News: Spun: Troy Aikman Identifies Simple Reason Cowboys Have Struggled In Postseason

[Rockport]

Get back to drinking, I have better things to do than argue with a pig because we both get dirty but the pig likes it!

Schooled you

 

[5Stars]

Schooled you

You know I like you as a Cowboy fan...we get to mess with each other but it does not mean a thing. My schooling days are never over, hound dog.

 

[Hadenough]

Poor situational football to Aikman is they haven't played thier best football. Well uhhh yeahhh! Let's just rephrase that into DAK has crapped the bed and rolled in it.

 

[RobZ]

Hey, Troy, how did you and your team fare in the playoffs in '91, '94, '96, '98 and '99?

What happened then?

Trenches

 

[T-RO]

Poor situational football to Aikman is they haven't played thier best football.

Troy didn't say that. Troy never said, "situational football." The person who wrote the article did.

Troy really didn't identify any specific reason. Not one. He just said they haven't played as well in the playoffs.

 

[Captain-Crash]

is that like not knowing the rules of the game and inciting the fans to throw stuff at the refs or is it like throw game losing int's to exit the playoffs?

 

[cristglo]

It's been poor situational football.,,,,,,,, That is coaches, HC, culture, attitude,desire. work ethics.

One thing I see every season with cowboys, is they beat some avg to below avg team, and look good doing it, and they
act like they just won the SB ! lol excessive celebrations, and then few weeks later run into a better and tougher team, and they
cant handle it..

I kind of feel the opposite they get up for a game like Tampa play lights out then next week look like a deer in headlights.

 

[DandyDon52]

Give us aikmans oline and emmitt over the horrid zeke and we win the SB

possibly but coaching has been lackluster with cowboys for a long time.

 

[TexasHillbilly]

AC your not expecting him to answer you are you ??
It is pretty simple though, 91 werent not a SB team yet
98 99 were post SB team , they were no longer capable.

94 should have won, but Switzter was HC no proper leadership.
96 Dont remember, but probably not good enough at that point.

Wasn't 94 the year SF got up 21-0 in the first quarter because we kept fumbling the ball? You can't get down 21 zip against a really good team and expect to win. We could never catch up after that.

 

[JayFord]

Situational football drives me up a wall

its literally common football sense......idk how many times over the years we wouldnt attack an opponents weakness

and then get cute at the goal line by going shotgun 3 times in a row

situational awareness has been the death of this team since 2007

 

[Diehardblues]

In other words he’s saying we have choked on the bigger stages .

If you don’t play your best football in the biggest games then unless you aren’t playing similar talented teams , it’s not going to go well.

Thanks Troy for clearing this up. lol

I don’t necessarily agree with all of this as in some playoff games felt like our opponent was better but he is right in that we haven’t played our best games in these situations. Some of the results could have turned out differently.

 

[Diehardblues]

Wasn't 94 the year SF got up 21-0 in the first quarter because we kept fumbling the ball? You can't get down 21 zip against a really good team and expect to win. We could never catch up after that.

That’s a great example in how we didn’t play our best football on the biggest stage .

 

[Diehardblues]

more like stating the obvious than anything else

And that’s assuming our best football would be enough , especially against better teams .

 

[Diehardblues]

Which player on offense stepped up in the playoff losses to the Niners?

Troy always elevated his play to the next level in the playoffs, we haven't seen that from Dak or others on offense.

Not only Troy but the rest of the team elevated their play. When they didn’t like in 1994 , we lost.

We had the most talented team though which certainly helps when you play your best. I’m not sure we can say we have the most talented team in the league now.

 

[Diehardblues]

One reason the Cowboys haven’t been good in situational football has been the mostly bad HCs Jerry has hired in the last 28 years. (Mike McCarthy and Bill Parcells are exceptions)

Again with the exception of Parcells and Big Mac, look at these HCs since our last SB:

• Chan Gailey
• Dave Campo
• Wade Phillips (great DC, bad HC)
• Jason Garrett- not only bad, allowed to be HC for a DECADE! We made the playoffs 3 of 10 years.

