CFZ A Dose of Reality

[john van brocklin]

January 2019 Divisional Playoffs:
Prescott, 20-32, 1 TD, 0 INT, 266 yards | 84.4 rating
Goff, 15-28, 0 TD, 0 INT, 186 yards | 74.4 rating

Rams out rushed Cowboys 273 to 50

Thanks, the Rams game was decent, but I would not call it great.

 

[rambo2]

January 2019 Divisional Playoffs:
Prescott, 20-32, 1 TD, 0 INT, 266 yards | 84.4 rating
Goff, 15-28, 0 TD, 0 INT, 186 yards | 74.4 rating

Rams out rushed Cowboys 273 to 50

Also, the Cowboys played that game with 3 defensive linemen that needed surgery.

 

[Praxit]

..Reality, did you spice that Eggnog tonight?
..you know what happens when you do.

 

[T-RO]

Thanks, the Rams game was decent, but I would not call it great.

It was as good or better than Goff, and as mentioned above Dak played just as well as Rodgers in the GB playoff game.

 

[john van brocklin]

It was as good or better than Goff, and as mentioned above Dak played just as well as Rodgers in the GB playoff game.

Yes he did.
Think the haters are in the what have done for me lately mode.

 

[T-RO]

Yes he did.
Think the haters are in the what have done for me lately mode.

I suppose the "haters" have different reasons, just like the Romo "haters" had different reasons.

Some of the reasons I suspect:
-Unrealistic expectations ("he should play like an all pro every game" or "we can't win a Super Bowl if Dak isn't top three")
-Grudges about how things played out with Romo (there were good arguments why both should have started that one year)
-Notions that the QB should be blamed if the team doesn't win Super bowl (I view as usually unfair)
-Some valid criticisms that perhaps get overly emphasized
-Other things, some best not discussed

 

[john van brocklin]

I suppose the "haters" have different reasons, just like the Romo "haters" had different reasons.

Some of the reasons I suspect:
-Unrealistic expectations ("he should play like an all pro every game" or "we can't win a Super Bowl if Dak isn't top three")
-Grudges about how things played out with Romo (there were good arguments why both should have started that one year)
-Notions that the QB should be blamed if the team doesn't win Super bowl (I view as usually unfair)
-Some valid criticisms that perhaps get overly emphasized
-Other things, some best not discussed

Agreed

 

[Reid1boys]

Sorry I cannot agree with this. There are many great players who never won a championship because they landed on the wrong team. This aint basketball. One guy can only do so much.. A QB is standing on the sidelines for 2/3 of the game so this insistence on putting it all on him is misguided at best. I know it's easy to say "___ QB has ___ record" but it is ALWAYS about the team.. Always has been.. always will be. Yes the QB is in position to influence the game the most of any single player.. But again.. he's standing on the sidelines for 2/3 of the game and there are 47 other players suited up for the game. We really need to move away from that whole QB record thing. I know it will never happen.. but it needs to.

cmon..... look at the afc. Burrow, Allen, Mahomes. Is there ANY doubt those are the 3 best QBs in the afc? Is there any doubt those are the 3 best teams in the afc? Do you really think the CHIEFS are any better than those teams in the afc? But they have a special player in Mahomes. They have been to teo of the last 4 SBs and 4 straight afc title games for 1 reason and 1 reason only and it aint the coaches, it aint the play calling , and it aint the players surrounding Mahomes.... it is Mahomes. Burrow is why they wre ein the SB last year and he is why they have won 6 or whatever in a row...... QB is where it is at in the nFL... FACTS. You think the Bengals are really that special?

 

[T-RO]

Two food-for-thought questions:

-Did Elway only "become a winner" at the end of his career, when the Broncos won the Super Bowl? Many would say that was in truth one of John's worst playoff games, going 12-22 for only 123 yards. He was a loser or a choker until then, but then after that very mediocre game he was suddenly "a winner?"

-Jim Kelly would have been a winner had Scott Norwood's last-second field goal not drifted "wide right" in Super Bowl XXV? But he's a choker, or less than all-time great because of the Bills kicker?

 

[T-RO]

it aint the coaches, it aint the play calling , and it aint the players surrounding Mahomes....

Yeah, I guess playing under soon to be first-ballot hall-of-fame Andy Reid, and alongside future Hall-of-famers Kelce and Tyreek Hill had absolutely nothing to do with Mahomes one super bowl ring.

 

[Reality]

Two food-for-thought questions:

-Did Elway only "become a winner" at the end of his career, when the Broncos won the Super Bowl? Many would say that was in truth one of John's worst playoff games, going 12-22 for only 123 yards. He was a loser or a choker until then, but then after that very mediocre game he was suddenly "a winner?"

