Is a culture of accountability that hard?

[Red Dragon]

For many years now, Cowboys fans have sung the same refrain of complaint: Jerry is ruining the team, the players are not accountable, there's no discipline, if only Jimmy were still here, etc.

The confusing thing is - none of this accountability part sounds hard at all. It sounds like Management 101 stuff.

If a player keeps playing badly, cut or demote him.

If a player has bad off the field issues, cut him.

Keep churning the bottom of the roster; someone who's undrafted or a 7th-rounder may still be a diamond in the rough, like Romo.

Don't insist on starting someone just because he's a first rounder or paid a lot.

Structure all contracts to the benefit of the team, not the player.

Reward the lunch pail, blue collar type of guy. Draft and sign those guys.

Ditch the prima donna guys.

All of this is stuff that any business undergrad student or casual Zoner on this board could come up with. Is it so hard that an NFL head coach - one of only 32 in the whole nation - can't?

 

[john van brocklin]

For many years now, Cowboys fans have sung the same refrain of complaint: Jerry is ruining the team, the players are not accountable, there's no discipline, if only Jimmy were still here, etc.

The confusing thing is - none of this accountability part sounds hard at all. It sounds like Management 101 stuff.

If a player keeps playing badly, cut or demote him.

If a player has bad off the field issues, cut him.

Keep churning the bottom of the roster; someone who's undrafted or a 7th-rounder may still be a diamond in the rough, like Romo.

Don't insist on starting someone just because he's a first rounder or paid a lot.

Structure all contracts to the benefit of the team, not the player.

Reward the lunch pail, blue collar type of guy. Draft and sign those guys.

Ditch the prima donna guys.

All of this is stuff that any business undergrad student or casual Zoner on this board could come up with. Is it so hard that an NFL head coach - one of only 32 in the whole nation - can't?

Evidently it's very difficult for the current front office

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

For many years now, Cowboys fans have sung the same refrain of complaint: Jerry is ruining the team, the players are not accountable, there's no discipline, if only Jimmy were still here, etc.

The confusing thing is - none of this accountability part sounds hard at all. It sounds like Management 101 stuff.

If a player keeps playing badly, cut or demote him.

If a player has bad off the field issues, cut him.

Keep churning the bottom of the roster; someone who's undrafted or a 7th-rounder may still be a diamond in the rough, like Romo.

Don't insist on starting someone just because he's a first rounder or paid a lot.

Structure all contracts to the benefit of the team, not the player.

Reward the lunch pail, blue collar type of guy. Draft and sign those guys.

Ditch the prima donna guys.

All of this is stuff that any business undergrad student or casual Zoner on this board could come up with. Is it so hard that an NFL head coach - one of only 32 in the whole nation - can't?

Exactly, old fellow.

Compare a Garrett, Wade or Fat Mac to a Jimmy, Belichick or Lombardi.

Players have to respect and fear the coach.

Accountability, me lad!

I like the lunch pail players, but they are blander than me posters here.

 

[cowboyed]

It's not like the players don't try. There is not enough overall team talent yet at pivotal positions that we can play more consistently to be genuinely post season caliber. The best teams clean our clock. Of course we look for other reasons like hateful refs, lack of accountability, as if we were convinced we have enough talent. We don't have enough quality depth! Better teams force the opposition to make penalties and play undisciplined and that is so evident particularly on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

 

[Blackrain]

For many years now, Cowboys fans have sung the same refrain of complaint: Jerry is ruining the team, the players are not accountable, there's no discipline, if only Jimmy were still here, etc.

The confusing thing is - none of this accountability part sounds hard at all. It sounds like Management 101 stuff.

If a player keeps playing badly, cut or demote him.

If a player has bad off the field issues, cut him.

Keep churning the bottom of the roster; someone who's undrafted or a 7th-rounder may still be a diamond in the rough, like Romo.

Don't insist on starting someone just because he's a first rounder or paid a lot.

Structure all contracts to the benefit of the team, not the player.

Reward the lunch pail, blue collar type of guy. Draft and sign those guys.

Ditch the prima donna guys.

All of this is stuff that any business undergrad student or casual Zoner on this board could come up with. Is it so hard that an NFL head coach - one of only 32 in the whole nation - can't?

This is beyond the head coach this is a culture that has been instilled by the owner.
It's an attitude that tolerates losing as long as the franchise is making money.

Players start out here and show incredible upside work tremendously hard till Jerry pays them a king's ransom.

Once they are making 20 million a year over a million dollars a game it makes no sense to them to sacrifice their bodies or risk their careers to get to a game being the super bowl that pays them $150,000

So they start to make business decisions
This is what we have on the team now businessmen .Being football players is secondary.

