A weird division

[tantrix1969]

I think Jerry found himself in a situation that made him change direction. The salary cap made him do the right thing for the team over the long term. If he would have had the cap room to work with, he would have repeated his past mistakes.

Exactly.

"We're loading up to the extent we can but doing what we can do physically and not doing what we can't do physically," Jones said. "We're also doing a good job for our future, the future being the next two, three, four years out. But our cap is requiring us to do the things that are good for our future."

 

[Alexander]

N
If we go 50/50 in division it's still a win for us.

Our out of division schedule seems tougher to me.

 

[Alexander]

"We're loading up to the extent we can but doing what we can do physically and not doing what we can't do physically," Jones said. "We're also doing a good job for our future, the future being the next two, three, four years out. But our cap is requiring us to do the things that are good for our future."

In other words, business as usual but the cap is creating a reckoning.

Far cry from the people who think there is some new way of doing things.

I guess this is how you describe "doing what you want in free agency" as really meaning "Jerry Jones has decided he is going cheap as is saving up".

 

[Risen Star]

While I think what Dallas is doing is more out of necessity than a change in philosophy it should be interesting how we compare what the Giants did in FA this year and compare to what we did. It is like the two franchises switched minds. We have signed exactly four free agents compared to their thirteen.

I don't know how you can make any conclusion that there is some radical shift in philosophy with this team when they are in cap hell. This could easily just be them taking their medicine to clean out that cap so they can go right back into writing more bad contracts on a yearly basis.

People want it to be a change.

 

[Alexander]

People want it to be a change.

Desperately.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Our out of division schedule seems tougher to me.

3-3 within division
6-4 outside division

9-7 ...

ButI predict 10-6 though with a shot at 11-5

 

[theSHOW]

Being young doesn't mean you don't have a need for free agents. Age says nothing about ability, or lack thereof.

Not even sure about the "draft your team" idea.

Wasn't but 2 years ago they signed Carr, Livings, Bernardeau, Vickers and Connor. Also the same year Stephen laughed and said the team could do whatever it wanted.

Now this offseason they've made numerous statements about the tightness of the cap.

2012 they say they can do whatever they want and make sure everyone knows it by signing a load of guys. This year they pretty much say they're limited because of the cap which means they're operating out of situation and circumstance rather than strategic desires.

No real strategy, just making moves when there's more freedom and standing pay when there's less.

Being young...means that you stop and pause...............before just going out and restructuring and extending and signing the older vets to idiotic contracts. This is a lesson Jerry has committed to I believe. The stop gap signings of two years ago were not long term in most cases. Jerry and JG and Stephen have been doing this a few years now as a team and I believe they have a cap era strategy in place.

 

[casmith07]

The Giants are grasping. The Commanders are trapped. The Eagles are mistaken. And the Cowboys drift in limbo.

Ifs and buts drip from the NFC East rafters, but there's nothing handy to keep them from seeping through the floor. The whole division sits in a purgatorial position, not bad enough to stink, but not good enough to matter.

Nobody's making any sense.

Snyder continues to throw darts blindly, despite his fatally flawed franchise quarterback. Mara watches his team wither in age and poor drafting. Lurie wrestles with a team not built right to play with the big boys and locked into Boy Genius' egomaniacal and unproven madness.

And then there's Jerry, driven daily by a single thought in his rapidly aging mind. "One more, please, that they can't credit to Jimmy."

Valley Ranch smells of desperation. Jerry doesn't draft centers or release Demarcus Wareseses. He doesn't miss opportunities to dive head-long into spotlights, or miss chances to steal headlines. He doesn't defer, and he doesn't apologize. Least of which, he does not bide his time through the offseason.

So what are we to make of this offseason?

Is this quiet confidence? Or, is this uh-oh, duck? Perhaps it's just a big "I don't know".

I don't know. Dallas is more mysterious than the other three.

