Some areas why the team struggled in close games

thunderpimp91

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MyFairLady said:
Yup sure do miss all the success we had under Fat *******. :rolleyes:
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That seems mildly inappropriate, but ok.

The parcells years were more mediocre than what people want to remember them as, but given what he had to work with walking into a roster that produced 3 consecutive 5 win seasons I appreciate the job he did.

I've always been curious what that 2007 season would have looked like if he had stayed.

No doubt though that he had a large amount of critics who thought that the game had passed him by, and couldnt win anything without Belicheck.
 
TheMarathonContinues

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thunderpimp91 said:
That seems mildly inappropriate, but ok.

The parcells years were more mediocre than what people want to remember them as, but given what he had to work with walking into a roster that produced 3 consecutive 5 win seasons I appreciate the job he did.

I've always been curious what that 2007 season would have looked like if he had stayed.

No doubt though that he had a large amount of critics who thought that the game had passed him by, and couldnt win anything without Belicheck.
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Coaching seemed to have past Parcells by at the end. Not saying he was a bad coach but he was stubborn like all coaches but was outdated too. But I can't deny the impact he had on this team. He had to come in and change a culture and a roster with Jerry over him. Probably one of the best coaching performances you'll find was the season we made the playoffs with Quincy.
 
Cowboyny

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QuincyCarterEra said:
Is 18th in the league in 1st quarter scoring really "one of the leagues worst"
That means they were just under average, and only chasing the scoreboard half of games not the majority.
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Didn't look up the stat, you are right among the league average in that stat.
 
Cowboyny

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Whirlwin said:
Special-teams Is a disaster. You can’t start every Drive in Sager on 20. When other teams only have to travel an average of 60 yards we have to travel an extra 20. That’s six to eat more plays per drive. Because you can’t open it up on your side of the field. We fix special teams I think it all gets better
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Fassell hire was huge, he is one of the best in the NFL. Also, I will add, with lack of defensive turnovers, the offense needed to drive longer fields.
 
Whyjerry

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Cowboyny said:
I believe the Cowboys ranked 30th in the league in close games. Here are some areas that made them unsuccessful, in no particular order:

-Defense was tied for the league worst in interceptions with just 7 all year. The team was -1 turnover margin for the year. The Patriots led the league with plus 21 with 25 interceptions.

-The Cowboy Special Teams ranked 31st in the league. Dead last in kickoff returns. Dead last in punting. Had one of the most inconsistent place kickers that struggles making kicks inside the 40. Offense had to drive all fields, where their kickers killed drives ending with zero points.

-The offense was one of the league worst scoring points in the 1st quarter. This put them in that chasing the scoreboard mode for the majority of the games. Could be the reason why we saw the Cowboy Offense lead the league in offensive yardage. Also, had the offense getting away from their run game way too early.

-The Cowboy Offense rank 16th in scoring TD's in the red zone. We can point to questionable play calling and lack of execution.

-Penalties-the team seemed to get penalties called at the absolute worst times that either killed drives and allowed teams to score points.

Just a little improvement in these areas, it could mean another 2-3 victories.
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Hard to quantify but coaching is the primary reason. In Dallas how many slow starts did we see? How many games with obvious adjustments needed but none out of halftime?How many leafs blown in the second half due to horrendous play calls? How many perplexing home losses from a lifeless team? Remember that brutal beat down SD provided?

Coaching is huge. Don’t underestimate how bad Garret and company were.
 
Cowboyny

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BigD5 said:
Our league ranking in takeaways per game
2019: 26th
2018: 21st
2017: 15th
2016: 22nd
2015: 32nd
2014: 2nd
2013: 12th
2012: 30th
2011: 16th
2010: 10th
2009: 26th
2008: 24th
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Looking at the rankings, outside of 2-3 seasons, it has been a major trouble spot for the team.
 
Cowboyny

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Whyjerry said:
Hard to quantify but coaching is the primary reason. In Dallas how many slow starts did we see? How many games with obvious adjustments needed but none out of halftime?How many leafs blown in the second half due to horrendous play calls? How many perplexing home losses from a lifeless team? Remember that brutal beat down SD provided?

Coaching is huge. Don’t underestimate how bad Garret and company were.
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Poor coaching was apart of the problem, but not the whole problem.
 
thunderpimp91

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rocyaice said:
Coaching seemed to have past Parcells by at the end. Not saying he was a bad coach but he was stubborn like all coaches but was outdated too. But I can't deny the impact he had on this team. He had to come in and change a culture and a roster with Jerry over him. Probably one of the best coaching performances you'll find was the season we made the playoffs with Quincy.
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Well said. I remember a lot of the big wins this team had, especially the last couple years required a lot politicking by the players/assistant coaches to change QBs, get more aggressive on defense, etc.

With that said though the 2003 season was a coaching masterpiece, and by the time parcells left this team had a legitimate playoff roster. A total 180 from the campo years.
 
Chuck 54

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I read an article on this last off-season by a guy who predicted a down year for us. That guy said our roster was okay, but not nearly as good as many proclaimed. In the previous playoff year we played a lot of one score games that came down to the wire, and our record in close games was crazy good, giving false hope. That writer pointed out that even good teams don’t fare well in close games regularly, pointing to the league average being below 50% and showing that teams who excel in close games one year drift back to the average the following year.

