A More Positive Look on the Season

I for one am looking at this season as the glass is half full. After Dak went down, the season was over. Going 9-7 or 8-8 wasn't going to help us anyway.

Mediocrity in the NFL is a curse.

To improve you have to be bad. You have to have top picks and you have to have the right people making those picks.

I firmly believe we have the right people making the picks. We are one of the best drafting teams in the NFL. You can look with hindsight and question this player vs that player. But that is seldom done on the wins, like Martin over Manzel or Fredrick over Sharrif Floyd. I also believe we nailed this last year's draft.
We quickly learned that the guys coaching on the defensive side of the ball aren't the answer, but we also learned that the guys on the offensive side are very skilled.

When Dak went down, the holes on this team became glaring. Making them easier to fix. This team is broken along the O-Line and Secondary. Both of those positions are quicker to adapt to the NFL and can be fixed quickly via FA and the draft.

With Dak back, a few of the right moves we are going to actually be good. This season will suck to watch and they will win a few games they shouldn't but it will be the kickstart for another 4 year run at it.

Hahaha....more Taco players.

…...the offseason is a few games away.

If you forget about all the losses (rams, skins 2x, eagles, seahawks, Cardinals, Browns, steelers)

The rest of the season has actually been fantastic

I don't really subscribe to the "mediocrity is a curse" line of thinking, especially when you have a quarterback. But I do agree with the overall point that this team can be very good, very quickly.

Next year, if healthy, the Cowboys will continue to be just as talented as any team in the NFC. You can find a couple of holes in the roster, but that's true for every team in the cap era.

I am ready for this season, and year to be over with. Even want the playoffs to be done. Get into the next off-season. The next 2 months can't go fast enough.

I will, as usual forget this season and move on to the next season. Ready to look at all the positives that can happen. High draft picks, plus 3 or 4 comp picks.
Get all the players healthy. Maybe a new DC & OC, as I think overall the staff is pretty safe for another year.
We get rid of some overpaid underperforming players, such as Crawford. See what impact FA will have, then on to the draft.

Hopefully and there should be OTA's and mini camps this time around, and a regular TC as well, some PS games also. And I will not mind if there are 4 of them, plus the HOF game, if they keep it the same.

As I said, I will move on from this season, as it does no good to whine about the past seasons. Look forward to improvement, what is done is done, nothing anyone can do about it. Whining is a waste of energy.

Go Cowboys

They were 1-3 when Dak was playing. Dak going down didn't destroy the season, it was already headed in that direction before that happened. Hell, even last season they only managed 8-8 with a mostly healthy roster, so how was Dak's injury so devastating?

acr731 said:

They were 1-3 when Dak was playing. Dak going down didn't destroy the season, it was already headed in that direction. Hell, even last season they only managed 8-8 with a mostly healthy roster, so how was Dak's injury so devastating?

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Dak can't play LB too

Future said:

I don't really subscribe to the "mediocrity is a curse" line of thinking, especially when you have a quarterback. But I do agree with the overall point that this team can be very good, very quickly.

Next year, if healthy, the Cowboys will continue to be just as talented as any team in the NFC. You can find a couple of holes in the roster, but that's true for every team in the cap era.

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Very true.

I also believe that it's on coaching to cover your own holes and to exploit those of opponents.

That's the difference, and where this team has been awful for quite some time.

GMO415 said:

Dak can't play LB too

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or center, guard, tackle or CB, S or backup G, C, or tackle or backup LB but we had more of chance like the OP said maybe even if all the injures but dal happened we might be 7-9 and that accomplishes nothing 4-12 goes further in the draft and more importantly a frustrated coach and owner are far more motivated then one at 7-9 or 8-8 ..

cmoney23 said:

I for one am looking at this season as the glass is half full. After Dak went down, the season was over. Going 9-7 or 8-8 wasn't going to help us anyway.

Mediocrity in the NFL is a curse.

To improve you have to be bad. You have to have top picks and you have to have the right people making those picks.

I firmly believe we have the right people making the picks. We are one of the best drafting teams in the NFL. You can look with hindsight and question this player vs that player. But that is seldom done on the wins, like Martin over Manzel or Fredrick over Sharrif Floyd. I also believe we nailed this last year's draft.
We quickly learned that the guys coaching on the defensive side of the ball aren't the answer, but we also learned that the guys on the offensive side are very skilled.

When Dak went down, the holes on this team became glaring. Making them easier to fix. This team is broken along the O-Line and Secondary. Both of those positions are quicker to adapt to the NFL and can be fixed quickly via FA and the draft.

