CFZ My Day After Thoughts on the Game, and the Team

DoctorChicken

Well-Known Member
Messages
7,757
Reaction score
17,148
I don’t usually start threads like this, but I’ll give it a whirl. I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, and now that I'm done it looks like I typed a lot.

Dallas leads the league in penalties. Some penalties can be pretty irritating, because they are totally avoidable. I don’t mean holding, or PI or whatever. Those happen, and are always annoying, but you expect them. I’m referring to the penalties like lining up in the neutral zone. Unnecessary roughness. These are completely unnecessary penalties that are the cause of playing undisciplined football. The coaches need to figure out some way to clean it up a bit. Maybe we can overcome 11 penalties against the Chargers. Can we against the Eagles in a few weeks?

The NFL does need to rework their rules regarding hitting a QB when he’s sliding. The refs called helmet to helmet on Kearse, but Herbert didn’t slide until Kearse was already in the process of making the tackle. It appeared to me that Herbert slid into helmet to helmet contact, and a penalty was called that benefited his team.

The clock management at the end the half. Oh my. That was bad. 8 seconds left. One timeout. Mike didn’t want to go for it. That’s… incredibly lame. Gutless. 8 seconds and a timeout left. Dak was 15/20 at this point in the game. You need to take that shot, and not doing so is gutless. If you want to tell me “well maybe he didn’t trust Dak”, I get it, but I don’t think that is the case. And if it is the case, it doesn’t matter, because I think a coach needs to take that shot with any QB they are lining up under center at the moment. And yeah, we won by 3 points, but I don't believe I'm thinking too aggressively here.

The defense has issues. There are definitely holes to be addressed. That being said, it’s a good enough defense to win a championship. The pass rush can be ruthless at times, and Dan Quinn is a phenomenal talent scout. Look at guys like DaRon Bland and Marquese Bell. A defense that can rush the passer and create turnovers like this one can is a championship caliber defense.

When the team eventually sputters, it will be because of the offense. From what I’m seeing from this previous game, and this season overall, making the playoffs and eventually getting bounced by the 49ers in the Divisional round is probably in our future.

Mike McCarthy’s play calling is, oftentimes, bootycheeks. Bootycheeks. Part of me wants to blame this on Schottenheimer. I didn’t know why he was brought in when he was hired. I still don’t know. I remember a comment I saw from a Jets fan when Dallas hired him - "on purpose?"

Yes, I know. I am aware. I know Dak this, and Dak sucks, and Dak missed Ferguson down the seam, and Dak caused World War II, and we should start Lance.

But that doesn’t make McCarthy’s play calling any less cheekish. I would rather see Prescott end up with 350 yards, 3 TDs and 3 INTs by throwing the football down the field like a man, instead of all this going 28/37 and a TD. Know why? Because seeing the latter stat line means that if the defense didn’t have a stellar game, and maybe a takeaway for a TD, we didn’t win it.

Mike’s gameplan worked fine enough against the Chargers, who Chargered the game away, as they usually do. But against the big boys of NFL offenses - KC, SF, PHI - teams that can score a lot of points against good defenses like ours, the offense needs to be able to score points.

So what would I, with my average sized brain and-NFL-fan-who-posts-on-a-forum level of football knowledge like to see realistically happen? I believe a few changes are possible. Not likely, but possible.

1 - Lamb is the best player on offense right now. He needs like 10 targets a game. Or more. Why not? It is one of the few things that consistently works for this team. The run game is inconsistent. Dak is inconsistent. Gallup cosplays Houdini for stretches, and cannot get separation. Pollard is still returning to form. So we have Lamb, who is awesome. Cooks is really good. He has been his entire career. The ball needs to go to them more.

2 - Less Gallup, and more Turpin. Gallup is not getting separation. Turpin can with his speed alone. Cooks and Turpin both have the jets to stretch a defense.

