IMO..
The common denominator is Talent. And the defining edge is Coaching.
When healthy, we are on a par talent-wise at this point. The 7-3 record showed that.
But after that, the injuries to the LBers, OL and the RB's deleted too much talent. Therefore the 2-4 down the stretch.
I think even if we had gone 10-6, which we should have been able to do if they had anything to play for in the last game, it still wasn't going to be enough for us to do anything in the playoffs.
So I think all the blood-letting needs to stop.
I think that where the team will improve is if we can get a few more pieces in the draft and FA and shore up the Coaching part of the equation.
We had five main areas of concern that ended our season:
OL
LBers
K's
RB's
and
losing on the road.
Part of the equation to get improvement is to shore up these areas above and part of that is to get improvement in the coaching.
I was pretty disappointed in the play of the team when it was on the road and BP's style of play when he was playing games away from Texas Stadium was entirely too conservative and too often buryed the team early with falling behind in the first quarter and having to fight an uphill struggle that just couldn't be overcome consistantly.
And it wasn't only on the road this happened, but it was even heavier dosage-wise when we were on the road. Not where you want to come from in todays NFL.
Letting the team slug out TOP only to score 14-21 points in the NFL and rely on FG's to be the difference just doesn't work anymore, especially when we had the injury to Cundiff before even the first game.
And while BP continued to point out the Cowboys were leading the league in TOP even as we were losing games, was ludicrious. TOP doesn't win games. It shortens games. Which is fine if you're leading and have the talent to lead games, but the '05 Cowboys were not.
If you're behind and playing TOP with a team that has trouble scoring, it only adds pressure to the team and mistakes get magnified.
Which is what ultimately happened. This problem is squarely on BP and nobody else. How or if this changes will define us next year greatly.
In addition to BP and his coaching shortfalls, the new OL coach was in his first year and was asked to deal with a ton of new faces and interchangable parts, not all of which were Grade A.
The fact that we fired Hoffman in the off-season and then had the injuries and had nobody to help Cundiff in his slump when he returned turned out to be big.
So that's three vital areas of concern that were coached by an inexperienced position coach or no coach at all as we had with Hoffman or by a HC who stubbornly stayed with coaching stratagies that set the team up for failures in the vast majority of their away games.
And the defense appeared to max out as the season wore on, despite the concentration of depth and draft picks designed to fortify that area for sustaining the team over a 16 game schedule.
That responsibility falls to Zimmer, another coach who had his hands full absorbing the 3-4 and working with a ton of new faces and unproven talent in the rookies. But as the season got to crunch time, the defense folded as well.
And yes, injuries to Henry and Glenn and Singleton and Dat surely had the same effect over time that the OL injuries had to the offense.
So really, it's very difficult to compare past records to present talent and coaching, which is what you are trying to compare.
I wouldn't equate them at all.
But what I would look at is the present coaching staff and the present coaching philosophies vs. the past coaching staffs and past coaching philosophies that BP had in place in those other situations as compared to what he has now.
This coaching staff is still very much in flux and if Zimmer or Payton or both end up leaving, too, I think that is going to have as much of an effect on next year as any talent we might bring in and could shove the progress curve back another season ..
..if too much change has to happen again in the coaching staffs.
On the other hand, if new coaches are brought in, the possibility exists that new HC philosophies might take hold..ones in which we get aggressive on offense and go out with an intention to score early and often or have a defense which actually plays an aggressive 3-4 defense, which as the season wore on in '05, we didn't under ZImmer.
Or that we finally stop deluding ourselves that we don't need to go out and sign and pay for a quality FG kicker. That one thing could have changed 2-3 games this year and none of us would be pointing any fingers at all.
If I had my wish, I'd really like to see all the parts stay if possible and let the coaches get a chance to take what was learned and apply it to next year, rather than start over with new guys..rather than go through more coaching changes.
Parcells improved in his fourth years as much from having built strong coaches below him that helped him get to the degree of success he's enjoyed at his stops. And when he was successful, his staffs were raided by other teams, many of whom went on to be successful in their own right.
Much as Landry constantly had over the years and Jimmy Johnson had after his run with Dallas.
So we'll know when the team improves when the coaches have improved to the point they get taken by other teams. I'm personally hoping we are still a year away from losing Payton or Zimmer. I'm hoping they are getting interviews but not great offers..
..so that next year..if they team improves, they will be leaving because the team was improved and they leave for new jobs having completed their work in Dallas and helped Parcells get back to being respected and winning, too.
And of course, the Dallas Cowboys as a whole.
So compare all the stats you want. To me, it's talent and coaches and having consistancy in both over a few years that gets you winning.
We haven't had cosistancy in either yet.
But I think we are close.
We'll see.
parcellswaterboy