A 20 game window shows the big picture

[Bobhaze]

At the beginning of the 2019 season last September, our Cowboys started the year by beating three cupcakes- the giants, dolphins and deadskins. The offense was firing on all cylinders and even the defense seemed capable of holding its opponents at bay similar to the 2018 and 2016 seasons.

Since that 3-0 start last year, the Cowboys have played 20 regular season games, winning...wait for it...7 games. Let that wash over you. Since last October, the Cowboys are 7-13.

Here’s my point: Last year’s team tried to tell us it was on the decline. And the Jones front office did very little to address that decline. When you honestly assess the talent on this team without rose colored glasses, this team is just not nearly as talented as we wanted to believe. The first step in getting better is to accept reality- this team is talent starved at multiple positions.

So what should a team’s front office do when a team is clearly in decline? Here are a few steps I believe we should take:

• Wake up and realize this team has some declining players we assumed could still play that either can’t or have stayed injured, or have declined so much they are weighing down the rebuild.
  
• I would get aggressive and make some bold moves with this roster. Like trading assets for draft picks.
  • For example- I love Michael Gallup- but we could get something for him in a trade. He would be attractive in a trade for a contender.
• Here are some veterans whose days should be winding down if not over:
  
  • Tyron Smith, Sean Lee, Tyrone Crawford, Dontari Poe (I would cut immediately) and maybe others. Maybe LP Ladaceur, who is the highest paid deep snapper in the league on a team going nowhere. Maybe even Zeke and Jaylon Smith need to go too. Sure the dead money would stink, but we would replace them with young, cheap draft picks.
• Let’s be honest- Mike McCarthy was hired to win now. He’s not a rebuild HC. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if I was GM, I would fire MM at end of the season and hire an aggressive, hard ace HC similar to Jimmy that can change this lazy, loser culture.

Bottom line: This is now a rebuild. And an effective rebuild starts with accepting the fact that this team is not going to get better without accepting reality. And in reality, this is not a very talented roster. Changing that requires understanding we aren’t going to be good again for at least another 2 years.

 

[superonyx]

Thats not how rebuilding works anymore.
This isnt 1980.
You don't improve your team by blowing bigger holes in your roster and then using the draft to fill the holes you just created. Draft picks are rare and outside of the 2nd round its a huge gamble and the number are not on your side.

This plan I would not recommend.

 

[Bobhaze]

Thats not how rebuilding works anymore.
This isnt 1980.
You don't improve your team by blowing bigger holes in your roster and then using the draft to fill the holes you just created. Draft picks are rare and outside of the 2nd round its a huge gamble and the number are not on your side.

This plan I would not recommend.

What would you recommend?

 

[Risen Star]

But here's the thing. They don't know personnel. They don't know what a good football team looks like. So I'm not so sure it's just about being in denial and not accepting reality. They just don't know what they're doing.

A wise man once said GMs don't matter, they just have to listen. That wise man was an idiot.

 

[superonyx]

What would you recommend?

Using draft picks to fill existing holes not newly created talent holes.
Not eating a ton of dead cap money and instead using cap space you create for younger players not demanding to be overpaid in free agency. Stay away from the old men who are just hanging around for another year to get paid off what they used to be.

Oh also not keeping a washed up DC who had the worst defense in the NFL all 3 of his final seasons coaching.

 

[glimmerman]

Luckily we have ALOT of draft picks this year. Start there. We need Defense and if there is a stud swing tackle earlier. The. Take him. Hope for some of our young O-Line develop. Defense needs to play the young and see what we have and get a dang safety.

 

[Bobhaze]

But here's the thing. They don't know personnel. They don't know what a good football team looks like. So I'm not so sure it's just about being in denial and not accepting reality. They just don't know what they're doing.

A wise man once said GMs don't matter, they just have to listen. That wise man was an idiot.

I probably should have prefaced this by saying nothing gets better until the Al Davis wanna be exits the football side of operations. I fear we are going to start seeing Jerry in silver and blue track suits, with his family secretly saying he has bad body odor and bandaids on his face from the skin cancer.

