Did the Cowboys tank yesterday?

[grgnfg420]

As I watched (disgusted) yesterday's game and saw just how pervasive the lethargy and half-assed efforts were across the board on this team I found myself wondering? Was this done on purpose? Could Mike McCarthy be like me in that he doesn't trust this team when it's riding high and the media is all caressing their ..er.. private parts. Could he had instructed both coordinators to present a preseason level game plan and really never put much into the game? If it had been one side of the ball I might feel differently.. but the defensive effort was sporadic, the special teams were horrible.. the receivers dropped balls, the QB was off, the backs looked like they were running in quicksand and my lord, the offensive line looked like they would struggle to block Baylor.

Everybody stunk.. If it wasn't an outright tank then they need to get the name of whoever catered the pregame meal and never use them again and never stay at whatever hotel they stayed at again either. If it wasn't taking, food poisoning or somebody pulling the fire alarm at 3 am, then this team will have a short visit to the playoffs if it can't play about 20,000 miles above what they showed us yesterday.

Our offense looked very vanilla yesterday

 

[kevm3]

I'd really like to think that they were saving the good plays or whatever for the playoffs and were just coasting, but the team has been struggling the past few games, and there looks to be a huge discipline problem with it taking half the game for the team to get on track. All of the drops, interceptions and other turnovers are unacceptable

 

[Naruto]

It looked like Preseason football

A bunch of guys in new positions running vanilla plays because that's all they know.

We're in trouble imho

 

[silvernblu]

As I watched (disgusted) yesterday's game and saw just how pervasive the lethargy and half-assed efforts were across the board on this team I found myself wondering? Was this done on purpose? Could Mike McCarthy be like me in that he doesn't trust this team when it's riding high and the media is all caressing their ..er.. private parts. Could he had instructed both coordinators to present a preseason level game plan and really never put much into the game? If it had been one side of the ball I might feel differently.. but the defensive effort was sporadic, the special teams were horrible.. the receivers dropped balls, the QB was off, the backs looked like they were running in quicksand and my lord, the offensive line looked like they would struggle to block Baylor.

Everybody stunk.. If it wasn't an outright tank then they need to get the name of whoever catered the pregame meal and never use them again and never stay at whatever hotel they stayed at again either. If it wasn't taking, food poisoning or somebody pulling the fire alarm at 3 am, then this team will have a short visit to the playoffs if it can't play about 20,000 miles above what they showed us yesterday.

It looked like he gave Ron Rivera the offensive plays.

 

[Irvin88_4life]

If planning on "tanking" why not rest the starters? Or at least pull the starters after the first 2 drives or half. Just doesnt make sense to have em out that long just to suck for no reason

It's to make the Bucs think Dallas is still terrible and they go into the game feeling over confident... Haha

It's called the Kansas City shuffle, get them thinking one thing while you're doing something else

 

[Jake]

I honestly think part of its human nature. Let’s be realstic they had nothing to play for. Even if there was a slight chance they could win something.

That's an excuse for a soft team. The 49ers were in the same situation and won 38-13.

 

[RonnieT24]

Saying they tanked isn’t a nuanced approach

It is if you look a little closer. If you consider that the coaches presented an extremely vanilla game plan and let it be known that the starters would be "rested" at some point in the game. You don't have to come out and SAY you don't care about this game if you SHOW you don't care about this game. I just think it's possible that the laissez faire attitude seeped into the minds of the guys as they prepared for the game. The players knew what they were going over was plain vanilla stuff so how can it not creep into their minds that this was a glorified preseason game? LIke I said.. it doesn't take MUCH of a dropoff for you to get your butt kicked in the NFL. Even if it was 1-2 percent it would have been more then enough for the former college all All Americans across from you to kick your tail. It wasn't just the way they played.. The energy and vibe of the whole team was off. And I don't know a lot of ways to explain that other than the coaches let them get that way..

 

[RonnieT24]

That's an excuse for a soft team. The 49ers were in the same situation and won 38-13.

Well I think it's a pretty safe bet that the 49ers have proven themselves to be a much tougher team mentally and physically than ours. That's the stark reality of the situation. And I don't know how we change that.. at least while we've got Mr. "Yards are Yards" calling our plays.

