2024-2025 Season: Cowboy Myths

[ArtClink]

There are a lot of fan ideas on how to improve the team this season, esp after consecutive losses where we gave up huge chunks of running yards. I have read a lot of ideas, some good, some interesting, and some ridiculous. So, Id like to weigh in the form of my list of Cowboy myths for the current season.

1. A new head coach will make a huge difference, esp if it’s Bill Belichek - Parcells couldn’t win here and neither has McCarthy (winning means a deep playoff run, remember those?) and it comes down to Jerry’s micromanagement techniques and his continued undercutting of his head coach’s authority, making it very difficult to win. It’s fools gold to pretend Jerry is gonna sudden give Belichek or any other new head coach the power the other teams give their hc. Jerry is not changing, in fact it’s obvious he is digging his heels in deeper.
   
   
2. The salary cap is very difficult to manage, making it a huge obstacle to winning when it counts - How do the Chiefs continue to navigate the salary cap and still make it to 5 consecutive AFC Championship games? How have the 49ers made 4 consecutive NFC Championship games? Unfortunately, while the Jones boys complain about it, the elite teams are saying “hold my beer”. Perhaps there is a fraction of hope that the Jones boys can learn new salary cap tricks, but color me pessimistic. Jerry has been mismanaging the cap for decades, kicking the can down the road for various players that he really likes.
   
   
3. Jerry has ceded considerable GM responsibilities to Stephen - Based on recent interviews as well as other observations, there is no evidence this is happening. In fact, Jerry’s recent interviews indicate he is upset that anyone would question is total control over this team. Whether it’s Jerry or Stephen, they don’t inspire confidence in their GM abilities.
   
   
4. Zimmer can fix this defense - We simply don’t have the personnel to win this year and it’s evident that Jerry won’t spend any money since he spent very little in the off-season when he knew how many players we were losing. This is the most frustrating part to me, followed by our trash heap RB group. Perhaps Jerry will orchestrate a big trade before the deadline but he has been crowing for weeks about how happy he is with our D line and our RBs.
   
   
5. It’s all Dak’s fault for taking a deal that the market says he’s worth, rather than offer a home town discount for a team 28 seasons removed from their last conference championship appearance. Every fan on this forum would take the highest offer, esp since Dak and every other NFL player is risking their long term health to play. Fans act like other QBs aren’t getting overpaid. Don’t resent Dak that we have two village idiots managing every facet of this team including the salary cap. How many players going all the way back to Deon Sanders got a deal that Jerry was still paying for several years after the player retired?

Hopefully the coaching staff will get the most they can with these players as that seems to be our only hope this season.

An NFL GM must be a cold hearted SOB to make the tough decisions to constantly improve the roster. But Jerry gets too attached to select players and they get deals that hurt the team down the road.

 

[batman36]

Good read, good post.

 

[Bobhaze]

Excellent points all.

I would add a couple more myths that burden the thinking of all of us who are Cowboys fans:

• Myth: an 82 year old NFL owner in the modern NFL is capable of successfully producing a roster and coaching staff that can be a champion. That’s clearly false. The winning owners of the last 28 SBs all hired someone else to be their GM. It’s been nearly 29 years since that has happened. He can’t do it. Doesn’t matter who the HC is or if Patrick Mahomes were QB.
• Myth: Monetary value = success. To us fans, value is in the end, measured on the field, not in how much the team is worth.

 

[ArtClink]

Excellent points all.

I would add a couple more myths that burden the thinking of all of us who are Cowboys fans:

• Myth: an 82 year old NFL owner in the modern NFL is capable of successfully producing a roster and coaching staff that can be a champion. That’s clearly false. The winning owners of the last 28 SBs It’s been nearly 29 years since that has happened. He can’t do it. Doesn’t matter who the HC is or if Patrick Mahomes were QB.
• Myth: Monetary value = success. To us fans, value is in the end, is measured on the field, not in how much the team is worth.

Great points Hazey!!

 

[RS12]

All in isn't a myth?

