ESPN: Without Tony Romo, the Dallas Cowboys just can't lose the crazy

[Nightman]

Speak openly about it. Just stick to the topic of the thread. It's really not that hard, guys.

I enjoyed the read. I'm ok with a bit of snark if there's actual content there, and this one had some good details I hadn't heard about previously.
I also didn't think it was overwhelmingly negative to the various Cowboys mentioned. At least he noted that Hardy's record was expunged. He's complimentary of some things about Garrett while poking fun at others. He seems to get that Jerry's a mixed bag. It's not like any article about this season is going to be overwhelmingly positive when we came in a conference contender in most peoples' eyes and then struggled to 3-8.

The topic is an article that shows how 'crazy' and dysfunctional the team is in reality and perception.

Some of the blame is laid on JJones, some on JGarrett, some on Romo's injury, some on the next man up fallacy.

There isn't much to be positive about and that includes the season and the article.

 

[LatinMind]

I am not sure whether to respond or not, because outside of how very well written that article is, there is nothing positive to take from it. I will leave it at that.

Maybe we can get a repost of this in the rant zone so we can speak openly about it?

I dont see how hard it is for the media just to say this team is struggling because IDK they lost their franchise QB. They lost the glue that holds it all together.

I see media and the NFL affraid of the Cowboys. Because they know if the Cowboys are on top everybody else nobody cares about. Im sure they were jumping for joy when Romo got hurt, and jumped even higher the 2nd time. It never fails, when Dallas is close to the top as they were last yr all the sudden all these supposed stories come out about secrets. Secrets they are just leaked out. Stories that have been building. Who remembers the 13-3 season under Wade? Next season all of the sudden all these stories were popping up. The NFL hates the Cowboys because They dominate headlines even when theyre losing. Imagine how small they feel when Dallas is winning. This article is more of the same, a big ole ball of nothing,

 

[Nightman]

Ok, here are the notes I took away from that piece.

First of all, that was a tremendously well written article than didn't carry either the oppressive negativity or baseless homerism of almost every other Dallas Cowboys piece I have written recently. It almost reads like an educated, unbiased Cowboys fan who is trying to walk a line (albeit much better than Aikman).

The how of winning is very important and I get that. They want to do things the right way. However, the act of winning is equally if not more important to the how, so it would be nice it the coaches put an equal emphasis on that--which I don't see.

Also, I have never heard a coach speak and sound as much like a cheerleader and less like a coach. This interview totally underscores the clapping issue and makes me wonder if Garrett isn't more of a kid in a candy shop and totally in over his head. I didn't hear a mentor or a teacher. I didn't hear X's and O's. I heard a movie script, a locker room speech.

I have never had less faith in the FO and coaching staff of this team.

I think you nailed it. He sounds like a robot coach spitting platitudes that his Dad fed him. He is wearing the costume of a successful coach, down to the perfect hair and grammar, but there is no there there.

RKG rears it's ugly head again:

After spending time around people such as Witten and Tyron Smith and Darren McFadden and Byron Jones and Sean Lee, it seems entirely conceivable that Garrett is correct when he says, "We've got 99 percent of our guys doing the right things 100 percent of the time, or maybe it's 100 percent of the guys doing the right things 99 percent of the time." But it is also unquestionably true that when that 1 percent -- from whichever equation -- acts up, the repercussions are like a boulder dropped in a puddle.

 

[texbumthelife]

I think you nailed it. He sounds like a robot coach spitting platitudes that his Dad fed him. He is wearing the costume of a successful coach, down to the perfect hair and grammar, but there is no there there.

RKG rears it's ugly head again:

After spending time around people such as Witten and Tyron Smith and Darren McFadden and Byron Jones and Sean Lee, it seems entirely conceivable that Garrett is correct when he says, "We've got 99 percent of our guys doing the right things 100 percent of the time, or maybe it's 100 percent of the guys doing the right things 99 percent of the time." But it is also unquestionably true that when that 1 percent -- from whichever equation -- acts up, the repercussions are like a boulder dropped in a puddle.

Actually, you nailed it. Well said!

 

[Idgit]

The topic is an article that shows how 'crazy' and dysfunctional the team is in reality and perception.

Some of the blame is laid on JJones, some on JGarrett, some on Romo's injury, some on the next man up fallacy.

