Let's take a deep breath, but realize the tide is turning

[erod]

Say what? The Cowboys would have to go 1-2 while the Giants go 3-0, or Dallas go 0-3 and the Giants go 2-1, for the tie breaker to come into play. That's effectively a two game lead.

Exactly. The Cowboys have to hold them off completely because the tie-breaker is lost. That's what I meant.

There's Detroit, too.

 

[Nightman]

What you said sounds like the story every week for every team who lost a game. Many coaches have been fired while crying that we just didn't execute. It's minimizing the realities by holding on to hope that we were just a missed FG away.

Now I'm not chicken Little here. But the coaches do need to figure this out. It's not just Dak vs Romo because I remember all to well how team have been able to shut us down with Romo in the game using this same style of defense. It's seriously a problem going back before Dak.

Our offensive coaches have never shown the ability to gameplay and play call us out of this problem. Romo used to extend plays trying to wait for late developing plays to work. Is our WR problem coming back again? Not Dez but not having guys that can beat a single coverage? Is Dak playing like a bus driver? For the first time he looked like Romo when Tony would throw bad passes into coverage.

I'm convinced it's a combination that deserves more attention than just saying we were close but just didn't execute. It wasn't just 1 game. It's been several.

It is the truth though......a Division road game in Dec in the snow and you lose by a FG is not Apocalypse Now....especially with several unforced errors

Dak has been extending as many plays as Romo ever did with his legs...he was just off last night as NYG brought pressure from everywhere and held strong in the middle so he had nowhere to escape the pocket

@PITT-BAL-WAS-@MINN-@NYG is a guantlet

 

[THEHEREAFTER]

I have to say I totally agree with you on Romo. If we stay pat with Dak, it is precious experience gained, however, almost no chance at the big prize THIS SEASON. That being said, we are NOT guaranteed future success, we have an excellent record and opportunity, and #9 is available....

How does playing Romo ensure success moving forward? He's never advanced past the divisional round? My biggest issue with all these pro Romo threads coming out is why didn't you make this request earlier. Dak loses his first game in 3 months and we now want to yank him. Adversity is part of the process. Who knows if we win 11 straight had it not been for the first Giants loss. EVERY TEAM has challenged Dak the same way. It's all about matchups/personel and sometimes just execution and how the ball is bouncing on a particular night.

 

[ufcrules1]

That's one way to look at it.

Or, this "best offense in the NFL" has scored 17 total points in two games. There's the other way.

Considering we played 2 stout defenses with their backs up against the wall and fighting for their playoff hopes in their own stadium.. I wouldn't say it was the end of the world. Especially when we won one of the games. We are 11-2 and in great shape to get a first round bye. You need to give up on Romo my friend. He is done here.

 

[Nightman]

Exactly. The Cowboys have to hold them off completely because the tie-breaker is lost. That's what I meant.

There's Detroit, too.

The Magic Number is still 2

any combination of 2 wins by Dallas or losses by NYG gives them HFA

 

[JoeyBoy718]

Good post.

Playing Romo might not set Dak back, but continuing to play Dak when he has clearly lost some confidence could hurt Dak going forward.

I feel the opposite. I've thought all year, despite Dak's incredible season, that a healthy Romo would give us a better opportunity to win than Dak. But I also think that ship has sailed and benching Dak could have a bigger impact on our future success.

Going into yesterday, Dak, a 4th round rookie, brought this team to a franchise-record number of consecutive wins, the sole best record in the NFL for the first time since pre-Romo, and led the league in QB rating which I don't believe Romo has ever done.

You don't sit a guy, especially a rookie, with a hot hand like that. At the very least, he's earned the starting position for this season and next season. Now, I'm not convinced that he'll be our future despite the amazing records I just posted. RGIII had a similarly amazing rookie season and was cut by the team that drafted him not too long after. But he was at least given the keys to the ship.

You can't expect a rookie to do more than Dak has done this year. And it's not like we weren't in the market for a new franchise QB. It's not like we had a 27 year old Aaron Rodgers who happened to get hurt and a rookie came in and wowed. We had a 37 year old QB who's barely played in 2 years and who's never accomplished in his career what Dak has in the first 2/3 of his rookie season.

