Ok so how confident is everyone that we are beating the Skins Sunday night?

[Signals]

Might be more helpful to state the level of confidence for the New Orleans game prior to this one too:

I gave the Cowboys NO CHANCE of beating the Saints, But in hindsight I am 100% certain we beat them.

I think we crush them and win by over 30 points.

I'll go with this. I say we beat the Skins 35-3.

 

[Rudy]

Not very, we're the type of team that can beat any team in the NFL and then come out the next week and lose to the worst of the worst. We're still too inconsistent this year and tend to play down to the level of our competition.

I see what you're saying BUT...Dallas didn't lose to Detroit this year. Washington did.

 

[DragonCowboy]

Not very, we're the type of team that can beat any team in the NFL and then come out the next week and lose to the worst of the worst. We're still too inconsistent this year and tend to play down to the level of our competition.

We haven't lost to a team with a record under .500.

I don't see where you're getting this.

 

[Rudy]

We haven't lost to a team with a record under .500.

I don't see where you're getting this.

Yeah, I'm with you. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that 2 of the 3 losses came from sure fire playoff teams, and another that could but hopefully won't. Is this a style points issue? Or someone still angry about the Chiefs game going to OT? This guy is describing the Cowboys team of 4 years ago.

 

[Beast_from_East]

Any way you look at it, if we can't go out on the field Sunday night and put some distance between us and a 4-10 team then it probably isn't our time to be thinking about the Super Bowl.

However, I think it is our time, and the Skins are in for another several year stretch of losing to the Cowboys over and over again.

If we lose to this joke franchise, its season over.

 

[The Curly One]

First off the Commanders / Cowboys is a rivalry and nothing is guarenteed there. I would say the Cowboys are the better team (but not Great team) right now and should win easily so I would say 75% sure. The Foreskins will treat this like their Super Bowl so do not take this for granted as a sure win. What scares me is all of the beans are in the basket for the next few weeks and I only have a 25% faith in the Cowboys beating Philty. That is the game that really bothers me and it will separate the men from the boys and determine who really is a playoff contender again.
In any case if we lose to the Foreskins then we have virtually no chance to do anything in the playoffs and do not deserve it anyway. Cold hard truth. Cant beat the Foreskins in December certainly can not beat a real playoff team in the playoffs. Turn out the lights the party is over. Period. End of story.
"We have not lost to a team with under .500 record" Well you are not suppossed to lose to those teams if you want to be a contender! And if you do you do not deserve to be in the playoffs. That is pretty simple.

For what it is worth I think Coach Phillips is doing as good as any coach could with the players we have. Our offensive lines is one of the worst in the league and the defense can be inconsistant at times. I do not think coaching is the problem, offensive line and feild goal kicking are two glaring problems.

 

[DragonCowboy]

"We have not lost to a team with under .500 record" Well you are not suppossed to lose to those teams if you want to be a contender! And if you do you do not deserve to be in the playoffs. That is pretty simple.

You're missing my point. In some people's quest to be "realistic", their argument that we lose to the "worst of the worst" is completely BS.

 

[tyke1doe]

Ordinarily, I would be worried.

But I see a more determined Romo.
I see a more determined defense.

Think about it?

Romo hasn't had an interception since the Commanders game.
And the defense kept the Chargers under 20 points.
Did you see how many points the Chargers put up against the Titans on the road?
The Cowboys defense also held the high-scoring Saints to 17 points.

What's making me feel good about this team is not only Romo's inspired play but the defense, which is coming on when you need it ... at the end of the season.

If we can jump on the Skins like the Giants did and like we did the Saints, I can see Washington folding like lawn chairs in a hurricane.

I think the defense and Romo will overcome any coaching deficiencies. If we get the coaching, I think this game should be a cake-walk regardless of the rivalry.

Cowboys 41
Commanders 20

 

[The Curly One]

I dont think we lose to the "Worst of the Worst" I think the Cowboys are not a very good team right now and that is why they lose. I think the reason we lose is because the other team is better. I do think we are better than the Foreskins but what about Philty? And I do not even think Philty is that good. I think until we get a good offensive line the results will be the same. Sure you may pull a rabbit out of the hat once in a while but you will not win the big one until you fix the problems.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

I won't know until tomorrow when I find the urge to write a pre-game "Romo lights up the defense" thread or not. My gut feeling has sort of been my 8ball all year long, but I haven't missed on one yet.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I think the Cowboys are not a very good team right now and that is why they lose.

Saints?

 

[Cover 2]

It's a bad case. I'll tell you why.

Look at the coaches that Wade Phillips was brought in to replace and when he was brought in to replace them. In Denver, he was brought in to replace the great Dan Reeves when Reeves' Broncos were in a state of decline. Yeah, they had John Elway, Steve Atwater, and Shannon Sharpe, but the other necessary components on the team, such as runningback and wide receiver, were not in place or were never in place.

