Excuses are for the pretenders

[Stash]

K brutha as always, you are correct sir

It felt wrong to give this a like, but I did anyway.

 

[PAPPYDOG]

This is just another thread for the habitual whiners. To say it’s a tired subject is the understatement of the century. But haters gonna hate.

Mr Rockport one of the leading Dream directors here....ask him how many Superbowls Dak will win.....lol....Keep directing crazy man some of us aren't LISTENING and prefer to stay within the realm of reality!

 

[Hadenough]

Several years ago, Jimmy Johnson was pressed on a given Sunday to explain why the Cowboys always seem to underachieve despite having some talent. His answer as I recall was something to the effect that the players did not fear the coaches or any repercussions for failure. He also (as I remember) said the environment was “too country club”. May not be exact, but I think that was generally what he said.

IMO, the biggest culture cancer of the last 22 years of failure boils down to this: Our leaders accept excuses. When the people who lead your organization not only have zero consequences for their own failure, and they also make “sugar daddy” excuses for their players and coaches for any year that has ended without much being accomplished, your organization is infected.

Tony Romo famously once stated that the NFL is a “meritocracy”- your value, playing time and accolades depend on your bottom line performance. Well that “meritocracy” may apply to the rest of the NFL, but it doesn’t apparently apply much in Dallas if you are in the FO or coaching staff.

Pick a year. Any year in the last 22. You can easily find Jerry making local or sports headlines by laying out a beautiful soft bed of excuses as to why his team either did not make the playoffs or exited early in the playoffs. For the sake of brevity, I can’t or won’t list all of the excuses laid out by Jerry to soft pedal his team’s failure, but here’s some of the excuse “greatest hits”- in no particular order:

1. If Zeke hadn’t been suspended those 6 games, 2017 would have been different.
2. If Aaron Rodgers doesn’t make that 3rd and 30 completion we would have won that 2016 playoff game.
3. If Tyron Smith hadn’t been hurt most of 2017, we would have won that Atlanta game.
4. Our defense was great until Sean Lee got hurt. If we have him all season...
5. If Greg Hardy had stayed focused and played like he did in his first game against NE, we would have...
6. If Tony Romo doesn’t hurt his back, break his collarbone, need surgery......etc.
7. It takes a while for a rookie head coach to develop. (Implying it was ok to throw seasons away in the “learning process”)
8. Wade Phillips after the disastrous 2007 loss in first round to giants: “We still had a great season”. (If I was GM, that might have been a firing offense, but this org loves excuses)
9. Jerry- “Zeke’s been through a lot lately”. (Jerry telling coaches they shouldn’t discipline him after he quit on a play in Denver after an interception)
10. Jerry- “I don’t want to give up on the development of Jason Garrett too soon and let another team benefit from it”. (After 3 straight non-winning, non-playoff seasons)

The excuse list of the last two decades could fill a 500 page book. Excuse making is the opposite of accountability. Good leaders own their mistakes and impose consequences for failure, regardless of what coulda, woulda, shoulda been. What makes this team’s culture so problematic is that as long as Jerry and the top brass keep making and accepting excuses, it will continue to dog this team.

I’m sick of the excuses. As fans we should stop repeating some of Jerry’s excuses on these boards. If this team again fails to make the playoffs, or loses early in the playoffs, there should be ZERO excuses. This team has enough talent to make some noise this year.

Injuries happen- every year. Bad calls, and bad luck happen every year. The true contenders always find a way to win anyway and the pretenders always find a good set of excuses.

Im tired of excuses too! I can only rest my head in my hands during these press conferences with garrett because it like they are scripted and its always the same thing. We have to get better and I have to go look at the tape!

 

[Roadtrip635]

You're sick of the team losing. Don't take it out on the facts that left us high and dry.

Tony broke in 2015. One can call that an "excuse", or realistically, a strong reason to account for much of the failure of the team.

Identifying strong reasons for failure, out of everyone's reasonable control, is not a problem *unless* it's used to absolve all *other* reasons for failure that *were* in people's reasonable control.

Which, the team does too. And the forum. If someone criticizes something about the run game, the comeback is "the running game is our strength". Is that a reason we shouldn't make better decisions and make it stronger?

