CFZ “Curses” aren’t what has been holding this team back

[Diehardblues]

Wow. Have you seen the SB winning teams that had Phil Simms, Jeff Hostetler, Doug Williams, Joe Thiessman, Jim McMahon, Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, Joe Flacco, Russell Wilson, and Nick Foles? About 1/5th of all SBs were won by pedestrian QBs.

Of course having an Elway or Brady or P. Manning or Mahomes is huge. But that alone isn’t enough.

No it’s not. But if 4/5 of SB’s are won with great QB’s that’s a decided advantage. The rest had great defenses with few exceptions.

We have had neither this era. Look at Hurts stat. Egirls have won 13 straight games against winning record teams in regular season. Some players have it on the bigger stages. Some don’t.

Culture is no doubt a problem here and big part of the problem. But we know when we have superior talent like in 1995 we can overcome our dysfunctional culture . Although our culture prob cost us another one.

While I suppose we should be grateful we stumbled on to Romo and Prescott this era with our Idiots in the skybox or we wouldn't have even been relevant but id sure liked to have seen if we would have had one of the Elite QB’s or defenses this era.

Which in our dysfunctional culture I think is what we needed. Who knows we might still have screwed up having an Elite QB or Defense. But I’d of liked our chances much better.

Do we have enough talent to win it all in our culture. I doubt it. Certainly not compared to some of the other top teams I see around the league. But I’d rather have Mahomes with our team than Andy Reid .

 

[gtb1943]

No it’s not. But if 4/5 of SB’s are won with great QB’s that’s a decided advantage. The rest had great defenses with few exceptions.

We have had neither this era. Look at Hurts stat. Egirls have won 13 straight games against winning record teams in regular season. Some players have it on the bigger stages. Some don’t.

Culture is no doubt a problem here and big part of the problem. But we know when we have superior talent like in 1995 we can overcome our dysfunctional culture . Although our culture prob cost us another one.

While I suppose we should be grateful we stumbled on to Romo and Prescott this era with our Idiots in the skybox or we wouldn't have even been relevant but id sure liked to have seen if we would have had one of the Elite QB’s or defenses this era.

Which in our dysfunctional culture I think is what we needed. Who knows we might still have screwed up having an Elite QB or Defense. But I’d of liked our chances much better.

Do we have enough talent to win it all in our culture. I doubt it. Certainly not compared to some of the other top teams I see around the league. But I’d rather have Mahomes with our team than Andy Reid .

IT is true that if you do not have an elite D you need an elite QB. Not sure any of the SB wins of the last 20 years do not fall into neither of those categories.
A good Qb and a good D will not win a SB.

 

[Diehardblues]

There’s nothing wrong with not having a great enough QB or team, defense , etc to have more success than we are having.

The bigger problem is this team has been hyped it is talented enough for more success. That’s something that simply can’t be substantiated.

We certainly haven’t illustrated we are better than some of these teams having more success than we are in head to head meetings or on the bigger stages.

 

[Whyjerry]

I see the Jones family as a curse so yes a curse is holding them back.

 

[Diehardblues]

Honestly, I can’t recall in recent years when I’ve seen Jethro happier. He has a team many think is good enough to win. That’s his goal.

Having a team great enough to win isn’t as much a top priority as having one that can be hyped it’s good enough.

In his mind he’s done enough. And maybe he’s right. That’s all that’s needed to meet his “ relative and interesting “ mandate.

Truthfully I’m surprised he’s put together a consistent playoff caliber team. Unfortunately I don’t think it’s enough to have much more success unless we upset one of these greater teams.

 

[75boyz]

No it’s not. But if 4/5 of SB’s are won with great QB’s that’s a decided advantage. The rest had great defenses with few exceptions.

We have had neither this era. Look at Hurts stat. Egirls have won 13 straight games against winning record teams in regular season. Some players have it on the bigger stages. Some don’t.

Culture is no doubt a problem here and big part of the problem. But we know when we have superior talent like in 1995 we can overcome our dysfunctional culture . Although our culture prob cost us another one.

While I suppose we should be grateful we stumbled on to Romo and Prescott this era with our Idiots in the skybox or we wouldn't have even been relevant but id sure liked to have seen if we would have had one of the Elite QB’s or defenses this era.

Which in our dysfunctional culture I think is what we needed. Who knows we might still have screwed up having an Elite QB or Defense. But I’d of liked our chances much better.

Do we have enough talent to win it all in our culture. I doubt it. Certainly not compared to some of the other top teams I see around the league. But I’d rather have Mahomes with our team than Andy Reid .

