The cumulative score this team has recently fallen behind in starts is 75-9

Bobhaze said:

Here’s a blatantly obvious “must fix” for this team: GETTING OFF TO A BETTER START, as opposed to falling behind double digits before seemingly waking up. What evidence do we have of the need for a faster start?

Well, the great Bob Sturm wrote an article this week in THE ATHLETIC called “The Morning After: After Ominous Cowboys Loss, Familiar Feelings of Mediocrity Creep In”. (I would link it but it’s a paid site) Sturm points out in the article how bad this team’s starts have been in their four losses, especially against good teams, and how this bad habit of needing to rally from behind every game is killing this team.

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  • The Saints jumped out to a halftime lead of 9-3
  • The Packers jumped on them for a 31-3 lead
  • The Jets amazingly were up 21-3 late in the first half
  • The Vikings had a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter

Adding up those cumulative scores in those games created an opponent lead of 75-9 before the Cowboys’ could finally wake up and rally. Wow. 75-9. Even with a Cowboys rally, they lost all four of those games.

If this team is ever going to turn this thing around, one simple fix for them is to stop with the horrible starts. Looking unprepared out of the gate is not a sign of a team that’s going anywhere. Let’s hope that is fixed soon or 2019 will become another wasted season.​

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CouchCoach said:

And you cannot examine these slow starts without considering execution and mistakes that alter the strategy. The talent on this team is overvalued and that includes this offense. They give most of the plays at TE to a drive extender, not a play maker. If Elliott's not hitting the hole, there is another option.

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TheCoolFan said:

That's why it makes no sense that Garrett would go for very long FG attempts early in the game like the last 2 weeks. Understand the situation...it's not an easy FG and if you miss, you're giving the other team great field position against a shaky defense that will struggle to defend a short field. You go for it or try to pin them inside the 15 and hope your defense can force a 3 and out to get you the ball back to try again.

Save the long FG attempts to when you really need them...not early in the 1st quarter.

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cowboy_ron said:

Garrett: we just have to do a better job.

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Bobhaze said:

Yes. That early FG miss exemplifies Garrett’s poor judgement as a HC. Instead of the FG, going for it at the opponent’s 40 would have been a better option.

According to Bob Sturm, Garrett is THE least likely NFL HC to go for it on 4th inside opponents territory. He will on occasion- like 14% of the time. Jerry the wildcatter somehow keeps the most conservative HC in football- go figure.

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Bobhaze said:

Great description of Witten at this point in his career. And as much as I respect Witten for his career, I’m saddened this organization even allowed him to come back. Yes he’s still “pretty good” but watching a HOFer be just “pretty good” is sad to me. Most of his snaps should be going to the younger guys. But this organization runs the team like a family reunion.

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CouchCoach said:

And you cannot examine these slow starts without considering execution and mistakes that alter the strategy. The talent on this team is overvalued and that includes this offense. They give most of the plays at TE to a drive extender, not a play maker. If Elliott's not hitting the hole, there is another option.

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Diehardblues said:

What’s sad is we really don’t have anyone better at TE. It’s not a position of strength for us.

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Bobhaze said:

• 
  
  
  • The Saints jumped out to a halftime lead of 9-3
  • The Packers jumped on them for a 31-3 lead
  • The Jets amazingly were up 21-3 late in the first half
  • The Vikings had a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter

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Big_D said:

Jarwin should still be seeing more than 1 target a game.

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OmerV said:

The funny thing is early in the season we had some fast starts, but of course, those were lesser teams. The offense still appears to be more than capable, but for whatever reason 2-3 possessions go by before they start clicking. Seems like it's avoidable things that derail us, like a penalty or sack that puts us in a long yardage situation.

Of course, the defense plays a part in this. We could much more easily survive a slow start on offense if the defense were holding up, but they are starting slow as well. In many games they never really inspire much confidence throughout.

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Typhus said:

I would say the issue lies fundamentally in preparing or actually installing a competitive scout team.
Everyone including myself is always going to point the finger at the coaches, and that's the correct direction, they coach and assemble and prepare for opponents.
This is the area where JG is fundamentally flawed,, I could care less about the clapping compulsion, he can clap all he wants if he had any ability or will or whatever the reason to actually review film, and be a student of the game.
I think its rather obvious that JG has never been an X,s and O,s kind of coach and that is the fundamental derailment of this team right now.
Great coaches know how to apply their strengths, the teams talent, and how to change the application weekly depending on the opponents strengths and weaknesses.
That's what makes a great coach,, and that's why Jason Garrett totally sucks.

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OmerV said:

I certainly don't disagree that coaching is an issue. I feel like discipline on the field has been an issue - penalties etc … and although the players themselves can't be absolved of any responsibility for their mistakes, that ultimately falls back on coaching as well.

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Bobhaze said:

Here’s a blatantly obvious “must fix” for this team: GETTING OFF TO A BETTER START, as opposed to falling behind double digits before seemingly waking up. What evidence do we have of the need for a faster start?

Well, the great Bob Sturm wrote an article this week in THE ATHLETIC called “The Morning After: After Ominous Cowboys Loss, Familiar Feelings of Mediocrity Creep In”. (I would link it but it’s a paid site) Sturm points out in the article how bad this team’s starts have been in their four losses, especially against good teams, and how this bad habit of needing to rally from behind every game is killing this team.

• 
  
  
  • The Saints jumped out to a halftime lead of 9-3
  • The Packers jumped on them for a 31-3 lead
  • The Jets amazingly were up 21-3 late in the first half
  • The Vikings had a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter

Adding up those cumulative scores in those games created an opponent lead of 75-9 before the Cowboys’ could finally wake up and rally. Wow. 75-9. Even with a Cowboys rally, they lost all four of those games.

If this team is ever going to turn this thing around, one simple fix for them is to stop with the horrible starts. Looking unprepared out of the gate is not a sign of a team that’s going anywhere. Let’s hope that is fixed soon or 2019 will become another wasted season.​

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CowboysFaninHouston said:

ok, you pointed out an obvious problem that everyone has discussed ad nauseum.....what's the solution? how do we get to faster starts? how do we stop the other team from scoring early on? give me realistic solutions. there is plenty of problem finders.

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Bobhaze said:

There is no one easy step solution. But I would start with 2 things:
1. being less predictable early.
2. Being more aggressive to start

You can get conservative with a two score lead in the 4th. But not to start the game.

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