I look at the defense and think they are a year away from being as dominant as we first thought. After all, we are relying heavily on three starting rookies and three starting 2nd year players. That's more than half the starting defense with less than two years' experience. Two of these players were supposed to be backup/projects but injuries put them in play.
Most of the rotational players and/or backups fall into the same category. Parsons, Joseph, Osa, Bland, Clark, Williams, Bohanna, Mukuamu, Wright, Golston, they are not experienced enough to form a dominating defense this season. However, next season? They will be better.
The Cowboys are trending in the wrong direction, we all realize this. The next indication would be a Cowboy loss to the Eagles absent Jalen Hurts. At least, it would prove that Parsons was right about Jalen and the Eagles.
The Dallas Cowboys became an iconic franchise because they won consistently in the late 60's to the mid 80's.
Consider this,
The Dallas Cowboys had 20 consecutive winning seasons from 1966 to 1985 in which they won 12 division titles, went to 12 NFC title games, 5 Super Bowls and won 2 Super Bowls.
This meant that the Dallas Cowboys had the last or second to last pick in the draft 5 times during those 20 seasons. They were in the bottom quarter of the draft in all remaining seasons.
So how could a team that consistently drafted last or near to last in the league maintain such a dominant team?
They had a GM, JC, and VP of Personnel that didn't just work their jobs, they LIVED their jobs. They weren't jobs, they were callings. Their search for perfection never ended.
That's what it takes. It takes a committed, dedicated, FOCUSED executive group to build a team that consistently competes in the playoffs.
They left no stone unturned.
They drafted a QB in the 12th round with a six year military commitment because he would have been the 1st player picked in the draft otherwise. It tuned out to be a good investment when Roge Staubach led them to tehri first Super Bowl championship
They traded their #1 draft pick to another team for a future 1st round pick because they knew the following draft had better talent. Their trade partner tanked and it ended up being the #1 overall pick, Ed Too Tall Jones
They traded their back up quarterback to another team that tanked a few seasons later. That pick was #2 overall and it was HOFer Randy White.
They drafted two Olympic stars. The first was HOFer Bob Hayes who ended up redefining WR coverage. The other was Carl Lewis....well, you can't win them all.
They found a basketball player and turned him into both a Pro Bowl CB, then a Pro Bowl safety.
They drafted an Air force Academy cadet with a military commitment who served in the Gulf and then became an important D-linemen during the 90's, Chad Hennings.
They drafted a RB in the 5th round after that RB committed to a different league. Every other team had at least four chances to do the same. Don't forget, those teams of the 90's don't exist unless Tex Schram makes that move
They did these things because they dedicated practically every available minute of their business days towards one thing and one thing only.....making the Dallas Cowboys a stronger team.
Nowadays, it's all fluff. I don't think to this day that Jerry understands just how informed Cowboys fans insist on being. We gather and analyze information. we compare. Generally speaking, we have a pretty good idea of what other teams do.
Other teams hire GM's or HC's with GM duties.
They hire GM's based on something called "credentials". That's because credentials are the proof that this guy knows what he is doing. Credentials are his record of past success at previous levels. he probably started as a junior scout, perhaps an ex-player. He was promoted to regional scout as the result his success. After contributing to the team's success at that position he would become an assistant director of personnel, later to the Director position itself. This entire process would take 15-20 years.
The search for a GM would be a critical decision by an owner. Therefore , he would take this selection extremely seriously, it would make or break his legacy as a team owner. The vetting process had to be complete. All possible candidates had to be considered based on their credentials.
After such an intense search for the perfect GM for the Cowboys, imagine how shocked Jerry Jones had to be when he discovered that the best candidate was......himself!
His great fortune didn't end there. It turns out that the best candidates for Vice president of Operations and Vice president of Marketing also lived under his roof.
And so family has replaced credentials. The problem is that winning........losing........doesn't care who you are related to or how much money you have. In the NFL, as in competition in general, it's about who has the better team.
Part time GM's in a family run franchise might have great players, but they never have the better team.
You might counter with the assumption that McClay is the GM in everything but the title, but that's not true. The GM's make those critical decisions and we all know that's not McClay.
