Are The Dallas Cowboys a Team On The Decline?

[Nation]

We have missed the playoffs 3 straight years, so what exactly are we declining from?

The Cowboys record the past 3 years is 8th out of 16 teams in the conference, or middle in the pack. The writer seems to think we'll be in the teens as far as record goes going forward. It certainly isn't impossible for this team to be worse than it's been. There are multiple NFC teams that have less wins in the past 3 years than we have in the past 2 years.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

To achieve any philosophy of building an NFL Team first off you have to have one, secondly you have to stick with it to find out if it works.


Jerry finally realized the athlete isn't the only key to winning football but obviously he still believes in the shot in the dark Oline landed in the 90s.


It's a process.....a long one.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

To achieve any philosophy of building an NFL Team first off you have to have one, secondly you have to stick with it to find out if it works.


Jerry finally realized the athlete isn't the only key to winning football but obviously he still believes in the shot in the dark Oline landed in the 90s.


It's a process.....a long one.

By shot in the dark Oline do you mean investing 2 1st rounders into the position and paying for the top tackle on the free agency market?

I'm just curious what you consider shot in the dark...

 

[Eskimo]

By shot in the dark Oline do you mean investing 2 1st rounders into the position and paying for the top tackle on the free agency market?

I'm just curious what you consider shot in the dark...

My guess is that he means that Jerry keeps thinking he is going to get UDFAs to turn into Pro Bowlers like what happened to guys like Nate Newton, Mark Tuinei and Kevin Gogan. Back then we were really rolling in OL development, though. We also produced drafted Pro Bowlers in Mark Stepnoski (3rd round), Erik Williams (3rd round), Larry Allen (2nd round) and Ron Stone (4th round) although he made the Pro Bowls with the Giants after riding the pine with us because he couldn't get on the field.

I do think there is some truth to the idea that Jerry believed that you didn't need to invest high picks to get good OL. That is true so long as you can spot those whose talent can be developed and then develop that talent. That is something we have been sorely lacking for a long time with the last two linemen we drafted earning Pro Bowl berths while in Dallas being Flo (drafted 1998) and Andre Gurode (drafted 2002). Some irrationally believe that that means we won't ever be able to do it again.

I actually do think we can do it again but I also believe that it also means how we evaluate players had to change. I do think there seems to have been some sort of change that started with Wade at the helm but then accelerated further under Garrett. It is still too early to tell how it will turn out as these players are just at the beginning of their NFL careers but I have seen Costa and Parnell show a lot of improvement over the years. Tyron came on like gangbusters like rookie before struggling a bit last year but that is perhaps not a surprise when you have a raw player getting his 3rd different OL coach in 3 years while also switching from RT to LT and I do believe he showed improvement throughout the year. We need to continue the development of Parnell, Leary, TFred and Arkin. We also need to keep regularly investing in OL and DL and not just in the 7th round.

I'm looking forward to this OL. With better health and ongoing player development we may be average to above average this year. Continuity with talent makes a big difference. In the last bit of Houck we had coaching but degernating old bodies and youngsters without talent and now under Callahan we have coaching, some middling vets and a bunch of kids who I think have some talent that has to be harvested but it does take a bit of time to get the whole thing going forwards.

 

[RoyTheHammer]

Can't really decline from rock bottom.. only place to go is up.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Evan Silva of Rotoworld.com recently wrote a piece about the best rosters in the NFL and ranked them from 1-32. Silva, whose opinion I respect, ranked the Cowboys with the 21st best overall roster in the league.

With all our injuries we still went 8-8 last year. That doesn't sound like the 21st best roster to me.

 

[RoyTheHammer]

With all our injuries we still went 8-8 last year. That doesn't sound like the 21st best roster to me.

There's honestly just no way anyone with any kind of football knowledge can look at our roster and think we're towards the bottom of the league as far as talent.

 

[Beast_from_East]

The Cowboys record the past 3 years is 8th out of 16 teams in the conference, or middle in the pack. The writer seems to think we'll be in the teens as far as record goes going forward. It certainly isn't impossible for this team to be worse than it's been. There are multiple NFC teams that have less wins in the past 3 years than we have in the past 2 years.

So instead of 8-8 every year, he is saying we are going to be 4-12 every year?


No way, not with Romo at QB. We are at worst a 7-9 team with Romo.

 

[BIGDen]

With all our injuries we still went 8-8 last year. That doesn't sound like the 21st best roster to me.

Exactly what I was going to say. We lost half of our defense to injury yet still went 8-8. That doesn't happen without some solid talent.

 

[Miller]

I'll preface this with saying Silva is one if my favorite people in Rotoworld and I follow him on Twitter. I don't find him main stream at all and he writes well thought our pieces that seem well researched. The only bias I've seen him show is against the Dolphins. He can't stand Jeff Ireland and thinks the franchise is a joke. He rips them often and hears about it.

