The glorious 37-10 and 44-21 games, just what exactly happened?

trickamsterdam said:

Dak played hard, but Dak wants a contract.

I wouldn't underrate your point about waiting for a new coach, though. Jerry should've extended him one year. Never let a coach go into his last year (IMO).

If you end up having to fire him, just eat the last year, so what? Jerry was penny wise, pound foolish.

BTW, I would've fired Garrett before this year, I'm just saying, if you want to bring him back, don't put him in the position of being a lame duck coach. You're only screwing yourself. It's what Mickey Mouse organizations and owners do.

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Dak has and still does play hard.

Contract pending or not. The dude does not have quit in him. Period.

AmariChill said:

I think it has to do with motivation and mental preparation . Think about it. These blowout games followed 3 game losing streaks. It’s almost like our locker room needs external motivation to get up and play.

Doug Pederson basically told us that we were going to get our tails whooped and Dallas didn’t like that despite them saying they “don’t care about what Doug Pederson says”

Before the Rams game, not only did the betting line fall, but literally EVERYONE, including fans, were talking trash about them. Maybe that fired them up? I don’t know.


I guess the motivation could fall on coaching, but this team didn’t look mentally prepared in many games this season. In the latter half of the season, Dak looked like he didn’t give a crap. Zeke in the first half wasn’t that great. Defense can’t get turnovers. Doesn’t help that the coaching staff was reportedly fighting throughout the season. Football is a mental game as well, and we almost always fail in that category. Hopefully a new coach can implement a better motivation process/scheme than our current staff does.

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Dak "looked" like he didn't give a crap..........keep posting.

I think it's a clear case of mischief. Someone obviously disabled the transmit on JG's headset so he couldn't tell Moore what type of plays to call.

Red Dragon said:

There have been numerous criticisms - Garrett's conservatism, Dak's flaws, Zeke no longer running like a rookie after he got that fat contract, poor special teams play, Awuzie's flaws, Cooper's injuries, bad this bad that.

But - there were clearly two games where the Cowboys were outstanding. They thrashed the Eagles 37-10 and the Rams 44-21.

So, what exactly was it that made everything go right in those games, and how do the Cowboys capture that essence and put it in a bottle? Because it was the same Clapper Garrett, the same Dak, the same Zeke, the same everything. Everyone was the same flawed old self. So what did they do exactly that made them shine in those two games where they failed everywhere else?

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Our D sucked in some games where the O was playing well and vice versa. You need both sides playing well in the same game to be a playoff team. Our coaching sucked too for the most part.

Seven said:

So can a DE.
So can a LB.
So can a decent punter.
So can a Gunner on ST.
So can a half decent blocking TE.
There's a long list...........
QB, is on this long list.

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Are you talking about the Rams or the Cowboys? Because I was clearly referencing the Rams and their Bad Goff Day as to why we seemingly were able to do things right.

InTheZone said:

Are you talking about the Rams or the Cowboys? Because I was clearly referencing the Rams and their Bad Goff Day as to why we seemingly were able to do things right.

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I'm referring to any team in the league. Although I understood your post.

Alternative viewpoint from me:

Both Philly and LA played horrible games both those times and the Cowboys played well/took advantage early.

Eagles game if I remember started with a turnover, had a questionable call later in the game for another turnover (or maybe it should have been a turnover and we got bailed out). Either way, they played like hot garbage, gave the Cowboys short fields and the Cowboys played pretty well, so lopsided.

Goff was PITIFUL in the LA game. When he is on, their scheme is deadly, but when he is off (and it happens a bit too often to justify paying him 30 Mil), he ruins their entire scheme which requires accuracy on intermediate crossing routes. Add in that their OL is questionable at best and the defense is a shell of what it had been, that game was no contest.

I'm of the opinion that while the Cowboys can and should, with extremely strong coaching, hang with any team in the NFL, that the talent is a little overrated and has been since Amari Cooper got here last year. This is a playoff roster and should be better than it is, but since the offseason people just seemed to think that this was a shoe-in roster for the NFC Championship game, and I don't think I buy that. TBH, I still think the 2007 and 2014 squads are the most talented Cowboys rosters I've seen since I've really paid attention to the Cowboys (I was a child in the early 90s). This one is just ok.

The Bengals beat the Jets 22-6. Basically wiped the floor with them. The Jets beat the Cowboys. What special things happened in those games for the Bengals and Jets?

IMO, there is some statistical variation to games. Random tips of the ball, penalties, etc. can establish momentum that is hard to stop. Two or three plays can get things going in a direction that leads to a blowout.

The Cowboys won the turnover battle against the Eagles 4-1. Against the Rams, they had 4 penalties for 16 yards.

IMO, we all complain about the coaching staff but we almost undersell just how bad:
- The special teams hurts
- The lack of discipline leading to penalties hurts
- The lack of aggression leading to few turnovers hurts
You can be a pretty mediocre team but if you consistently win the turnover battle, don't get penalties and can actually make your kicks, your record will be better than Dallas.

As a last note, Dallas is built to play with a lead. Once they can either pound the ball or pass out of PA while the D-line can pin their ears back, they are going to look good and frequently turn a small lead into a big one. All season long Dallas started terribly and couldn't get its real game going.

Red Dragon said:

There have been numerous criticisms - Garrett's conservatism, Dak's flaws, Zeke no longer running like a rookie after he got that fat contract, poor special teams play, Awuzie's flaws, Cooper's injuries, bad this bad that.

But - there were clearly two games where the Cowboys were outstanding. They thrashed the Eagles 37-10 and the Rams 44-21.

So, what exactly was it that made everything go right in those games, and how do the Cowboys capture that essence and put it in a bottle? Because it was the same Clapper Garrett, the same Dak, the same Zeke, the same everything. Everyone was the same flawed old self. So what did they do exactly that made them shine in those two games where they failed everywhere else?

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They played as a team and Elliot was the lead and let Dak make some plays. Elliot has over 110 yards in both games.

External motivation. Philly just plain insulted DAL by their HC guaranteeing a win. LA was a revenge game that the players circled from it's announcement.

It's a long NFL season and a few times a year your best games coincide with their bad games. Dallas isn't 25 points better than those teams any more than they are worse than the Jets.

Red Dragon said:

There have been numerous criticisms - Garrett's conservatism, Dak's flaws, Zeke no longer running like a rookie after he got that fat contract, poor special teams play, Awuzie's flaws, Cooper's injuries, bad this bad that.

But - there were clearly two games where the Cowboys were outstanding. They thrashed the Eagles 37-10 and the Rams 44-21.

So, what exactly was it that made everything go right in those games, and how do the Cowboys capture that essence and put it in a bottle? Because it was the same Clapper Garrett, the same Dak, the same Zeke, the same everything. Everyone was the same flawed old self. So what did they do exactly that made them shine in those two games where they failed everywhere else?

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one factor is they got off to good starts in those games. The game of field position was always a losing battle for the Cowboys in 2019, it seemed we were always having long fields and the opponent short fields. Thats mostly our horrible special teams. In these games we got off to quick starts and it is always a good thing for any team but especially the 2019 Cowboys