Not Going To Convince You

[rcaldw]

I know as I write this that most of us here are pretty dug into our positions and won't be changed. So I don't write this to convince you. I guess it is just the desire to express it.

The Cowboys are now 4-5. They are a FG and a fingertip away from 6-3. They have done this with the toughest schedule in the NFL before yesterday, they have done this with crucial injuries and with a roster that is still not deep enough to absorb all of them (Lee, Church, Murray, etc.). I believe they will be 6-5 after two more games, and by that time may well be tied for the NFC East lead. (Packers play the Giants this next weekend)

It has been ugly for most of the year, I grant you that. But I suppose I'm in the minority when I see what I think I see. What do I see?

*I see a team that plays from the first whistle to the last.
*I see a team that is getting rid of malcontents and building on some pretty strong personalities.
*I see a team with some budding young players (Carter, Lee, Smith, Claiborne)

**I also see a team that has ONE BIG ISSUE. The OFFENSIVE LINE. It is effecting everything. It makes it difficult to run the ball most days, it makes it difficult to protect the passer most days.

**Out of the offensive line, I see one big glaring stiff for this season, Doug Free. He has just been terrible.

But my point is a simple one, and not a new one for me.

Jason Garrett is in his 2nd year, and despite all the folks ready to jump off the ledge around here, I see a positive course, and I believe a good outcome in the future.

Beat Cleveland this week. Get Murray back. Washington at home for Thanksgiving. One at a time, nothing is a gimme, but we could be 6-5 and right back in the lead. Just sayin.

 

[Miller]

I didn't see a positive out of Garrett yesterday. In fact I thought his play calling for the situation they were in was abysmal. I thought they won despite the guy and his ABC, vanilla offense.

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

All True.

And most, if not all want to believe.

But, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

We have been here before . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

[Cowboys22]

There's not much to argue about with what you said but the fact remains they are 4-5 and thats not very good. You are what you are. Good teams make the play at the end to win the game. Average teams miss the field goal or come down with their fingertips on the line and lose the game. Yes, this team could go on a run but does anyone really think they will? After Thanksgiving comes December, and we all know what happens then. Dallas can't win and the Giants can't lose. Hopefully, they break that curse this year, but I am not holding my breath.

 

[jayhouston12]

Like i've said before 4-5 is better than 3-6. For once we played a team that imploded in the 4th quarter and it was not us. anyways, this team is still far from playoff contention because they are inconsistant.

Can this team go on a run to close the season? Yes, will they? No, why? We are not discipline enough to do that, we are no consistant, as good as we may have looked in all phases against philly is how bad we could look against cleveland

 

[CATCH17]

Jason Garrett is terrible.

He'll save himself though if he ever figures out how dangerous Romo could be in a New England style of pace offense.

Ole Jason doesn't adjust though and we'll just keep it nice and lethargic.

 

[CATCH17]

Like i've said before 4-5 is better than 3-6. For once we played a team that imploded in the 4th quarter and it was not us. anyways, this team is still far from playoff contention because they are inconsistant.

Can this team go on a run to close the season? Yes, will they? No, why? We are not discipline enough to do that, we are no consistant, as good as we may have looked in all phases against philly is how bad we could look against cleveland

We'll win against Cleveland and Washington.

This is the time of the year the Cowboys usually PEAK. They'll do their collapse bit after the they come back from their long rest period.

 

[AMERICAS_FAN]

I know as I write this that most of us here are pretty dug into our positions and won't be changed. So I don't write this to convince you. I guess it is just the desire to express it.

The Cowboys are now 4-5. They are a FG and a fingertip away from 6-3. They have done this with the toughest schedule in the NFL before yesterday, they have done this with crucial injuries and with a roster that is still not deep enough to absorb all of them (Lee, Church, Murray, etc.). I believe they will be 6-5 after two more games, and by that time may well be tied for the NFC East lead. (Packers play the Giants this next weekend)

It has been ugly for most of the year, I grant you that. But I suppose I'm in the minority when I see what I think I see. What do I see?

