For Those Saying We Can't Contend Next Season

[sonnyboy]

There's just so much to do to be able to contend next year, IMO. Especially on the Defense side of things. I think and am hopeful maybe in 4-5 years, we can finally be a good football team.

Maybe if we had a run and gun power offense like the Packers or Saints, but we are not consistent enough to hang with them.

I know this response is a little late and I'm only saying this because I do like you.....but take some friendly advice and get away from this place for a few days.

If you really feel like 4-5yrs away from being a good team, you've spent to much time here since the loss.

 

[KJJ]

I know this response is a little late and I'm only saying this because I do like you.....but take some friendly advice and get away from this place for a few days.

If you really feel like 4-5yrs away from being a good team, you've spent to much time here since the loss.

The Cowboys could be 1 year away or many years away it all depends on the moves they make. If they keep making the wrong moves the longer it's going to take for them to be a good team. If Garrett ends up not being the answer at HC it's just going to cause the Cowboys to keep spinning their wheels while he's here. I certainly didn't see anything from the Cowboys this past season that has me feeling excited about the future of the team with Garrett at the helm. No matter what changes the Cowboys make they continue folding in Dec/Jan. We saw some of the same troubling trends under Garrett this past season that we saw under Wade. The team is becoming thinner on talent and they're having cap issues still paying for previous mistakes.

Back in 74 the Cowboys looked done after going 8-6 and finishing 3rd in NFC East but they had a great draft the following April and it got the team back on track for years to come. Since the Cowboys playoff win 2 years ago they've gone nowhere winning only 14 games. They're going to end up being one of those teams that are consistently average to bad every season if Jerry doesn't take his head out of his *** and start making a lot of the right moves.

 

[Soth]

Stop it just stop it. We can if we upgrade the offensive line. Look around the NFL some of the best teams in the league like the Packers, Saints, and Patriots all are ranked 20th or worse in total defense. Also even with all the issues we had this past season we could've very easily been 11-5 had we not given 3 key games away. @ the Jets, and Vs Detroit and NYG. This is a different day and age we don't need a great or even good defense to win, but we do need a better offensive line. If we can get one this team can contend next season.

I completely agree with everything you said. The OL is the key. With the emergence of Robinson and Murray, this could be a very dangerous offense.

 

[Ender]

Wishful thinking this early?

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

Hope springs eternal.

I dont no what that mean but it might be useful to this converstion.

 

[CCBoy]

Hope springs eternal.

I dont no what that mean but it might be useful to this converstion.

So does Mineral Springs...

 

[jterrell]

by the start of next season we'll be favored to win a playoff spot.
we have a top 5 pass rusher and top 10 QB hands down.
we have a very strong WR corps and quality rushing attack with murray and felix.

this teams needs are not that great.

starting CB, starting LG, one starting ILB(or a primary back up if Carter gets the expected starters nod), one OLB.
they also have to resign Elam, Robinson imho.

we also need the coach to learn to manage games late. (i am sure there is a process for that)

This season we found a kicker, decade long OT, running back and a 3rd WR.

The cupboard isn't bare but it was stripped pretty clean by cap concerns and age. We let A LOT of guys go last year. And if we hadn't spit into the wind we would have made the playoffs.

 

[CCBoy]

by the start of next season we'll be favored to win a playoff spot.
we have a top 5 pass rusher and top 10 QB hands down.
we have a very strong WR corps and quality rushing attack with murray and felix.

this teams needs are not that great.

starting CB, starting LG, one starting ILB(or a primary back up if Carter gets the expected starters nod), one OLB.
they also have to resign Elam, Robinson imho.

we also need the coach to learn to manage games late. (i am sure there is a process for that)

This season we found a kicker, decade long OT, running back and a 3rd WR.

The cupboard isn't bare but it was stripped pretty clean by cap concerns and age. We let A LOT of guys go last year. And if we hadn't spit into the wind we would have made the playoffs.

Actually, a pretty good and realistic look...

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

So does Mineral Springs...

Why you bring that up? OK, mistakes were made. I paid my debt to society and moved away from there to start fresh.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

by the start of next season we'll be favored to win a playoff spot.
we have a top 5 pass rusher and top 10 QB hands down.
we have a very strong WR corps and quality rushing attack with murray and felix.

this teams needs are not that great.

