ESPN/Mortensen: The league is a bad league right now.

[AMERICAS_FAN]

Chris Mortensen: The league is a bad league right now. The quality of play is marginal at best. Too many rookies and young players are forced onto the field too early. The pereception of parity - that a team can turn it around in one year - creates an owner and public unrest when things don't go right. That triggers too many firings, too many changes, and that affects the game. It's one reason why quarterbacks struggle in this league, too. Deep subject.

**********************************************************
Halleluiah!!! Finally!!!, someone has stated the obvious problem with the salary cap. A huge part of me wants the CBA to go away once and for all. It was the creation of the cap that killed the Team-of-the-90s Cowboys. It forced us to lose more good players than any other team by far.

Also, think of who that Team-of-the-90s Cowboys team beat: 49ers, Packers, and Bills. All of these teams had just as much chance to be the team of the 90s because without Dallas to get in their way any one of them could have become Dynasties.

Man, - before the CBA – those were the days when football play on the filed was great. In today’s NFL the new thing the NFL uses to entertain fans is a 24 hour football channel to supplement the erosion of entertainment and quality that the game on the filed currently presents.

It’s time we get back to pre-CBA football and make football GREAT again!

**

 

[Kevinicus]

hmm, lopsided football is not great either.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Chris Mortensen: The league is a bad league right now. The quality of play is marginal at best. Too many rookies and young players are forced onto the field too early. The pereception of parity - that a team can turn it around in one year - creates an owner and public unrest when things don't go right. That triggers too many firings, too many changes, and that affects the game. It's one reason why quarterbacks struggle in this league, too. Deep subject.

**********************************************************
Halleluiah!!! Finally!!!, someone has stated the obvious problem with the salary cap. A huge part of me wants the CBA to go away once and for all. It was the creation of the cap that killed the Team-of-the-90s Cowboys. It forced us to lose more good players than any other team by far.

Also, think of who that Team-of-the-90s Cowboys team beat: 49ers, Packers, and Bills. All of these teams had just as much chance to be the team of the 90s because without Dallas to get in their way any one of them could have become Dynasties.

Man, - before the CBA – those were the days when football play on the filed was great. In today’s NFL the new thing the NFL uses to entertain fans is a 24 hour football channel to supplement the erosion of entertainment and quality that the game on the filed currently presents.

It’s time we get back to pre-CBA football and make football GREAT again!

**

Agree, I've never liked the watered down/parity league and I appreciate Mort for saying what he felt.

That being said, I believe a CBA will be back in place and also a salary cap. So I don't believe Upshaw when he says the owners won't get it back.

 

[VirusX]

Speachless, and that doesnt happen a lot on this subject.

 

[BARRYRAY]

Disagree because I think given the fact I'm getting old and BP is older, it gives us the chance to turn it around in a year, maybe it destroyed us in the 90's but now we're alot closer in the age of parity than we realize, we have a good coach, laots of cap room and a veteran qb and some young pups on defense, man if we just had a kicker we were playoff material last year, salary cap is good for us at the moment...

 

[JsnSA]

Of course you want the cap gone, your a fan of one of the the teams that the cap hinders.

Winning all those championships were good for us Cowboys fans, but it probably sucked for those teams from smaller markets that could not compete against the larger market teams.

And its not like we dont have dynasties in this cap era. I mean the Pats have done pretty well in the past couple years. They have just worked smarter than most other teams.

I do think they need to tweak some things...make it easier to trade players and free up cap space by buying out players but not having so much of their salary go against the cap when that happens.

I mean lets face it, we have done a poor job of adjusting to the cap era. We seem to be getting it now....but its take a long time for that to happen.

 

[Everlastingxxx]

Halleluiah!!! Finally!!!, someone has stated the obvious problem with the salary cap. A huge part of me wants the CBA to go away once and for all. It was the creation of the cap that killed the Team-of-the-90s Cowboys. It forced us to lose more good players than any other team by far.