 

[gtb1943]

Jethro brought in BP to make the franchise worth more; not win a SB
and he had to give up way too much control; he said afterwards he would never do it again

I notice the usual suspects who claimed he was pretty much a figurehead are SILENT

 

[ArtClink]

All in isn't a myth?

Good point. I forgot about that one!

 

[ArtClink]

Jethro brought in BP to make the franchise worth more; not win a SB
and he had to give up way too much control; he said afterwards he would never do it again

I notice the usual suspects who claimed he was pretty much a figurehead are SILENT

Yeah Parcells was brought in to get the new stadium vote from Arlington citizens. How glorious would it have been to see the Cowboys return to play in The Cotton Bowl where the franchise started out in 1960.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

There are a lot of fan ideas on how to improve the team this season, esp after consecutive losses where we gave up huge chunks of running yards. I have read a lot of ideas, some good, some interesting, and some ridiculous. So, Id like to weigh in the form of my list of Cowboy myths for the current season.

1. A new head coach will make a huge difference, esp if it’s Bill Belichek - Parcells couldn’t win here and neither has McCarthy (winning means a deep playoff run, remember those?) and it comes down to Jerry’s micromanagement techniques and his continued undercutting of his head coach’s authority, making it very difficult to win. It’s fools gold to pretend Jerry is gonna sudden give Belichek or any other new head coach the power the other teams give their hc. Jerry is not changing, in fact it’s obvious he is digging his heels in deeper.
   
   
2. The salary cap is very difficult to manage, making it a huge obstacle to winning when it counts - How do the Chiefs continue to navigate the salary cap and still make it to 5 consecutive AFC Championship games? How have the 49ers made 4 consecutive NFC Championship games? Unfortunately, while the Jones boys complain about it, the elite teams are saying “hold my beer”. Perhaps there is a fraction of hope that the Jones boys can learn new salary cap tricks, but color me pessimistic. Jerry has been mismanaging the cap for decades, kicking the can down the road for various players that he really likes.
   
   
3. Jerry has ceded considerable GM responsibilities to Stephen - Based on recent interviews as well as other observations, there is no evidence this is happening. In fact, Jerry’s recent interviews indicate he is upset that anyone would question is total control over this team. Whether it’s Jerry or Stephen, they don’t inspire confidence in their GM abilities.
   
   
4. Zimmer can fix this defense - We simply don’t have the personnel to win this year and it’s evident that Jerry won’t spend any money since he spent very little in the off-season when he knew how many players we were losing. This is the most frustrating part to me, followed by our trash heap RB group. Perhaps Jerry will orchestrate a big trade before the deadline but he has been crowing for weeks about how happy he is with our D line and our RBs.
   
   
5. It’s all Dak’s fault for taking a deal that the market says he’s worth, rather than offer a home town discount for a team 28 seasons removed from their last conference championship appearance. Every fan on this forum would take the highest offer, esp since Dak and every other NFL player is risking their long term health to play. Fans act like other QBs aren’t getting overpaid. Don’t resent Dak that we have two village idiots managing every facet of this team including the salary cap. How many players going all the way back to Deon Sanders got a deal that Jerry was still paying for several years after the player retired?

Hopefully the coaching staff will get the most they can with these players as that seems to be our only hope this season.

An NFL GM must be a cold hearted SOB to make the tough decisions to constantly improve the roster. But Jerry gets too attached to select players and they get deals that hurt the team down the road.

Jerry did give Parcells the reins to run the team and change the culture. for one year, then he started to meddle in. if bilicheck comes, it will be the same. this is shades of the past where people were calling for Jerry's head and he had to fade into background, then he meddled, brought in TO and the rest is history.

Salary cap is managable. there are 32 teams. 2 make it to superbowl every year. everyone follows the same rule. the question is how good are you at managing it. are you going to sign a 4 year contract 5 minutes before a game? is that how you manage it? wait until you get to training camp? or are you going to do it the right way, so that you can sign FAs. its obvious Jerry and Stephen absolutley don't care and they are one of the least cash spending team in the league..