3 - Creativity in general. Quick plays that are designed to get the ball into the hands of our biggest playmakers. More motion. More movement pre-snap. According to this tweet from John Owning, the Cowboys are currently below NFL average in motion. Why? Why are plays not being designed that make it just a little bit more tough on the defense?

4 - More Dowdle.

That's essentially it. What else can realistically be fixed right now? The OL needs to be better obviously. That will hopefully work itself out. We know what Dak is.

It's not all bad. I still have a little optimism. I don't know how much confidence to say I have in this team - I believe that they're a playoff team, one that is almost definitely capable of beating whoever they play in the Wildcard round. Can they win in the divisional, against Philadelphia or San Fransisco, away? Unsure with the former, and a definite no with the latter.

But, anything is possible. We saw the 2007 Giants. The 2012 Ravens. With a little magic, any playoff team can win a Championship.

So have faith. Is it technically possible for the Cowboys to go on a 2007 Giants-like tear and win the Super Bowl? Yes. Yes it is. And I will darn well cheer for them to do just that. It would be one of the best stories about Cowboys ever told, right behind Red Dead Redemption 2, but at least on the level of the 2010 True Grit.
 

john van brocklin

Captain Comeback
Messages
38,507
Reaction score
43,467
I don’t usually start threads like this, but I’ll give it a whirl. I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, and now that I'm done it looks like I typed a lot.

Dallas leads the league in penalties. Some penalties can be pretty irritating, because they are totally avoidable. I don’t mean holding, or PI or whatever. Those happen, and are always annoying, but you expect them. I’m referring to the penalties like lining up in the neutral zone. Unnecessary roughness. These are completely unnecessary penalties that are the cause of playing undisciplined football. The coaches need to figure out some way to clean it up a bit. Maybe we can overcome 11 penalties against the Chargers. Can we against the Eagles in a few weeks?

The NFL does need to rework their rules regarding hitting a QB when he’s sliding. The refs called helmet to helmet on Kearse, but Herbert didn’t slide until Kearse was already in the process of making the tackle. It appeared to me that Herbert slid into helmet to helmet contact, and a penalty was called that benefited his team.

The clock management at the end the half. Oh my. That was bad. 8 seconds left. One timeout. Mike didn’t want to go for it. That’s… incredibly lame. Gutless. 8 seconds and a timeout left. Dak was 15/20 at this point in the game. You need to take that shot, and not doing so is gutless. If you want to tell me “well maybe he didn’t trust Dak”, I get it, but I don’t think that is the case. And if it is the case, it doesn’t matter, because I think a coach needs to take that shot with any QB they are lining up under center at the moment. And yeah, we won by 3 points, but I don't believe I'm thinking too aggressively here.

The defense has issues. There are definitely holes to be addressed. That being said, it’s a good enough defense to win a championship. The pass rush can be ruthless at times, and Dan Quinn is a phenomenal talent scout. Look at guys like DaRon Bland and Marquese Bell. A defense that can rush the passer and create turnovers like this one can is a championship caliber defense.

When the team eventually sputters, it will be because of the offense. From what I’m seeing from this previous game, and this season overall, making the playoffs and eventually getting bounced by the 49ers in the Divisional round is probably in our future.

Mike McCarthy’s play calling is, oftentimes, bootycheeks. Bootycheeks. Part of me wants to blame this on Schottenheimer. I didn’t know why he was brought in when he was hired. I still don’t know. I remember a comment I saw from a Jets fan when Dallas hired him - "on purpose?"

Yes, I know. I am aware. I know Dak this, and Dak sucks, and Dak missed Ferguson down the seam, and Dak caused World War II, and we should start Lance.

But that doesn’t make McCarthy’s play calling any less cheekish. I would rather see Prescott end up with 350 yards, 3 TDs and 3 INTs by throwing the football down the field like a man, instead of all this going 28/37 and a TD. Know why? Because seeing the latter stat line means that if the defense didn’t have a stellar game, and maybe a takeaway for a TD, we didn’t win it.