 

[ClappingCarrot]

What is especially pathetic is these same realities have been regurgitated on this forum for years. Literally, years. If Joe Schmo understands that this team isn't going anywhere, how come the people that get paid handsomely to make the decisions don't?

Teams like the 49ers give me hope that this can get turned around quickly, but Lynch/Shanahan are far superior to Jerry and Fat Mike.

 

[MikeB80]

A front office worth anything would have recognized that the team as it was constructed in 2018 went as far as it could. When they walked off the field at the colliseum after losing to the rams in in the divisional round that year it was obvious.

At that moment it was time to shake everyone's hands and get a whole new coaching staff and remove the expensive veterans and begin a new.

They didn't because they are know nothings always chasing it. They put Garrett in charge as a lame duck and fired his offensive staff. It compounded the issue putting moore in as the OC.

Now we are two years behind where the organization should be and we all know they are going to double down yet again and pay Dak and create a whole new issue on top of everything else.

The realization that they probably do not have a very good coaching staff or that what they want to do is not working at the very least is another set of problems.

The we are so talented and have all these draft picks and the east sucks anyway train gets on the tracks in March.

 

[RS12]

I probably should have prefaced this by saying nothing gets better until the Al Davis wanna be exits the football side of operations. I fear we are going to start seeing Jerry in silver and blue track suits, with his family secretly saying he has bad body odor and bandaids on his face from the skin cancer.

Yeah the 25 year window doesn't look any better.

 

[Bobhaze]

A front office worth anything would have recognized that the team as it was constructed in 2018 went as far as it could. When they walked off the field at the colliseum after losing to the rams in in the divisional round that year it was obvious.

At that moment it was time to shake everyone's hands and get a whole new coaching staff and remove the expensive veterans and begin a new.

They didn't because they are know nothings always chasing it. They put Garrett in charge as a lame duck and fired his offensive staff. It compounded the issue putting moore in as the OC.

Now we are two years behind where the organization should be and we all know they are going to double down yet again and pay Dak and create a whole new issue on top of everything else.

The realization that they probably do not have a very good coaching staff or that what they want to do is not working at the very least is another set of problems.

The we are so talented and have all these draft picks and the east sucks anyway train gets on the tracks in March.

Excellent post. Well said.

 

[dckid]

At the beginning of the 2019 season last September, our Cowboys started the year by beating three cupcakes- the giants, dolphins and deadskins. The offense was firing on all cylinders and even the defense seemed capable of holding its opponents at bay similar to the 2018 and 2016 seasons.

Since that 3-0 start last year, the Cowboys have played 20 regular season games, winning...wait for it...7 games. Let that wash over you. Since last October, the Cowboys are 7-13.

Here’s my point: Last year’s team tried to tell us it was on the decline. And the Jones front office did very little to address that decline. When you honestly assess the talent on this team without rose colored glasses, this team is just not nearly as talented as we wanted to believe. The first step in getting better is to accept reality- this team is talent starved at multiple positions.

So what should a team’s front office do when a team is clearly in decline? Here are a few steps I believe we should take:

• Wake up and realize this team has some declining players we assumed could still play that either can’t or have stayed injured, or have declined so much they are weighing down the rebuild.
  
• I would get aggressive and make some bold moves with this roster. Like trading assets for draft picks.
  • For example- I love Michael Gallup- but we could get something for him in a trade. He would be attractive in a trade for a contender.
• Here are some veterans whose days should be winding down if not over:
  • Tyron Smith, Sean Lee, Tyrone Crawford, Dontari Poe (I would cut immediately) and maybe others. Maybe LP Ladaceur, who is the highest paid deep snapper in the league on a team going nowhere. Maybe even Zeke and Jaylon Smith need to go too. Sure the dead money would stink, but we would replace them with young, cheap draft picks.
• Let’s be honest- Mike McCarthy was hired to win now. He’s not a rebuild HC. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if I was GM, I would fire MM at end of the season and hire an aggressive, hard ace HC similar to Jimmy that can change this lazy, loser culture.

Bottom line: This is now a rebuild. And an effective rebuild starts with accepting the fact that this team is not going to get better without accepting reality. And in reality, this is not a very talented roster. Changing that requires understanding we aren’t going to be good again for at least another 2 years.

