Am I the only one?

[rynochop]

Difference between a good team and a bad team? The good teams manage to win games, even the ones they play poorly in.

Yep, its like the difference between a great starting pitcher and a good one. The great ones can win without their great stuff.

 

[Clove]

Here's the thing folks. I'm a known hater. Hate Garrett, Romo, Jerry, and a slew of others. Not hate because of them personally, but because of the lack of winning. So now, I give Jerry credit, Romo credit, and most of all, Garrett credit. These guys knew what needed to be done, specifically Garrett. He, a former QB, knows that you need a great offensive line if you want to get things done on offense. He was around a great offensive line. How it came about how we got the players is not the point. Whether we pick this offensive line or that offensive line, we were still going to draft offensive linemen at the top of the draft.

 

[AsthmaField]

No it takes Jerry hiring good people so that he is being given good information so that a decision can be made.

It takes somebody influencing Jerry enough for him to let them draft who they want to. Somebody had to convince Jerry that he had a plan and that Jerry should follow it. He hasn't followed Garrett's plan the entire time (see: Claiborne, Morris), but he has followed it for the most part.

Garrett has had Jerry cut pretty much the whole OL (overpriced for their production), cut Ware (overpriced for production), let Hatcher walk after a really good season (to not pay for age), use 3 out of 4 first round picks on OL, and to pretty much stay away from age in FA.

None of that is Jerry's MO, especially letting Ware go. This roster is... for the most part... Garrett's doing, and I love it.

 

[CATCH17]

No it takes Jerry hiring good people so that he is being given good information so that a decision can be made.

Wow that is some Jerry Jones logic.

 

[Doomsday101]

Wow that is some Jerry Jones logic.

It is fact, Jimmy has commented on that as has BP. Jerry will listen and take the advice really comes down to hiring quality people

 

[Dodger12]

As good as we have looked, as fun as it has been watching the running game, and as impressive as it was to beat Seattle and be 5-1, ... we are very very close to being the same old 3-3.

Wait, don't scream and crucify me just yet.

I am as happy as anybody.

But we were down 21-0 in a game this year, .. not good. You don't always win after trailing 21-0.

Then against the Texans we win because on 3rd and 8 Dez makes an All-Time highlight catch to save the game. If that ball is not caught, which it very easily could not have been, we are punting in OT and possibly losing.

Against the Seahawks it was 3rd and 20 and TWill makes another All-Time highlight catch to save the game. That pass could have very easily been incomplete. If we punt there, Seattle has the ball with about 5:00 left. We could have very easily lost that game.

So while we are all thrilled at 5-1, with a different bounce here and there each game it could have gone the other way.

That old saying, "you have to be good, but you have to be lucky too."

We are good, no doubt, .. but we have been lucky as well.

There are times when those plays worked against us and we didn't make them. And our mistakes were usually fatal. I'll take these for sure but I also think overcoming these mistakes is the mark of a good team as well.

Each week will tell us a little more about who we are and I'd like to see us destroy the Giants, not just because it's a division game, but it's a game a good team should win.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

This organization has found every way possible to lose and had every injury possible the past few years.

They haven't been 'lucky.'

What you hope to do is try to play the odds in your favor when it comes to players and schematics. And with the way the NFL works, it allows for teams that struggle to get better and for good teams to possibly decline over time. The one constant is the QB position which dictates a lot.

All we've done is greatly balanced the offense. We can not only throw and run the ball, but we can throw it to multiple receiving threats from Dez to Williams to Witten to Beasley to Murray to Dunbar, etc. And we can now run the ball not only really well, but we have a balanced run game in that we are strong running left, running right, running out on the perimeter and running up the gut. Stop the stretch zone run to the left and we can fake a stretch zone run left and run a counter to the right side for big yards.

In essence, we've taken the ball out of Romo's hands so he throws it about 30-36 times a game instead of 45+ times a game. He just never had the talent to throw it that much and win consistently. We had to draft the O-Line for that to happen and we had to draft players like Dez (who was supposed to be a giant attitude problem) and Beasley (who nobody wanted) in order to get that.

You tell me what is luckier...this Cowboys team or the Colts who stink so bad that they get arguably the greatest QB of all time in the #1 overall pick in Peyton Manning. Then they stink so bad that they land Andrew Luck.

Or how about the Saints whose owner tried desperately to move the team to San Antonio and nobody wanted to play there...including their QB who was all set to go to the Dolphins but failed their physical.

I think it's HIGH TIME we had some good fortune go our way. But, I have YET to see any of it.





YR

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Tripped fell handed in draft cards for Smith Frederick Crawford Wilcox Martin Murray Randle etc...

 

[Crown Royal]

As good as we have looked, as fun as it has been watching the running game, and as impressive as it was to beat Seattle and be 5-1, ... we are very very close to being the same old 3-3.

Wait, don't scream and crucify me just yet.

I am as happy as anybody.

But we were down 21-0 in a game this year, .. not good. You don't always win after trailing 21-0.

Then against the Texans we win because on 3rd and 8 Dez makes an All-Time highlight catch to save the game. If that ball is not caught, which it very easily could not have been, we are punting in OT and possibly losing.

Against the Seahawks it was 3rd and 20 and TWill makes another All-Time highlight catch to save the game. That pass could have very easily been incomplete. If we punt there, Seattle has the ball with about 5:00 left. We could have very easily lost that game.

So while we are all thrilled at 5-1, with a different bounce here and there each game it could have gone the other way.

That old saying, "you have to be good, but you have to be lucky too."

We are good, no doubt, .. but we have been lucky as well.

If sMiles Austin doesn't 'lose' a simple TD in the lights in 2011, the team is a playoff team.

If Dez keeps his finger in bounds in 2012 or Dan the Man doesn't miss wide left, the team is a playoff team.

