Feel good about this Cowboys team

[Staubacher]

The OL is rated high the best in the league by all accounts but the back does matter unless you think an average back could have produced like Emmitt during the 90's behind arguably the greatest OL in history. The Cowboys will only abandon the run if it's not working and they start falling behind in games forcing Romo to have to sling it like in previous seasons. We all know what that would lead to. Murray had a lot of huge holes to run through and he also made some great runs on his own due to his cutback ability and change of direction.

NFLN did a segment with Ladainian Tomlinson showing all the great runs Murray created due to his talent not the OL. Tomlinson himself said an average back doesn't make those runs. Dude I've been following the Cowboys and NFL since the 72 season and spend a lot of time doing research before submitting posts. You're just one of those posters who shoots their mouth off making bold claims like a typical armchair FAN.

I do watch the games (since 1972 btw) leaning on a comfortable armchair.

 

[KJJ]

That's true but you're comparing completely different eras. The importance of "elite" rb's has been dwindling league wide for several years now. That doesn't mean each team wouldn't love top have one but it does mean that in most cases, they will not devote the same resources to obtaining a RB they may have years ago.
The Patriots are not the only team who has been crowned champions without an elite back. The Cowboy's would probably love to get a better one, or a more proven one, but personally, I'm thankful that they are not willing to overpay or reach in desperation to keep Murray or get their hands on another one. .

Granted I'm comparing different era's and although the importance of having an elite RB has dwindled due to all the passing teams do the Cowboys success last season was due to having a top notch runner. Romo having to air it out the previous seasons greatly contributed to those dismal 8-8 seasons. For the Cowboys under Romo to be successful they need a solid running game so Romo isn't put in a position where he has to carry the offense.

Other teams may be able to win championships without having an elite runner due to a great defense or an all-time great QB but the Cowboys have never won a SB or even reached one without a top notch back leading the way. With a QB who's had turnover issues due to having to carry the offense and a defense that hasn't been good in years the Cowboys need to play keep away with a solid consistent running game. It's not easy consistently running ball and picking up the tough short yards on 3rd down without having an elite runner.

 

[KJJ]

I do watch the games (since 1972 btw) leaning on a comfortable armchair.

Good for you I purchased a very comfortable massage chair last season that I loved until it stopped working. Now I have a $4500 recliner.

 

[Staubacher]

Good for you I purchased a very comfortable massage chair last season that I loved until it stopped working. Now I have a $4500 recliner.

That stinks. 4,500 could have bought a lot of massages. Happy ones.

 

[Frozen700]

I want to say for the first time in a very long time. I actually think this team is more complete and ready to contend for the biggest prize in football. That being said, I am not so caught up that I don't think this team can go 8-8 again. It takes more than stats on a piece of paper to win championships in the NFL.

Garrett as I'm sure he knows, has a group that can potentially be the best Cowboys team since the early 90's.
Go Cowboys!

As long as MO does not start, and we fix this T-Will problem. We have a real chance.

 

[KJJ]

That stinks. 4,500 could have bought a lot of massages. Happy ones.

Reminds me of the time when I was 17 and walked into a massage parlor the girl had me lay on my stomach then massaged my back for about 5 minutes. Then she leaned over and winked and asked me if I would like a happy ending? I told her no thanks I've already had a couple of them.

 

[Irvin88_4life]

I hope your right, he has not done so in all the time he has played. Randle another I hope can show something. We have these guys that have done nothing and you are comparing them to a man who lead the entire NFL in rushing? Murray proved himself these guys have done nothing.

McFadden has proven to be a 1,000 yard rusher cause he has done it before. Murray as 1 man is better yes but as a group McFadden, Randle, Williams and Dunbar can get the job done. They are all more explosive then Murray and we won't need to grind out games since defense had improved. We score more points this year.

Murray had almost 1,000 yards before contact dude and is slower then all the RBs on the roster

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Everyday I wake up and pray to the Football Gods I don't see a headline associated with the Cowboys and a season ending injury.

 

[Manster68]

I would feel the same way as you if the Cowboys had an elite runner in the backfield. This OL paired with a great back would make the offense very difficult to stop. I feel the team has added some pieces to the defense that will improve it but I'm concerned at RB.

Let's give McFadden and Randall a chance. I think they will do better than what many expect.

Plus, there is a reason why Dallas made improvements on defense. If it is guaranteed that the Cowboys will be ranked 19th or worse this season, then I can understand the concern of not having a marquee running back. I think the improved defense will counter anything Dallas might have lost with the absence of Demarco Murray.

Also, Randall needs to keep his mouth shut.

 

[Manster68]

The Cowboys had to rely on Murray to protect the defense. I will be very disappointed it the Cowboys do not improve on defense. I have said in other posts that I want Dallas to at least improve in rankings from 19th to somewhere between 10-15. I want Dallas' sack total to go from 28 to at least 40.

