Some areas why the team struggled in close games

Cowboyny said:

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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Definitely agree.

If we could have the following I'd be pretty happy:
Darron Lee (LB)
OJ Howard (TE)
Lachlan Edwards (P)

thunderpimp91 said:

I agree. Dak throughout his career has been great closing out games, but the knock on him even going back to the magical rookie year are the slow starts.
That doesnt mean coaching isnt a factor in that, but I think it's a fair area to be critical/skeptical until he proves otherwise.

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why isn't coaching a factor in slow starts? not sure I agree with that.....

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.

All excellent points CowboyNY!

The Special Teams play and missed field goals alone could have gotten us far into the playoffs. Improving turnover ratio will also add more wins.

InTheZone said:

Weird how qb can't be part of issue. Somehow 100% on coaching.

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its weird that coaching can't be part of issue. somehow 100% on QB

see how that worked?

thunderpimp91 said:

The difference between an 8 win team and a 12 win team is often the little things, and the little things are what the cowboys did so poorly a year ago.

Special teams was a disaster and the defensive philosophy I never really understood. You cant take a run first, TOP emphasis offense and be that conservative on defense. Yes they had games where they did a great job of limiting points, but it seemed that every drive the cowboys were starting deep in their own territory.

I have little doubt that both if these areas will be greatly improved this year, and gives me hope more so than anything else.

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I think this is on point. most NFL games go into the 4th quarter within a score and that's how NFL wanted it and designed it to be....specially now with passing offense emphasized. so the little critical calls and plays you call in the 4th and in critical situations make the difference in wins and losses. that's what separates bilicheck from the rest. he is somehow makes the right calls, at the right time and gets his team to execute....garrett managed to make the wrong calls at the wrong time, all the time. he could never recover from that. 2019, was one of his absolute worsts...the Saints game, the NE game, the Minn game, the Jets game, all really poorly coached games...

DanA said:

Definitely agree.

If we could have the following I'd be pretty happy:
Darron Lee (LB)
OJ Howard (TE)
Lachlan Edwards (P)

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I would be willing to give up a 7th for howard….no more than that...he makes too much to be a back up TE...

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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that's horrible...it translates to poor field position most of the time. longer drives...

big dog cowboy said:

New HC and staff will help fix those things. The Cowboys always seemed to get outcoached. I felt that way after they would win sometimes also.

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When you dont do a thing as far as trying to exploit the weaknesses of your opponent and do nothing to attempt to cover that of your own, I'm surprised they won as much as they did....a lot of it was against inferior teams. They actually did "line up and beat their man."

BigD5 said:

Well is the QB the reason we’ve had the fewest takeaways almost every season since about 2008?

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It’s not but to not put any blame on Dak is blind loyalty.

Only team in the league whose corners, no matter who they are....absolutely never turn toward the ball with the idea of making a play.

I saw differently in Diggs and Robinson highlights.

Al Harris will help too.

rocyaice said:

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.

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I don't remember the team but i remember the record, it was after the team got their 8th win, Parcells teared up at the press conference and said that 'you can't call these guys losers anymore'.

It was touching, and it was cool.

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.

All excellent points CowboyNY!

The Special Teams play and missed field goals alone could have gotten us far into the playoffs. Improving turnover ratio will also add more wins.

CowboysFaninHouston said:

I would be willing to give up a 7th for howard….no more than that...he makes too much to be a back up TE...

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He makes 3.5m, contributes on special teams and is one of the better blockers in the league. I'm also not sure he'd be the backup, it'd be good competition I reckon.

CowboysFaninHouston said:

why isn't coaching a factor in slow starts? not sure I agree with that.....

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Not saying that coaching isnt a factor, and to some degree I'm sure it is.

I just dont think anything is ever that black and white. It's fair to be critical of dak in that department. He may prove me very wrong and come out throwing rockets early in games under the new staff, and I hope he does. Until he proves that though were just guessing and blaming jason garrett because it's the easy thing to do.

morat1959 said:

It’s not but to not put any blame on Dak is blind loyalty.

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I’m not giving Dak a pass. But there’s a few things I know. Cowboys fans are ridiculously critical of whoever the QB is. It really makes us look like idiots. I have friends that are fans of all other NFL teams. The general consensus is Dak is a really good QB. And they all pretty much hate Dallas lol

The other thing I know is that it’s hard to be successful when you’re being guided or led by people that have no idea what they are doing and make the difficulty level of what you are trying to do as hard as humanly possible

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.

Click to expand...

In 2019 the Cowboys could not stop the run.

2019 Wins when the opponent have 100 or more yards rushing:
- Cowboys Offense scores 35, 37, 37 & 35.

2019 Losses when the opponent had less than 100 yards rushing:
- Jets, both Tyron and La'el were out of that game.

The reason the Cowboys kept the score close to the Patriots is that the Patriots are not a dominant running team and don't use much zone blocking which was the Achilles heal of the Cowboys defense.

Teams like the Vikings and Packers controlled those games with their zone running game.

dreghorn2 said:

I don't remember the team but i remember the record, it was after the team got their 8th win, Parcells teared up at the press conference and said that 'you can't call these guys losers anymore'.

It was touching, and it was cool.

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There we go....that's the presser I'm referencing. I feel like it was the Panthers and Delhomme we faced that night but I can't say for sure. But yeah one of my favorite moments from this team. That and his presser where he announced the release of Mike Vanderjackoff lol. Parcells was the king of pressers.

Him calling TO "The player" too was classic lol.

Cutting Maher much earlier and signing Forbath 5 Games Earlier would have given us 2-3 wins more too lol

For those who want to chime in about Dak and his blame, consider this. Had the coaching staff been average in the points the OP stated, Dak’s performance last year takes this team to the playoffs. A bottom 3 special teams, a universal acknowledgement of a lack of team specific game planning, and a palpable lack of discretion in play calling were all glaring examples of how below average our coaching was. Dak might have been the 6th or so reason why we failed to make the playoffs.

Does Dak need to play better overall, yeah but so does every player on the team. His performance in 2019 was far from the majority of the reason this team went 8-8. Last season was the culmination of all of JG’s weaknesses. Glad things are on the upswing now.

For those who want to chime in about Dak and his blame, consider this. Had the coaching staff been average in the points the OP stated, Dak’s performance last year takes this team to the playoffs. A bottom 3 special teams, a universal acknowledgement of a lack of team specific game planning, and a palpable lack of discretion in play calling were all glaring examples of how below average our coaching was. Dak might have been the 6th or so reason why we failed to make the playoffs.

Does Dak need to play better overall, yeah, but so does every player on the team. His performance in 2019 was far from the majority of the reason this team went 8-8. Last season was the culmination of all of JG’s weaknesses. Glad things are on the upswing.