CFZ Off-season success cannot be judged on paper or in practice alone

[Bobhaze]

Whatever any of us think about the Cowboys’ off-season moves including the draft and free agency, the bottom line on ALL off-seasons: It cannot be judged until real games are played and on-field results have happened.

With TC now in session and pads sometimes being on, we’re seeing short clips of players making plays in drills and practice. Many of us will gush about numerous new and young players because as fans we want them to succeed. Nothing wrong with that. It’s what we as fans do.

But until we are facing real opponents in real games that have real consequences, we won’t really know what we have in new or young players. Practice and preseason games are important but those alone aren’t always accurate indicators of future success.

The rush to call an off-season a success or failure is premature at this point. IMO, we are at minimum, 90 days away from getting enough regular season feedback to start judging this off-season. Speculation is fun. But it takes validation to verify. Enjoy TC and PS games. Just know it will take longer than that to know what we have.

 

[maryquality]

Whatever any of us think about the Cowboys’ off-season moves including the draft and free agency, the bottom line on ALL off-seasons: It cannot be judged until real games are played and on-field results have happened.

With TC now in session and pads sometimes being on, we’re seeing short clips of players making plays in drills and practice. Many of us will gush about numerous new and young players because as fans we want them to succeed. Nothing wrong with that. It’s what we as fans do.

But until we are facing real opponents in real games that have real consequences, we won’t really know what we have in new or young players. Practice and preseason games are important but those alone aren’t always accurate indicators of future success.

The rush to call an off-season a success or failure is premature at this point. IMO, we are at minimum, 90 days away from getting enough regular season feedback to start judging this off-season. Speculation is fun. But it takes validation to verify. Enjoy TC and PS games. Just know it will take longer than that to know what we have.

Exactly!! Let's see how it all plays out!!

 

[Bobhaze]

And it will play out. But we aren’t going to know how good this draft is or how well our young players have developed by Sept 15th. IMO, until those guys are facing real opponents in games that matter, we won’t really know what we have.

 

[john van brocklin]

Whatever any of us think about the Cowboys’ off-season moves including the draft and free agency, the bottom line on ALL off-seasons: It cannot be judged until real games are played and on-field results have happened.

With TC now in session and pads sometimes being on, we’re seeing short clips of players making plays in drills and practice. Many of us will gush about numerous new and young players because as fans we want them to succeed. Nothing wrong with that. It’s what we as fans do.

But until we are facing real opponents in real games that have real consequences, we won’t really know what we have in new or young players. Practice and preseason games are important but those alone aren’t always accurate indicators of future success.

The rush to call an off-season a success or failure is premature at this point. IMO, we are at minimum, 90 days away from getting enough regular season feedback to start judging this off-season. Speculation is fun. But it takes validation to verify. Enjoy TC and PS games. Just know it will take longer than that to know what we have.

True dat !
LOL
We need to put that annointing oil back on the shelf for now...

 

[Bobhaze]

True dat !
LOL
We need to put that annointing oil back on the shelf for now...

Yes we do….
Every training camp we hear about a list of young players who are “having a great camp”…It’s a training camp tradition like no other.

Remember all these guys who had “great camps”?

• Beau Morgan- RB- leading rusher in two straight pre-seasons in the early 90s. Never made the 53 man roster.
• Stepfret Williams- WR in 96-97. “Great camp”.
• Kavika Pittman- DE 2nd round pick of late 90s. Star of 96-97 training camps but….
• Jeff Ogden- WR late 90s- TC star in 98. Caught 28 career passes in his brief NFL career.
• David Arkin- G- 4th round pick in 2011 who “had a great camp” but never started an NFL game.
• Lance Dunbar- star of several TCs 2012-16. Did play in 41 games for Cowboys in an injury riddled career.
• Rico Gathers- TE- the biggest star in shorts and t-shirts in Cowboys history. Had several “great camps”.
• Matt Johnson- S- 4th round pick in 2013 who looked great in mini-camps but never played an NFL game because of injuries.

This is obviously an incomplete list. Point is, having a “great camp” doesn’t always mean much. Not saying we don’t have any good young players. Just saying the jury will be out for a while on that.

