Hard realities

[tm1119]

Just really depressing that Dallas limited offers for Parsons because they needed a DT back. So they got a good/average one who is 30 years old. They would have been much better priorizing another pick or a young player. But of course, Jerry really thought this team had something. How lost can you be to think that? I mean only a handful of people think that here and they are the same people who say no wrong about the organization.

Obviously I don’t know who they would have given up, but the Packers have Gary, Wyatt, and Van Ness. 3 very young, and very talented, d lineman…and our front office said “Nah, we need the declining 30 year old run stuffer who’s set to make $21.5M next year.”

 

[IceStar-D7]

BH.. I'll say it till they throw the dirt over me. Dallas will NEVER win a SB until we get a great defense. We'd be 3-0 right now with the Giant's defense. And they aren't that great to begin with. How simple is the $###? Yet idiot Jones can't do it. So? Anybody whining about Dak or the offense is whining in the wind. Dick Matt is Nolan 2.0.with no talent on the defense.

 

[chicago JK]

Obviously I don’t know who they would have given up, but the Packers have Gary, Wyatt, and Van Ness. 3 very young, and very talented, d lineman…and our front office said “Nah, we need the declining 30 year old run stuffer who’s set to make $21.5M next year.”

Packer fan Bob Sturm said right after the trade the Cowboys shoul have asked for LB Cooper. LB is a collision position but Cooper would have been a young backer to be a core piece moving forward.

Looking for a starting level DT probably really limited dallas in trades. Not too many out there that fit what Dallas was looking for. They could have probably gotten a better deal if they didn't ask for a DT. Again the DT hole should have been addressed this offseason.

So now they got an older DT who will be gone in a year or two and won't have hardly any impact on winning with this roster.

 

[ArtClink]

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.

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

There you go again Hazey, making a knee-jerk reaction after only 30 seasons of the same playoff results. Remember, it's a marathon not a sprint.

 

[ArtClink]

BH.. I'll say it till they throw the dirt over me. Dallas will NEVER win a SB until we get a great defense new ownership. We'd be 3-0 right now with the Giant's defense. And they aren't that great to begin with. How simple is the $###? Yet idiot Jones can't do it. So? Anybody whining about Dak or the offense is whining in the wind. Matt is Nolan 2.0.with no talent on the defense.

Fixed it for you lol. Good post btw!

 

[noshame]

The only thing that amazes me is that everybody's screaming about the defense and we know they sucked. But how about an offense that put up 14 points against the Chicago Bears, which may be the worst most beaten up defense in the entire NFL
There's little doubt in my mind.We will not reach a five wind plateau.This season as long as we draft well and you all know what I mean by well.I'm okay with it.
Short-term pain, long-term gain.

 

[Bobhaze]

BH.. I'll say it till they throw the dirt over me. Dallas will NEVER win a SB until we get a great defense. We'd be 3-0 right now with the Giant's defense. And they aren't that great to begin with. How simple is the $###? Yet idiot Jones can't do it. So? Anybody whining about Dak or the offense is whining in the wind. Matt is Nolan 2.0.with no talent on the defense.

The foundational flaw with our Cowboys is in the owners box. Because the owner won’t hire a GM that has the talent to build a modern NFL winner.

The foundational problem is the biggest and most destructive flaw we have. Because it is delusional. If your FO does not live in reality your team is already screwed without playing a down.

Most fans could see from our couches last offseason this was going to be a bad team in 2024. And it was. But our owner/GM says he was shocked we didn’t make the playoffs. So he’s either delusional or he’s lying.

And this 2025 team so far looks worse than last years team. And our GM is still pretending he’s putting a great roster out there. Reality is hard.

 

[Blitzen]

Quick question:

Is Micah really “tearing it up” in Green Bay?

I didn’t hear too much from him vs Cleveland yesterday in their loss.

And three games in, his individual stats are OK, but nothing I’m overly impressed about.

Of course he’ll destroy this bunch next Sunday.

GB defense has given up the fewest points thus far in the season. He’s so much more than individual sacks/pressures. He’s an elite pass rusher with perhaps the most dynamic and explosive get off at the snap. It speeds up the clock in the QB’s head and alters gameplay and causes turnovers (everyone on defense looks better when he is playing). They would have won yesterday if Jordan could muster more than 10 points or if they could successfully kick simple field goals.

 

[IceStar-D7]

The GMless is going to play his high paid players on defense. Whether they suck or not!!! Guys still getting hurt not playing in preseason. Not playing in preseason they are lost. What's the point???

