Just So We're Clear, where does the blame start?

[dstone2962]

If Jason Garrett isn't to blame or Tony Romo as some people refuse to accept, where does the blame start?

Kevin Ogletree? Demarcus Ware? Dez Bryant? Tyron Smith?

I simply haven't heard a rational explanation from any Romo/Garrett apologists.

 

[Ender]

Jerry Jones, Jason Garrett and Tony Romo.. Seems like a good place to start to me.

 

[FiveRings]

Oh my god. You don't blame one man, this isn't baseball or basketball. Everyone needs to contribute to win a game, top to bottom, from front office to practice squad. It was all around a bad Dallas Cowboy outing

 

[goshan]

I have...oline, injuries and jerruh.

The theories of why we aren't a playoff team in 2012 is pretty straight-forward in here (generally a poster will take one of the positions below):

1. Romo sucks
2. Garrett sucks
3. Oline sucks
4. Too many injuries
5. Jerruh sucks - culture and lack of talent

The fact is, its probably a combination of it all. But I have seen too many flaws in Garrett to think he will ever get us over the hump. Romo definitely gets skittish under pressure - always has. But so did Peyton Manning, but he got over the hump by letting his teammates win a key game or two for him.

Oline isn't very good.

Injuries did impact the D, although not the O much which underperformed all year. Jerruh isn't going away, and we do have some talent in many positions.

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

Choice:
#1 - Jerry
#2 - Jerry
#3 - Red
#4 - Romo
#5 - Witten (1st 3 games of the season)
#6 - Now we add Ware
#7 - OLine

If you are a Romo lover #4 is not an option and the answer is a combo of all other choices with the addition of his receivers.

 

[Mansta54]

Omg!!!! :horse:

 

[BHendri5]

Here's a novel idea, don't blame anyone, or blame the cycle that sports franchises, organizations etc all go thru at some point, now one is exempt.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I wouldn't "blame" anyone except bad-luck when it comes to injuries.

The defense was decimated by them.

The starting offensive line played a total of 6 quarters together because of them.

The reason the team ended up 8 and 8 as opposed to 10 and 6?

It begins and ends with injuries.

 

[goshan]

I wouldn't "blame" anyone except bad-luck when it comes to injuries.

The defense was decimated by them.

The starting offensive line played a total of 6 quarters together because of them.

The reason the team ended up 8 and 8 as opposed to 10 and 6?

It begins and ends with injuries.

Despite the fact the team pretty much performed the same when we had minimal injuries. And despite the fact that the offense was the unit that tended to underperform, and we had less injuries than average on that side of the ball.

The 'bad luck due to injury' argument can be made every year in the NFL. It doesn't fly.

 

[MagicMan]

Here's a novel idea, don't blame anyone, or blame the cycle that sports franchises, organizations etc all go thru at some point, now one is exempt.

good one.....LOL, in the famous words of former DE Larry Cole after asked about his playing career..."anyone can have an off decade".... or in this case two.

 

[Mansta54]

I wouldn't "blame" anyone except bad-luck when it comes to injuries.

The defense was decimated by them.

The starting offensive line played a total of 6 quarters together because of them.

The reason the team ended up 8 and 8 as opposed to 10 and 6?

It begins and ends with injuries.

Very accurate post and on point. Injuries killed this team, like it or not, its true. If we had less then half the injuries we encountered this year this team would be in the playoffs and nobody is to blame, it was just a bad luck season for injuries. That's not an excuse, its fact. Injuries can change everything especially the huge amount of them that we had. Our D was ranked in the top 5 before players started dropping off and our oline never really got on track, especially the center position. We bring back a healthy team and stay somewhat healthy, we've got a damn good ball club. Infact, I think JG and his staff did a awesome job coaching up cats straight off the street to keep us in the playoff race and actaully almost pulled it off.

 

[Blast From The Past]

The 'bad luck due to injury' argument can be made every year in the NFL. It doesn't fly.

Yes, it can be made every year in the NFL as you stated but I would bet that this years Dallas Cowboys sustained an unusual amount of them and was a factor in their overall record.

 

[goshan]

Very accurate post and on point. Injuries killed this team, like it or not, its true. If we had less then half the injuries we encountered this year this team would be in the playoffs and nobody is to blame, it was just a bad luck season for injuries. That's not an excuse, its fact. Injuries can change everything especially the huge of them that we had. Our D was ranked in the top 5 before players started dropping off and our oline never really got on track, especially the center position. We bring back a healthy team and stay somewhat healthy, we've got a damn good ball club.

Yeah we lost a marginal Center on the o-line and that is why our oline never got on track? You guys are killing me. Injuries hurt the defense, but the lowest performing unit was the offense, which was hardly injured at all. And the team was 3-5 before most of the D players were hurt. Fact is, we weren't a 'good' or '10-6' team injuries or no injuries.

 

[Super_Kazuya]

I wouldn't "blame" anyone except bad-luck when it comes to injuries.

The defense was decimated by them.

The starting offensive line played a total of 6 quarters together because of them.

The reason the team ended up 8 and 8 as opposed to 10 and 6?

It begins and ends with injuries.

Stop making sense... don't do that. You are about to get bombed by closet cheeseheads and their beloved 2010 Packers.

 

[Dale]

Oh my god. You don't blame one man, this isn't baseball or basketball. Everyone needs to contribute to win a game, top to bottom, from front office to practice squad. It was all around a bad Dallas Cowboy outing

Agreed.

I blame a GM that didn't properly address the OL in the offseason, which in part led to our QB getting blasted frequently in the most important game of the season.

I blame an OC that couldn't counter the Washington Commanders' blitzing defensive scheme.

I blame a QB that made poor decisions, threw off his back foot when we hadn't seen him doing that in a long while and didn't get the job done in crunch time.

I blame a defense that, despite an admirable effort all things considered, did give up well over 200 yards on the ground.

I blame a head coach whose poor clock management struck again at the end of the first half.

Those are just a few of the people/elements that come to mind.

 

[Mansta54]

Despite the fact the team pretty much performed the same when we had minimal injuries. And despite the fact that the offense was the unit that tended to underperform, and we had less injuries than average on that side of the ball.

The 'bad luck due to injury' argument can be made every year in the NFL. It doesn't fly.

This post is soooooo inaccurate. Yea injuries happen every year in football but not to the degree that we experienced this season and this team was playing damn good football defensively and ranked in the top 5 before players started going down. Offensively the oline started off injured and never got a chance to jell together especially a center. Our oline was dinged all season and that isn't good for a group that was average at best anyway. They did start playing better though in the last few games as they had a chance to play together and still without their starting center. So yes, injuries do matter.

 

[RastaRocket]

Quit worrying about who to blame and start focusing on the draft!

This team has work to do.

 

[Dale]

I wouldn't "blame" anyone except bad-luck when it comes to injuries.

The defense was decimated by them.

The starting offensive line played a total of 6 quarters together because of them.

The reason the team ended up 8 and 8 as opposed to 10 and 6?

It begins and ends with injuries.

I think this certainly rings true, but isn't it true that we also rely on a number of players who are injury prone? What happens next year when Romo, Ratliff, Austin, Bryant, Lee and Carter are all dealing with injuries again, as they each have in recent seasons?

I entirely agree that this year was an anomaly with injuries, but I do worry about relying on so many guys who tend to get nicked up each year.

 

[Mansta54]

Quit worrying about who to blame and start focusing on the draft!

This team has work to do.

Now this is a excellent idea my friend, it would probaly be better for the board too.

 

[jimmy40]

this is what happens when we don't pick an official whipping boy in training camp. chaos