One thing that should be very clear

[Colombiacowboy]

I know that it has been said hundreds of times since yesterday that the Cowboys had a really bad game. They looked bad on offense, special teams and several defensive players had rough games. The only guy who did his job was Chris Jones, and even the coaches screwed that up when they could have punted to nail them deep for that last drive.

All of that has been said, but what has not be said specifically is this...

Yesterday serves a notice as to NOT ONLY how far away this team is from being elite, but also how far away they are from the rest of the NFC.

Given it was kickoff weekend, I watched all of Thursday night's game, was stuck to the Red Zone for the morning games, watched the Cowboys, and watched the Packers lucky streak continue with their QB bum (dripping with sarcasm).

Nobody, except maybe the Bills, looked as bad as we did. While I understand we will probably get better as the season progresses, we are nowhere near being contenders. That is the one crystal clear fact I take away from yesterday.

 

[Rayman70]

We came up on a buzz saw,there home opener. That's a tall task for a young team. Defense looked good for both teams.Offense was shakey for us..very bland.

 

[Colombiacowboy]

We came up on a buzz saw,there home opener. That's a tall task for a young team. Defense looked good for both teams.Offense was shakey for us..very bland.

I don't see it as a buzz saw, as Carolina looked bad too. Without Cam's legs, we could have actually won that debacle. My issue is the team looked incredibly unprepared and although we have the possibility of a good defense, the offense was almost non existent besides two good runs by Zeke and a few nice catches by the Bease.

 

[Kaiser]

If you play your starters in preseason, guys will get hurt and be lost for the year.

If you don't play your starters in preseason, you get openers like you saw yesterday.

Its not about the franchise falling off the map, its a predictable result of a decision to hold everyone out of the preseason. The team is built around Dak and Zeke and if one of them got hurt in preseason the meltdown here would be ten times worse. Look at Dak and Zeke in the 4th Quarter of this game and its a night and day difference from the first half - that is what fans need to look at in the big picture.

 

[Colombiacowboy]

If you play your starters in preseason, guys will get hurt and be lost for the year.

If you don't play your starters in preseason, you get openers like you saw yesterday.

Its not about the franchise falling off the map, its a predictable result of a decision to hold everyone out of the preseason. The team is built around Dak and Zeke and if one of them got hurt in preseason the meltdown here would be ten times worse. Look at Dak and Zeke in the 4th Quarter of this game and its a night and day difference from the first half - that is what fans need to look at in the big picture.

I like your optimism, but the offense is going to need more than Dak and Zeke in order to get consistent wins.

 

[Kaiser]

I like your optimism, but the offense is going to need more than Dak and Zeke in order to get consistent wins.

Its going to need Fred back as well. I'm not minimizing the loss, yesterday was painful. But it doesn't change the long term prospects for the team, this team is still one that wins 9 - 11 games and starts fresh in the playoffs.

 

[Sydla]

It’s not about a franchise falling off the map.

It’s about a franchise stuck in the mud, spinning it’s wheels over and over.

 

[Colombiacowboy]

It’s not about a franchise falling off the map.

It’s about a franchise stuck in the mud, spinning it’s wheels over and over.

Stuck in the mud, or some other brown substance?

 

[crashintonickdm]

If you play your starters in preseason, guys will get hurt and be lost for the year.

If you don't play your starters in preseason, you get openers like you saw yesterday.

Its not about the franchise falling off the map, its a predictable result of a decision to hold everyone out of the preseason. The team is built around Dak and Zeke and if one of them got hurt in preseason the meltdown here would be ten times worse. Look at Dak and Zeke in the 4th Quarter of this game and its a night and day difference from the first half - that is what fans need to look at in the big picture.

In the 4th quarter dak missed a wide open receiver on 4th down then fumbled on the last drive.

He has to be better. He sucked ALL game

 

[JustChip]

Nobody, except maybe the Bills, looked as bad as we did. While I understand we will probably get better as the season progresses, we are nowhere near being contenders. That is the one crystal clear fact I take away from yesterday.

I would argue that Atlanta looked every bit as bad given what they have in their skill positions versus ours.

 

[Colombiacowboy]

I would argue that Atlanta looked every bit as bad given what they have in their skill positions versus ours.

