I admit I should not have bought what was being sold

[Jack Burton]

If Jerry sells the team, that would be a good start to my possibly believing again.

 

[CTcowboy203]

IMO just winning a lot in the regular season is like being proud of a participation trophy. Playoff wins are ultimately how NFL teams are judged.

I’m not saying it’s something to raise a banner over and I have higher expectations but you need to consider the context of the situation. This organization has not been a championship organization anywhere but the spreadsheet for a long long time. It’s been a real life roller coaster of good season, bad season, 8-8’s, 5-11 and everything in between.

In the context of since the last super bowl, the franchise is having its most stable success since. They are winning double digit wins and “in the hunt” every year. Now, you are right that’s not good enough for what we crave but it’s a lot better than it’s been and the Jones’s will ultimately determine if it’s good enough for them to continue to believe in MM.

You can’t win a super bowl or make a championship game without being in the tournament every year.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I will admit it. I bought the bill of goods. I believed this team was different and capable of at the very least being capable of a deep playoff run. I was dead wrong.

I was dead wrong also. I never trusted Dak. But I thought we could win at least one playoff game.

 

[maryquality]

I will admit it. I bought the bill of goods. I believed this team was different and capable of at the very least being capable of a deep playoff run. I was dead wrong.

And amazingly, until this season I usually started the season saying, “I will believe it when it happens.” I bought that this team, this coaching staff was positioned to be different. Again, I was as wrong as that putrid performance yesterday.

As of last night, I am returning to “I will believe it when it happens.” Not before.

For me, “buying in” won’t happen until I see some meaningful changes made at the top of this organization. An organization led by a man that never takes ultimate responsibility for his team’s failures and will never make a fundamental change in the way he operates. It won’t matter who is coaching or QBing this team until that changes.

How about you? What will it take to make you believe again?

I'm right there with you buddy.

 

[big dog cowboy]

The only thing I need to see to make me believe again is taking the most important position in professional sports seriously.

For almost 20 years now we've hitched our wagons to undrafted and 4th round talent at the QB position.

Show me that you are committed to taking the QB position seriously and I'll believe again.

I wish I knew what aversion the Cowboys have about drafting a QB high. The highest drafted QB since Aikman is Quincy Carter. Think about that.

 

[maryquality]

I wish I knew what aversion the Cowboys have about drafting a QB high. The highest drafted QB since Aikman is Quincy Carter. Think about that.

I think it's because they don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

 

[gtdRR]

Did I expect to lose to GB, no. But was I surprised, hell no.

I honestly would like to know what did you guys tell yourselves after all these examples below of the writing being on the wall?

Throwing away the early season just to account for adjustments etc. After watching the defense against Seattle, the Buffalo beat down, the offense against Miami plus the defense just getting run over for the game winning FG, the offense against the Lions plus the defense getting run over for what should have been the game tying TD.

I don't read too much into division games just because the teams know each other so well, etc. All this talk after the last Eagles game from my colleagues and my response was "okay, do it again" knowing we had the game at Buffalo the next week. And then they played like that! That just confirmed everything, same big game disaster of a team as always.

 

[Sarge]

I stopped believing many years ago and this year was no exception. On the contrary, it was expected……..again…….next year will be no different regardless of what changes are made.

I will always root for the Cowboys and enjoy doing so. Losing mean absolutely nothing to me however and it wasn’t always that way.

 

[KMY_Amber]

I never truly trusted this defense. Their vaunted pressure never met my Eye Test. I think the pass rush and "pressures" were always exaggerated. And their run defense had been putrid in too many games, expectedly so with a small safety trying to hold it down, and another young, unproven LB to bolster the front line. No, LVE would not have made much difference either. But he would have been better than having Bell in there.

And I never trusted the run game, mostly because I don't trust the run play designs nor the offensive line's ability (nor the TEs) to consistently run-block without holding. I'm fine with Pollard.