Also, think of who that Team-of-the-90s Cowboys team beat: 49ers, Packers, and Bills. All of these teams had just as much chance to be the team of the 90s because without Dallas to get in their way any one of them could have become Dynasties.

Man, - before the CBA – those were the days when football play on the filed was great. In today’s NFL the new thing the NFL uses to entertain fans is a 24 hour football channel to supplement the erosion of entertainment and quality that the game on the filed currently presents.

It’s time we get back to pre-CBA football and make football GREAT again!

**

First of all, the Cowboys of the 90's ruined themselves. As far as the cap issue...look at baseball and ask yourself if you want that. I dont. Yankees are in the Championship every year because they can spend the money. When you can buy the best players every season, something is wrong. Football has changed, the past is the past...all sports have changed, just the way it is. If someone dislikes the NFL, simply stop watching. Also talking about the erosion of entertainment...the erosion of these ESPN gurus. These guys are so wishy washy and say whatever they can to get attention.

 

[Doomsday101]

First of all, the Cowboys of the 90's ruined themselves. As far as the cap issue...look at baseball and ask yourself if you want that. I dont. Yankees are in the Championship every year because they can spend the money. When you can buy the best players every season, something is wrong. Football has changed, the past is the past...all sports have changed, just the way it is. If someone dislikes the NFL, simply stop watching. Also talking about the erosion of entertainment...the erosion of these ESPN gurus. These guys are so wishy washy and say whatever they can to get attention.

Thing is under the old system you did not have the same teams winning every year even Dallas had some success in the 70's but we did not have it in the 80's then we were back on top in the 90's. How teams draft and build their teams is what makes the difference and even under the old system the team with the worst record got the 1st pick. Overall the game was being played at a higher level because players would spend their careers with each other for the most part and there was better continuity even in baseball the Yankees do not win the WS every year no matter how much they spend and last year a much smaller market than NY did make it to the WS as in the Astros who went up against the white sox who had not been in the series since the early 1900's

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

The problem, IMO, is that the Cap breads complacency. Under the current configuration, it doesn't really incent teams to do things better and smarter. It allows for average standards to be acceptable because anybody with a little luck can win. The football is indeed inferrior, IMO. There has to be a middle ground between the football of the 80s and the football of the Cap Strap Era. Middle ground is the answer but as long as everybody is comfortable with the status quo, nobody is going to make strides to make change for the better.

 

[Doomsday101]

Of course you want the cap gone, your a fan of one of the the teams that the cap hinders.

Winning all those championships were good for us Cowboys fans, but it probably sucked for those teams from smaller markets that could not compete against the larger market teams.

And its not like we dont have dynasties in this cap era. I mean the Pats have done pretty well in the past couple years. They have just worked smarter than most other teams.

I do think they need to tweak some things...make it easier to trade players and free up cap space by buying out players but not having so much of their salary go against the cap when that happens.

I mean lets face it, we have done a poor job of adjusting to the cap era. We seem to be getting it now....but its take a long time for that to happen.

Small market teams? Pitt is considered a small market team yet they dominated in the 70's being the 1st to win 4 SB. Just because a team out spends others does not mean you win or even make it to the championship in baseball the Dogers a few years back spent more than anyone and did not even make the post season.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

First of all, the Cowboys of the 90's ruined themselves. As far as the cap issue...look at baseball and ask yourself if you want that. I dont. Yankees are in the Championship every year because they can spend the money. When you can buy the best players every season, something is wrong. Football has changed, the past is the past...all sports have changed, just the way it is. If someone dislikes the NFL, simply stop watching. Also talking about the erosion of entertainment...the erosion of these ESPN gurus. These guys are so wishy washy and say whatever they can to get attention.

