How much do you blame injuries on the season?

[TheMarathonContinues]

Let me start off by saying this is not a excuse thread. I think the problems with this team went further than any of the personnel on this team. But for a team who has rarely ever been effective by injuries how much do we put into this being in part some of the reason for this underachieving season? Now I know i'll probably get two reponses in this thread atleast once. "The Cowboys have 13 Pro Bowlers.......". Well coincidentally those are the guys who have been hurt the majority of the season for us lol. The second will probably be "Other teams have injuries as well" which is correct however how many have had them to the best players on their team at each position?






But I look at the problems with this team and I see our horrible special teams game. Yet, I hear no one mention that McBriar has been injured and you know I loved that hit by Paulescu against the Rams. But I think he's been living off that hit for too long. He was not very good for this season. Its hard to complain because he came off the street. You don't find pro bowl punters lying in the street but one thing this defense missed was good field position. And with all those 3 and outs this offense has been racking up I can't help but think how easier of a time this defense would've had with good field position on their side.





Then you have Kyle Kosier. I'm not sure how much I should factor in him not being here. Clearly he's better than anything we have behind him but Proctor is a *****' joke. I'm sorry. I try to get players a chance and maybe he's just not a left guard but he's a joke and should be cut. Any potential they thought he had should go out of the window. This team just can't draft lineman for anything. Such a hit or miss as it is yet for this team its more than likely a miss.






The secondary has been hurt all season by injuries and in the case of Pac-Man suspension. I think its safe to say that without Newman this team isn't even a shell of it itself. He and Scandrick are the only guys on the team I even have faith in going man to man with anyone. And by the looks of things the coaching staff agrees with me being we played a lot more zone in his departure and a lot less press coverage. Then you have the great Roy Williams. Loved by some and hated by many. But whether you hate him or not I think even his worst critic can admit that clearly there's a reason why Battle, Davis and Watkins all play behind him. Davis was great in stopping the run at times but Roy was definately missed back there. Hopefully even if Roy is back we look for his replacement at some point. Its never too early to do that. Hopefully we do it before we let him go.




Felix Jones. What can you not say about him? He touches the ball and makes things happen. He doesn't and we lost to a Deadskins team we were suppose to beat. Everyone looks for the reason for this teams inconsistencies and I too have problems finding them but one thing is for sure is that Felix was that threat in the special teams game. Looking back now do we even win that Eagles game without his kick return? It'll be interesting to see how he plays next season because teams will have to gameplan for this guy. That's how much of a threat he is. I hated seeing such a promising rookie campaign go to hell.




Receiving core. Probably the least of this teams worries since Garrett can't even use the receivers he has on the team. Sam Hurd's development was haulted as well as Austin's. The latter looked to be heading toward a breakout season. One thing this teams receiver core lacks is speed and has since the Glenn release and Austin brings that big play ability. Usually good things happen when he on a go route.




We know of the Romo injury. Not sure if this was a blessing in disguise or not. With Romo out it seems that the defense with the exceptions being the Giants and Rams game sort of found their swag. It all started in that Bucc's game. Not to mention it all showed us that Brad Johnson is finished. I wonder how long we would've kept this guy had Romo not gotten hurt? Probably the biggest of the injuries. Do we still lose to the Rams and Giants with Romo? Hard to say? I don't think you can argue either point looking at the way this team ended the season. Sure would've been a hell of a lot better on the defense though to atleast have decent field position throughout those games though.






Sorry for the long post. I'll end it here. I may be missing out on something but this post was meant to maybe bring reality back to Dallas fans. We're all screaming the world is about to end and hell is about to freeze over but without these bogus injuries that just hurt this team all season long does this team still struggle? Because in pursuit of a championship stability is key. It helps anyway. I think what gets lost in all of the talk about this season is how much of a problem injuries has been.

 

[28 Joker]

The Arizona game was a killer. Losing Romo lost the Rams and Giants games for sure. They had no chance with Johnson at New York. They could have beat them that day. Losing Felix Jones, who was about to take over the Arizona game when he left, if he keeps getting the ball, was big, real big. If Felix doesn't get hurt, I think Garrett keeps feeding him and Dallas wins.