If the Cowboys can obtain that, then the running game will be fine.

 

[Thefeelofcotton]

Relax and enjoy it. Lagerrette Blount was the RB for the Pats last year. That should say a lot...It's not that huge for us to have a few decent guys rather than one very good one.

This this this. We don't need a Jamaal Charles or an Adrian Peterson to win games. If we have two or even three good backs, this like will make them look great which is good enough. With the improved D we will be fine and shouldn't have to lean on the run game to keep them off the field.

 

[big dog cowboy]

It's been a decade since a team has repeated as division champs. So the odds are against the Cowboys this year.

Just the opposite is true, someone is due to repeat.

 

[coult44]

I'll tell you what says a lot the Cowboys have never reached or won a SB without having a dynamic runner in their backfield. The Cowboys aren't the Pats they've won 4 SB's with average to decent backs such as Antowain Smith, Kevin Faulk, Cory Dillion and Blount. The Pats have depended on Brady to win games so they're capable of adding an average back like Blount during the season and still win. The Pats revolve around Brady and Belichicks ability to add castoffs around him and still compete for SB's.

The first SB the Cowboys won was with Duane Thomas who carried the load vs Miami. The Cowboys next 4 SB wins was with Tony Dorsett and Emmitt Smith carrying the load. The Cowboys have always depended on their running game to win championships. Elway would have never won a SB had Terrell Davis not come along. Dan Marino never won a SB because he never had a great back to turn to. Romo had the best season of his career in 2014 due to the performance of a great back.

I know our history as well, I've been a die hard since 1980. But here is what some of the people who are older fans don't want to realize. Football is 100% different than it was 10-15-20-40 years ago. You say "we are not the Pats". I say we are not the Cowboys of old. We are closer to the Pats now, than we are the team of the 70's, 80's, and 90's. That will be proven this year when we win with a group of average running backs. I understand your obsession with the Glory days. They are great memories for me as well. But it's time to understand how different football is now. Brady can win 3-4 super bowls without a Murray, Lynch, or Peterson type back. Can you name the RB's who played with either of the Manning brothers? It's even OK to have non-boring uniforms. They use I-Pads instead of play books, and the radios on the coaches heads are completely wireless, imagine that. My point, it doesn't take an elite RB to win anymore. We were proof of that last year.

 

[KJJ]

I know our history as well, I've been a die hard since 1980. But here is what some of the people who are older fans don't want to realize. Football is 100% different than it was 10-15-20-40 years ago. You say "we are not the Pats". I say we are not the Cowboys of old. We are closer to the Pats now, than we are the team of the 70's, 80's, and 90's. That will be proven this year when we win with a group of average running backs. I understand your obsession with the Glory days. They are great memories for me as well. But it's time to understand how different football is now. Brady can win 3-4 super bowls without a Murray, Lynch, or Peterson type back. Can you name the RB's who played with either of the Manning brothers? It's even OK to have non-boring uniforms. They use I-Pads instead of play books, and the radios on the coaches heads are completely wireless, imagine that. My point, it doesn't take an elite RB to win anymore. We were proof of that last year.

The game of football is different today but Garrett is trying to win with the same blueprint/formula the Cowboys won with back in the 90's with a great OL and a dynamic running game. The current Cowboys are a lot closer to the great teams they had in the past than the Pats. Most organizations look at what made them great teams decades ago. The Steelers have always been known for great defense and although their D has slid they continue trying to build on that tradition. The Cowboys championship teams of the past never had to depend on their QB putting the ball up 35 plus times a game. The reason Romo has all the Cowboys passing records is because he's had to throw the ball more than any QB in franchise history. I'm not obsessed with the glory years but what we saw last season with the offense was very similar to what we saw with the Cowboys in the early to mid 90's. Brady has won multiple SB's with a number of players that have been given up on by other teams because he's one of the all-time greatest QB's on a team being coached by one of the leagues all-time greatest head coaches.

Brady's had numerous receivers and RB's over his 15 year career and he still wins. The Cowboys could never achieve what the Pats have achieved if they had Romo trying to play Brady's game. Brady put the ball up 50 times in the SB vs Seattle's Legion of Doom defense Romo wouldn't have had any success vs the Seahawks last season had he been forced to attempt that many passes vs a great defense like that. It was the running game that helped the Cowboys win that game they wore the Seahawks down with old fashion smash mouth football. The Pats only had 57 yards rushing in the SB vs Seattle so they had to rely on Brady to win that game. The Cowboys can't win consistently especially against a great team if Romo has to carry the offense with his arm. The style of football the Cowboys played last season is a style of football that the organization has had success with over several decades. Just look at Seattle they've reached 2 SB's winning one of them with the style of play the Cowboys won in the 90's with. They've won with a great defense, a running game that's led by an elite back and an efficient QB who isn't asked to carry the team.

