Must Win Game

[Rayman70]

I honestly think it matters how we win. I know a win is a win in the NFL and you move on. But in terms of perception and what our hopes look like, if this offense still looks pathetic even with a win, many are still not going to be confident. I want a win no matter what but if this offense doesn't get right, we are going nowhere. You can't invest the money we did in that unit and be satisfied with it playing like that. The only way you can sustain any long term success like that is if you have a top 3-5 defense. And we don't.

yes,your right. Style points do matter in this case. Couldn't agree more. All eyes will be on how we look.

 

[Rayman70]

I really hope this is a sarcastic comment. Alabama would lose by 40 minimum to the Buffalo Bills. This discussion comes up seemingly every year. Could this high powered college team beat an NFL team? I wish they would play it once to show the difference in the NFL and college.

its a bit tongue and cheek. Just growing flustered. lol...But I bet they would give us a good game at least for 2 or 3 quarters..IF we played like we did against the Panthers. There again...its the NFL and sometimes we forget the Panthers may have a top 3 defense.

 

[CouchCoach]

I honestly think it matters how we win. I know a win is a win in the NFL and you move on. But in terms of perception and what our hopes look like, if this offense still looks pathetic even with a win, many are still not going to be confident. I want a win no matter what but if this offense doesn't get right, we are going nowhere. You can't invest the money we did in that unit and be satisfied with it playing like that. The only way you can sustain any long term success like that is if you have a top 3-5 defense. And we don't.

Agree, that is important because we will face better teams and that is critical to team psyche.

 

[aikemirv]

This is not a playoff caliber team, so I don’t really think it matters either way.

I am here with you. I have given up on Dak so I am really at the let's just get the first pick stage. I want a QB who can make a play with his arm. At this point if it is 3rd and 10, we might as well just punt!

I am always a glass half full person too. So this is a strange feeling for me.

 

[willia451]

The way the Offense played last Sunday they might not win a game all year.

Some guy on the forums during the game said "1-15. And I'm not kidding." I thought that's a bit extreme, but on further reflection, I'm not so sure that he is incorrect.

So I'm not looking at it like its a must win. I'm looking at it as I would like to seem improvement in the Offensive scheme and performance.

Let's start by just trying to be competitive first. If we can just get there, maybe we'll win a game at some point.

 

[Praxit]

I was thinking of waiting until the 4th game to get a birds I view of things. Its probably to late by then, especially with the comp in the East. So winning anything is a help.

Call me delusional but Dallas is a good team, they just need the right parts, in the right places. First place to start is that OL. Huge piece to winning.

 

[cowboyec]

BEAT ny

 

[kiheikiwi]

Its not so much how we win - it is however all about how we lose.
That is the big take away from week 1. And if we do end up losing on Sunday night, in prime time, where lately they have always laid an egg. The wailing from media and fans will grow tenfold - and rightfully so.
How can a team that talked all off-season about their plan, the o-line, all the same ol trash, then come out an look so inept. Of course everyone is worried, the franchise QB has regressed, maybe he can't get over Atlanta !
The plan to run Elliott, then run him some more - sucked ! On, and on, and on. Both the F.O. and coaching staff need to be held accountable.

In my mind it's not so much that we lost the first game of a new season, it's the fact that the team looks to have taken a step backwards on Offense, while the D is finally getting there. Not there yet, but we all can see the improvement. Still, more could have and should have been done. Maybe its too late to have a balanced team, if the offense is regressing while the defense is on the come up. .
If they lose on Sunday night, and laydown as they have done in years past - think every last game of the year when they win and are in, and get blown out by the E-girls or Giants. They will lose their fans, the coaches will lose the players, and they will watch this season turn into turmoil.
When so many people were questioning the moves and non-moves all off-season long, be it roster moves, releases, coaching moves, use of excess funds - or not, etc.
It will only grow worse if Sunday night goes badly. Here's hoping it doesn't !

 

[9of11]

I agree. If the coaching staff starts losing the players faith...we might as well give this season up. After seeing last year offensive debacle and thinking and hoping and hearing what this coaching staff had to say all this off season, and then seeing the same offensive debacle from last year this year, doesnt leave me much faith in the coaching staff to right the ship this next game or the remaining games this year. I know, I know, its only one game people say but after 23 going on 24 years and this past 8 years with this coaching staff...I'm skeptical to say the least. I'm right now hoping for a miracle....hoping.

 

[kskboys]

I really hope this is a sarcastic comment. Alabama would lose by 40 minimum to the Buffalo Bills. This discussion comes up seemingly every year. Could this high powered college team beat an NFL team? I wish they would play it once to show the difference in the NFL and college.

Yeah, it wouldn't even be close.

 

[Batman1980]

Season ends on SNF in front of the entire country, oh well. Nothing surprises me anymore with this team.

 

[kskboys]

its a bit tongue and cheek. Just growing flustered. lol...But I bet they would give us a good game at least for 2 or 3 quarters..IF we played like we did against the Panthers. There again...its the NFL and sometimes we forget the Panthers may have a top 3 defense.

They wouldn't. Our OL would flatten them.

