How would you feel about an 11-5 no playoffs season?

[Risen Star]

I would be pleased with the record and progress and growth of the overall team, but disappointed knowing we missed one more playoff year with a franchise QB and one year closer to needing a bonafide replacement with no candidate in sight.

That's a great answer.

 

[Super_Kazuya]

Why do you guys gave to vilify posters?
He did not say anything wrong
Philly is on their second QB and AZ is on their 3rd. Where would we be if we were in that position?

Aww, how touching. The visionary troll sticking up for one of his fellow sky is falling, crybaby posters who bring no value to the board except for extreme negativity. I'm almost moved to a single tear.

 

[Tenkamenin]

Another week 17 playoff-qualifying loss? Hadn't really thought about that possibility. Now that you mention it, it's probably inevitable.

If it happens it signals that Garrett lacks the leadership skills to keep this team focused, and for this reason Garrett must go. A coach like Tom Coughlin always keeps his team focused in critical situations. When the Giants are on they're tough to beat and I believe they'll spank the Eagles when they play again.

 

[visionary]

Aww, how touching. The visionary troll sticking up for one of his fellow sky is falling, crybaby posters who bring no value to the board except for extreme negativity. I'm almost moved to a single tear.

Uncle jerry needs his glasses cleaned
Then go stand in the corner and let the grown ups talk

 

[Idgit]

If it happens it signals that Garrett lacks the leadership skills to keep this team focused, and for this reason Garrett must go. A coach like Tom Coughlin always keeps his team focused in critical situations. When the Giants are on they're tough to beat and I believe they'll spank the Eagles when they play again.

If it happens, it'll probably be because our defense still can't stop the other team from passing effectively, which has been the case each of the last three seasons, too.

But, if we beat the Eagles and the the Colts, the chances we don't handle the Sk*ns in that scenario are low, anyway.

 

[EPL0c0]

It will feel no different than an 8-8 season w/ no playoffs because we'll know that the team was 1 winnable game away from making the playoffs and/or winning the division. This year it could be that WSH game, last year, take your pick: KC, DEN, DET, GB, PHI, 2012 it was BAL, NYG, ATL, WSH, NO. 2011 it was NYJ, DET, NE, ARI, NYG,

 

[Tenkamenin]

But, if we beat the Eagles and the the Colts, the chances we don't handle the Sk*ns in that scenario are low, anyway.

I would like to think so but I just don't know with this defense.

 

[Idgit]

I would like to think so but I just don't know with this defense.

I don't like it, any more than you do. We lack talent.

 

[cowboyblue22]

the very worst part is the fact that by the time they get the defense fixed the qb will be done, and without a quality qb the rest really don't matter. so I think they have to try to find a way to win now take advantage of this opportunity

 

[CoCo]

Glad for the progress because we will have clearly demonstrated there is a new foundation for this team - its O-line, rather than its aging franchise QB. We've been lamenting that sinking feeling of Ware, Romo and Witten, our major assets, getting closer to retirement with no apparent replacements in site. Well, this O-line looks like the new multi-year asset to add pieces around.

And the defensive transition has begun. Crawford & Lawrence, McClain, Hitchens & Lee and Scandrick. We'll get busy adding more pieces.

Disappointed in our bad luck of course (11-5 and no playoffs).

 

[Alexander]

I don't like it, any more than you do. We lack talent.

We will always lack talent though. In today's age, what team is stacked?

Actually, nobody. The ones that look like they do just have more players that fit the schemes they are utilizing.

Eventually, the whole puzzle has to come into place. Organizational direction, superior coaching and the talent to execute all have to get in lock step.

The biggest issues, the first two, are what have been missing just as much as the talent.

 

[nablives]

I'm not much of a thread starter but I really am interested in the responses.

......

I'll go with a flukey season. They were 8-8 for 3 years in a row. Before that, they weren't even .500. Evidence suggests that 11-5 would be an anomaly. Hopefully I'm wrong and they could do it again next season, assuming it would work out better next season, but I have my doubts for various reasons.

 

[Chuck 54]

I'm not much of a thread starter but I really am interested in the responses.

Obviously nobody is going to be happy about missing the playoffs. That's not the point of this thread. I'm talking about how you would feel about the state of the team and it's immediate future.

Let's say the Cowboys win 2 of the next 3 games. Beat the Eagles, lose to the Colts, beat the Commanders. Or whatever way you want to do it. But they lose the tiebreakers for the division and wild card. They sit at home at 11-5. This is a pretty rare happening in the NFL.

What's your reaction? Is this the same team that can't close the deal and just misses the playoffs? Like every other year in recent memory? The record doesn't matter, all that matters is they came up short again?

Or was it just a flukey season, the team went 5-2 down the stretch, clear progress has been made and this is merely a case of some bad luck? No 11-5 team should ever be sitting at home watching a 7-9 division winner? This was a clear step forward towards 2015?

I say 11-5 and no playoffs. You say?

I ask because I really don't know.

While I'd be disappointed in the fate of missing the playoffs, a stellar record of 11-5 with a team I thought would struggle to finish 8-8 this year would actually make me very proud of this team.