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

They’re human. I can muster up the strength of 11 kings when I have to bring the groceries in on one trip. Then if you ask me to take the trash out I can barely get my shoes on

 

[CoachD]

It certainly looked like it because there is no way they could play that bad and no way could the Redteam could beat them that easily.

 

[jwitten82]

Is it possible that the players did not want to play and MM made them. So that was their way of rebelling?

I hope not, lol, that's horrible. These guys are competitors, hell there are reports that Tom Brady got playing time yesterday only because he told them he was gonna play. If our players didn't want to play for a possible number one or two seed, then just blow this whole roster up

 

[CTcowboy203]

It is if you look a little closer. If you consider that the coaches presented an extremely vanilla game plan and let it be known that the starters would be "rested" at some point in the game. You don't have to come out and SAY you don't care about this game if you SHOW you don't care about this game. I just think it's possible that the laissez faire attitude seeped into the minds of the guys as they prepared for the game. The players knew what they were going over was plain vanilla stuff so how can it not creep into their minds that this was a glorified preseason game? LIke I said.. it doesn't take MUCH of a dropoff for you to get your butt kicked in the NFL. Even if it was 1-2 percent it would have been more then enough for the former college all All Americans across from you to kick your tail. It wasn't just the way they played.. The energy and vibe of the whole team was off. And I don't know a lot of ways to explain that other than the coaches let them get that way..

Sorry buddy and I am one of the more reasonable not doom and gloom posters here but you are in denial. You are trying to make sense out of it. The team didn’t show up. They weren’t focused in all phases - it was evident right from the start. Whether it was nerves or whatever reason it wasn’t a “vanilla “ game plan being the reason we lost. We got out played.

They were playing for a potential 1 seed and a bye. Even if it was a small chance. The coaching staff and players didn’t punt this game. If the game plan was vanilla and basic don’t let the entire team play into deep 4th quarter. It just doesn’t make sense what you are saying.

If the players don’t care about being a 1 seed then we are in deep trouble, if the coaching staff didn’t coach this game or prepare for it like it was for a 1 seed we are in trouble.

 

[jwitten82]

They’re human. I can muster up the strength of 11 kings when I have to bring the groceries in on one trip. Then if you ask me to take the trash out I can barely get my shoes on

Yea, but it's not like they didn't have nothing to play for. There was a chance we get the one or two seed

 

[RonnieT24]

Sorry buddy and I am one of the more reasonable not doom and gloom posters here but you are in denial. You are trying to make sense out of it. The team didn’t show up. They weren’t focused in all phases - it was evident right from the start. Whether it was or nerves or whatever reason it was a “vanilla “ game plan.

They were playing for a potential 1 seed and a bye. Even if it was a small chance. The coaching staff and players didn’t punt this game. If the game plan was vanilla and basic don’t let the entire team play into deep 4th quarter. It just doesn’t make sense what you are saying

Anyone who watched the game saw all of this. My question is WHY? Why were we running high school running plays and route combinations? Why were we throwing deep on 3rd and 5? Why was the punter not focused, the punt returner not focused, the receivers not focused? Why were our offensive linemen late off the ball every other play? Why did we play 15 different guys at left corner? These were all evident throughout the game.. I'm not trying to make sense out of it at all. None of it makes any sense. Even if McCarthy comes out today and says "We intentionally played this like a preseason game" it won't make sense to me. I either played in 100 games and coached in another 100-150 games in my lifetime between Pop Warner, junior high, high school and college. I never went into any of them thinking "it's no big deal if we lose." I have never been able to understand that mentality at all. So please don't mistake trying to understand what the hell happened with trying to make sense of it. It will never make sense to show up and play halfass to me. Either give it one hundo or don't suit up.

 

[CTcowboy203]

Anyone who watched the game saw all of this. My question is WHY? Why were we running high school running plays and route combinations? Why were we throwing deep on 3rd and 5? Why was the punter not focused, the punt returner not focused, the receivers not focused? Why were our offensive linemen late off the ball every other play? Why did we play 15 different guys at left corner? These were all evident throughout the game.. I'm not trying to make sense out of it at all. None of it makes any sense. Even if McCarthy comes out today and says "We intentionally played this like a preseason game" it won't make sense to me. I either played in 100 games and coached in another 100-150 games in my lifetime between Pop Warner, junior high, high school and college. I never went into any of them thinking "it's no big deal if we lose." I have never been able to understand that mentality at all. So please don't mistake trying to understand what the hell happened with trying to make sense of it. It will never make sense to show up and play halfass to me. Either give it one hundo or don't suit up.

