Excuses are for the pretenders

[Silver Surfer]

OP forgot the rest of the addage:

 

[Aviano90]

I love this team. I want them to win. Which is why I think it’s healthy to discuss the possible reasons why they have not had playoff success for two decades plus. IMO, that’s not “hate”.

Cowboys fans have a very diverse set of opinions, except on one thing- we all want to see this team win. My intent with this post is to simply say I think our team’s leaders make and embrace too many excuses. That’s “hate”?

Don’t like or are tired of the topic? Use your power of choice and don’t post. Maybe it will die a natural death from lack of interest.

The people who can't stand haters are essentially saying this: I agree there are issues, I sometimes complain about those issues, I just don't want to read about others complaining about those issues. My level of complaining is the proper level of complaining and anyone who complains more should stop watching the team because they can't enjoy the Cowboys if they are complaining more than me.

 

[Aviano90]

Whining about how "tough" the schedule is probably means your team isn't ready to win a championship.........strong teams don't worry about who's on their schedule.

Good teams have easy schedules. Bad teams have hard schedules.

 

[CPanther95]

Since 1996, 13 different NFC teams have played in at least one NFC conference title game.

The 13 other teams have played in at least 2 since 2000.

 

[CouchCoach]

In order to not find yourself at the wailing wall each season, it helps to focus on one thing that really does make the Cowboys different.

It is Booger's mantra. "This is mine and I will do with it as I want". He is not beholding to anyone, including his fans or sponsors because he knows there are others to replace them. He is accountable and responsible to no one but himself. There are no penalties for non-performance. The only other owner close to him in his dealings is Mike Brown in CIN but he doesn't have the credits to fall back on that Booger does.

What I find amusing are those that complain about him but still enable him through trips to the Big Top, games, merch and if you happen to fall into the money demographic of 18-49 and are a Neilsen household, watching the games. I've seen it countless times. Complaints about Booger or Garrett and then a post about going to a game.

If you do any of that, you are howling into the wind about accountability. You are rewarding mediocrity. In order for Booger to really make any meaningful changes, he must feel pain and he feels nothing close to that.

Booger knows one thing. If a fan was leaving; they're already gone. With the lack of success and characters they've brought in and questionable decisions, we are nothing more than the complaining spouse threatening to leave and going nowhere. "I'm gonna leave her someday".

We fool ourselves into thinking everyone is as fed up as we are and it's not even close. We are in the minority, the very small minority and he could give a damn about what we think. But it does help to vent here, I guess, some used to actually he think he read the comments on DC.com.

If it makes you feel better, vent on, you will certainly have a lot of company but at some point you just have to look at a situation as it truly is and accept that. When Booger got the Big Top, any hopes that he could be held accountable for anything died. That was his bulletproof, he is untouchable and the on the field success of his football team is not his money maker.

 

[Diehardblues]

We don’t have accountability from the top with Jerry so excuses is all we’re going to get. And he’s going to plead he’s doing something with whatever scapegoats or damage control he promotes to instill some hope.

If fans want action they need to stop feeding the couffer until the results come in. Thats what I begun over 10 years ago and was heavily criticized on the Dallas Cowboys forum encouraging others to financially boycott.
That’s the only way to get Jerry’s attention. Hello!!!!!!!!

 

[Bobhaze]

In order to not find yourself at the wailing wall each season, it helps to focus on one thing that really does make the Cowboys different.

It is Booger's mantra. "This is mine and I will do with it as I want". He is not beholding to anyone, including his fans or sponsors because he knows there are others to replace them. He is accountable and responsible to no one but himself. There are no penalties for non-performance. The only other owner close to him in his dealings is Mike Brown in CIN but he doesn't have the credits to fall back on that Booger does.

What I find amusing are those that complain about him but still enable him through trips to the Big Top, games, merch and if you happen to fall into the money demographic of 18-49 and are a Neilsen household, watching the games. I've seen it countless times. Complaints about Booger or Garrett and then a post about going to a game.

If you do any of that, you are howling into the wind about accountability. You are rewarding mediocrity. In order for Booger to really make any meaningful changes, he must feel pain and he feels nothing close to that.

Booger knows one thing. If a fan was leaving; they're already gone. With the lack of success and characters they've brought in and questionable decisions, we are nothing more than the complaining spouse threatening to leave and going nowhere. "I'm gonna leave her someday".

We fool ourselves into thinking everyone is as fed up as we are and it's not even close. We are in the minority, the very small minority and he could give a damn about what we think. But it does help to vent here, I guess, some used to actually he think he read the comments on DC.com.

If it makes you feel better, vent on, you will certainly have a lot of company but at some point you just have to look at a situation as it truly is and accept that. When Booger got the Big Top, any hopes that he could be held accountable for anything died. That was his bulletproof, he is untouchable and the on the field success of his football team is not his money maker.

True. I sometimes wonder how many fans understand that the way Jerry thinks and runs this thing, is the first problem this team must overcome?

 

[Rockport]

The people who can't stand haters are essentially saying this: I agree there are issues, I sometimes complain about those issues, I just don't want to read about others complaining about those issues. My level of complaining is the proper level of complaining and anyone who complains more should stop watching the team because they can't enjoy the Cowboys if they are complaining more than me.

Complaining about the Cowboys 99% of the time is not good and very unhealthy.

 

[Sydla]

Complaining about the Cowboys 99% of the time is not good and very unhealthy.

What is even worse is going from thread to thread to complain about fans complaining. I mean how unhealthy is that?

