Cutting Dez is a Huge Mistake

[cern]

This Dez subject is related to the Romo subject, which is also connected to the Dak subject if you catch my drift.

It's this weird thing where some fans STILL can't let go of Romo leaving so they hate Dak no matter what you invite for opinions or facts. Hate him SO much that they'll defend Dez to some pretty odd extremes. Dak doesn't stand a chance in their eyes.

Tribal natures. Deeply engrained in our subconscious brains. Hard to be angry at the uncontrollable, but not impossible.

 

[G2]

Tribal natures. Deeply engrained in our subconscious brains. Hard to be angry at the uncontrollable, but not impossible.

Like my primal hatred of snakes?

 

[Cap12]

This Dez subject is related to the Romo subject, which is also connected to the Dak subject if you catch my drift.

It's this weird thing where some fans STILL can't let go of Romo leaving so they hate Dak no matter what you invite for opinions or facts. Hate him SO much that they'll defend Dez to some pretty odd extremes. Dak doesn't stand a chance in their eyes.

Yeah, there are fans like that, but then again there fans who like Dak, but believe Romo should have started when he came back. These fans understand that while Dak did/does some things well, he was and is still a huge work-in-progress. Liking Dak and rooting for Dak, while believing these things about his limitations are not mutually exclusive.

There are also folks who believe that Dak farts the essence of rose and vomits rainbows, but who am I to take that away from them.

 

[G2]

Yeah, there are fans like that, but then again there fans who like Dak, but believe Romo should have started when he came back. These fans understand that while Dak did/does some things well, he was and is still a huge work-in-progress. Liking Dak and rooting for Dak, while believing these things about his limitations are not mutually exclusive.

There are also folks who believe that Dak farts the essence of rose and vomits rainbows, but who am I to take that away from them.

Like I said before, I wanted to see Romo come back in when he was healthy. The issue was his health. And while we can speculate on IF he was healthy enough to play or not, the one thing that made me accept Dak starting was the reality of Romo's back. He said it himself, so that's good enough for me to move on.
I don't understand the emotional connection to thing we cannot change, but that's just me. Especially STILL complaining about how his career ended.
And one reason I defend Dak is because the vast majority of those who bash him tend to be quite unrealistic in terms of football.

 

[Cap12]

Like I said before, I wanted to see Romo come back in when he was healthy. The issue was his health. And while we can speculate on IF he was healthy enough to play or not, the one thing that made me accept Dak starting was the reality of Romo's back. He said it himself, so that's good enough for me to move on.
I don't understand the emotional connection to thing we cannot change, but that's just me. Especially STILL complaining about how his career ended.
And one reason I defend Dak is because the vast majority of those who bash him tend to be quite unrealistic in terms of football.

I believe Romo fell on the sword for the good of the team. While he was never officially asked, I'm pretty sure someone asked him to say something to make sure the locker room was not divided. I bet that if forced to give an honest answer, he would have said that he would have been the better choice.

From what I suspect, he probably would have taken the CBS job and retired in 2017 anyway (good pay, great job security versus great pay/questionable job security and family and health considerations etc.), but all indications were that he was healthy when he returned from injury in 2016 and that his present health was not a serious factor in why they team benched him in favor of Dak.

 

[G2]

I believe Romo fell on the sword for the good of the team. While he was never officially asked, I'm pretty sure someone asked him to say something to make sure the locker room was not divided. I bet that if forced to give an honest answer, he would have said that he would have been the better choice.

From what I suspect, he probably would have taken the CBS job and retired in 2017 anyway (good pay, great job security versus great pay/questionable job security and family and health considerations etc.), but all indications were that he was healthy when he returned from injury in 2016 and that his present health was not a serious factor in why they team benched him in favor of Dak.

That's your opinion and maybe Romo did fall on the sword, but there's really nothing that indicates that. And I do disagree with you on returning healthy enough.
That's just not how it went. Romo himself illustrated how this last injury was different. He knew it was serious enough to consider other options, which he did. He's returned to play after an injury half a dozen times prior and never made the comment before. And he's returned at under 100%. He's so competitive that he would play with a severed leg, but the last one was different. As he said, it was a factor and the staff did what they had to.

