DMN Blog: Until the 'Boys regain a tough, disciplined mentality they will underachiev

[WoodysGirl]

Until the Cowboys regain a tough, disciplined mentality they will continue to underachieve

4:56 PM Wed, Jan 28, 2009 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Jean-Jacques Taylor http://www.***BANNED-URL***/blogs/images/email-icon.jpg E-mail http://www.***BANNED-URL***/blogs/images/email-icon.jpg News tips

Until the Cowboys become a mentally and physically tough team they're not going to reach their potential.

Talking to players and coaches for Pittsburgh and Arizona confirmed that.

After the Cardinals lost 48-7 to New England, Ken Whisenhunt made the players practice in pads every day the following week, while telling them everybody's job was up for grabs.

Maurice Carthon, an assistant in Dallas under Bill Parcells, wasn't surprised.

"Ken kept walking up and down the aisle in the plane," Carthon said. "Every time he did it, I saw this look in his eye that let me know he was going to do something dramatic.

"But our guys bought into it. They accepted the challenge and they responded. They knew they hadn't played their best football. That was all about toughness.

"That was about seeing who was going to be mentally tough and who wanted to do whatever it took to win. Teams have to be pushed and prodded sometimes. That's what coaches do."

No matter hows many questions folks asked Mike Tomlin about his approach, the answer never changed: He wants tough, smart, disciplined players singularly focused on winning.

Imagine that.

Tomlin said he's the same guy every day. Win or lose. He demands discipline and commands respect.

"He really came in his first year and laid down the law," Hines Ward said. "It was his way or no way. He worked us hard and guys didn't always like it, but we saw the results.

"This year, he's backed off a little and taken care of some of the veterans by giving them Wednesdays off, so we're fresh for Sunday. He can do that because he knows we'll take care of him on Sunday. It's about trust."

 

[fanfromvirginia]

Discipline certainly seems to be one of the top 2 or 3 factors (along with managing the salary cap, and having a solid system) in fielding and maintaining a strong team in the FA era.

 

[cowboyjoe]

DMN Blog: Until the 'Boys regain a tough, disciplined mentality they will underachiev


This is what the whole thing about, the players griped and moaned when parcells did that, then they got jerry to get a soft coach, you saw the results at the end of december in giants cowboys playof game


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Until the Cowboys regain a tough, disciplined mentality they will continue to underachieve

This is what it is all about, you dont win, just by wearing a star on your helmet, it takes hard work, sacrifice, sweat, blood and tears

4:56 PM Wed, Jan 28, 2009 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Jean-Jacques Taylor E-mail News tips

Until the Cowboys become a mentally and physically tough team they're not going to reach their potential.

Talking to players and coaches for Pittsburgh and Arizona confirmed that.

After the Cardinals lost 48-7 to New England, Ken Whisenhunt made the players practice in pads every day the following week, while telling them everybody's job was up for grabs.

This is my whole point, in one game after a Commanders loss, jimmy johnson got onto middle linebacker robert jones, and said, later, i hate to lose and so should you, but the players were laughign and cutting up on the plane after that loss.

Thats my whole point, a reporter that very rarely tells on the cowboys said after the game in phily, players were laughing, and cutting up on the plane going back to dallas after the eagles embarrased the cowboys players, their fans, coaches etc. But what did wade phillips do on that plane, or jerry jones, nothing.

Thats my whole point, good ole wade is way too soft, and he waits and waits and waits, before he changes things, then it is too late like last year

when a head coach like coach cupcake wade doesnt allow hitting in practice for the first 25 days in training camp, something is wrong.

you cant run a team like that, it wont work with these players, sure they want to be treated like professionals, but they dont act like professionals

just like wisenhunt and tomlin were tough on their players, so should good ole softee cupcake wade, but he doesnt

jimmy johnson proved that when he worked the players, kept them in shape and fine toned them, did the players like it, NO! but they saw the results with championships and super bowls.

Maurice Carthon, an assistant in Dallas under Bill Parcells, wasn't surprised.

"Ken kept walking up and down the aisle in the plane," Carthon said. "Every time he did it, I saw this look in his eye that let me know he was going to do something dramatic.