Jerry hasn't conceded anything. stephen is responsible for negotiations and cap management and his style is to low ball, wait until the end, then sign. Jerry loves it because it keep cowboys in the news. Jerry is the GM and involved and he is the face of the cowboys. his way. stephen's way have made this franchise the most valuable in any sports anywhere.

zimmer can't fix this defense. we don't have the DTs that can hold the LOS. they get pushed back. we lead the league in yards before contact. almost 5 yards. holy cow!!! let that sink in.

and lets say Dak offers a discount. how much discount? 10M? take 50M average instead of 60...is 10M going to fix this team? really? is that all that ails the cowboys? 10M gets us to other average players. it won't get a super star...and even if he took 40M deal. that would net one super star FA. is that going to take this defense from the worst in the league to the best in the league? and its not about cap issue as cap space can be created, if you want to. the fact is the cowboys don't want to. am I advocating Dak deserves that deal. absolutley not..... but its the market, there are now 9 QBs that make 52M and more and its about to go way higher. it happened 4 years ago and its going to happen again.

 

[birdwells1]

There are a lot of fan ideas on how to improve the team this season, esp after consecutive losses where we gave up huge chunks of running yards. I have read a lot of ideas, some good, some interesting, and some ridiculous. So, Id like to weigh in the form of my list of Cowboy myths for the current season.

1. A new head coach will make a huge difference, esp if it’s Bill Belichek - Parcells couldn’t win here and neither has McCarthy (winning means a deep playoff run, remember those?) and it comes down to Jerry’s micromanagement techniques and his continued undercutting of his head coach’s authority, making it very difficult to win. It’s fools gold to pretend Jerry is gonna sudden give Belichek or any other new head coach the power the other teams give their hc. Jerry is not changing, in fact it’s obvious he is digging his heels in deeper.
   
   
2. The salary cap is very difficult to manage, making it a huge obstacle to winning when it counts - How do the Chiefs continue to navigate the salary cap and still make it to 5 consecutive AFC Championship games? How have the 49ers made 4 consecutive NFC Championship games? Unfortunately, while the Jones boys complain about it, the elite teams are saying “hold my beer”. Perhaps there is a fraction of hope that the Jones boys can learn new salary cap tricks, but color me pessimistic. Jerry has been mismanaging the cap for decades, kicking the can down the road for various players that he really likes.
   
   
3. Jerry has ceded considerable GM responsibilities to Stephen - Based on recent interviews as well as other observations, there is no evidence this is happening. In fact, Jerry’s recent interviews indicate he is upset that anyone would question is total control over this team. Whether it’s Jerry or Stephen, they don’t inspire confidence in their GM abilities.
   
   
4. Zimmer can fix this defense - We simply don’t have the personnel to win this year and it’s evident that Jerry won’t spend any money since he spent very little in the off-season when he knew how many players we were losing. This is the most frustrating part to me, followed by our trash heap RB group. Perhaps Jerry will orchestrate a big trade before the deadline but he has been crowing for weeks about how happy he is with our D line and our RBs.
   
   
5. It’s all Dak’s fault for taking a deal that the market says he’s worth, rather than offer a home town discount for a team 28 seasons removed from their last conference championship appearance. Every fan on this forum would take the highest offer, esp since Dak and every other NFL player is risking their long term health to play. Fans act like other QBs aren’t getting overpaid. Don’t resent Dak that we have two village idiots managing every facet of this team including the salary cap. How many players going all the way back to Deon Sanders got a deal that Jerry was still paying for several years after the player retired?

Hopefully the coaching staff will get the most they can with these players as that seems to be our only hope this season.

An NFL GM must be a cold hearted SOB to make the tough decisions to constantly improve the roster. But Jerry gets too attached to select players and they get deals that hurt the team down the road.

Best post on here in years!!!!!

