Cowboys DT Stephen Paea Will Retire at Age 29***Merged***

[mattjames2010]

You're wrong. The core of this team won 13 games last season.

You are over reacting to a slow start to a season and there is still a lot of football to play.

I didn't see this "we're iunk from top to bottom" post from you last year, or this past offseason. You are basing your "analysis" on a small sample size of games this year, and you're ignoring data to confirm your bias (like pretty much ignoring the success last year).

Any way-- we've all overreacted and said dumb things before lol. Trying to "defend" your assertion that this roster is junk from top to bottom just makes it worse...

Last year I said i wasn't looking forward to the offseason, I was afraid of losing a lot of our secondary players and the FA group didn't have a lot of talent in it to replace. I was right to be worried there.

What I didn't expect is this offensive line to downgrade this quickly. I understand eventually, all groups decline, but this happened rapidly. I have already "defended" my position, I don't need to go to lengths to show you how trash our defense is. And you will need to be the one to show me where our offensive players are performing at a high level - even if I grant you Dak, Dak is one player.

LAST YEAR does not matter. It is now irrelevant. How is our running game this year? How are our receivers performing? How's our offensive line in rankings? How is Witten? We've simply downgraded in nearly every single position from last season.

Now it's time for YOU to defend this team. We are trash.

 

[Stash]

Heath and Paea? Anything to say? I guess it wasnt the coaching up no?

 

[MichaelWinicki]

But I do remember quite clearly you saying how much better the D would be with all the new faces. Fess up or no?

I'll fess up.

I thought the defense would be better.

After 5 games it hasn't been.

We'll see where we are at later in the season.

 

[CCBoy]

Thornton and Paea didn't pan out. Thornton played very soft, and Paea is just too injured to play as the type of player that he was. Tough results, for the hope.

 

[rpntex]

So Irving and Crawford are DT's this week?

Great.

Just as they were in Green Bay, along with Collins. Paea hasn't played since the Rams game. Crawford has been going back and forth between RDE and DT, and Irving played DT almost exclusively.

That's one of the peculiarities of Marinelli's defense. The fact that he only uses a 1T on 25-30% of snaps makes it financially irresponsible to commit a large amount of resources to a DT who ONLOY plays that technique, no matter how effective he is at it. The ideal DT in his scheme is someone who can play both techniques . Those types of players who also have prototypical 1T size are rare. Booger McFarland was one, as is Dontari Poe. Aside from those guys, I can't think of any off the top of my head. They're just rare, so he looks for the "hybrid" type and the next best solution.

 

[Stash]

Just as they were in Green Bay, along with Collins. Paea hasn't played since the Rams game. Crawford has been going back and forth between RDE and DT, and Irving played DT almost exclusively.

And every running back that faces us has a career day.

That's one of the peculiarities of Marinelli's defense. The fact that he only uses a 1T on 25-30% of snaps makes it financially irresponsible to commit a large amount of resources to a DT who ONLOY plays that technique, no matter how effective he is at it. The ideal DT in his scheme is someone who can play both techniques . Those types of players who also have prototypical 1T size are rare. Booger McFarland was one, as is Dontari Poe. Aside from those guys, I can't think of any off the top of my head. They're just rare, so he looks for the "hybrid" type and the next best solution.

"Ideally", you stop playing this scheme.

 

[Hawkeye19]

Last year I said i wasn't looking forward to the offseason, I was afraid of losing a lot of our secondary players and the FA group didn't have a lot of talent in it to replace. I was right to be worried there.

What I didn't expect is this offensive line to downgrade this quickly. I understand eventually, all groups decline, but this happened rapidly. I have already "defended" my position, I don't need to go to lengths to show you how trash our defense is. And you will need to be the one to show me where our offensive players are performing at a high level - even if I grant you Dak, Dak is one player.

LAST YEAR does not matter. It is now irrelevant. How is our running game this year? How are our receivers performing? How's our offensive line in rankings? How is Witten? We've simply downgraded in nearly every single position from last season.

Now it's time for YOU to defend this team. We are trash.

No-- I don't need to defend anything. You said the roster is "junk from top to bottom" and "we are trash."

That is patently false and absurd. Maybe you love to use hyperbole-- but if our "trashy" and "junky" players hit the open market-- many of them would employed immediately.

But I digress-- you are clearly upset by the start we have had this season-- and it certainly has been disappointing. However-- the offense is showing signs of being itself again-- and getting Lee and Hitch on the field at the same time will help tighten things up.

In fact-- had Lee been healthy the past 2 games there is a strong possibility we win one or both contests which would make our "trashy" team either 3-2 or 4-1.

Lots of football left to play still...

 

[mattjames2010]

No-- I don't need to defend anything. You said the roster is "junk from top to bottom" and "we are trash."

That is patently false and absurd. Maybe you love to use hyperbole-- but if our "trashy" and "junky" players hit the open market-- many of them would employed immediately.

But I digress-- you are clearly upset by the start we have had this season-- and it certainly has been disappointing. However-- the offense is showing signs of being itself again-- and getting Lee and Hitch on the field at the same time will help tighten things up.

In fact-- had Lee been healthy the past 2 games there is a strong possibility we win one or both contests which would make our "trashy" team either 3-2 or 4-1.

Lots of football left to play still...

We are junk.