 

[Cap12]

That's your opinion and maybe Romo did fall on the sword, but there's really nothing that indicates that. And I do disagree with you on returning healthy enough.
That's just not how it went. Romo himself illustrated how this last injury was different. He knew it was serious enough to consider other options, which he did. He's returned to play after an injury half a dozen times prior and never made the comment before. And he's returned at under 100%. He's so competitive that he would play with a severed leg, but the last one was different. As he said, it was a factor and the staff did what they had to.

Again, I think he would have retired anyway, but why waste a roster spot if he wasn't right and not planning to come back? He certainly looked sharp on that one drive against Philly. Unless you are telling me that it was a big conspiracy and the the Eagles just let Romo march down the field and score so he could have a Ted Williams moment, then I have to disagree with your assessment. For all their ineptitude on Offense, the Eagles Defense was really good in 2016. They could rush the passer really well and probably would have loved to knock Tony out again.

It didn't happen.

Romo made them look foolish. He looked like Tony at his best in 2014. Now I know it is still too small a sample size, but Tony passed the eye test in avoiding the rush and throwing the football. If he had laid an egg on that drive and looked bad doing it, people would have said how it had proved that he was washed up. So, it is only fair to say that he looked healthy and looked like he still had something in the tank.

 

[Miller]

Sorry to bump this but this seemed like the proper place to do this. Read this today in the Houston rag. This is not Cowboy fans talking but someone convincing another team. I'm not sayin this stuff is right or wrong. Just disseminating info for consumption. Thoughts on why last 3 years were down..

https://houston.sportsmap.com/patrick-creighton--5-players-texans-target-post-draft/

Forget the hype about how Dez hasn’t had a 1,000 yard season in 3 years, it’s a rather misleading statistic.

In 2015, he was catching passes from the likes of Matt Cassel and Kellen Moore before injury sidelined him for the rest of the season after nine games.

In 2016, despite Dallas prioritizing the run with Ezekiel Elliott, and playing with a rookie QB in Dak Prescott, Bryant was on pace for over 1000 yds and double digit touchdowns had he not missed three games with injury and basically sat out the entire Week 17 game as Dallas had already clinched and it was a meaningless game. Essentially he had 50 receptions for 796 yds and 8 TDs in 12 games. He averaged nearly 16 YPC.

Last season the Cowboys entire offense was a mess. Dak regressed, Zeke was suspended six games, the OLine crumbled with injuries, plus Dez played hurt the final 7 weeks of the season.

With an offseason to recover and a mega chip on his shoulder, a refocused and hungry Bryant is an enormous mismatch vs. defenses, and would always face single coverage as teams need to doubleteam DeAndre Hopkins.

Having a reliable WR who can be a game changer opposite Hopkins would be a huge boost for the Texans offense, especially considering the injury history of Will Fuller, the lack of quality WRs after Hopkins and Fuller, and the questionable state of the offensive line heading into the season.

 

[Jake]

"Last season the Cowboys entire offense was a mess. Dak regressed, Zeke was suspended six games, the OLine crumbled with injuries, plus Dez played hurt the final 7 weeks of the season."

And yet, Dak still completed over 69% of his passes to guys not named Dez. In BOTH years under Dak, Dez only caught 52% of his targets. The excuses are lame.

Dak & Dez just simply was not working, and Dez wasn't interested in hearing any part of it had anything to do with him. It was the coach's fault, it was Dak's fault, and oh by the way, pay me. He needed to go, and doesn't seem to be all that hot of a commodity as a free agent. Imagine that.

 

[Buzzbait]

now dak can get back to throwing to the open man and not having to force the ball to dez so the coaches can be happy.

cern that just might prove to be one of the more thoughtful posts of this entire thread, as opposed to all the shoot from the hip panic posts.