He nailed it. In 2018, we were amazing in close games. Last season we were horrible, putting us right at the league average over two seasons.
 
cowboygo

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Cowboyny said:
I believe the Cowboys ranked 30th in the league in close games. Here are some areas that made them unsuccessful, in no particular order:

-Defense was tied for the league worst in interceptions with just 7 all year. The team was -1 turnover margin for the year. The Patriots led the league with plus 21 with 25 interceptions.

-The Cowboy Special Teams ranked 31st in the league. Dead last in kickoff returns. Dead last in punting. Had one of the most inconsistent place kickers that struggles making kicks inside the 40. Offense had to drive all fields, where their kickers killed drives ending with zero points.

-The offense was one of the league worst scoring points in the 1st quarter. This put them in that chasing the scoreboard mode for the majority of the games. Could be the reason why we saw the Cowboy Offense lead the league in offensive yardage. Also, had the offense getting away from their run game way too early.

-The Cowboy Offense rank 16th in scoring TD's in the red zone. We can point to questionable play calling and lack of execution.

-Penalties-the team seemed to get penalties called at the absolute worst times that either killed drives and allowed teams to score points.

Just a little improvement in these areas, it could mean another 2-3 victories.
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field position killed us.
 
TheMarathonContinues

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thunderpimp91 said:
Well said. I remember a lot of the big wins this team had, especially the last couple years required a lot politicking by the players/assistant coaches to change QBs, get more aggressive on defense, etc.

With that said though the 2003 season was a coaching masterpiece, and by the time parcells left this team had a legitimate playoff roster. A total 180 from the campo years.
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He did man. And this is minor in the scheme of things since he wasn't very good but I thought it said something when he came in and looked at Quincy and Hutchinson and unlike Bruce Coslett he saw Quincy was better. And he was.

I remember it might've been that Panthers game.........was a tough win and I think after the game during the post he teared up. You knew it was genuine. Those guys played hard for him. Well above their heads. I'm hoping some of that magic is back with McCarthy and shows up consistently.
 
Chuck 54

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Parcells was hard to figure out. He was extremely predictable most of the time. I’ll bet our % was at least 90 % run on second down after an inc pass on first down, setting up lots of tough third downs. And yet, he seemed to truly love the flea flicker to TO.
 

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Tired of reminiscing about Garrett's abysmal era. Some fans need to move on already.
 

CowboysFaninHouston

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Cowboyny said:
I believe the Cowboys ranked 30th in the league in close games. Here are some areas that made them unsuccessful, in no particular order:

-Defense was tied for the league worst in interceptions with just 7 all year. The team was -1 turnover margin for the year. The Patriots led the league with plus 21 with 25 interceptions.

-The Cowboy Special Teams ranked 31st in the league. Dead last in kickoff returns. Dead last in punting. Had one of the most inconsistent place kickers that struggles making kicks inside the 40. Offense had to drive all fields, where their kickers killed drives ending with zero points.

-The offense was one of the league worst scoring points in the 1st quarter. This put them in that chasing the scoreboard mode for the majority of the games. Could be the reason why we saw the Cowboy Offense lead the league in offensive yardage. Also, had the offense getting away from their run game way too early.

-The Cowboy Offense rank 16th in scoring TD's in the red zone. We can point to questionable play calling and lack of execution.

-Penalties-the team seemed to get penalties called at the absolute worst times that either killed drives and allowed teams to score points.

Just a little improvement in these areas, it could mean another 2-3 victories.
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hindsight, but perhaps, the kicker missing those kicks, us missing playoffs, kind of a good thing, else garrett might have still been here...
 
DanA

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The Cowboy Special Teams ranked 31st in the league.

Special teams was a dumpster fire. The coaching was obviously bad but it didn't help have a terrible kicker and punter. We also had no TE's that could block, very few LB's contributing and below average return guys. It's looking better but IMO still needs some work.

Kicker: We replaced Maher with Forbath and have added Zeurlien who has historically been good.
Punter: No change, no competition :mad:
Kick returner: I think Pollard can be good
Punt return: Lamb and Diggs were good in college
Blockers: Bell is a huge upgrade on Jarwin/Shultz
Jammers: We've added Diggs & Canady. Reggie Robinson can probably do it too

I'd like to see us add the following:
1. Competition for Chris Jones
2. A replacement TE for Shultz
3. A replacement LB for Covington
 
Cowboyny

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DanA said:
The Cowboy Special Teams ranked 31st in the league.

Special teams was a dumpster fire. The coaching was obviously bad but it didn't help have a terrible kicker and punter. We also had no TE's that could block, very few LB's contributing and below average return guys. It's looking better but IMO still needs some work.

Kicker: We replaced Maher with Forbath and have added Zeurlien who has historically been good.
Punter: No change, no competition :mad:
Kick returner: I think Pollard can be good
Punt return: Lamb and Diggs were good in college
Blockers: Bell is a huge upgrade on Jarwin/Shultz
Jammers: We've added Diggs & Canady. Reggie Robinson can probably do it too

I'd like to see us add the following:
1. Competition for Chris Jones
2. A replacement TE for Shultz
3. A replacement LB for Covington
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Excellent breakdown. We can point to many things, but poor special teams play was a major factor.

-There are two quality Place Kicker options on the team. Could be major upgrades.
-Lamb/Diggs have the potential to add more juice to our punt returns
-Team has to bring in competition for the punter job,they ranked last in punt average
-They hired one of the best special teams coaches in Fassell.
-Improvement of special teams alone, could be mean a few more victories next season
 
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