As a fan, you have to recognize our chances are slim today to make playoffs. I've mentally already put us in the offseason mode because facing the letdown if we miss would be so difficult. Things might break correctly for us today, but the Cowboys have depended way too much on breaks (good and bad) all year. Regardless of what happens today, I'll watch the games knowing we made some big steps this year, becoming competitive, and ready to make further strides next year.
Some will say I'm 'giving up' and or not being a real fan since I've mentally given up. Some might say our late swoon means the Cowboys are not on as good a path as I might think. They could be right but our record (I expect it to be 10-6) speaks volumes from where we were last year. It also pretty much defines where we are now. Problems on the O-Line making a decent but not really good offense and a defense that is good but not dominant pretty much spell out who we are.
The plus side of things is that the problems are pretty easy to recognize with maybe the exception being the O-Line. The problems at LB are clear and long term answers at WR are going to be needed soon as well. The problems on the O-Line are more difficult IMO because the middles of the line has looked poor at times along with the more obvious problems at the tackles. If you fix the tackle positions (not saying how) does the rest of the line fall into place? I'm unsure, so I'll define this as the front office challenge for this off-season.
ray2:
