Has the 2009 season broken you?

[the kid 05]

Dallas Cowboys will break you.

 

[DallasDomination]

there is always hope at the beggining of the season. You think all the bad ends were cut. You think the mistakes, mechanics, coaching, players have been fixed or improved.

There is always hope..Even guys like me that just dont drink the kool-aid on certain unproven players. I rarely give bumbs a pass. Even I can find a positive heading into next year.


Felix Jones being healthy and getting more touches for example. Miles Austin getting more reps. Maybe my boy stanback can prove something.


There is always something to look forward to.

 

[Apollo Creed]

Dallas Cowboys will break you.

Oh ****.

 

[rikolai]

As long as we have Elmer Fudd as our HC,I have low-make that no expectations.Sometimes I just watch espn2 and wait for his name to go across the bottom of the screen with "fired" next to it.But it never comes.Until that happens,I'm not broken.The franchise is.

 

[ZeroClub]

It is possible to be a loyal fan without being particularly enthusiastic about the team's prospects for a championship.

I still wear the caps and t-shirts. And I'll watch all of the games.

But, as Mike W. metioned, this team showed more quit than courage last season. I think that's a bad sign.

But here's hoping they turn it around. Either way, I'll be cheering for them.

 

[sonnyboy]

Yep. Me too. I see 8-8 and can venture out to enjoy the games with the fellas, as I do every year, with the comfort of at least knowing what to expect. Fool me once...

What fun is that? You need to put your heart and soul into it. You need to have something at risk.

 

[lewpac]

It's more about not wanting to be "left at the alter" again than it is about being "broken".

I'm a fan for life, have no reason or interest in EVER changing. I'm sure I'm not the only one with a Star Tattoo either! I've been on board since 1964 so I suppose I'm one of those "old timers" whose seen it all. So getting "broken" is out of the question, as it is for probably everyone around these parts.

The definition of "broken" is as follows:
"reduced to fragments; fragmented. ruptured; torn; fragmented. not functioning properly; out of working order. weakened in strength, spirit, etc.....disunited or divided, not smooth; rough or irregular. ruined or bankrupt."

I don't think anyone here is "broken", as it seems to me like a terminal condition that appears very dire and terminal. I think a lot of people are like me.

Being a Cowboy fan can be difficult, especially if you've been around for a while. I've been around for all Five Trophy's. I was a very cognizant and aware 11 years old when Dallas won the first Championship against Miami. I recall vividly the Packer loss's and the SB-V loss to the Colts, and remember when Dallas was the "team that couldn't win the big one". REALLY! Few current Cowboy fans know this, but the Cowboys of Tom Landry and Don Perkins and Bob Lilly and Don Merideth actually had to carry THAT monkey on their backs!

But after all these years, unfortunately, nothing but a Ring (or a very deep run in the playoffs) will do. Sorry. That's a high standard, but that's the way it is. We don't have parades down main street for making the playoffs once every other decade (like the Saints did). We don't throw a "congratulations" party for losing a SB (like Seattle did).

The life of a Cowboy fan is, in a way, somewhat of a curse. George Steinbrenner, owner of the Yankees, is in the same cult. Nothing less than a Championship will do.

So, broken? No. Guarded? Apprehensive? Suspicious? Leary? Yeah. Because the high expectations are there to begin with. Then, compound THAT by what was "supposed to be" the last two years, and the result going into 2009 is nothing less than a "yeah, yeah, we'll see" attitude. At least that's where I'm at this off-season.

I've been "left at the alter" in perhaps the worst way this last year, in all my years of being a Cowboy die-hard. I don't recall being as disgusted and disappointed, let down and embarrassed in all my "Cowboy fan life"!! So, I'm not broken, but I'm taking the "I ain't buying it" route until further notice and until I'm proven otherwise....................

 

[StarWiz2]

I'm a fan of a baseball team that tanks in Aug and Sept like clockwork. Last eleven years or so. But I follow the team anyway. And I always hope at the beginning of the season that they won't tank in Aug or Sept even though you absolutely positively know they will. The signs are there from the very beginning. Weak rotation and the injuries start to mount. Always. But I still hope. And I still love that team.

Same with the Cowboys. I have hope Wade can go from Elmer to General Patton. That injuries don't decimate the team, that Romo can grow up and be a leader, that with the loss of TO, RW can growed up, not run his mouth, but instead, run good and timely routes, that Bennett can step up even more, that the defense can grow a pair with a DC now wearing two hats, but c'mon, the chances of all of the above happening at the same time? Zilch.

