Excuses are for the pretenders

[Bobhaze]

Several years ago, Jimmy Johnson was pressed on a given Sunday to explain why the Cowboys always seem to underachieve despite having some talent. His answer as I recall was something to the effect that the players did not fear the coaches or any repercussions for failure. He also (as I remember) said the environment was “too country club”. May not be exact, but I think that was generally what he said.

IMO, the biggest culture cancer of the last 22 years of failure boils down to this: Our leaders accept excuses. When the people who lead your organization not only have zero consequences for their own failure, and they also make “sugar daddy” excuses for their players and coaches for any year that has ended without much being accomplished, your organization is infected.

Tony Romo famously once stated that the NFL is a “meritocracy”- your value, playing time and accolades depend on your bottom line performance. Well that “meritocracy” may apply to the rest of the NFL, but it doesn’t apparently apply much in Dallas if you are in the FO or coaching staff.

Pick a year. Any year in the last 22. You can easily find Jerry making local or sports headlines by laying out a beautiful soft bed of excuses as to why his team either did not make the playoffs or exited early in the playoffs. For the sake of brevity, I can’t or won’t list all of the excuses laid out by Jerry to soft pedal his team’s failure, but here’s some of the excuse “greatest hits”- in no particular order:

1. If Zeke hadn’t been suspended those 6 games, 2017 would have been different.
2. If Aaron Rodgers doesn’t make that 3rd and 30 completion we would have won that 2016 playoff game.
3. If Tyron Smith hadn’t been hurt most of 2017, we would have won that Atlanta game.
4. Our defense was great until Sean Lee got hurt. If we have him all season...
5. If Greg Hardy had stayed focused and played like he did in his first game against NE, we would have...
6. If Tony Romo doesn’t hurt his back, break his collarbone, need surgery......etc.
7. It takes a while for a rookie head coach to develop. (Implying it was ok to throw seasons away in the “learning process”)
8. Wade Phillips after the disastrous 2007 loss in first round to giants: “We still had a great season”. (If I was GM, that might have been a firing offense, but this org loves excuses)
9. Jerry- “Zeke’s been through a lot lately”. (Jerry telling coaches they shouldn’t discipline him after he quit on a play in Denver after an interception)
10. Jerry- “I don’t want to give up on the development of Jason Garrett too soon and let another team benefit from it”. (After 3 straight non-winning, non-playoff seasons)

The excuse list of the last two decades could fill a 500 page book. Excuse making is the opposite of accountability. Good leaders own their mistakes and impose consequences for failure, regardless of what coulda, woulda, shoulda been. What makes this team’s culture so problematic is that as long as Jerry and the top brass keep making and accepting excuses, it will continue to dog this team.

I’m sick of the excuses. As fans we should stop repeating some of Jerry’s excuses on these boards. If this team again fails to make the playoffs, or loses early in the playoffs, there should be ZERO excuses. This team has enough talent to make some noise this year.

Injuries happen- every year. Bad calls, and bad luck happen every year. The true contenders always find a way to win anyway and the pretenders always find a good set of excuses.

 

[GenoT]

Several years ago, Jimmy Johnson was pressed on a given Sunday to explain why the Cowboys always seem to underachieve despite having some talent. His answer as I recall was something to the effect that the players did not fear the coaches or any repercussions for failure. He also (as I remember) said the environment was “too country club”. May not be exact, but I think that was generally what he said.

IMO, the biggest culture cancer of the last 22 years of failure boils down to this: Our leaders accept excuses. When the people who lead your organization not only have zero consequences for their own failure, and they also make “sugar daddy” excuses for their players and coaches for any year that has ended without much being accomplished, your organization is infected.

Tony Romo famously once stated that the NFL is a “meritocracy”- your value, playing time and accolades depend on your bottom line performance. Well that “meritocracy” may apply to the rest of the NFL, but it doesn’t apparently apply much in Dallas if you are in the FO or coaching staff.