Management's attitude toward the coaching staff has simply reeked of "good enough" for years. Rudy as QB coach? Seriously? That just *screams* an attitude of "good enough".

We went into a season with the Underwear Thief as our starting RB. "Good enough". The fact that we carried him so long, and Dunbar, and Escobar, was a lot more "good enough". We kept paying Carr big money after we didn't need to anymore.

At least we moved on from a lot of coaches this year. And Dez too. Dez would have been an easy "good enough".

I'll go with you as far as saying that particular, valid excuses seem to be used to excuse the entire failed outcome and all the other failures that led up to it. All sorts of other clear failures get glossed over once the one Unfortunate Event That Wasn't Our Fault gets identified.

Old hang dog Wade with his "the ball just hasn't been bouncing our way".

I still remember the Pats on their undefeated season run, where Brady would do postgame interviews and talk about all the things they had to clean up after pounding a team by 40 points. Week after week. Win after win. In some ways it seemed ridiculous. But there was no "good enough" on that team; there was only "we could be better". And that's why they were beating teams by 40.

Too much "good enough" on the Cowboys for a long time.

It does seem this has been a prevailing attitude around this team for a long time and still continues, being complacent, thinking we're good enough, ignorance or arrogance. This team always seems to wait until something bad to happen to finally make changes, things that weren't necessarily planned that forced their hand. We never spent draft capitol on the oline until Romo is getting smacked around like a rag doll, even when it was clear the team needed to address it sooner. Let Murray walk, not a bad idea, but McFadden and Randle as your RBs are good enough because anyone can run behind this line. McFadden's numbers didn't look bad, but we struggled to run when we needed it, we only had 8 rushing TDs that year. So we waited a year to address it, since those guys were deemed good enough. The last year we made the playoffs, what did we do to upgrade the team, nothing, unless Nolan Carroll and Paea were really expected to be upgrades. We really did get lucky with Dak becuase it's doubtful, he would have been our starter to begin the season if Moore doesn't get injured as well. It ties into what @Reality posted, Moore more than likely would still have been the starter, because gosh darn it, the coaches really like him and he's great in the film room. There's no push or competition for spots or playing time, until it falls apart.

 

[Alexander]

IMO, the biggest culture cancer of the last 22 years of failure boils down to this: Our leaders accept excuses.

Accept them? They are the ones making them.

The unbridled optimism that oozes from the Jones family is the true poison that has killed this franchise. There is always something, injuries or just plain old bad luck, that they are more than content to embrace as a reason for the failures.

 

[Rockport]

Several years ago, Jimmy Johnson was pressed on a given Sunday to explain why the Cowboys always seem to underachieve despite having some talent. His answer as I recall was something to the effect that the players did not fear the coaches or any repercussions for failure. He also (as I remember) said the environment was “too country club”. May not be exact, but I think that was generally what he said.

IMO, the biggest culture cancer of the last 22 years of failure boils down to this: Our leaders accept excuses. When the people who lead your organization not only have zero consequences for their own failure, and they also make “sugar daddy” excuses for their players and coaches for any year that has ended without much being accomplished, your organization is infected.

Tony Romo famously once stated that the NFL is a “meritocracy”- your value, playing time and accolades depend on your bottom line performance. Well that “meritocracy” may apply to the rest of the NFL, but it doesn’t apparently apply much in Dallas if you are in the FO or coaching staff.

Pick a year. Any year in the last 22. You can easily find Jerry making local or sports headlines by laying out a beautiful soft bed of excuses as to why his team either did not make the playoffs or exited early in the playoffs. For the sake of brevity, I can’t or won’t list all of the excuses laid out by Jerry to soft pedal his team’s failure, but here’s some of the excuse “greatest hits”- in no particular order:

1. If Zeke hadn’t been suspended those 6 games, 2017 would have been different.
2. If Aaron Rodgers doesn’t make that 3rd and 30 completion we would have won that 2016 playoff game.
3. If Tyron Smith hadn’t been hurt most of 2017, we would have won that Atlanta game.
4. Our defense was great until Sean Lee got hurt. If we have him all season...
5. If Greg Hardy had stayed focused and played like he did in his first game against NE, we would have...
6. If Tony Romo doesn’t hurt his back, break his collarbone, need surgery......etc.
7. It takes a while for a rookie head coach to develop. (Implying it was ok to throw seasons away in the “learning process”)
8. Wade Phillips after the disastrous 2007 loss in first round to giants: “We still had a great season”. (If I was GM, that might have been a firing offense, but this org loves excuses)
9. Jerry- “Zeke’s been through a lot lately”. (Jerry telling coaches they shouldn’t discipline him after he quit on a play in Denver after an interception)
10. Jerry- “I don’t want to give up on the development of Jason Garrett too soon and let another team benefit from it”. (After 3 straight non-winning, non-playoff seasons)