Most people blame player and/or coaches, I think it's that way because they'd rather go that route vs saying the Joneses are the problem. If they say the Joneses are the problem that means that we are in owner/gm,VPO hell where there's no answer. Thanks for speaking the truth.

 

[birdwells1]

Jethro brought in BP to make the franchise worth more; not win a SB
and he had to give up way too much control; he said afterwards he would never do it again

I notice the usual suspects who claimed he was pretty much a figurehead are SILENT

He brought in Parcells to get the new stadium bill passed.

 

[birdwells1]

Jerry did give Parcells the reins to run the team and change the culture. for one year, then he started to meddle in. if bilicheck comes, it will be the same. this is shades of the past where people were calling for Jerry's head and he had to fade into background, then he meddled, brought in TO and the rest is history.

Salary cap is managable. there are 32 teams. 2 make it to superbowl every year. everyone follows the same rule. the question is how good are you at managing it. are you going to sign a 4 year contract 5 minutes before a game? is that how you manage it? wait until you get to training camp? or are you going to do it the right way, so that you can sign FAs. its obvious Jerry and Stephen absolutley don't care and they are one of the least cash spending team in the league..

Jerry hasn't conceded anything. stephen is responsible for negotiations and cap management and his style is to low ball, wait until the end, then sign. Jerry loves it because it keep cowboys in the news. Jerry is the GM and involved and he is the face of the cowboys. his way. stephen's way have made this franchise the most valuable in any sports anywhere.

zimmer can't fix this defense. we don't have the DTs that can hold the LOS. they get pushed back. we lead the league in yards before contact. almost 5 yards. holy cow!!! let that sink in.

and lets say Dak offers a discount. how much discount? 10M? take 50M average instead of 60...is 10M going to fix this team? really? is that all that ails the cowboys? 10M gets us to other average players. it won't get a super star...and even if he took 40M deal. that would net one super star FA. is that going to take this defense from the worst in the league to the best in the league? and its not about cap issue as cap space can be created, if you want to. the fact is the cowboys don't want to. am I advocating Dak deserves that deal. absolutley not..... but its the market, there are now 9 QBs that make 52M and more and its about to go way higher. it happened 4 years ago and its going to happen again.

They haven't signed a premium Free agent since Brandon Carr in 2012, so why take a discount if they've proven that they won't spend on outside FAs.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

They haven't signed a premium Free agent since Brandon Carr in 2012, so why take a discount if they've proven that they won't spend on outside FAs.

that's my point. last year we had money on the cap. the year before we had money on the cap. the year before that we had money on the cap....they just choose not to spend it and go after big name FAs.

 

[Flamma]

Zimmer can fix this defense - We simply don’t have the personnel to win this year and it’s evident that Jerry won’t spend any money since he spent very little in the off-season when he knew how many players we were losing. This is the most frustrating part to me, followed by our trash heap RB group. Perhaps Jerry will orchestrate a big trade before the deadline but he has been crowing for weeks about how happy he is with our D line and our RBs.

This is unfortunately true. Maybe not. But most likely. Derek Carr only threw 16 passes. Lamar Jackson only threw 15 passes. That's how bad our Run D is. This is 1960s crap. If Daniel Jones don't have the throw the ball more than 15-16 times, we'll lose to the Giants too.

 

[john van brocklin]

There are a lot of fan ideas on how to improve the team this season, esp after consecutive losses where we gave up huge chunks of running yards. I have read a lot of ideas, some good, some interesting, and some ridiculous. So, Id like to weigh in the form of my list of Cowboy myths for the current season.

1. A new head coach will make a huge difference, esp if it’s Bill Belichek - Parcells couldn’t win here and neither has McCarthy (winning means a deep playoff run, remember those?) and it comes down to Jerry’s micromanagement techniques and his continued undercutting of his head coach’s authority, making it very difficult to win. It’s fools gold to pretend Jerry is gonna sudden give Belichek or any other new head coach the power the other teams give their hc. Jerry is not changing, in fact it’s obvious he is digging his heels in deeper.
   
