How did we get so bad from 1 season to the next?

Surfguy

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Personally I think arguments can be made for the cowboys being the worst team in the NFL. All the mistakes and fouls. The last place rushing attack. The poor QB play. The horrible o-line and d-line. The bad receivers outside of Lamb. The atrocious tackling and poor secondary. Sure, injuries are a part of it but what team doesn’t have injuries? Yet, Jerry wants us to pretend we still have a chance.
 

lostar2009

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You really haven't been watching the games or follow the depth chart?

Our oline suck, Guyton and Stelle is trash. Martin has lost a step, zero consistency in the run game. Missing Cook took away a consistent player from Dak. No other WR has step up. We have zero edge rushers on D. Our DT's are trash, and the secondary can't cover a blanket. And most of all our LBs suck. Besides Overshown and barley hanging on Kenkricks, they are trash!!!

I hope they keep throwing JJ under the bus for this failure of a season and have the Cowboys taken from him.
 

TexasBacon

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Simple:

We are not playing the worst pass defense schedule in the NFL like we did last year.

It fooled a lot of people, including Jerry.
What about the winning playoff season before that one? Or the winning playoff season before that one? That's a pretty terrible take. Last season wasn't the anomaly, or a winning season after several losing ones. This season is the anomaly.
 

RustyBourneHorse

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Exactly. Knowing you was gonna start 2 rookies on the oline, signing a RB who can run without much blocking would have been a smart move. And Henry was there

And, if you're in the NFL, do you think teams will hone in on or ignore your glaring weaknesses?
 

MarionBarberThe4th

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I think this is the result of that greenbay and not firing anyone and then everyone got new contracts . It’s not a locked in group at all. Not playing with joy.
 

DannyWestwood

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We look like one of the worst teams in the NFL.

Question how do we look so bad after coming off of 3 twelve win seasons?

On offense we mainly have the same guys minus LT Tyron Smith and Center Tyler Biadasz.

And on defense I know we are missing our best players for most of the season (to be honest when we had the starters we haven't looked good on defense except when we played the Browns) but man this defense is the worst Cowboys defense I've seen in a while. Was Dan Quinn play calling and scheme really making this defense seem wayyyy better than what they truly are? I guess we are really missing Sam Williams, Dorrance Armstrong, and Dante Fowler Jr. this season. BTW Dante Fowler Jr. plays starting strong side backer for the Commanders.
I don’t think it’s for lack of talent. If your staff requires the necessary level of professionalism, your players will follow suit or else. We’re at a point in the evolution of the NFL where players’ first desire is for more money and isn’t to work and improve to make it to the SB. Combine those money first attitudes with Jerry’s constant meddling (landing a helo on the practice field, being interviewed all the time, consulting with players to work out local sponsorships, etc) and you eventually create an all encompassing atmosphere where coaching, accountability and winning is an afterthought. It’s happening quickly in college football too.
 

Bagman

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Status quo doesn’t win in the NFL. You have to add and improve each season. These two dudes do nothing because they aren’t football 24/7 like the rest of the NFL teams.

You weren’t good enough last year and subtracting from that team wasn’t going to get it done.
Perfect reply. Exactly what happens. Staying the same means you're actually getting worse. Everyone around you is striving to improve. Then top it off by LOSING quality players and here we are.
 

Bagman

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To answer this question, let's do a roster review, 2023 to 2024:

Tony Pollard, Tyler Biadasz, Tyron Smith, Dorance Armstrong, Dante Fowler, Johnathan Hankins, Leighton Vander Esch, Stephon Gilmore- GONE.

Micah Parsons, DaRon Bland, DeMarcus Lawrence, Sam Williams, Brandin Cooks, Marshawn Kneeland- OUT WITH INJURY

Ezekiel Elliott, Erik Kendricks- IN.

I think this sums it up.
Add in Martin is a shadow of himself, Steele is completely done and needs to be cut immediately, Diggs is a ghost and our safety play, even when healthy, is atrocious.....
Almost forgot.....the entire coaching staff are lame ducks with about 2.5 months before they are all on the unemployment line.
 

