Norm claiming 8-3 is about as bad as we could've been

[theogt]

Given exactly how this team has played, 8-3 is the worst this team could have been.

Given exactly how this team has played, 8-3 is the best this team could have been.

In other words, you record is what it is, because it is.

 

[Section446]

I won't lie, if you would have told me at the start of the season that we'd be 8-3 going into December I would have told you that you were crazy.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I had us going 9-7 this year, but most non-Cowboys fans saw differently and kept saying how we lost 44-6 last year to the Eagles. They even kept mentioning that right up until we actually beat the Eagles at Philly. It was unbelievably annoying. And remember, we couldn't win w/o Owens (I thought he was a huge loss) and pretty much the entire team was overrated. Almost nobody, outside of Cowboys fans, predicted Dallas to finish better than NYG and Philly.

But, let's take a look at our opponents so far.

Tampa, KC, and Oakland were supposed to suck and do indeed suck (although KC is probably more or less mediocre and I think will be a tough team to beat in December). Denver was supposed to suck and actually came away with a great defense and is 7-4. And I think if you told us that Denver would wind up having arguably the best defense in the NFL, we would probably agree that they would be automatic to make the playoffs.

Seattle, Green Bay and Washington were all 'iffy' teams coming into the season as predicted by the experts. I think the majority of predictions had Green Bay making the playoffs as a wild card and they appear to be on that pace. Washington was the team 'to watch out for' because they once against made the big FA splash in Haynesworth. I predicted them to go 6-10 because Haynesworth wasn't going to solve their problems on offense.

NYG, Carolina, Atlanta and Philly were considered all SB contenders especially NYG who was considered 'loaded' with talent. Carolina came off a 11-5 season and Atlanta had Matt Ryan. Plus, Philly got their annual 'Donovan McNabb is all things holy and great' hype that they get each year.

At *best*, I think the 'experts' had us at 6-5 and it was more like anywhere from 3-8 to 5-6 right now.

Remember, we supposedly had this horrendous draft where Jerry was dumb enough to draft some kicker and let Chris Canty go and only signed FA's who will have little impact in Sensabaugh, Brooking and Olshansky.




YAKUZA

 

[percyhoward]

I don't know if this has anything to do with Norm's point, (After all, his job is to come up with a polarizing issue even when there isn't one) but there is something different about this team (2008-09).

We win all the games we're supposed to, and are worse than average (for teams with records similar to ours) when we play top teams, and especially when we play against top defenses.

Numbers don't lie.

On average, a playoff caliber team will lose a couple of games to a bad team sometime during the year. We hardly ever do that. On average, the playoff caliber teams this year have managed to win 2 out of 3 against top 7 defenses. We don't do that either.

It's a trend worth investigating.

 

[Everlastingxxx]

This season has broken down exactly how i thought. 4-1 first 5 games, 4-2 middle games. (i posted this before the start of the season) I just wasnt sure about the final 5. I think 3-2 wins the division (comes down to the final Philly game) or 2-3 gets a possible wildcard...or maybe not? I think when you looked at the schedule, the first 2/3 of the season was much easier. (i think that’s what Norm was trying to say?) Every year the past few seasons we have felt fat and happy after Thanksgiving...December will decide if these Cowboys are the real-deal.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

This season has broken down exactly how i thought. 4-1 first 5 games, 4-2 middle games. (i posted this before the start of the season) I just wasnt sure about the final 5. I think 3-2 wins the division (comes down to the final Philly game) or 2-3 gets a possible wildcard...or maybe not? I think when you looked at the schedule, the first 2/3 of the season was much easier. (i think that’s what Norm was trying to say?) Every year the past few seasons we have felt fat and happy after Thanksgiving...December will decide if these Cowboys are the real-deal.

I actually like the fact that we have a bunch of heavy hitters(Eagles, Giants Saints, Chargers) down the stretch. We will endure and ascend or we will go Icarus again.

 

[DFWJC]

Norm...worst voice in all of sports. lol

 

[Big Dakota]

Norm is out of his mind. 8-3 is a bad thing? 1st in the NFC East with a 2 game lead over the Giants is a bad thing?