-Jim Kelly would have been a winner had Scott Norwood's last-second field goal not drifted "wide right" in Super Bowl XXV? But he's a choker, or less than all-time great because of the Bills kicker?

Both of those quarterbacks won conference “championships” even before and without winning Super Bowls so absolutely.

 

[T-RO]

Both of those quarterbacks won conference “championships” even before and without winning Super Bowls so absolutely.

OK...I based my questions on the typical Super-Bowl standard many use...and in part by your statement in your OP,

I would love for Prescott and the Cowboys to win a Super Bowl this season, but until that happens some fans are not going to be happy and it's hard to blame them .. especially when I am one of them.

So you are clarifying your position...winning an NFC championship is the bar that would make Dak "a winner"?

 

[visionary]

You can say a lot of things about Prescott, but one thing that is hard to ignore is his record against NFC East teams.

In his career, Prescott is 27-6 against the NFC East during the regular season including being 18-1 in his last 19 games against them.

Unfortunately, that means little in the playoffs because the Cowboys keep finding ways to disappoint everyone when the playoffs start.

The fact that his record has been that impressive against NFC East teams combined with hardly any playoff success is why some fans are not fans of Prescott.

I know it feels good feeling some sort of vindication against the Dak haters when the Cowboys and Prescott win games like the one today, but it is what we have come to expect during the regular season.

I want badly for the Cowboys to win a Super Bowl and it would be great to see Dak Prescott lead the team to winning one, but until he and the Cowboys break the the pattern of post-season failures nothing has changed.

Like most Cowboys fans, the negativity wears on me like it wears on everyone else, but so does the frustration of the same failures occurring year after year.

Maybe this year will be THE year or maybe it will be yet another great regular season that ends quickly in the post-season like we have endured for 27 years with a variety of quarterbacks including Romo and Prescott.

Dak is a great guy and the kind of guy you want to be your quarterback and lead your team.

What he is not yet is a real "winner". Winners win championships, not divisions or wildcards as those just the things that get you into the real games.

I would love for Prescott and the Cowboys to win a Super Bowl this season, but until that happens some fans are not going to be happy and it's hard to blame them .. especially when I am one of them.

Well said
After all the coaching and personnel changes and the number of years starting on a top team, and the elite QB money he got, Dak will need to at least get to a SB

 

[Blackrain]

Sorry I cannot agree with this. There are many great players who never won a championship because they landed on the wrong team. This aint basketball. One guy can only do so much.. A QB is standing on the sidelines for 2/3 of the game so this insistence on putting it all on him is misguided at best. I know it's easy to say "___ QB has ___ record" but it is ALWAYS about the team.. Always has been.. always will be. Yes the QB is in position to influence the game the most of any single player.. But again.. he's standing on the sidelines for 2/3 of the game and there are 47 other players suited up for the game. We really need to move away from that whole QB record thing. I know it will never happen.. but it needs to.

Yes I agree it is a team game but there are certain times in certain games when a quarterback holds all the keys to the kingdom.

Yesterday was a perfect example Dak played an incredible game used all the tools in his box to get us in a position to win but almost blew the game mentally by going out of bounds and not sliding and staying in to run the clock out and then taking a sack and not throwing the ball out of the end zone.

A touchdown on that last drive would pretty much have sealed that game

These kind of mental lapses are the difference between tremendous athletes and quarterbacks who win championships.

Dak as remarkably as he played athletically did not have his head in the game at the end and if Jalen hurts was playing we could have very well lost that game because he left way too much time on the clock.

 

[kramskoi]

You can say a lot of things about Prescott, but one thing that is hard to ignore is his record against NFC East teams.

In his career, Prescott is 27-6 against the NFC East during the regular season including being 18-1 in his last 19 games against them.

Unfortunately, that means little in the playoffs because the Cowboys keep finding ways to disappoint everyone when the playoffs start.

The fact that his record has been that impressive against NFC East teams combined with hardly any playoff success is why some fans are not fans of Prescott.

I know it feels good feeling some sort of vindication against the Dak haters when the Cowboys and Prescott win games like the one today, but it is what we have come to expect during the regular season.

I want badly for the Cowboys to win a Super Bowl and it would be great to see Dak Prescott lead the team to winning one, but until he and the Cowboys break the the pattern of post-season failures nothing has changed.

Like most Cowboys fans, the negativity wears on me like it wears on everyone else, but so does the frustration of the same failures occurring year after year.

Maybe this year will be THE year or maybe it will be yet another great regular season that ends quickly in the post-season like we have endured for 27 years with a variety of quarterbacks including Romo and Prescott.

Dak is a great guy and the kind of guy you want to be your quarterback and lead your team.