Mike’s gameplan worked fine enough against the Chargers, who Chargered the game away, as they usually do. But against the big boys of NFL offenses - KC, SF, PHI - teams that can score a lot of points against good defenses like ours, the offense needs to be able to score points.

So what would I, with my average sized brain and-NFL-fan-who-posts-on-a-forum level of football knowledge like to see realistically happen? I believe a few changes are possible. Not likely, but possible.

1 - Lamb is the best player on offense right now. He needs like 10 targets a game. Or more. Why not? It is one of the few things that consistently works for this team. The run game is inconsistent. Dak is inconsistent. Gallup cosplays Houdini for stretches, and cannot get separation. Pollard is still returning to form. So we have Lamb, who is awesome. Cooks is really good. He has been his entire career. The ball needs to go to them more.

2 - Less Gallup, and more Turpin. Gallup is not getting separation. Turpin can with his speed alone. Cooks and Turpin both have the jets to stretch a defense.

3 - Creativity in general. Quick plays that are designed to get the ball into the hands of our biggest playmakers. More motion. More movement pre-snap. According to this tweet from John Owning, the Cowboys are currently below NFL average in motion. Why? Why are plays not being designed that make it just a little bit more tough on the defense?

4 - More Dowdle.

That's essentially it. What else can realistically be fixed right now? The OL needs to be better obviously. That will hopefully work itself out. We know what Dak is.

It's not all bad. I still have a little optimism. I don't know how much confidence to say I have in this team - I believe that they're a playoff team, one that is almost definitely capable of beating whoever they play in the Wildcard round. Can they win in the divisional, against Philadelphia or San Fransisco, away? Unsure with the former, and a definite no with the latter.

But, anything is possible. We saw the 2007 Giants. The 2012 Ravens. With a little magic, any playoff team can win a Championship.

So have faith. Is it technically possible for the Cowboys to go on a 2007 Giants-like tear and win the Super Bowl? Yes. Yes it is. And I will darn well cheer for them to do just that. It would be one of the best stories about Cowboys ever told, right behind Red Dead Redemption 2, but at least on the level of the 2010 True Grit.
Very nice and thought out post.
Thanks for your efforts.
Agree with what you said, btw.
 

xwalker

Well-Known Member
Messages
57,060
Reaction score
64,514
CowboysZone ULTIMATE Fan
I don’t usually start threads like this, but I’ll give it a whirl. I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, and now that I'm done it looks like I typed a lot.

Dallas leads the league in penalties. Some penalties can be pretty irritating, because they are totally avoidable. I don’t mean holding, or PI or whatever. Those happen, and are always annoying, but you expect them. I’m referring to the penalties like lining up in the neutral zone. Unnecessary roughness. These are completely unnecessary penalties that are the cause of playing undisciplined football. The coaches need to figure out some way to clean it up a bit. Maybe we can overcome 11 penalties against the Chargers. Can we against the Eagles in a few weeks?

The NFL does need to rework their rules regarding hitting a QB when he’s sliding. The refs called helmet to helmet on Kearse, but Herbert didn’t slide until Kearse was already in the process of making the tackle. It appeared to me that Herbert slid into helmet to helmet contact, and a penalty was called that benefited his team.

The clock management at the end the half. Oh my. That was bad. 8 seconds left. One timeout. Mike didn’t want to go for it. That’s… incredibly lame. Gutless. 8 seconds and a timeout left. Dak was 15/20 at this point in the game. You need to take that shot, and not doing so is gutless. If you want to tell me “well maybe he didn’t trust Dak”, I get it, but I don’t think that is the case. And if it is the case, it doesn’t matter, because I think a coach needs to take that shot with any QB they are lining up under center at the moment. And yeah, we won by 3 points, but I don't believe I'm thinking too aggressively here.

The defense has issues. There are definitely holes to be addressed. That being said, it’s a good enough defense to win a championship. The pass rush can be ruthless at times, and Dan Quinn is a phenomenal talent scout. Look at guys like DaRon Bland and Marquese Bell. A defense that can rush the passer and create turnovers like this one can is a championship caliber defense.