Pick a year. Any year in the last 22. You can easily find Jerry making local or sports headlines by laying out a beautiful soft bed of excuses as to why his team either did not make the playoffs or exited early in the playoffs. For the sake of brevity, I can’t or won’t list all of the excuses laid out by Jerry to soft pedal his team’s failure, but here’s some of the excuse “greatest hits”- in no particular order:

1. If Zeke hadn’t been suspended those 6 games, 2017 would have been different.
2. If Aaron Rodgers doesn’t make that 3rd and 30 completion we would have won that 2016 playoff game.
3. If Tyron Smith hadn’t been hurt most of 2017, we would have won that Atlanta game.
4. Our defense was great until Sean Lee got hurt. If we have him all season...
5. If Greg Hardy had stayed focused and played like he did in his first game against NE, we would have...
6. If Tony Romo doesn’t hurt his back, break his collarbone, need surgery......etc.
7. It takes a while for a rookie head coach to develop. (Implying it was ok to throw seasons away in the “learning process”)
8. Wade Phillips after the disastrous 2007 loss in first round to giants: “We still had a great season”. (If I was GM, that might have been a firing offense, but this org loves excuses)
9. Jerry- “Zeke’s been through a lot lately”. (Jerry telling coaches they shouldn’t discipline him after he quit on a play in Denver after an interception)
10. Jerry- “I don’t want to give up on the development of Jason Garrett too soon and let another team benefit from it”. (After 3 straight non-winning, non-playoff seasons)

The excuse list of the last two decades could fill a 500 page book. Excuse making is the opposite of accountability. Good leaders own their mistakes and impose consequences for failure, regardless of what coulda, woulda, shoulda been. What makes this team’s culture so problematic is that as long as Jerry and the top brass keep making and accepting excuses, it will continue to dog this team.

I’m sick of the excuses. As fans we should stop repeating some of Jerry’s excuses on these boards. If this team again fails to make the playoffs, or loses early in the playoffs, there should be ZERO excuses. This team has enough talent to make some noise this year.

Injuries happen- every year. Bad calls, and bad luck happen every year. The true contenders always find a way to win anyway and the pretenders always find a good set of excuses.

Nobody in a key position in this entire organization is under any pressure.

 

[MarcusRock]

So no conspiracy against us then?

 

[Cowpolk]

Nobody in a key position in this entire organization is under any pressure.

Who told you that?

 

[Tangle_Foot]

I'm in charge of everything from socks to jocks.
All hail King Jerry, the credit for this Pyrrhic victory rest at his feet

 

[Captain43Crash]

Garrett’s the biggest excuse maker in the organization. Almost never admits his mistakes. As a Princeton Man, he rationalizes his bad decisions. Reporter, “why did you settle for a 51 yard FG(which was missed)when you had 35 seconds to run another play”. Garrett, “well(in his head he’s thinking how dare you ? me), we were satisfied with our position on the field”.

 

[Cowpolk]

Is this another wwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh thread?

 

[GenoT]

Who told you that?

Your legal guardian.

 

[Cowpolk]

Your legal guardian.

Was she nekkit

 

[Reality]

Several years ago, Jimmy Johnson was pressed on a given Sunday to explain why the Cowboys always seem to underachieve despite having some talent. His answer as I recall was something to the effect that the players did not fear the coaches or any repercussions for failure. He also (as I remember) said the environment was “too country club”. May not be exact, but I think that was generally what he said.

IMO, the biggest culture cancer of the last 22 years of failure boils down to this: Our leaders accept excuses. When the people who lead your organization not only have zero consequences for their own failure, and they also make “sugar daddy” excuses for their players and coaches for any year that has ended without much being accomplished, your organization is infected.

Tony Romo famously once stated that the NFL is a “meritocracy”- your value, playing time and accolades depend on your bottom line performance. Well that “meritocracy” may apply to the rest of the NFL, but it doesn’t apparently apply much in Dallas if you are in the FO or coaching staff.