*I see a team that plays from the first whistle to the last.
*I see a team that is getting rid of malcontents and building on some pretty strong personalities.
*I see a team with some budding young players (Carter, Lee, Smith, Claiborne)

**I also see a team that has ONE BIG ISSUE. The OFFENSIVE LINE. It is effecting everything. It makes it difficult to run the ball most days, it makes it difficult to protect the passer most days.

**Out of the offensive line, I see one big glaring stiff for this season, Doug Free. He has just been terrible.

But my point is a simple one, and not a new one for me.

Jason Garrett is in his 2nd year, and despite all the folks ready to jump off the ledge around here, I see a positive course, and I believe a good outcome in the future.

Beat Cleveland this week. Get Murray back. Washington at home for Thanksgiving. One at a time, nothing is a gimme, but we could be 6-5 and right back in the lead. Just sayin.

Very honest post.

My feelings are bitter-sweet. The FG and a fingertip away from being 6-3 is the same kind of thing that kept them out of the playoffs last year.

So while I csn see them wining the next 2 I can also see them losing them.

Yes, the OL is the achiles heal. If Free keeps this up then Kowalski may see the filed soon. Is there any chance Costa makes it back on the filed this year? With Costa at C and Kowalski at RT this OL can be improved (not great but better than it ever was this year).

I have no issie with Garrett other than his in-game management. With time this will imprve as he learns on the job.

But given Garret's limited expereince, I think he's in over his head trying to do 2 jobs on the gameday fileld whaich has trnspired in coaching errors in situatonal-football momnets that have cost us games. This happned last year, which i found understandable; that it has not been corrected and has repeated itself this year, I find unacceptable.

That has to stop, and if that means Garrett needs to give up some play caling duties then I would hope the head coach in him will consider this and delegate some of those duties as necessary.

That is ALSO part of the process.

 

[jayhouston12]

We'll win against Cleveland and Washington.

This is the time of the year the Cowboys usually PEAK. They'll do their collapse bit after the they come back from their long rest period.

this is what scares me

why can't the cowboys close out like champs? the 2009 squad was the only team in recent memory to dominate in december when they needed wins

 

[Oh_Canada]

I believe this team has the talent.

I believe they have more heart than in year's past.

I believe in the QB even though he drives me bonkers at times.

I have lost faith in the coach.

Careless false starts, myriad of other dumb penalties, slow offensive pace and strange playcalling still plague this team.

Not sure how it plays out, but they HAVE to win these two games or not only will the team miss the playoffs, the head coach should be dismissed as well.

 

[JerryFan]

Very honest post.

My feelings are bitter-sweet. The FG and a fingertip away from being 6-3 is the same kind of thing that kept them out of the playoffs last year.

So while I csn see them wining the next 2 I can also see them losing them.

Yes, the OL is the achiles heal. If Free keeps this up then Kowalski may see the filed soon. Is there any chance Costa makes it back on the filed this year? With Costa at C and Kowalski at RT this OL can be improved (not great but better than it ever was this year).

I have no issie with Garrett other than his in-game management. With time this will imprve as he learns on the job.

But given Garret's limited expereince, I think he's in over his head trying to do 2 jobs on the gameday fileld whaich has trnspired in coaching errors in situatonal-football momnets that have cost us games. This happned last year, which i found understandable; that it has not been corrected and has repeated itself this year, I find unacceptable.

That has to stop, and if that means Garrett needs to give up some play caling duties then I would hope the head coach in him will consider this and delegate some of those duties as necessary.

That is ALSO part of the process.

Not sure why you think Kowalski will play RT. He is a C/G. Parnell would be the guy who would come in for Free.

 

[tecolote]

Great post, I too think we could make a run and agree with you about the roster.

But here's the thing, we should be 6-3, not because of a fingertip and a fg, we lost those games because we had terrible coaching. A semi conpetent coach wins those games.

Garrett already cost us 2 games his year, two games in the NFL is the difference between winning the division and going home for the playoffs.