Norm went over the deep end months ago. Last couple years he's been crazy.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

Norm...worst voice in all of sports. lol

I like listening to The Ticket, but Norm's opinions are most often stupid and that voice just intensifies the negative experience. I can't listen to him...

 

[dallascowboyfanboy]

Norm...worst voice in all of sports. lol

+ worst face.

 

[AdamJT13]

I had us going 9-7 this year, but most non-Cowboys fans saw differently and kept saying how we lost 44-6 last year to the Eagles. They even kept mentioning that right up until we actually beat the Eagles at Philly. It was unbelievably annoying. And remember, we couldn't win w/o Owens (I thought he was a huge loss) and pretty much the entire team was overrated. Almost nobody, outside of Cowboys fans, predicted Dallas to finish better than NYG and Philly.

But, let's take a look at our opponents so far.

Tampa, KC, and Oakland were supposed to suck and do indeed suck (although KC is probably more or less mediocre and I think will be a tough team to beat in December). Denver was supposed to suck and actually came away with a great defense and is 7-4. And I think if you told us that Denver would wind up having arguably the best defense in the NFL, we would probably agree that they would be automatic to make the playoffs.

Seattle, Green Bay and Washington were all 'iffy' teams coming into the season as predicted by the experts. I think the majority of predictions had Green Bay making the playoffs as a wild card and they appear to be on that pace. Washington was the team 'to watch out for' because they once against made the big FA splash in Haynesworth. I predicted them to go 6-10 because Haynesworth wasn't going to solve their problems on offense.

NYG, Carolina, Atlanta and Philly were considered all SB contenders especially NYG who was considered 'loaded' with talent. Carolina came off a 11-5 season and Atlanta had Matt Ryan. Plus, Philly got their annual 'Donovan McNabb is all things holy and great' hype that they get each year.

At *best*, I think the 'experts' had us at 6-5 and it was more like anywhere from 3-8 to 5-6 right now.

If you based it strictly on ESPN's rankings before Week 1, we were expected to be 5-6 right now. We were ranked 17th, behind the Giants (3), Eagles (4), Falcons (8), Packers (12), Panthers (14) and Seahawks (15) but ahead of the Commanders (20), Bucs (26), Broncos (27), Chiefs (29) and Raiders (30).

By the way, they had the Saints ranked 18th and the Colts sixth.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/powerrankings/_/week/1

 

[BehindEnemyLinez]

This team's pretty much on the pace I predicted in the offseason. I figured them to be an 12-4 or 11-5 squad w/ a good chance of winning the East. I never understood how all these "professional" analysts saw Dallas as 7-9 or 8-8 (hell, 9-7)! They still have a murderers' row schedule to end the season but 3-2 shouldn't be outta the question and imo the worst this team should do, barring more injuries. There isn't enough crow to serve up to all of those counting on the Boys' downfall this season!!

 

[Hypnotoad]

http://i846.***BLOCKED***/albums/ab23/SirHypnotoad/Cowboys/2009/7e694be4.gif

 

[ThreeSportStar80]

I think Dallas gave away two games... Giants and Broncos are the two that stick out in my head.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

He's basically saying that looking back at it, this is about as bad as we could've been at this point. It's the same old game that when we're getting ready to play a solid team -- like, say, Atlanta -- it's a big game against a good team and it'll be a real indication of what kind of team we have.

Then after we've beaten them, well of course we should've beaten that scrub team, because they weren't really any good.

This wears me out as much as anything. Going into the season, a lot of pundits picked us to be very average, or even to fall completely apart. Remember that? Remember when 44-6 was an indication of how rudderless, gutless, and overrated this team was? But now in hindsight, oh, of course this team should've whipped those teams because they're clearly much better.

No, you can't have it that way. These players and coaches weren't gifted the games they won -- they had to go out and work their tails off and execute well enough on gameday to win.

Please don't anyone bother with the "Why do you get upset about what the media say" stuff, because I promise that this isn't keeping me up at night. Just pointing out a way of thinking that I don't think makes any sense, and almost everyone in the media does it.