Pick a year. Any year in the last 22. You can easily find Jerry making local or sports headlines by laying out a beautiful soft bed of excuses as to why his team either did not make the playoffs or exited early in the playoffs. For the sake of brevity, I can’t or won’t list all of the excuses laid out by Jerry to soft pedal his team’s failure, but here’s some of the excuse “greatest hits”- in no particular order:

1. If Zeke hadn’t been suspended those 6 games, 2017 would have been different.
2. If Aaron Rodgers doesn’t make that 3rd and 30 completion we would have won that 2016 playoff game.
3. If Tyron Smith hadn’t been hurt most of 2017, we would have won that Atlanta game.
4. Our defense was great until Sean Lee got hurt. If we have him all season...
5. If Greg Hardy had stayed focused and played like he did in his first game against NE, we would have...
6. If Tony Romo doesn’t hurt his back, break his collarbone, need surgery......etc.
7. It takes a while for a rookie head coach to develop. (Implying it was ok to throw seasons away in the “learning process”)
8. Wade Phillips after the disastrous 2007 loss in first round to giants: “We still had a great season”. (If I was GM, that might have been a firing offense, but this org loves excuses)
9. Jerry- “Zeke’s been through a lot lately”. (Jerry telling coaches they shouldn’t discipline him after he quit on a play in Denver after an interception)
10. Jerry- “I don’t want to give up on the development of Jason Garrett too soon and let another team benefit from it”. (After 3 straight non-winning, non-playoff seasons)

The excuse list of the last two decades could fill a 500 page book. Excuse making is the opposite of accountability. Good leaders own their mistakes and impose consequences for failure, regardless of what coulda, woulda, shoulda been. What makes this team’s culture so problematic is that as long as Jerry and the top brass keep making and accepting excuses, it will continue to dog this team.

I’m sick of the excuses. As fans we should stop repeating some of Jerry’s excuses on these boards. If this team again fails to make the playoffs, or loses early in the playoffs, there should be ZERO excuses. This team has enough talent to make some noise this year.

Injuries happen- every year. Bad calls, and bad luck happen every year. The true contenders always find a way to win anyway and the pretenders always find a good set of excuses.

I think one of the biggest problems the Cowboys have had, especially under Garrett, has been the fact that no one earns anything on the team.

By that I mean there is no competition and no chance for the written-in starter to be replaced unless they get injured or play poorly for half a season. Of course the Cowboys constantly push the narrative of the best player plays, but when was the last time that happened where the presumed starter was replaced without an injury or prolonged period of bad play?

Players do not earn positions or promotions on the Cowboys. Coaches do not earn their positions or promotions on the Cowboys. Players get promoted by default when the starter in front of them gets injured or they play poorly for 6-8 games in a row. Coaches get promoted by default when a coach in front of them leaves to join another team or their contract runs out. No one earns anything on this team any more.

I think every single position (and I mean EVERY position) on the team should be up for grabs every single week. I have players I like, but if they really are the best player at their position they should have no problem beating out the other guys competing with them for the top spot.

 

[buybuydandavis]

I’m sick of the excuses. As fans we should stop repeating some of Jerry’s excuses on these boards. If this team again fails to make the playoffs, or loses early in the playoffs, there should be ZERO excuses. This team has enough talent to make some noise this year.

You're sick of the team losing. Don't take it out on the facts that left us high and dry.

Tony broke in 2015. One can call that an "excuse", or realistically, a strong reason to account for much of the failure of the team.

Identifying strong reasons for failure, out of everyone's reasonable control, is not a problem *unless* it's used to absolve all *other* reasons for failure that *were* in people's reasonable control.

Which, the team does too. And the forum. If someone criticizes something about the run game, the comeback is "the running game is our strength". Is that a reason we shouldn't make better decisions and make it stronger?