With Dak back, a few of the right moves we are going to actually be good. This season will suck to watch and they will win a few games they shouldn't but it will be the kickstart for another 4 year run at it.

Click to expand...

I was just thinking about this last night. I think we can look at the Steelers from last year. They lost their starting QB week 1 or 2. They were just a mediocre team after that. I think that the Steelers from last year didn't have the amount of injuries that we have had this year, so our record will obviously be worse. Point is the talent is still pretty good if you count the injured guys. On the offensive side of the ball, I don't think that we have any expiring contracts for starting guys, so getting Collins, Smith, Jarwin, Biadasz, Martin and of course Dak back will help the talent level a lot next year. Defense is obviously another matter. We do have some talent there, just not as much.

Anyway, the silver lining is that if we can get a solid draft (especially with the high 1st rounder) either by trade down to get more picks or good talent eval, we could make a big jump next year. Steelers are the only undefeated team right now, so why not. I should put out there that I don't think that they are the best team in the league or even the AFC for that matter, but in today's the high parity in the NFL, if you have talent, you can improve quickly. I am probably being too optimistic, but in 2020 we may need a little more optimism.

mortboy said:

I was just thinking about this last night. I think we can look at the Steelers from last year. They lost their starting QB week 1 or 2. They were just a mediocre team after that. I think that the Steelers from last year didn't have the amount of injuries that we have had this year, so our record will obviously be worse. Point is the talent is still pretty good if you count the injured guys. On the offensive side of the ball, I don't think that we have any expiring contracts for starting guys, so getting Collins, Smith, Jarwin, Biadasz, Martin and of course Dak back will help the talent level a lot next year. Defense is obviously another matter. We do have some talent there, just not as much.

Anyway, the silver lining is that if we can get a solid draft (especially with the high 1st rounder) either by trade down to get more picks or good talent eval, we could make a big jump next year. Steelers are the only undefeated team right now, so why not. I should put out there that I don't think that they are the best team in the league or even the AFC for that matter, but in today's the high parity in the NFL, if you have talent, you can improve quickly. I am probably being too optimistic, but in 2020 we may need a little more optimism.

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if we stay relatively healthy we will trip into 10-6 next season..

JBS said:

If you forget about all the losses (rams, skins 2x, eagles, seahawks, Cardinals, Browns, steelers)

The rest of the season has actually been fantastic

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Or

Or

I don't know which to chose to represent my thoughts of your post. So I'll just go with this one...
lol.

Cowboys fans- myself included- tend to overrate this team’s talent. That’s just what fans do. If I’m taking off the fan glasses, this team has a lot of holes.

If you look at last season when we were mostly healthy, after that 3-0 start, this team went 5-8. Yes, the injuries have hurt this year, but if you increase the size of this picture and also include 2018- the last time this team made the playoffs- through this year so far- that’s 43 games. And over those 43 games, we are 21-22.

My point is, I believe this team has a talent problem, especially on defense. This team has been devastated by injuries, but even when healthy, it’s been mostly mediocre. We probably need an infusion 4-6 new starters on defense, not to mention improving the depth. This current defensive roster is one of the least talented in the league.

And although offense is loaded at WR, and we have a very good QB, (assuming he’s healthy) the OL is a complete shadow of its former self. We may need a new LT with Ty Smith’s declining health, maybe a guard too. Zeke is clearly declining so we cannot just assume this offense will hum without some upgrade too.

All in all, I see a mediocre roster at best. It can be upgraded fairly quickly. But I believe we have to take the fan glasses off to see this team for what it is.

cmoney23 said:

I for one am looking at this season as the glass is half full. After Dak went down, the season was over. Going 9-7 or 8-8 wasn't going to help us anyway.

Mediocrity in the NFL is a curse.

To improve you have to be bad. You have to have top picks and you have to have the right people making those picks.

I firmly believe we have the right people making the picks. We are one of the best drafting teams in the NFL. You can look with hindsight and question this player vs that player. But that is seldom done on the wins, like Martin over Manzel or Fredrick over Sharrif Floyd. I also believe we nailed this last year's draft.
We quickly learned that the guys coaching on the defensive side of the ball aren't the answer, but we also learned that the guys on the offensive side are very skilled.

When Dak went down, the holes on this team became glaring. Making them easier to fix. This team is broken along the O-Line and Secondary. Both of those positions are quicker to adapt to the NFL and can be fixed quickly via FA and the draft.

With Dak back, a few of the right moves we are going to actually be good. This season will suck to watch and they will win a few games they shouldn't but it will be the kickstart for another 4 year run at it.

Click to expand...