When the team eventually sputters, it will be because of the offense. From what I’m seeing from this previous game, and this season overall, making the playoffs and eventually getting bounced by the 49ers in the Divisional round is probably in our future.

Mike McCarthy’s play calling is, oftentimes, bootycheeks. Bootycheeks. Part of me wants to blame this on Schottenheimer. I didn’t know why he was brought in when he was hired. I still don’t know. I remember a comment I saw from a Jets fan when Dallas hired him - "on purpose?"

Yes, I know. I am aware. I know Dak this, and Dak sucks, and Dak missed Ferguson down the seam, and Dak caused World War II, and we should start Lance.

But that doesn’t make McCarthy’s play calling any less cheekish. I would rather see Prescott end up with 350 yards, 3 TDs and 3 INTs by throwing the football down the field like a man, instead of all this going 28/37 and a TD. Know why? Because seeing the latter stat line means that if the defense didn’t have a stellar game, and maybe a takeaway for a TD, we didn’t win it.

Mike’s gameplan worked fine enough against the Chargers, who Chargered the game away, as they usually do. But against the big boys of NFL offenses - KC, SF, PHI - teams that can score a lot of points against good defenses like ours, the offense needs to be able to score points.

So what would I, with my average sized brain and-NFL-fan-who-posts-on-a-forum level of football knowledge like to see realistically happen? I believe a few changes are possible. Not likely, but possible.

1 - Lamb is the best player on offense right now. He needs like 10 targets a game. Or more. Why not? It is one of the few things that consistently works for this team. The run game is inconsistent. Dak is inconsistent. Gallup cosplays Houdini for stretches, and cannot get separation. Pollard is still returning to form. So we have Lamb, who is awesome. Cooks is really good. He has been his entire career. The ball needs to go to them more.

2 - Less Gallup, and more Turpin. Gallup is not getting separation. Turpin can with his speed alone. Cooks and Turpin both have the jets to stretch a defense.

3 - Creativity in general. Quick plays that are designed to get the ball into the hands of our biggest playmakers. More motion. More movement pre-snap. According to this tweet from John Owning, the Cowboys are currently below NFL average in motion. Why? Why are plays not being designed that make it just a little bit more tough on the defense?

4 - More Dowdle.

That's essentially it. What else can realistically be fixed right now? The OL needs to be better obviously. That will hopefully work itself out. We know what Dak is.

It's not all bad. I still have a little optimism. I don't know how much confidence to say I have in this team - I believe that they're a playoff team, one that is almost definitely capable of beating whoever they play in the Wildcard round. Can they win in the divisional, against Philadelphia or San Fransisco, away? Unsure with the former, and a definite no with the latter.

But, anything is possible. We saw the 2007 Giants. The 2012 Ravens. With a little magic, any playoff team can win a Championship.

So have faith. Is it technically possible for the Cowboys to go on a 2007 Giants-like tear and win the Super Bowl? Yes. Yes it is. And I will darn well cheer for them to do just that. It would be one of the best stories about Cowboys ever told, right behind Red Dead Redemption 2, but at least on the level of the 2010 True Grit.
With prime years Adrian Peterson on this team, they would be a lock to make it to the Super Bowl...

Trade Deadline is Oct 31st...

Can't get Peterson type back but could get a good back.
 

DoctorChicken

Well-Known Member
Messages
7,757
Reaction score
17,148
With prime years Adrian Peterson on this team, they would be a lock to make it to the Super Bowl...

Trade Deadline is Oct 31st...

Can't get Peterson type back but could get a good back.
There are some Henry trade rumors floating around. I don’t know of any other true impact players at RB that are on the trade table, or if it’d necessarily be worth giving up a valuable asset for one.
 

Coogiguy03

Well-Known Member
Messages
18,761
Reaction score
15,950
With prime years Adrian Peterson on this team, they would be a lock to make it to the Super Bowl...

Trade Deadline is Oct 31st...