Every single person that has responded to me has either brought up Zeke or our kicking game. That's how crap our team and our players are right now - when the first players you have to point to are Dan freakin' Bailey and an RB, there are problems. No offense to Zeke, but he's not playing like Smith or 2012 Peterson, he's been average to good this year. Some his fault, some of it on the offensive line.

Don't tell me you don't need to defend your position. Show me these players that are elevating our team to new heights. And when Lee was healthy, we got dominated by the Broncos.

And until I see Dez Bryant playing like the superstar he thinks he is, Beasley getting back to this 2016 level, and T-Will being more consistent - we are nowhere near "ourselves".

 

[rpntex]

G

And every running back that faces us has a career day.



"Ideally", you stop playing this scheme.

Go back and look at the tape, Stash. You'll see that the majority of the yardage given up came outside of the tackles. The interior DL wasn't the problem.

 

[Sydla]

Has Mayowa been benched yet?

A few runs to the outside seem to have come from the fact he's out of position yet again.

 

[Stash]

G


Go back and look at the tape, Stash. You'll see that the majority of the yardage given up came outside of the tackles. The interior DL wasn't the problem.

I'm not disputing outside contain is the bigger issue. But that doesn't mean that "interior DL wasn't a problem" as well. It is.

 

[Stash]

Has Mayowa been benched yet?

A few runs to the outside seem to have come from the fact he's out of position yet again.

I think he definitely would have been if Tapper hadn't... Tappered...

 

[Gaede]

I'll fess up.

I thought the defense would be better.

After 5 games it hasn't been.

We'll see where we are at later in the season.

What's weird about this defense is the tackling. It's been awful this year.

Marinellis defense, in particular, relies on players tackling well.

 

[Stash]

I'll fess up.

I thought the defense would be better.

After 5 games it hasn't been.

We'll see where we are at later in the season.

Same here. But the worst part of that for me is that the struggles aren't even directly the result of playing rookies. I could feel better about it I feel they were. But the issues are with veteran players not performing or playing poorly more than anything to do with the rookies.

And their personnel decisions and offseason replacements have all been failures. Every new face has been a huge downgrade. And two of them are already gone after just 5 games.

 

[Hawkeye19]

We are junk.

Every single person that has responded to me has either brought up Zeke or our kicking game. That's how crap our team and our players are right now - when the first players you have to point to are Dan freakin' Bailey and an RB, there are problems. No offense to Zeke, but he's not playing like Smith or 2012 Peterson, he's been average to good this year. Some his fault, some of it on the offensive line.

Don't tell me you don't need to defend your position. Show me these players that are elevating our team to new heights. And when Lee was healthy, we got dominated by the Broncos.

And until I see Dez Bryant playing like the superstar he thinks he is, Beasley getting back to this 2016 level, and T-Will being more consistent - we are nowhere near "ourselves".

The core of this team won 13 games last year. They have done it before ergo they can do it again. The talent has not fallen off in less than one year.

I know you're frustrated-- but take a deep breath and do what Parcells does: wait until Thanksgiving and see who this team is then before passing judgment.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

We are junk.

Every single person that has responded to me has either brought up Zeke or our kicking game. That's how crap our team and our players are right now - when the first players you have to point to are Dan freakin' Bailey and an RB, there are problems. No offense to Zeke, but he's not playing like Smith or 2012 Peterson, he's been average to good this year. Some his fault, some of it on the offensive line.

Don't tell me you don't need to defend your position. Show me these players that are elevating our team to new heights. And when Lee was healthy, we got dominated by the Broncos.

And until I see Dez Bryant playing like the superstar he thinks he is, Beasley getting back to this 2016 level, and T-Will being more consistent - we are nowhere near "ourselves".

I can't think of what you're worse at, being a fan or posting your football takes?

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Same here. But the worst part of that for me is that the struggles aren't even directly the result of playing rookies. I could feel better about it I feel they were. But the issues are with veteran players not performing or playing poorly more than anything to do with the rookies.

And their personnel decisions and offseason replacements have all been failures. Every new face has been a huge downgrade. And two of them are already gone after just 5 games.

The one bright side to this season so far for the defense has been the improvement in the pass rush.

BUT 3 other things need to happen to attempt to right the ship IMO...

1. The DE's need better contain.
2. Heath needs to be replaced as a starter.
3. Smith needs to be replaced as a starter.

 

[Stash]

The core of this team won 13 games last year. They have done it before ergo they can do it again. The talent has not fallen off in less than one year.

I know you're frustrated-- but take a deep breath and do what Parcells does: wait until Thanksgiving and see who this team is then before passing judgment.

Unfortunately, "the core" of this team isn't here anymore. And every piece they've put in to replace that lost "core" has been lesser than the player they've replaced. Every one has been worse, not better, save for maybe Collins over Free.

 

[Stash]

The one bright side to this season so far for the defense has been the improvement in the pass rush.

BUT 3 other things need to happen to attempt to right the ship IMO...

1. The DE's need better contain.
2. Heath needs to be replaced as a starter.
3. Smith needs to be replaced as a starter.

Agreed. Completely. Like you, I hope this bye week leads to that changing.

 

[CowboyRoy]

I'll fess up.

I thought the defense would be better.

After 5 games it hasn't been.

We'll see where we are at later in the season.

All we can hope for now is progress with the young guys.