Norm Hitzges Rant about the Cowboys

[Quarterback Coach]

http://cumuluspodcasting.com/media/KTCK/KTCK109/KTCK_122208_1-Norm-Rant.mp3

WOW...seems like he has been reading this site...too bad it just took him 5 plus months to catch on

 

[Apollo Creed]

Where were you when Parcells quit on us? This same exact team btw with the exception of the rookies this year? Parcells had this same exact team and did no better than Wade. We have the same penalties as well.

I'm not a big fan of either coach, their polar opposite styles are exactly the wrong thing that I think this team needs.

With that said, BP made a bunch of average guys make a playoff run and play great defense with Quincy Carter at QB.

I'm watching another coach tell a talented underachieving that everything is okay all the time - that is not going to win championships.

 

[Quarterback Coach]

Radio Gold

 

[Givincer]

A radio personality being over-the-top? Who would've thought? :laugh2:

 

[Randy White]

is awsome...!

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

I'm not a big fan of either coach, their polar opposite styles are exactly the wrong thing that I think this team needs.

With that said, BP made a bunch of average guys make a playoff run and play great defense with Quincy Carter at QB.

I'm watching another coach tell a talented underachieving that everything is okay all the time - that is not going to win championships.

I disagree. I mean I agree with you on that Parcells got guys to overachieve but I think the same can be said for Wade last season when we went 13-3. I Think that's just how it is when you get a new coach. Everyone wants to prove that all they needed from the get go was a new coach so they play over their heads.

With the 10-6 Cowboys it wasn't that the defense was great. It was that teams didn't fear us enough on offense to bring in any difficult gameplans. The gameplan to beat the Cowboys was to play a conservative game. Sort of like teams are doing against the Dolphins now. The Cowboys weren't going to murder you on the ground or the passing game so teams played us conservative which in result gave us great defensive stats except where it counted like the sacks and turnover department.

Fact is, we didn't do squat when Parcells was here before he quit on us and with Phillips.....the jury is still out. He's in his second year and thus far the season isn't over with. Even in his one season he got us further than Parcells did. Atleast we got a bye.

I'm done trying to figure out what type of coach this team needs. I don't care anymore. I don't care if he's a softy or a mean so of a ..........I just want a great coach. And with Parcells the game had passed him by. He was no longer a great coach. And while I won't consider Phillips a great coach I will say he's nothing short of a defensive mastermind because this defense was pitiful before he got his hands on it.

 

[VCDefectors]

When Norm is right, he is right. The 2008 Cowboys are a sloppy football team and the sloppiness starts at the very top. The stuff that Norm rants about is not just about a soft coaching staff, but also an environment that is not conducive to winning. Jerry Jones needs to do something about the star mentality that permeates this football team. It's disgusting to watch these current players yammer on week after week about how good they think they are, when they haven't accomplished squat.

 

[pancakeman]

Thanks for the recap.

 

[Oldschool7]

It all goes back to the Switzer-Deion days.

Who needs film. Who needs to practice. Tackling is a poor business decision.

It's been the same thing over and over and over again.

It's in the DNA of Valley Ranch because it starts at the top.

 

[Randy White]

He is annoying. I live outside the Dallas area so the first time I heard him was in 1995 (the year we beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl). He was a weekly guest on a show in Virginia Beach and all he did was talk about how bad the Cowboys were. He was wrong. He does the same stuff now. If you say something enough you will eventually be right.

Actually, Norm was right. I just finished reading the book Boys will be Boys and Darren Woodson was saying that the team was terrible. Undisciplined, unfocus, selfish, old, and out of shape. Drugs and partying had taken away most of the edge of the team. Barry Switzer was exactly what Randy Galloway was calling him, ISP ( Insignificant Sideline Personel ) and wouldn't get to Valley Ranch until well after 9:00 am and practice had started. He was clueless during the week and even more on Sundays. Their winning was a testament to their talent, timing, and in some cases: sheer luck. They didn't have to face the 49ers in the playoffs, the Eagles, despite their record, weren't that good, and the Packers were too young and inexperienced in big games.