Management's attitude toward the coaching staff has simply reeked of "good enough" for years. Rudy as QB coach? Seriously? That just *screams* an attitude of "good enough".

We went into a season with the Underwear Thief as our starting RB. "Good enough". The fact that we carried him so long, and Dunbar, and Escobar, was a lot more "good enough". We kept paying Carr big money after we didn't need to anymore.

At least we moved on from a lot of coaches this year. And Dez too. Dez would have been an easy "good enough".

I'll go with you as far as saying that particular, valid excuses seem to be used to excuse the entire failed outcome and all the other failures that led up to it. All sorts of other clear failures get glossed over once the one Unfortunate Event That Wasn't Our Fault gets identified.

Old hang dog Wade with his "the ball just hasn't been bouncing our way".

I still remember the Pats on their undefeated season run, where Brady would do postgame interviews and talk about all the things they had to clean up after pounding a team by 40 points. Week after week. Win after win. In some ways it seemed ridiculous. But there was no "good enough" on that team; there was only "we could be better". And that's why they were beating teams by 40.

Too much "good enough" on the Cowboys for a long time.

 

[Aviano90]

There are reasons and there are excuses and the difference is accountability. Take the injury to Tony Romo in 2015. That would be a good reason to miss the playoffs, but it isn’t a good reason to go 1-11 without him. It is an excuse to cover up the failure to properly address the back up QB position by the front office and coaching staff.

And I am not sure it is the team always making the excuses. Most of the times it is the fans making the excuses. We saw Dallas did learn from the 2015 season by investing a 4th round pick in a back up QB and we know Dallas doesn’t like to waste and draft capital on the QB position.

 

[northerncowboynation]

Several years ago, Jimmy Johnson was pressed on a given Sunday to explain why the Cowboys always seem to underachieve despite having some talent. His answer as I recall was something to the effect that the players did not fear the coaches or any repercussions for failure. He also (as I remember) said the environment was “too country club”. May not be exact, but I think that was generally what he said.

IMO, the biggest culture cancer of the last 22 years of failure boils down to this: Our leaders accept excuses. When the people who lead your organization not only have zero consequences for their own failure, and they also make “sugar daddy” excuses for their players and coaches for any year that has ended without much being accomplished, your organization is infected.

Tony Romo famously once stated that the NFL is a “meritocracy”- your value, playing time and accolades depend on your bottom line performance. Well that “meritocracy” may apply to the rest of the NFL, but it doesn’t apparently apply much in Dallas if you are in the FO or coaching staff.

Pick a year. Any year in the last 22. You can easily find Jerry making local or sports headlines by laying out a beautiful soft bed of excuses as to why his team either did not make the playoffs or exited early in the playoffs. For the sake of brevity, I can’t or won’t list all of the excuses laid out by Jerry to soft pedal his team’s failure, but here’s some of the excuse “greatest hits”- in no particular order:

1. If Zeke hadn’t been suspended those 6 games, 2017 would have been different.
2. If Aaron Rodgers doesn’t make that 3rd and 30 completion we would have won that 2016 playoff game.
3. If Tyron Smith hadn’t been hurt most of 2017, we would have won that Atlanta game.
4. Our defense was great until Sean Lee got hurt. If we have him all season...
5. If Greg Hardy had stayed focused and played like he did in his first game against NE, we would have...
6. If Tony Romo doesn’t hurt his back, break his collarbone, need surgery......etc.
7. It takes a while for a rookie head coach to develop. (Implying it was ok to throw seasons away in the “learning process”)
8. Wade Phillips after the disastrous 2007 loss in first round to giants: “We still had a great season”. (If I was GM, that might have been a firing offense, but this org loves excuses)
9. Jerry- “Zeke’s been through a lot lately”. (Jerry telling coaches they shouldn’t discipline him after he quit on a play in Denver after an interception)
10. Jerry- “I don’t want to give up on the development of Jason Garrett too soon and let another team benefit from it”. (After 3 straight non-winning, non-playoff seasons)

The excuse list of the last two decades could fill a 500 page book. Excuse making is the opposite of accountability. Good leaders own their mistakes and impose consequences for failure, regardless of what coulda, woulda, shoulda been. What makes this team’s culture so problematic is that as long as Jerry and the top brass keep making and accepting excuses, it will continue to dog this team.