All I know is that I see four first-place teams that could finish last, and four last-place teams that could finish first. Mediocrity and parity crystallized and defined by the NFC East.

We can make of it that it is April.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

Chip Kelly gives the advantage to the Iggles. MARK IT DOWN

 

[ShiningStar]

I dont care how good the Dallas team is, its Garrett that scares me. His bad decision making can ruin more games for us than ive seen from the players. To me, i just want this season over with so every can see how bad Garrett is and hopefully we move on from this train wreck.

 

[cowboys1981]

I recall this organization being innovative since its existence. When you try to play copy cat you're a step behind.

This offseason we got one key FA signing in Melton. That beats trying to sign 4 Dline scrubs for the same price. They chose to spend what little they had on a player that can have an impact and is still young. I even like the McClain signing right behind Melton's deal.

Adding some more pieces in the draft and we can contend very well within the division. We nearly took the division with a depleted line. IMO addressing the Dline with more quality players will set this team apart from the competition in the East like we did in the 90's.

 

[Vanilla2]

I dont care how good the Dallas team is, its Garrett that scares me. His bad decision making can ruin more games for us than ive seen from the players. To me, i just want this season over with so every can see how bad Garrett is and hopefully we move on from this train wreck.

Exaggerate much?

 

[clskinsfan]

3-3 within division
6-4 outside division

9-7 ...

ButI predict 10-6 though with a shot at 11-5

LMAO! What? You really see this team going 11-5. How?

 

[jnday]

LMAO! What? You really see this team going 11-5. How?

He is not seeing 11-5. He is blinded by fandom.

 

[Fredd]

C'mon, the team had a chance at 11-5 last year...they should have won the two games where they blew the leads and they could have won the last game IF the team had been a little healthier...

I don't necessarily see 11-5, but with health, this team will have a winning record....none of all of your negativity towards the team is going to change that it is April and the team can be anything this season
1) less than 8-8 (if they regress)
2) 8-8 (if they are injured and stay mediocre)
3) greater than 8-8 (if they stay healthy and get anything from the DL)

I choose option 3 until I see injuries starting to pile up; that isn't homerism, that is reality...saying otherwise is just opinion, just like mine, and just like @REDVOLUTION and others

 

[ghst187]

I'd say the igglets are sadly the class of the division. They have a young but good QB, the most lethal back (now x2) in the game, a very good TE and some decent WRs. Their D has a lot of talent but hasn't put it together quite yet but could at any time. Thankfully, they lost their best, scariest WR threat. (of course it stinks he then goes to our other big rival). They are clearly the team to beat in the division. The only thing I foresee that could be their undoing is now teams have a full year of film to figure out Kelly's offense. However, they got better and better as the year went on last year also.
The skins really aren't very talented. They will be as good or bad as RGIII is, which can be very good to atrocious. Still see them muddling around the bottom of the pack.
The Gints need blown up. If I were a Gint fan, I would be hoping they would trade Eli while he still has value to someone. Eli's largely done. They are OLD along the OL and DL and still clinging to the hope that Eli can carry the team, which has never been the case. Their running game isn't going anywhere either if fumbilitis keeps putting it on the ground.
As for us, I just see very little hope that we'll be any different from any other recent year….middling team with no consistency, no heart, and no chance to win a playoff game. The other teams will have to go out of their way to lose the division to us as we won't WIN it.

 

[BigStar]

This is a big change in their roster management philosophy. Stay young, don't overpay in free agency, build through the draft, let players come to you instead of chasing them, etc. Dare I say that Jerry and company are learning from their mistakes, and trying to emulate Seattle's success? I don't see their actions thus far (or lack of actions) as trying to avoid the spotlight -- rather, the front office is finally getting on board with the way that the likes of New England, Seattle, etc have been working for a while now.

