I think this team is in worse shape than we think

[Wizarus]

I think we can win some games with the roster we have now. I don't think we can win it all with the roster we have now, we'll have to rebuild for that since Romo pretty much done with his prime years and we have a serious lack of talent depth.

The main problem though is that we have no identity on offense or defense, and that goes squarely on the coaches. Last year we dominated the line and focused on the running game to open up playactions and giving Romo more time than he's ever had in his life. We took control of the clocked so our defense stayed peak almost all game, allowing takeaway despite being average at best compared to the rest of the league. I have no idea what our goal is this year, outside of "hope for the best"

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

As long as the Joneses represent a weak football culture in Dallas, nothing will change for the Cowboys.

 

[dallasdave]

This disaster of a season has to leave you questioning the process that decided Brandon Weeden was an adequate backup after 2 seasons, and knee-jerking to trade for Matt Cassel after a couple of weeks. There are some legitimate coaching concerns from the top down. Special teams have been horrible, the defense can't get a turnover to save their life, and the WR coaching has been suspect. This is at a macro level.

At a micro level, when you start to break it down, there are some serious holes that need to be filled.

QB: Obviously, an adequate backup has to be a priority.

RB: McFadden is putting together a nice season, but do you really trust him to carry a big load 2 years in a row? Lance Dunbar is still unproven, and looks to be a one trick pony coming off a major injury.

OL: I think we're in good shape, but Doug Free needs at least someone to push him, if not replace him outright. Is this guy on our roster? There aren't a lot of good right tackles floating around in this league.

TE: Jason Witten is a sure fire Hall of Famer, but he has a limited route tree at this point in his career. He is good for intermediate option routes, and that's about it. He has never been a red zone target, and the two guys behind him aren't able to push for playing time. He is playing a ridiculous number of snaps this year.

WR: Where do we start? We have a lot of guys who are extremely limited, with very little explosion. I think Dez will come back better, but his lack of focus and production is pretty disturbing. Terrance Williams has proven that he needs to be replaced. Beasley, again, is extremely limited in what he can do. Butler and Street are JAGs.

So to sum up the offense, we lack explosion and playmaking ability. The only positions I feel really comfortable with are #1 WR and OL.

DL: What a disappointment. I think Greg Hardy's rust and time off have caught up with him. I don't think he will be back. Lawrence and Gregory have to be listed as question marks. Tyrone Crawford has been a big let down. Hayden, Mincey, and J. Crawford are JAGs. They have been weak against the run and haven't really generated much of a pass rush. 27 sacks is near the bottom of the league. You could point to basically any player on this defensive line and say you will need to see a drastic improvement to get this team where they need to be next year.

LB: McClain probably won't be back. Sean Lee will get hurt. Anthony Hitchens has disappeared. Players like Gachkar are a dime a dozen. No real depth here.

CB: Claiborne has been slightly better this year, but hurt a lot, as usual. If he comes back, it will be on a minimum contract. Brandon Carr hasn't been good. Hopefully, Scandrick will come back to true form. We have removed a lot of the depth guys from this team and are left with basically only Terrance Mitchell.

S: The safety play has been terrible this year, outside of Byron Jones, when he is covering a TE. Wilcox has been god awful and needs to go. Barry Church has been disappointing, to say the least. I think Jones replaces Wilcox, but we still need an upgrade for church.

I look at this team, and I see a lot more problems than just a backup quarterback.

Wow !!!! Lot of problems, hope Dallas can get them solved before the start of next season.

 

[Bowdown27]

There is a lot of talent on this team, however, my main concerns are the head coach and scouting dept (primarily QB evaluation). Those 2 areas scare me for the future

That's my thought process too. Our defense kept us in games but we need more turnovers. Whole year would have been different with tony and dez.

 

[robjay04]

That's my thought process too. Our defense kept us in games but we need more turnovers. Whole year would have been different with tony and dez.

The lack of turnovers has been depressing but I think it comes down to the offense. If offenses had to press a little more, we would have more turnovers. Offenses can be as conservative as possible and beat us. It truly doesn't make sense that a Marinelli squad would have such a lack of turnovers.

 

[dallasdave]

That's my thought process too. Our defense kept us in games but we need more turnovers. Whole year would have been different with tony and dez.

Tony, DEZ, and a dominant RB!!!!!!