 

[JohnnyHopkins]

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. One thing I have noticed about Garrett is that he is not the Jimmy Johnson or Bill Parcells motivating type, but more of a strategist that needs the right pieces in place to run things effectively. He almost seems to be like a Norv Turner type. Great offensive mind, but not going to make lemonade out of lemons. What I hope (and even think), is that he might know this and it is why he is adding players that have the qualities that he knows will fit his system. Norv has sometimes not been able to see this flaw in himself imo, so that is a major plus.

There is no doubt that he is lacking some of those pieces now, especially along that O-line and receiver position. I think he will get this next off-season to keep remaking this roster unless Sean Payton comes knocking. I also strongly feel that this team will be a much, much better Cowboys squad next year.

Honestly, I think the coaches knew they were a season away with that O-line, but you can't come out and say that when you are trying to sell tickets.

 

[Jarv]

Not sure why you think Kowalski will play RT. He is a C/G. Parnell would be the guy who would come in for Free.

Put Killer at center and move Cook to RT.

 

[cowboyskid29]

Jason Garrett is terrible.

He'll save himself though if he ever figures out how dangerous Romo could be in a New England style of pace offense.

Ole Jason doesn't adjust though and we'll just keep it nice and lethargic.

This drove me crazy yesterday. They didn't run a hurry up offense the entire game, and when it was obvious the eagles pass rush were teeing off, our receivers were running these routes that take forever to develop. I support Garrett as a head coach, but lost all confidence in him as a play caller yesterday.

 

[JerryFan]

This drove me crazy yesterday. They didn't run a hurry up offense the entire game, and when it was obvious the eagles pass rush were teeing off, our receivers were running these routes that take forever to develop. I support Garrett as a head coach, but lost all confidence in him as a play caller yesterday.

This is what I think also. I think bringing in Norv was make us a really tough O and Romo would have one of his best seasons with Norv as OCord.

 

[rickjameschinaclub]

My feelings are bitter-sweet. The FG and a fingertip away from being 6-3 is the same kind of thing that kept them out of the playoffs last year.

Don't forget we barely beat Tampa when they were playing absolutely horrible as well as the Panthers. Just like you claim we can be 6-3, we could just as easily be 2-7. We lost to a Giants team that just got destroyed by Bengals.

This right here, is the same old Cowboys.

 

[fifaguy]

Like i've said before 4-5 is better than 3-6. For once we played a team that imploded in the 4th quarter and it was not us. anyways, this team is still far from playoff contention because they are inconsistant.

Can this team go on a run to close the season? Yes, will they? No, why? We are not discipline enough to do that, we are no consistant, as good as we may have looked in all phases against philly is how bad we could look against cleveland

you're not going to win many games when (as per yesterday) you get almost as many penalties (13) as first downs (14). yesterday was an improvement in some areas, but there's still a long way to go...

 

[Zimmy Lives]

I did not have the opportunity to watch the game until late last night and two things stood out more than anything: Both the o-line and the d-line did not play well enough to help this team make a run for the playoffs.

The d-line should have had a field day with the Iggles o-line but they did not. Ratliff, Coleman and Hatcher were missing in action along with Brent and Spears. Thank goodness the Cowboys LBs played well. As bad as the Iggles o-line was, the d-line should have created more pressure than they did.

The o-line was just as disappointing. As a unit, they seem to lack continuity. The only lineman who has improved significantly since the beginning of the season is Smith. I have not seen a dramatic improvement from any of the interior linemen.

Finally, the safeties concern me as well but I think Dallas can hide them well enough over the next several weeks so they are not a major liability; I believe only NO can expose them.

 

[Kangaroo]

Great post, I too think we could make a run and agree with you about the roster.

But here's the thing, we should be 6-3, not because of a fingertip and a fg, we lost those games because we had terrible coaching. A semi conpetent coach wins those games.

Garrett already cost us 2 games his year, two games in the NFL is the difference between winning the division and going home for the playoffs.

You want to know why this team is not 6-3 before last night they where -11 in Turn Overs.

Guess what they where +2 in Turn Overs last night wow they won the game.

That is the Elephant in the room and has been all year.