Agreed and like the direction (draft withstanding). Not restructuring more than they needed to (Carr) said just as much as Ware's release in my opinion and was pleased the team didn't overspend on Allen. The team landed Melton with multiple options to wiggle out of if need be (character/injury). The rush to sign Mincey/McClain still confuses me but they are too cheap to not give them the benefit of the doubt @ this point. A good start to the off-season especially with a thin FA class. The 2015 FA class is stacked and it was wise of the team to rid the big contracts and remain frugal in FA this year.

 

[skinsscalper]

While I think what Dallas is doing is more out of necessity than a change in philosophy it should be interesting how we compare what the Giants did in FA this year and compare to what we did. It is like the two franchises switched minds. We have signed exactly four free agents compared to their thirteen.

I have to disagree with you concerning the bold part. The Cowboys COULD have done this off-season what they've always done: Restructure contracts and push more and more money forward. They still had Ware's, Carr's, Witten's, and Romo's contracts that could have easily been restructured and pushed the pain out more years. They've done it every year without shame or even a bat of an eye.

I absolutely believe it's a change in philosophy. The cap is going up in the next couple of years and the Cowboys could have found a way to tread water and STILL sign Dez and Tyron to new deals. They've decided to look toward their younger players and future rather than players that they HOPED would be part of a Cowboys playoff/championship run. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think that the Cowboys are in any shape to make a championship run at this point (even if they have a phenomenal draft), but they knew that the current roster wasn't getting it done (especially on defense) with their age and injury history (which is why I'm not a fan of bringing Spencer back at any price). It was time to turn the page. And, it won't surprise me if Romo is next (after 2015 when his cap hit is actually manageable). I'll hate it because I like the guy (same with Ware) but at some point the Cowboys realized what they've been doing isn't working and it's time to try something else. Anything else. Time will tell how it all pans out but I'm all for the focus toward fiscal responsibility and developing our own stars. It's going to be a painful couple of years, IMO. But, hell at least it looks like we are actually building towards something rather than patching up something. That is exciting, to me, even though the win column may not be as exciting for a while.

I still won't count the Cowboys out in any season. Weird things happen in this league. I'll still be pulling for them every Sunday to beat the odds and get us to the dance.

 

[jazzcat22]

The change in philosophy started when Jason took over. He has been dumping older players with overpaid contracts that didn't offer much on the field ever since he took over.
Rather you like Jason or not, he's been doing this. Then injuries the past two years devastated this teams chances. Has Jason made bad decision at times, yes, but fans here magnify those over other teams coaching too. If this team was healthy, he wouldn't have the in the situation to make those choices most likely. But that's a mute point now, in the past.

Time to look forward. No matter what one thinks about this off season, IMO they have had a decent one. Now was it out of necessity because of the salary cap, yes for the most part. But they have done very well with what they could do. I like the coaching changes too. Of course health will be the big question mark after two years of bad luck in that department. But this team has been getting younger and hopefully putting together better talent. It's hard to tell what a player can really do if all his surrounding players are basically street guys. As I am referring to Wilcox for example. As he too was injured.

As for the teams.
I still won't rule out the Giants as being a factor. Eli had a bad year last year, does anyone really think he can be that bad again. That's why I call him ELF..Eli Luck Factor....
I'm not sold on the Commanders and RG3, of course their offense will go as he goes. Adding Jackson concerns me a little, but not shaking in my boots either. They will still be dysfunctional, and a new coach too.
As for the Eagles. There is an entire year of film on Kelly's offense now, and we did play them very well last year. But I still see them as the main competition for the division, and will be considered the favorites no matter what going into the season.
For the Cowboys, I can see the offense being more consistent, need to improve on those 3rd down situations. Basically need to score and score often. Until the defense can start to into a rhythm which I can see taking 3 or 4 games to see how they will do. And once again, need to remain healthy.

 

[ShiningStar]

Exaggerate much?

what big positives have we seen under JG? For all the crap he took Wade at least produced a 13-3 team. Can JG say as much?