I’m sick of the excuses. As fans we should stop repeating some of Jerry’s excuses on these boards. If this team again fails to make the playoffs, or loses early in the playoffs, there should be ZERO excuses. This team has enough talent to make some noise this year.

Injuries happen- every year. Bad calls, and bad luck happen every year. The true contenders always find a way to win anyway and the pretenders always find a good set of excuses.

Man, there have been a huge number of excuses over the history of the NFL then, because there is only one true winner each year. Every NFL team, every year have their reasons for falling short of the mark. They're called reasons, not excuses. Maybe they are the same but when you have data that clearly shows that your LT goes down for a few games and the QB sacks escalate, I call that a reason. And, when your starting WIL LB'er goes down and teams run all over you, I call that a reason.

I know, we should have had more foresight right Bob. Had a great LT and LB'er waiting in the wings when Tron and Sean went down. Damn bother, more reasons. If you chose a different team to root for I'm sure you would hear the same reasons/excuses unless you've been a NE fan since the mid 2000's. All the others, every year, every game have reasons/excuses. I blame the football gods. and karma but that's just me

Were there reasons/excuses back in the Landry era? You bet. You have a selective, short term memory if you don't remember the "next year" description of the team in the Landry/Brant/Murcheson era. We just didn't whine and there was no fan club to whine too. Suggest a different vintage or some cheese to go with the thinly veiled whine

 

[Zekeats]

Didn't read anything but the title which says it all.

 

[PAPPYDOG]

Several years ago, Jimmy Johnson was pressed on a given Sunday to explain why the Cowboys always seem to underachieve despite having some talent. His answer as I recall was something to the effect that the players did not fear the coaches or any repercussions for failure. He also (as I remember) said the environment was “too country club”. May not be exact, but I think that was generally what he said.

IMO, the biggest culture cancer of the last 22 years of failure boils down to this: Our leaders accept excuses. When the people who lead your organization not only have zero consequences for their own failure, and they also make “sugar daddy” excuses for their players and coaches for any year that has ended without much being accomplished, your organization is infected.

Tony Romo famously once stated that the NFL is a “meritocracy”- your value, playing time and accolades depend on your bottom line performance. Well that “meritocracy” may apply to the rest of the NFL, but it doesn’t apparently apply much in Dallas if you are in the FO or coaching staff.

Pick a year. Any year in the last 22. You can easily find Jerry making local or sports headlines by laying out a beautiful soft bed of excuses as to why his team either did not make the playoffs or exited early in the playoffs. For the sake of brevity, I can’t or won’t list all of the excuses laid out by Jerry to soft pedal his team’s failure, but here’s some of the excuse “greatest hits”- in no particular order:

1. If Zeke hadn’t been suspended those 6 games, 2017 would have been different.
2. If Aaron Rodgers doesn’t make that 3rd and 30 completion we would have won that 2016 playoff game.
3. If Tyron Smith hadn’t been hurt most of 2017, we would have won that Atlanta game.
4. Our defense was great until Sean Lee got hurt. If we have him all season...
5. If Greg Hardy had stayed focused and played like he did in his first game against NE, we would have...
6. If Tony Romo doesn’t hurt his back, break his collarbone, need surgery......etc.
7. It takes a while for a rookie head coach to develop. (Implying it was ok to throw seasons away in the “learning process”)
8. Wade Phillips after the disastrous 2007 loss in first round to giants: “We still had a great season”. (If I was GM, that might have been a firing offense, but this org loves excuses)
9. Jerry- “Zeke’s been through a lot lately”. (Jerry telling coaches they shouldn’t discipline him after he quit on a play in Denver after an interception)
10. Jerry- “I don’t want to give up on the development of Jason Garrett too soon and let another team benefit from it”. (After 3 straight non-winning, non-playoff seasons)

