Let's Do This. Show me this is a 7-9 team.

[NoLuv4Jerry]

To the OP....you have the Falcons coming into Dallas and beating us? We are going to drill them. Don't want to go game by game....but we will easily go 3-3 in the division....and it's about time we crank up the "sweep the Skins bus".....so 4-2 is possible

 

[The Natural]

NO is gonna light up our D similar to how they did a few years ago

 

[Doomsay]

I agree that since the vast majority have us between 7-9 and 9-7 that my surprise team of the year is US! I just feel everything is moving towards another 11-13 win year.

- MUCH better locker room
- Better, more agressive defense
- MUCH more balanced and consistent offense
- Much improved special teams soon
- Coaches now know how it is to coach in Dallas
- Easier to be the spoiler than the favorite

I mean specifics are hooey, we could just as easy lose to San Diego at home or sweep Washington. Who knows. But I really feel more wins going our way than not.

On paper, we should win at least nine games, we still have a talent edge over many teams, but this is a somewhat different team vs. the past 2.5 years of the Tony era, so it will be interesting to see.

Have not heard too much about the locker room, there are fewer whiners, but given the comments at the end of last season, it would seem reasonable that there is some lingering resentment for the way the TO situation played out. If Romo is measurably less effective w/o TO, that resentment will likely resurface. We have a fragmented authority structure and a pushover coach, so I'm not sold on any big leadership upgrades vs. 2008. But there will be less drama for sure.


Haven't seen enough of the defense to get a sense of aggressiveness. Wade was in control of the defense during our monumental collapses at the end of last season, but you got some insight regarding his/their potential in the beginning of the Steeler game. Spencer's durability and consistency will be key to front seven pressure IMO, not sold on him yet, but he seems to have the potential.

The offense will have to be more balanced given the reduction in deep strike potential. Ball control is good but scoring is better, hopefully we achieve both, the 2 TE sets and Felix options should be exciting.

Special teams improvement is certainly a show-me proposition - but returning injured players should help.

Disagree with the coaching staff - Wade is a coaster and a demonstrated loser in the post season - he is likely to get that lame duck feeling sooner rather than later if we stumble out of the blocks and his authority isn't helped by the fractured power structure that he works under.

"- Easier to be the spoiler than the favorite"

Totally agree. Also easier to not have Jessica and Owens on the team as media magnets. We begin this season about as far away from the pre-season hubris of '08's hard knocks as you can get, which is a good thing.

 

[fanfromvirginia]

End of the day Dallas starts with cupcakes.

Not sure how anyone predicts failure early on and if we bank 5 wins in the first 6 weeks how exactly do we end up at .500 or below??

That makes zero sense.

I still don't think people realize just how tough last season's schedule turned out to be and how banged up we really were when we played many of those teams.

Do you realize we played EVERY team sans San Diego last year that won a playoff game???

The Final 4 were: Arizona(insanely tough road loss), Philly split, Baltimore(tough home loss), Pittsburgh(tough road loss).

Those 4 losses were huge because of when they came and what they represented. Our final 3 games and the loss that took out Romo and our punter.

This is a 10-11 win schedule with the talent we have.

Agreed.

 

[SkinsFan28]

:bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2:

Am I the only one who realizes that NO is pretty bad?

yes, yes you are.
NO has a excellent qb, a high scoring offense, and their D has improved. I think they will have a hard time with their schedule, and you all should beat them, but they are going to be a contender in their division.

 

[burmafrd]

NO just seems to have our number. So that is why I put that down as a loss. MOre and more I hear that Carolina is in trouble. TB already is. Atlanta= we shall see. We should win 3 of those 4.

Denver, KC, Oakland= no excuse for losing to them. SD- yes. 3 of 4.
Seattle - we do well in regular season against them and they do not scare me at all. WIN
Green Bay= I really cannot see how in their switch to the 3-4 they are suddenly going to own the world. We have owned them for years. WIN

As regards the division the WORST I see is a split. So at WORST we go 11-5.

