How many predicted 13-3 or 12-4 this year?

[Hostile]

Slow down.

No i expected to win some. In fact we DID!

We beat SD, Phillyx2, NYG, KC last i checked. Had SEA & DEN on the ropes but we failed. Skins too for MNF.

We're not the Colts or NE last i checked.

You guys are cherry picking wins ignoring where games are played, injuries, etc. TOTALLY UNREALISTIC SOUR GRAPES

Sorry Doctor, but I don't agree with your diagnosis at all. I don't think anyone is doing that or has been doing that all season.

 

[chinch]

Sorry Doctor, but I don't agree with your diagnosis at all. I don't think anyone is doing that or has been doing that all season.

Obviously you don't, 'cause you're loopy from the bad-whine hangover... gotta get some nice, ripe, sweet grapes

So we are Colts/NE caliber and "collapsed" as such right?

You know better.

SI had picked us dead last in the East.

Please realize as you guys carry on with the collective pity-parade and Tuna bashing it reflects poorly on us a group here IMHO.

 

[Hostile]

Obviously you don't, 'cause you're loopy from the bad-whine hangover... gotta get some nice, ripe, sweet grapes

So we are Colts/NE caliber and "collapsed" as such right?

You know better.

SI had picked us dead last in the East.

Please realize as you guys carry on with the collective pity-parade and Tuna bashing it reflects poorly on us a group here IMHO.

Oh boy Dr. Phil is on a roll.

Number 1, I don't read SI and I could give a flying crap where they predicted we'd end up. I refer you back to the post where you showed I had them at 11-5 on the season. If you think I would consider 11-5 dead last in the NFCE then you are out of your freaking mind.

Number 2, at no time this year have I considered any team as good as Indy. No team is at their "caliber" at this point. San Diego could not replicate that win again in 10 tries. They were up, Indy was down.

Number 3, at 7-3 I certainly did consider us to be be every bit the "caliber" of New England and why wouldn't I? We had a reasonable shot at a division title in a tougher division than the AFCE. We were still in the running for a 1st round playoff bye and they weren't. We were playing at a level that was rather exciting. If you weren't excited about this team fine. But don't try and push your opinion onto anyone else.

Number 4, what pity parade? I don't pity anyone. Not you, not me, not anyone on the team, not anyone on the forum, not anyone outside the forum.

Number 5, I could care less if you think the "Tuna Bashing" reflects poorly on us as a group. I'm sorry it offends you, but you know what offends me more? When people don't have the right to speak what they feel. If people are disatisfied with Bill Parcells they have the right to express it. If anything I am proud of this forum for being open and willing to share opposing viewpoints.

 

[joseephuss]

Oh boy Dr. Phil is on a roll.

Number 1, I don't read SI and I could give a flying crap where they predicted we'd end up. I refer you back to the post where you showed I had them at 11-5 on the season. If you think I would consider 11-5 dead last in the NFCE then you are out of your freaking mind.

Number 2, at no time this year have I considered any team as good as Indy. No team is at their "caliber" at this point. San Diego could not replicate that win again in 10 tries. They were up, Indy was down.

Number 3, at 7-3 I certainly did consider us to be be every bit the "caliber" of New England and why wouldn't I? We had a reasonable shot at a division title in a tougher division than the AFCE. We were still in the running for a 1st round playoff bye and they weren't. We were playing at a level that was rather exciting. If you weren't excited about this team fine. But don't try and push your opinion onto anyone else.

Number 4, what pity parade? I don't pity anyone. Not you, not me, not anyone on the team, not anyone on the forum, not anyone outside the forum.

Number 5, I could care less if you think the "Tuna Bashing" reflects poorly on us as a group. I'm sorry it offends you, but you know what offends me more? When people don't have the right to speak what they feel. If people are disatisfied with Bill Parcells they have the right to express it. If anything I am proud of this forum for being open and willing to share opposing viewpoints.

I think San Diego could beat Indy 50% of the time. They just match up well with Indy. They nearly won in Indy last season and now won in Indy this year. Some teams just match up well with others. San Diego would have and does have a harder time beating Denver. Just how it goes.

 

[Nors]

I expected 10-11 wins

I actually thought this team is still better than 1 bad Skins game. Other than that we were never out of the other 5 losses.

We beat Carolina, Rams and get in playoffs - its STILL POSSIBLE.

 

[chinch]

San Diego could not replicate that win again in 10 tries. They were up, Indy was down.

Huh? ROTF. I'd give them a 50:50 every week they played myself. But this is why the bookies clean up every week taking away people's fools gold.

Number 3, at 7-3 I certainly did consider us to be be every bit the "caliber" of New England and why wouldn't I?