Can't get Peterson type back but could get a good back.
how would you know that, you don't work at the league office anymore
 

jazzcat22

Staff member
Messages
77,823
Reaction score
96,828
CowboysZone ULTIMATE Fan
So the Chargers lost the game, Cowboys did not win it?
I still think MM made the correct decision at the end of the half by not calling that TO, then took the 3 points.

LAC would know the pass would be in the end zone and would have defense it accordingly. And Dallas does not have a true end zone threat. A WR or TE would need to be wide open. Or a fade route where only the Dallas player could catch it. And is had nothing to do not trusting Dak.

In a defensive game, you take the sure points. MM learned that from earlier when he went for it on 4th down, and should have taken the 3 then. But by the time at the end of the 2nd half both defenses were playing strong. Give him credit for playing it safe. As that was what they won by. 3 points.
 

Mac_MaloneV1

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,975
Reaction score
4,361
1 - Lamb is the best player on offense right now. He needs like 10 targets a game. Or more. Why not?
Agreed with 1-4, but this one is really key. There's no reason they shouldn't be manufacturing touches for him on every drive. 10 targets is nice, but there should also be 2-3 screens that just get the ball in his hands as an extension of the run game.

He is your best player. Give him the ball.
 

DoctorChicken

Well-Known Member
Messages
7,757
Reaction score
17,148
So the Chargers lost the game, Cowboys did not win it?
I still think MM made the correct decision at the end of the half by not calling that TO, then took the 3 points.

LAC would know the pass would be in the end zone and would have defense it accordingly. And Dallas does not have a true end zone threat. A WR or TE would need to be wide open. Or a fade route where only the Dallas player could catch it. And is had nothing to do not trusting Dak.

In a defensive game, you take the sure points. MM learned that from earlier when he went for it on 4th down, and should have taken the 3 then. But by the time at the end of the 2nd half both defenses were playing strong. Give him credit for playing it safe. As that was what they won by. 3 points.

The Cowboys did what they needed to do to win the game. However, the Chargers messed up a few things - Herbert missed some big time throws, for instance.

Going for 3 to end the half worked out against the Chargers, because the defense was having a great game. When the defense doesn’t have a great game, though, those 3 pointers aren’t going to be enough. They will have to increase the aggressiveness on offense.
 

Cowboyny

Well-Known Member
Messages
16,037
Reaction score
19,228
With prime years Adrian Peterson on this team, they would be a lock to make it to the Super Bowl...

Trade Deadline is Oct 31st...

Can't get Peterson type back but could get a good back.
Do you feel the run block scheme is hindering their rushing attack or is it more of a personnel issue?
 

Mr_437

Well-Known Member
Messages
17,048
Reaction score
18,936
Interesting idea, going with more Turpin instead of Tolbert. Speed element can definitely help with separation.
 

Qcard

Well-Known Member
Messages
7,980
Reaction score
7,653
I don’t usually start threads like this, but I’ll give it a whirl. I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, and now that I'm done it looks like I typed a lot.

Dallas leads the league in penalties. Some penalties can be pretty irritating, because they are totally avoidable. I don’t mean holding, or PI or whatever. Those happen, and are always annoying, but you expect them. I’m referring to the penalties like lining up in the neutral zone. Unnecessary roughness. These are completely unnecessary penalties that are the cause of playing undisciplined football. The coaches need to figure out some way to clean it up a bit. Maybe we can overcome 11 penalties against the Chargers. Can we against the Eagles in a few weeks?

The NFL does need to rework their rules regarding hitting a QB when he’s sliding. The refs called helmet to helmet on Kearse, but Herbert didn’t slide until Kearse was already in the process of making the tackle. It appeared to me that Herbert slid into helmet to helmet contact, and a penalty was called that benefited his team.