"But our guys bought into it. They accepted the challenge and they responded. They knew they hadn't played their best football. That was all about toughness.

"That was about seeing who was going to be mentally tough and who wanted to do whatever it took to win. Teams have to be pushed and prodded sometimes. That's what coaches do."

This is my final point, some of the players on the dallas cowboys roster dont want to do whatever it takes to win, some do, but not all of the players

when a player that is stretching out on the field before the playoff game agaisnt the giants, says they dont want any of this with the star on our helmet,

that right there is the problem, ATTITUDE, DESIRE, HEART AND WANT TO!

And the head coach by not working them.

No matter hows many questions folks asked Mike Tomlin about his approach, the answer never changed: He wants tough, smart, disciplined players singularly focused on winning.

Imagine that.

Tomlin said he's the same guy every day. Win or lose. He demands discipline and commands respect.

"He really came in his first year and laid down the law," Hines Ward said. "It was his way or no way. He worked us hard and guys didn't always like it, but we saw the results.

"This year, he's backed off a little and taken care of some of the veterans by giving them Wednesdays off, so we're fresh for Sunday. He can do that because he knows we'll take care of him on Sunday. It's about trust."

 

[Apollo Creed]

We give up 100 yards in penalties every game. Even when BP was here. They are just dumb. That simple.

 

[Stash]

We give up 100 yards in penalties every game. Even when BP was here. They are just dumb. That simple.

Then get smarter guys.

Do whatever it takes to change the culture of 'losing being OK' that this team has become infected with.

Winning needs to mean more around here.

 

[fanfromvirginia]

We give up 100 yards in penalties every game. Even when BP was here. They are just dumb. That simple.

No, we don't and it's an exaggeration to say we were just as penalized under BP. For the last two years we've given up 59.8 yards per game in penalties, which put us at 31st in the league this season and 26th last season.

I couldn't find stats for previous years but we were not that bad under BP. We just weren't as good as BP teams usually are.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

Until the Cowboys regain a tough, disciplined mentality they will continue to underachieve

4:56 PM Wed, Jan 28, 2009 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Jean-Jacques Taylor http://www.***BANNED-URL***/blogs/images/email-icon.jpg E-mail http://www.***BANNED-URL***/blogs/images/email-icon.jpg News tips

Until the Cowboys become a mentally and physically tough team they're not going to reach their potential.

Talking to players and coaches for Pittsburgh and Arizona confirmed that.

After the Cardinals lost 48-7 to New England, Ken Whisenhunt made the players practice in pads every day the following week, while telling them everybody's job was up for grabs.

Maurice Carthon, an assistant in Dallas under Bill Parcells, wasn't surprised.

"Ken kept walking up and down the aisle in the plane," Carthon said. "Every time he did it, I saw this look in his eye that let me know he was going to do something dramatic.

"But our guys bought into it. They accepted the challenge and they responded. They knew they hadn't played their best football. That was all about toughness.

"That was about seeing who was going to be mentally tough and who wanted to do whatever it took to win. Teams have to be pushed and prodded sometimes. That's what coaches do."

No matter hows many questions folks asked Mike Tomlin about his approach, the answer never changed: He wants tough, smart, disciplined players singularly focused on winning.

Imagine that.

Tomlin said he's the same guy every day. Win or lose. He demands discipline and commands respect.

"He really came in his first year and laid down the law," Hines Ward said. "It was his way or no way. He worked us hard and guys didn't always like it, but we saw the results.

"This year, he's backed off a little and taken care of some of the veterans by giving them Wednesdays off, so we're fresh for Sunday. He can do that because he knows we'll take care of him on Sunday. It's about trust."

Wow!

Did it take Gene Jock Taylor years of research and consultation with the world's greatest minds to come to this conclusion? Oye.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Winning needs to mean more around here.

It's really that simple to me also.

Those who "just don't get it" need to go.

 

[Hostile]

It's really that simple to me also.

Those who "just don't get it" need to go.

Sign me up too.

"Show me a good loser and I will show you a loser period." --Vince Lombardi

 

[FCBarca]

Great points made in this blog post but I'm surprised that any of this comes as a surprise or revelation...Many fans have been clammoring for the very same thing here in Big D for a few seasons now

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

"This year, he's backed off a little and taken care of some of the veterans by giving them Wednesdays off, so we're fresh for Sunday. He can do that because he knows we'll take care of him on Sunday. It's about trust."