 

[CliffnDallas]

Norm looks like a rat.

 

[WoodysGirl]

How were we bad in the first half? Dont we score most of our points in the 2nd qtr? Didnt we do that last year too?


It has something to do with the offense using strategy and setting things up to me.

I seem to recall the team being more of a 2nd half squad. For some reason, the team always started off slow, and then they'd seem to get it going in the 3rd quarter.

Too lazy to look it up to confirm, but that's always but I remember that always being my frustration with last year.

 

[jgboys1]

Recap:

Dumb football team. Penalties, stupid penalties, that haven't gone away in years. Its a discipline problem.

Special teams is terrible. Something must be done following this year.

Careless QB. Gunslingers get shot dead on main street (dumb analogy). Ridiculed him for the interception, and how he justified it being a punt. We netted 14 yards on it.

Team should be called the Dallas Resume's. No one has a playoff victory, team full of overhyped losers. Team needs to be told that, Wade fails to humble them.

Questioned how hard they worked, said Baltimore outworks them. Ravens had 18 people on injured received. Mason played with one arm. Rolle was banged up.

Team doesn't discipline itself on penalties, special teams. Doesn't run sharp routes, etc. Norm wondered how many times we've 'thrown up balls' and had our guys to make plays. And how many times we've thrown it up and been intercepted.

Problem is execution. McGahee run was embarrassing, guys got blown off the ball.

Cowboys fans have a reason to be mad. Guys can't get snap count right in week 16. Guys can't run proper routes. Just a sloppy team overall. Focus, discipline, and leadership at QB is all sloppy.

Nothing we haven't heard, but just good to hear someone say it.

That is the KEY right there. Wades always telling them how great they are. If they win this Sunday, he will tell the guys how they just won there first "playoff " game in 12 years.

 

[TwoDeep3]

Recap:

Dumb football team. Penalties, stupid penalties, that haven't gone away in years. Its a discipline problem.

Special teams is terrible. Something must be done following this year.

Careless QB. Gunslingers get shot dead on main street (dumb analogy). Ridiculed him for the interception, and how he justified it being a punt. We netted 14 yards on it.

Team should be called the Dallas Resume's. No one has a playoff victory, team full of overhyped losers. Team needs to be told that, Wade fails to humble them.

Questioned how hard they worked, said Baltimore outworks them. Ravens had 18 people on injured received. Mason played with one arm. Rolle was banged up.

Team doesn't discipline itself on penalties, special teams. Doesn't run sharp routes, etc. Norm wondered how many times we've 'thrown up balls' and had our guys to make plays. And how many times we've thrown it up and been intercepted.

Problem is execution. McGahee run was embarrassing, guys got blown off the ball.

Cowboys fans have a reason to be mad. Guys can't get snap count right in week 16. Guys can't run proper routes. Just a sloppy team overall. Focus, discipline, and leadership at QB is all sloppy.

Nothing we haven't heard, but just good to hear someone say it.

So where in these comments is he telling a lie or exaggerating?

The penalties haven't gone away in years. This is undisciplined at best. Stupid at worst. But what Norm says is the truth here.

If anyone can actually say with a straight face that this special teams is anything but special ed, please step forward. It reeks, and we all know it.

Romo is EXACTLY what Norm said. A gunslinger. Both picks in the Raven's game were desperation throws. Argue all you want if they cost the team points. But this is emblematic of Romo's mindset when he tosses it up for grabs. This is my biggest complaint about him. He has done this all year.

If they ain't open Tony, throw it away.

Overhyped losers seems like a tough moniker, but it fits. There is no firebrand player that galvanizes the team like Irvin did. This is a bunch of talented players that are not a team. They are individuals.

Back to Romo's decision making. Sharp routes or quarterback's mental aspect, this team lacks discipline.