You're clearly non-objective and follow the 'boys as a homer then. No other way to put it.

 

[Sarge]

9-7 for me. Disappointed somewhat in our downward spiral of late but we are getting killed by injuries. No way are we 8-6 with Flo, Dat, and Al S. still playing.

Take the good with the bad. Those who predicted 13-3 and 14-2, I gotta laugh. Some of those guys are the same guys now asking for Parcells head.

So you believed in him (Parcells) enough to make that prediction yet now you want him out of here?

 

[mr.jameswoods]

You are making a very superficial argument. You have to look beyond the record. There is a huge difference between a team that starts out weak and finishes strong versus a team that starts strong and finishes weak. The team that starts weak and finishes strong shows the team is developing and learning from it's mistakes. A team that starts out 7-3 and finishes with an 8-8 or even a 9-7 record is not impressive. Furthermore, it isn't impressive when we were blown out by two division foes that had key playoff implications.

But feel free to contrive the argument for your agenda against the cynics of this forum. I'm sure you will say that all those who predicted 9-7 knew we were going to be 7-3 at one point in the season to choke toward the end. I'm sure you expected that to occur and were fine with it back in the preseason as it was stated in your "prophecy."

 

[DipChit]

You are making a very superficial argument. You have to look beyond the record. There is a huge difference between a team that starts out weak and finishes strong versus a team that starts strong and finishes weak. The team that starts weak and finishes strong shows the team is developing and learning from it's mistakes. A team that starts out 7-3 and finishes with an 8-8 or even a 9-7 record is not impressive.

That can be the case but it's not necessarily the case. Obviously you could have a lot of injuries (like sarge mentioned above whether you agree with the effect in this particular case or not).

And theres no question that scheduling can come in to play. Who you play, when you play and where you play.

Now I'm not even saying that those things pertain in our case, just pointing out that they're valid especially when you're taking about a rather mediocre team to begin with.

Things like scheduling dont really matter to championship caliber teams, but they do when you're a team that isnt gonna win 12 just by showing up every week.

 

[BrassCowboy]

it is easy to just look at our record, and say 'oh Cowboys are 8-6 now, not bad' but you have to look at it from game per game basis....
Anyone here that thinks that Cowboys have even the slightest chance in hell to win in the playoffs playing like they did over the past six weeks (now pay attention in how I said 'playing like they did over the last six weeks') is just plain blind.

Now they can sure turn my opinion around by winning decisively one of the next two games or just win both games, but if they turn out to be 8-8 maybe 9-7, I think things will need done in offseason.
I believe change needs to be made in the coaching.These are the following changes that need to be in coaching for those that are responsible for :

- Defense, we have talent on defense, just our defense is too timid alot of times, plays scared. need to be more aggressive and take more risk. cannot play read and react all the time. Defenses that are top of the line are the attack style defenses. We all know who the defensive coach is and he has been here for awhile. Can you teach old dogs new tricks, new styles.... don't think so.

- Offense, about same thing... where is the creativity? Why are we not seeing the weaknesses of the opponents? I see very little adjustments in style of offense. Why do we continue to beat a dead horse? If the running game is not working, then you need to open the offense. You can not just have deep ball plays on the books, need to work on plays that work well with an aggressive defense. Other teams do it to us all the time.

Cundiff just needs to go. He scared me every time we had to try a 40 yard fg try before, why in the hell do you bring him back? 40 yards? that is a shoe in for most FG kickers, but ours, its like asking for blood from a stool.

perfect example of lack of offensive adjustments is the Commander game in 3rd quarter, sack after sack, what do we do? Keep Bledsoe and ask him to throw again... and keep asking. Have to get an IQ test on whoever was responsible for keeping Bledsoe in... oh, thats right, according to BP, it was Bledsoe's decision to stay in. There is a coach in control there.

sure you can respond to this and plaster that 9-7 number for the season as your argument, but that would be to accept that as a constant number rather than one that is adjusted according to how the season plays out. Yes Flo went out, and that hurt us real bad, but are you seriously gonna use that as your argument.
That would be like my daughter being late for school because she didn't have a clean uniform to wear. Yes, she can argue she can't go to school without a clean uniform and I would be forced to agree with her if that is how narrow my focus was. That would be to forget that one must be prepared ahead of time and be assured she has clean uniform ahead of time. Everyone and maybe even our grandmother argued for some more line depth at the Tackle position, but no BP said and I probably could quote it that no, we are going with who we have into the season.
hmmm reminds of alot of people, look at now not tomorrow.... don't worry about what might happen... well then I guess we are what we are - a possible 12-4 team playing like an 8-8 team

 

[mr.jameswoods]

That can be the case but it's not necessarily the case. Obviously you could have a lot of injuries (like sarge mentioned above whether you agree with the effect in this particular case or not).