 

[G2]

Sorry to bump this but this seemed like the proper place to do this. Read this today in the Houston rag. This is not Cowboy fans talking but someone convincing another team. I'm not sayin this stuff is right or wrong. Just disseminating info for consumption. Thoughts on why last 3 years were down..

https://houston.sportsmap.com/patrick-creighton--5-players-texans-target-post-draft/

Forget the hype about how Dez hasn’t had a 1,000 yard season in 3 years, it’s a rather misleading statistic.

In 2015, he was catching passes from the likes of Matt Cassel and Kellen Moore before injury sidelined him for the rest of the season after nine games.

In 2016, despite Dallas prioritizing the run with Ezekiel Elliott, and playing with a rookie QB in Dak Prescott, Bryant was on pace for over 1000 yds and double digit touchdowns had he not missed three games with injury and basically sat out the entire Week 17 game as Dallas had already clinched and it was a meaningless game. Essentially he had 50 receptions for 796 yds and 8 TDs in 12 games. He averaged nearly 16 YPC.

Last season the Cowboys entire offense was a mess. Dak regressed, Zeke was suspended six games, the OLine crumbled with injuries, plus Dez played hurt the final 7 weeks of the season.

With an offseason to recover and a mega chip on his shoulder, a refocused and hungry Bryant is an enormous mismatch vs. defenses, and would always face single coverage as teams need to doubleteam DeAndre Hopkins.

Having a reliable WR who can be a game changer opposite Hopkins would be a huge boost for the Texans offense, especially considering the injury history of Will Fuller, the lack of quality WRs after Hopkins and Fuller, and the questionable state of the offensive line heading into the season.

I would take all of those things into consideration if Dez didn't act like a tool. Besides the QBs and his injuries (which other WRs had to do the same) Dez hasn't exactly gone out of his way to be a team player.

Now, I will agree with one point and that is that the entire offense was a mess. Ask yourself, was anyone great? And contrary to what a lot of Dez defenders say the reality is that Dak wasn't NEARLY as bad as some suggest.
His attempts were way up and his INT's increased. His passing percentage and rating were lower.
But, he only threw for 20 yards less a game. Same passing and rushing TD total.

So, yes he needs to improve, but watching last season in it's entirety, he did ok.

 

[TheGoat73]

Cutting your best receiver who led the team in every statistical category last season is not a good move. I can already see teams lining up for Dez. He won’t be unemployed long.

Every category? Do you even watch the games? He was worst in completions per target, and he was a turnover machine.

 

[Blake]

Again, I think he would have retired anyway, but why waste a roster spot if he wasn't right and not planning to come back? He certainly looked sharp on that one drive against Philly. Unless you are telling me that it was a big conspiracy and the the Eagles just let Romo march down the field and score so he could have a Ted Williams moment, then I have to disagree with your assessment. For all their ineptitude on Offense, the Eagles Defense was really good in 2016. They could rush the passer really well and probably would have loved to knock Tony out again.

It didn't happen.

Romo made them look foolish. He looked like Tony at his best in 2014. Now I know it is still too small a sample size, but Tony passed the eye test in avoiding the rush and throwing the football. If he had laid an egg on that drive and looked bad doing it, people would have said how it had proved that he was washed up. So, it is only fair to say that he looked healthy and looked like he still had something in the tank.

Whoopdee! One good drive where he didn't experience much pressure. Dude wasn't going to stay upright for a whole season anyways and everyone knew it. Skills be damned, that's just a fact. Romo couldn't be depended on anymore.

All of these arguments about how great he supposedly looked for a couple plays completely ignores the point that his body was broken. He was never going to make it through an entire season. If you can't stay on the field you become expendable simple as that.

 

[1972COWBOY]

We had a person at work and this person was smart and well educated and probably the most educated. You never knew what mood this person was in when this person came into to work. One day all good the next day just a distraction to work near. This person's performance did started to slack off.

The boss let this person go. We lost this person's expertise and are less for that but overall workers are less distracted not having to work near this person and the atmosphere is much more positive although a bit tougher. Sometimes you just have to part ways to get the atmosphere more positive and I think w/o Dez the atmosphere will be more positive and that could lead to better play.