Is JJT stupid? This basically contradicts his entire theme. First of all JJT knows about as much as we do about building a SB winner and Ward basically said that TOmlin backed off this year. If I am not mistaken theyre going ot the SB and they did not do that last year.

Last time I checked backing off does not equal more tough and disciplined.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Wisenhunt makes his players practice hard after a loss

Wade sends them home to lick their wounds

that comparison speaks volumes

 

[Future]

I'm going to become a Dallas beatwriter and just copy everything that is said on this board and take credit for it. I swear every article posted has been discussed in depth on here by the time it actually gets to publication.

 

[Rogerthat12]

Sign me up too.

"Show me a good loser and I will show you a loser period." --Vince Lombardi

Yep, it seems like to some players "winning" was just being a Dallas Cowboy and thus they are entitled regardless of their performance.

 

[BehindEnemyLinez]

No, we don't and it's an exaggeration to say we were just as penalized under BP. For the last two years we've given up 59.8 yards per game in penalties, which put us at 31st in the league this season and 26th last season.

I couldn't find stats for previous years but we were not that bad under BP. We just weren't as good as BP teams usually are.

That cannot be correct! We've seen so much yellow flying during games for the past few years that you'd thought we were in Pittsburgh every week! There's no way in hell we were next to last in the NFL for lowest amount of penalty yards. If you give me some concrete stats, I'll rescind everything I've posted, but it seems like we averaged at least 6 a game!

After the Cardinals lost 48-7 to New England, Ken Whisenhunt made the players practice in pads every day the following week, while telling them everybody's job was up for grabs. Thats my whole point, a reporter that very rarely tells on the cowboys said after the game in phily, players were laughing, and cutting up on the plane going back to dallas after the eagles embarrased the cowboys players, their fans, coaches etc. But what did wade phillips do on that plane, or jerry jones, nothing.

The only thing that I question about this is what was Wade going to do to "punish" them for "cutting up"? The season was over! He couldn't make them run, or bench them, or make them hit b/c there wasn't anymore practices. I guess JJ could've tried something but any type of monetary penalty would've been nullified by the Players Association I'm sure. If this type of thing happened after every loss then shame on Phillips for not nipping it in the bud from the giddy-up...

 

[fanfromvirginia]

That cannot be correct! We've seen so much yellow flying during games for the past few years that you'd thought we were in Pittsburgh every week! There's no way in hell we were next to last in the NFL for lowest amount of penalty yards. If you give me some concrete stats, I'll rescind everything I've posted, but it seems like we averaged at least 6 a game!


The only thing that I question about this is what was Wade going to do to "punish" them for "cutting up"? The season was over! He couldn't make them run, or bench them, or make them hit b/c there wasn't anymore practices. I guess JJ could've tried something but any type of monetary penalty would've been nullified by the Players Association I'm sure. If this type of thing happened after every loss then shame on Phillips for not nipping it in the bud from the giddy-up...

I guess I should have been clearer. Our 31st ranking means we had the 2nd most penalties. That it is only 60 yards per game is a function of the human tendency to exaggerate. We no doubt had a bunch of games with yardage totals of 40 or 50. And remember, you could in theory get 12 penalties totalling 60 yards.

On edit: I did a little more research (http://www.knowyourdallascowboys.com/2008/12/27/penalties-are-down-in-the-nfl-but-not-in-dallas/)

From the above link, we learn that there was a big jump in penalties against Dallas from BP to Wade. In 2003 we were 10th and 13th in the league in number of penalities and penalty yardage, respectively. So, we were a little above average. In 2004 we improved to 9th and 10th and in 2005 we were great: 6th and 3rd. Then came 2006 when we fell all the way down to 21st and 27th.

And then came Wade. In 2007 we were 25th in both categories and in 2008 we were 32nd and 31st.

So there is an enormous difference in our performance in this category between BP and Wade (unless you've got an agenda and insist on limiting the discussion, for convenience sake, to '06 and '07.

2nd edit: Averaging all of this together, our average BP penalty rank was 12.38 and our average Wade penalty rank is 28.25.

