Entitlement

[ufcrules1]

Win or lose, you still get in your $75K vehicle and go home to your $500K mansion.

500k? Try multi- million dollar home. I would know, there are about 5 Cowboys who live in my neighborhood. All live in homes that are a million and up.

 

[The30YardSlant]

When I heard that comment this morning I thought entitlement was a tad strong, at first. Then after some thought throughout the day it seems most true during the Phillips era. Garrett is doing an excellent job of scrubbing the Wade Phillips from the organization.

I can't wait to see what this season brings.

While I don't yet know if Garrett will ultimately succeed here, I definitely agree with this. He has some serious flaws in his coaching ability that must be corrected but he is a MUCH better evaluater of both talent and desire than Phillips was.

What is so sad is that many of the people I see now calling out Phillips and complaining about the situation he left Garrett with are the same people who posted until their fingers bled that Phillips wasnt "soft" and wasnt the problem up until the very second he was let go, and that is somewhat of a microcosm of why we are where we are. This organization and fanbase denies reality for so long and now Garrett is left cleaning up the mess. He was left with a roster full of guys who were fat and happy despite accomplishing NOTHING, all because that fat sack of goo Phillips kept getting pass after pass.

 

[THUMPER]

When Parcells arrived they said 18 players had radio shows. Backup guys had shows.

I don't really have issues with radio shows, but 18 is excessive it seems. Half dozen guys at the most deserve a show. If that.

Here is a quote from Stephen Jones the other day:

"Anyone who's got red blood and plays football knows what the Dallas Cowboys are, and knows what it means to play for them," Jones says. "They know it. ... We tell them what a big stage it is. At one time, we had 18 players and coaches with radio shows. People can't get enough of the Cowboys. And it can be something that can be with you for the rest of your life if you go win a championship, because there's nothing like it when it's rolling."

He didn't specify that it was when Parcells got here though. Also it was players and coaches.

This sense of entitlement starts at the top. Just sayin.

 

[erod]

Parcells was spot on.

You see the same thing with the Yankees. If Derek Jeter played for the Padres, he's be a good shortstop who had a nice career. In New York, he's a God. We've seen the same thing here with guys like Bill Bates and Daryl Johnston.

Players tend to get fat and happy here quickly, especially with Jerry Jones telling them how great they are at every turn.

 

[birdwells1]

Entitlement.

Yes, this nothing new, it has been going on in Dallas for years.

If you play for the Dallas Cowboys you are a "rock star" in Dallas, in Texas, in America.

Win or lose, you still get in your $75K vehicle and go home to your $500K mansion.

You would think that we have lost so much for so long that they entitilement would be gone, but it's not.

Let's see moving forward.

This is no different than any other professional athlete, the respected organizations NYG, Pitts, and NE players live in the same type neighborhoods.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

The trouble I see with your proposal is that it's just so darned hard to implement. It's simply not realistic to expect teams to be able to cut recalcitrant starters, for example, and replace them with equivalent players from further down the depth chart. And what happens if Player B also won't do what you need him to do? Do we really expect that a player third on the depth chart is going to be able to step in seamlessly and provide the kind of impact that Player A could have, were it not for his attitude?

A more effective solution, and a simpler one to implement in the circumstances, is simply to draft the "right kind of guy" when you draft Player A in the first place. Now you face no struggle in getting the player to do what you want him to do, because he's already internally motivated to want to do it.

I agree that it’s darned hard to implement. But, it’s not impossible. To me, it’s a typical characteristic of a great football coach. The guy who is not only unafraid to cut a player, but does so because the coach knows he can find a suitable replacement.

It’s a lot easier said than done, but that’s why great coaches are great, they make the difficult things to achieve happen.

I think it starts with the attitude of being unafraid to cut a player and then the coach’s ability to find and develop other talent. I think somebody incompetent, like Dave Campo, was terrified of cutting certain players. But, you can’t afford to let the inmates run the asylum either.





YR

 

[Chocolate Lab]

While I don't yet know if Garrett will ultimately succeed here, I definitely agree with this. He has some serious flaws in his coaching ability that must be corrected but he is a MUCH better evaluater of both talent and desire than Phillips was.