Excellent point. I've made it in the past as well.
The perfect storm happened for Jerry, that's all. And that is to say his "designed" Jerry Way of the 1995 model was his version of 500 coaches (Switzer)who could coach the triplets and THAT defense that Jimmy first assembled that Jerry still tries to take credit for.
The talent was so extreme they could actually win in spite of the coaching.

THAT has pretty much been the mindset or aka, culture of the Cowboy Ringmaster for near 3 decades now.

The problem is he just hasn't been able to assemble a team with an Aikman, Emmitt, Irvin, oline and that defense all together at one time like that again, lol.

PS. I am also a firm believer in the build around the elite QB formula for success vice the attempt at team building around a bus driver philosophy.

Good post.
 

 

[kskboys]

I’m not at all a superstitious person so I don’t believe in curses. Sure it would be great if the 28 year drought we‘ve had was all about Jerry not putting Jimmy in the ROH. But unfortunately our playoff drought is really more about roster building, decision making, culture, toughness, habits, and sadly not playing our best football during the playoffs. JJ and SJ of course are at the center of all that.

In fairness, Jerry and Stephen have certainly done some good things for which credit is due:

• The elevation of Will McClay a few years ago has made our drafts so much better and delivered a major influx of talent.
• The hiring of Mike McCarthy (who is light years better than Garrett), has so far delivered back to back 12 win seasons and playoff appearances, which hadn’t happened since the 90s.
• The team finally won a road playoff game for the first time in 30 years.

Those are all good and all worthy of the almighty “credit” JJ so desperately craves.

But the next hurdle this team has to clear isn’t about some mysterious curse. It’s about playing great against the better teams in the playoffs. For a multitude of reasons, we have not played our best football when it mattered most. Until THAT changes, we won’t be rescued by a ROH induction, although I’m certainly glad to see it finally happen.

The breaking of curses are fun to talk about in sports. But in reality, winning playoff games is 100% dependent on the team’s ability to play its best when the stakes are at its highest.

Oh, it's curses all right.

 

[Roadtrip635]

I think the Chargers have been cursed for decades, they have had several good to great teams and either failed to make the playoffs or lost in excruciating ways when they did make the playoffs. Kinda mind boggling actually.

 

[Runwildboys]

A lot of those guys were not pedestrian at all for their eras. I strongly disagree with your take here. The facts are that by far your best bet to win SBs is to get an elite QB.

Wilson is the only one out of the group I'd say was more than just "pedestrian", and that was only for a few years. None of the others were the "carry the team on their backs" type of players.

 

[Diehardblues]

One thing for sure , if we do finally break thru whether you’re superstitious or not Jimmy's induction will be seen as some sort of reckoning for Jethro and the Cowboys.

I think most in sports are superstitious to some extent. Jethro admitted he was . Players go to such extremes as wearing and or eating same thing for games days, etc. Really amazing some of the quirks those in sports take.

I’m not sure I’d go as far as to say a curse but no doubt Jethro’s “ socks to jocks” ways has been quite an obstacle to overcome. And if there was ever an owner who’s doomed or jinxed his franchise from having more success this might be the one . Lol

 

[Diehardblues]

Curses, tell Bill Buckner about there ain’t no curses

No doubt Red Sox . How about the Cubs . But yea , these intangible factors are something that looms over a franchise .

I think that we could build a strong argument Jethro has been a curse .

And not just in the normal way which could be argued but the fact of how he runs Cowboys Football is quite the obstacle or handicap to overcome . That’s a curse of a different feather.

 

[Diehardblues]

And to do that you need better, tougher players, and better tougher coaches. In a better tougher winning culture. Which requires a better owner, who will hire a better, tougher, smarter general manager.

Love your stuff, Bob. You've posted about the culture many times.

Our culture is a huge problem. It cost us one championship back in 1994. But we also overcame in 1995.

I’d argue the bigger problem is our ownership hasn’t built a great enough team for more success this era.

 

[Diehardblues]

We disagree on that Mac. There are loads of studies that show how important culture is for all organizations. You must have talent and lots of it. BUT - Talent alone is never enough.

