Overcoming the “Excuse Culture”

[charron]

You mean being accountable. It starts at the top with the owner.

 

[Ozone22]

I agree that Parsons has that special “it factor” that can make a difference in the culture. But I also think there are other guys too.

The X factor for this culture is McCarthy. To me the HC sets the tone for the team. If he’s setting the proper tone for culture, the team can line up behind that. It remains to be seen if Big Mac has that capability or if the Jones family micromanagement torpedoes everything in the end. I guess we will find out.

I agree with what you said. It made me think of all the great players that had strong HC, that set the tone for a strong culture for the team.
Lawrence Taylor had Bill Parcells, Michael Irvin had Jimmy Johnson, and Tom Brady had Bill Belichick. It will take a strong HC and a player to change what has been going on for way too long at the Big Star.

 

[Bobhaze]

Need an old school coach?? how bout old school players? Those days are GONE. Bill Parcells style, Jimmy Johnsons style wouldnt fly with today's players, or todays SOCIETY.

College players that get pushed at all leave the school. Or worse yet, those players go complain to their student advocate that they are being abused by the coach, and investigation is opened and the coach is fired.

stop longing for the days of old.... as one Rick Petino once said, "Larry Bird is not walking through that door." For you youngens... look it up.

Reid I think this is a valid point. Players are different and would probably not do well with a Vince Lombardi type or maybe even Jimmy. But that’s not to say you can’t have a coach who holds players accountable. It’s the WAY they’re held accountable that’s different than the old days.

There are successful coaches today of multiple sports who can create a tough culture. Look at Nick Saban at Alabama. Bill Belechick of course. Bruce Arians of TB is known as a guy who can crack the whip. Greg Popovich of the Spurs. Chris Beard who coached Texas Tech basketball to a Final Four in 2019 (now at Texas) is a great recruiter but also known as a guy who coaches kids to be tough. The list could go on.

You’re right brother- the Bobby Knight type guys wouldn’t cut it today. But you can have a tough culture today and win.

 

[Reid1boys]

Reid I think this is a valid point. Players are different and would probably not do well with a Vince Lombardi type or maybe even Jimmy. But that’s not to say you can’t have a coach who holds players accountable. It’s the WAY they’re held accountable that’s different than the old days.

There are successful coaches today of multiple sports who can create a tough culture. Look at Nick Saban at Alabama. Bill Belechick of course. Bruce Arians of TB is known as a guy who can crack the whip. Greg Popovich of the Spurs. Chris Beard who coached Texas Tech basketball to a Final Four in 2019 (now at Texas) is a great recruiter but also known as a guy who coaches kids to be tough. The list could go on.

You’re right brother- the Bobby Knight type guys wouldn’t cut it today. But you can have a tough culture today and win.

Arians is the poster child for laid back with players.
JImmy once said if emmitt fell asleep at a team meeting, he would stand up and yell out to the team... "NAP TIME EVERYONE."

 

[Reid1boys]

You mean being accountable. It starts at the top with the owner.

what exactly does accountable mean? If Im dak and I make 6 horrible passes to open receivers in a game. How do you hold a QB "Accountable," for bad throws? Bench him? Is that how you hold players accountable in sports?

 

[john van brocklin]

The success of this year’s Cowboys team once again hangs in the balance. Will they be mentally tough enough to overcome their soft culture?

This is the ultimate challenge every year for this franchise- can the team overcome the built in softness and excuses that the Jones Family have made for their own ineptness?

What do I mean by that? When the owner and GM allows himself and his kids to remain in total control of football operations with the exact same level of power and involvement after a quarter century of mediocrity, it’s one big soft excuse that’s just baked into the culture here. They never hold themselves accountable for failure to win like 30 other NFL franchises do.

So….The only way out of it is for our players and coaches to rise above the owner and his family to excel. It’s a tough thing to do when those at the top are themselves living one big excuse after another without even an ounce of personal accountability for their own mistakes. Jerry’s a great businessman and entrepreneur. Hall of fame great. But his football management skills speak for themselves the last 25 years.

This team must find a way to overcome this soft “Jones culture” or history will repeat itself again. I believe this team can do it. But only time will tell.

Wow Bob!!!!!!!

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

If the "excuse" in the "excuse culture" is that we have too many injuries in key positions then that is a legit excuse. This team is as good as any when we have our guys. They are getting healthy and will be back. So I know this team will be okay. Meanwhile, so many others are in panic mode because this is what they do. They think this is what Cowboys fans are supposed to do because it's all they have ever known. Just chill people. Our guys are getting healthy and will be back and the team will be unbeatable again.

As a young fan, I seriously hope we get them back ASAP.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

Meh, they been sayin that for YEARS but Tom Coughlin won 2 Super Bowls...

Mind you its not about yelling and having the guys run laps like Judge in NY...its about building football players and have them play beyond themselves.

Now yes there are more than one way to skin a cat, like having a great X and O guy but in our case with Jerry and his "everyone is a superstar" ways imo we need a strong hand.

Oh and BTW Bill Belichick says hello.

I wonder if Coughing still wants to coach.

 

[CATCH17]

I don’t disagree with your points here about the OL, scheme, etc. But it’s more than that. There’s something deeply embedded in this culture that short circuits itself when the adversity hits. This team has been soft for too long. Not too late to turn it around but NOW is the time.