 

[ghst187]

Ouch. I place a very nice amount of credence in this. I was already questioning after Sunday's debacle whether JG lost the team. If not, it's close.

And it's not just the losing, it's the losing in a very disorganized clusterfudge sort of way.

Agree.
I suspect JG will manage to do his job this week and eke out a win. He usually comes through when it looks like his job is in jeopardy. Then all the ire goes away for a week or two then he goes back to sucking.

 

[Sarge]

Must win game Week 2 - I called it.

 

[Colombiacowboy]

Do you see a ? behind that headline? That's because I am not asking, I am stating a fact that our second game of the season determines the season, if lost, and not for just the obvious reasons.

The loser is 0-2 in a very hot NFC and it is unlikely the wild card comes out of the East. PHL did what good teams do, didn't play well but won the game so the division is going to be tough.

But this loss is different in how it sets up this next game because there's more criticism after this loss than any I can recall with the Saints giving up 48 to TB and that should be the story.

Do you really believe any of these coaches or players when they say they ignore the media? That's an easy way to not respond but human beings cannot ignore what other human beings are saying about them, that's just human being nature. And these aren't just human beings but ex players and coaches and they know the game.

Before this first game, we had ?'s about this team. The media had ?'s about this team. But most of all, the players had ?'s about this team and more than anyone except the coaches, they see the plays made and not made in practice. They know good coaching and they know when they have the edge and when they do not.

This game is a must win for the simple reason the players have doubts and that creates a chasm in their confidence and didn't we see that in 15 and 17? What they have talked about behind closed doors, confidence in the coaching staff, mainly the O staff, is now being openly discussed by the media and the owner's son and HC have already become defensive after one game.

I saw something that I never thought I'd see as a Cowboys fan, I saw my team quit on their HC and get him fired. I told myself I would never see that again but now I am not so sure.

Folks, this was just one loss, a tough loss in a tough place to open the season but the effect of this is far beyond just that. I do believe if they lose this game Sunday, they will lose this team because it is just that fragile.

And the problem is the two players that could hold it together, Dak and Sean, haven't played well and leading on the field beats leading in the locker room.

Anyway, there you have it, CC's patented first Must Win thread of the year only this is not to just get something going, I really believe that. Just as I believe if they do win and get some O going, this all goes away...….for a week.

@CouchCoach you never struck me as a "Chicken Little sky is falling" kind of guy. 0-2 would be bad, but nothing in the NFL is set in stone. Just last year the Panthers looked like a miserable ball club at the beginning of the year, but they rallied to make the playoffs. While I share all of your concerns, I wouldn't place the entire tone of the season on the second game versus a division opponent.

 

[DFWJC]

It is a big game.

As far as the NFC goes tough, both Atlanta and New Orleans already lost a game. And Atlanta gets the Panthers this week. The Packers and Vikings play each other.
There may be more loses than we expected.

 

[CouchCoach]

I really hope this is a sarcastic comment. Alabama would lose by 40 minimum to the Buffalo Bills. This discussion comes up seemingly every year. Could this high powered college team beat an NFL team? I wish they would play it once to show the difference in the NFL and college.

They used to play that except it was all of the incoming College All Stars against the NFL champ team played as an exhibition game. Not much of a contest and that was the cream of college talent but not really a team that had played together. But, it was still a fun game and hell of a lot more entertaining than any pretend games.

 

[CouchCoach]

@CouchCoach you never struck me as a "Chicken Little sky is falling" kind of guy. 0-2 would be bad, but nothing in the NFL is set in stone. Just last year the Panthers looked like a miserable ball club at the beginning of the year, but they rallied to make the playoffs. While I share all of your concerns, I wouldn't place the entire tone of the season on the second game versus a division opponent.

Columbia, more like Foghorn Leghorn. "I say there, I say there, boy. This team may not be glued together properly, glued, as in cemented, joined at the hip, sealed on the hull so they don't take on water".

My concern is not about the record of 0-2, it is about the belief these players have in that coaching staff and their teammates to climb out of the hole they'd be in. And the Cowboys are going to play better teams than CAR and NYG down the road when teams start to hit their stride.

 

[Diehardblues]

Well, there is that as well. I didn't and do not see that as well but I will not give up hope. I felt the same way in 14 and 16 and was wrong so I always allow myself a cushion for being wrong. I was married for 42 years, just comes naturally.

But Shiny, having a losing season as long as they're fighting doesn't really bother me but seeing what they did with Wade and in 15, that bothers the hell out of me. I don't ask that they win but I demand they leave nothing in the locker room. Die, as long as they die hard. Any team that quits disgusts me.

This is typical reaction from the more optimistic fans who actually believed or expected more from this team.

For many of us what we saw supported our concerns going in.

 

[glimmerman]

I am wondering if JG had the team to begin with this year. Maybe when they were supposed to install new stuff in the Offense and the players found out they really weren’t that could have been it.

I don’t think our new QB coach did anything to help Dak. He looked worse than ever.

We keep losing or even if we lose this weekend Linehan maybe gone. JJ and JG will throw him under the bus first. JG will then act like he is saving the team and taking over the playcalling. Basically he may just let Dak do what he wants. Then he can throw players under the bus too.