There isn't much to be positive about and that includes the season and the article.

I'd disagree with your summary of the topic of the article.

Sure, not everything it in is positive, nor should it be with the team at 3-8. But it's not an article about the Cowboys being inherently crazy or dysfunctional.

 

[Nightman]

I'd disagree with your summary of the topic of the article.

Sure, not everything it in is positive, nor should it be with the team at 3-8. But it's not an article about the Cowboys being inherently crazy or dysfunctional.

Of course you do, losing the crazy is only the title of the article.

 

[Idgit]

Of course you do

I disagree with a lot of wrong characterizations. Most of them, I hope.

 

[Miller]

Ok, here are the notes I took away from that piece.

First of all, that was a tremendously well written article than didn't carry either the oppressive negativity or baseless homerism of almost every other Dallas Cowboys piece I have read recently. It almost reads like an educated, unbiased Cowboys fan who is trying to walk a line (albeit much better than Aikman).

The how of winning is very important and I get that. They want to do things the right way. However, the act of winning is equally if not more important to the how, so it would be nice it the coaches put an equal emphasis on that--which I don't see.

Also, I have never heard a coach speak and sound as much like a cheerleader and less like a coach. This interview totally underscores the clapping issue and makes me wonder if Garrett isn't more of a kid in a candy shop and totally in over his head. I didn't hear a mentor or a teacher. I didn't hear X's and O's. I heard a movie script, a locker room speech.

I have never had less faith in the FO and coaching staff of this team.

Extremely well written post. And it goes with what I was trying to broach above with JG without crossing a line. It is great to say Princeton grad and you hear him speak and think "well spoken and put together." I heard this from the announcer during last weeks Thanksgiving game and this guy brings it back up. It's very Spock-like in how he responds..."logical." But it makes me feel like that anyone who comes in who "sounds like a smart ccoach" would be welcomed vs. say "ole ball coach" who cusses a little and is more like a Switzer. I'm not sure JGs record and accomplishments would slide without the persona of a corporate guy. I find it very interesting considering the article talks about his family's involvement with the Boys too.

But again, glad you articulated it so well.

On a side note, something else grabbed me in the article. While we might hear sound bytes that are rah-rah and make it seem the team is pumped and can overcome things, the quotes from players struck me as more "it could call apart any second." Not a complete failure. But in a way where if a game goes South, you aren't sure who has whose back. Maybe it is just me. I felt the writer presented some very nice positives but the quotes didn't match at times.

 

[cowboyblue22]

well written article expresses lots of things some positive some not so positive this team is 3 and 8 so about what u expect not sure how bright there future is.

 

[texbumthelife]

Extremely well written post. And it goes with what I was trying to broach above with JG without crossing a line. It is great to say Princeton grad and you hear him speak and think "well spoken and put together." I heard this from the announcer during last weeks Thanksgiving game and this guy brings it back up. It's very Spock-like in how he responds..."logical." But it makes me feel like that anyone who comes in who "sounds like a smart ccoach" would be welcomed vs. say "ole ball coach" who cusses a little and is more like a Switzer. I'm not sure JGs record and accomplishments would slide without the persona of a corporate guy. I find it very interesting considering the article talks about his family's involvement with the Boys too.

But again, glad you articulated it so well.

On a side note, something else grabbed me in the article. While we might hear sound bytes that are rah-rah and make it seem the team is pumped and can overcome things, the quotes from players struck me as more "it could call apart any second." Not a complete failure. But in a way where if a game goes South, you aren't sure who has whose back. Maybe it is just me. I felt the writer presented some very nice positives but the quotes didn't match at times.

The quotes from the players all sound about as coached as they can be. They regularly repeat, almost verbatim, the very same things Jerry and Garrett say. It is always the same "rah-rah-rah" and when it isn't that player is all but ostracized.

If I could only use one word to describe this team right now, the entire team front office, coaches, players and all, I would be torn between fake and pretenders. I think for many of the guys, their heart is in the right place, but the whole machine seems fake.

 

[CCBoy]

'Maybe you start on the early evening of Oct. 25, near the sideline of MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, in the fourth quarter of a loss to the Giants, with Hardy slapping the clipboard of special-teams coach Rich Bisaccia and then raging along the sideline while Bryant tries to calm him'...