I understand that when you play man-up, that a running play has the potential of going to the house. But two plays in a row setting records for the longest in Texas Stadium history?

At some point you have to want to tackle.

The leadership is sloppy. That is a fact. From Romo to wade to the waterboy, this is a sloppy team of undisciplined players.

One last point. I have been watching this team for every season they have been around.

If anyone thinks they will magically turn it on now and make a run, please check last season.

Or several during the 90's when they stumbled and fell.

Or several during the 80's when they sputtered and failed.

Or quite a few in the 70's. What is missed about the 70's is this team played down to its opponent. We made the Super Bowl and won two that decade.

But there were weeks in most years where this team would stutter and need Roger to do something miraculous at the end of the game to win.

There are quite a few people who remember Jackie Smith. He is a villian amongst most because he dropped a pass for a TD in a Super Bowl against the Steelers.

What most don't know is a story told by Charlie Waters.

Dallas had been cruising that year and had a record of 6 and 4 after losing to the Dolphins on Nov 5th 1978. Jackie Smith called a players only meeting.

In the meeting he told the team that he had played exclusively for the Cardinals who never won, but he noticed something about the Cowboys. They didn't practice hard and were just going through the motions.

He told them they weren't that good and that they would need to start playing and practicing like they wanted to win or they would miss the play-offs.

Dallas ran the table the rest of the year all the way to the Super Bowl.

The team we are watching has the same problems. Undisciplined and out of sync. They will not go anywhere because the die is cast for them.

Injuries, bad back-up, it doesn't matter. This team is soft and lacks the killer instinct to win. It shows on the field and has done so all year.

There will be no miraculous reversal of fortune with this version of the Dallas Cowboys. They don't have the guts to make that so.

 

[rcaldw]

Now, as I think back on it, could there be any more of an indication of Wade's mindset than when he said this team had won a playoff game because they earned a bye week? If that isn't trying to artificially get over a psychological hurdle then I don't know what is, and it points to weakness.

 

[bbgun]

Team should be called the Dallas Resume's. No one has a playoff victory, team full of overhyped losers.

This was the most damning indictment in his so-called "rant." What's happened in Dallas is that players enjoy a celebrity status that far exceeds their accomplishments. And frankly, I don't think this helps players perform better. The focal point of any NFL franchise should be football. But these teams spend so much time marketing their product that guys become famous just by being on the team. They don't have to accomplish a damn thing. Hell, Wade was in a national Pepsi commercial before he even coached one game. And don't even get me started on publicity ***** Jerry hamming it up on camera. The Cowboys haven't won a playoff game in more than a decade. How successful a club are they, really? Here's what they're successful at: making money. Exhibit A is the "What Dallas stuff did you get for Christmas?" thread. No playoff wins, but plenty of dough to line Jerry's and the NFL's pockets.

 

[Alexander]

This was the most damning indictment in his so-called "rant." What's happened in Dallas is that players enjoy a celebrity status that far exceeds their accomplishments. And frankly, I don't think this helps players perform better. The focal point of any NFL franchise should be football. But these teams spend so much time marketing their product that guys become famous just by being on the team. They don't have to accomplish a damn thing. Hell, Wade was in a national Pepsi commercial before he even coached one game. And don't even get me started on publicity ***** Jerry hamming it up on camera. The Cowboys haven't won a playoff game in more than a decade. How successful a club are they, really? Here's what they're successful at: making money. Exhibit A is the "What Dallas stuff did you get for Christmas?" thread. No playoff wins, but plenty of dough to line Jerry's and the NFL's pockets.

I agree. I think there are a lot of satisfied players on this roster who are happy to just be "Cowboys". That alone entitles them to royalty status in the city of Dallas.

 

[Da Hammer]

to be honest his rant is stuff i and others have been saying for a long while now...

 

[links18]

So where in these comments is he telling a lie or exaggerating?

The penalties haven't gone away in years. This is undisciplined at best. Stupid at worst. But what Norm says is the truth here.