The LG really hurt. Kozier and Holland (Holland looked real good.)

Losing McBriar was a killer. That really hurt us in Pittsburgh, late in that game and at other times.

Barber being hurt was huge. Garrett trusted him, and he might have closed the Pittsburgh game out.

I think all the injuries really hurt, but Dallas had enough to over come them. They just didn't do it.

 

[Boysboy]

Does it really matter? Injuries or no, how the heck did that struggling Eagles O light up a ton of points on us? Even the FORESKINS held them to 3.

I agree the injuries to our LGs have been a killer, but the coaching staffs made absolutely no adjustments to counter this.

 

[RainMan]

To know how much blame I place on the injuries, just at how the Giants folded after the retirement of Strahan, season-ending injury to Unimenyoria and the shooting of Burress.

Oh, that's right -- they didn't fold at all.

The injury to Romo is the only one I'm willing to concede anything on. Whenever a team's franchise quarterback goes down, it changes things. But I think all the injury did is potentially save us from enduring one more week of humiliation. This team had first-round playoff exit written all over it even when we were 3-0 to start the season. We were undisciplined then and continue to be so.

Today's loss told us that, in the end, it didn't matter whether our season was going to extend another week or not. There was no way this squad would have capitalized on the chance.

 

[TwoSteppinJJ]

Great post... Good questions.

The biggest thing about the Injuries we had this season is it disrupted our rhythm I think. Those 4 weeks with Romo out was pure Chaos. You can't possibly tell me that him being out those 4 weeks disrupted the offences rhythm. Those couple weeks were like musical chairs with the injuries. This was the worst year for injuries that I can remember in a long time.

I'm pretty sure Proctor wasn't a draft pick of ours but on that point yeah we haven't done a great job drafting OL. We let cut of Marten who was junk. Proctor is pure junk, how he even made the team at any point is beyond me. I must say that I'm surprised that Doug Free isn't further along as a player. I figured he would have at least seen some decent playing time. I'm not sure what the scoop on him his, if all hope is lost or not but the guy was a viciously mobile and was talented coming out of college. Either way we gotta go and draft a couple O-lineman. Anything is better than Flozell "False Start" Adams his penalties are just tooooooooooooooooo much!

Injuries suck, hopefully we have none next season. I blame Injuries a fair amount... Interesting to add Terrell Owens played his first full 16 game season.

 

[RainMan]

Great post... Good questions.

The biggest thing about the Injuries we had this season is it disrupted our rhythm I think. Those 4 weeks with Romo out was pure Chaos. You can't possibly tell me that him being out those 4 weeks disrupted the offences rhythm. Those couple weeks were like musical chairs with the injuries. This was the worst year for injuries that I can remember in a long time.

I'm pretty sure Proctor wasn't a draft pick of ours but on that point yeah we haven't done a great job drafting OL. We let cut of Marten who was junk. Proctor is pure junk, how he even made the team at any point is beyond me. I must say that I'm surprised that Doug Free isn't further along as a player. I figured he would have at least seen some decent playing time. I'm not sure what the scoop on him his, if all hope is lost or not but the guy was a viciously mobile and was talented coming out of college. Either way we gotta go and draft a couple O-lineman. Anything is better than Flozell "False Start" Adams his penalties are just tooooooooooooooooo much!

Injuries suck, hopefully we have none next season. I blame Injuries a fair amount... Interesting to add Terrell Owens played his first full 16 game season.

Even before the Romo injury though, this was a team that didn't play good, sound football. We were penalty-prone, turnover-prone, missed assignments and didn't care to correct any of it since, as Wade said after the Cincy game, there's no need to apologize for winning.

 

[TwoSteppinJJ]

Yeah but at least we were able to get first downs. Penalties yeah sure, been a problem since the late 90's. Turnovers weren't a major problem early on in the season. Just lack of forced turnovers by the D.

 

[Boysboy]

Even before the Romo injury though, this was a team that didn't play good, sound football. We were penalty-prone, turnover-prone, missed assignments and didn't care to correct any of it since, as Wade said after the Cincy game, there's no need to apologize for winning.