 

[lgarcia792002]

THIS HOW I SEE IT 11/5


@ Tampa Bay - W
NY Giants - W
Carolina - W
@ Denver - W
@ Kansas City - W
Atlanta - W
Seattle - W
@ Philadelphia - L
@ Green Bay - L <<<<THIS ONE HAS ME THINKING BUT I SAY A L
Washington - W
Oakland - W
@ NY Giants - L
San Diego - L
@ New Orleans - L
@ Washington - w
Philadelphia - W

 

[VACowboy]

I think John Kitna by himself makes the Cowboys a better team than last year. I believe we win two more games in '08 if Kitna is taking snaps instead of Johnson. But I completely understand the dire predictions. The NFL is a show-me league and Dallas has underachieved the past few years.

 

[CoCo]

This is a challenge to all the butt-hurt mediot parrots on this board who have now swallowed the conventional wisdom and now are calling this an 8-8 to 7-9 team.

So let's see it. Here is the schedule. Show me what games this team will probably lose. Don't just pull things out of your ***. Don't pick them to lose games we know dang well they'll be favored in. Show me the 9 losses that we should lose.

@ Tampa Bay - W
NY Giants - W
Carolina - W
@ Denver - W
@ Kansas City - W
Atlanta - L
Seattle - W
@ Philadelphia - L
@ Green Bay - L
Washington - W
Oakland - W
@ NY Giants - L
San Diego - W
@ New Orleans - W
@ Washington - L
Philadelphia - L

That is 10-6, and I see that as reasonable. That would even be with going 2-4 in our Division, which I doubt happens. Probably 3-3. Give the Giants game 2, and we are still 9-7, but it is extremely unlikely we go 1-5 in our division. But even assuming that, still 9-7.

I look forward to bozos posting how we are going to go 0-5 in the final 5 games and other ignorant claims.

There is a big difference between "calling this an 8-8 or 7-9 team" and saying that it could reasonably happen.

My prediction for this team is 10-6 or 11-5.

But that doesn't mean I'm going to act like a raving lunatic if someone thinks this team might end up 8-8 or 7-9. That's not an ignorant prediction void of logic or merit even though it apparently makes some folks so mad they have to throw insults at anyone who disagrees.

If this original post isn't exhibit A for how NOT to post at CowboysZone I don't know what is.

 

[jterrell]

There are only five games right now that we are clear cut favorites. And two are back to back road games at Den and KC. I picked us to go 11-5 but 10-6 will be difficult with our schedule. I think we'll do it if we have decent luck with injuries but it won't be easy.

There are at least 5 games where we are clear cut favorites and about 2 where we are clear cut underdogs. Philly in the city of sodom and gomorroh and at the Giants, which I'd argue is a favorite only because the media is really slow and ignoring last season's Giant offense minus Plax.

The schedule isn't that tough. We got breaks with the non-conference guys we play and should sail to 10 wins even if we again underachieve in the playoffs. We play 3 or 4 teams that are flat out rebuilding.

 

[yimyammer]

There is a big difference between "calling this an 8-8 or 7-9 team" and saying that it could reasonably happen.

My prediction for this team is 10-6 or 11-5.

But that doesn't mean I'm going to act like a raving lunatic if someone thinks this team might end up 8-8 or 7-9. That's not an ignorant prediction void of logic or merit even though it apparently makes some folks so mad they have to throw insults at anyone who disagrees.

If this original post isn't exhibit A for how NOT to post at CowboysZone I don't know what is.

LOL, I love this point.

 

[rynochop]

:bang2: :bang2: :bang2: :bang2:

Am I the only one who realizes that NO is pretty bad?

I know, that game scares me, but i dont think its an automatic lost there....thats darn near a home game with all the cowboys fans around.

I also dont see us losing at Green Bay like everyone seems to be giving up on.

Luckily we have 4, what should be extra bye weeks. KC/DEN/OAK/TB

Split the division and thats 7 wins and 7-3.

That leaves:

Car- i dont see them beating us at home
Atl- who knows what they'll bring, Sophmore jinx for Ryan?
Sea- shld be a win at home,are they in the div? seems we play them each yr
GB- flip a coin, no reason we shouldnt win.
SD- ugh, who knows, home game, LT seems to be breaking down, win
NO- another flip a coin, if it gets into a shootout they probably win.

I'll go 4-2 with this group, for an 11-5 record overall.