I actually commend Hardy for showing a win at the top of the list attitude. I'm not side stepping the attitude adjustments that even future Hall of Famer, Charles Haley, showed under Jimmy Johnson. He required an 'adjustment' in the locker room by defensive tackle, Chad Hennings.

Jason Garrett doesn't demean a soldier that he send onto the carpet to do battle. I respect him for respecting a man. But I think this team needed a true, in your face attitude, to rear it's head on this team. Hardy has had a very hard road to travel now, but I hope he wins the battle and helps the Cowboys achieve a true Champion's edge. This will take a 'headsie' leader as Jason, to bring this to a home field type of advantage.

But failures motivate a lot of people to discipline and become truly dominant in a leadership role. Sorry, young men take this...and Hardy, though seasoned now, hits the growth pattern as well.

 

[ScipioCowboy]

I think the reporter is a good writer. Well-written, funny, caustic at times, and overall engaging.

Are we sure the writer works for ESPN? lol

Is it your alternate persona?

 

[CCBoy]

'I come to know the many aftereffects of the moment Romo walked off the field Sept. 20 saying "It's broken" after being hit by Eagles linebacker Jordan Hicks.'...

I hope that the pair of collarbone injuries do not define the type of career that Tony Romo has. The man has just been injured, legitimately and savagely, through his career as much as an alternate labeling system has stated that he is 'inept' at winning.

This team and this man, deserve some illuminating successes to come their way.

The road now is a tough one, but it takes that to reach greatness. I think this team and it's coach, have what it takes to convert controversy and challenge into top shelf success.

 

[CCBoy]

' I stand next to rookie guard La'el Collins in New Jersey and watch him wince as he peels the tape from his wrist, saying, "Just two or three more plays, man, and we win all these games."...

Hey, a talented 'rook' sees what is really on the table. He is being forged by the heat of battle, and the entire offensive line is growing as well. They will come out forged steel by battle.

 

[BulletBob]

Very well-written article (refreshing). The analogy of the virtual reality game was incredibly thought-provoking. I think most fans WANT to buy into the narrative that JG is a very smart, consistent, coach who has a "process" that is based on positive life philosophy, and that given time, the "process" will produce the intended results. Through the course of this season, I certainly felt like (as stated in the article):

"So you're standing there on what you think is like a two-by-four, and the floor separates," he says. "Suddenly you're 15 stories up on a skyscraper, looking straight down, and then the floor drops again and now you're 40 stories up. You know that you're in this room. You know that your feet are on solid ground, but you almost get frozen by it. There was another one where you're standing in a room and all of a sudden you see all these gremlins attacking you. You know it's not happening, you're telling yourself you're in a room in a building, but you start moving, trying to avoid these gremlins. It's really wild."
​

What terrifies me, as a fan, is that while I think we are in a room, with our feet on solid ground, maybe that's the Virtual Reality scenario. Maybe we are in a free fall, and the reality that JG would have us believe (the one we caught a glimpse of last season) is not really rooted in reality at all. It's maddening as a fan to try to figure out where reality actually lies, especially through the lens of an extremely unusual, injury-ridden season.

However, it does seem more and more likely that the ground under the die-hard fan's feet may not be as solid as we think. Some in here having been screaming for others to remove their VR masks and come back to the real world. I guess next season we may find out which version of reality is the real one. Then again, it seems that is also a familiar refrain which has echoed through each of the past seasons of recent memory.

 

[VACowboy]

I think the reporter is a good writer. Well-written, funny, caustic at times, and overall engaging.

The guy may be all that, but his article was way too long for me to finish.

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

Do not turn this thread into a bashing one.

How else can a thread about Red go?

What else is there to post about?

 

[AmishCowboy]

I thought it was a good read, however I bet a lot of locker rooms have those issues

 

[SultanOfSix]

I thought the article was so ostentatiously written I couldn't finish it.

What I got out of it was just a lot verbiage to say the Romo covers the deficiencies in coaching and the team.

Something most people knew already.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

Well written but poorly executed IMO. Obviously started with his conclusions in mind and lo and behold they were right. And the paragraph about Romo playing for work obligations shows you just how far this guy is from understanding the football team.