And I never trusted McCarthy to be able to outcoach the opponent. Too many questionable playcalls and bad clock management to trust Mike, could never count on him to win a close game.

So, that means I could only trust the players...in their ability to overcome the coaching. They would have to overcome Quinn's bad blitz designs, Quinn's BBDB-style defense during much of the game, and McCarthy's stubbornness to call too many 1st down runs (which became 2nd down runs against GB). Even though I'd seen glimpses of McCarthy "getting it" in a few recent games, calling way more 1st down play action passes, I still figured he'd have the tendency to get conservative in the playoffs...and go back to trying to rely on a running game that hasn't been consistent all season.

This should have always been Dak and CD's game to win or lose, not Pollard's. This should have been put on Dak's shoulders from the snap 1, instead McCarthy forcefed the run, wasting plays (even if they were good early runs)...wasting opportunities to get the passing game into a rhythm. It was always going to come down to Dak's arm and legs, so making sure he found his rhythm early was wayyyy more important than early run success. Green Bay played that way, they threw the ball early and often...THEN ran the ball down the Cowboys throats. Go figure.

Dak stunk it up, but the early struggles in the game were because Mike simply doesn't do well with effective early gameplans in Big Games. Always outcoached.

So, the proverbial dilemma is...are we a coaching staff and a few key defensive players away from being a true contender?

Or, do we just rebuild completely, after 3 straight 12-win seasons?

Tough call. I'd choose the former, but not by much. If a total rebuild happened, I'd be OK with that too.

 

[atlantacowboy]

I as well as many other long time posters on here and from the old cowboys forum have been saying for well over a decade that the regular season means nothing aside from qualifying for the playoffs.

The player stats and honors mean nothing. The game is about getting to a Super Bowl by winning playoff games. You measure a team AND its players by who shows up when the games get tough in the playoffs. That shows you who these players are and what they are made of…….. nothing else.

Fact is this team is loaded with losers and that includes Dak, CD, and Micah…… all of whom shrank in the spotlight and were MIA.

 

[Rajveer]

The only thing I need to see to make me believe again is taking the most important position in professional sports seriously.

For almost 20 years now we've hitched our wagons to undrafted and 4th round talent at the QB position.

Show me that you are committed to taking the QB position seriously and I'll believe again.

Close your eyes and think of the greatest QB in the history of this game in his prime.

Now insert that QB in to this team.

I guarantee you the results would be the same.

 

[MountaineerCowboy]

Close your eyes and think of the greatest QB in the history of this game in his prime.

Now insert that QB in to this team.

I guarantee you the results would be the same.

I don't subscribe to the "If Dak can't do it nobody can" mindset.

 

[rags747]

McClay is the GM, over 50 teams extended interviews for their GM roles and he turned them all down. Why?? Because he is already a GM and has all of the duties that a GM has. People get stuck on titles, Titles are for the little people to feel good about themselves, watch out for that kind as they will basically be worthless as employees.

 

[1942willys]

I’m not saying it’s something to raise a banner over and I have higher expectations but you need to consider the context of the situation. This organization has not been a championship organization anywhere but the spreadsheet for a long long time. It’s been a real life roller coaster of good season, bad season, 8-8’s, 5-11 and everything in between.

In the context of since the last super bowl, the franchise is having its most stable success since. They are winning double digit wins and “in the hunt” every year. Now, you are right that’s not good enough for what we crave but it’s a lot better than it’s been and the Jones’s will ultimately determine if it’s good enough for them to continue to believe in MM.

You can’t win a super bowl or make a championship game without being in the tournament every year.

The problem with that thinking is that it makes the regular season the most important part
Jerry and company only want to be relevant; and that is THAT kind of thinking
He only makes any change at all if he is desperate: Campo's 3 seasons of 5-11 made him get BP
The team quit on Wade and he had no choice
Then he wastes TEN YEARS TRYING TO TRAIN A HC
Look how close he was to bringing Ginger back for one more year.
Because the boys WERE RELEVANT

 

[1942willys]

McClay is the GM, over 50 teams extended interviews for their GM roles and he turned them all down. Why?? Because he is already a GM and has all of the duties that a GM has. People get stuck on titles, Titles are for the little people to feel good about themselves, watch out for that kind as they will basically be worthless as employees.