 

[the kid 05]

@ Tampa Bay - W W
NY Giants - W W
Carolina - W W
@ Denver - W W
@ Kansas City - W W
Atlanta - L W
Seattle - W L (if hassleback is playing)
@ Philadelphia - L L
@ Green Bay - L W
Washington - W W
Oakland - W W
@ NY Giants - L L
San Diego - W L (close one though)
@ New Orleans - W W
@ Washington - L W
Philadelphia - L W

13-3 is my official guesstimate

 

[DallasDomination]

There is a big difference between "calling this an 8-8 or 7-9 team" and saying that it could reasonably happen.

My prediction for this team is 10-6 or 11-5.

But that doesn't mean I'm going to act like a raving lunatic if someone thinks this team might end up 8-8 or 7-9. That's not an ignorant prediction void of logic or merit even though it apparently makes some folks so mad they have to throw insults at anyone who disagrees.

If this original post isn't exhibit A for how NOT to post at CowboysZone I don't know what is.

Predict anything less then 10 wins and you are a moron, hater and a lunatic. This board is so over the top sometimes it's kind of sad. We either will suck an everybody is fired or everything is peaches and cream.

 

[sonnyboy]

Didn't we do this last offseason, coming off a 13-3 season..... "look at our schedule, how can anyone not pick us to win at least 11/12 games?"

I don't think we go 8-8, for the record. I think we go 10-6.

But 3/4 seasons, we've gone 9-7. Maybe that's an indicator of where our talent level truly is: based on performance.

And in that case, 8-8 or 10-6 could easily be the case.

Hence my 10-6 prediction.

Ultimately I won't care about our record as long as we win a playoff game.

INJURIES INJURIES INJURIES!

I predicted us to win 13 games in 2008 provided we didn't suffer too many or really critical INJURIES!

No memeber of this board would have predicted anything better than 10 wins given the knowledge of just how many injuries we were about to sustain.


I think that's what's really pissing off some of us when we see these 7 to 9 win predictions. None of them acknowledge how many injuries we had in 2008, how that may have impacted on us, or concede that we could or perhaps should exceed 9 wins given better health.

 

[bbgun]

Unless we're devastated by injuries, seven measly wins is unduly pessimistic. Emmitt should man up and tell us which games he sees us losing.

 

[sonnyboy]

Didn't we do this last offseason, coming off a 13-3 season..... "look at our schedule, how can anyone not pick us to win at least 11/12 games?"

I don't think we go 8-8, for the record. I think we go 10-6.

But 3/4 seasons, we've gone 9-7. Maybe that's an indicator of where our talent level truly is: based on performance.

And in that case, 8-8 or 10-6 could easily be the case.

Hence my 10-6 prediction.

Ultimately I won't care about our record as long as we win a playoff game.

If I read this arguement put forth one more time my head may explode. So if you tired of me just repost it.

Seriously, how does this make sense?

Isn't there a clear pattern of improvement for this team over the past 5 years? Our 2008 9-7 team in no way resembled our 2005 9-7 team.

2005 9-7 Cowboys was an obvious improvement over the 6-10 2004 Cowboys.

The 2006 9-7 Cowboys was also an obvious improvement over the 2005 Cowboys. The record was the same because Romo only started 10 games.

The 2007 13-3 Cowboys with Romo starting 16 games was a clear improvement over the 2006 Cowboys.

2008 was the abberation. Look at the game appearences lost to injury and the games played at far less than 100% health. I'm talking starters and significant contributing non-starters.
Romo, Jones, Barber, Williams, Williams, Koiser just to name a few. Then look at the muber of games players like Adams and Newman played at far less than 100%.

I'd guess we had more injuries impact our team in 2008 than we did in the previous 3 years combined.

 

[fan62]

Again, my point - Our offensive line is way old. 2-3 will be too injured to play or else to play well, by week 9. This will lead to injuries of our QB's, RB's and possibly even our TE's. I see plenty of injuries this season and probably 2010. Therefore I see the same old performance in late Nov and Dec. This team will just be too beat up to have a good record.
By, week 8 or 9 everyone on this board will be cussing the lousy performance of our OL.

Hope I am wrong, but that is the way I see it.

 

[Big D]

13-3 the only teams I think we'll lose to are in our division.

 

[DallasDomination]

Unless we're devastated by injuries, seven measly wins is unduly pessimistic. Emmitt should man up and tell us which games he sees us losing.

I agree with this...If you are going to make a "realistic" prediction. In this case 7 Wins , then atleast tell us what games We lose!.