The excuse list of the last two decades could fill a 500 page book. Excuse making is the opposite of accountability. Good leaders own their mistakes and impose consequences for failure, regardless of what coulda, woulda, shoulda been. What makes this team’s culture so problematic is that as long as Jerry and the top brass keep making and accepting excuses, it will continue to dog this team.

I’m sick of the excuses. As fans we should stop repeating some of Jerry’s excuses on these boards. If this team again fails to make the playoffs, or loses early in the playoffs, there should be ZERO excuses. This team has enough talent to make some noise this year.

Injuries happen- every year. Bad calls, and bad luck happen every year. The true contenders always find a way to win anyway and the pretenders always find a good set of excuses.

90% of the post in these Forums are excuses and IF this IF that IF IF IF IF IF.....Teams win cause there WINNERS no matter who gets injured (look at what the Eagles did without W) or suspended etc etc etc ...A lot of fans here are experts selling false realities and dreams that in the end fall to the wayside and then the EXCUSE BAG opens ....pretty boring if you ask me....anyway it all starts with the Head and our Head and fearless leader is Jerry Jones so keep a small cup for them cherries!!!

 

[Rockport]

90% of the post in these Forums are excuses and IF this IF that IF IF IF IF IF.....Teams win cause there WINNERS no matter who gets injured (look at what the Eagles did without W) or suspended etc etc etc ...A lot of fans here are experts selling false realities and dreams that in the end fall to the wayside and then the EXCUSE BAG opens ....pretty boring if you ask me....anyway it all starts with the Head and our Head and fearless leader is Jerry Jones so keep a small cup for them cherries!!!

Then go root for the Eagles then since you love them so much.

 

[Stash]

Man, there have been a huge number of excuses over the history of the NFL then, because there is only one true winner each year. Every NFL team, every year have their reasons for falling short of the mark. They're called reasons, not excuses. Maybe they are the same but when you have data that clearly shows that your LT goes down for a few games and the QB sacks escalate, I call that a reason. And, when your starting WIL LB'er goes down and teams run all over you, I call that a reason.

I know, we should have had more foresight right Bob. Had a great LT and LB'er waiting in the wings when Tron and Sean went down. Damn bother, more reasons. If you chose a different team to root for I'm sure you would hear the same reasons/excuses unless you've been a NE fan since the mid 2000's. All the others, every year, every game have reasons/excuses. I blame the football gods. and karma but that's just me

Were there reasons/excuses back in the Landry era? You bet. You have a selective, short term memory if you don't remember the "next year" description of the team in the Landry/Brant/Murcheson era. We just didn't whine and there was no fan club to whine too. Suggest a different vintage or some cheese to go with the thinly veiled whine

Funny that other teams experienced the same things you want to try to call "reasons" and didn't fold as a result?

In fact, the Super Bowl Champions experienced all of those "reasons" and more and still went on to not only win, but to win it all.

No, they're not "reasons", they're excuses.

Exactly what so many are sick of and don't want to hear anymore.

Looks to me like the true whining is coming from those whining one excuse after another for this team's failures, like it's their job. After all, when a child is crying and whining about something, there are usually excuses involved.

 

[Rockport]

This is just another thread for the habitual whiners. To say it’s a tired subject is the understatement of the century. But haters gonna hate.

 

[northerncowboynation]

Funny that other teams experienced the same things you want to try to call "reasons" and didn't fold as a result?

In fact, the Super Bowl Champions experienced all of those "reasons" and more and still went on to not only win, but to win it all.

No, they're not "reasons", they're excuses.