Had Seattle kept the ball on the ground at the one yard line in the SB they would have won back to back championships. I don't care if teams like the Pats can win without an elite RB the Cowboys have never won a championship in their history without an elite back. The Cowboys blueprint for success was drawn up decades ago. The Seahawks have proven what worked for some of the great teams of the past can work today. The Seahawks are a throwback to what we saw in the 70, 80's and 90's. You don't need a 4000 yard passer you need an elite runner, a great defense and an efficient QB who avoids mistakes.

 

[mattjames2010]

To a playoff semifinal that Mr Indispensable fumbled away.

Or the defense that couldn't stop the opposing offense. Or our super duper #1 WR couldn't keep the ball under control enough to keep a crucial play from being questioned.

But hey, yes, let's pin it on that Eagles players...because well, it's easier to do that than to admit we have issues in other areas of our team.

 

[dfan32]

Granted I'm comparing different era's and although the importance of having an elite RB has dwindled due to all the passing teams do the Cowboys success last season was due to having a top notch runner. Romo having to air it out the previous seasons greatly contributed to those dismal 8-8 seasons. For the Cowboys under Romo to be successful they need a solid running game so Romo isn't put in a position where he has to carry the offense.

Other teams may be able to win championships without having an elite runner due to a great defense or an all-time great QB but the Cowboys have never won a SB or even reached one without a top notch back leading the way. With a QB who's had turnover issues due to having to carry the offense and a defense that hasn't been good in years the Cowboys need to play keep away with a solid consistent running game. It's not easy consistently running ball and picking up the tough short yards on 3rd down without having an elite runner.

Well first of all, I don't think it's a coincidence that Murray became a "top notch runner" at the same time the OL became one of the most effective run blocking lines in 2014 and as young as they are, have lots of room to improve. Secondly, you have suggested other teams have been able to get by with mediocre backs due to having a great defense or a great QB. If I may suggest they put themselves in a position to have those other pieces in place because they did not go "allin" to a specific dimension of their football team.

As I said, the Cowboy's would love to be in a better position at RB but I don't see where they passed up any significant opportunities to get one during the offseason. Any scenario that has them obtaining an elite back would have involved overpaying or giving up draft picks I think they did the right thing.

Are you suggesting that the Cowboy's do not evolve to some degree with the rest of the league based on their history. I would prefer evolving and being innovative at the same time. But getting stuck in the nineties...or earlier... probably would not be a good idea.

 

[DenCWBY]

I'll let you know when TC is over.

Lets see them (rookies) and RB's play a few preseason snaps and how healthy we come out of TC.

 

[Section446]

This is going to be a nasty division this year, everyone upgraded their respective team, definitely going to be interesting.

 

[AsthmaField]

I feel better about this Dallas team than any since the early to mid 90's. I think it has a potent mixture of a franchise QB, strong lines, some talented skill positions, really good coaching, and a solid plan on how to build a team.

The 2007 team got a lot of people excited and had a good season. However, that team simply didn't have the feel of this one. If felt more like a flash in the pan, than a solid job of building a franchise. As much as I liked that season, I just didn't feel great about that team at the end of the season. I really didn't have high expectations for 2008 either... so when it all fell apart, it didn't surprise me one bit.

That 2007 team had a lot of age in some spots that worried me, but what I hated the most was that it didn't seem to have an identity and the coaching was, IMO, pretty sub-par. The success came from the team playing loose because of Wade Phillips, but still retaining some of the discipline that Parcells instilled. I told my buddy towards the end of that season that you could just see the discipline deteriorating as the year went on. By the time the playoffs came, it wasn't surprising at all to see an early exit. That team just didn't have the backbone and fight that last year's team did. Not even in the same universe.

Last year, on the other hand, showed a tremendously physical team that wore opponents down and simply beat them up. The discipline instilled by this coaching staff was evident all year long, and by the time the playoffs started, you just knew the team wasn't going to let you down. Maybe they win or maybe they don't... but you knew they were going to show up and fight for the entire 60 min. Never a doubt.

Going into such a hostile environment at Lambeau Field, with the weather such a factor, this team fought its guts out and damn near pulled out the win. A team that had what everyone knew was very sub-par talent on defense, facing that high flying Packer offense at Lambeau Field was a recipe for a loss... yet they should have won that game.

Just the fact that the Seahawks were celebrating a Green Bay victory tells you everything you need to know about how tough a game against this Dallas team really is. Seattle was physically beaten by the end of their game against Dallas, and they wanted absolutely no part of seeing the Cowboys back in Seattle.

