Excuses are for the pretenders

Diehardblues · Jun 21, 2018

Sydla said:
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.

Right and the only reason he is starts at the top.

Diehardblues · Jun 21, 2018

CouchCoach said:
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.

It’s only maintained because of the financial success we as the fans have cumulatively contributed.

This Jethro and Son operation probably wouldn’t have succeeded anywhere else without the Iconic Cowboy brand.

He’s a master promoter. And he’s optimized his early success and the brand admirably all to our disgust and demise.

The America’s Team label and popularity was only flattering to us with the success we had on the field. Without it we’re just a pimped up brand.

Diehardblues · Jun 21, 2018

Aviano90 said:
Yes, only complaining 98.97% of the time like you do is healthy. That 0.03% is a fine line indeed.

Yea..always love the ones who complain about the complainers. Lol

northerncowboynation · Jun 21, 2018

Aviano90 said:
It is about confidence the right people are in the right positions to give the team the best opportunity for success. I have typically been a Jerry supporter. I used to poke Gregg using Jerry's success on the old board but seeing Jerry on All or Nothing just chapped my hide. When Zeke showed poor effort against Denver, Jerry stated he didn't want to make excuses and then proceeded to make excuses. That's toxic.

The entire Zeke situation was toxic Aviano. We will never know just how toxic it was in the locker room. As far as JJ's comments, I wouldn't know most of the time because it takes JJ at least 50 words to say what most can say with 10. After the sound bite it's like... What did he just say!!! Ok' let me hear that again. If you want to say that JJ's words are open to interpretation, I buy that. Toxic? Nah just an over used word these days. Everything is toxic this and tocxic that.So'll rephrase the toxic Zeke situation Aviano and say ******.. but you can't sat ******... you can say toxic

kevm3 · Jun 21, 2018

We're going to hear nothing but excuses as long as Jerry Jones or even Stephen Jones plays GM and refuse to hold the head coach accountable. We've completely turned over both the coaching staff and the players on the roster, but it's the fault of everyone else but the head coach. With the current GM and coaching setup, we will perpetually be in rebuild mode with next year as the one that will change everything around. Stephen seems to be making slightly better decisions than Jerry, but he doesn't need to be playing mini GM. Give the role to McClay and let him sink or swim. If McClay can't get it right, get someone else in here who can. Every successful team in this league operates in the fashion of having a GM that isn't the owner and letting the GM do his job. Is it any wonder why we aren't counted among those teams?

cowboyblue22 · Jun 21, 2018

Jake said:
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.

this is pretty much where the cowboys are and have been for a long time now

CPanther95 · Jun 21, 2018

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

Mrs. Kravitz died at age 48.

Idgit · Jun 21, 2018

I say that the idea that our leaders accept excuses is an excuse. It's the players, the players, the players. Improve the defense, and we'll improve the odds of advancing in the postseason. When you can win a home playoff game with a score of 10-15 against a good offense, you're onto something.

northerncowboynation · Jun 21, 2018

Idgit said:
I say that the idea that our leaders accept excuses is an excuse. It's the players, the players, the players. Improve the defense, and we'll improve the odds of advancing in the postseason. When you can win a home playoff game with a score of 10-15 against a good offense, you're onto something.

PA Cowboy Fan · Jun 21, 2018

kevm3 said:
We're going to hear nothing but excuses as long as Jerry Jones or even Stephen Jones plays GM and refuse to hold the head coach accountable. We've completely turned over both the coaching staff and the players on the roster, but it's the fault of everyone else but the head coach. With the current GM and coaching setup, we will perpetually be in rebuild mode with next year as the one that will change everything around. Stephen seems to be making slightly better decisions than Jerry, but he doesn't need to be playing mini GM. Give the role to McClay and let him sink or swim. If McClay can't get it right, get someone else in here who can. Every successful team in this league operates in the fashion of having a GM that isn't the owner and letting the GM do his job. Is it any wonder why we aren't counted among those teams?

Well we're starting on the next generation of Cowboy players to get wasted. Hope Jerry doesn't have to apologize to them too.

FuzzyLumpkins · Jun 21, 2018

Bobhaze said:
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.

it seems like you didn't watch AoN and think that what fans say is what happens at the Star. Just going down your list:

1) They were telling the players that Zeke's suspension was an opportunity to succeed.
2) Never heard one player or coach make that claim.
3) That was never said by any coach or player. At the coaches meeting, Garrett accepted responsibility and said he had to do better than the Atlanta game.
4) Never heard Sean Lee, Eberflus, Hitchens, Smith, Marinelli, Garrett, etc say that.
5) Never heard anyone say anything about Hardy along those lines at VR or the Star.
6) Did what Dak Prescott accomplish when Romo broke his back completely escape you?
7) That is media spin.
8) That is not an excuse.
9) They didn't tell Zeke that.
10) That is not an excuse either.

What you really seem to fail to understand is the difference between leading the rank and file and leadership. When it comes to the actual production at the ground level in a competitive environment you cannot allow them leeway to do anything less than full effort. That is the reason for "no excuses" because you want them to maximize.

