Hard realities

[Bobhaze]

Watching the Game Day thread yesterday, the only thing that surprised me was the number of fans that seemed genuinely shocked at how bad our defense played. The screams for Matt Eberflus’ head is understandable but would solve 0% of our problems. Because this defense is really, really bad.

So here’s our first hard reality: This defense does not have much talent. A “better” scheme and a 4th new defensive coordinator in 21 months will not solve our problems.

In the 2023 season, our last season with realistic playoff hopes, 3 of our best defenders on that team are no longer on this team. And 3 others are currently hurt. And that 2023 defense was not great to begin with.

• Micah Parsons - best talent we’ve had on defense in two decades. Traded to GB. Predictably tearing it up in GB.
• Demarcus Lawrence - one of the most underrated Cowboys in recent years, was lost in FA to Seattle. (Too many fans here only looked at sack numbers) DLaw was a real talent who has already made an impact in Sea.
• Jourdan Lewis - a real leader and underrated talent, lost in FA to the Jags. Has two picks in 3 games.

The above players weren’t enough to make our defense good enough in the playoffs as we saw in the horrible GB playoff disaster. But the guys who have replaced the above better players we had are all a major step down.

And most of the other talent we have on D now is hurt. Trevon Diggs isn’t right, Deron Bland has a bad foot, and DeMarvion Overshown - who knows if he will ever be the same. Osa Odighizhua is a complimentary piece that will never be dominant without help, and Kenny Clark is clearly not the same guy he once was.

The second hard reality I have accepted and it’s the hardest to overcome: A complete lack of front office cohesiveness beyond how to market this team. Someone was quoted on Twitter last night saying, “The Dallas Cowboys are the Jacksonville Jaguars with better marketing.”And that’s not fair to the Jags. They have been to two conference championship games in the last 30 years.

The hard reality is this is not a roster with enough talent to be a playoff team. It can improve but not much IMO. Losing a lot of games this year is sadly in our team’s best interest.

One final question: Do you have faith that our front office knows how to rebuild? I wish I did but I don’t. We fans are just going to have to play the long game in hopes that real changes will happen at some point. It doesn’t take much football insight to know our FO is clueless when it comes to building a playoff roster.

 

[visionary]

Our only hope this year is to get a top 5 pick and get our QB of the future since this is a very good QB class

Then hope that GB loses as many games as possible so at least we get a pick in low 20s

This year is lost

 

[CyberB0b]

The biggest indicator of ineptitude is not only the lack of talent, but the lack of depth. There’s maybe 3 players on the defense who would start on other teams, and the depth behind them are barely practice squad players. The Cowboys have 34m in cap space, 2nd most in the league. This is all front office ineptitude. Period. You can’t expect the coaches to make chicken salad out of chicken s

Our only hope this year is to get a top 5 pick and get our QB of the future since this is a very good QB class

Then hope that GB loses as many games as possible so at least we get a pick in low 20s

This year is lost

That’s an extreme long shot on both fronts.

 

[Vegas_Cowboy]

 

[Redsfan_83]

Imagine if we didn't sign an albatross of a contract to a QB that, although is good, handcuffed our ability to sign those 3 players you listed as key holes now evident on this team?

 

[MountaineerCowboy]

You want real change?

Hope for a 1-16 record.

Because as long as we’re middle of the pack Jerry is just gonna think we’re a piece or two away from a Super Bowl run.

 

[leeblair]

Watching the Game Day thread yesterday, the only thing that surprised me was the number of fans that seemed genuinely shocked at how bad our defense played. The screams for Matt Eberflus’ head is understandable but would solve 0% of our problems. Because this defense is really, really bad.

So here’s our first hard reality: This defense does not have much talent. A “better” scheme and a 4th new defensive coordinator in 21 months will not solve our problems.

In the 2023 season, our last season with realistic playoff hopes, 3 of our best defenders on that team are no longer on this team. And 3 others are currently hurt. And that 2023 defense was not great to begin with.

• Micah Parsons - best talent we’ve had on defense in two decades. Traded to GB. Predictably tearing it up in GB.
• Demarcus Lawrence - one of the most underrated Cowboys in recent years, was lost in FA to Seattle. (Too many fans here only looked at sack numbers) DLaw was a real talent who has already made an impact in Sea.
• Jourdan Lewis - a real leader and underrated talent, lost in FA to the Jags. Has two picks in 3 games.

The above players weren’t enough to make our defense good enough in the playoffs as we saw in the horrible GB playoff disaster. But the guys who have replaced the above better players we had are all a major step down.

And most of the other talent we have on D now is hurt. Trevon Diggs isn’t right, Deron Bland has a bad foot, and DeMarvion Overshown - who knows if he will ever be the same. Osa Odighizhua is a complimentary piece that will never be dominant without help, and Kenny Clark is clearly not the same guy he once was.

The second hard reality I have accepted and it’s the hardest to overcome: A complete lack of front office cohesiveness beyond how to market this team. Someone was quoted on Twitter last night saying, “The Dallas Cowboys are the Jacksonville Jaguars with better marketing.”And that’s not fair to the Jags. They have been to two conference championship games in the last 30 years.