What is so sad is that many of the people I see now calling out Phillips and complaining about the situation he left Garrett with are the same people who posted until their fingers bled that Phillips wasnt "soft" and wasnt the problem up until the very second he was let go, and that is somewhat of a microcosm of why we are where we are. This organization and fanbase denies reality for so long and now Garrett is left cleaning up the mess. He was left with a roster full of guys who were fat and happy despite accomplishing NOTHING, all because that fat sack of goo Phillips kept getting pass after pass.

So funny.

2014, Cowboys go 8-8... It's Wade Phillips' fault. :laugh2:

 

[THUMPER]

I like the comments I've been hearing from Stephen recently.

I like that we are hearing a lot more from him than from Jerry these days. The more Stephen becomes the head of the franchise the better IMO.

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

It’s a lot easier said than done, but that’s why great coaches are great, they make the difficult things to achieve happen.

YR

True. Of course, the advantages of being able to pull off your proposal also go beyond protecting a team against bad apples and include protecting a team from (a) guys whose market value exceeds their projected performance going forward and (b) injuries.

 

[ufcrules1]

So funny.

2014, Cowboys go 8-8... It's Wade Phillips' fault. :laugh2:

We are still feeling the effects of Wade. We have to continue purging the team.

 

[Flinger]

This is an excellent thread. Where are the stars? Very nice job, everyone. Great perspectives. This is why I read the Zone. Just great...

 

[WV Cowboy]

This is no different than any other professional athlete, the respected organizations NYG, Pitts, and NE players live in the same type neighborhoods.

LOL, .. thanks for making my point, ... those teams all wear Super Bowl rings.

Dallas players act like they have accomplished something lately, .. they haven't.

And despite that, they still act like "rock stars."

They are not motivated to win big, .. they don't need to.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

We are still feeling the effects of Wade. We have to continue purging the team.

In what ways?

Never mind, I know you won't be able to point to anything concrete. It'll all be nebulous things like attitude, etc.

Go down the roster... This team has more talent than the 2009 team. So yeah, if we don't win, it'll have to be blamed on these mysterious intangibles.

 

[ufcrules1]

In what ways?

Never mind, I know you won't be able to point to anything concrete. It'll all be nebulous things like attitude, etc.

Go down the roster... This team has more talent than the 2009 team. So yeah, if we don't win, it'll have to be blamed on these mysterious intangibles.

We have players that are mentally weak due to Wade's coaching style. Apparently, several of them still haven't shaken it and may not ever. Wade was 100% a players coach and there were times in that 2010 season that he didn't even know why they were being penalized in the end zone after excessive TD celebrations.(Completely clueless) It happens multiple weeks in a row... that was one small sign that the players were not being coached right.

The players lacked discipline under him. They could play terrible week in and week out without fear of being benched or penalized. Look at Coughlin if you want to see a coach who "Gets it". He doesn't care who you are or how important you are to the team, you don't show up to practice on time, or film study, etc. Then you get benched during the beginning of the game, or for the whole game. Everyone on the team knows the deal.

Are you still upset that we cut Wade? How about Williams, Barber, Choice, Bennett, James, Ball, Brooking, Elam, etc?

Wade was a big problem here and Garrett is working hard to reverse the thinking or lack of thinking that Wade instilled here.

 

[nyc-cowboy]

A more effective solution, and a simpler one to implement in the circumstances, is simply to draft the "right kind of guy" when you draft Player A in the first place. Now you face no struggle in getting the player to do what you want him to do, because he's already internally motivated to want to do it. (quote by outlaw heroes )

Thats easier said than done - there aren't too many Lee and Ware types.

Its like the RKG thing - some ppl act like that unique to Jason.
Thing is, tell me one coach that doesn't look for the RKG - a guy who has a high motor, high character players - of course they all want those types but the one thing they have to have is talent, sometimes the two don't meet.

Thats why IMO you need a coach that can get thru to a player either by fear or any other means - to me fear works better, if Bill was known for anything it was that he knew how to deal with the "problem child".