I'm familiar enough with the military to know if the stuff to be a General ain't there, it ain't there. That if a player is prone to pouting and whining, it will continue. That if TC is like Club med, injuries will mount; that taking away the depth Parcells built, by two or three players over the course of two years will cut the quality of the team, and that a coach who's wearing two hats, when he can't even wear one properly is a bad sign for the 2009 season.

So hope, yes, stupid no.

 

[sonnyboy]

Not broken but you got to ask your self If the team doesn't care if they win or lose why should we care?

It's a lot easier to care about a team that gives it their all every game and never quits even if they only win 4 games then a team that wins 9 games and quits every time things don't go their way

I don't believe this.

I know there's a few comforting theories going around on why the Cowboys lost that last game in Philly so bad.

Fans want to say the team didn't "show up", or the "poisoned culture" of the team finally caught up to them.
This is mostly nonsense.

In reality, there are a few more realistic factors that together offer a more plausible, rational explanation for week 17.

First off, sometimes critical games just get away from you. You get a couple bad breaks, the opposition makes a couple great plays and you find yourself behind 2 plus scores and pressing big time.

Then the flood gates can open because you feel the need to take more chances. You sacrifice ball security, sound decision making and field position to force something positive.

The Cowboys didn't show theory is BS!

If the team didn't show up, then how was the score 6-6 mid way into the 2nd quarter?

Do you guys remember 52-17? That's what this game reminded me of. Were we 35 points better than the 3 times AFC Champ Bills?
Of course not! We were better, but not that much better.

Did the Bills not show up? Of course they did. They had an early lead and played hard. We were better and started to pull away. Late 2nd Q turnover really killed them. Sound familiar?

That 4th Q was all about them taking every gamble to get back into it and us collecting like 4 turnovers for their over-effort.

We were better, but not that much better.

The eagles were better than us that day, not 38 points better.

But why were they better than us? SEE NEXT POST

 

[BLEU3ASY]

NEVER!!!!! but it has tested me. I'm ready for some football!!!!!

 

[Mansta54]

Anyone that can be broken isn't a fan.

 

[sonnyboy]

The eagles were better than us for a few reasons:

1) The eagles got a stay of execution 10 mins before kick-off. All week long I was expecting a down eagles team and crowd that had just been eliminated. We get just the opposite.
Now they're juiced, excited. They can go out and play loose with house money.

2) Weather. I was excited all week with forecasted temps in the low 50's. But the wind was our ultimate killer. 20 plus mph conditions most of the day. Romo's a precison passr with a lightening quick release. His weakness is pure arm strength and ball velocity. His game is not conducive to windy conditions. It hurt him in Pit, three weeks earlier.
QB's like Roth, Manning and McNabb are effected less in those conditions. Especially McNabb. He's not accurate, yet has a very strong arm. High wind levels the playing field for him big time.

We start out strong with two long drives to start the game. Every play was a short pass or run. What does Johnson do? He switches up to a very aggressive defens. 8 in the box with extra rushers on most plays.
Now the counter to this is max protect with more patterns down field. This is where the windy conditions and my next point kill us.......

3) Injured OL. Adams was clearly not in any condition to play. He was hurt, end of story. Poctor was poctor and killed us as he had all Dec. Johnson took advantage of this biig time.
Once Johnson defensive adjustmnts force out of the 3 step drop short passing to 5-7 stp drop long pass plays, we were dead. Now the complete ineffective play of our left OL is exposed.

We were played this game with a few serious handicaps. It's really no surprise we lost.

 

[RoadRunner]

The eagles were better than us for a few reasons:

1) The eagles got a stay of execution 10 mins before kick-off. All week long I was expecting a down eagles team and crowd that had just been eliminated. We get just the opposite.
Now they're juiced, excited. They can go out and play loose with house money.

2) Weather. I was excited all week with forecasted temps in the low 50's. But the wind was our ultimate killer. 20 plus mph conditions most of the day. Romo's a precison passr with a lightening quick release. His weakness is pure arm strength and ball velocity. His game is not conducive to windy conditions. It hurt him in Pit, three weeks earlier.
QB's like Roth, Manning and McNabb are effected less in those conditions. Especially McNabb. He's not accurate, yet has a very strong arm. High wind levels the playing field for him big time.

We start out strong with two long drives to start the game. Every play was a short pass or run. What does Johnson do? He switches up to a very aggressive defens. 8 in the box with extra rushers on most plays.
Now the counter to this is max protect with more patterns down field. This is where the windy conditions and my next point kill us.......

3) Injured OL. Adams was clearly not in any condition to play. He was hurt, end of story. Poctor was poctor and killed us as he had all Dec. Johnson took advantage of this biig time.
Once Johnson defensive adjustmnts force out of the 3 step drop short passing to 5-7 stp drop long pass plays, we were dead. Now the complete ineffective play of our left OL is exposed.