If you bench Dak, you're not guaranteed that Romo will still be the same player. He's 37 and hasn't looked elite since 2014. You're also not guaranteed he'll even stay healthy for the next 6 games. And what do you do if he has a bad game? You can't just go back to Dak. And what do you do next year? Do we keep Romo and bench Dak? You're not gonna bench your rookie sensation for 3-6 games of Romo just to cut/trade Romo next year. You've made a commitment to Romo. You'd need to give him at least another full year as the starter. So what happens to Dak if he comes back in 2018 after getting benched and sitting for nearly 2 years? Does he pick up where he left off? Does he never regain what he had his rookie season? Does he come out looking like Aaron Rodgers after a few years of sitting on the bench and learning?

 

[erod]

Considering we played 2 stout defenses with their backs up against the wall and fighting for their playoff hopes in their own stadium.. I wouldn't say it was the end of the world. Especially when we won one of the games. We are 11-2 and in great shape to get a first round bye. You need to give up on Romo my friend. He is done here.

That's exactly the kind of teams you play in the playoffs.

Dak was shaky against Washington, poor against Minnesota, and gawd awful last night.

He'd better get it together against Tampa, or it's Romo time. I guarantee you.

 

[ufcrules1]

It is the truth though......a Division road game in Dec in the snow and you lose by a FG is not Apocalypse Now....especially with several unforced errors

Dak has been extending as many plays as Romo ever did with his legs...he was just off last night as NYG brought pressure from everywhere and held strong in the middle so he had nowhere to escape the pocket

@PITT-BAL-WAS-@MINN-@NYG is a guantlet

Exactly. People need to chill out. Dak had a tough game against 2 teams that stacked the box and blitzed the hell out of him. Also, the playcalling was horrendous. They need to be throwing quick slants, screen passes, short passes to the RB, and more.

 

[Kaiser]

We also dropped/missed 3 INTs, 2 fumbles and let OBJ do the one thing we couldn't let him do....go 60+ yards on a slant

Exactly, if Barry Church doesn't miss a tackle that play is 6 yards instead of 60.

 

[erod]

I feel the opposite. I've thought all year, despite Dak's incredible season, that a healthy Romo would give us a better opportunity to win than Dak. But I also think that ship has sailed and benching Dak could have a bigger impact on our future success.

Going into yesterday, Dak, a 4th round rookie, brought this team to a franchise-record number of consecutive wins, the sole best record in the NFL for the first time since pre-Romo, and led the league in QB rating which I don't believe Romo has ever done.

You don't sit a guy, especially a rookie, with a hot hand like that. At the very least, he's earned the starting position for this season and next season. Now, I'm not convinced that he'll be our future despite the amazing records I just posted. RGIII had a similarly amazing rookie season and was cut by the team that drafted him not too long after. But he was at least given the keys to the ship.

You can't expect a rookie to do more than Dak has done this year. And it's not like we weren't in the market for a new franchise QB. It's not like we had a 27 year old Aaron Rodgers who happened to get hurt and a rookie came in and wowed. We had a 37 year old QB who's barely played in 2 years and who's never accomplished in his career what Dak has in the first 2/3 of his rookie season.

If you bench Dak, you're not guaranteed that Romo will still be the same player. He's 37 and hasn't looked elite since 2014. You're also not guaranteed he'll even stay healthy for the next 6 games. And what do you do if he has a bad game? You can't just go back to Dak. And what do you do next year? Do we keep Romo and bench Dak? You're not gonna bench your rookie sensation for 3-6 games of Romo just to cut/trade Romo next year. You've made a commitment to Romo. You'd need to give him at least another full year as the starter. So what happens to Dak if he comes back in 2018 after getting benched and sitting for nearly 2 years? Does he pick up where he left off? Does he never regain what he had his rookie season? Does he come out looking like Aaron Rodgers after a few years of sitting on the bench and learning?

Benching Dak would only be temporary, one way or the other. It won't hurt him either way.

Dallas isn't winning a Super Bowl with a rookie QB. Period. Can Romo win it? Maybe, who knows?

But it's maybe or forget it.

 

[Daillest88]

After rewatching the game. The weather was a much bigger factor than I thought, not just for dak but for Eli too. we need home field advantage

 

[Risen Star]

Here's a thought. When the head coach congratulates the team in the locker room after a dreadful performance against the Vikings and calls it "maybe my favorite win of the season" you might not be holding the team accountable. You might be feeding into the complacency.