Take Mark Jackson, Elway's main target during the '80s. Once Dan Reeves left for the Giants in '93, so did Jackson. Wade didn't get to benefit from the Elway-Jackson tandem like the Reeves' Broncos did. Furthermore, the runningback situation in Denver was never solidified until Terrell Davis came into town.

Which leads me to my next point: things changed dramatically in Denver in 1995. Yeah, that was the year Mike Shanahan was hired, but it was also the year Rod Smith started coming into his own and Terrell Davis joined the team. The latter player really helped turn the fortunes of the Broncos because it took the heat off Elway. And, honestly, once Davis was injured in 1999, Shanahan and the Broncos couldn't do anything after that. Yeah, they made the playoffs in 2000 and later won a playoff game in 2005 after qualifying the previous two years and getting beat by the Colts in the wild card round each year, but the Broncos were never the same once Terrell Davis retired.

Wade Phillips didn't have the benefits of him. Things would have been a lot different for Wade if he had a real runningback.

I have a professor at college here that is a big Stancos fan. I mean, this guy goes back to the Orange Crush days. I talked to him about Wade Phillips and Mike Shanahan and he said that management in Denver wanted Mike Shanahan immediately after they fired Reeves in 1992. Shanahan wouldn't take the job because he didn't want to follow a legend like Reeves. That also sheds some light as to why Wade had a short tenure in Denver. Maybe they never wanted to keep him long term as it was, thus he was walking into a lose-lose situation the whole time, much like when Dave Campo took the head coaching job for our Cowboys.

Denver was a team with peaks and valleys and they hired Wade during one of the valleys. The Buffalo Bills were a team on a straight decline. After failing to qualify for the playoffs in 1994, the Bills could not advance past the divisional round of the playoffs and their last postseason appearance was in 1996, and Marv Levy's last season was a 6-10 swan song in 1997.

When Wade Phillips took over the team, the only legends from the Super Bowl Bills were Andre Reed, Thurman Thomas, and Bruce Smith. The only guy that wasn't getting supplanted by younger talent was Bruce Smith. And the younger talent obviously wasn't going to get it done. Wade could only work with what he was given.

Sounds like a cop out? I don't believe it is. Bill Polian, the mastermind general manager behind those Super Bowl Bills, left Buffalo in 1993 and was replaced by John Butler. From 1993 to 2000, John Butler had mediocre drafts, drafts that weren't good enough to continue the winning traditions of the Bills. Think about it. Instead of getting their own quarterback through the draft like they did with Jim Kelly, once Levy was gone, they traded for Jacksonville's Rob Johnson and signed Doug Flutie. Evidences of the Bills' reliance on free agent talent as opposed to homegrown talent can be seen in 1995 when they signed Bryce Paup.

Wade Phillips went out with John Butler once the 2000 season was over. Wade Phillips was part of a wholesale house cleaning. And, as I examine this, he did a good job with the talent he was afforded. And it's not like the Bills have done better since Wade Phillips. In fact, they've gone through three head coaches and three general managers since then.

The best chance for Wade Phillips to succeed is here in Dallas. This is the best talented team he's had, ever. It's Week 16. We're 9-5, destiny in our hands, coming off of a huge win over the undefeated Saints IN DECEMBER IN THE SUPERDOME, and we're not injury-riddled like we were in 2008. I really have a good feeling about this team and that Wade Phillips will get a playoff win this postseason.

I'm willing to continue to back Wade because that's the right thing to do at this particular time.

Good reply. I'm still skeptical, because I rely on results, but I hope you're right. We will see.

This team sure does seem different than the past 'Boys teams. For Wade to succeed he needs a group of core players with a strong commitment to win. It sure seems we have that with Romo, Witten, Ware, Ratliff, and Brooking. I hope we see them hoisting the trophy at the end of the Super Bowl.

 

[Dodger]

I read somewhere recently that Jason Campbell is telling people that many of the Commanders players have already quit.

Zorn and company are essentially gone, and the players know that which, again from what I've read, is the reason why guys like Haynesworth are starting to question the coaching staff's leadership.

The Cowboys are relatively injury free.

Romo is playing some of the best football he's ever played.

The Cowboys didn't just beat the Saints; they dominated them. The final score made the game appear more competitlve than it really was. The timing couldn't have been better for that kind of confidence building performance.



Yeah...I'm thinking beatdown.

Cowboys by 17.

 

[gimmesix]

We are the far better team, and yet we only beat them 7-6 in our house...cause their kicker, now our kicker, miss 2 FGs in the contest.

No, we beat them 7-6 because our quarterback got kneed in the back and wasn't the same for the rest of the game.