 

[Frozen700]

There's no denying that sig pic of yours.

Who's that?

Jade Ramey

 

[DogFace]

No. We're good. A couple of key free agents, probably one big acquisition and e decent draft and we'll be playing for the Nfc championship next year. I say Romo will stay healthy. Of course we need a better backup but this team has plenty of talent and youth at many positions.

 

[khiladi]

Panthers have NFL-best 10 players selected for Pro Bowl

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...st-10-players-selected-for-pro-bowl/77783654/

That's usually what happens when you win.. How many pro-bowlers did we have last year as compared to this year?

 

[khiladi]

I agree.
But the scheme is largely designed by Romo.
All that talk of time at the office with Linehan clearly wasn't just platitudes.
Romo is the Co-OC and it is LITERALLY his offense.
When he said he'd go find his replacement I suspect this is what he meant.

Adjusting the scheme away from Romo's tendencies is tough because it means all the rest of the offense has to learn new things.
This offense has been out of sync since week 2 and it has looked like crap.
With Moore it looked like our scheme again, albeit with an inexperienced gunslinger at the helm.
We need to focus not on QB raw talent but having a back up who can run this offense.

End of the day I just really hope it doesn't matter next year. 1 more full year with Romo is all I ask....

It's gone that way, because Garrett's offense is trash. Romo wasn't even involved in game-planning until he got the new contract.

And even then, the first year of the contract they had Callahan who was moving away from the offense and Garrett kept interfering. That was the only time their was any 'change' in the scheme and even then, their was no time to implement it with the nonsense that was going on.

So they kept Garrett's offense, but Jerry gave more flexibility to Romo within it. And Linehan was brought in to work with Romo as a play-caller in the system, because it's the same terminology and offense that Garrett runs to an extent.

The scheme is NOT designed by Romo, it's Garrett's offense.

So basically, Romo is the offense because of being stuck with this incompetent clown for six years in mediocrity and horrific play-calling..

 

[khiladi]

All Garrett knows how to do outside of Romo, is play ball conservative football and hope the defense can generate an amazing amount of TOs to compensate for the lack of production on offense..

That's exactly what they did with Kitna and Garrett's interim HC year..

The guy is literally one of the worst offensive minds in the game...

 

[khiladi]

And nobody denies even a great coach needs a good QB to win. They both need each other and when one is missing, you have the prime example in Romo..

A QB with plenty of talent, held back by a mediocre coach and crappy scheme for multiple years, only to be given some 'flexibility' when the coach sucks so bad, but is so beloved to the owner, to actually win in the play-offs..

If Romo was given some semblance of good coaching and a decent scheme in the past, who knows where we would have been.. If he was say, in a WC coast scheme or one predicated on moving the pocket a lot, with plenty of play action, he may have multiple SBs by now, if not competing for them regularly...

 

[vaturkey]

I wonder where we would have been if Parcell would have kept coaching this team with Romo? Might have been pretty special indeed.

 

[Risen Star]

The team is in terrible shape going forward until a QB is found. That's true of any team. If you don't have a QB, you are an also ran in this league. Find the QB and suddenly pieces start falling into place to contend. This is a bad NFL. The perfect, flawless roster is not needed to win Championships. There's a difference between what the Cowboys need to do to become a complete team and what they need to do to contend in the future.

 

[Risen Star]

I wonder where we would have been if Parcell would have kept coaching this team with Romo? Might have been pretty special indeed.

I think there's a very good chance we'd have won a title by now. Not just because of his coaching but the fact that would mean more years of less Jerry and more discipline within the team. I mourned his departure for that very reason. I still can't look at a cup of ice without losing it.

 

[KJJ]

I wonder where we would have been if Parcell would have kept coaching this team with Romo? Might have been pretty special indeed.

Honestly, I don't think the Cowboys would have gotten as far as some think because the game had passed Parcells by. He was still stuck in the 80's playing not to lose with his defense on the field trying to save games. The style of play the Cowboys had while he was the head coach kept games close and you needed a "great" defense to be successful with his approach.

Parcells realized the game had passed him by which is why when he walked away from the Cowboys and never coached again. Same thing happened to Joe Gibbs he came back to coaching after years away and the game had passed him by. What made him successful as a head coach during the 80's was no longer working.