Sometimes you have to do more than golf clap as a head coach. That team should have been ripped apart by the coach after that game. Instead they were all given gold stars and ribbons.

 

[ufcrules1]

That's exactly the kind of teams you play in the playoffs.

Dak was shaky against Washington, poor against Minnesota, and gawd awful last night.

He'd better get it together against Tampa, or it's Romo time. I guarantee you.

Right, and we won 2 out of 3 of those games on the road and against tough defenses, Now we will be playing at home, let's see how he does there. We are 11-2 on the season for a reason. We beat Tampa and Detroit and we will be playing at home throughout the playoffs. The coaching staff needs to come up with better play calling against teams he stack the box and blitz non stop. They take plenty of the blame as well.

 

[willia451]

TL,DR

 

[ufcrules1]

Here's a thought. When the head coach congratulates the team in the locker room after a dreadful performance against the Vikings and calls it "maybe my favorite win of the season" you might not be holding the team accountable. You might be feeding into the complacency.

Sometimes you have to do more than golf clap as a head coach. That team should have been ripped apart by the coach after that game. Instead they were all given gold stars and ribbons.

Bingo.. this team has been fading the poor coaching staff all season. JG is clueless and STILL learning on the job. But what are you gonna do? Jerry has to have a guy like that who he can tell what to do. Jerry has a massive ego to feed.

 

[Risen Star]

What this team needs now is a good old fashioned Parcellsing.

 

[superonyx]

It is the truth though......a Division road game in Dec in the snow and you lose by a FG is not Apocalypse Now....especially with several unforced errors

Dak has been extending as many plays as Romo ever did with his legs...he was just off last night as NYG brought pressure from everywhere and held strong in the middle so he had nowhere to escape the pocket

@PITT-BAL-WAS-@MINN-@NYG is a guantlet

I'm not of the mindset that we lost because of Dak. I worry our scheme and coaches have a fundamental flaw that allows teams that play defense against us the way the Giants, Eagles, Vikings ect to be overly successful shutting us down.
I've always felt bad for Romo because when teams defend us this way it's putting the pressure on the QB to perform miracles. Last night was #4 but it could have just as easily been #9.

If we played them again I would expect that we would struggle again.
If we played the Vikings again or the Eagles again I would expect that once again we will struggle.
Over the years I haven't seen us able to stop a team from playing us this way.

 

[Nexx]

Bingo.. this team has been fading the poor coaching staff all season. JG is clueless and STILL learning on the job. But what are you gonna do? Jerry has to have a guy like that who he can tell what to do. Jerry has a massive ego.

so the same coaching excuses dont apply to Romo? if anything we had less experienced version of Garrett leading the way with Romo the previous season.

 

[ufcrules1]

Benching Dak would only be temporary, one way or the other. It won't hurt him either way.

Dallas isn't winning a Super Bowl with a rookie QB. Period. Can Romo win it? Maybe, who knows?

But it's maybe or forget it.

After a decade and only 2 playoff wins and never getting past the divisional game in the playoffs.. I feel confident saying Romo doesn't have a chance in hell to lead this team to a super bowl.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

Benching Dak would only be temporary, one way or the other. It won't hurt him either way.

Dallas isn't winning a Super Bowl with a rookie QB. Period. Can Romo win it? Maybe, who knows?

But it's maybe or forget it.

How would it only be temporary? I just gave a bunch of reasons why it could have a lasting impact. Dak brought us to the best record in the NFL and almost guaranteed us home-field advantage. Romo has never done that. What happens if we bench Dak and Romo fails early in the playoffs? What kind of message does that send to Dak? Does it shake his confidence next season when he's given back the starting role (if he even is). Does it put a chip on his shoulder and cause unnecessary beef between coach/team/ownership knowing that the team didn't trust him enough to finish the season that he started? In a perfect world, Romo comes in, does what he's never proven he can do up to this point, wins the Super Bowls, retires, rides off into the sunset, hands the keys to Dak, then Dak, with a smile on his face, takes over next year and continues the success. But in reality, I see a lot more ways things could go wrong in this situation than right.