One thing that should be very clear

[Colombiacowboy]

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.

Let's see how the Rams look tonight. They say a lot of their guys this preseason.

 

[JustChip]

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

But yet they only scored 12 points. They moved the ball, but not what I would consider precipitously more than Dallas and spit the bit when it mattered. They lost the ToP by 5 minutes, had 1 less 1st down and less than 60 yards more of offense. Plus, they had 5 chances to win the game, including 4 plays with goal to go from the 10 and the last from the 5. And that's with a veteran QB that is considered by many to be top 10 and a #1 WR that is in the conversation as the top WR and a #2 in Sanu that is at worst equal to any of ours.

 

[Kaiser]

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.

But that doesn't change the core issue, which is the risk of injury. Playing Dak behind a bunch of Jake Campos types with Bo Scarbrough missing even more blitz pickups only increases the risk of injury.

Playing starters in preseason is a decision that can kill you either way, and yesterday we got got killed. But its not as simple as some are painting it.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

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.

Actually, I do feel confident, at least to some degree. Why? Because Eli is no Cam, Cam ran out of potential sacks or tackles for loss on at least 5-6 occasions yesterday. Eli won't do that but maybe once or twice, and since the defense won't have to worry about his scrambling they can pay more attention to Barkley.

Now mind you I'm not saying the Cowboys will be a much better performing team Sunday, but the Giants don't have either Cam or the defense the Panthers do, it will be a battle of two so-so teams, but with Dallas being the better of the two. I'd say 21-17 Dallas, if I had to hazard a guess at the score today....

 

[TheHerd]

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.

I'm worried the D looked good because the Panthers had OL issues and have very pedestrian skill players outside of Olsen, who left early. How the DL wasn't completely ready for Cam's option runs is staggering. Shleps like me knew their only true weapon is Cam running. If the DL had stayed home on those runs, Carolina may not have scored at all.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

But that doesn't change the core issue, which is the risk of injury. Playing Dak behind a bunch of Jake Campos types with Bo Scarbrough missing even more blitz pickups only increases the risk of injury.

Playing starters in preseason is a decision that can kill you either way, and yesterday we got got killed. But its not as simple as some are painting it.

Correct, but Dak attempted a grand total of EIGHTEEN passes in pre-season, even ancient Tom Brady attempted 44, and Brady is far more valuable to the Pats than Dak is. And it's not just the amount of playing time that exposes your top players to injury, it's how you play it. You only run if you can make a few yards and slide, or make a few yards and go out of bounds, or if the pressure is about to get to you fall down (which is something Brady has done for years, which is partly why he was still winning SBs in his late 30's). If Dallas wants to run a dink and dunk offense, fine, but you can't get in sync with new receivers with a freaking 18 pass attempts to 3 new receivers.

Not saying he's got to play 6 or 7 quarters, but 18 attempts is way too little. That doesn't apply to Zeke, though, imho, running backs are successful because of their instincts when running, he doesn't need a lot of practice for that. No problem too much with setting him all preseason, though a few carries wouldn't hurt, either.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

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.

right now, at best we look like a 6-10 or 5-11 team. its going to be a huge struggle every week.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

How the DL wasn't completely ready for Cam's option runs is staggering. Shleps like me knew their only true weapon is Cam running. If the DL had stayed home on those runs, Carolina may not have scored at all.

True, but we all know why that was - poor coaching.

And we all also aren't surprised at that...

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

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.

but that's the point...they had cam and there are plenty of good QBs on the schedule this year. you have to beat the team that you are playing and that means you have to play better. we gave up 16 points...that should be enough in the NFL to win...that tells me the defense played decent. the offense didn't have a single snap. not one snap on the Carolina part of the field in the first half..... that's horrible offense.

 

[JustChip]

I'm worried the D looked good because the Panthers had OL issues and have very pedestrian skill players outside of Olsen, who left early.

That's a very good point. Eli doesn't have Cam elusiveness, but he has much better skill weapons. I was concerned the defensive prowess in the preseason was more a result of being preseason and still don't know after yesterday.

 

[kskboys]

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.

Absolutely. That's why NFL personnel should pay zero attention to the fans and do things how they should be done.

Brady played a ton in preseason, BTW.

 

[LACowboysFan1]

right now, at best we look like a 6-10 or 5-11 team. its going to be a huge struggle every week.

As you said, "right now", I agree with you.

But note my comments in the post above about playing too little in the preseason, that MAY have a lot to do with their performance yesterday. Not for sure, which is why I'm not saying they will do better than 6-10 or 5-11, only that with some more playing time it may get better...

 

[JoeyBoy718]

I agree. We shouldn't jump the gun on Earl Thomas until we can prove we won't be drafting in the top 10

 

[TheHerd]

Absolutely. That's why NFL personnel should pay zero attention to the fans and do things how they should be done.

Brady played a ton in preseason, BTW.

But he needed the work and the experience.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

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.

This line of thinking...is WHY the last 20+ years has happened! An organization with a serious lack of self awareness!

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

As you said, "right now", I agree with you.

But note my comments in the post above about playing too little in the preseason, that MAY have a lot to do with their performance yesterday. Not for sure, which is why I'm not saying they will do better than 6-10 or 5-11, only that with some more playing time it may get better...

I don't disagree. I think the more real game situations you play in, the better you get...but there are 31 other teams and most seemed to do well despite preseason...we just didn't look prepared at all, on either side of the ball. even the game plan wasn't that good and there is no excuse for that.

with that said, that's why I was against sitting the starters two years ago against Philly. with the bye week, that would have made it three weeks of no serious football for the starters and it showed in the first half when the team was semi sleep walking and was not well oiled.

 

[Captain-Crash]

Let's make fun of the backup qb's that played behind this crap, but super dak gets a pass because he's scared and has no pocket awareness.. lmao..

 

[Keithfansince5]

But yet they only scored 12 points. They moved the ball, but not what I would consider precipitously more than Dallas and spit the bit when it mattered. They lost the ToP by 5 minutes, had 1 less 1st down and less than 60 yards more of offense. Plus, they had 5 chances to win the game, including 4 plays with goal to go from the 10 and the last from the 5. And that's with a veteran QB that is considered by many to be top 10 and a #1 WR that is in the conversation as the top WR and a #2 in Sanu that is at worst equal to any of ours.

But Atlanta played the SB champ Eagles. They are the best team in football. Had Dallas played them, it would have been a rout. If Atlanta played Carolina, they likely would have won that game. Ryan is light years better than Dak.

 

[ESisback]

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.

Yesterday’s team—2-5 wins. If we get Fredbeard back and Dak and the WRs get in a groove, add 3-5 more wins. To go balls deep into the playoffs, we NEED A BETTER OFFENSIVE SCHEME!

 

[Keithfansince5]

Absolutely. That's why NFL personnel should pay zero attention to the fans and do things how they should be done.

Brady played a ton in preseason, BTW.

So you are agreeing with the idiotic premise that resting your key players is the right thing? I can't tell if your post is sarcastic or not.

As for me, my opinion is simple, play these guys in all 4 pre season games a little. All of them need real game practice for a thousand reasons. This whole Nancy boy, safe space narrative that we can't get guys hurt is DESTROYING the game of football. It is beyond stupid to take that approach. As if anyone knows when a player will get hurt. Players need practice.

Using September games as your pre season is a freaking joke. As a coach, I HATE Garrett and everything he stands for.