Honestly-I don't have a problem with Wade's philosophies...he relies mostly on his team leaders to hold accountability. His Buffalo teams were very disciplined, FWIW-of course, that late 90's squad had much more focused players.

 

[RainMan]

Yeah but at least we were able to get first downs. Penalties yeah sure, been a problem since the late 90's. Turnovers weren't a major problem early on in the season. Just lack of forced turnovers by the D.

But we were a sloppy team that relied then on merely outscoring teams. We had no discipline and showed no signs of attempting to correct our so many problems.

Eventually, the history of this league has shown, the ability to simply outscore opponents wears away. The leaves turn and things get tougher and it becomes a more defensive oriented game. Our mistake-prone offense never adjusted, even when the defense suddenly turned into an elite unit for an eight-week span.

 

[cbartel81]

The injuries hurt this team in games this season...A LOT

 

[wileedog]

Injuries expose a poorly constructed and poorly coached team. Everyone has a top level of talent, but injuries break through to expose what is underneath.

The Pats lost like half their starters, including All-World Tom Brady. They still got 11 wins because they had solid backups in place and coaches who could change on the fly to utilize the different dynamic of the team. (And cheat well, but I digress.)

We have little to no depth, as evidenced by players such as Brad Johnson and Proctor seeing significant playing time. And we have little ability to ability to adjust as we still had noodle arm Johnson trying to succeed in a downfield passing offense. Nothing was changed when Old Man River was inserted into the lineup, and that is scary.

 

[MapleLeaf]

...exposed how weak we were both with our remaining starters and our back ups.

As Rainman said others had critical injuries, but our led us to a loss against the Rams.

Looking for excuses will only end up with the same results that Wade is dealing with now.

This team was poorly managed and it showed.

The worst thing that can happen to the Cowboys is we have a successful season and it allows our front office and coaching staff to believe it has the right elements to continue on the same course as 2008.

Having our coach remind the media that the Cowboys were 13-3 in 2007 was possibly one of the scariest things I have ever heard from a Cowboys representative.

It reaffirms to me that they are not capable of learning from their mistakes.

Just a note - 2007 was a mistake. Holding the best record in the league and not being able to win a playoff game can't be tolerated anymore.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

To know how much blame I place on the injuries, just at how the Giants folded after the retirement of Strahan, season-ending injury to Unimenyoria and the shooting of Burress.

Oh, that's right -- they didn't fold at all.

The injury to Romo is the only one I'm willing to concede anything on. Whenever a team's franchise quarterback goes down, it changes things. But I think all the injury did is potentially save us from enduring one more week of humiliation. This team had first-round playoff exit written all over it even when we were 3-0 to start the season. We were undisciplined then and continue to be so.

Today's loss told us that, in the end, it didn't matter whether our season was going to extend another week or not. There was no way this squad would have capitalized on the chance.

Well there's a difference between the Giants and the Cowboys injuries. Teams have injuries. Fair enough. But let's look at the injuries you brought up. Plexiglass has been a non factor, Justin Tuck was going to take Strahan's spot anyway and Kiwanuka is a beast himself. But your right. Osi went out for the season. So lets for instance say the Cowboys lost Ware for the season and Ellis to retirement. I'd still like our chances then over McBriar, Romo, Newman, Roy, Barber, Felix and Kosier all getting hurt. The players are great that the Giants missed. But how good would the Giants be without Eli and Jacobs?

You may be right. Maybe it all doesn't matter. Maybe we could've had the 90's teams and still would've been 9-7 with Wade at coach. The jury is still out IMO. I hope your wrong but its looking like the opposite.

Great post... Good questions.

The biggest thing about the Injuries we had this season is it disrupted our rhythm I think. Those 4 weeks with Romo out was pure Chaos. You can't possibly tell me that him being out those 4 weeks disrupted the offences rhythm. Those couple weeks were like musical chairs with the injuries. This was the worst year for injuries that I can remember in a long time.

I'm pretty sure Proctor wasn't a draft pick of ours but on that point yeah we haven't done a great job drafting OL. We let cut of Marten who was junk. Proctor is pure junk, how he even made the team at any point is beyond me. I must say that I'm surprised that Doug Free isn't further along as a player. I figured he would have at least seen some decent playing time. I'm not sure what the scoop on him his, if all hope is lost or not but the guy was a viciously mobile and was talented coming out of college. Either way we gotta go and draft a couple O-lineman. Anything is better than Flozell "False Start" Adams his penalties are just tooooooooooooooooo much!

