DMN: Michael Irvin: Cowboys physically there, but won't win until they get mentally right

[jobberone]

[quote="jobberone, post: 5438790, member: 375"]

Novacek: “The reason we were good and the reason we won Super Bowls is because we knew one of us was going to make a play at the correct time. That’s what we don’t see with the Cowboys now. They’re capable of it, but no one steps up and makes that play. We just knew it. You look in the huddle and I’m talking more offensively, but we saw it on defense all the time.”

Qft.[/quote]

On defense more often than not when they needed a stop or the ball back someone stepped up. This is the reason if a playmaker falls you take him without hesitation.

 

[Risen Star]

On defense more often than not when they needed a stop or the ball back someone stepped up. This is the reason if a playmaker falls you take him without hesitation.

Another reason they won is they had great talent across the board. This Cowboys team is nothing like them.

They also were coached in an environment of discipline. The buck stopped with the head coach and everyone knew it.

I don't understand why anyone would see any similarities between those teams and this one.

 

[jobberone]

Another reason they won is they had great talent across the board. This Cowboys team is nothing like them.

They also were coached in an environment of discipline. The buck stopped with the head coach and everyone knew it.

I don't understand why anyone would see any similarities between those teams and this one.

I liked the first comment as that is one of the biggest problems on this team. The NFL has become in part a game of surviving attrition. We are getting more depth but not enough.

I think the team is becoming more disciplined. We had 50 offensive penalties last year 7 of which were declined and/or offset. In 2012 there 70, 2011-50, 2010-68. The Patriots were in the 40s all those years. For contrast the Jags were also in the 40s all those years as well slightly better than NE.

As far as being held accountable, you can only do so much. You can't fine but so much per league rules. You can sit them but without adequate backup you're cutting your nose off to spite your face. You can't really cut your starters anymore unless its a biggie. You can't punish them on the practice field but so much. The player's union took the teeth out of hardnose coaching some for the good and some not so much.

You can only keep repeating self discipline and find the right buttons to push for a player. Then hope if that doesn't work his backup develops well.

 

[CATCH17]

I don't agree. We're not nearly there, physically, on defense right now. Maybe to start the year, if we were all healthy, but we never were, and now Hatcher, Rat, and Spencer are gone, or are very likely gone, and Ware is possibly on his way out. We need a significant infusion of talent in order to be competitive, even if we've got the right coaches and the right schemes in place.

We've been there physically and we've got the same results.


We need quite a bit of turnover on this roster imo. Letting go of some of these big contracts now would be in our best interest because we can't win anything with our high paid players.


Dallas needs to start over, build up the OL and DL and just go from there.

 

[Idgit]

We've been there physically and we've got the same results.

We need quite a bit of turnover on this roster imo. Letting go of some of these big contracts now would be in our best interest because we can't win anything with our high paid players.

Dallas needs to start over, build up the OL and DL and just go from there.

No. We need to finally fix the pass defense. That's it. Do that, and we can compete with anybody, and we would have the last three years. It'd be silly to blow it up just because we're disappointed.

 

[CATCH17]

No. We need to finally fix the pass defense. That's it. Do that, and we can compete with anybody, and we would have the last three years. It'd be silly to blow it up just because we're disappointed.

We're not going to fix it with Monte Kiffin's scheme.

Get ready for more of the same.

 

[Idgit]

We're not going to fix it with Monte Kiffin's scheme.

Get ready for more of the same.

We didn't go into the season expecting to play zones with no pressure from the front. That was a consequence of significant injuries.
The defense we run has had a lot of current success in the NFL. Scheme isn't the problem. The last two seasons, the personnel has been the problem, largely because of defensive injuries. This season, we've got to replace a bunch of talent, which makes things tougher, but improving only to middling defensively still makes this a playoff team. It's not the end of the world, but we've got some significant work to do.