The excuse list of the last two decades could fill a 500 page book. Excuse making is the opposite of accountability. Good leaders own their mistakes and impose consequences for failure, regardless of what coulda, woulda, shoulda been. What makes this team’s culture so problematic is that as long as Jerry and the top brass keep making and accepting excuses, it will continue to dog this team.

I’m sick of the excuses. As fans we should stop repeating some of Jerry’s excuses on these boards. If this team again fails to make the playoffs, or loses early in the playoffs, there should be ZERO excuses. This team has enough talent to make some noise this year.

Injuries happen- every year. Bad calls, and bad luck happen every year. The true contenders always find a way to win anyway and the pretenders always find a good set of excuses.

As one of the youngest teams, if not the youngest, in the league this rings hollow. They have been getting rid of unproductive players, i.e. Dez, Mayoa, Scandrick, Claiborne, etc., etc. The haters rejoice in this Jimmy Johnson take from years ago and celebrate another outlet for their hate. The usual posters are participating.

 

[PAPPYDOG]

As one of the youngest teams, if not the youngest, in the league this rings hollow. They have been getting rid of unproductive players, i.e. Dez, Mayoa, Scandrick, Claiborne, etc., etc. The haters rejoice in this Jimmy Johnson take from years ago and celebrate another outlet for their hate. The usual posters are participating.

Are you that miserable man,cause you LOVE the word HATE!! Is there so much of it in your life man?
Chill man no one is hating anyone we're just expressing different opinions on the team we love and cherish man!
Either way the chips fall come this season one thing is for certain....we will all cheer together of cry together as the Star above all man!!!

 

[Rockport]

Are you that miserable man,cause you LOVE the word HATE!! Is there so much of it in your life man?
Chill man no one is hating anyone we're just expressing different opinions on the team we love and cherish man!
Either way the chips fall come this season one thing is for certain....we will all cheer together of cry together as the Star above all man!!!

Dude you're just trying to convince yourself because you ain't fooling anyone else.

 

[Silver N Blue]

Several years ago, Jimmy Johnson was pressed on a given Sunday to explain why the Cowboys always seem to underachieve despite having some talent. His answer as I recall was something to the effect that the players did not fear the coaches or any repercussions for failure. He also (as I remember) said the environment was “too country club”. May not be exact, but I think that was generally what he said.

IMO, the biggest culture cancer of the last 22 years of failure boils down to this: Our leaders accept excuses. When the people who lead your organization not only have zero consequences for their own failure, and they also make “sugar daddy” excuses for their players and coaches for any year that has ended without much being accomplished, your organization is infected.

Tony Romo famously once stated that the NFL is a “meritocracy”- your value, playing time and accolades depend on your bottom line performance. Well that “meritocracy” may apply to the rest of the NFL, but it doesn’t apparently apply much in Dallas if you are in the FO or coaching staff.

Pick a year. Any year in the last 22. You can easily find Jerry making local or sports headlines by laying out a beautiful soft bed of excuses as to why his team either did not make the playoffs or exited early in the playoffs. For the sake of brevity, I can’t or won’t list all of the excuses laid out by Jerry to soft pedal his team’s failure, but here’s some of the excuse “greatest hits”- in no particular order:

1. If Zeke hadn’t been suspended those 6 games, 2017 would have been different.
2. If Aaron Rodgers doesn’t make that 3rd and 30 completion we would have won that 2016 playoff game.
3. If Tyron Smith hadn’t been hurt most of 2017, we would have won that Atlanta game.
4. Our defense was great until Sean Lee got hurt. If we have him all season...
5. If Greg Hardy had stayed focused and played like he did in his first game against NE, we would have...
6. If Tony Romo doesn’t hurt his back, break his collarbone, need surgery......etc.
7. It takes a while for a rookie head coach to develop. (Implying it was ok to throw seasons away in the “learning process”)
8. Wade Phillips after the disastrous 2007 loss in first round to giants: “We still had a great season”. (If I was GM, that might have been a firing offense, but this org loves excuses)
9. Jerry- “Zeke’s been through a lot lately”. (Jerry telling coaches they shouldn’t discipline him after he quit on a play in Denver after an interception)
10. Jerry- “I don’t want to give up on the development of Jason Garrett too soon and let another team benefit from it”. (After 3 straight non-winning, non-playoff seasons)

The excuse list of the last two decades could fill a 500 page book. Excuse making is the opposite of accountability. Good leaders own their mistakes and impose consequences for failure, regardless of what coulda, woulda, shoulda been. What makes this team’s culture so problematic is that as long as Jerry and the top brass keep making and accepting excuses, it will continue to dog this team.

I’m sick of the excuses. As fans we should stop repeating some of Jerry’s excuses on these boards. If this team again fails to make the playoffs, or loses early in the playoffs, there should be ZERO excuses. This team has enough talent to make some noise this year.

Injuries happen- every year. Bad calls, and bad luck happen every year. The true contenders always find a way to win anyway and the pretenders always find a good set of excuses.

The title on this OP is rock solid and with ya brother!!

 

[Silver N Blue]

I think one of the biggest problems the Cowboys have had, especially under Garrett, has been the fact that no one earns anything on the team.

By that I mean there is no competition and no chance for the written-in starter to be replaced unless they get injured or play poorly for half a season. Of course the Cowboys constantly push the narrative of the best player plays, but when was the last time that happened where the presumed started was replaced without an injury or prolonged period of bad play?

Players do not earn positions or promotions on the Cowboys. Coaches do not earn their positions or promotions on the Cowboys. Players get promoted by default when the starter in front of them gets injured or they play poorly for 6-8 games in a row. Coaches get promoted by default when a coach in front of them leaves to join another team or their contract runs out. No one earns anything on this team any more.

I think every single position (and I mean EVERY position) on the team should be up for grabs every single week. I have players I like, but if they really are the best player at their position they should have no problem beating out the other guys competing with them for the top spot.

Great point.

 

[Cowboys22]

Excuses are simply the obstacles in your way on the road to failure. Overcoming all your excuses is the pathway to success. This team has chosen to live by the first sentence I typed for 20+ years. No one in that time has been able to lead the team to follow the second sentence I typed. Thus, no success. I agree with the OP. Excuses have won the day for 20+ years in Dallas.

 

[jazzcat22]

I reached my breaking point with excuses a few years back. But especially last year. That's when it became apparent that the current staff is entirely player reliant to bail them out for their own shortcomings.

If it wasn't obvious before, when they could barely win a game without Romo bailing everybody out, it was made clear when the team fell apart due to a single point of failure, or one player missing time.

But I've accepted that this staff is getting yet one more year to save their jobs. But they're certainly out of excuses and I think most sane, rational fans will admit that.

If they fail again in 2018, not even the great salesman Jerry Jones will be able to convince people that any of them deserve to be back. And even if he tried, I think Stephen would be able to convince him otherwise.

Unfortunately though, Jerry already has his built in excuses to keep the top 3 stooges on the coaching staff.
I am fine with the other coaching changes they made, as it can't be any worse.

But the same is at the top 3. but the other changes in coaches and players will be his reasoning, unless they tank again to like another 4-12 season without any injuries.

I always looked for the good side of things, but criticized when needed, but a few years ago I started to hit my breaking point too. Last season I reached it.
Maybe this year they win in spite of them, but I am not setting myself up to be disappointed again. However, I do remain more positive than negative a good part of the time. I like most of the players, but just not the 3 stooges.

 

[Stash]

Unfortunately though, Jerry already has his built in excuses to keep the top 3 stooges on the coaching staff.
I am fine with the other coaching changes they made, as it can't be any worse.

But the same is at the top 3. but the other changes in coaches and players will be his reasoning, unless they tank again to like another 4-12 season without any injuries.