2013 was really the only one where they were just bad, not just unlucky. But honestly they still probably could have just as easily gone to the playoffs if they get one more stop against denver, or don't collapse in Detroit or GB (which they had the OL to do, that was just crap playcalling).

 

[DallasEast]

These thread ideas are funny as hell.

 

[pastordug]

I am not a believer in luck.

As a PBA member I assure you "luck" does come in handy at times. It also happens in football. A "lucky" bounce or a "lucky" tip. And the Boys have had their far share of "luck" so far. I would not go as far as attributing the wins to all luck though. They have played really well in areas that have produced run yards, interceptions and points. So while "luck" is great when it's on your side.......nothing can replace skill, passion and a desire to WIN! Go Boys!

 

[theSHOW]

We also could be undefeated and could have blown Seattle out 41-3. We dominated the line of scrimmage against SF and Sea but lost the turnover battle.

We spotted Sea 17 points off dumb turnovers and you think we won by luck? After completely dominating them on both sides of the ball?

I disagree. The draft picks were back up plans that turned out good and our record says who we really are,

We dominated the Niners in the trenches also. Both Fred & Co. and the new Dline won that dirty filthy war.

Go Boys!

 

[TwoDeep3]

As a PBA member I assure you "luck" does come in handy at times. It also happens in football. A "lucky" bounce or a "lucky" tip. And the Boys have had their far share of "luck" so far. I would not go as far as attributing the wins to all luck though. They have played really well in areas that have produced run yards, interceptions and points. So while "luck" is great when it's on your side.......nothing can replace skill, passion and a desire to WIN! Go Boys!

I think chaos theory destroys the idea of luck,

 

[jrumann59]

I mean look at one of the luckiest teams ever, NE, they drafted Brady in the 6th round and he is lock for the HoF. All drafts consist of luck, think about all the 1st round QBs that have marched through Cleveland and Cincy before these past 2-3 years.

 

[Red Dragon]

Moving the goalposts, moving the goalposts.

 

[daveferr33]

Bill Parcells said: "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity"

I have no doubt that Garrett's plan was to rebuild the O-Line. I don't think he planned on specific rounds of the draft in which to do it.

But rather than denigrate Garrett, you could simply say that the Front Office had good contingency plans and those plans look like they are working out.

 

[rpntex]

That thinks that this team is more built on Luck that a "Process"?

I read an article on here that went on waxing poetically that this was the work of Garret's Process and how we are now seeing it because of the Oline overhall... and I have to kind of laugh.

Just a few days ago I was listening to the radio and they had someone on talking about how the cowboys where SOLD on drafting Ryan Shazier out of OSU.
http://cowboysblog.***BANNED-URL***...e-with-dallas-when-steelers-drafted-him.html/
And Martin was there "back up plan" And I have to think that last year and getting Fredrick was a similar situation. When they moved back and by some reports where "confused and trying to move out" of the pick again. And were "forced" to draft Fredrick. There was even stories about how they where so confused they missed on a higher rated player on there board.
http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sports/...an-do-to-avoid-2013-s-draft-day-confusion.ece
and then there McClain... the MVP of our Defense. He wouldn't even be on the team if we didn't lose Lee for the season... I LOVE Lee... he's one of my favorite players... but I think McClain is out performing him comparatively to seasons previous.

So I have to give pause to this whole "process" praise I keep hearing and how we "set out to rebuild the line" with three first round picks and this was the plan. BULL CRAP. And then there is the coaches. Garrett never wanted to fire Rob Ryan and never wanted to relinquish play calling duties and HAD to bring an OC...

idk, just some thoughts...

I don't think you're the only one, but I happen to think it was all a part of a plan.
Garrett took over in 2010, and the following spring the Cowboys drafted the cornerstone of the OL in Tyron Smith.
In 2012, they went with who was widely proclaimed to be the best defensive player in the draft in Morris Claiborne.
2013 it was back to the OL in the first round.
2014 saw plans to go back ot the DL wqith Donald, Barr, or Shazier. When all three were gone, the focus shifted back to the OL.

Definitely a pattern there. While Garrett may have been in over his head at times in the past three years, I don't think there's any doubt he has had a long-term vision for the team. With Jerry's tendency to take the "flashy" player, I don't think it's a coincidence that we drafted anything but "flashy" in the first round of three of the last four drafts. People who want to say it was Jerry's idea can't explain how he overcame that tendency. Therefore, I think it was Gerrett who convinced Jerry to buy in to HIS plan.

 

[Bullflop]

I'd like to think it's more than just luck whenever a team picks it's alternative preference and that alternate pick turns out to be as good as Martin has proven to be. At some point, isn't it reasonable to assume the folks in the warroom deserve credit for drafting one whose info indicates he is good? Maybe it's an example of good judgment.

 

[WV Cowboy]

When I say improvement I mean cleaning up mistakes aka fumbles, mental break down as we saw on the block punt. I agree you can't rely on low percentage plays to bail you out. There are something’s the Cowboys and the staff need to improve on or correct however a person chooses to look at it.

I think you understand what I meant now, and we agree.

I was not attributing our wins, or our win streak to luck.

 

[WV Cowboy]

We also could be undefeated and could have blown Seattle out 41-3.

A LOT would have to change for that scenario to play out, .. in mine, I am merely talking about and inch or two. Big difference.

We spotted Sea 17 points off dumb turnovers and you think we won by luck?

Although I did use the word 'luck' in my OP, that was a poor choice of words because that is not what I think.
What I actually meant was 'depending on miracle plays', or 'low percentage plays' as Doomsday101 mentions above.
I think I have explained in depth what I actually meant since that post.

The draft picks were back up plans that turned out good and our record says who we really are,

I have never mentioned draft picks in this thread.