Speaking of that week 6 matchup between Dallas and Seattle, that game told me a lot about the Cowboys too. Seattle flat out intimidated teams at home, and they have played the bully up there for a few seasons now. When they started pushing the Cowboys around after the whistle, the Dallas players started rag-dolling their ***. No Dallas team since those Jimmy Johnson squads would have reacted that way. These guys were not about to be intimidated, and they made sure to let Seattle know it. Once Dallas started getting momentum in that game, the pushes in the back and late hits started coming, just as we knew they would. This Dallas team pushed them back harder and ended up physically beating Seattle. The best part about that game was that the Seahawks were beaten by the end of that game. They were beaten on the scoreboard. They were beaten physically. And they were beaten mentally.

That showed me what was being built in Dallas.

By the time the Green Bay game got here, we all knew nobody was pushing Dallas around, any more. Still, when a Packer hit a Cowboys that was standing by the pile, it was a thing of beauty to see the entire defense push that guy to the edge of the field, past the sidelines and almost back to the stands. Like a young fighter, just coming into his prime, the Cowboys were starting to learn what they were. Starting to learn that nobody was going to take a cheap shot and get away with it.

That defense, that was seriously lacking talent and was missing its biggest intimidator (Ro McClain), took absolutely no crap from anyone. That is the essence of what has been being constructed in Dallas.

Now, add Greg Hardy, Sean Lee, Randy Gregory, a healthy Lawrence, and Byron Jones to that defense and imagine the swagger they will play with now. Add real talent to a defense and their swagger and confidence should explode this year.

Add probably the nastiest attitude on the OL (La'el Collins) to an already nasty, dominant OL and the physical nature of the team is going to do nothing but increase.

Yes, I feel good about this team, unlike any since Jimmy Johnson left. It isn't being hopeful... the team is just that good.

 

[KJJ]

Well first of all, I don't think it's a coincidence that Murray became a "top notch runner" at the same time the OL became one of the most effective run blocking lines in 2014 and as young as they are, have lots of room to improve. Secondly, you have suggested other teams have been able to get by with mediocre backs due to having a great defense or a great QB. If I may suggest they put themselves in a position to have those other pieces in place because they did not go "allin" to a specific dimension of their football team.

As I said, the Cowboy's would love to be in a better position at RB but I don't see where they passed up any significant opportunities to get one during the offseason. Any scenario that has them obtaining an elite back would have involved overpaying or giving up draft picks I think they did the right thing.

Are you suggesting that the Cowboy's do not evolve to some degree with the rest of the league based on their history. I would prefer evolving and being innovative at the same time. But getting stuck in the nineties...or earlier... probably would not be a good idea.

Murray was a good runner while the OL was transitioning 4 years ago. The best game of his career was when Tyron was the only #1 pick on the OL. The OL was average at best Murray's rookie year and despite starting only 7 games and missing 3 games due to injury he still gained 897 yards averaging 5.5 per carry. None of the backs the Cowboys had produced to the level Murray did behind a Cowboys OL that was just in the beginning stages of rebuilding. Had Murray stayed healthy his rookie year and received more starts he would have had over 1200 yards. He produced 139 yards vs Seattle and 135 yards vs Buffalo in consecutive weeks behind an average OL. It was the missed games due to injury that kept him from having real productive seasons prior to 2014. A big reason Murray had the season he did in 2014 is because he played all 16 games and wasn't hampered by injuries that limited his effectiveness.

He played in several games his first 3 seasons in which he wasn't 100% and it limited him. Granted the OL also played a part in his great season last year but staying healthy played an even bigger part in my opinion. The Cowboys are trying to build a team similar to what they had in the 90's listen to Jerry and Garrett. Those 90's teams began by building a solid OL around Aikman and drafting what ended up being an all-time great RB. Seattle is winning with the #1 rushing attack and #1 defense. They have a great back and a still developing young QB who's not being asked to put up 4000 yards and 35 TD's a season. The Cowboys know that Romo has his limitations and he plays his best football when he's able to manage games. He put up almost 5000 yards 3 years ago but it led to him tying a career high in int's.

Murray only played in 10 games that season due to injury causing the Cowboys running game to suffer forcing Romo to have to carry the offense and it led to some terrible performances including a meltdown performance vs Washington in a season finale elimination game. RG3 who was limping around couldn't do anything in that game but he had a rookie back who put up 200 rushing yards. I'm convinced Alfred Morris's 1600 yard rookie season was the reason RG3 had a good rookie year. When you have an RB running consistently it takes a lot of pressure off your QB. If Romo can play as efficiently as he did last season and the Cowboys can improve their defense they'll be a legit SB contender. The only way Romo will maintain his efficiency is if the Cowboys can continue to run the ball consistently and with the backs the team currently has that remains to be seen.