couchscout
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As the offseason as gone on, I've given quite a bit of thought about how I could keep contributing to the board when I no longer have game film to go off of. As most of you know by now, I try to shy away from spouting too many opinions, and prefer to just report what I see on tape. Not really a chance for me to do that in the offseason but I'm gonna try to find ways to contribute anyway. Please note that the vast majority of the following is just one mans opinion, with an attempt to interject some rationality amidst a lot of crazy hyperbole and rhetoric.
The scouting department:
There has been a lot of talk around here about our scouting department, most of it pointing out how inept it has been. I just wanna play a little devils advocate here.
- The Cowboys have the most draft picks that are still in the NFL (not necessarily with the Cowboys, but in the NFL) in the entire league, by a REALLY large margin over the last 7-8 drafts. There is absolutely no question that our scouting department knows how to spot NFL talent, regardless of how you feel about how that talent meshes with our schemes.
- Think about the handful of players we kept hearing repeatedly from all our insiders before last years draft. Aldon Smith, Tyron Smith, Patrick Peterson, and JJ Watt. Knowing what we now know, the scouting department clearly did an incredible job of spotting the elite talent that could be there when we pick. I'm sure we would all be absolutely thrilled with any one of those.
- We've been quite good in the first round since Parcells departed. Spencer, F. Jones, Jenkins, Bryant and T. Smith. Not a single miss among them. The first 4 while not necessarily elite have all been productive players especially for where they were taken, and obviously Smith was a revelation. If you keep getting elite players when you pick in the top half of the first round, and solid ones when you pick in the bottom half, you're gonna have a lot of success.
- Think of how many players we all knew the Cowboys had targeted in the 2nd round on, and had teams take them just ahead of us such as Max Unger and Luis Delmas. Again, it's completely clear that this scouting department knows how to spot talent.
- I guarantee you if you compare our drafts over the last 5 years versus the rest of the league, and do so in an objective manner, the Cowboys will stack up against pretty much everyone. The biggest mistake people make when "grading" or "comparing" drafts is what they compare them against. When you compare drafts, you have to compare them against the rest of the league...not a team or two, the entire league....and certainly not against your unbelievably unrealistic idea of how successful a draft should be.
Jerry Jones the figurehead:
- Many NFL teams are structured in numerous different ways. Teams with all kinds of front office structures have won Super Bowls. For that matter, many many many companies have many many many different power structures and have have achieved many many many different levels of success.
- To say "the GM should spend every bit of his time studying film/building the team" is a complete fallacy. You're simply stating your preference for a front office structure and arbitrarily deciding that is the way it "should" or "has" to be, rather than realizing it's just the way you would prefer it. And saying any other way can't work is beyond absurd.
- I personally do not care if Jerry is a figure head, the sole decision maker or just a robot he made of himself to ensure his perpetual rule over the team. As long as the team continues to draft and acquire talent like they have been recently, I'll be happy.
Doug Free the guard.
- I keep hearing a lot of talk about potentially drafting a tackle and moving Free to guard. And while upgrading at tackle over Free might become a necessity faster than I or any of us would like, Free is not a guard. At guard, his greatest strength (athletic ability/feet) would be hidden, and his biggest weakness (upper body strength/ability to sustain blocks) would be magnified. It's entirely possible he'll hit the weight room extra hard this spring/summer and have a bounce back season, but barring some type of miracle, it won't be at guard.
It's all ______'s fault:
- It drives me absolutely bananas that people always wanna blame one person for the entire teams failure. Whether it be Jerry, Jason, Tony, or Terrence, a lot of people desperately need to scapegoat a lost season by putting the blame on one person. None of those guys are individually responsible for the teams failures this season. It's not just Cowboys fans, football fans, or even sports fans. Try to remember that it's a TEAM game, and that means everyone from Jerry to the lowest scout on the totem pole to the 53rd guy on the roster.
Short shots:
- Don't count out Bill Nagy, he was quite good as a pass protector before his injury. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this team is counting on him to start next season.
- While we're at it, don't count out David Arkin, an offseason in the weight room could be all he needs to be a starter.
- You can probably go ahead and count out Phil Costa, while he was almost dominant as a run blocker, his pass protection was absolutely terrible, and we all know this team is gonna go as far as Romo takes us. We gotta be able to protect him.
- I'm starting to dial in on some Rob Ryan scheme things I missed during the season, including some things that seem to be the foundation of what he does. I'll be elaborating in a later post.
- Give me a JJ Watt type DE, a couple CB's and a young safety with potential out of this draft and I'll be ecstatic.