 

[Montanalo]

The hard reality is there is something fundamentally flawed with the defensive scheme when opposition WRs and TEs are routinely open with no Cowboy DB within 5 yards.

It is frustrating realizing the team has gone through the draft, OTAs, and preseason, and 3 games into the season, they're talking about revamping and simplifying the defense. Did the coaches not see these shortcomings in the scheme and players in the preseason.

 

[Jipper]

Just accept it...be good with all the losses coming, hope Greenbay loses more, and get fired up for some good draft picks...we have become the browns

 

[Blitzen]

Nope.
The first step is the front office recognizing that a rebuild is necessary. Jerry is nowhere close to that. When he's telling us that this team is still a playoff caliber team, it really shows us how far Jerry is from thinking rebuild.

I don’t think he would admit it, even if someone amputated a leg from every player on the 53.

 

[Diehardblues]

Not really. No need to get 47 million in debt on a guy who doesn't get you anywhere. First smart decision they lucked into. Now reverse the Dak and Lamb deals

But you’re closer than without him. Just needed to continue building on it not tear it all down.

Cap hits are much more manageable than the sticker price.

 

[Ironicalicon]

The only part of the defense I'm actually disappointed in is the edges. I thought we'd be okay without Micah but the rest I figured would struggle, maybe not quite this bad, granted.

Do you have faith that our front office knows how to rebuild?

First off, I don't think they'd ever admit — especially not publicly — that they ever need to "rebuild" — At least not while they have a "franchise" QB under contract.

But to answer the question, I think McClay has a good head on his shoulders but he's not in good company, let's just say. Jerry is not an adequate GM, meaning, for one thing, I don't think he has the foresight to make appropriate moves ahead of time. I don't think he accounts enough for the time needed for a player to develop. He's very reactionary and foresight is paramount to building a team. You can't just plug and play with every position. On top of that, he has been burned a couple times signing a big name free agent to a big deal (Marcellus Wiley springs to mind) and that probably hurt his ego that he was wrong about a move, even though it can happen to any GM. So now he's terrified of making the same mistake. He's not a gambler. He's actually kind of cowardly. This is also why he won't draft a QB high unless/until he has no other option. See Quincy Carter, drafted in the 2nd. Even then, he was too scared to draft one on the first.

I don't think Stephen cares all that much about football so just throw him right out the window when it comes to anything regarding team-building.

No, this organization, under this regime, is all but doomed to mediocrity at best, barring any huge amount of good luck. My only hope is that after Jerry is gone, Stephen's apathy will lead to him appointing a real GM.

 

[Rockport]

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.

It’s also the scheme. HC said they may need to simplify some things. Your scheme should fit your talent. They apparently viewed their talent as being better than it is.

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

I don’t think he would admit it, even if someone amputated a leg from every player on the 53.

Aubrey could still kick a 50 yarder missing a leg

 

[FVSTONE]

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.

Fans are sick and tired of the Jones family, who are making 100s of millions of dollars a year off a seriously flawed product that they have personally destroyed!

 

[ArtClink]

It’s also the scheme. HC said they may need to simplify some things. Your scheme should fit your talent. They apparently viewed their talent as being better than it is.

Scheme = a problem
Ownership = a huge crack in the foundation (Hendrix would say we keep building on "castles made of sand" every season)

 

[TheMightyVanHalen]

Micah Parsons - best talent we’ve had on defense in two decades. Traded to GB. Predictably tearing it up in GB

5 combined tackles and 1.5 sacks in 3 games isn't "tearing it up."

 

[TwentyOne]

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.

Bob, this is the biggest problem i had as a fan.

Usually it doesnt take long for me to understand if my opposite has a certain knowledge of the things we talk about. And how deep his fundamental knowledge is. Its then easy for me to decide if my time is worth to discuss further with him or her about the topic or to maybe change it to something more giving.

But as a fan it took me long to accept what i actually new after a "short" time. I gave this FO chance after chance to prove myself wrong. Its tough to let go, but then it only hurts so much more.

This franchise is going nowhere. Not with this FO. And this FO is here to stay for ages. We may be playing for a playoff spot and make it. But to think this franchise will participate in something meaningful is not what you should do.

And this is not even because the Joneses have other priorities than winninhg football games. Its because they are not able to run a successful franchise. Their management skills are not good enough to be successful (you recognise how i try to avoid the word "bad" do you?).

And thats it. And its a hard truth.

Now we can talk what players we should sign. What coches we should run out of town (again) or what new culture should be established.

Thats all fun. But in the end the hard truth will swing over everything like the well known sword of damocles.