 

[MoistMayonnaise]

Yes we do….
Every training camp we hear about a list of young players who are “having a great camp”…It’s a training camp tradition like no other.

Remember all these guys who had “great camps”?

• Beau Morgan- RB- leading rusher in two straight pre-seasons in the early 90s. Never made the 53 man roster.
• Stepfret Williams- WR in 96-97. “Great camp”.
• Kavika Pittman- DE 2nd round pick of late 90s. Star of 96-97 training camps but….
• Jeff Ogden- WR late 90s- TC star in 98. Caught 28 career passes in his brief NFL career.
• David Arkin- G- 4th round pick in 2011 who “had a great camp” but never started an NFL game.
• Lance Dunbar- star of several TCs 2012-16. Did play in 41 games for Cowboys in an injury riddled career.
• Rico Gathers- TE- the biggest star in shorts and t-shirts in Cowboys history. Had several “great camps”.
• Matt Johnson- S- 4th round pick in 2013 who looked great in mini-camps but never played an NFL game because of injuries.

This is obviously an incomplete list. Point is, having a “great camp” doesn’t always mean much. Not saying we don’t have any good young players. Just saying the jury will be out for a while on that.

I don't remember any of those players. Also, any reasonable person looking at this team at end of season last year compared to now would say we didn't get better.

 

[Captain-Crash]

yep, it can not be judged until the games are played.

 

[john van brocklin]

Yes we do….
Every training camp we hear about a list of young players who are “having a great camp”…It’s a training camp tradition like no other.

Remember all these guys who had “great camps”?

• Beau Morgan- RB- leading rusher in two straight pre-seasons in the early 90s. Never made the 53 man roster.
• Stepfret Williams- WR in 96-97. “Great camp”.
• Kavika Pittman- DE 2nd round pick of late 90s. Star of 96-97 training camps but….
• Jeff Ogden- WR late 90s- TC star in 98. Caught 28 career passes in his brief NFL career.
• David Arkin- G- 4th round pick in 2011 who “had a great camp” but never started an NFL game.
• Lance Dunbar- star of several TCs 2012-16. Did play in 41 games for Cowboys in an injury riddled career.
• Rico Gathers- TE- the biggest star in shorts and t-shirts in Cowboys history. Had several “great camps”.
• Matt Johnson- S- 4th round pick in 2013 who looked great in mini-camps but never played an NFL game because of injuries.

This is obviously an incomplete list. Point is, having a “great camp” doesn’t always mean much. Not saying we don’t have any good young players. Just saying the jury will be out for a while on that.

Backups playing Backups will get that for you.....

 

[Bobhaze]

I don't remember any of those players. Also, any reasonable person looking at this team at end of season last year compared to now would say we didn't get better.

Surely you remember the great TE Rico Gathers. He made some great catches in preseason workouts (in shorts) and in a few PS games against 6th string safeties, and our fans went beserk. He was going to be the next Ozzie Newsome or Anthony Gonzalez. Truly had a great camp…or two. But he wasn’t that good in pads, especially regular season games.

 

[rambo2]

Whatever any of us think about the Cowboys’ off-season moves including the draft and free agency, the bottom line on ALL off-seasons: It cannot be judged until real games are played and on-field results have happened.

With TC now in session and pads sometimes being on, we’re seeing short clips of players making plays in drills and practice. Many of us will gush about numerous new and young players because as fans we want them to succeed. Nothing wrong with that. It’s what we as fans do.

But until we are facing real opponents in real games that have real consequences, we won’t really know what we have in new or young players. Practice and preseason games are important but those alone aren’t always accurate indicators of future success.

The rush to call an off-season a success or failure is premature at this point. IMO, we are at minimum, 90 days away from getting enough regular season feedback to start judging this off-season. Speculation is fun. But it takes validation to verify. Enjoy TC and PS games. Just know it will take longer than that to know what we have.

They have a ton of good young players and they just added an outstanding veteran in Anthony Barr. It is an exciting time to be a fan.

 

[MoistMayonnaise]

Surely you remember the great TE Rico Gathers. He made some great catches in preseason workouts (in shorts) and in a few PS games against 6th string safeties, and our fans went beserk. He was going to be the next Ozzie Newsome or Anthony Gonzalez. Truly had a great camp…or two. But he wasn’t that good in pads, especially regular season games.