Exactly what so many are sick of and don't want to hear anymore.

Looks to me like the true whining is coming from those whining one excuse after another for this team's failures, like it's their job. After all, when a child is crying and whining about something, there are usually excuses involved.

K brutha as always, you are correct sir

 

[Stash]

Several years ago, Jimmy Johnson was pressed on a given Sunday to explain why the Cowboys always seem to underachieve despite having some talent. His answer as I recall was something to the effect that the players did not fear the coaches or any repercussions for failure. He also (as I remember) said the environment was “too country club”. May not be exact, but I think that was generally what he said.

IMO, the biggest culture cancer of the last 22 years of failure boils down to this: Our leaders accept excuses. When the people who lead your organization not only have zero consequences for their own failure, and they also make “sugar daddy” excuses for their players and coaches for any year that has ended without much being accomplished, your organization is infected.

Tony Romo famously once stated that the NFL is a “meritocracy”- your value, playing time and accolades depend on your bottom line performance. Well that “meritocracy” may apply to the rest of the NFL, but it doesn’t apparently apply much in Dallas if you are in the FO or coaching staff.

Pick a year. Any year in the last 22. You can easily find Jerry making local or sports headlines by laying out a beautiful soft bed of excuses as to why his team either did not make the playoffs or exited early in the playoffs. For the sake of brevity, I can’t or won’t list all of the excuses laid out by Jerry to soft pedal his team’s failure, but here’s some of the excuse “greatest hits”- in no particular order:

1. If Zeke hadn’t been suspended those 6 games, 2017 would have been different.
2. If Aaron Rodgers doesn’t make that 3rd and 30 completion we would have won that 2016 playoff game.
3. If Tyron Smith hadn’t been hurt most of 2017, we would have won that Atlanta game.
4. Our defense was great until Sean Lee got hurt. If we have him all season...
5. If Greg Hardy had stayed focused and played like he did in his first game against NE, we would have...
6. If Tony Romo doesn’t hurt his back, break his collarbone, need surgery......etc.
7. It takes a while for a rookie head coach to develop. (Implying it was ok to throw seasons away in the “learning process”)
8. Wade Phillips after the disastrous 2007 loss in first round to giants: “We still had a great season”. (If I was GM, that might have been a firing offense, but this org loves excuses)
9. Jerry- “Zeke’s been through a lot lately”. (Jerry telling coaches they shouldn’t discipline him after he quit on a play in Denver after an interception)
10. Jerry- “I don’t want to give up on the development of Jason Garrett too soon and let another team benefit from it”. (After 3 straight non-winning, non-playoff seasons)

The excuse list of the last two decades could fill a 500 page book. Excuse making is the opposite of accountability. Good leaders own their mistakes and impose consequences for failure, regardless of what coulda, woulda, shoulda been. What makes this team’s culture so problematic is that as long as Jerry and the top brass keep making and accepting excuses, it will continue to dog this team.

I’m sick of the excuses. As fans we should stop repeating some of Jerry’s excuses on these boards. If this team again fails to make the playoffs, or loses early in the playoffs, there should be ZERO excuses. This team has enough talent to make some noise this year.

Injuries happen- every year. Bad calls, and bad luck happen every year. The true contenders always find a way to win anyway and the pretenders always find a good set of excuses.

I reached my breaking point with excuses a few years back. But especially last year. That's when it became apparent that the current staff is entirely player reliant to bail them out for their own shortcomings.

If it wasn't obvious before, when they could barely win a game without Romo bailing everybody out, it was made clear when the team fell apart due to a single point of failure, or one player missing time.

But I've accepted that this staff is getting yet one more year to save their jobs. But they're certainly out of excuses and I think most sane, rational fans will admit that.

If they fail again in 2018, not even the great salesman Jerry Jones will be able to convince people that any of them deserve to be back. And even if he tried, I think Stephen would be able to convince him otherwise.