Injuries suck, hopefully we have none next season. I blame Injuries a fair amount... Interesting to add Terrell Owens played his first full 16 game season.

Well I guess I should be thankful that Proctor wasn't a draft pick of ours. I just look at our history though of lineman and its been horrible. I remember we drafted the kid out of USC. Was it Jacob Rogers? I forget his name. Hell I forgot all of these guys. They're no longer here which is the sad part. I even remember when we drafted Gurode and he was a bum. Then we moved him to center he flourished. Nice save there.

But I agree. I just find it hard to see this team get any kind of rhythym when there's no stability with the roster. Guys coming in and out all season long. So while i'm not trying to blame injuries on this seasons downfall I dare someone to show me in history where a team has had such a beating with injuries all season with a assistant coach in his second year and head coach in his 1st and they not only made the playoffs but won a playoff game. Its almost unrealistic to expect. And in the back of my mind all year long after seeing all these injuries I couldn't help but think of in recent memory i've never seen a team have such success with so many injuries. I didn't think we'd even rack up 9 wins though.

Even before the Romo injury though, this was a team that didn't play good, sound football. We were penalty-prone, turnover-prone, missed assignments and didn't care to correct any of it since, as Wade said after the Cincy game, there's no need to apologize for winning.

I agreed with Wade. I don't think you can be picky about winning games. Especially against a team that the Giants had to take into OT to beat and the Eagles tied them. Fact is, the Cowboys were winning. But things changed. Guys started missing tackles, the offense couldn't even put up 20 a game. That's where this team really went to hell. When we could no longer rely on the offense to bail us out. Which is sad because the defense came to play for the most part these past two months.

 

[ZeroClub]

To know how much blame I place on the injuries, just at how the Giants folded after the retirement of Strahan, season-ending injury to Unimenyoria and the shooting of Burress.

Oh, that's right -- they didn't fold at all.

The injury to Romo is the only one I'm willing to concede anything on. Whenever a team's franchise quarterback goes down, it changes things. But I think all the injury did is potentially save us from enduring one more week of humiliation. This team had first-round playoff exit written all over it even when we were 3-0 to start the season. We were undisciplined then and continue to be so.

Today's loss told us that, in the end, it didn't matter whether our season was going to extend another week or not. There was no way this squad would have capitalized on the chance.

Good post.

About Romo's health ... All Cowboys fans should hope that Romo's injuries were more significant than reported and caused Romo's poor play over the past month or two. Otherwise, the Cowboys are still in a heap of trouble even in the unlikely event that Jerry straightens out the teams' other problems.

 

[RainMan]

...exposed how weak we were both with our remaining starters and our back ups.

As Rainman said others had critical injuries, but our led us to a loss against the Rams.

Looking for excuses will only end up with the same results that Wade is dealing with now.

This team was poorly managed and it showed.

The worst thing that can happen to the Cowboys is we have a successful season and it allows our front office and coaching staff to believe it has the right elements to continue on the same course as 2008.

Having our coach remind the media that the Cowboys were 13-3 in 2007 was possibly one of the scariest things I have ever heard from a Cowboys representative.

It reaffirms to me that they are not capable of learning from their mistakes.

Just a note - 2007 was a mistake. Holding the best record in the league and not being able to win a playoff game can't be tolerated anymore.

We won 13 games last year ... we're not going to apologize for how we beat the Bengals ... etc. It's always something with Wade.

Like you said, the bottom line is this: He oversaw a historic collapse last season in leading a No. 1 seed to a second-round exit for the first time ever, and followed that up with an even worse and more disappointing showing this year with what was a more talented team.

But, yeah, continuity is what we need. I hope at the new stadium Jerry will pass around some of what he's smoking.

 

[Basileus777]

Injuries hurt the team, but every team faces injuries every year. Great teams still find ways to win. And honestly, other than Romo's injury, none of the injries were worse than what most teams face in a given season.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

...exposed how weak we were both with our remaining starters and our back ups.

