they are about Free, Costa, Nagy, Arkin, Kowalski, Newman, etc, etc, etc. and now that the wheels have fallen off and the driver knocked unconscious(again) you want to parse words and dilute the arguments. HOGWASH! :eek:

I commend Jerry for signing Callahan, but this annual sifting through the dumpster looking for discarded quality is yielding results far too slowly. The other problem is that the downgrading and marginalization of the OL causes the team to overvalue their rare "finds" like Free. They were so freaking happy that they drafted a semi-capable lineman that they signed him to a big fat contract and moved him to left tackle,,, lol :mad:

[bbailey423]

I question your observation skills. We were hitting quick slants all day and then some against the Giants. So much so that Coughlin came out after the game and said it seemed as if his defense had never seen a slant pattern before. Quick hitting plays all day.
so why did we stop. Once that was on film...teams were going to take the slant away. So we should have a counter move ready. The Seahawks blitzed us like WE were starting a rookie...and we never had an answer for it.

[Doomsday101]

so why did we stop. Once that was on film...teams were going to take the slant away. So we should have a counter move ready. The Seahawks blitzed us like WE were starting a rookie...and we never had an answer for it.

There is no fix for dropped passes the plays where there for the taking you don't change your play calling based on guys who are normally sure handed who end up dropping the ball. Those plays where there it was not like they were bad calls but damn it you got to catch the ball and that is not on the coach. You can holler about it all day but players are being paid big money to make the damn catch.