I think this statement is incorrect. I think FA and Salary cap ruined the Cowboys. I will agree that Jimmy and Jerry played there part but without Salary Cap and FA, I'm not certain that the self distructive attitudes are present as quickly. I've listened to Jimmy speak on this many times and he himself will tell you that he was as much to blame, maybe more, for the situation as Jerry. If were still dominating in a cap free, FA free era, the issues that came along with those things are not present. I think Jimmy probably still wants to coach. I honestly believe that when Jimmy left Dallas, he really didn't want to deal with all that went along with the FA/Cap era. I think he did the Fins thing because it was a convenient thing. A quick way to make money. JMO of course.

 

[Doomsday101]

The problem, IMO, is that the Cap breads complacency. Under the current configuration, it doesn't really incent teams to do things better and smarter. It allows for average standards to be acceptable because anybody with a little luck can win. The football is indeed inferrior, IMO. There has to be a middle ground between the football of the 80s and the football of the Cap Strap Era. Middle ground is the answer but as long as everybody is comfortable with the status quo, nobody is going to make strides to make change for the better.

Your right and players being together and being on the same page you end up seeing less mistakes than when your constantly loosing player each year or having to release a player because his cap number is causing problems. Under the old system just looking at the NFC East we still had SB winners from Dallas, Washington and New York so it was not as if only 1 team who spent the most was going to win a team like the Cards they are same today under the FA and cap as they were another time in their history.

 

[Doomsday101]

I think this statement is incorrect. I think FA and Salary cap ruined the Cowboys. I will agree that Jimmy and Jerry played there part but without Salary Cap and FA, I'm not certain that the self distructive attitudes are present as quickly. I've listened to Jimmy speak on this many times and he himself will tell you that he was as much to blame, maybe more, for the situation as Jerry. If were still dominating in a cap free, FA free era, the issues that came along with those things are not present. I think Jimmy probably still wants to coach. I honestly believe that when Jimmy left Dallas, he really didn't want to deal with all that went along with the FA/Cap era. I think he did the Fins thing because it was a convenient thing. A quick way to make money. JMO of course.

You got that right Dallas could not afford to keep many of our key players from our 1st SB because we had to spend big money to keep the likes of Aikman,Irvin and Smith but others who were important parts of this team were let loose because of the cap.

 

[wileedog]

I honestly believe that when Jimmy left Dallas, he really didn't want to deal with all that went along with the FA/Cap era. I think he did the Fins thing because it was a convenient thing. A quick way to make money. JMO of course.

We'll never know for sure, but I don't agree with that at all. Not many people really understood what was going to happen after the CBA was instituted, and I really think Jimmy leaving was all about Jimmy and Jerry.

I've never seen one shred of evidence that Jimmy thought the Miami gig was free money. I think he saw a team with decent talent and an established QB (maybe too established) that most conveniently of all was close to home. He probably though they just needed a nudge or two to go to the SB, but never could get the offense going because of failed drafting and Marino's decline.

Knowing his ego I'm sure he had no qualms about coaching in the cap era, and again I don't think a lot of people had a good handle on how much the league was going to change at that point anyway.

As to the original topic, expansion has had as much to do with the watered down talent as the cap, and free agency itself has destroyed continuity - something which has much more of an effect on football than it does on baseball. There's a lot more here contributing to the overall lower play standards than just the cap, and simply eliminating it is NOT going to bring back the football of the "glory years" (which for fans of many, many teams, those years were anything but).

 

[Qwickdraw]

hmm, lopsided football is not great either.

I agree.

Its easy to say "get back to the old way" when you are assuming that you are one of the teams on top.
But what if you're on the bottom?

 

[Doomsday101]

I agree.

Its easy to say that when you are assuming that you are one of the teams on top.
But if you're on the bottom?

Like? Det is not better because of the FA and the cap than they were under the old system, Cards same way and some other teams around the league same goes for them. Dallas was not outspending teams we drafted better and that was the differance and when our draft picks in the 80's did not work out we did not win. FA is not making a hugh differance in improving teams heck many of the top name FA seem not to live up to the money they are getting right now. Best thing I can say about FA it can help a team become competitive quicker but by the same token it can take you down much quicker as well.