This is the typical, standard, regular answers for people in the media when they're wrong. All these people picked us to be 8-8, at best, this season and now that we've already got 8 wins, and it looks like we'll probably get to at least 10 wins they're all scrambling to try and justify why they said 8-8.

It's as annoying, and silly, as those folks who said we were stupid for getting rid of TO and how it would kill us and how he was our entire offense then turned right around and said we'd be 8-8 without him. So what you're telling me is he's so important to this team that with him we're 9-7 but without him we're so terrible we'll be 8-8? Come on.

You have to ignore people like that and silly things like this.

 

[The30YardSlant]

He has a point. Tampa Bay, Carolina, Kansas City, Seattle, Washington and Oakland are all subpar/bad/terrible teams this year, and of those teams only Carolina was expected to be good before the season started. Our only two quality wins are Atlanta and Philly, and Atlanta has been in a nosedive since we played them.

We still have a lot to prove, and it starts next week.

 

[AdamJT13]

He has a point. Tampa Bay, Carolina, Kansas City, Seattle, Washington and Oakland are all subpar/bad/terrible teams this year

That doesn't mean they're automatic wins. Those teams have beaten Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Arizona, Atlanta, Green Bay and Denver this season.

 

[theebs]

He's basically saying that looking back at it, this is about as bad as we could've been at this point. It's the same old game that when we're getting ready to play a solid team -- like, say, Atlanta -- it's a big game against a good team and it'll be a real indication of what kind of team we have.

Then after we've beaten them, well of course we should've beaten that scrub team, because they weren't really any good.

This wears me out as much as anything. Going into the season, a lot of pundits picked us to be very average, or even to fall completely apart. Remember that? Remember when 44-6 was an indication of how rudderless, gutless, and overrated this team was? But now in hindsight, oh, of course this team should've whipped those teams because they're clearly much better.

No, you can't have it that way. These players and coaches weren't gifted the games they won -- they had to go out and work their tails off and execute well enough on gameday to win.

Please don't anyone bother with the "Why do you get upset about what the media say" stuff, because I promise that this isn't keeping me up at night. Just pointing out a way of thinking that I don't think makes any sense, and almost everyone in the media does it.

Amen Cl.

I dont get it either. It makes me insane hearing the same people say this team stinks from january till august, then when we beat carolina its not by enough.

it makes zero sense and it is ridiculous.

atlanta was 4-1 when we played them. they have a bunch of bad teams coming up, by the end they could still be a 10 win team.

 

[The30YardSlant]

That doesn't mean they're automatic wins. Those teams have beaten Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Arizona, Atlanta, Green Bay and Denver this season.

No, but it means that we, as the fans of a supposed contender, should expect to beat them

 

[sonnyboy]

That doesn't mean they're automatic wins. Those teams have beaten Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Arizona, Atlanta, Green Bay and Denver this season.

Exactly!

We're are a quality 8-3 team for at least two reasons that I'll touch on.

1) Our schedule played to this point. It's not just who you play, but when you play them.
2) We have not won a game we "should have lost" and only won one that just as easily could have been a loss (KC). Yet we have not been smoked by anyone. Pack deserved to beat us, but we lost 2 games on the final play.

Back to our schedule:

TB sucks now and sucked when we played them week one.
NYG are in free fall but did get off 5-0. So they were hot when we played them.
CAR is mediocre now and when we played them.
Denver also was hot at the time we lost to them. 6-0 Star I think.
KC This win will look better by seasons end but truth be told, they sucked when we played them.
Atlanta was 4-1 prior to our game. This is a quality win.
Seattle sucked then and now.
Phila is highest quality win of the season by far. They were hot when we played them for sure. They also had a lot of confidence coming into our game. This game clearly demonstrated we could beat a quality team on the road.
GB I follow the Pack closely so I know them better than most teams. They were a good 4-4 heading into our game. After they beat us, I was certain they'd get on a run and contend for the post-season. 2-0 since.
WAS sucks and we sucked that day for letting the game come down to the wire.
Oak sucks but we did what we were supposed to.