The clock management at the end the half. Oh my. That was bad. 8 seconds left. One timeout. Mike didn’t want to go for it. That’s… incredibly lame. Gutless. 8 seconds and a timeout left. Dak was 15/20 at this point in the game. You need to take that shot, and not doing so is gutless. If you want to tell me “well maybe he didn’t trust Dak”, I get it, but I don’t think that is the case. And if it is the case, it doesn’t matter, because I think a coach needs to take that shot with any QB they are lining up under center at the moment. And yeah, we won by 3 points, but I don't believe I'm thinking too aggressively here.

The defense has issues. There are definitely holes to be addressed. That being said, it’s a good enough defense to win a championship. The pass rush can be ruthless at times, and Dan Quinn is a phenomenal talent scout. Look at guys like DaRon Bland and Marquese Bell. A defense that can rush the passer and create turnovers like this one can is a championship caliber defense.

When the team eventually sputters, it will be because of the offense. From what I’m seeing from this previous game, and this season overall, making the playoffs and eventually getting bounced by the 49ers in the Divisional round is probably in our future.

Mike McCarthy’s play calling is, oftentimes, bootycheeks. Bootycheeks. Part of me wants to blame this on Schottenheimer. I didn’t know why he was brought in when he was hired. I still don’t know. I remember a comment I saw from a Jets fan when Dallas hired him - "on purpose?"

Yes, I know. I am aware. I know Dak this, and Dak sucks, and Dak missed Ferguson down the seam, and Dak caused World War II, and we should start Lance.

But that doesn’t make McCarthy’s play calling any less cheekish. I would rather see Prescott end up with 350 yards, 3 TDs and 3 INTs by throwing the football down the field like a man, instead of all this going 28/37 and a TD. Know why? Because seeing the latter stat line means that if the defense didn’t have a stellar game, and maybe a takeaway for a TD, we didn’t win it.

Mike’s gameplan worked fine enough against the Chargers, who Chargered the game away, as they usually do. But against the big boys of NFL offenses - KC, SF, PHI - teams that can score a lot of points against good defenses like ours, the offense needs to be able to score points.

So what would I, with my average sized brain and-NFL-fan-who-posts-on-a-forum level of football knowledge like to see realistically happen? I believe a few changes are possible. Not likely, but possible.

1 - Lamb is the best player on offense right now. He needs like 10 targets a game. Or more. Why not? It is one of the few things that consistently works for this team. The run game is inconsistent. Dak is inconsistent. Gallup cosplays Houdini for stretches, and cannot get separation. Pollard is still returning to form. So we have Lamb, who is awesome. Cooks is really good. He has been his entire career. The ball needs to go to them more.

2 - Less Gallup, and more Turpin. Gallup is not getting separation. Turpin can with his speed alone. Cooks and Turpin both have the jets to stretch a defense.

3 - Creativity in general. Quick plays that are designed to get the ball into the hands of our biggest playmakers. More motion. More movement pre-snap. According to this tweet from John Owning, the Cowboys are currently below NFL average in motion. Why? Why are plays not being designed that make it just a little bit more tough on the defense?

4 - More Dowdle.

That's essentially it. What else can realistically be fixed right now? The OL needs to be better obviously. That will hopefully work itself out. We know what Dak is.

It's not all bad. I still have a little optimism. I don't know how much confidence to say I have in this team - I believe that they're a playoff team, one that is almost definitely capable of beating whoever they play in the Wildcard round. Can they win in the divisional, against Philadelphia or San Fransisco, away? Unsure with the former, and a definite no with the latter.

But, anything is possible. We saw the 2007 Giants. The 2012 Ravens. With a little magic, any playoff team can win a Championship.

So have faith. Is it technically possible for the Cowboys to go on a 2007 Giants-like tear and win the Super Bowl? Yes. Yes it is. And I will darn well cheer for them to do just that. It would be one of the best stories about Cowboys ever told, right behind Red Dead Redemption 2, but at least on the level of the 2010 True Grit.
Honestly, I skimmed through found your excellent Dak take, then I went back up to the top and read the entire post!! :flagwave:

The Story of this Season is yet to be written. Sad to say there will 40-50 more great and horrible narratives by December 31st.