Agree agree agree.
We should have traded Gallup when all hope wasn't lost. I think someone like the Raiders would be a good trade partner. Now the Vultures are circling. I would even take a 2nd for him. I wonder if Philly would give up a 1st for him?
I would take the best offer within the division... who cares? This is business, look for the best offer..
I agree with cutting Sean Lee, Crawford, Poe immediately. Those guys are progress stoppers
You didn't mention my most important move.. Let Dak walk next year. period full stop. He will find a better home somewhere else. Better for him, better for us. We got a 5 years starter paying him very little from 2016 through 2020.
Look for the next young guy in the draft.

 

[Diehardblues]

But a good segment of fans blamed our coaching for not having as much success as expected in 2019. And hence a change was made. Which led to expectations being raised again this year.

Both years these weren’t expectations led by just our idiotic ownership but from fans and parts of the media. We have pages and pages of forums here to support.

Don’t blame this all on our ownership. The fans are as much to blame as well touting how talented this roster was.

 

[Cowboysheelsreds053]

But here's the thing. They don't know personnel. They don't know what a good football team looks like. So I'm not so sure it's just about being in denial and not accepting reality. They just don't know what they're doing.

A wise man once said GMs don't matter, they just have to listen. That wise man was an idiot.

LLLOOLLL, this. Don't tell me that was old jerrah.

 

[Sydla]

The problem is Jerry and Stephen prioritize wrong positions and players. Signing Crawford and Smith “early” to try to get them under contract before they exploded as players and became really expensive was stupid.

Paying a large contract to a TB was stupid.

Ignoring the S position for years and years thinking you could put slop there and win was stupid.

Believing Marinelli could turn any warm body into competent DTs was stupid.

 

[Diehardblues]

A front office worth anything would have recognized that the team as it was constructed in 2018 went as far as it could. When they walked off the field at the colliseum after losing to the rams in in the divisional round that year it was obvious.

At that moment it was time to shake everyone's hands and get a whole new coaching staff and remove the expensive veterans and begin a new.

They didn't because they are know nothings always chasing it. They put Garrett in charge as a lame duck and fired his offensive staff. It compounded the issue putting moore in as the OC.

Now we are two years behind where the organization should be and we all know they are going to double down yet again and pay Dak and create a whole new issue on top of everything else.

The realization that they probably do not have a very good coaching staff or that what they want to do is not working at the very least is another set of problems.

The we are so talented and have all these draft picks and the east sucks anyway train gets on the tracks in March.

Yep

And there were some of us who argued we weren’t under achieving . But I’d say the greater majority of fans on this forum felt this team was under achieving with the talent and roster we had.

So, while our front office should be able to recognize we have a fan base who either follows our front office or don’t have a clue either.

 

[PAPPYDOG]

At the beginning of the 2019 season last September, our Cowboys started the year by beating three cupcakes- the giants, dolphins and deadskins. The offense was firing on all cylinders and even the defense seemed capable of holding its opponents at bay similar to the 2018 and 2016 seasons.

Since that 3-0 start last year, the Cowboys have played 20 regular season games, winning...wait for it...7 games. Let that wash over you. Since last October, the Cowboys are 7-13.

Here’s my point: Last year’s team tried to tell us it was on the decline. And the Jones front office did very little to address that decline. When you honestly assess the talent on this team without rose colored glasses, this team is just not nearly as talented as we wanted to believe. The first step in getting better is to accept reality- this team is talent starved at multiple positions.

So what should a team’s front office do when a team is clearly in decline? Here are a few steps I believe we should take:

• Wake up and realize this team has some declining players we assumed could still play that either can’t or have stayed injured, or have declined so much they are weighing down the rebuild.
  
• I would get aggressive and make some bold moves with this roster. Like trading assets for draft picks.
  • For example- I love Michael Gallup- but we could get something for him in a trade. He would be attractive in a trade for a contender.
• Here are some veterans whose days should be winding down if not over:
  • Tyron Smith, Sean Lee, Tyrone Crawford, Dontari Poe (I would cut immediately) and maybe others. Maybe LP Ladaceur, who is the highest paid deep snapper in the league on a team going nowhere. Maybe even Zeke and Jaylon Smith need to go too. Sure the dead money would stink, but we would replace them with young, cheap draft picks.
• Let’s be honest- Mike McCarthy was hired to win now. He’s not a rebuild HC. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if I was GM, I would fire MM at end of the season and hire an aggressive, hard ace HC similar to Jimmy that can change this lazy, loser culture.