Don't get me wrong we still have some football players Micah Parsons, Trayvon Diggs, Cedric Wilson, Schultz .
They are all fun to watch and playing hard but wait till they get paid like Dak, Tank and Cooper ,Jaylon Smith.

This all starts with the owner when he puts his ego and comfort on the back burner and makes winning at all cost a priority by hiring the absolute best in the business at every management position then and only then will we move ahead and the frustration will cease.

 

[Whirlwin]

Exactly, old fellow.

Compare a Garrett, Wade or Fat Mac to a Jimmy, Belichick or Lombardi.

Players have to respect and fear the coach.

Accountability, me lad!

I like the lunch pail players, but they are blander than me posters here.

Give me the lunchpail football player any day of the week. I agree you can keep your high price prima donnas . It’s the coaches that need accountability, not the players. It starts at the top

 

[MyFairLady]

It sounds simple but is very hard when you are emotional old senile drunk.

 

[willia451]

Since SB 30 the Cowboys have virtually zero playoff success to speak of. Yet every year, year over year, they pull in a King's Ransom.

The problem is much deeper than just what is sitting within the confines of the franchise itself.

Look at it this way. If you have a big fat rat. And no matter what that big fat rat does, he gets a nice food reward, where is the incentive for the rat to change its behavior? No. The rat will just keep doing what it wants and getting fatter and fatter from the larger and larger food reward thinking things are great.

That's the Cowboys in a nutshell.

 

[plymkr]

This is beyond the head coach this is a culture that has been instilled by the owner.
It's an attitude that tolerates losing as long as the franchise is making money.

Players start out here and show incredible upside work tremendously hard till Jerry pays them a king's ransom.

Once they are making 20 million a year over a million dollars a game it makes no sense to them to sacrifice their bodies or risk their careers to get to a game being the super bowl that pays them $150,000

So they start to make business decisions
This is what we have on the team now businessmen .Being football players is secondary.

Don't get me wrong we still have some football players Micah Parsons, Trayvon Diggs, Cedric Wilson, Schultz .
They are all fun to watch and playing hard but wait till they get paid like Dak, Tank and Cooper ,Jaylon Smith.

This all starts with the owner when he puts his ego and comfort on the back burner and makes winning at all cost a priority by hiring the absolute best in the business at every management position then and only then will we move ahead and the frustration will cease.

Definitely instilled by the owner. There a story that has stuck with me for decades. In 94 or 95, I believe 94 Irvin took a bunch of players out partying in training camp. They came to practice still drunk and hungover. Aikman was mad and told Switzer to run them till they threw up. Switzer said no and about 15 minutes into the practice Switzer blew his whistle and ended practice telling the guys they weren't into it. It's on a Football Life with Aikman if you want the source material of what I'm talking about.

But at that moment the Dallas Cowboys died. At that moment partying and being a "Cowboy" was enough. I blame Jerry because Jerry the owner and Jerry the GM should not have allowed practice to be canceled because the guys were hungover or tired. They don't get paid to party they get paid to play and if I'm the guy writing million dollar checks and my employees don't do their part then it's my fault for allowing that. Jerry stubbornly refuses to make the coaches and players uncomfortable because he narcissisticly wants to be loved by everyone. A good GM and owner would want his millions to be used correctly. Jerry is fine throwing money away to unmotivated players. JMO but that's why we suck and have sucked since Jimmy's team aged out or retired.

 

[ClappingCarrot]

A boob like McCarthy cannot fix an organization so diseased because he's not the guy in charge.

Fear of losing your job is the ultimate motivator in virtually any profession, and when your employees have a direct line of communication to the CEO, it enables a toxic, entitled atmosphere.

Jaylon Smith used to hold business meetings in company facilities on company time, and Jerry even briefly had his crappy sunglasses he was selling in the Cowboys Pro Shop. That should tell you everything that you need to know.

 

[acr731]

For many years now, Cowboys fans have sung the same refrain of complaint: Jerry is ruining the team, the players are not accountable, there's no discipline, if only Jimmy were still here, etc.

The confusing thing is - none of this accountability part sounds hard at all. It sounds like Management 101 stuff.

If a player keeps playing badly, cut or demote him.

If a player has bad off the field issues, cut him.

Keep churning the bottom of the roster; someone who's undrafted or a 7th-rounder may still be a diamond in the rough, like Romo.

Don't insist on starting someone just because he's a first rounder or paid a lot.

Structure all contracts to the benefit of the team, not the player.

