Can we fix things this offseason?

[Soth]

We lost today because the Vikings were a better team. We didn't lose because of dumb mistakes or bad game planning. We were simply beat from top to bottom.

So the question is, how do the Cowboys get better next year? The team is not good enough for a deep playoff run. It is good enough to get to the playoffs, but that's it.

The problem is that next year may be an uncapped year, and we have a major weakness: Pass blocking

This was the single biggest problem all year long. Green Bay destroyed our o-line and beat us. Denver did the same. And now the Vikings did it again. Our o-line can run block, but they are not able to provide even decent protection against a good d-line. Do we have enough draft picks to improve this area? FA does not seem to be an option in an uncapped year...

 

[RS12]

Fix the O Line, need a quality WR. Ditch RW. Get help in the secondary.

 

[Soth]

Fix the O Line, need a quality WR. Ditch RW. Get help in the secondary.

Agreed. But we only have a few draft picks, and picking up free agents will be complicated this season.

 

[ScipioCowboy]

We need to dump some inflated contracts in the offseason. These include Hamlin and, as much as I hate admitting it, Barber.

 

[Sabu1]

Any help is gonna have to come through the draft. Hope that rob brewster can develop quickly. Need to find a consistent placekicker. This team really has no glaring weaknesses otherwise.

 

[Mr Cowboy]

We're not that far off........the big diferrence is that one or two more wins this past season, and this game is played at home with a well rested team. Minnesota was the better team today, but really by how much? If we take the early lead by scoring touchdowns the first couple of possessions, the game is different. We stopped ourselves in the first quarter, Minny didn't stop us. But it is what it is.

We made great strides this year, despite that the only contribution we got from the rookie class was Phillips and Buehler. The bad taste in their mouths from this horrendous loss will be there this offseason, which should make the team hungrier.

I think getting rid of Flo and Newman are a good place to start. We need to draft our LT in this draft and get more help in the secondary. Kozier struggled late against bigger DT, so maybe see what we have, and find a replacement. Top prioirty is to find a kicker. Maybe re-sign Folk to see if he can be salvaged.

 

[Yeagermeister]

We need a LT to eventually replace Flozell. Free isn't the answer. He showed that today.

 

[dbair1967]

We lost today because the Vikings were a better team. We didn't lose because of dumb mistakes or bad game planning. We were simply beat from top to bottom.

So the question is, how do the Cowboys get better next year? The team is not good enough for a deep playoff run. It is good enough to get to the playoffs, but that's it.

The problem is that next year may be an uncapped year, and we have a major weakness: Pass blocking

This was the single biggest problem all year long. Green Bay destroyed our o-line and beat us. Denver did the same. And now the Vikings did it again. Our o-line can run block, but they are not able to provide even decent protection against a good d-line. Do we have enough draft picks to improve this area? FA does not seem to be an option in an uncapped year...

The OL is just too inconsistent, and when Adams went out today the flood gates opened. Sarge has been all over this all yr, and he was proven right beyond a shadow of a doubt today. I like Free at either RT or LT. Davis has been up and down all year. Gurode has played hurt all year. Kosier is what he is, a decent player. Colombo played ok last week, but he was beaten on almost every snap today. I dont think they'd have left him in the game had Adams not got hurt. Maybe Adams moves to RT next yr and Free to LT, Brewster will probably challenge (hopefully anyway) for a starting LG job. Davis just needs to revert to form. Gurode is a good player when healthy, but its time to start looking for hsi eventual replacement.

Defensively they need some safeties who can make plays on the ball. We play with two hands tied behind our back on most pass plays, and niether of our safeties have any idea how to play the ball in the air.

They gotta fix the kicker position. Maybe Folk gets 100% and comes back to challenge for his old job. If not, its gotta be somebody else.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Get a Future OT. I would prefer we got a good LT in the draft and slide Free over to RT. We seen he can play RT, we don't know if he can play LT after one game. Either way we need another starting quality OT in the draft of FA. Flo and Columbo are not getting younger.

Get some help in the secondary. Whether that be another CB and or a FS.

A dynamic KR would be nice and if it happened to be a CB or WR all the better even if they just provide depth at those positions.

Start looking for a replacement for Brooking...if he is not already on the team.

Get someone who can come in as depth at NT to spell rat from time to time.

Get another Kicker.

A lot of things can be done. However no matter if anyone agrees with most of them, I think we all can agree we need to address the O-Line situation.

 

[JD_KaPow]

It's actually going to be difficult to improve substantially quickly. That's because we don't really have any terrible players starting, where replacing with someone even average makes a huge change. We have a lot of ok-to-pretty-good guys (most of the OL, Spears, the ILBs, most of the WRs, the safeties). There's some low-hanging fruit, though:

1. Get a real FG kicker.
2. Work hard on improving kick return teams (would help to find a good KR, but the whole group needs to improve).
3. Bye bye Carp, find a good nickel linebacker.

As far as talent acquisition through the draft, I think we can use top-tier talent at several positions (OL, WR, DL, ILB, CB, S), so a BPA aproach is probably the best way to go. Within that approach, though, it's essential we come away with OL.