My opinion.. There is football adhd around here. We start having success and players just get bored and then a loss happens and it ends up compounding.

It’s hard to play physical football for 17 weeks and I think we just get caught up and all the glitz and glamour finesse passing game and then when the wheels start falling off we’re all just like how did this happen.

I hate to point to the 90s and make comparisons but the Dallas Cowboys will always be about their offensive line. It’s just what we do. If we can’t dominate with our oline and impose our will then the whole thing won’t work.

All these troubles and shortcoming this team has. Turn around, hand the ball off, and run through adversity. We’re not going to throw are way through it.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

My opinion.. There is football adhd around here. We start having success and players just get bored and then a loss happens and it ends up compounding.

It’s hard to play physical football for 17 weeks and I think we just get caught up and all the glitz and glamour finesse passing game and then when the wheels start falling off we’re all just like how did this happen.

I hate to point to the 90s and make comparisons but the Dallas Cowboys will always be about their offensive line. It’s just what we do. If we can’t dominate with our oline and impose our will then the whole thing won’t work.

All these troubles and shortcoming this team has. Turn around, hand the ball off, and run through adversity. We’re not going to throw are way through it.

Partly because our owner who plays GM doesn't know how to change the team to fit today's NFL. Someone needs to get in a DeLorian and tell Jimmy Johnson to teach Jerry the current NFL in the 90s.

 

[Clove]

You mean, can we win with Basham and Golston at ends, with Wilson and Noah at receiver, no head coach, no assistant coaches but a few? We’ll see

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

Thats why I've been saying for YEARS - we need that counter-weight at the Head coaching position - need a strong old school type.
The team is weak minded and its been shown to us for many many seasons.

Whats the one thing that the 3 "best" coaches of this franchise (Landry-Jimmy-Bill) have in common...

It's bled down to fans.
When you think we actually have a bandwagon this year.....you bought hook line and sinker an excuse culture. When there is a thread to talk about dak.....and you make people list all the faults of the rest of the team before proceeding....you have bought into excuse culture.

 

[SteveTheCowboy]

You mean, can we win with Basham and Golston at ends, with Wilson and Noah at receiver, no head coach, no assistant coaches but a few? We’ll see

Same old same old.

 

[Vanilla2]

There’s a part of me that says they can turn this around. They still have it all in front of them. The losses have hurt but it’s all right there for them. The other part of me has been jaded by this team and expects them to keep floundering to a 500ish finish. My gut says they lose on Thursday and come out on fire against the skids after 10 days of hearing about the great team they are turning into and then after that it’s all about consistency. I’m probably wrong though.

 

[Floatyworm]

I don’t disagree with your points here about the OL, scheme, etc. But it’s more than that. There’s something deeply embedded in this culture that short circuits itself when the adversity hits. This team has been soft for too long. Not too late to turn it around but NOW is the time.

Goodell became commishner in 2006...think there is a correlation...

 

[ArbynTX]

That's what I've been saying. The excuse culture on the boards is huge. I doubt that's the case in the locker room though. They know they'll have to overcome ref decisions one way or the other. Primary goal should be getting the run game back to that 6-1 level and the o line has to give Dak a little bit more time.

Edit: I do see a little problem with our remaining schedule though. Even if we do win most of those games we have proven nothing. Come play off time and teams like GB or TB knockin on the door (or we have to knock on theirs) hopefully our kinda weak schedule hasn't hurt their self awareness. We have to beat the Cardinals no matter what.

Agreed. Except the Cardinals, all other teams are below .500 so not sure what kind of statement we make winning. We’ll go into the playoffs with an impressive record but, as they say, ‘looked good on paper’.

 

[Bobhaze]

The Joneses haven't failed. They've built the most valuable sports entertainment franchise on the planet for around 5 years running. That's winning. They're businessmen. Not football players. Your purposes as a fan are not theirs as businessmen.

Remember Proximo in Gladiator?
"But as for me? I am an entertainer."

That's Jerry. That's the Joneses. They are professional entertainers. They're the best in sports entertainment. They're winning. If you want to psychoanalyze them, you need to start with that reality.

Why should fans care about anything besides winning actual games? I could not care any less how financially successful the Jones empire has been. I don’t need to psycho-analyze them to read the score at the end of a game. The only thing the Jones have been winning the last quarter of a century is for themselves.

 

[Alexander]

This x 1000! The reason Jimmy was so good here was he was the exact opposite of Jerry and brought a toughness that balanced this organization. Since Jimmy left, Jerry has always like having coaches that didn’t threaten him.

Coach Johnson is about as dead as Napoleon.

 

[Alexander]

Why should fans care about anything besides winning actual games? I could not care any less how financially successful the Jones empire has been. I don’t need to psycho-analyze them to read the score at the end of a game. The only thing the Jones have been winning the last quarter of a century is for themselves.

There has been a quarter century of idiocy from the most well-heeled franchise in the NFL.

That said, turn in your fan card and git out.

 

[Aven8]

I don’t disagree with your points here about the OL, scheme, etc. But it’s more than that. There’s something deeply embedded in this culture that short circuits itself when the adversity hits. This team has been soft for too long. Not too late to turn it around but NOW is the time.

We’re talking about a team that practices indoors when it’s sprinkling or over 87 for crying out loud…….