Franchise Credibility Held Hostage by O-Line

[CoCo]

Oh I know there are many who will immediately claim it's the last 15 years, not the present, that has destroyed our credibility.

But this team looks poised to be taken seriously with a revamped defense, and a matured Romo. Austin, Dez, Witten and O-Tree as receiving threats, and a stud RB in DeMarco Murray. The last couple of drafts and our ability to find contributing UDFA's and street free agents has also renewed hope in the FO. The list of players is long that when viewed individually brings a smile to Cowboy fans faces.

But it all stands to get flushed, scorn and ridicule ready to be heaped upon them all, if our O-line can't get it together, and do it soon. Jerry will continue to be completely dismissed, Garrett & his staff will be discredited, and even good players will be called out as part of the problem.

The last two weeks performances by the O-line will destroy hope, playoff potential, and credibility if it isn't rectified very quickly.

[DallasDW00ds0n]

Worst part is we all saw it coming

[roy31]

Any negative attention this team gets because of its O-lone is well deserved. There is no way they thought this would work out. Callahan might be a great line coach but even Ryan got better players to work with than he had last year. Everybody seemed to be concerned about center and Jeff Saturday wasn't even brought in for a look.They picked the wrong place to skimp. With that said I believe they will fix the O-line in the off season but that makes for another wasted year.

[PoetTree]

Gotta agree with the original poster wholeheartedly...

I hold out hope that this line can gel as the season goes along, mostly because I'm obsessed with optimism. It's not without logic; Ryan Cook being brought in late, Bernadeau & Livings missing all sorts of time in camp, Free & Tyron switching sides and there being reports all the way up to the end of Training Camp that neither were yet completely comfortable with their footwork from the switch. All of these things portend the possibility that the starting unit just didn't get enough time together to be playing optimally right now. But, having said that....

This team doesn't have a long runway for them to figure it out. This is why we brought Callahan in, and he'd better live up to his chops in a quick way. I think we've got enough talent in the trenches to get 'er done. But Mackenzy's hip surgery, Livings' knee injury, Costa's back (and thus the late & unpracticed addition of Ryan Cook), along with Free & Tyron's early difficulties... and I'd say we've got a recipe for failure brewing right beneath our noses.

I am HOPEFUL Callahan & crew can get it worked out.

But, wow, am I also disappointed that we took the iffy route on fixing what was our obvious deficiency last season, and the season before that. We have analysts saying that potentially the only difference between the Cowboys' O and the Saints' O from the past few years might just be offensive line play; New Orleans having one of the best, Dallas having one of the worst. Jerry has talked about tailoring the offense around Romo, which makes sense. But then somehow lets us get through an off-season without definitively addressing the situation. We took the Kyle Kosier route instead, hoping that we'd hit on some under-priced vets who could get it done.

Early on, it's looking like a wildcat gamble that hasn't really improved our o-line plight at all...

.... and damn, if it turns out that way, that's some bummer of a mismanagement.


We needed to FIX the o-line this off-season, not throw bandaids at it & hope.

I'm still hopeful, 'cause that's how I roll. But if these guys don't cinch it up by mid-season, there will be no real hope for this season beyond that. It would be a huge bummer to watch our o-line keep us from being the team the rest of our talent could make us. Again.

[SHAMSzy]

Agreed. This O-Line is gonna make ESPN rank QBs like Alex Smith over Tony Romo by the end of the season.

[Cajuncowboy]

Disagree.

The franchise, which is the Dallas Cowboys, credibility will always be what it is...The premier sports team in history along with the Yankees. The only credibility at stake here is Jerry's as GM.

Now I do agree we have failed miserably to proactively and responsibly address the oline in a meaningful way and allowed it to expose our franchise QB to massive beatings.

But to say the credibility of the franchise is at stake I don't believe.

[MURPHYDAN]

CoCo I agree with pretty much all of your points. Could you imagine what Romo could accomplish if he actually had time to survey the field? Most of us Cowboy fans knew after last year that our two glaring weaknesses were the defensive backfield and the offensive line. We made major moves to improve the defensive backfield and so far those moves have made a major difference. I do believe that as the season goes along our offensive line will show improvement. Hopefully the front office will make improving the offensive line the number one objective in the upcoming off season.

MURPHYDAN

[Big Country]

Originally Posted by SHAMSzy

Agreed. This O-Line is gonna make ESPN rank QBs like Alex Smith over Tony Romo by the end of the season.

If Romo even makes it that far. I sure as hell don't want to see another helmet to helmet hit on Romo like the one he took to the temple last game. That was brutal. He looked good in his PC after the game, but I swear he was unconscious for a second on the ground. This OL better step it up and right now!