I always looked for the good side of things, but criticized when needed, but a few years ago I started to hit my breaking point too. Last season I reached it.
Maybe this year they win in spite of them, but I am not setting myself up to be disappointed again. However, I do remain more positive than negative a good part of the time. I like most of the players, but just not the 3 stooges.

I feel that an excuse can only work if someone believes it. And Jerry can only sell these coaches after another failure to the suckers willing to believe it.

I think the time for that has run out. The Garrett holdouts and supporters have grown smaller and smaller and smaller. To the point where they hunker down in specific threads, huddled together for what little support they have left.

But I feel that even the most staunch defenders have reached their breaking point to where even they will be done with both he and this staff if they fail to win this year.

Time's up. Win or get out. No more excuses.

 

[RS12]

They have been pretending for decades. Only thing that has changed is the owners net worth.

 

[jazzcat22]

After the triplets were getting older, retiring, leaving the team, as Emmitt was probably wise to do with Parcels coming in.
But does anyone truly believe we weren't going to have some down years for a while, which we did. Parcels started getting the team going, but he was just as bad for the team, as he was good. Then he decided to retire. So really after the last SB win and the team was losing it's better players, until Parcels, you can't count those years as being part of this mess. It has been since a certain coach started.

Not sure what happened with Wade as to why the team fell apart. But then enter Garrett who started to or more like had to get rid of over aged, over paid, under performing players. So no excuses were really needed until this point. not going to say if a fan wants to make excuses or not, that is in their own mind to form an opinion, and some will agree and some won't, that is just the way it is.

However, UNTIL....The Clapper....
Even at that, time after time while rebuilding they had 3 straight 8-8 win and in, but lost seasons. We know all the stuff after that. Excuse after excuse ever since Garrett took over. When it really is just coaching mistakes after coaching mistakes. Team refusal to go get the right players at key positions, like LB depth, a true S, and top picks for a DT.

It is all on the coaching staff IMO. Yes the injury ridden season, throw it out. But every time this team could have or should have won games, rather to get us in the playoffs, or keep us in contention, coaching decision were a direct influence on those losses.

 

[Fletch]

Is this another wwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh thread?

Ya think?

 

[G2]

I don't look at them as simply excuses. They're things that effected the team and we couldn't overcome them.

 

[Fletch]

As one of the youngest teams, if not the youngest, in the league this rings hollow. They have been getting rid of unproductive players, i.e. Dez, Mayoa, Scandrick, Claiborne, etc., etc. The haters rejoice in this Jimmy Johnson take from years ago and celebrate another outlet for their hate. The usual posters are participating.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

It does seem this has been a prevailing attitude around this team for a long time and still continues, being complacent, thinking we're good enough, ignorance or arrogance. This team always seems to wait until something bad to happen to finally make changes, things that weren't necessarily planned that forced their hand. We never spent draft capitol on the oline until Romo is getting smacked around like a rag doll, even when it was clear the team needed to address it sooner. Let Murray walk, not a bad idea, but McFadden and Randle as your RBs are good enough because anyone can run behind this line. McFadden's numbers didn't look bad, but we struggled to run when we needed it, we only had 8 rushing TDs that year. So we waited a year to address it, since those guys were deemed good enough. The last year we made the playoffs, what did we do to upgrade the team, nothing, unless Nolan Carroll and Paea were really expected to be upgrades. We really did get lucky with Dak becuase it's doubtful, he would have been our starter to begin the season if Moore doesn't get injured as well. It ties into what @Reality posted, Moore more than likely would still have been the starter, because gosh darn it, the coaches really like him and he's great in the film room. There's no push or competition for spots or playing time, until it falls apart.

Great post.

 

[northerncowboynation]

I am very tolerant of years of excuses. Started when the team was first purchased (worthy excuses for the time). Ontinued on as "america's next year champions for awhile.... ended with 2 SBs... then the Danny White excuses and the "Catch".... then the gold rush of the 90's with 3 SB''s which spoiled the **** out of me... then all the excuses for the years after Aikman until 2006.... then the excuses for Romo whom I quit excusing after 2009. I've heard a belly full of excuses, a plethora of excuses, a bowl of excuses for 40 plus years. If you haven't heard them all over 40 years, IMO, you have selective hearing. I'll excuse the yougins who have only been around for the past twenty but not the veterans who have heard them all and choose to single out a particular owner for whatever reason