   
2. The salary cap is very difficult to manage, making it a huge obstacle to winning when it counts - How do the Chiefs continue to navigate the salary cap and still make it to 5 consecutive AFC Championship games? How have the 49ers made 4 consecutive NFC Championship games? Unfortunately, while the Jones boys complain about it, the elite teams are saying “hold my beer”. Perhaps there is a fraction of hope that the Jones boys can learn new salary cap tricks, but color me pessimistic. Jerry has been mismanaging the cap for decades, kicking the can down the road for various players that he really likes.
   
   
3. Jerry has ceded considerable GM responsibilities to Stephen - Based on recent interviews as well as other observations, there is no evidence this is happening. In fact, Jerry’s recent interviews indicate he is upset that anyone would question is total control over this team. Whether it’s Jerry or Stephen, they don’t inspire confidence in their GM abilities.
   
   
4. Zimmer can fix this defense - We simply don’t have the personnel to win this year and it’s evident that Jerry won’t spend any money since he spent very little in the off-season when he knew how many players we were losing. This is the most frustrating part to me, followed by our trash heap RB group. Perhaps Jerry will orchestrate a big trade before the deadline but he has been crowing for weeks about how happy he is with our D line and our RBs.
   
   
5. It’s all Dak’s fault for taking a deal that the market says he’s worth, rather than offer a home town discount for a team 28 seasons removed from their last conference championship appearance. Every fan on this forum would take the highest offer, esp since Dak and every other NFL player is risking their long term health to play. Fans act like other QBs aren’t getting overpaid. Don’t resent Dak that we have two village idiots managing every facet of this team including the salary cap. How many players going all the way back to Deon Sanders got a deal that Jerry was still paying for several years after the player retired?

Hopefully the coaching staff will get the most they can with these players as that seems to be our only hope this season.

An NFL GM must be a cold hearted SOB to make the tough decisions to constantly improve the roster. But Jerry gets too attached to select players and they get deals that hurt the team down the road.

Until Jerry steps down, this team will have no meaningful success.
He has set up a toxic culture of no accountability.
It's really that simple.

 

[Mikexike]

Great post!

Has MM found the rooted problem of this losing streak? or is he still bought into all in?

 

[Mikexike]

This is unfortunately true. Maybe not. But most likely. Derek Carr only threw 16 passes. Lamar Jackson only threw 15 passes. That's how bad our Run D is. This is 1960s crap. If Daniel Jones don't have the throw the ball more than 15-16 times, we'll lose to the Giants too.

I'd like to see the excuse if we lose to the Giants.

Most likely it will be because of the short week.

TBD

 

[ArtClink]

This is unfortunately true. Maybe not. But most likely. Derek Carr only threw 16 passes. Lamar Jackson only threw 15 passes. That's how bad our Run D is. This is 1960s crap. If Daniel Jones don't have the throw the ball more than 15-16 times, we'll lose to the Giants too.

Agreed. They haven’t fixed the run defense the past 28 seasons.

 

[ArtClink]

Until Jerry steps down, this team will have no meaningful success.
He has set up a toxic culture of no accountability.
It's really that simple.

I agree 100%. Why our owner refuses to fix a broken foundation is beyond selfish.

 

[ArtClink]

Best post on here in years!!!!!

Most people blame player and/or coaches, I think it's that way because they'd rather go that route vs saying the Joneses are the problem. If they say the Joneses are the problem that means that we are in owner/gm,VPO hell where there's no answer. Thanks for speaking the truth.

Thank you. I don’t like the way things are but it still amazes me that Jerry would rather be the face of the franchise rather than be in the shadows like 31 other owners and GMs and actually win meaningful playoff games. After almost 30 years of the same failed model, Jerry continues to give the fans the finger as he defiantly micromanages the team to another subpar season. After 28 seasons, all that matters is reaching the nfc championship game and I will continue to measure the Cowboys exclusively by deep playoff runs because up until 28 years ago, we were the gold standard of franchises.