Rico Gathers? Sounds like a venezuelan beach volleyball player.

 

[_sturt_]

It cannot be judged until real games are played and on-field results have happened.

Yes. Or, at minimum, preseason games are played, and you can at least have some more objective gauge as to where there's reason for confidence you'll be okay versus reason for concern... and with that, then, some consideration of the options to remedy the concern.

I don't take anything seriously from NBA Summer League. I don't take anything, likewise, from NFL training camp work.

Well, except for kickers maybe.

Probably.

 

[TequilaCowboy]

And it will play out. But we aren’t going to know how good this draft is or how well our young players have developed by Sept 15th. IMO, until those guys are facing real opponents in games that matter, we won’t really know what we have.

The way PS games are handled now with most of the starters being left out of them, until maybe only a few series in the next to last PS game...you are right. We don't know really what we got with these young players. Real live games will be how they are measured. But that just makes TC that much more important.

 

[JoeKing]

Whatever any of us think about the Cowboys’ off-season moves including the draft and free agency, the bottom line on ALL off-seasons: It cannot be judged until real games are played and on-field results have happened.

With TC now in session and pads sometimes being on, we’re seeing short clips of players making plays in drills and practice. Many of us will gush about numerous new and young players because as fans we want them to succeed. Nothing wrong with that. It’s what we as fans do.

But until we are facing real opponents in real games that have real consequences, we won’t really know what we have in new or young players. Practice and preseason games are important but those alone aren’t always accurate indicators of future success.

The rush to call an off-season a success or failure is premature at this point. IMO, we are at minimum, 90 days away from getting enough regular season feedback to start judging this off-season. Speculation is fun. But it takes validation to verify. Enjoy TC and PS games. Just know it will take longer than that to know what we have.

Well said, Bobhaze.

 

[Pass2Run]

This is true.

All we can do is speculate.

 

[Bullflop]

Drawing premature conclusions based on summer camp preparation is an exercise in futility. The real games exist to reveal the truth.

 

[morasp]

Let us not forget Ken-Yon Rambo, the free agent WR that looked all world in the 2002 training camp

 

[tyke1doe]

Whatever any of us think about the Cowboys’ off-season moves including the draft and free agency, the bottom line on ALL off-seasons: It cannot be judged until real games are played and on-field results have happened.

With TC now in session and pads sometimes being on, we’re seeing short clips of players making plays in drills and practice. Many of us will gush about numerous new and young players because as fans we want them to succeed. Nothing wrong with that. It’s what we as fans do.

But until we are facing real opponents in real games that have real consequences, we won’t really know what we have in new or young players. Practice and preseason games are important but those alone aren’t always accurate indicators of future success.

The rush to call an off-season a success or failure is premature at this point. IMO, we are at minimum, 90 days away from getting enough regular season feedback to start judging this off-season. Speculation is fun. But it takes validation to verify. Enjoy TC and PS games. Just know it will take longer than that to know what we have.

It's sad that you even have to remind fans of this. I remember in Jimmy Johnson's first year we had like a 4-1 preseason record. Fans were giddy, predicting we were going to roll over opponents. Players were cocky. Johnson was happy. Jerry was Jerry. All was well in Cowboyland. Then we promptly went 1-15.

Sit back. Chillax and wait until the real games start.

 

[Brax]

And it will play out. But we aren’t going to know how good this draft is or how well our young players have developed by Sept 15th. IMO, until those guys are facing real opponents in games that matter, we won’t really know what we have.

I prefer to withhold judgment until the season is close to or over, it takes time to see how everything works out. Thanksgiving is usually a good indicator to start evaluating.

 

[Bobhaze]

It's sad that you even have to remind fans of this. I remember in Jimmy Johnson's first year we had like a 4-1 preseason record. Fans were giddy, predicting we were going to roll over opponents. Players were cocky. Johnson was happy. Jerry was Jerry. All was well in Cowboyland. Then we promptly went 1-15.

Sit back. Chillax and wait until the real games start.

I prefer to withhold judgment until the season is close to or over, it takes time to see how everything works out. Thanksgiving is usually a good indicator to start evaluating.

Good advice in both posts.