And theres no question that scheduling can come in to play. Who you play, when you play and where you play.

Now I'm not even saying that those things pertain in our case, just pointing out that they're valid especially when you're taking about a rather mediocre team to begin with.

Things like scheduling dont really matter to championship caliber teams, but they do when you're a team that isnt gonna win 12 just by showing up every week.

Very true but it also depends on how you lost those games. Did you get blown out in 6 losses or were you leading until the final minutes? Obviously, a team that is leading until the final minutes of the game had enough healthy players and skill to defeat a particular team otherwise they wouldn't have been ahead in the first place.

 

[gbrittain]

it is easy to just look at our record, and say 'oh Cowboys are 8-6 now, not bad' but you have to look at it from game per game basis....
Anyone here that thinks that Cowboys have even the slightest chance in hell to win in the playoffs playing like they did over the past six weeks (now pay attention in how I said 'playing like they did over the last six weeks') is just plain blind.

Now they can sure turn my opinion around by winning decisively one of the next two games or just win both games, but if they turn out to be 8-8 maybe 9-7, I think things will need done in offseason.
I believe change needs to be made in the coaching.These are the following changes that need to be in coaching for those that are responsible for :

- Defense, we have talent on defense, just our defense is too timid alot of times, plays scared. need to be more aggressive and take more risk. cannot play read and react all the time. Defenses that are top of the line are the attack style defenses. We all know who the defensive coach is and he has been here for awhile. Can you teach old dogs new tricks, new styles.... don't think so.

- Offense, about same thing... where is the creativity? Why are we not seeing the weaknesses of the opponents? I see very little adjustments in style of offense. Why do we continue to beat a dead horse? If the running game is not working, then you need to open the offense. You can not just have deep ball plays on the books, need to work on plays that work well with an aggressive defense. Other teams do it to us all the time.

Cundiff just needs to go. He scared me every time we had to try a 40 yard fg try before, why in the hell do you bring him back? 40 yards? that is a shoe in for most FG kickers, but ours, its like asking for blood from a stool.

perfect example of lack of offensive adjustments is the Commander game in 3rd quarter, sack after sack, what do we do? Keep Bledsoe and ask him to throw again... and keep asking. Have to get an IQ test on whoever was responsible for keeping Bledsoe in... oh, thats right, according to BP, it was Bledsoe's decision to stay in. There is a coach in control there.

sure you can respond to this and plaster that 9-7 number for the season as your argument, but that would be to accept that as a constant number rather than one that is adjusted according to how the season plays out. Yes Flo went out, and that hurt us real bad, but are you seriously gonna use that as your argument.
That would be like my daughter being late for school because she didn't have a clean uniform to wear. Yes, she can argue she can't go to school without a clean uniform and I would be forced to agree with her if that is how narrow my focus was. That would be to forget that one must be prepared ahead of time and be assured she has clean uniform ahead of time. Everyone and maybe even our grandmother argued for some more line depth at the Tackle position, but no BP said and I probably could quote it that no, we are going with who we have into the season.
hmmm reminds of alot of people, look at now not tomorrow.... don't worry about what might happen... well then I guess we are what we are - a possible 12-4 team playing like an 8-8 team

Very good man, very good. That should be easy for most to understand where the nay sayers are coming from, but it wont be.

 

[scottsp]

I had this team at 11-5. Obviously, a bit off.

To an extent, I subscribe to the "you are what you are" school of thought. The Cowboys have stolen one here and there, and they've dropped a couple they shouldn't have. So yeah...8-6, to this point, is about right. But...

Since the bye, starting with the game in Philly, this team has done anything but get better with each passing week. Even the two wins coming out of the bye were lackluster. Yes, they're wins. And I will take them. But they're not the type of games you can point to while saying to yourself, "We are going to be hell to deal with in December."

I didn't really see this team floundering once Thanksgiving rolled around. I understand that losing Flozell is a crucial blow. Losing Dat sucks. Same with Anthony Henry. But going into a shell is not what I expected. No, we can't block anyone off the edges, but the dropoff from Flo Adams should not be this steep. Whoever steps in must be at least be functional.

Why else should that player be on the roster?

Our injury situation is not the absolute pitts. This is the league. Good teams are out there now, dealing with the same issues - and worse. Flozell is a good, solid NFL left tackle. But losing him should not spell the end for your offense.

We can blame just about everything that has gone wrong of late to these injuries. Guess what. There will be more of the same next season. People will get hurt. Key personnel will go down. It's a certainty. The question is, how will this team adapt to it then?