What he is not yet is a real "winner". Winners win championships, not divisions or wildcards as those just the things that get you into the real games.

I would love for Prescott and the Cowboys to win a Super Bowl this season, but until that happens some fans are not going to be happy and it's hard to blame them .. especially when I am one of them.

Well guess which team you are going to see in the divisional round if all the top seeds win wildcard weekend? Regardless of Prescott's current NFC East record, this Philadelphia team is NOT the team they beat brakes off in the final game of last year. And it's about to get even better after next year's draft (two first round draft picks).

I've seen a bit too many people not respecting how good they are but what happened Saturday should give you a sobering warning that they won't be easily beaten at home in the playoffs. It took a +3 turnover differential for Dallas to get it done AT HOME.

 

[kramskoi]

Yes I agree it is a team game but there are certain times in certain games when a quarterback holds all the keys to the kingdom.

Yesterday was a perfect example Dak played an incredible game used all the tools in his box to get us in a position to win but almost blew the game mentally by going out of bounds and not sliding and staying in to run the clock out and then taking a sack and not throwing the ball out of the end zone.

A touchdown on that last drive would pretty much have sealed that game

These kind of mental lapses are the difference between tremendous athletes and quarterbacks who win championships.

Dak as remarkably as he played athletically did not have his head in the game at the end and if Jalen hurts was playing we could have very well lost that game because he left way too much time on the clock.

I put this on Kellen Moore and McCarthy more than Prescott. Crap like him dialing up verticals without underneath routes is one reason why I will never trust him in any game going forward.

McCarthy should be the first one letting it be known that they are going to run the ball, kill the clock and force time outs by the opponent. TWICE they didn't do it near the end of the fourth quarter. Did Prescott have a brain freeze going out of bounds? Yes, but I need my head coach to take control of this sh## when the rubber meets the road. You want to be aggressive...but not stupid.

 

[nobody]

They're down four starters for one.. Hankins, LVE, Brown and Lewis and both Lawrence and Parsons are wearing down. I'd half like to see both of them sit out these last two games..

Only half-like to? I'd fully like to sit some defenders starting now to get them healthy for when it actually matters in the playoffs. The last two games don't matter enough to keep wearing them down. I'd say the same about Dak and some of the O-linemen. When the playoffs hit, by that the the O-line is usually porous from exhaustion. If we rest them however, we don't want to risk Dak under center.

The only hesitation I have to that is that this team seems to generally suck after time off rather than come back rested and prepared to kick tail. Other teams do well after the bye. The Cowboys is more of a "toss a coin to see which Cowboys you get"

 

[kramskoi]

Only half-like to? I'd fully like to sit some defenders starting now to get them healthy for when it actually matters in the playoffs. The last two games don't matter enough to keep wearing them down. I'd say the same about Dak and some of the O-linemen. When the playoffs hit, by that the the O-line is usually porous from exhaustion. If we rest them however, we don't want to risk Dak under center.

The only hesitation I have to that is that this team seems to generally suck after time off rather than come back rested and prepared to kick tail. Other teams do well after the bye. The Cowboys is more of a "toss a coin to see which Cowboys you get"

You can't sit them until Philly wraps up the division. And in the worst case scenario you might have to play them at Washington if the Eagles somehow lose to New Orleans. Can't ignore a first round bye and better playoff seeding.

 

[buybuydandavis]

I have problems with the concept that winners win championships being used against a QB. One player cannot get that done in a game that depends heavily on team play. When we haven't been good enough, that can't be all laid at the QB's feet. Sometimes none of it should be laid at the QB's feet. Sometimes some of it should.

I'd argue, for example, that Romo played well enough for us to beat Green Bay in 2014, but other aspects of the team were not good enough. Who knows what would have happened if we had gotten by the Packers? Is it Romo's fault that Murray fumbled? Is it Romo's fault that Bryant's catch was ruled an incompletion because he didn't complete the process? Is it Romo's fault that the defense couldn't hold a lead?

These same things apply to Dak. If we had lost this game, many on here would have pointed to the pick-six that Prescott threw early in the game despite the fact that the offense ended up putting up 40 points.

Team game. A QB is not an NFL team.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

Dak played a great game today. Got to give him credit. But it's the playoffs that matter. Don't know if we'll do anything if that defense doesn't get fixed. Don't know what happened to it.

I know what happened to it. Injuries. Brown at CB was a lot more valuable than people gave him credit for. Micah is worn down. Armstrong was providing pressure up the middle and he is out. I forgot the other CB....but I believe his name is Lewis....he's hurt. We are not solid at LBer. We are creating turnovers....is allowing us to stay in games. But in a single elimination tournament...the defense will have to get stops....the game we don't force turnovers....will be the game we will find out if Dak is ready to go to the next level.