The hard reality is this is not a roster with enough talent to be a playoff team. It can improve but not much IMO. Losing a lot of games this year is sadly in our team’s best interest.

One final question: Do you have faith that our front office knows how to rebuild? I wish I did but I don’t. We fans are just going to have to play the long game in hopes that real changes will happen at some point. It doesn’t take much football insight to know our FO is clueless when it comes to building a playoff roster.

What's bad is that the Bears' defense was just as bad or worse, but they shut out the Cowboys offense completely in the second half.
You can blame the Cowboys defense all you want, but where did the offense and the $60 million quarterback go?
That's twice this season he has been shut out in the second half.
I do believe that Dak has more trouble on the road. He likes the home crowd and home field advantage.
A $60 million flop.

 

[Redline360]

Jerry has no clue how to rebuild. If he did he would have done so already.

Hate to tell the fans but hes not interested in that. He would rather field a .500 team and stay media relevant then take several down years or major risks.


Why we havent won anything since his "ego" took over.

 

[Cowboys93]

I said it in the postgame thread but something that constantly sticks out to me is the lack of speed. I’m not sure how they continue to expect to compete in the modern NFL without having guys that pop on the screen. Everyone looks slow and it’s not like they’re overtly physical either. It’s jarring

 

[phildadon86]

Our only hope this year is to get a top 5 pick and get our QB of the future since this is a very good QB class

Then hope that GB loses as many games as possible so at least we get a pick in low 20s

This year is lost

Top 5 pick?

You actually think Jerry would pull the trigger on a QB? They have Milton. That will be his excuse for drafting either a RB or DE. Or maybe even a new OT to replace Guyton who has been absolutely horrendous.

 

[CyberB0b]

Jerry has no clue how to rebuild. If he did he would have done so already.

Hate to tell the fans but hes not interested in that. He would rather field a .500 team and stay media relevant then take several down years or major risks.

Why we havent won anything since his "ego" took over.

Yup. He just needs to keep them out of the bottom 5, and fans will eat up the “we’ll get em next year” rally cry.

 

[Bobhaze]

Our only hope this year is to get a top 5 pick and get our QB of the future since this is a very good QB class

Then hope that GB loses as many games as possible so at least we get a pick in low 20s

This year is lost

I agree. But then I have little faith in the talent evaluation skills of our FO. Thinking all we need is a good QB is barely scratching the surface of this team’s problems.

 

[Diehardblues]

Our only hope this year is to get a top 5 pick and get our QB of the future since this is a very good QB class

Then hope that GB loses as many games as possible so at least we get a pick in low 20s

This year is lost

More bad news. Unless Prescott has a career ending injury we won’t be drafting heir apparent. At least not in 2026.

 

[lukin2006]

Lewis should be here over Diggs.

 

[Risen Star]

Bob, please take the week off. Come back after we rout the Packers.

 

[Diehardblues]

Unfortunately Cowboy fans our owner is still hyping this team is a playoff contender.

 

[Bobhaze]

What's bad is that the Bears' defense was just as bad or worse, but they shut out the Cowboys offense completely in the second half.
You can blame the Cowboys defense all you want, but where did the offense and the $60 million quarterback go?
That's twice this season he has been shut out in the second half.
I do believe that Dak has more trouble on the road. He likes the home crowd and home field advantage.
A $60 million flop.

Dak was not good yesterday. And yes he’s overpaid.(Who made that decision to pay him?) But he’s not the reason this team sucks.

We could have Pat Mahomes here and this team would still struggle mightily. (Even the chiefs are struggling offensively with him too, lol!)

I look forward to someday getting a better QB. But unfortunately there isn’t a QB tree to just go pick and get instantly better. Jalen Hurts is successful because he has a GM who has built the right talent around him to succeed.

We have the oldest GM in NFL history at the helm who is delusional and out of touch with what a modern NFL roster needs to win playoff games. We have three decades of receipts.

Unfortunately Cowboy fans our owner is still hyping this team is a playoff contender.

It’s delusional. And his knee jerk reaction after each embarrassing loss is a marketing pitch.

 

[Johannes44]

Our only hope this year is to get a top 5 pick and get our QB of the future since this is a very good QB class

Jerry will never use a first round pick on a QB. Never. Especially not with the amount of money he has tied up in that position with Prescott. Anyone we get will be forced to sit because above all this team and Jerry will never let Prescott at 60 mil a year sit while a rookie plays. The team itself gets no benefit from the rookie contract because of the albatross that is Prescott.

 

[nate dizzle]

Imagine if we didn't sign an albatross of a contract to a QB that, although is good, handcuffed our ability to sign those 3 players you listed as key holes now evident on this team?

The worst thing to happen to this team was Dak getting to face a pathetically weak pass defense schedule in 2023, statistically the 32nd worst pass defense DVOA.

Kudos to Dak for taking advantage of that going into a contract year and getting bridesmaid honors for MVP and All Pro, but it was a mirage, and many of us were screaming it from the rooftops, but got ridiculed for it.

Dak, aside from yesterday, has not played poorly, but he hasn't played well enough to cover the warts that his contract has caused. And he's not going to all of a sudden get better.

 

[kumizi]

Dorance Armstrong is also performing well in Washington. Much better than any of our DEs.