 

[Jethro75]

As far as the Salary Cap goes if I remember correctly this was Jerry's baby. Jerry was the architect. I remember at the time it pissed me off because Dallas was loaded 2 deep and we would take the first hits. Also my thought at the time was " Do you see George Steinbrenner Championing a Cap"? Hell no! With all that money you can outbid teams for players services. Granted you need to have quality talent evaluators to make your money go farther, but I felt this was a "competitive edge" Dallas had on other franchises.

I'd like to see things change. I too would like to see more flexibility when it comes to trading. I'd like to see the trade dead line moved later in the season....The rub is Owners want some cost certainty. This has been a sweet system for most all owners. From what I've read the difference between the owners and the union is 4 percent (owner offer 56% NFLPA wants 60%) why can't the just split the difference and move on?

Go Pokes!

 

[Doomsday101]

As far as the Salary Cap goes if I remember correctly this was Jerry's baby. Jerry was the architect. I remember at the time it pissed me off because Dallas was loaded 2 deep and we would take the first hits. Also my thought at the time was " Do you see George Steinbrenner Championing a Cap"? Hell no! With all that money you can outbid teams for players services. Granted you need to have quality talent evaluators to make your money go farther, but I felt this was a "competitive edge" Dallas had on other franchises.

I'd like to see things change. I too would like to see more flexibility when it comes to trading. I'd like to see the trade dead line moved later in the season....The rub is Owners want some cost certainty. This has been a sweet system for most all owners. From what I've read the difference between the owners and the union is 4 percent (owner offer 56% NFLPA wants 60%) why can't the just split the difference and move on?

Go Pokes!

Jerry and the other owners said to the NFLPA if you get FA we want the cap and that was to keep big markets from going out and getting all the top FA. If you going to have one you have to have the other. Old system was more about drafting and building a team and for those who did that they won and it was not due to outspending others because the market value of players was still as is today. You were not seeing Dallas spending tons of money to keep Staubach his pay was in line with other QB's in the league

 

[Jethro75]

Doomsday.."Jerry and the other owners said to the NFLPA if you get FA we want the cap and that was to keep big markets from going out and getting all the top FA"

See Dallas has the revenue to spend on FA. The franchise history is also a selling point in attracting FA. So why did WE need to fall in line with other owners? We have an advantage..use it!

Doomsday:"Old system was more about drafting and building a team and for those who did that they won"

Yeah thanks for the history lesson. I'm from the area and know all to well the excellent jobs Tex,Tom and Gil did for this franchise for all those years....

Doomsday:"You were not seeing Dallas spending tons of money to keep Staubach his pay was in line with other QB's in the league"

Thank god for Tex Schramm....the man knew how to negotiate! I remember when Tony Dorsett and Tex went at it when Tony wanted a new deal. He's got some great stories about dealing with Tex.

I'm sorry if I didn't make myself clearer....I wasn't saying that spending was the end all. My thought was and still is that in Dallas you have a franchise that is in the top 5 money makers. You said it yourself the cap was to keep "big market" franchises from signing all the top FA's...well Dallas is a Big Market club and too me we kind of screwed ourselves on that deal.

Dallas is a Big Market team... Thats all I'm saying....Maybe I did a poor job of bringing the thought across. Sorry about that.

Go Pokes!

 

[pancakeman]

If you want to explain mediocrity in the league, I think you have to at least address expansion. The last ten years has seen four teams added, which may sound like few but is almost a 13% growth. If you took out the bottom four players at each position (or rather, moved them to backup roles), the starting talent leaguewide would seem noticeably better, I'd venture to say.

I think all professional sports in the US, tempted by money, have probably over-expanded. Dilution of talent, and growing likelihood of mediocrity, follows.