YR's My Meaningless Thoughts On The Game...

[Yakuza Rich]

Last Monday I wrote that I believed that the Redskins were going to beat the Cowboys badly. A reader asked me why I would think that. I responded that over the past few weeks I have seen parallels of how this team is coached and how this team plays and how another team I am a collegiate fan of was badly coached and how they would play, my Syracuse Orangemen. Yes, they are still the Orangemen (not Orange) to me.

I had seen this before with Pasqualoni teams at SU. And that come the big game on national TV and usually against a rival, they would blow it and blow it big. This year the Cowboys have done almost EVERYTHING that a Pasqualoni team would do.

Start off the year with a big win? Check

Look undisciplined and badly coached in various games? Check

Have backups that look completely incompetent? Check

Play well against a good team that you should have beat, but lose due to inexplicable play calling (i.e. Baltimore)? Check

Have one of those ‘yeah, but we won’ games against a crappy team (i.e. Cleveland)? Check.

Get embarrassed in the first half on national TV. Make a game out of it, but the opponent really always had control? Check.

The only thing that is left is for players to talk about how difficult the offense is to execute and eventually getting embarrassed to the tune of 61-0…which the NFL equivalent is probably 42-0.

I know I harp on the Syracuse stuff. Believe me, it is entirely more than I ever wanted to. But understand, I went thru 13 freaking years of Pasqualoni football at SU. Then I saw him coach the TE’s here in Jason Witten’s worst year, then screw up the LB’s here when we couldn’t cover anybody out of the backfield in 2006. Now he’s destroying the UConn football program in just 2 years. If there is one thing about my personality, I DETEST making the same mistake twice.

The only thing I do like about Garrett is that he has brought in some very nice players. Furthermore, some undisciplined players like Anthony Spencer have really turned it around. Now I am starting to see Dez turn it around. And if there is a glimmer of hope I have for Garrett, it’s that I think there is a chance if he gives up the entire offense, from scheme to design to playcalling to somebody else. I really don’t understand why that is such a tough concept for him or Jerry to handle, since most of the league continues to do that. I dunno, seemed to work pretty well for Bill Walsh to oversee the operation and let guys like Mike Holmgren and Mike Shanahan call plays. But, what did he know?

I actually believe that the O-Line pass protected pretty well. In fact, I liked what I saw out of 4 of the 5 O-Linemen in pass protection. I just thought Dockery (another Jerry favorite) stinks to high heaven. But the offensive design does not fit our personnel. I’m not knocking Romo, but our offensive design is better suited for somebody like Matthew Stafford or Tom Brady. The passing routes are too slow to develop and we don’t have the WR’s who can get open quickly. We can still make plays in the offense, but it would require a taller QB who throws overhand like Brady or a QB with a super strong arm who can stand in back of the pocket and fire it to receivers on point (i.e. Stafford).

And I’m sick and tired of seeing false starts, particularly at home. There is something wrong with the system. We bring in different WR’s, O-Linemen, O-Line coaches, WR coaches, TE coaches, TE’s, etc. and we continue to have false starts on offense. I think one would be fooling themselves if they think that is something that is Jerry’s fault. When you have so much different personnel that continues to have the same problems, it starts to be a pure coaching problem.

Based on my Pasqualoni experience, I see this team winding up 7-9. But the wins will be U-G-L-Y wins against hapless opponents like the Eagles. Then the Garrett fans will rationalize that if we could have stayed healthy, it would have been a better team. Unfortunately, the NFL doesn’t quite work that way. Just because you had a certain record with injuries, doesn’t mean that those players will return and play to their old form or that the NFL hasn’t figured out ways to better play against them. Or that they won’t get injured again.

I see only 2 options for this team. Either hire an O-Coordination and given him carte blanche of the offense. Or hire Sean Payton.

And yes, I do think Sean Payton is a possibility. Payton lives in Dallas and I think he loves the fans and coaching for Drew Brees, but he doesn’t like the organization. I’ve had several Saints fans that have close ties with the organization that have said this. That may be worth nothing, but when they all say the same things in the same exact details, you start to think there is some truth to it.

I think people forget how low class of an organization the Saints have been. I remember that Kyle Turley, a former Saints player who is still a diehard fan of the team, filed complaints with the NFLPA and the NFL against the Saints for their unsanitary and hazardous training camp conditions. From Turley’s account, you would expect to see something like that from a D-III college football team, not the Saints. And this was about 10 years ago.

I just think that if Payton was insistent in staying in New Orleans, he would have either re-signed the contract with somebody besides Mickey Loomis by now or would have at least publicly stated ‘I’m staying in New Orleans.’ He’s done neither. And for good reason. He knows that the Cowboys may come a knocking. And it cannot hurt to listen to their offer. The worst that can happen is that the Cowboys don’t offer enough money, you tell them you’re not interested and go back to coaching the team you won a Super Bowl with.

And we all know that Jerry has regretted seeing Payton go. He really liked Payton. But, Parcells was still here and Payton was offered a HC job.

Historically, I think it can work as well. Don Shula had success going from Baltimore to Miami. Belichick went from Cleveland to New England (although very unsuccessful in Cleveland). Holmgren went from Green Bay to Seattle.

If there’s one thing I have a hard time with the NFL is that often times teams are successful by luck. Speaking of which, look at the Colts. They were an awful franchise that allowed them to get the #1 pick and they ended up getting Peyton Manning, the greatest QB I’ve ever seen. Then they build a terrible franchise around Peyton, still win a Super and then Manning gets hurt and they wind up with the #1 overall pick again and get Andrew Luck.

The Patriots are regressing as a franchise and pick a QB in the 6th round as an afterthought in a draft where the 6th round QB was the only player that did anything in the NFL. They don’t even start the 6th round QB until Drew Bledsoe gets hurt late in a game.

Then of course there is the Saints. They get Drew Brees who was a Pro Bowl QB still in his 20’s as a free agent. Brees then goes to Miami and is set to be their QB, but fails a physical. The Saints get him as Brees’ last ditch effort and the rest is history.

While I hold out hope that maybe all Garrett needs is an O-Coordinator to run the offense. I just think that if Payton is available, it’s that lucky break that this organization and its fans deserve. No sense in getting caught watching the paint dry.







YR