 

[Diehardblues]

In order to not find yourself at the wailing wall each season, it helps to focus on one thing that really does make the Cowboys different.

It is Booger's mantra. "This is mine and I will do with it as I want". He is not beholding to anyone, including his fans or sponsors because he knows there are others to replace them. He is accountable and responsible to no one but himself. There are no penalties for non-performance. The only other owner close to him in his dealings is Mike Brown in CIN but he doesn't have the credits to fall back on that Booger does.

What I find amusing are those that complain about him but still enable him through trips to the Big Top, games, merch and if you happen to fall into the money demographic of 18-49 and are a Neilsen household, watching the games. I've seen it countless times. Complaints about Booger or Garrett and then a post about going to a game.

If you do any of that, you are howling into the wind about accountability. You are rewarding mediocrity. In order for Booger to really make any meaningful changes, he must feel pain and he feels nothing close to that.

Booger knows one thing. If a fan was leaving; they're already gone. With the lack of success and characters they've brought in and questionable decisions, we are nothing more than the complaining spouse threatening to leave and going nowhere. "I'm gonna leave her someday".

We fool ourselves into thinking everyone is as fed up as we are and it's not even close. We are in the minority, the very small minority and he could give a damn about what we think. But it does help to vent here, I guess, some used to actually he think he read the comments on DC.com.

If it makes you feel better, vent on, you will certainly have a lot of company but at some point you just have to look at a situation as it truly is and accept that. When Booger got the Big Top, any hopes that he could be held accountable for anything died. That was his bulletproof, he is untouchable and the on the field success of his football team is not his money maker.

I’m afraid Coach is right. Game over once Jerryworld was built, PSL’s we’re committed and seats sold. I surrender after fighting and protesting for years.

We sold our souls for those rings in the 90’s.

Once you come to terms accepting the reality as Coach touched on only then can you find peace and look for something or someone to hold on to providing you a glimmer of hope or cause to continue on supporting even if it’s only 3 hours a week for 16 weeks.

Good news is we have a place to vent and enjoy some camaraderie with others like us.

 

[kskboys]

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.

Don't forget that Jerry wanted to expand the playoffs to get in.

 

[kskboys]

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.

1-11 also points toward being entirely too QB dependent.

 

[Diehardblues]

Ive looked to how other dormant teams fans are. I had the experience of traveling with the team for years with Cowboys Travel Club which really opened my eyes to all the truly Diehard fans across the country like in Detroit, Green Bay and New Orleans for example.

They all follow and root their local or regional team on despite the struggles all the way to the bank.

That’s part of supporting a mediocre/dormant organization. You expect to lose and hope to win. You cherish the rivalry games and embrace the elite talents you have.

Good news is you don’t have many wagon fans or national following.

 

[Jake]

I'm not a big Mike Tomlin fan, but I appreciate something he says often to his players: "No excuses, no explanations."

Every team deals with some type adversity over the course of a season, and during the games. Some things are more difficult to overcome than others, but no team should ever get comfortable with rationalizing failure.

 

[Ranching]

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.

We're not true contenders. As simple as that. We can be, if our young players play to our expectations and our new coaches bring in some added toughness and savy. We also need Stephen to drop his nuts and continue to push Jerry aside.

 

[Diehardblues]

We don’t need any better excuse than Jerry “ Jethro” Jone$.

Ask any opposing fan if they’d want him as their owner and GM. I haven’t found one yet.

 

[kskboys]

We're not true contenders. As simple as that. We can be, if our young players play to our expectations and our new coaches bring in some added toughness and savy. We also need Stephen to drop his nuts and continue to push Jerry aside.

And the construction of the team ideas get better!!!

Talent can be negated by poor planning/team construction. Joe Haden was a top 3 CB for like 5 years, and nothing.

 

[Sydla]

We don’t need any better excuse than Jerry “ Jethro” Jone$.

Ask any opposing fan if they’d want him as their owner and GM. I haven’t found one yet.

Along those lines, I have yet to find a fan that would want Garrett as their head coach. Up here in Philly, one of the worst days for Eagles fans will be the day Jerry (or Stephen) wises up and shoots Garrett to the moon.

 

[Aviano90]

Complaining about the Cowboys 99% of the time is not good and very unhealthy.

Yes, only complaining 98.97% of the time like you do is healthy. That 0.03% is a fine line indeed.

 

[CouchCoach]

As much as I do not like his personality, in the area of being GM, he has improved. He found ways it wouldn't work and no one was going to tell him different, he had to find out himself.

Some feel it is the changing of the guard and I completely disagree with that, it is merely Booger listening to different voices. And in all fairness, we illuminate his mistakes too much and overlook some solid moves. He gets too much blame and not enough credit and not enough credit for changing. But there is no doubt in my mind he is as in charge as he's ever been.

Look at it from his viewpoint. He's made bad decisions, mistakes, but has he ever felt the pain from that? No and unless you feel the pain of bad decisions you are more likely to keep making them. He has actually profited from bad decisions because the profit and value of the team has increased every year. So, it has taken longer for him to reach that point where changes are necessary. He can't get there from here.

I have a lot of experience with family run businesses and they all shared that crippling factor of accountability. They are just too forgiving of each other and while most of us agree that the owner should have fired the GM, I take it a step further and the GM should have fired the VP-Personnel in charge of mismanaging the cap. While some celebrate that they finally MIGHT HAVE gotten it right, it took far too long to get there. Too many learning on the job.