I wouldn't mind 8-6 right now, if this club was peaking a bit. Then, I could at least see them making a run at Carolina this week. But that's not the case. The Cowboys do not look like a club that wants any part of the playoffs. They're playing some pretty bad football right now. Worst stretch of the season as far as I'm concerned.

I know a lot of us had this team around 9-7/10-6. But I'll bet most of you didn't have them just laying down in December. That's the real disappointment for me.

 

[Alexander]

Our injury situation is not the absolute pitts. This is the league. Good teams are out there now, dealing with the same issues - and worse. Flozell is a good, solid NFL left tackle. But losing him should not spell the end for your offense.

You hit the issue right there. Other teams have been hit as hard or harder than we have. Injuries happen. Teams that survive injuries are what separates the winners from the losers.

Think about this: The Giants lost BOTH starting tackles and that still did not stop them from racking up 200 plus yards on the ground to Kansas City.

So if someone is whining about injuries, they are talking to hear themselves talk. It is absolutely nothing but a paper thin excuse.

We can blame just about everything that has gone wrong of late to these injuries. Guess what. There will be more of the same next season. People will get hurt. Key personnel will go down. It's a certainty. The question is, how will this team adapt to it then?

Spot on again.

I wouldn't mind 8-6 right now, if this club was peaking a bit. Then, I could at least see them making a run at Carolina this week. But that's not the case. The Cowboys do not look like a club that wants any part of the playoffs. They're playing some pretty bad football right now. Worst stretch of the season as far as I'm concerned.

We are not progressing, we are regressing. And even though the record "is where I thought it would be" that is worthless. If we were on a tear right now after correcting issues we had earlier in the season, that is a different story.

But the same problems have gotten bigger, not smaller as this season has unfolded. We still cannot pass block. We still cannot run block. We are not getting consistent pressure on the QB. We are missing field goals. We are playing close games and losing them late.

I know a lot of us had this team around 9-7/10-6. But I'll bet most of you didn't have them just laying down in December. That's the real disappointment for me.

Same here. Excellent post, as always.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

To answer the following question "How many predicted 13-3 or 12-4 this year?"

Well I am gonna use a woulda, coulda, shoulda...

We are 8-6.
When we shoulda been atleast 10-4 or 11-3 right now. We really only got beat by Raiders and Skins(2nd time)
If BP woulda been a little open-minded(less conservative) we could have won a few more games
We coulda been protecting a division title instead of wishin-n-a-hopin for other teams to lose etc...

 

[t-rock]

great post.

 

[lane]

i predicted 13-3 because we play in an anemic nfc conference.

i had no idea we would basically play not to lose all year except for the eagles game.

we could have easily been 13-3 this year had injuries and an interception and missed field goals not happened...............

oh well....GO COWBOYS!!!

WIN THESE LAST 2 AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS............anything is possible if you get to the playoffs.

 

[baj1dallas]

I don't understand the reasoning behind this "well, isn't this what we all expected?"

Nobody should have expected nor appreciated a collapse after having everything in your favor and your own destiny in the palm of your hand, which we did just three weeks ago.

I don't care what the meaningless "preseason predictions" said. Failure is failure. Whether or not it was "expected" is just trying to put a positive spin on it.

How is this season a failure? Winning, success...these things are processes. They don't happen overnight. I don't think you can call this a "collapse" either. We lost to division rivals on the road...yea the last game was terrible, but one game does NOT make a collapse.

What happens when you have a bad day at work? Do you quit, go get a new job the next day? Or do you come back with the knowledge and experience to improve on your past accomplishments?

 

[Hostile]

Huh? ROTF. I'd give them a 50:50 every week they played myself. But this is why the bookies clean up every week taking away people's fools gold.

You're clearly non-objective and follow the 'boys as a homer then. No other way to put it.

I love it.

For the last 3 years I've been called a hater, now I'm a homer. Actually, I'm a realist, but thanks for the laughs.

 

[Alexander]

How is this season a failure? Winning, success...these things are processes. They don't happen overnight. I don't think you can call this a "collapse" either. We lost to division rivals on the road...yea the last game was terrible, but one game does NOT make a collapse.

I did not say this season was a failure. Our repeated inability to seize the obvious opportunities is the failure.

It is a collapse. I don't care who you lose to. When you have had three opportunities to all but salt away a playoff spot and fail, that is a collapse. You can put any sugary coating on it that you wish. It is what it is.

What happens when you have a bad day at work? Do you quit, go get a new job the next day? Or do you come back with the knowledge and experience to improve on your past accomplishments?

I don't understand your point, if you have one.

So I expect the theme from "Annie" is appropriate right now?