 

[TrailBlazer]

Not 'you guys.' This was entirely me. I pointed out his post history. His entire body of work. Because, at heart, this is a Dallas Cowboys fan board. There's a reasonable expectation from the community here that this is a place where people come to discuss the Cowboys. Obviously, that includes the good as well as the bad. But you'd be surprised how much time the staff here has to spend keeping the board clear of people who create accounts for no other purpose than to detract from the quality of the board and antagonize the membership. Agreeing not to do so is one of the conditions of having an account here, after all.

That line gets blurred, because you do have real fans like yourself who are obviously big Cowboys fans who are capable of engaging on topics but who are just naturally negative people or who are just unhappy with the recent history of the Cowboys. It's not always easy to tell which is which.

Finally, there's just the matter of personal preference. If a guy joins in October of this year in a season when we're in the middle of a long winning streak and drops a couple hundred posts of pure negativity, well, it's ok if I'm not a fan of that particular posting behavior. I'm allowed to say so, as well, and I do because there are a lot of good, regular, die hard fans who read here but don't post, and all of us absorb that sort of background negativity. When it's not genuine, and there's enough of it, it takes away from the general enjoyment of the board. This is not a place where you go to feel bad about your Dallas Cowboys. It's a place where you go to read and discuss criticisms fairly and in a proper context.

It works both ways. Some posters antagonize others that they perceive to be negative. That is there sole purpose on this board. They never give opinions of their own. They just come to call other people stupid. These posters kill threads just as extreme negative posters do.

Alternate viewpoints, and coming to understand reasoning behind them, is what makes good message boards.

If everyone agreed, it wouldn't be interesting.

 

[wileedog]

We will always lack talent though. In today's age, what team is stacked?

Actually, nobody. The ones that look like they do just have more players that fit the schemes they are utilizing.

Eventually, the whole puzzle has to come into place. Organizational direction, superior coaching and the talent to execute all have to get in lock step.

The biggest issues, the first two, are what have been missing just as much as the talent.

You mean switching from a 3-4 to a Cover-2 overnight after drafting and signing players for years that don't fit that system might result in an absolutely terrible defense?

Wonder if they will get it fixed before Jerry changes his mind again or Romo is done.

 

[Clove]

I really don't care about records, I'm a results person. And my goal for my team is to compete for and win the Super Bowl, every year. If we're not doing that, it's a waste to me. Nothing stands out to me in the past 18 years really, cause I don't remember bad times. A lot stands out to me back when we were winning Super Bowls.

This team has beat up on sorry teams all year, yay! So losing games like Washington, that's not how you compete. So here we are right now. We have an opportunity to win 3 games and have a bye, and more importantly give ourselves a chance to win the Super Bowl. You can't win a Super Bowl, if you're Dallas, at 11-5 this years. That's how things stacked up this year. So once again, we control our own destiny. What more could you ask for but to control your own destiny?

If we can't win these last 3 games, then I have no use for 11-5. We'll probably be picking in the mid to late 20's in the draft. No guarantee we'll have an 11-5 record next year. Just like years past, we could hit the injury bug on the Oline, then what? We don't have a legit #2 receiver, we have a #1 receiver and a bunch of #3 receivers. We have an old slow tight end that will occasionally make a huge 3rd down play. We have a terrible defensive line that won't get fixed next year because you have to sign the million free agents we have on this team, so where's the money to get help on the defensive line. Not to mention, everyone thinks anyone in the world can run behind this line, and if you let Murray walk, and no one pans out, we're back to 8-8. Trying to get defensive help via the draft may take a few years for the guy/guys to develop. Meanwhile, Romo is not only a choker, but an injured one. So is he going to hold up next year? What if we don't even make the playoffs and lose out?

To be honest, 11-5 should not be our goal. Our goal should be, win now. Seize the moment, you may never see this moment. Mark Cuban won an unlikely championship, he got cocky and wanted more so he let his tough journeymen players go so he could get that star player and guess what? Never went back to a championship again.

So my answer is, it wouldn't bother me that we didn't make the playoffs whether at 1-15, 8-8 or 11-5 because we're accustomed to not making the playoffs.

 

[pugilist]

all pretty circumstantial really. This team knows what it needs to do to get into the playoffs, they control their own destiny. This isn't some scenario where even if they win out they could still miss the playoffs. So in essence, yes it would be the same old disappointment in the coaches and players not seizing their opportunity. This team can beat anyone as we've seen.. everyone on both sides of the ball just needs to do their job and execute.

As far as feelings going into next season I just don't see this team having the same kind of success as it has had this season, especially with Romo getting long in the tooth and Murray's uncertainty. The defense needs a MAJOR infusion of talent which is going to take at least 2-3 years

 

[Beast_from_East]

I still think we go at 11-5

 

[Risen Star]

Loaded?? We have Dez and a bunch of JAGs

Our schemes hold back all our talent.

It's really unfortunate.

 

[Roadtrip635]

Before the start of the season, I had no expectations for this team. This little bit of success has at least given me some hope for the future of this team. Hope that this trend about how they evaluate personnel decisions and rebuild the trenches. Hope they have learned from this season's game day philosophy.

The way I look back on this season, I think will be decided on how they handle the off season. Personnel decisions and coaching staff decisions will color how I look back at this season. If we lose one or more of the asst. coaches, what will be the impact to this team. If we go 8-8 next season, then this season looks like a fluke. Hopefully, we build upon this season and become true contenders.