Jerry sets the culture and mindset of the franchise
WHICH IS BE RELEVANT
Championships are not important

 

[Rajveer]

I don't subscribe to the "If Dak can't do it nobody can" mindset.

What I am saying is Dak alone cannot do it, no QB you can think of can help the Cowboys. Even if I buy in to Dak being an issue, fixing that issue alone would not change the end result. The constant for the past 28 years is one person and if that constant remains, no QB can help.

 

[CTcowboy203]

The problem with that thinking is that it makes the regular season the most important part
Jerry and company only want to be relevant; and that is THAT kind of thinking
He only makes any change at all if he is desperate: Campo's 3 seasons of 5-11 made him get BP
The team quit on Wade and he had no choice
Then he wastes TEN YEARS TRYING TO TRAIN A HC
Look how close he was to bringing Ginger back for one more year.
Because the boys WERE RELEVANT

The regular season is important because without you don’t get playoffs and the chance at a championship. You can’t down play winning in the regular season now ultimately the post season is what counts in the end and we will see what Jerry does but winning like they are right now provides stability and consistency.

The cowboys haven’t had that in a long time. It does matter

 

[TasteMyScythe]

It's different for older fans like myself that witnessed the 90's dynasty in high school and have experienced nothing but shattered hopes every year since. It tends to wear us down to the point we stop believing. I want the Cowboys to prove me wrong more than anything. But as the years and years pile on top of one another I just wonder if it's ever going to happen again.

I became a fan in 1978 and there was no such thing as "free agency" to where a team can change their makeup overnight. There just wasn't the movement of players from one team to another as we see today. As a fan your hopes basically relied on the same group of players from the previous year and the churning of the roster was slow and mostly consisted of draft picks putting in their time and earning their stripes before they could even think to start. There weren't too many rookies who started for Tom Landry...off the top of my head I remember Tony Dorsett and Everson Walls starting as rookies. I'm pretty sure there's some others like Bob Lilly.
With the way a team can build a roster today, fans have the right to be very optimistic...we see teams every year go from worst to first overnight. But, when that optimism is shattered it has a prolonged effect. It makes it hard to "wait for our turn."
There once was a time that when the season was over it was actually over...I hated the off season! There was no news about the combine or draft or what was going on around the league. Now days, we are forced fed news daily and that leads for us to be optimistic for the coming season. Almost to the point of getting sick.

 

[TasteMyScythe]

You are right but this was an entire team meltdown. If the offense played well the Packers still moved the ball at will and scored 34 points even minus Dak's gifts. If the defense played well the offense couldn't get moving until it was too late.

The Packers were a step ahead of the Cowboys in every single facet of the game. It was a total annihilation and that's what makes it so hard to figure out.

The bottom line is that the Cowboys didn't match the intensity of the Packers. Got punched in the mouth and didn't get up swinging...that's a reflection of the coaching.
We didn't set the tone, and it was proven time and time again when we had to play good teams. It's like they go through the motions and expect to win just because of the star on their helmet. Instead of going out every game and having to prove to themselves why there is a star on the side of their helmet.

 

[kskboys]

I wish I knew what aversion the Cowboys have about drafting a QB high. The highest drafted QB since Aikman is Quincy Carter. Think about that.

Best I can conjecture is that it's Jerry's contrary nature. Whenever he's confronted w/ an NFL truism, he's contrary and tries to do things the exact opposite way.

Remember back in 09 when the OL was falling apart and Jerry was most likely told he needed to throw major resources at it? Nope, Jerry got a bunch of late rounders and FA's and thought it was fixed. Not the first time.