Stash
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K brutha as always, you are correct sir
It felt wrong to give this a like, but I did anyway.
K brutha as always, you are correct sir
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.
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!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.
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.
Accept them? They are the ones making them.IMO, the biggest culture cancer of the last 22 years of failure boils down to this: Our leaders accept 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.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.
Dude you're just trying to convince yourself because you ain't fooling anyone else.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!!!
The title on this OP is rock solid and with ya brother!!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.
Great point.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.
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.
Ya think?Is this another wwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh thread?
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.
Great post.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.