About ten years ago, Bill Parcells wrote a great article for the Harvard Business Review about how important culture is to winning in football. It was called ”The Tough Work of Turning Around a Team”. Link: https://hbr.org/2000/11/the-tough-work-of-turning-around-a-team

There are lots of teams of sports team at all levels who had loads of talent but can’t win often enough with it.
Just a few examples:

• Texas A&M has had a top ten recruiting class 4 years in a row, including the #1 class in 2022, and haven’t won more than 8 games in that time. Tons of talent. Not enough wins.
• Univ of Texas- also tons of talent year after year. Usually top talent in the Big 12. They are doing very well this year at 10-1. But they haven’t won the Big 12 in over a decade despite having loads of talent. Several Texas players who used to play there say culture has been bad for years.
• The Washington Capitols in the NHL had THE best player in Alex Ovechkin for years, winning tons of regular season games only to falter in the playoffs. Poor team culture was often mentioned as a problem.
• 1980s NY Yankees- The Yankee teams of the 1980s were centered around Don Mattingly, Dave Winfield, Rickey Henderson, Steve Sax and Jesse Barfield. Most talented team in the league, hands down. HOFers galore and highest payroll. Never won a World Series.
• The 2004 Olympic “Dream Team”- had NBA superstars Tim Duncan, Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire, LeBron James, Allen Iverson, and Dwyane Wade. They finished 3rd. A lack of chemistry and culture was cited.

This list could go on and on. Talent is a must in order to win. We certainly agree on that. But the teams who win when it matters most have a lot more than talent.

Most of these are probably great examples. I don’t follow MLB and NHL closely so can’t address but I do follow College Football.

No doubt UT and A&M recruit very high but so does their top contenders like OU in Big 12 and Bama, LSU and Georgia in SEC.

In Big 12 Texas for several years even got out recruited by Baylor .

TCU recruited very high as well. They had 9 players drafted from their national semifinal team last year. Texas only had 4. In 2022 UT only had one.

The bigger factor is TX and A&M haven’t recruited a QB who became NFL starter caliber. Manziel was last for Ags. Young from UT. Cody has been a career backup .

Looks like UT has a couple QB’s now who will be NFL starting caliber. OU has had several in recent years and traditionally have most NFL players drafted in Big 12.

 

[KJJ]

If you listen to the conspiracy theorists here it’s the officiating that’s holding us back. There’s a lot Cowboys fans that truly believe that Roger Goodell and the league is out to get the Cowboys.

 

[Diehardblues]

If you listen to the conspiracy theorists here it’s the officiating that’s holding us back. There’s a lot Cowboys fans that truly believe that Roger Goodell and the league is out to get the Cowboys.

Right. The league has coerced to tank their most popular label. Cause that’s good for business. Lol

 

[Rayman70]

I’m not at all a superstitious person so I don’t believe in curses. Sure it would be great if the 28 year drought we‘ve had was all about Jerry not putting Jimmy in the ROH. But unfortunately our playoff drought is really more about roster building, decision making, culture, toughness, habits, and sadly not playing our best football during the playoffs. JJ and SJ of course are at the center of all that.

In fairness, Jerry and Stephen have certainly done some good things for which credit is due:

• The elevation of Will McClay a few years ago has made our drafts so much better and delivered a major influx of talent.
• The hiring of Mike McCarthy (who is light years better than Garrett), has so far delivered back to back 12 win seasons and playoff appearances, which hadn’t happened since the 90s.
• The team finally won a road playoff game for the first time in 30 years.

Those are all good and all worthy of the almighty “credit” JJ so desperately craves.

But the next hurdle this team has to clear isn’t about some mysterious curse. It’s about playing great against the better teams in the playoffs. For a multitude of reasons, we have not played our best football when it mattered most. Until THAT changes, we won’t be rescued by a ROH induction, although I’m certainly glad to see it finally happen.

The breaking of curses are fun to talk about in sports. But in reality, winning playoff games is 100% dependent on the team’s ability to play its best when the stakes are at its highest.

I agree with you. I dont have all the answers but I think whatever a curse entails, I think they are real. I think part of it is ones mindset. Sometimes I think Jerrys words almost curse this team, like speaking losing into existence. The Bible and many religious books talk about curses. They must be real I think. In order to break the curse, we must be of 1 mindset as a team. The start was getting Jimmy what he has earned. I believe doing the right things break curses, followed by mindset being right as a group. I feel this team is ascending right now. Mike McCarthy isnt getting near enough credit for it. He was the best hire that we could have made. A SB winning HC . The guy has the pulse of what it takes to win playoff games.

 

[Rayman70]

Right. The league has coerced to tank their most popular label. Cause that’s good for business. Lol

They despise Jerry.

 

[Rayman70]

After last night, the iggles are clearly the best team in the NFL. I still think we'll beat them at home, but we can forget about winning the NFCE

Eagles and Niners are dead even. Until we see it, I cant include us in that group.

 

[Rayman70]

If you listen to the conspiracy theorists here it’s the officiating that’s holding us back. There’s a lot Cowboys fans that truly believe that Roger Goodell and the league is out to get the Cowboys.

Curses, tell Bill Buckner about there ain’t no curses

Exactly. Curses manifest in many ways, either seen or unseen. According to religious texts.

 

[CCBoy]

I must confess, us Texans do a little disproportionate cursing...