Great Post!
 

GMO415

Well-Known Member
Messages
17,112
Reaction score
25,822
Your thoughts need an editor. I didn't make time to read it all. Way too long.
 

Whyjerry

Well-Known Member
Messages
16,313
Reaction score
25,229
I think Pollard looks slow. Just not sure if it’s the injury healing or if it’s permanent. He has lost a step though and that’s not good.
 

Bagman

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,576
Reaction score
2,227
I don’t usually start threads like this, but I’ll give it a whirl. I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, and now that I'm done it looks like I typed a lot.

Dallas leads the league in penalties. Some penalties can be pretty irritating, because they are totally avoidable. I don’t mean holding, or PI or whatever. Those happen, and are always annoying, but you expect them. I’m referring to the penalties like lining up in the neutral zone. Unnecessary roughness. These are completely unnecessary penalties that are the cause of playing undisciplined football. The coaches need to figure out some way to clean it up a bit. Maybe we can overcome 11 penalties against the Chargers. Can we against the Eagles in a few weeks?

The NFL does need to rework their rules regarding hitting a QB when he’s sliding. The refs called helmet to helmet on Kearse, but Herbert didn’t slide until Kearse was already in the process of making the tackle. It appeared to me that Herbert slid into helmet to helmet contact, and a penalty was called that benefited his team.

The clock management at the end the half. Oh my. That was bad. 8 seconds left. One timeout. Mike didn’t want to go for it. That’s… incredibly lame. Gutless. 8 seconds and a timeout left. Dak was 15/20 at this point in the game. You need to take that shot, and not doing so is gutless. If you want to tell me “well maybe he didn’t trust Dak”, I get it, but I don’t think that is the case. And if it is the case, it doesn’t matter, because I think a coach needs to take that shot with any QB they are lining up under center at the moment. And yeah, we won by 3 points, but I don't believe I'm thinking too aggressively here.

The defense has issues. There are definitely holes to be addressed. That being said, it’s a good enough defense to win a championship. The pass rush can be ruthless at times, and Dan Quinn is a phenomenal talent scout. Look at guys like DaRon Bland and Marquese Bell. A defense that can rush the passer and create turnovers like this one can is a championship caliber defense.

When the team eventually sputters, it will be because of the offense. From what I’m seeing from this previous game, and this season overall, making the playoffs and eventually getting bounced by the 49ers in the Divisional round is probably in our future.

Mike McCarthy’s play calling is, oftentimes, bootycheeks. Bootycheeks. Part of me wants to blame this on Schottenheimer. I didn’t know why he was brought in when he was hired. I still don’t know. I remember a comment I saw from a Jets fan when Dallas hired him - "on purpose?"

Yes, I know. I am aware. I know Dak this, and Dak sucks, and Dak missed Ferguson down the seam, and Dak caused World War II, and we should start Lance.

But that doesn’t make McCarthy’s play calling any less cheekish. I would rather see Prescott end up with 350 yards, 3 TDs and 3 INTs by throwing the football down the field like a man, instead of all this going 28/37 and a TD. Know why? Because seeing the latter stat line means that if the defense didn’t have a stellar game, and maybe a takeaway for a TD, we didn’t win it.

Mike’s gameplan worked fine enough against the Chargers, who Chargered the game away, as they usually do. But against the big boys of NFL offenses - KC, SF, PHI - teams that can score a lot of points against good defenses like ours, the offense needs to be able to score points.

So what would I, with my average sized brain and-NFL-fan-who-posts-on-a-forum level of football knowledge like to see realistically happen? I believe a few changes are possible. Not likely, but possible.

1 - Lamb is the best player on offense right now. He needs like 10 targets a game. Or more. Why not? It is one of the few things that consistently works for this team. The run game is inconsistent. Dak is inconsistent. Gallup cosplays Houdini for stretches, and cannot get separation. Pollard is still returning to form. So we have Lamb, who is awesome. Cooks is really good. He has been his entire career. The ball needs to go to them more.