- Still think this team needs a true slot receiver. I love Austin, Bryant and Robinson, but none of them fit the mold of what is highly successful as a slot receiver in the NFL these days.
Comments and questions welcome. I'll be around the next couple days checking the thread and trying to answer as many questions as possible.
The scouting department:
There has been a lot of talk around here about our scouting department, most of it pointing out how inept it has been. I just wanna play a little devils advocate here.
- The Cowboys have the most draft picks that are still in the NFL (not necessarily with the Cowboys, but in the NFL) in the entire league, by a REALLY large margin over the last 7-8 drafts. There is absolutely no question that our scouting department knows how to spot NFL talent, regardless of how you feel about how that talent meshes with our schemes.
- Think about the handful of players we kept hearing repeatedly from all our insiders before last years draft. Aldon Smith, Tyron Smith, Patrick Peterson, and JJ Watt. Knowing what we now know, the scouting department clearly did an incredible job of spotting the elite talent that could be there when we pick. I'm sure we would all be absolutely thrilled with any one of those.
- We've been quite good in the first round since Parcells departed. Spencer, F. Jones, Jenkins, Bryant and T. Smith. Not a single miss among them. The first 4 while not necessarily elite have all been productive players especially for where they were taken, and obviously Smith was a revelation. If you keep getting elite players when you pick in the top half of the first round, and solid ones when you pick in the bottom half, you're gonna have a lot of success.
- Think of how many players we all knew the Cowboys had targeted in the 2nd round on, and had teams take them just ahead of us such as Max Unger and Luis Delmas. Again, it's completely clear that this scouting department knows how to spot talent.
- I guarantee you if you compare our drafts over the last 5 years versus the rest of the league, and do so in an objective manner, the Cowboys will stack up against pretty much everyone. The biggest mistake people make when "grading" or "comparing" drafts is what they compare them against. When you compare drafts, you have to compare them against the rest of the league...not a team or two, the entire league....and certainly not against your unbelievably unrealistic idea of how successful a draft should be.
Jerry Jones the figurehead:
- Many NFL teams are structured in numerous different ways. Teams with all kinds of front office structures have won Super Bowls. For that matter, many many many companies have many many many different power structures and have have achieved many many many different levels of success.
- To say "the GM should spend every bit of his time studying film/building the team" is a complete fallacy. You're simply stating your preference for a front office structure and arbitrarily deciding that is the way it "should" or "has" to be, rather than realizing it's just the way you would prefer it. And saying any other way can't work is beyond absurd.
- I personally do not care if Jerry is a figure head, the sole decision maker or just a robot he made of himself to ensure his perpetual rule over the team. As long as the team continues to draft and acquire talent like they have been recently, I'll be happy.
Doug Free the guard.
- I keep hearing a lot of talk about potentially drafting a tackle and moving Free to guard. And while upgrading at tackle over Free might become a necessity faster than I or any of us would like, Free is not a guard. At guard, his greatest strength (athletic ability/feet) would be hidden, and his biggest weakness (upper body strength/ability to sustain blocks) would be magnified. It's entirely possible he'll hit the weight room extra hard this spring/summer and have a bounce back season, but barring some type of miracle, it won't be at guard.
It's all ______'s fault:
- It drives me absolutely bananas that people always wanna blame one person for the entire teams failure. Whether it be Jerry, Jason, Tony, or Terrence, a lot of people desperately need to scapegoat a lost season by putting the blame on one person. None of those guys are individually responsible for the teams failures this season. It's not just Cowboys fans, football fans, or even sports fans. Try to remember that it's a TEAM game, and that means everyone from Jerry to the lowest scout on the totem pole to the 53rd guy on the roster.
Short shots:
- Don't count out Bill Nagy, he was quite good as a pass protector before his injury. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this team is counting on him to start next season.
- While we're at it, don't count out David Arkin, an offseason in the weight room could be all he needs to be a starter.
- You can probably go ahead and count out Phil Costa, while he was almost dominant as a run blocker, his pass protection was absolutely terrible, and we all know this team is gonna go as far as Romo takes us. We gotta be able to protect him.
- I'm starting to dial in on some Rob Ryan scheme things I missed during the season, including some things that seem to be the foundation of what he does. I'll be elaborating in a later post.
- Give me a JJ Watt type DE, a couple CB's and a young safety with potential out of this draft and I'll be ecstatic.
- Still think this team needs a true slot receiver. I love Austin, Bryant and Robinson, but none of them fit the mold of what is highly successful as a slot receiver in the NFL these days.
Comments and questions welcome. I'll be around the next couple days checking the thread and trying to answer as many questions as possible.