We were played this game with a few serious handicaps. It's really no surprise we lost.

Dallas should have been just as pumped as Philly. It was a win and you are in situation, and the team played like they didn't even want to be there. THe season was over in their minds after the second 70+ yard TD run the previous game.

As for Flozell, stop making excuses for that turd. He was "injured" earlier in the year. He was fine for the philly game. Just have to face the fact that the guy is not a good player. He can have a game here and there that looks great, but he is far too inconsistent, and is a penalty machine. Stop bending over backwards to excuse a bad player.

 

[Silverstar]

Absolutely not. Fan for life.

Glad they took out a lot of the trash during this offseason.

I feel the same.

Looking forward to this season, our new stadium and a real "team" again, without locker room cancers like Meshawn and TO around.

 

[Idgit]

Interesting. I expected this thread to have posts from a lot of broken fans claiming they're not actually broken. Sure, there are a few of them in here, but mostly they avoided the thread entirely.

 

[Zaxor]

Quite the contrary, I find myself more excited than I have been since 2003 when Parcells first got here.

Yup I feel the same in fact more so...I see GREAT things ahead

 

[sonnyboy]

Dallas should have been just as pumped as Philly. It was a win and you are in situation, and the team played like they didn't even want to be there. THe season was over in their minds after the second 70+ yard TD run the previous game.

As for Flozell, stop making excuses for that turd. He was "injured" earlier in the year. He was fine for the philly game. Just have to face the fact that the guy is not a good player. He can have a game here and there that looks great, but he is far too inconsistent, and is a penalty machine. Stop bending over backwards to excuse a bad player.

Do you really believe these things you've written?

You think Flozell's a turd? A bad player? And you know he was ok for the Philly game how?

You really don't know what you're talking about. Adams has a long and effective track record in the NFL. When healthy he has dominated some of the best weak side pass rushers in the league. He's not the most consistent player and in addition to committing too many penalties, he has played down to his opponent at times.

But LOT's with his ability don't grow on trees. He was obviously hurt in the Philly game.

 

[bracey]

Not broken. I've basically turned off this offseason though. I'm still sick about the Philly game. I've never been so disappointed in the boys in my life. I don't see how a team that can that can lay an egg like that against one of our fiercest rivals in basically a playoff game has any hope of winning a championship. We need a respectable coaching staff and Jerry needs to shut the hell up and just sign the checks. No chance of that happening though. I'm sure I'll snap out of it once training camp starts. I'll start drinking the kool-aid again, start blaming last year on injuries, and start heaping massive expectations on the team.

 

[mmillman]

Tired of Jerry Jones and that dates back to his firing Johnson. With the owner as the problem it really makes it tough to hang in there, but I have been a fan since 1975, hard to change now.

 

[wileedog]

You bring up a very good point.

These guys don't care about losing, they care about what people will think of them losing. Thats the part that pisses me off the most. These guys are all over the web and papers, constantly monitoring public opinion, and quite often - I've felt this has been the reason they fall apart.

The minute they start to put it together, they get lazy. Then they want to rip signs out of your hands when you show up to let them know they let you down as a fan. Bradie James, as outspoken and awful in coverage as he is - lost my respect by doing that last year.

They want every bit of the credit, but never want any piece of the blame.

But it all starts at the top. **** rolls down hill.

Great post, agree completely.

When Parcells left these guys cheered. They complained about being stifled and over-worked. Then they spent the next two seasons becoming an incredibly sloppy and fundamentally unsound football team who couldn't avoid a microphone if you paid them. They had trouble picking up the defense so it was dumbed down, then there's Newman complaining we were too vanilla at the end of the season.

Roy spent the last three years here blaming everything from coaching to scheme to other players to the media for his decline. Ellis is a perpetual whine machine,a nd is considered one of the "leaders" on the defense. That explains a lot. Carpenter is a bust who still manages to get more airtime on ESPN than many stars on other teams, and Crayton has perfected the "diva" WR routine minus the actual talent. The offensive line gets PAID large by Jerry and proceeds to turn in one of the worst performances in recent history. And that's saying something given recent history. Ditto Hamlin. Romo not only went off the reservation, he built a new one.

I'm no less of a fan than I was during the last awful years of the Landry era or the utter debacle that was the post Aikman years, but with a few notable exceptions this is probably my least favorite group of players that have worn the uni. They just seem to have an utter knack for finding a way to lose, and then incredible creativity in figuring out who to blame for it.

That said, I am excited for a full year of Felix, Choice and Bennett, and to see if the defense really improved with Wade handling it or it was just some good scheduling. And I think Roy (good) Williams is going to surprise. But I won't cry when some of these other jokers start churning off the roster over the next couple of years.