 

[dbair1967]

We need a LT to eventually replace Flozell. Free isn't the answer. He showed that today.

Other than one play (I think his first) when he blocked down instead of coming out on Allen, I thought Free looked like the best OL we had today. Not saying he was great, but he was certainly better than Colombo.

 

[Cowboy Brian]

It's actually going to be difficult to improve substantially quickly. That's because we don't really have any terrible players starting, where replacing with someone even average makes a huge change. We have a lot of ok-to-pretty-good guys (most of the OL, Spears, the ILBs, most of the WRs, the safeties). There's some low-hanging fruit, though:

1. Get a real FG kicker.
2. Work hard on improving kick return teams (would help to find a good KR, but the whole group needs to improve).
3. Bye bye Carp, find a good nickel linebacker.

As far as talent acquisition through the draft, I think we can use top-tier talent at several positions (OL, WR, DL, ILB, CB, S), so a BPA aproach is probably the best way to go. Within that approach, though, it's essential we come away with OL.

Carp is great against TEs, worth the 1.4m a season

 

[JD_KaPow]

Carp is great against TEs, worth the 1.4m a season

There's simply too little that he does well. Should be an easy upgrade.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Other than one play (I think his first) when he blocked down instead of coming out on Allen, I thought Free looked like the best OL we had today. Not saying he was great, but he was certainly better than Colombo.

That's not a glowing endorsement considering just how horrible our O-Line, especially Marc, played today.

 

[MONT17]

ppl just dont get it... you dont go through an entire NFL season without losing starters to INJURY!

if Romo/Wade/Jerry cant win with everyone healthy...

 

[utrunner07]

We need a LT to eventually replace Flozell. Free isn't the answer. He showed that today.

I don't think its fair to judge Free on this one game. Flozell has another season or two, in the mean time start letting Free get some snaps. But you can't judge him when he comes into a playoff game, mid game, facing the top pass rusher in the league...

We are not that far off. But a couple of big pieces remain, we are set at WR, we are set at RB, we are set at QB, we need a couple pieces on the O line, and we need a Saftey, as well as a LB or two. Our biggest player needs is a kicker, that would have made a HUGE difference today.

Overall though, I think some change needs to be made in the coaching staff. Personally, if you can get a Tony Dungy in here or some one like him (NOT COWHER) I see you give Wade the boot, if not, go with Wade but I would probably get rid of Garrett. Either way, losing one, both or none I will be fine, but I think best case scenario is to get rid of one.

I dont know its too soon right now for me to think straight, but should be an interesting next few days.

 

[theogt]

1. Get rid of Garrett.

2. Get rid of Houck.

3. Upgrade the SS position.

4. Championship.

 

[Mr Cowboy]

Other than one play (I think his first) when he blocked down instead of coming out on Allen, I thought Free looked like the best OL we had today. Not saying he was great, but he was certainly better than Colombo.

I agree, he didn't looked overwhelmed from what I saw, and he was playing against on of the best. But Free did an outstanding job on the right side, where Colombo struggled mightly today.

Maybe Brewster can make a push at RT and we can keep Free on the left. We still need to do something with the LG. I think that like last year, the OL was playing on fumes this late in the season. That's why the bye would have done this team alot of good.

 

[Soth]

I agree, he didn't looked overwhelmed from what I saw, and he was playing against on of the best. But Free did an outstanding job on the right side, where Colombo struggled mightly today.

Maybe Brewster can make a push at RT and we can keep Free on the left. We still need to do something with the LG. I think that like last year, the OL was playing on fumes this late in the season. That's why the bye would have done this team alot of good.

All I hear is that Free did ok, and that our other o-line (Davis, Kosier, etc) are decent. Then how did Romo get sacked so many times?

Who messed up in our o-line? Yes, Colombo played bad, but I also saw tons of pressure up the middle. Is it Gurode's fault? Kosier?

 

[jterrell]

The OL is just too inconsistent, and when Adams went out today the flood gates opened. Sarge has been all over this all yr, and he was proven right beyond a shadow of a doubt today. I like Free at either RT or LT. Davis has been up and down all year. Gurode has played hurt all year. Kosier is what he is, a decent player. Colombo played ok last week, but he was beaten on almost every snap today. I dont think they'd have left him in the game had Adams not got hurt. Maybe Adams moves to RT next yr and Free to LT, Brewster will probably challenge (hopefully anyway) for a starting LG job. Davis just needs to revert to form. Gurode is a good player when healthy, but its time to start looking for hsi eventual replacement.

Defensively they need some safeties who can make plays on the ball. We play with two hands tied behind our back on most pass plays, and niether of our safeties have any idea how to play the ball in the air.

They gotta fix the kicker position. Maybe Folk gets 100% and comes back to challenge for his old job. If not, its gotta be somebody else.

Flo is a substantially better LT than anyone else on this team by far. Anyone who doesn't understand that by now must just listen to the games on the radio.

A r1 LT makes sense and if they are better than Flo that would be great but the answer isn't on the roster unless we plan to offer double team help to Free all year.

Our secondary played well. Favre had all of 200 yards passing before the game was decided and most of that was on jump balls to Rice.

The offense was hot garbage and the defense was going to eventually buckle.