Reward the lunch pail, blue collar type of guy. Draft and sign those guys.

Ditch the prima donna guys.

All of this is stuff that any business undergrad student or casual Zoner on this board could come up with. Is it so hard that an NFL head coach - one of only 32 in the whole nation - can't?

If the franchise was truly invested in either winning or competing for championships, accountability would be more of a priority. There's no accountability within the organization, so what does that tell everyone?

 

[fivetwos]

Jerry Jones, although he doesn't realize it, is going to pay the ultimate price for his stubbornness.

He will never sniff another championship and all he will be remembered for is the guy who couldn't win 'his way.'

I'm actually not even sure if it's about that for him anymore. He just wants to a be a celebrity.

 

[MyFairLady]

I watched Jaylon tear this team down from the inside with the full support of Jerry. The situation is pretty hopeless indeed.

 

[John813]

Wasn't there a rumor that Jaylon Smith used the Star to conduct business meetings during the season after he got paid?

 

[Blackrain]

Definitely instilled by the owner. There a story that has stuck with me for decades. In 94 or 95, I believe 94 Irvin took a bunch of players out partying in training camp. They came to practice still drunk and hungover. Aikman was mad and told Switzer to run them till they threw up. Switzer said no and about 15 minutes into the practice Switzer blew his whistle and ended practice telling the guys they weren't into it. It's on a Football Life with Aikman if you want the source material of what I'm talking about.

But at that moment the Dallas Cowboys died. At that moment partying and being a "Cowboy" was enough. I blame Jerry because Jerry the owner and Jerry the GM should not have allowed practice to be canceled because the guys were hungover or tired. They don't get paid to party they get paid to play and if I'm the guy writing million dollar checks and my employees don't do their part then it's my fault for allowing that. Jerry stubbornly refuses to make the coaches and players uncomfortable because he narcissisticly wants to be loved by everyone. A good GM and owner would want his millions to be used correctly. Jerry is fine throwing money away to unmotivated players. JMO but that's why we suck and have sucked since Jimmy's team aged out or retired.

Great post brother and all true.

I am truly convinced that it takes a special kind of person to want to go the extra mile and win games that yield you 150k when you are making over a million a game in the regular season.

As far as Jerry goes he's so used to getting his own way and having every single thing exactly the way he wants it to his comfort level that he refuses to settle for anything less in that area.

He has so much money that nothing hurts him or inconveniences him enough to make him want to change his policies to a win at all cost attitude.

Plus nobody around him is going to jeopardize their paycheck by telling him he's doing things wrong.

 

[Blackrain]

It's almost like with the culture on this team we need as many players as we possibly can on their rookie contracts.

Unfortunately that only gives you a 4-year window. Imagine the amount of draft picks we could have gotten for Dak Zeke and tank if we traded them before their rookie contracts were up.

As horrible as this sounds we should probably trade Micah Parsons and Trayvon Diggs before we have to pay them and they turn into Zeke tank and Jalen.

With this culture it seems like you have to have every player playing for a contract it's the only way to get maximum output from them.

It seems to be a proven fact at this point as soon as Jerry pays them their play changes and regresses am I missing something or does anybody get appreciably better after Jerry pays them.

I really like tyron's angle he just gives himself a raise by missing three or four games every year it keeps the wear and tear down.

 

[Blackrain]

You watch your team like the 49ers while they were playing Green Bay.

I don't know who got those guys to buy in like that but they were taking a beating and still dragging themselves back out on that frozen field Samuel and Trent Williams limping beat up but not an ounce of give up in those guys.

I'm honestly glad we didn't have to go up there cuz this team just doesn't have the test tackles to play in that kind of environment.

This culture just does not breed a hard enough team to be able to compete in the playoffs

 

[AmericasTeam81]

As always, it starts at the top

 

[Bobhaze]

Organizational Health 101- If there is no accountability at the top of an organization, there can be no accountability anywhere in the organization.

The fact that mid level people are the only ones to get fired and the HC here does not have full control of discipline or the locker room- maybe even game plans- makes for a cancerous culture. The players know they report to Jerry, not the HC.

 

[Reality]

Organizational Health 101- If there is no accountability at the top of an organization, there can be no accountability anywhere in the organization.

The fact that mid level people are the only ones to get fired and the HC here does not have full control of discipline or the locker room- maybe even game plans- makes for a cancerous culture. The players know they report to Jerry, not the HC.

I remember when Bill Parcells came in and removed the star logo from the helmets of rookies and thinking it was rather silly.

Now I wish they would do that for every player on the team at the start of training camp and only the players who earn (by their play, not their contract) their way on the roster get it back.