And while leadership needs to hold their personal self to the same standard, they OTOH cannot just ignore the fact that Lee is our best defender and when he gets injured it negatively impacts production. Cause and effect is an inescapable reality. The team drafted and signed LB in response to that reality and its a good thing. Saying no excuses isn't going to make Wilson go above his maximum.

The defense did perform better when Hardy was playing at a high level. Pass rush remains important. They drafted Taco.

When Zeke went down the coaches made it all about the other guys stepping up. The execs were proactive and kept 4 on the roster. Smith stepped up.

I get the frustration of not winning but just saying "no excuses" like that is some magic wand --particularly from this forum-- that is going to change anything is delusional. If you want to get better, you need to look for what was causing you to lose or the other team to win and adjust. A lot of those things you care complaining about, that is precisely what the club did.

And if you think you are in a position to hold anyone in the Cowboys organization accountable by a CZ post then that too is delusional. Jerry Jones et al is not your audience.

FuzzyLumpkins · Jun 21, 2018

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

You really think that going to the source of your frustrations and speaking to them directly is unhealthy? As opposed to going to a message board and complaining to people that are not the source of your frustration?

if you want to say we are never going to change and you are wasting your time that is one thing but those complaining to third parties are actually an irritant. Do something about it or shut up is a common sentiment.

Complaining about something you are powerless to change is extremely unhealthy. he at least has a shot to get some people to stop and is creating dialogue with the principle parties.

MissionCoach · Jun 21, 2018

Bobhaze said:
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.

GREAT Post, as an old time COWBOY fan from the Landry days, I have thought this for years. Sadly until Jerry is gone I don't think anything is going to change for the better. Hopefully Stephen is a better owner than Jerry and hires a REAL NFL GM and Head Coach. As a lifelong COWBOY fan nothing rubbed salt in the wound more than watching a second year eaGAL Coach, who had lost his Star QB, among other key players, take his team to the SB and win the whole damn thing! No excuses...we could you a huge dose of that on this team!

Jumbo075 · Jun 21, 2018

Bobhaze said:
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.

That there is a world-class case of whine. I'm almost convinced to invest in cheese stocks.

ConstantReboot · Jun 21, 2018

Captain43Crash said:
Garrett’s the biggest excuse maker in the organization. Almost never admits his mistakes. As a Princeton Man, he rationalizes his bad decisions. Reporter, “why did you settle for a 51 yard FG(which was missed)when you had 35 seconds to run another play”. Garrett, “well(in his head he’s thinking how dare you ? me), we were satisfied with our position on the field”.

This makes me steam up. Any football buff knows that was total BS. He is the sole reason why we have been mediocre for so many years despite having field a good team.

GimmeTheBall! · Jun 21, 2018

Tangle_Foot said:
I'm in charge of everything from socks to jocks.
All hail King Jerry, the credit for this Pyrrhic victory rest at his feet

I DONT THINK you know what a pyrrhic victory is.

ConstantReboot · Jun 21, 2018

stasheroo said:
I reached my breaking point with excuses a few years back. But especially last year. That's when it became apparent that the current staff is entirely player reliant to bail them out for their own shortcomings.

If it wasn't obvious before, when they could barely win a game without Romo bailing everybody out, it was made clear when the team fell apart due to a single point of failure, or one player missing time.

But I've accepted that this staff is getting yet one more year to save their jobs. But they're certainly out of excuses and I think most sane, rational fans will admit that.

If they fail again in 2018, not even the great salesman Jerry Jones will be able to convince people that any of them deserve to be back. And even if he tried, I think Stephen would be able to convince him otherwise.

Eagles also had their challenges last year. They had several injuries that they could have used as excuses. But they kept improvising and kept winning. Them going to the superbowl was not on sheer luck. They did what they needed to do and did it. When was the last time our great and mighty head coach did anything worthy of mentioning?

1nfljunky · Jun 21, 2018

EXCUSES DON’T EXPLAIN AND
EXPLANATIONS DON’T EXCUSE.

LocimusPrime · Jun 21, 2018

GenoT said:
Your legal guardian.

FuzzyLumpkins · Jun 21, 2018

Captain43Crash said:
Garrett’s the biggest excuse maker in the organization. Almost never admits his mistakes. As a Princeton Man, he rationalizes his bad decisions. Reporter, “why did you settle for a 51 yard FG(which was missed)when you had 35 seconds to run another play”. Garrett, “well(in his head he’s thinking how dare you ? me), we were satisfied with our position on the field”.

Nice this post is both obtuse and anti-intellectual. I particularly like the assertion that Princeton graduates are bad decision makers.

Garrett repeatedly takes responsibility in the coaches meetings. After AoN this type of nonsense should have stopped. it should have been obvious that how he relates to the media is not how he relates to the team but now that you have the capability for seeing directly there is no excuse for this.

Protip: Jason Garrett is not accountable to you or the media. Get over yourself, you are inconsequential to the outcomes of games.

Excuses are for the pretenders

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Fattening up

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

The Boognish

The Boognish

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Junior College Transfer

Well-Known Member

Active Member

Well-Known Member

The Boognish