2 - Less Gallup, and more Turpin. Gallup is not getting separation. Turpin can with his speed alone. Cooks and Turpin both have the jets to stretch a defense.

3 - Creativity in general. Quick plays that are designed to get the ball into the hands of our biggest playmakers. More motion. More movement pre-snap. According to this tweet from John Owning, the Cowboys are currently below NFL average in motion. Why? Why are plays not being designed that make it just a little bit more tough on the defense?

4 - More Dowdle.

That's essentially it. What else can realistically be fixed right now? The OL needs to be better obviously. That will hopefully work itself out. We know what Dak is.

It's not all bad. I still have a little optimism. I don't know how much confidence to say I have in this team - I believe that they're a playoff team, one that is almost definitely capable of beating whoever they play in the Wildcard round. Can they win in the divisional, against Philadelphia or San Fransisco, away? Unsure with the former, and a definite no with the latter.

But, anything is possible. We saw the 2007 Giants. The 2012 Ravens. With a little magic, any playoff team can win a Championship.

So have faith. Is it technically possible for the Cowboys to go on a 2007 Giants-like tear and win the Super Bowl? Yes. Yes it is. And I will darn well cheer for them to do just that. It would be one of the best stories about Cowboys ever told, right behind Red Dead Redemption 2, but at least on the level of the 2010 True Grit.
Great post. Agree on CeeDee, Cooks, Dowdle. I think Gallup should see the bench too. I want more Tolbert and Leupke. I think targets for all TE's in general should increase. Right now they're glorified blockers. By blocking only, they make opposing LB and S have a real easy time out there.
 

DoctorChicken

Well-Known Member
Messages
7,757
Reaction score
17,148
I think Pollard looks slow. Just not sure if it’s the injury healing or if it’s permanent. He has lost a step though and that’s not good.
I mean, his leg snapped in half 8 months ago. I know he's a professional athlete, but it takes more than 8 months for all the muscles/ligaments to heal completely.

He could be losing a step, but the OL's run blocking is not helping him at all.
 

Whyjerry

Well-Known Member
Messages
16,313
Reaction score
25,229
I mean, his leg snapped in half 8 months ago. I know he's a professional athlete, but it takes more than 8 months for all the muscles/ligaments to heal completely.

He could be losing a step, but the OL's run blocking is not helping him at all.
I totally agree. Something is not right yet and that OL has been terrible opening holes. I also think the running game scheme has been garbage. No runs outside the tackles. No delayed draws. It’s just straight up the guards backs. I don’t understand it.
 

DoctorChicken

Well-Known Member
Messages
7,757
Reaction score
17,148
I totally agree. Something is not right yet and that OL has been terrible opening holes. I also think the running game scheme has been garbage. No runs outside the tackles. No delayed draws. It’s just straight up the guards backs. I don’t understand it.

I want to blame it on Schottenheimer. But his offenses in Seattle had good rushing attacks.

A younger, more mobile Wilson and Marshawn Lynch could have covered up some deficiencies though.
 

DoctorChicken

Well-Known Member
Messages
7,757
Reaction score
17,148
Great post. Agree on CeeDee, Cooks, Dowdle. I think Gallup should see the bench too. I want more Tolbert and Leupke. I think targets for all TE's in general should increase. Right now they're glorified blockers. By blocking only, they make opposing LB and S have a real easy time out there.
I agree regarding Tolbert. In the limited snaps I’ve seen, he’s getting better separation than Gallup. I like Gallup, and he’s a very hard worker, but it’s obvious that the speed he used to have is gone.
 

Whyjerry

Well-Known Member
Messages
16,313
Reaction score
25,229
I want to blame it on Schottenheimer. But his offenses in Seattle had good rushing attacks.

A younger, more mobile Wilson and Marshawn Lynch could have covered up some deficiencies though.
There is a reason BS was a head coaching candidate years ago and no longer is. His last name keeps giving him chances but everywhere he goes it doesn’t go well.
 
Top