Do you realize it has been 10 years

[rcaldw]

10 years since the Dallas Cowboys were SERIOUS Super Bowl contenders.

10 years since you really BELIEVED that we could run the table in the post season tournament.

We got knocked out in 1996 but we won a playoff game and had the talent to go forward if we had played better.

Not since that time have the Dallas Cowboys been a serious contender.

Terrible.

 

[Future]

10 years since you really BELIEVED that we could run the table in the post season tournament.

I'd say its only been a little more than a month...

 

[rcaldw]

I'd say its only been a little more than a month...

Then let me restate it. 10 years since anyone had a SANE belief, a LEGITIMATE belief, that they had the capacity to do such a thing.

 

[Portland Fanatic]

It's sad isn't it...

 

[Future]

Then let me restate it. 10 years since anyone had a SANE belief, a LEGITIMATE belief, that they had the capacity to do such a thing.

You don't think this team had a shot? Especially in the weak NFC when Romo was on fire and the defense was clicking?

Up until the botched snap this team had a chance to go all the way, you won't be able to convince me otherwise.

 

[rcaldw]

You don't think this team had a shot? Especially in the weak NFC when Romo was on fire and the defense was clicking?

Up until the botched snap this team had a chance to go all the way, you won't be able to convince me otherwise.

Losing 4 of your last 5 doesn't define "on fire". Not by our QB and ESPECIALLY not by that defense.

No, I don't think that team had a shot.

 

[JPM]

I thougth we had a really good shot after we beat the Colts.

 

[Future]

Losing 4 of your last 5 doesn't define "on fire". Not by our QB and ESPECIALLY not by that defense.

No, I don't think that team had a shot.

When i said on fire i was referring to winning 4 of Romo's first 5 and being a blocked FG away from winning all 5...

I'll admit that we limped in, but there was no reason we shouldn't have beaten seattle and continued. I'm not saying it was a sure thing...but we had as good a shot as any team in the NFC

 

[rcaldw]

I thougth we had a really good shot after we beat the Colts.

I need to clarify further.

I think we have all had HOPES at some point or another during the last 10 years. Man, at the beginning of every season hope springs eternal. And then during a few seasons we would have a good start, or have something exciting happen. The season opener when Aikman hit Rocket Ismail in overtime to beat Washington for example.

But what I'm talking about is going into a season KNOWING that you have one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the NFC at least, PLAYING like you do, and going into the playoffs where you just can't wait to demonstrate it.

Not tuning in hoping for a REVERSAL of what has been happening lately, but a CONTINUATION of what has been our season.

It has been a long, long time since that happened. In fact, I was 33 years old

Where we YOU the last time it was like that?

 

[superpunk]

When i said on fire i was referring to winning 4 of Romo's first 5 and being a blocked FG away from winning all 5...

I'll admit that we limped in, but there was no reason we shouldn't have beaten seattle and continued. I'm not saying it was a sure thing...but we had as good a shot as any team in the NFC

We were in the playoffs. We had a legitimate shot. Felt alot better than this team than the 03 squad. It's been two days since we had a legitimate chance to run the table.

 

[rcaldw]

We were in the playoffs. We had a legitimate shot. Felt alot better than this team than the 03 squad. It's been two days since we had a legitimate chance to run the table.

Ok I don't even think Jerry Jones felt that

 

[DipChit]

Well this is why I'm still "upset" that we didnt get more done from 96-99. We still had some players that you thought gave you a shot at least on paper. Proven champions.

One we went into QC mode and jokers like that you knew you had no shot.

Yeah ok since then we bring in DB and catch a lil fire in a bottle with Romo.. even upgrade our roster as a whole compared to 5 years ago but big deal. Nowadays theres no real reason to think you're team is going to be there at the end unless you happen to be one thats proven you will be over a few year period like Philly NE and Indy.

Everyone else is just playing musical chairs seemingly going from 6-10 to 10-6 and back every year or 2. And even if you do make some tangible progress that you think gives you a better shot dont be surprised if some other team comes totally out of nowhere to better you (something that never used to happen in this league). Even if the next year they suck once again.

 

[rcaldw]

Well this is why I'm still "upset" that we didnt get more done from 96-99. We still had some players that you thought gave you a shot at least on paper. Proven champions.

One we went into QC mode and jokers like that you knew you had no shot.