It doesn’t happen the way you said it did. The team was unorganized and undisciplined because that’s who they have been for about a month now.

They got punched in the mouth early and weren’t ready to fight back because they never expected a fight. They figured the commanders would roll over and play dead.

 

[RonnieT24]

It doesn’t happen the way you said it did. The team was unorganized and undisciplined because that’s who they have been for about a month now.

They got punched in the mouth early and weren’t ready to fight back because they never expected a fight. They figured the commanders would roll over and play dead.

Well if they can be knocked off their game that easily this will be a short postseason for them followed by a very LONG and PAINFUL offseason. They really need to pull their heads out .. and soon.

 

[CTcowboy203]

Well if they can be knocked off their game that easily this will be a short postseason for them followed by a very LONG and PAINFUL offseason. They really need to pull their heads out .. and soon.

I agree with you there

 

[glimmerman]

I would say we didn’t care. The playcalling was terrible.. Was the same plays over and over.. And if we didn’t care why play the starters. But we sit the starters and we would come out flat. I was hoping we would have went after the rookie qb.

 

[Aliencowboy]

As I watched (disgusted) yesterday's game and saw just how pervasive the lethargy and half-assed efforts were across the board on this team I found myself wondering? Was this done on purpose? Could Mike McCarthy be like me in that he doesn't trust this team when it's riding high and the media is all caressing their ..er.. private parts. Could he had instructed both coordinators to present a preseason level game plan and really never put much into the game? If it had been one side of the ball I might feel differently.. but the defensive effort was sporadic, the special teams were horrible.. the receivers dropped balls, the QB was off, the backs looked like they were running in quicksand and my lord, the offensive line looked like they would struggle to block Baylor.

Everybody stunk.. If it wasn't an outright tank then they need to get the name of whoever catered the pregame meal and never use them again and never stay at whatever hotel they stayed at again either. If it wasn't taking, food poisoning or somebody pulling the fire alarm at 3 am, then this team will have a short visit to the playoffs if it can't play about 20,000 miles above what they showed us yesterday.

It’s fair to say that the coaches did not add any wrinkles and ran a vanilla game scheme at Washington not to put anything new on tape for TB. Having said that, McCarthy deserves an Oscar for that postgame interview if true. Jones best supporting cast.

Also I would expect if true that we will see players used in new play designs that have been developed as the year went along and put in the tool box. Pollard, Hilton and Turpin should have 5 plays each.

 

[shabazz]

As I watched (disgusted) yesterday's game and saw just how pervasive the lethargy and half-assed efforts were across the board on this team I found myself wondering? Was this done on purpose? Could Mike McCarthy be like me in that he doesn't trust this team when it's riding high and the media is all caressing their ..er.. private parts. Could he had instructed both coordinators to present a preseason level game plan and really never put much into the game? If it had been one side of the ball I might feel differently.. but the defensive effort was sporadic, the special teams were horrible.. the receivers dropped balls, the QB was off, the backs looked like they were running in quicksand and my lord, the offensive line looked like they would struggle to block Baylor.

Everybody stunk.. If it wasn't an outright tank then they need to get the name of whoever catered the pregame meal and never use them again and never stay at whatever hotel they stayed at again either. If it wasn't taking, food poisoning or somebody pulling the fire alarm at 3 am, then this team will have a short visit to the playoffs if it can't play about 20,000 miles above what they showed us yesterday.

I don’t believe tank is the correct word here. This team has been a Jekyll & Hyde/schizophrenic nightmare all season. They are either very high or very low. Yesterdays performance was their very low point however I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if they exploded against the Bucs next week and beat them by 14+.

i still maintain that they can win 2 games this playoff provided that the 2nd game isn't against the Niners or Eagles……..and lethargic was the perfect description of their effort yesterday, as you so aptly pointed out

for a minute, some of the fellas I was watching the game with thought they were point shaving for the bookies, lol.