[Big Country]

Originally Posted by Cajuncowboy

Disagree.

The franchise, which is the Dallas Cowboys, credibility will always be what it is...The premier sports team in history along with the Yankees. The only credibility at stake here is Jerry's as GM.

Now I do agree we have failed miserably to proactively and responsibly address the oline in a meaningful way and allowed it to expose our franchise QB to massive beatings.

But to say the credibility of the franchise is at stake I don't believe.

I would change the OP title to represent the franchise present offensive ability under Romo's tenure.

[Idgit]

Was really hoping somebody would start a thread on this tooic. We really needed one.

[CoCo]

Originally Posted by Idgit

Was really hoping somebody would start a thread on this tooic. We really needed one.

I think I'm sensing sarcasm. So let me explain.

This isn't a thread intended to gripe about and criticize Jerry, Garrett, Costa, Free, the two new FA's or Callahan. It's not a thread to breathe life into "we spent all our resources on CB's and none on the O-line." It's not about we have no hope as long as Jerry is here.

It's about the reality of how close we truly are to exorcizing some of those tired old demons of the last 15 years. But its jeopardized by the blocking (or lack thereof) up front.

Celebration and praise is on the horizon for this long troubled franchise. There are quality players all through the roster. There is progress going on in recognizing and acquiring talent. But much of the good will be swept out with the bad if this O-line can't get it together.

[Bullflop]

If this organization doesn't commit themselves to resolving its OL dilemma, I'm seriously beginning to doubt their fans will continue to support them as devotedly and faithfully they have in years passed. The offensive line this year is just about as catastrophically inept as our secondary was last year and that's nothing short of pathetic. Even the most casual of fans saw it coming. Hopefully, measures will be taken by at least next year to resolve it.

I feel this team's fans deserve better than to be sold short in such a sad manner, year after year. There's another Texas team that would be more than pleased to accommodate some of the C'boys fans that have just about had their fill of the ongoing mediocrity.

I've been an extremely devoted fan of this team since it's inception and am now desperately beginning to consider that as an alternative, as difficult as it would be. Still clinging to whatever remnants of hope I have left, though . . . although fandom increasingly seems more of an addiction than a pleasure these days.

Just saying . . . something has to change before too long if this franchise is really serious about sustaining its popularity. The long overdue absence of being truly competitive is gradually becoming too painful to endure indefinitely. Anyone here feeling the same? Gotta admit to feeling kinda guilty admitting as much . . .

[junk]

I don't think this team knows what they want to do on the offensive line. I don't think they have a philosophy on the types of players they want long term (or it keeps changing). As a result, they struggle to evaluate, draft and sign them.

Who was the last lineman that Dallas truly developed? Smith looks to be on his way (and a first round pick should be a gimmee)......other than that, the last was probably Free.

[Bluestang]

Originally Posted by junk

I don't think this team knows what they want to do on the offensive line. I don't think they have a philosophy on the types of players they want long term (or it keeps changing). As a result, they struggle to evaluate, draft and sign them.

Who was the last lineman that Dallas truly developed? Smith looks to be on his way (and a first round pick should be a gimmee)......other than that, the last was probably Free.

A valid argument because the switch from Houck to Callahan has been a big influence on what the OL is doing on the technical side of the ball.

The changes of the tackles is about where I expected them to be. Smith is learning and Free is still trying to figure out his feet. He's got technique issues that are screwing him up and I think alot of us are guilty of believing it would be a smooth transition for him going back to the right side after 2 seasons of playing LT.

Livings has been OK, nothing stellar but struggled against smaller faster lineman in the TB game. Bernadeau has struggled more but that could have been expected with him due to his injury in the offseason.

Cook is not a good run blocker at least not better than Costa. He didn't appear on the team until the final cut down days so his struggles are expected.

Alot of what we are seeing is the OL having trouble playing together. They are blowing assignments left and right and it's every one of them, not just one person. They are learning on the fly how to play as one unit in a full 4 qtrs and that is the most difficult task to ask them to do.

[CoCo]

Originally Posted by Bluestang

Alot of what we are seeing is the OL having trouble playing together. They are blowing assignments left and right and it's every one of them, not just one person. They are learning on the fly how to play as one unit in a full 4 qtrs and that is the most difficult task to ask them to do.

My concern is, that with the schedule getting tough quickly (4 of 5 on the road after the bye, and all but maybe Carolina a team capable of a deep playoff run) we may get buried before the line gets itself in sync.

I really want to see what this team can do if it gets decent blocking. It's not a knock on the GM, HC, coaches or players.