Next season smells like a disaster

erod

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Brand new coaches. Now's probably a good time to change course with this roster, too.

It's ugly around here right now.

Cooper looks like a bad signing waiting to happen. Some teams are going to overpay for Byron Jones and Anthony Brown. Zeke looks noticeably slower and aging fast. Jaylon's contract was a woeful mistake. Quinn is probably gone. LVE looks like he's not long for the football world. Byron and Zack have back issues, which seldom get better. Frederick is still recovering from something only Vulcan's can pronounce. Dak isn't worth more than $25 million per year, if that. Safety and defensive tackle are still gaping holes. Tight end remains a big question. We don't even have a reliable punter and kicker.

Now, enter Jerry's band of re-tread coaches. Now at 20 and counting. Are we going to hire a left guard coach next? Do any of them know magic?

Next year smells bad. Like 7-9 bad. Even worse, the roster looks to be regressing and aging rapidly. The window may have already closed on this bunch.

So what now? Scheme can't fix this as much as some want. It's highly unlikely that there's a bag of plays and coverages that will fix what we witnessed last year. This team needs players, different ones, and a lot of them.

Or, somehow this franchise needs to start stockpiling picks and devise a way to build the next contender. You have to be aggressive because these days, rebuilds are three-year projects, not five. Free agency won't allow anything longer.

Yet, the Cowboys keep trying to play the middle. Not aggressive in free agency, and not aggressive in rebuilding. Just treading water.

There is no easy answer here. The Cowboys are between the rock and the proverbial hard place. Do they suffer the PR hit of deconstruction, or do they press on and dump untold millions on the likes of Dak, Cooper, Jones, Quinn, and the very necessary other free agents to make this work? They should choose the former, though they'll likely choose the latter. Jerry's days are dwindling.

We just witnessed perhaps the ugliest season in Cowboys history. Subtract the Rams game, and what exactly happened? They lost the most winnable NFC East in history. They basically blew bunny layups all year long after a 3-0 start.

It ain't good.
 

Avery

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erod

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It's bit early for that, isn't it? We won't be sniffing a Super Bowl next year but I do expect us to compete.
It's early, yes, but there are gaping questions everywhere on the roster. Too much to fix in one offseason.
 

ClappingCarrot

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This is quite the cringey overreaction thread, in my opinion.

The coaching staff that was previously in place put the entire team at an extreme handicap. We had the world's most stubborn Head Coach paired up with the world's most stubborn DC, which is a marriage of failure. We produced the NFL's best offense while also having the worst average starting field position. These guys can move the football and the OL just had their best season since 2016. Make adjustments to some situational/red-zone play calling and these guys will be balling. McCarthy saw that, which is why Nussmeier and Moore were retained.

The defense? I don't know we'll see. Talk to me after April.

The biggest change I see so far is that this group is far more open-minded and doesn't appear to be trying to force concepts and schemes on players. They seem to be saying all the right things us fans want to hear, and I'm happy with that at this point. I think the biggest challenge ahead of them is managing the egos that currently exist on this team that have been coddled and enabled for the past 10 years. Furthermore, will our owner and GM allow these coaches to hold them accountable?
 

Jake0

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It's good to be REALLY bad so that you can rebuild with blue chip talent. If things go south quick, start shipping out vets for picks, get younger and get more cap space. don't sign any long term bad deals tyrone crawford style. give young guys more playing time and wait your turn 49ers style. Look at their team now after being dog crap for so long. Constantly getting top 10 picks in the draft will make you great.

Jason Garrett destroyed 2 windows, the Romo window and the Dak rookie deal window. Oline is now super expensive. if the vets are breaking down, start retooling.
 

OmerV

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I disagree. I think we are just overreacting to a disappointing season. After all, if we don't believe a coaching change can help, then why were we all clamoring for a coaching change?

Sure there are concerns (there always are with every team), but there is still a lot of talent that can be utilized better than it was last year. I think it's premature to give up on Cooper and simply assume he can't play to the level we have seen from him before. As for the roster aging rapidly, it's still a young roster. Witten was the only offensive starter that had reached age 30, and I doubt he will be the starter again, and Lee was the only defensive starter that had reached age 30, and if LVE can play he won't start again.
 

starfan1

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Brand new coaches. Now's probably a good time to change course with this roster, too.

It's ugly around here right now.

Cooper looks like a bad signing waiting to happen. Some teams are going to overpay for Byron Jones and Anthony Brown. Zeke looks noticeably slower and aging fast. Jaylon's contract was a woeful mistake. Quinn is probably gone. LVE looks like he's not long for the football world. Byron and Zack have back issues, which seldom get better. Frederick is still recovering from something only Vulcan's can pronounce. Dak isn't worth more than $25 million per year, if that. Safety and defensive tackle are still gaping holes. Tight end remains a big question. We don't even have a reliable punter and kicker.

Now, enter Jerry's band of re-tread coaches. Now at 20 and counting. Are we going to hire a left guard coach next? Do any of them know magic?

Next year smells bad. Like 7-9 bad. Even worse, the roster looks to be regressing and aging rapidly. The window may have already closed on this bunch.

So what now? Scheme can't fix this as much as some want. It's highly unlikely that there's a bag of plays and coverages that will fix what we witnessed last year. This team needs players, different ones, and a lot of them.

Or, somehow this franchise needs to start stockpiling picks and devise a way to build the next contender. You have to be aggressive because these days, rebuilds are three-year projects, not five. Free agency won't allow anything longer.

Yet, the Cowboys keep trying to play the middle. Not aggressive in free agency, and not aggressive in rebuilding. Just treading water.

There is no easy answer here. The Cowboys are between the rock and the proverbial hard place. Do they suffer the PR hit of deconstruction, or do they press on and dump untold millions on the likes of Dak, Cooper, Jones, Quinn, and the very necessary other free agents to make this work? They should choose the former, though they'll likely choose the latter. Jerry's days are dwindling.

We just witnessed perhaps the ugliest season in Cowboys history. Subtract the Rams game, and what exactly happened? They lost the most winnable NFC East in history. They basically blew bunny layups all year long after a 3-0 start.

It ain't good.
arent you a breath of fresh air.
 

John813

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I don't see it that way.

Our oldest offensive lineman will be 30, and it's their best one in Martin.

Zeke will be 25, Dak 27(IIRC), Cooper 26 etc...
LVE(if healthy is 24, Smith 25, Lawrence 28 and so on.

Our core, you can debate the quality of it, is still quite young. I don't see a rapidly aging roster.

I can see a Wade Phillips style "rebound". New voices in this case, from Head to assistants could provide a positive spark. Especially now that's there's not 2+ voices on defense.
 
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