I admire the optometristism. But it definitely seems like someone whistling while they pass the cemetery.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

Contend for what...a Superbowl?


lmao

 

[Dodger]

this teams needs are not that great.

starting CB, starting LG, one starting ILB(or a primary back up if Carter gets the expected starters nod), one OLB.
they also have to resign Elam, Robinson imho.

I think we need somewhat more than that, but we'll see.

 

[starchamber]

2009 New Orleans Saints say hello.

Again, I'm not saying that we're going to win the Super Bowl. I'm just saying that a lot can change in a year.

Alot can change in a year. Unfortunately, one constant will not. Jerry Jones. So in essence nothing will change.

 

[JoeCorrado]

ok...

how do we upgrade the oline? what about the defense? if we had 40 million under the cap to play with then maybe i would play along. but this team has too many holes and not enough money to fix things in one year.

for once, lets be real with ourselves guys, this is a two year project.

The real question about what we can do to plug the worst holes on our team, from a FA standpoint is CAP room and where that ranks us among teams with similar needs. All teams must spend 95% of CAP and some teams will have serious cash to spend.

Not all teams have the same needs and not all teams with the same needs will have the same priorities in FA.

Getting players to get better in FA isn't competing against all other teams, just a handful really. And you don't have to get the best available to improve.

We will be competitive next season. We were "competitive" this season. What we need to be is good enough that other teams hope to be "competitive" against us. A subtle difference.

 

[boyzjunkie]

dboy214 - is a dominate line like a dominant line?

 

[Cowboys&LakersFan]

Contend for what...a Superbowl?


lmao

With the right offseason.

 

[jazzcat22]

Plus you never know how some of these teams are going to be next year. If we don't fully address the oline and D though, we won't be competing, period, though. You can't always just count on your offense to get you out of their. Also the pack and saints D may be rated poorly also but they get a ton of turnovers.

and they don't give up 4th quarter leads.......:bang2:

 

[Eskimo]

Check out this link and this will tell you what our problem is. Look at our drafts since 2005. Just look at how many guys are no longer here. Look at the guys who are currently starters on. There aren't many.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/dal/draft.htm

The interesting thing about that list is how many good, young vets we have let go over the years. Jerry is way, way too slow at re-signing young good players. Then he is way too eager to extend our declining vets who were Pro Bowl caliber. He still doesn't get that the NFL is a young man's game and extending young good players is probably going to be a better value than extending old, declining Pro Bowl vets (i.e. Ratliff and Witten this year).

He may have gotten it right with Oscan who can cover players but just has little clue about how to play the ball - maybe a better DB coach will be able to get more out of him. I think the general idea was right, though. OTOH, over the years he has let players like Kevin Burnett, Randall Godfrey and Chris Canty test FA when he should have been working harder earlier in their careers at getting them extended. We waited too long to deal with Free and got raped in the FA waters as a result.

Right now we should be looking into extending Sean Lee and Lissemore early next year for decent but non-premium contracts that is commensurate with their level of play so far with some guaranteed money. This is when players are most easily extended because this is when they want security. Once they are 3/4ths of the way through the final year of their contract there is little remaining injury risk and thus little reason for the player and agent to want to work out an extension instead of testing FA waters. The only players you can wait on are those who you are just going to franchise and know you are eventually going to pay a top 5 salary - might as well ring out as many cheap years as possible - Dez and Tyron Smith might fit into this category.

 

[Dodger]

The interesting thing about that list is how many good, young vets we have let go over the years. Jerry is way, way too slow at re-signing young good players. Then he is way too eager to extend our declining vets who were Pro Bowl caliber. He still doesn't get that the NFL is a young man's game and extending young good players is probably going to be a better value than extending old, declining Pro Bowl vets (i.e. Ratliff and Witten this year).

Extending older vets is okay as long as you extend the right older vets. I see absolutely nothing wrong with Jerry giving Witten an extension, unless someone can tell me who is going to make up for his production...production that he has proven that he can maintain year after year.

 

[ufcrules1]

We competed this year even with all our problems. We simply gave 3 games away and still had a chance to win the division. The Packers create turnovers, but the Saints don't get alot of turnovers. Both teams simply outscore teams. We can do the same if we upgrade the offensive line. I'm not saying we don't need to upgrade the defense because we do, but the offensive line should be the priority. We upgrade it and we'll contend.

We beat all teams below 500 except for the 49'ers. Next year we are going to have a very tough schedule and won't have the luxury of playing so many bad teams. Our offensive line was middle of the road this year.. ranked 13th or 14th. Romo and the rest of the offense need to step it up and stop making excuses.