 

[birdwells1]

LOL, .. thanks for making my point, ... those teams all wear Super Bowl rings.

Dallas players act like they have accomplished something lately, .. they haven't.

And despite that, they still act like "rock stars."

They are not motivated to win big, .. they don't need to.

You may have miss my point, what I was trying to say is that even before the Giants and the Steelers where winning SBs their players were still living in million dollar homes. This is common throughout professional sports whether it be the NYG or the Charlotte Bobcats. It's not like the NYG players just moved into exclusive neighborhoods because the won SBs and the Bobcats (one of the worst teams in NBA history) are living in a trailer park or something.

 

[Outlaw Heroes]

Thing is, tell me one coach that doesn't look for the RKG - a guy who has a high motor, high character players - of course they all want those types but the one thing they have to have is talent, sometimes the two don't meet.

I think a lot of organizations pay lip service to looking for the RKG. But when the rubber hits the road they're prepared to take a guy with talent and upside, even when he's not the RKG. The Bengals have been the most obvious example over the past decade or so. But the Cowboys were a fine example themselves not too long ago. T.O., Pacman, Antonio Bryant, Derek Ross...

To me, you're not really looking for the RKG if you're prepared to just make an allowance each time a talented guy comes along who doesn't fit the RKG mold. You're only really committed to the RKG if you go beyond saying "the one thing they have to have is talent" and insist upon talent meeting character and love for the game.

 

[InmanRoshi]

The best way to reduce or offset a sense of entitlement is to facilitate a cog environment. In sports, a "cog environment" is another way to describe a team-first concept. In a cog environment, you strive for each player (cog) to play a set role so they can be replaced if necessary either due to injury or poor performance.

People who hate Garrett or at least lack faith in him should accept at least one factual truth from his coaching methods. Prior to Garrett, whenever we lost certain players, the game or in some cases, the season was over. Even during the 90s dynasty years, the Cowboys seemed average at best when Aikman, Irvin or Smith was out of the game. As a fan, you found yourself just hoping the team would not fall too far out of the playoff race before the star players returned.

With Garrett, when we lose a guy, even a starter, the players and fans still believe they can win each game. The system he has implemented focuses less on the player and more on the responsibilities. It is great to gameplan to a player's strengths, but when you design schemes too much around a player's strengths and you lose that player, you create holes when those players are injured that their backups, who lack the same strengths even though they have strengths of their own, cannot replace.

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Garrett because I believe in his team concept. Some coaches like Parcells preach a "team concept", but their definition of team concept is more focused on eliminating egos and working together rather than building a plug-in-and-replace cog system.

#reality

Actually, Parcells "team concept" was more than pyschology and egos, it was about finding prototype players to play his defined roles in his established system. This got him into a great deal of trouble with a segment of fandom that believes an organization should be molded and customized around the talents of individual players ...... which would be the antithesis of a plug and play environment.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

How did I miss that post by Reality... So much nonsense there.

Any team who loses their best players in this league is going to be hurt, regardless of the coach's "team concept". A Ware or Romo or Lee gets hurt and you aren't going to be able to just plug in another piece and keep rolling, because these aren't cogs in a machine, they're human beings with different levels of individual talent.

I can't believe someone would actually argue that Jason Garrett has such a superior philosophy to Bill Parcells that his team would be less susceptible to injuries.

 

[xwalker]

I think a lot of organizations pay lip service to looking for the RKG. But when the rubber hits the road they're prepared to take a guy with talent and upside, even when he's not the RKG. The Bengals have been the most obvious example over the past decade or so. But the Cowboys were a fine example themselves not too long ago. T.O., Pacman, Antonio Bryant, Derek Ross...

To me, you're not really looking for the RKG if you're prepared to just make an allowance each time a talented guy comes along who doesn't fit the RKG mold. You're only really committed to the RKG if you go beyond saying "the one thing they have to have is talent" and insist upon talent meeting character and love for the game.

Based on the 2 Garrett drafts, he appears very committed to the concept of RKG.