If anyone can actually say with a straight face that this special teams is anything but special ed, please step forward. It reeks, and we all know it.

Romo is EXACTLY what Norm said. A gunslinger. Both picks in the Raven's game were desperation throws. Argue all you want if they cost the team points. But this is emblematic of Romo's mindset when he tosses it up for grabs. This is my biggest complaint about him. He has done this all year.

If they ain't open Tony, throw it away.

Overhyped losers seems like a tough moniker, but it fits. There is no firebrand player that galvanizes the team like Irvin did. This is a bunch of talented players that are not a team. They are individuals.

Back to Romo's decision making. Sharp routes or quarterback's mental aspect, this team lacks discipline.

I understand that when you play man-up, that a running play has the potential of going to the house. But two plays in a row setting records for the longest in Texas Stadium history?

At some point you have to want to tackle.

The leadership is sloppy. That is a fact. From Romo to wade to the waterboy, this is a sloppy team of undisciplined players.

One last point. I have been watching this team for every season they have been around.

If anyone thinks they will magically turn it on now and make a run, please check last season.

Or several during the 90's when they stumbled and fell.

Or several during the 80's when they sputtered and failed.

Or quite a few in the 70's. What is missed about the 70's is this team played down to its opponent. We made the Super Bowl and won two that decade.

But there were weeks in most years where this team would stutter and need Roger to do something miraculous at the end of the game to win.

There are quite a few people who remember Jackie Smith. He is a villian amongst most because he dropped a pass for a TD in a Super Bowl against the Steelers.

What most don't know is a story told by Charlie Waters.

Dallas had been cruising that year and had a record of 6 and 4 after losing to the Dolphins on Nov 5th 1978. Jackie Smith called a players only meeting.

In the meeting he told the team that he had played exclusively for the Cardinals who never won, but he noticed something about the Cowboys. They didn't practice hard and were just going through the motions.

He told them they weren't that good and that they would need to start playing and practicing like they wanted to win or they would miss the play-offs.

Dallas ran the table the rest of the year all the way to the Super Bowl.

The team we are watching has the same problems. Undisciplined and out of sync. They will not go anywhere because the die is cast for them.

Injuries, bad back-up, it doesn't matter. This team is soft and lacks the killer instinct to win. It shows on the field and has done so all year.

There will be no miraculous reversal of fortune with this version of the Dallas Cowboys. They don't have the guts to make that so.

The most damning thing about those 2 runs in the Ravens game was that we didn't need to throw them for a loss, we just needed to prevent them from getting a first down. Yet, on both plays guys were running past blocks into the backfield looking for the highlight reel "tackle for a loss," when all they needed to do was keep the guy in front of them and tackle him. The Ravens were content to run 3 plays and punt, but the individuals on this team broke ranks and went after the big play. There's a condemnation of the coaches here too, because they had the chance to correct that after the first play, but it didn't happen.

Of course, Roy Williams did the same thing in the 2006 playoff game in Seattle, following Romo's bobble. We had them backed up on their goal line with plenty of time to get the ball back and get in field goal range, yet he gives up his gap responsibility runs into the backfield and Shaun Alexander busts it for a huge play and a first down.

That's poor game situation recognition, lack of discipline, lack of intelligence and poor coaching wrapped into a couple of plays.

 

[theebs]

I seem to recall the team being more of a 2nd half squad. For some reason, the team always started off slow, and then they'd seem to get it going in the 3rd quarter.

Too lazy to look it up to confirm, but that's always but I remember that always being my frustration with last year.

2007 Dallas Cowboys Score by qtr

1st Quarter = 61 pts.

2nd Quarter = 147 pts.

3rd Quarter = 117 Pts.

4th Quarter = 130 pts.

2008 Dallas Cowboys Score by Qtr.

1st Quarter = 69 pts.

2nd Quarter = 107 pts.

3rd Quarter = 62 Pts.

4th Quarter = 108 pts.