As Rainman said others had critical injuries, but our led us to a loss against the Rams.

Looking for excuses will only end up with the same results that Wade is dealing with now.

This team was poorly managed and it showed.

The worst thing that can happen to the Cowboys is we have a successful season and it allows our front office and coaching staff to believe it has the right elements to continue on the same course as 2008.

Having our coach remind the media that the Cowboys were 13-3 in 2007 was possibly one of the scariest things I have ever heard from a Cowboys representative.

It reaffirms to me that they are not capable of learning from their mistakes.

Just a note - 2007 was a mistake. Holding the best record in the league and not being able to win a playoff game can't be tolerated anymore.

Oh I agree. I do feel we're poorly managed and coached. But at the same time can you sit here and tell me that even if we had.....let's say Bill Cowher with all of these injuries this season we could've over came them? I understand the NFL. Injuries are a part of the game. But could Cowher have dealt with all of these injuries? Honestly? And this is not an excuse i'm shocked we even got 9 wins this season. That was purely off talent alone because if you would've told me at the beginning of this season we would've been a 9 win team with all these injuries I wouldn't believe you. I don't think this same exact team is that far off from the 13 win team to be honest. I think if we would've made it into the post season we probably would've got kicked out again in the 1st round. I just think this is what the team is.

Injuries expose a poorly constructed and poorly coached team. Everyone has a top level of talent, but injuries break through to expose what is underneath.

The Pats lost like half their starters, including All-World Tom Brady. They still got 11 wins because they had solid backups in place and coaches who could change on the fly to utilize the different dynamic of the team. (And cheat well, but I digress.)

We have little to no depth, as evidenced by players such as Brad Johnson and Proctor seeing significant playing time. And we have little ability to ability to adjust as we still had noodle arm Johnson trying to succeed in a downfield passing offense. Nothing was changed when Old Man River was inserted into the lineup, and that is scary.

The Pats got 11 wins because they have a offensive line and a quarterback who doesn't make mistakes. I'm not comparing Bellicheat and Phillips. They're two different coaches and one is lightyears ahead of the other. But the Pats also had one of the best teams to ever play in the regular season in league history. I guess what i'm saying is, I don't think you can sit here and say "Oh well the Pats did it so the Cowboys should do it". The Seahawks also had injuries just as much as the Cowboys if not more and they were one of the worst teams in the league. Are you saying Holgrem is a horrible coach?

 

[Basileus777]

The Pats got 11 wins because they have a offensive line and a quarterback who doesn't make mistakes. I'm not comparing Bellicheat and Phillips. They're two different coaches and one is lightyears ahead of the other. But the Pats also had one of the best teams to ever play in the regular season in league history. I guess what i'm saying is, I don't think you can sit here and say "Oh well the Pats did it so the Cowboys should do it". The Seahawks also had injuries just as much as the Cowboys if not more and they were one of the worst teams in the league. Are you saying Holgrem is a horrible coach?

Cassel got sacked more than any other qb in the league this year, the Pats oline certainly had its problems this year. The difference is coaching and scheme, the gap between Belichick/McDaniels and Wade/Garrett is quite large.

 

[Boysboy]

Oh I agree. I do feel we're poorly managed and coached. But at the same time can you sit here and tell me that even if we had.....let's say Bill Cowher with all of these injuries this season we could've over came them? I understand the NFL. Injuries are a part of the game. But could Cowher have dealt with all of these injuries? Honestly? And this is not an excuse i'm shocked we even got 9 wins this season. That was purely off talent alone because if you would've told me at the beginning of this season we would've been a 9 win team with all these injuries I wouldn't believe you. I don't think this same exact team is that far off from the 13 win team to be honest. I think if we would've made it into the post season we probably would've got kicked out again in the 1st round. I just think this is what the team is.

Remember the '05 season when we lost Flo, Rogers, and Rivera played on a bad back.

Even with Parcells at the helm AND very few distractions(aside from Meshawn's brief tirade at Drew in one game), our season tanked a good one.

Like I said-nothing's changed.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

of course they played a part but there is no excuse for not showing today