The above list of HCs is bad. Those guys coached 20 seasons between them and won…wait for it…3 wild card playoff games. And the same GM who said “500 guys could coach this team” hired them.

I’m not sure why more fans don’t want to hold their players more accountable .

While I’d agree we didn’t have the best HC’s and dysfunctional culture in that era we still did get to the playoffs and a few divisional rounds in which playing at our highest level could have propelled us further.

Some have said all a HC can do is place your talent in position to win. Ultimately they have to execute and perform.

While I’d agree with Troy to a point his teams arguably had the best overall talent in the league. I’m not sure we can make that argument now . So even if we played our best we could have still come up short against more talented teams . Assuming they played their best.

 

[Diehardblues]

300 yards and 5 tds for #4 in the playoffs

last time i checked the tampa game was in the playoffs

Yea, he played his best in that playoff game . Did he in SF? And did the rest of the team?

 

[Flamma]

didn't read it but I hope he didn't say he hopes the whole team has to carry dak better this year.

I only read the first paragraph, because that's all I needed to read. You're not missing anything. I'll paraphrase it for you. They're a good team, just not playing their best football when it matters most. I like Troy, I really do. But is a comment like that news worthy to you? Would you bother to print that?

The real reason is the team hasn't been good enough. The last time they were a true disappointment was in 2007. Since then, in order to do any better, they would have had to exceed expectations. Troy is just giving the safe answer.

 

[T-RO]

I only read the first paragraph, because that's all I needed to read. You're not missing anything. I'll paraphrase it for you. They're a good team, just not playing their best football when it matters most. I like Troy, I really do. But is a comment like that news worthy to you? Would you bother to print that?

The real reason is the team hasn't been good enough. The last time they were a true disappointment was in 2007. Since then, in order to do any better, they would have had to exceed expectations. Troy is just giving the safe answer.

Great post, Flamma.

 

[kevm3]

It's a mix of talent and coaching. We've spent the past decade with coaches in training at both the HC and the OC position. We've also constructed teams that while they have some solid talent on it, clearly have holes at key positions and it shows when we go against tough teams in the playoffs.

We've literally changed EVERYTHING on the team from coaches to talent and to the same results. Everything except the FO. It's clear where the problem is. They've been making a bit more sensible decisions lately, but they're still cheaping out and the team still has holes in it that will rear themselves when we play a team like the 49ers. What are we going to do about kicker, O line and runningback? Or do we think our O line will stay healthy the whole year? Are we assuming Pollard is going to carry MORE load than last year despite coming back from a broken leg? These are clear problems that won't be addressed and when it all falls down in the playoffs, we'll hear the same song and dance.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

I’m not sure why more fans don’t want to hold their players more accountable .

While I’d agree we didn’t have the best HC’s and dysfunctional culture in that era we still did get to the playoffs and a few divisional rounds in which playing at our highest level could have propelled us further.

Some have said all a HC can do is place your talent in position to win. Ultimately they have to execute and perform.

While I’d agree with Troy to a point his teams arguably had the best overall talent in the league. I’m not sure we can make that argument now . So even if we played our best we could have still come up short against more talented teams . Assuming they played their best.

the players are and should be held accountable. unfortunately on this board, a small group are focused on Dak and flood the board with Dak related topics and blames.

however, in the game last year, our OL didn't play well. most of the game SF was able to create pressure with front 4 or 5 and drop 6 or 7 into coverage. that take a lot of passing lanes away. Lamb was blanketed most of the game and Gallup was ineffective as he had been all year. Brown was brown. a JAG, 5th or 6th guy on the depth chart who had to play meaningful snaps and was easily taken out, as he had trouble getting separation (his career calling card). Not sure why but Schultz just disappeared. I watched a lot of the film and he was easily taken out of the game and wasn't the release valve he needed to be. Losing Pollard hurt, as SF just wasn't worried about Zeke.

On defense we had opportunities and we missed. Diggs probably had one of his worst games. missing an easy tackle allowing a long completion to keep a drive alive and dropped a sure interception to end a drive inside 20.

so Dak didn't have his best game, those two interceptions were bad. nobody else played well. defense over all did well, but missed key opportunities were SF played well and cashed in those key opportunities.