Atlanta moved the ball. We only had one good drive. Atlanta had a chance to win on the last play, we did not.

 

[kskboys]

Our O was beyond bad.

 

[JustChip]

If you play your starters in preseason, guys will get hurt and be lost for the year.

If you don't play your starters in preseason, you get openers like you saw yesterday.

Its not about the franchise falling off the map, its a predictable result of a decision to hold everyone out of the preseason. The team is built around Dak and Zeke and if one of them got hurt in preseason the meltdown here would be ten times worse. Look at Dak and Zeke in the 4th Quarter of this game and its a night and day difference from the first half - that is what fans need to look at in the big picture.

Ding, ding, ding.....we have a winner. Everyone bemoaning the lack of playing time by starters in the preseason would be ballistic had Zeke played and blown a knee in a meaningless preseason game. I believe they should've played because they could be hurt just as easily in practice (as Lee was once, in fact, IIRC, it as in OTAs), but understand why they didn't. The nut of it is most are fans are simply irrational.

 

[Kaiser]

In the 4th quarter dak missed a wide open receiver on 4th down then fumbled on the last drive.

You mean the pass that hit Thompson in the hands where Dak passed a half second before two different guys hit him? Or the fumble that happened when multiple guys hit him?

Dak isn't as good of a QB under a heavy pass rush but that is true of a majority of starters in the NFL.

 

[Kaiser]

The nut of it is most are fans are simply irrational.

BUT BUT BUT MY FEEELS!!! AND JIMMY JOHNSON!!!!

Agree on more playing time, I would have given Dak and Zeke at least three quarters to get some reps. There is a middle ground between putting them out there to get hurt and completely avoiding reps in the preseason.

 

[HungryLion]

Its going to need Fred back as well. I'm not minimizing the loss, yesterday was painful. But it doesn't change the long term prospects for the team, this team is still one that wins 9 - 11 games and starts fresh in the playoffs.

I hope they still win 10 games this season. But man yesterday shook my confidence.

And I still don’t like Garret. He is a mediocre coach. They can do much better than him.

 

[Doomsday]

If you play your starters in preseason, guys will get hurt and be lost for the year.

If you don't play your starters in preseason, you get openers like you saw yesterday.

Its not about the franchise falling off the map, its a predictable result of a decision to hold everyone out of the preseason. The team is built around Dak and Zeke and if one of them got hurt in preseason the meltdown here would be ten times worse. Look at Dak and Zeke in the 4th Quarter of this game and its a night and day difference from the first half - that is what fans need to look at in the big picture.

Every team in the NFL has players they can't afford to lose. Not sure this team can afford to just give away the first game either.

It is a soft mentality that seems to be infecting this team. We will see what happens in week 2, but I am not feeling too confident about them scoring 20 vs the Giants.

 

[charron]

BUT BUT BUT MY FEEELS!!! AND JIMMY JOHNSON!!!!

Agree on more playing time, I would have given Dak and Zeke at least three quarters to get some reps. There is a middle ground between putting them out there to get hurt and completely avoiding reps in the preseason.

The pre-season games were a perfect way to help Dak find a way to succeed behind a shaky OL. He needed to gain some confidence he can beat a blitz up the middle and as of now he doesn't have any. Pre-season games are only meaningless if you aren't working on something.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

Dak has to hit the open throws, because as we saw on several occasions yesterday Dak had lots of time in the pocket, but no one was open. With limited opportunities to throw the ball, he can't afford to miss more than 1 or 2 of the open looks. He did get heavy pressure yesterday, but not every play....

 

[InTheZone]

If you play your starters in preseason, guys will get hurt and be lost for the year.

If you don't play your starters in preseason, you get openers like you saw yesterday.

Its not about the franchise falling off the map, its a predictable result of a decision to hold everyone out of the preseason. The team is built around Dak and Zeke and if one of them got hurt in preseason the meltdown here would be ten times worse. Look at Dak and Zeke in the 4th Quarter of this game and its a night and day difference from the first half - that is what fans need to look at in the big picture.

To be fair the panthers played more soft zone in the 4th to eat time and Dak still made just as many terrible mistakes.