As far as being in decline....I don't think he is necessarily right but if I'm objective and look at it from an outsiders view I might see an older Dline, an older Romo, .500 teams and question marks on the Oline and think that. Do I personally believe it? I more think we are where we are...500..and that is what we have to go with. Our most talented guys have been here during .500 so to act like its better is something I can't do. It's a thing where you hope old and new talent mix and things come together for a season.

 

[CyberB0b]

There's honestly just no way anyone with any kind of football knowledge can look at our roster and think we're towards the bottom of the league as far as talent.

Outside of 2-3 teams, you could say that about any roster in the NFL.

 

[burmafrd]

you have to be somewhere to have a decline. We are really NOWHERE.

 

[boscokt]

These guys are bloggers and have little idea or film knowledge of what our talent level is like.

I've had convos before with these types of guys. All they want to talk about is Ware, Romo, and Witten.

When you bring up Dez Bryant, Tyron Smith, Demarco Murray, Dez Bryant, Bruce Carter, or Morris Claiborne they're like " , they're all unproven youngsters", and then they go back to talking about all of our older, declining guys.

Its useless. At least this hate gets us on TV just about every game of the year.

 

[Miller]

These guys are bloggers and have little idea or film knowledge of what our talent level is like.

I've had convos before with these types of guys. All they want to talk about is Ware, Romo, and Witten.

When you bring up Dez Bryant, Tyron Smith, Demarco Murray, Dez Bryant, Bruce Carter, or Morris Claiborne they're like " , they're all unproven youngsters", and then they go back to talking about all of our older, declining guys.

Its useless. At least this hate gets us on TV just about every game of the year.

Again, I don't agree or disagree with his premise, I'm on the fence..just like them being .500 but Silva is much more than a blogger. He writes detailed analysis and articles year round. A very respected writer. Most of these guys do.

 

[Nation]

These guys are bloggers and have little idea or film knowledge of what our talent level is like.

I've had convos before with these types of guys. All they want to talk about is Ware, Romo, and Witten.

When you bring up Dez Bryant, Tyron Smith, Demarco Murray, Dez Bryant, Bruce Carter, or Morris Claiborne they're like " , they're all unproven youngsters", and then they go back to talking about all of our older, declining guys.

Its useless. At least this hate gets us on TV just about every game of the year.

This is about as unfair and inaccurate assessment of Evan Silva as there could possible be.

 

[xwalker]

I do think there is some truth to the idea that Jerry believed that you didn't need to invest high picks to get good OL. That is true so long as you can spot those whose talent can be developed and then develop that talent. That is something we have been sorely lacking for a long time with the last two linemen we drafted earning Pro Bowl berths while in Dallas being Flo (drafted 1998) and Andre Gurode (drafted 2002). Some irrationally believe that that means we won't ever be able to do it again.

I'm beginning to think that Jerry himself is not the one that didn't want to draft OLinemen. He had to overrule the scouts this year in order to get one.

Some previous posts have pointed out that the Cowboys draft board always seems to value OLinemen too low and if the Cowboys stick to their board, they will never draft one.

 

[Red Dragon]

The Cowboys' championship window, in my opinion, was/is from 2007-2015. They are nearing the end and had better win a Super Bowl in John Elway-fashion or else it will be too late.

 

[DallasDW00ds0n]

Decline?

This isnt even a team good enough to decline. Sorry to burst a bubble.

Can't make the playoffs and we think we might be in a decline, LOL

 

[DFWJC]

The two guys I have the most concern about declining this year are Ratliff and Ware.
There are 4-5 other guys who are on the cusp, and may start to decline in a 2-3 years.
After that, this has now become a young team.

We all know about Dez, Carr, Claiborne, Smith, Murray, Lee, Carter, et al.
IF last years' rookies grow into good roles and IF this year's crop develops in the coming years, they combine with the already good young guys to make a strong young core.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I don't agree that the talent is mediocre. For that to happen, that would mean the coaching has been great because 16-16 is not mediocre, particularly in today's system of parity.

I can see the point about the team being on the decline. The QB is at the tail end of his career. I think Witten is close to his tail end of his career. I think Ware is a little further away (he was banged up all last year and still managed double digit sacks).

Although it's not all bad. There are ways teams find to work around an aging and declining roster. If somebody like Dez becomes one of the dominant players in the league, it makes an aging Romo and Witten look a lot better. If Kiffin as the D-Coordinator works, guys like Ware and Ratliff don't look that old anymore. Or if Escobar and Frederick are good enough to alter what the Cowboys can do and make the offense into a high powered unit, then we have less to worry about with the defense.

It's really never cut and dry in the NFL.








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