 

[NextGenBoys]

Until the Cowboys regain a tough, disciplined mentality they will continue to underachieve

4:56 PM Wed, Jan 28, 2009 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Jean-Jacques Taylor http://www.***BANNED-URL***/blogs/images/email-icon.jpg E-mail http://www.***BANNED-URL***/blogs/images/email-icon.jpg News tips

Until the Cowboys become a mentally and physically tough team they're not going to reach their potential.

Talking to players and coaches for Pittsburgh and Arizona confirmed that.

After the Cardinals lost 48-7 to New England, Ken Whisenhunt made the players practice in pads every day the following week, while telling them everybody's job was up for grabs.

Maurice Carthon, an assistant in Dallas under Bill Parcells, wasn't surprised.

"Ken kept walking up and down the aisle in the plane," Carthon said. "Every time he did it, I saw this look in his eye that let me know he was going to do something dramatic.

"But our guys bought into it. They accepted the challenge and they responded. They knew they hadn't played their best football. That was all about toughness.

"That was about seeing who was going to be mentally tough and who wanted to do whatever it took to win. Teams have to be pushed and prodded sometimes. That's what coaches do."

No matter hows many questions folks asked Mike Tomlin about his approach, the answer never changed: He wants tough, smart, disciplined players singularly focused on winning.

Imagine that.

Tomlin said he's the same guy every day. Win or lose. He demands discipline and commands respect.

"He really came in his first year and laid down the law," Hines Ward said. "It was his way or no way. He worked us hard and guys didn't always like it, but we saw the results.

"This year, he's backed off a little and taken care of some of the veterans by giving them Wednesdays off, so we're fresh for Sunday. He can do that because he knows we'll take care of him on Sunday. It's about trust."

No sheet JJT. This isn't a news flash. We all know this.

It's the exact same reason all of us were complaining when we kept hearing about the team getting days off, and our team kept coming out flat and unprepared.

Its the main reason why I want Wade Phillips nowhere near Dallas.

 

[BehindEnemyLinez]

I guess I should have been clearer. Our 31st ranking means we had the 2nd most penalties. That it is only 60 yards per game is a function of the human tendency to exaggerate. We no doubt had a bunch of games with yardage totals of 40 or 50. And remember, you could in theory get 12 penalties totalling 60 yards.

Thanks for clarifying! I thought that was what you meant but when you rebutted the other poster's statement I believed you were trying to say we weren't penalized as much (which was actually true but I thought he was exaggerating just to make a point anyway).

edit: I think BP's last season (in which we were 21st & 27th by your research) is why we tend to believe Dallas was as much as a penalty magnet under Parcells as they are under Phillips.

 

[NextGenBoys]

I guess I should have been clearer. Our 31st ranking means we had the 2nd most penalties. That it is only 60 yards per game is a function of the human tendency to exaggerate. We no doubt had a bunch of games with yardage totals of 40 or 50. And remember, you could in theory get 12 penalties totalling 60 yards.

On edit: I did a little more research (http://www.knowyourdallascowboys.com/2008/12/27/penalties-are-down-in-the-nfl-but-not-in-dallas/)

From the above link, we learn that there was a big jump in penalties against Dallas from BP to Wade. In 2003 we were 10th and 13th in the league in number of penalities and penalty yardage, respectively. So, we were a little above average. In 2004 we improved to 9th and 10th and in 2005 we were great: 6th and 3rd. Then came 2006 when we fell all the way down to 21st and 27th.

And then came Wade. In 2007 we were 25th in both categories and in 2008 we were 32nd and 31st.

So there is an enormous difference in our performance in this category between BP and Wade (unless you've got an agenda and insist on limiting the discussion, for convenience sake, to '06 and '07.

2nd edit: Averaging all of this together, our average BP penalty rank was 12.38 and our average Wade penalty rank is 28.25.

IMO, penalties aren't the problem, it is the turnovers/ turnover differential.

You can win despite penalties. You cannot win turning the ball over.

 

[fanfromvirginia]

IMO, penalties aren't the problem, it is the turnovers/ turnover differential.

You can win despite penalties. You cannot win turning the ball over.

No argument there.