I'm looking for the Cowboys to play good un-distracted football and wont worry if the SB isn't made. By focusing too much on the SB and getting disappointed when the SB isn't made, its making the game less enjoyable to watch. I just want to see good football and not disastrous football like the game against Denver.

Yes the Cowboys may be less w/o Dez but also less distracted.

 

[northerncowboynation]

For the Official Record

This is a gigantic mistake...... should have learned from DWare....... could have saved almost as much with a simple restructure

He could have been traded at worst....he will sign elsewhere quickly and he will play for 5-6 more years like ABoldin

Cutting a hand or foot off with an electric saw would be a GIGANTIC mistake. Dez is more like losing a little toe. Let's not be too dramatic here

 

[xwalker]

Again, I think he would have retired anyway, but why waste a roster spot if he wasn't right and not planning to come back? He certainly looked sharp on that one drive against Philly. Unless you are telling me that it was a big conspiracy and the the Eagles just let Romo march down the field and score so he could have a Ted Williams moment, then I have to disagree with your assessment. For all their ineptitude on Offense, the Eagles Defense was really good in 2016. They could rush the passer really well and probably would have loved to knock Tony out again.

It didn't happen.

Romo made them look foolish. He looked like Tony at his best in 2014. Now I know it is still too small a sample size, but Tony passed the eye test in avoiding the rush and throwing the football. If he had laid an egg on that drive and looked bad doing it, people would have said how it had proved that he was washed up. So, it is only fair to say that he looked healthy and looked like he still had something in the tank.

Romo handled the situation with dignity.

He wanted to come back as the starter but took the high road publically when it didn't happen.

He did get mad at Garrett and some reports say that he still doesn't speak to Garrett unless it's required for his job.

Obviously he could still play when healthy.

The issue is that there was a very high probability that he would get injured again. He avoided taking big hits when he returned1 for the 1 game but that was not going to happen for the playoffs or another full season.

 

[KJJ]

Every category? Do you even watch the games? He was worst in completions per target, and he was a turnover machine.

I watched all the games and he was our most talented, productive receiver. He led all our receivers in catches, yards and TDs last season. He put up 14 receiving TDs the past two seasons and not having him as a redzone threat is going to hurt this team. None of the receivers we have put the ball in the endzone like he did.

 

[TheGoat73]

I watched all the games and he was our most talented, productive receiver. He led all our receivers in catches, yards and TDs last season. He put up 14 receiving TDs the past two seasons and not having him as a redzone threat is going to hurt this team. None of the receivers we have put the ball in the endzone like he did.

94 NFL receivers had a higher catch/target ratio than Dez. It would be a higher number but I tossed out those with fewer than 40 targets. Dez simply doesn’t catch the ball well.

We have a top 5 OL, the best RB in the NFL and a mobile QB. We can do OK in the end zone. There were times when we forced the ball to Dez when we shouldn’t have.

Beasley had 2/3 of Dez’s TD’s on 1/2 of the targets last year.

 

[PhillyCowboysFan]

WHY WAS THIS BUMPED!

Please people please just move on already. This thing has been dissected a million different ways already!

 

[KJJ]

94 NFL receivers had a higher catch/target ratio than Dez. It would be a higher number but I tossed out those with fewer than 40 targets. Dez simply doesn’t catch the ball well.

We have a top 5 OL, the best RB in the NFL and a mobile QB. We can do OK in the end zone. There were times when we forced the ball to Dez when we shouldn’t have.

Beasley had 2/3 of Dez’s TD’s on 1/2 of the targets last year.

Despite our OL, Zeke and Dak’s mobility our passing game has to improve if we’re going to be a championship caliber team. Doesn’t matter how many receivers in the league had a higher catch/target ratio than Dez he was our best receiver who scored most of our receiving TDs. If things don’t improve with the receivers we enter the 2018 season with all the fingers will be pointing at Dak. Many started pointing fingers at him at the end of last season. There’s going be a lot of pressure on him this season to improve his consistency and his production.