Bottom line: This is now a rebuild. And an effective rebuild starts with accepting the fact that this team is not going to get better without accepting reality. And in reality, this is not a very talented roster. Changing that requires understanding we aren’t going to be good again for at least another 2 years.

Since last October, the Cowboys are 7-13.Unquote

But but but we have the Great Dak leading how can the above be true??
Is Jerry and the Dak-Trolls selling me another seaside property on Mt.Everst?

 

[JW82]

I think 2 years is reasonable. Overlooking needs like a real replacement for Tyron is now biting them in the butt. It seems to be a common mistake of over evaluating their talent and thinking they can play forever.

At the beginning of the 2019 season last September, our Cowboys started the year by beating three cupcakes- the giants, dolphins and deadskins. The offense was firing on all cylinders and even the defense seemed capable of holding its opponents at bay similar to the 2018 and 2016 seasons.

Since that 3-0 start last year, the Cowboys have played 20 regular season games, winning...wait for it...7 games. Let that wash over you. Since last October, the Cowboys are 7-13.

Here’s my point: Last year’s team tried to tell us it was on the decline. And the Jones front office did very little to address that decline. When you honestly assess the talent on this team without rose colored glasses, this team is just not nearly as talented as we wanted to believe. The first step in getting better is to accept reality- this team is talent starved at multiple positions.

So what should a team’s front office do when a team is clearly in decline? Here are a few steps I believe we should take:

• Wake up and realize this team has some declining players we assumed could still play that either can’t or have stayed injured, or have declined so much they are weighing down the rebuild.
  
• I would get aggressive and make some bold moves with this roster. Like trading assets for draft picks.
  • For example- I love Michael Gallup- but we could get something for him in a trade. He would be attractive in a trade for a contender.
• Here are some veterans whose days should be winding down if not over:
  • Tyron Smith, Sean Lee, Tyrone Crawford, Dontari Poe (I would cut immediately) and maybe others. Maybe LP Ladaceur, who is the highest paid deep snapper in the league on a team going nowhere. Maybe even Zeke and Jaylon Smith need to go too. Sure the dead money would stink, but we would replace them with young, cheap draft picks.
• Let’s be honest- Mike McCarthy was hired to win now. He’s not a rebuild HC. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if I was GM, I would fire MM at end of the season and hire an aggressive, hard ace HC similar to Jimmy that can change this lazy, loser culture.

Bottom line: This is now a rebuild. And an effective rebuild starts with accepting the fact that this team is not going to get better without accepting reality. And in reality, this is not a very talented roster. Changing that requires understanding we aren’t going to be good again for at least another 2 years.

 

[rnr_honeybadger]

What is especially pathetic is these same realities have been regurgitated on this forum for years. Literally, years. If Joe Schmo understands that this team isn't going anywhere, how come the people that get paid handsomely to make the decisions don't?

Teams like the 49ers give me hope that this can get turned around quickly, but Lynch/Shanahan are far superior to Jerry and Fat Mike.

Again why blame McCarthy when this team has been garbage for two decades?

 

[Typhus]

Luckily we have ALOT of draft picks this year. Start there. We need Defense and if there is a stud swing tackle earlier. The. Take him. Hope for some of our young O-Line develop. Defense needs to play the young and see what we have and get a dang safety.

What,, and no..
Your still in the mindset of playing clean up duty for a decent roster,,,
What Cowboys nation does not want to admit just yet..
1 Starting LT - will require high first round pick, and development
2 Everything else that has been neglected and miss managed for decades it seems now.
Just seems so pointless to keep banging heads on this very basic premise...
MUST HAVE THE PROPER BUILD MODEL AS YOUR BASE ORIGIN !
Such a simple concept in todays NFL, but such a difficult concept for this antiquated Jerry Jones owned and spawned FO and this uneducated fan base to understand and demand!!

cLEVELAND DID IT