TexasBacon

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Did we actually improve at any position? Nope. Martin regressed, we went from an all-pro LT still playing at a relatively high level to a rookie LT who looks lost, our RT is terrible and never got back to the level of "he's serviceable" that got him a contract, do I even need to mention the RB position and what we didn't do there?, our QB is playing scared because of all of the above, we acquired no additional WR depth and have only one receiver currently who would start on most rosters when every single good teams have WR1a and 1bs, all 4 of our top DEs are hurt so we have no pass rush and did nothing to replace Armstrong, Fowler, etc., who are playing well elsewhere other than drafting Kneeland, let our DT Hankins walk and replaced him with (*lowers glasses on nose*) Linvall Joseph and currently have the worst DTs in the entire league, including backups. Got better at LB via one veteran and getting Overshown back. Could have signed Gillmore to bolster our corner depth but didn't, and haven't had our 3 starters on the field all season. Safety play regressed dramatically, and have our two likely best Safeties riding the bench because Jerry won't let them bench Wilson. Literally EVERY SINGLE POSTION GROUP GOT WORSE, some significantly, other than LB. Top that off with undisciplined coaching, vanilla and predictable playcalling, and decisions like running Rico for 4 plays for an entire game after he has his best outing and is clearly the best back, and you get this season. I've never been on team tank so early when our QB1 and WR1 are still able to play but even getting Micah, Cooks, and Bland back isn't going to fix this sinking ship. Just lose out for a top 5 pick and to make Jerry reevaluate his poor choices.
 

McCarthyMustGo

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We look like one of the worst teams in the NFL.

Question how do we look so bad after coming off of 3 twelve win seasons?

On offense we mainly have the same guys minus LT Tyron Smith and Center Tyler Biadasz.

And on defense I know we are missing our best players for most of the season (to be honest when we had the starters we haven't looked good on defense except when we played the Browns) but man this defense is the worst Cowboys defense I've seen in a while. Was Dan Quinn play calling and scheme really making this defense seem wayyyy better than what they truly are? I guess we are really missing Sam Williams, Dorrance Armstrong, and Dante Fowler Jr. this season. BTW Dante Fowler Jr. plays starting strong side backer for the Commanders.
Last year they gave up a lot of yards however had a lot of turnovers through pass rush. This year Dallas has not got leads where they can pass rush.
 

DIAF

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There's 5 things.

1. Hiring a has-been retread DC
2. Picking the wrong Rookie to hand LT to
3. Having the league's worst RB room
4. Not getting in at least 1 NFL caliber WR3
5. Leaving 28 million dollars of cap space on the table that would have helped with 2-4.
 

Whiskey Cowboy

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We look like one of the worst teams in the NFL.

Question how do we look so bad after coming off of 3 twelve win seasons?

On offense we mainly have the same guys minus LT Tyron Smith and Center Tyler Biadasz.

And on defense I know we are missing our best players for most of the season (to be honest when we had the starters we haven't looked good on defense except when we played the Browns) but man this defense is the worst Cowboys defense I've seen in a while. Was Dan Quinn play calling and scheme really making this defense seem wayyyy better than what they truly are? I guess we are really missing Sam Williams, Dorrance Armstrong, and Dante Fowler Jr. this season. BTW Dante Fowler Jr. plays starting strong side backer for the Commanders.
Quinn is a better DC than Zimmer, but losing Armstrong, Fowler, and Hankins definitely stung. Those guys weren't all stars, but they knew their assignments and played important roles. Relying on the draft and hoping the backups could step up was not a good approach at all.

Replacing two starters along the OL with unproven rookies is killing the offense. Biadasz and Smith are still mid-high tier players, despite complaints from the fans, and neither Guyton or Beebe were ready to assume their roles. Not replacing Pollard was another critical error. He wasn't great last season, but he had the juice to stretch and apply pressure on opposing defenses.

This team failed to address the trenches and let some key role players walk in favor of paying two guys exponentially more than what they could've paid to keep those role players on board. This is the result. The most frustrating part of it all is it wouldn't have been too difficult to replace what was lost if the front office would've picked up the phone during free agency, rather than enjoy their fancy yacht. This is the world we live in now...
 
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