I hope, but having picks 10 and 42 and 74 as opposed to 20 and 62 and 94, I'm not so sure that is going to be all that significant for success in 2021 and 22. Maybe.

We built up the O line (so long now its mostly gone already) and also the skills positions BUT we have been whiffing really badly at finding a pass rush, all the while acting like the secondary is not important. We need some good old fashioned luck. Oddly we have have had some this year with Aldon Smith and Gregory. Hopefully with a full year of practice and preseason next year and some luck and health, we could win 10, even 11.

DT, S and CB next year, lets get it done for old man Jerry.

JBS said:

If you forget about all the losses (rams, skins 2x, eagles, seahawks, Cardinals, Browns, steelers)

The rest of the season has actually been fantastic

Click to expand...

Ah yes; the come-from-waaayy-behind, home opener 1st win against the Falcons in September, followed three weeks later in mid-October for the 2nd victory over the Giants, then another month and half passes before the 3rd win (and only road victory against the Vikings in late November.
Fantastic season so far.

acr731 said:

They were 1-3 when Dak was playing. Dak going down didn't destroy the season, it was already headed in that direction before that happened. Hell, even last season they only managed 8-8 with a mostly healthy roster, so how was Dak's injury so devastating?

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the losses between before and after Dak are not equivalent

After reading your post it occurred to me there is a contradiction in my thinking, and yours. Last season was the epitome of mediocrity, yet the Cowboys had an excellent draft. This is evidence you don't have to draft at the top of the board to have a good draft. I suppose it could be argued that 2020 was a fantastic draft class and a lot of teams did well in the draft. Look at the Vikings and Justin Jefferson. It could be argued he is a better receiver than those taken before him.

So maybe there is an element of luck too. If you needed an OT in 2020, you had a great chance of getting one in the draft. Same for WR. Some draft classes are pretty bad. You can peruse the drafts going back many years and see that some classes did not produce as many all-pro players as others. I guess what I am saying is, if you ae good at drafting, mediocrity does not have to be a curse.

The Cowboys need to rebuild that defense and it has to start with the middle of the DL. There are no stud DTs in the 2021 draft class. There is no Derrick Brown or Javon Kinlaw. Maybe they can get one in Free Agency. The Cowboys can trade down and maybe that is the best course of action, but more picks in a bad draft year doesn't help much does it? I am asking, not making a comment. This class seem overall weak with some quality QBs, WRs and a stud OT. I am hearing a lot of good things about Micah Parsons, the LB from Penn State. He got hurt this year and I want to make sure he is not another Seann Lee before I spend a 1st round pick on him. I do think there will be a couple of good safeties at the top of the 2nd round. I would be looking to draft one right there. The 3rd round is where I might look for LB, OL, CB depth, or RB.

There is still time to see what happens with the college season and who emerges as they near their playoff schedule. I am hoping there is a combine and college pro days too.

cmoney23 said:

I for one am looking at this season as the glass is half full. After Dak went down, the season was over. Going 9-7 or 8-8 wasn't going to help us anyway.

Mediocrity in the NFL is a curse.

To improve you have to be bad. You have to have top picks and you have to have the right people making those picks.

I firmly believe we have the right people making the picks. We are one of the best drafting teams in the NFL.

Click to expand...

The "right people" haven't changed in 25 years and they haven't come close to winning anything. But they nail those drafts.

Sorry, but I can't ignore reality for the sake of rose-colored glasses. It just doesn't work for me.

Future said:

I don't really subscribe to the "mediocrity is a curse" line of thinking, especially when you have a quarterback. But I do agree with the overall point that this team can be very good, very quickly.

Next year, if healthy, the Cowboys will continue to be just as talented as any team in the NFC. You can find a couple of holes in the roster, but that's true for every team in the cap era.

Click to expand...

Disagree.. The oline might have 1 more great year left in them if they are lucky.

We will need them to somehow be healthy for the long haul and that is our only chance at potentially being great quick.

Dak's not good enough to carry.

Zeke aint Zeke anymore.

The Oline is getting old quick.

WR's are awesome.. Yay.


Dline has some upside but I feel like i've said that about them for years.

LVE good but not dependable. Jaylon is a liability.

Safeties? Joke.

Corners? Maybe Diggs develops into something but right now he's as raw as it gets and the rest of of the guys are having a very poor year.


Sadly, the strength of this team is their WR's.

All Jerry can sell us is this team being healthy next year and another year with the coaching staff and that is for suckers.

Dallas needs Trevor Lawrence or to get lucky with a inexpensive QB. Everything else is a direct path to mediocrity and maybe a wildcard win every 4 years.