Yeah ok since then we bring in DB and catch a lil fire in a bottle with Romo.. even upgrade our roster as a whole compared to 5 years ago but big deal. Nowadays theres no real reason to think you're team is going to be there at the end unless you happen to be one thats proven you will be over a few year period like Philly NE and Indy.

Everyone else is just playing musical chairs seemingly going from 6-10 to 10-6 and back every year or 2. And even if you do make some tangible progress that you think gives you a better shot dont be surprised if some other team comes totally out of nowhere to better you. Even if the next year they suck once again.

Dipchit, you got it my friend. That is exactly it.

Does anyone doubt that Indy will be in the hunt year in and year out? Even though they haven't broken through yet, they have been there now for a few years straight.

New England, same way.

Those teams used to be Dallas - San Francisco (90's)
Dallas - Pittsburgh and others (70's-80's)

I got used to us being one of those year after year contenders, that is what Cowboys fans enjoyed.

Granted, it was good to get back to the playoffs, but we limped in, never had a sense we had a legit shot to get to the Super Bowl, and just continue to wade around in the shallows of mediocrity.

 

[Future]

Does anyone doubt that Indy will be in the hunt year in and year out? Even though they haven't broken through yet, they have been there now for a few years straight.

New England, same way.

I got used to us being one of those year after year contenders, that is what Cowboys fans enjoyed.

So is it more sane to think that your team doesn't have a shot one year, but has a great chance the next? Or that there are only 3-4 teams with a shot every ten years?

Is it more sane to think your team can contend every year, or think that when they win 4 of 5 and have a QB and defense playing their best football that you can win a super bowl in a very weak conference?

 

[DipChit]

Well basically you can thank FA/salary cap for this. It took some time to build a team up cause the only way to do it was the draft (if even then you were able to avoid busts) but once you had it nobody could take any pieces away unless you chose to let the guy(s) go. Good teams tended to stay good and bad ones, bad.

Now a couple are staying decidedly good and only a couple decidedly bad but all the rest are like yo-yo's.

The only reason theres a very few exceptions to the up/down rule is because the either happen to have a great QB/coach combo like NE, or a thing with like Indy with a great QB/WR combo etc. It doesnt hardly matter what they do with the rest of the roster. No tweaking seems to quite get Indy over the top and no tweaking seems to get NE to fall too far.

Again all the more reason to bum out about us in the late 90's. For the most part still had Troy and Emmitt and Irvin and Woodson and Deion for example. It's not like they were all 35 by then. You'd have thought that alone would owe to more than basically a .500 record and 1-3 in the playoffs.

Oh well.

 

[CalCBFan]

If you look at the recent history of the NFL, once dynasties fail, it takes 20-30 years for them to come back.

Green bay was known as "title town" in the '60s because they won the Championship in ''61, '62, '65, '66, '67 along w/ champiionships in the '30's and '40's. They didn't win again until '96, I believe, which is 31 years later.

The Baltimore Colts were champs in '58 and '59; then again in '70 and took until the late '90's to regain any sort of "contention" status.

The Stellers ruled the '70's but it took 26 years for them to win another SB in '05.

In fact the Cowboys have been the most consistently competitive over the decades w/ the only "down time" the '84 through '90 period. Of course they had the same coach, GM and scout for that 30 year period.

My point is, it may well be another 15-20 years before this franchise returns to it's former glory, and the key may lie in the fact that only a change in ownership will trigger such a return...

P.S. My numbers indicated the season the team won, not the year the SB was actually played...

 

[Aikmaniac]

If you want a real dose of reality, head on over to extremeskins.

The Romo caption threads will really light a fire for ya.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

I need to clarify further...


WAH!!

fixed

 

[MarkBrunell]

The Dallas Cowboys now hold the longest streak of no playoff wins in the history of NFL.

Must've been a tough decade to be a Cowboy fan... I mean no playoff wins...

 

[Bob Sacamano]

The Dallas Cowboys now hold the longest streak of no playoff wins in the history of NFL.

Must've been a tough decade to be a Cowboy fan... I mean no playoff wins...

and yet it must be even tougher to have been owned by this hapless franchise in said decade

ouch

have fun trying to figure out what to do w/ your malcontents

and it's not like you guys didn't set a NFL record in futility this year...NFL history, worst forced turnovers