Our nucleus

[Phoenix]

Who would you say are our nucleus players?

After SB XXX in '96 (we beat the Steelers), there were these comments around that word "nucleus":



O'Donnell had moments of brilliance against the Cowboys. But when compared to the steadiness of Troy Aikman, his inexperience in big games showed glaringly. "As long as you stay under control and don't make mistakes, you can win games like this even if it looks like you are struggling," says Aikman, who threw only one interception in three playoff games this postseason. That postseason experience was the only major difference between the Cowboys and Steelers this time around -- "our nucleus carries us because they know how to win," Jones says -- but even that edge is dissipating.




Future strong teams will suffer from the same problem Jones is encountering. They can't afford to keep a huge nucleus of stars around for their entire careers. "When we had our good teams," says Joe Gibbs, the former Commanders coach who was selected to the Hall of Fame Saturday, "we had a nucleus of 12 players we could rely on. Now if you can keep eight you would be lucky. That is a major difference. That spreads out the talent more evenly around the league, so it becomes more difficult to dominate."



"As long as we can keep our nucleus together, we will continue to be a factor in deciding who wins the Super Bowl," says Aikman, who earlier acknowledged that in the second half of this latest title game, he could feel things "slipping away."




(those are from http://www.sportingnews.com/archives/superbowl/30.html)



Might it look something like.........this?




Miles Austin
Dez Bryant
Doug Free
Mike Jenkins
Felix Jones
Sean Lee
Mat McBriar
Terence Newman
Jay Ratliff
Tony Romo
Anthony Spencer
DeMarcus Ware
Jason Witten


Sort of? Too many? Too soon for "nucleus" status for some (Dez, Sean Lee...)?

Thoughts?

 

[Fatty_VM]

Dez (young and coming back from an injury, love his talent and promise. However, it's way too soon)

Sean Lee (I love the drive of the kid, but he needs to keep up what he showed through the last half of the year)

Doug Free (Not enough data for me, we can take awhile to evaluate lineman due to their typically "long" careers, hasn't exactly looked like Erik Williams out-there either)

Mike Jenkins (Down, Up, down; not an amazing NFL start)

Felix (Glass cannon comes to mind, but this year he even lost some of his powder packing)

Spencer (This is the one that hurts the most, he's shown good and bad sides, I think he could be on the cusp)

 

[sonnyboy]

Who would you say are our nucleus players?

After SB XXX in '96 (we beat the Steelers), there were these comments around that word "nucleus":



O'Donnell had moments of brilliance against the Cowboys. But when compared to the steadiness of Troy Aikman, his inexperience in big games showed glaringly. "As long as you stay under control and don't make mistakes, you can win games like this even if it looks like you are struggling," says Aikman, who threw only one interception in three playoff games this postseason. That postseason experience was the only major difference between the Cowboys and Steelers this time around -- "our nucleus carries us because they know how to win," Jones says -- but even that edge is dissipating.




Future strong teams will suffer from the same problem Jones is encountering. They can't afford to keep a huge nucleus of stars around for their entire careers. "When we had our good teams," says Joe Gibbs, the former Commanders coach who was selected to the Hall of Fame Saturday, "we had a nucleus of 12 players we could rely on. Now if you can keep eight you would be lucky. That is a major difference. That spreads out the talent more evenly around the league, so it becomes more difficult to dominate."



"As long as we can keep our nucleus together, we will continue to be a factor in deciding who wins the Super Bowl," says Aikman, who earlier acknowledged that in the second half of this latest title game, he could feel things "slipping away."




(those are from http://www.sportingnews.com/archives/superbowl/30.html)



Might it look something like.........this?




Miles Austin
Dez Bryant
Doug Free
Mike Jenkins
Felix Jones
Sean Lee
Mat McBriar
Terence Newman
Jay Ratliff
Tony Romo
Anthony Spencer
DeMarcus Ware
Jason Witten


Sort of? Too many? Too soon for "nucleus" status for some (Dez, Sean Lee...)?

Thoughts?

On O'Donnell, I always felt his INTs were the result of the Steelers running a high risk low reward passing attack the whole game.

They knew they were over matched. Our DBs and defense as a whole was too much for them. They countered this the best way they could with a lot of shorter to medium range option passing routes.

If you recall they never passed that ball down the field. Everything was short and medium range. And O'Donnell kept throwing before the break.
Eventually your WR and QB are going to read it wrong and you have a WR running one way and the pass going the other.

Obviously that happened a couple times too many with balls right in Browns gut.

 

[TNCowboy]

Who would you say are our nucleus players?

After SB XXX in '96 (we beat the Steelers), there were these comments around that word "nucleus":



O'Donnell had moments of brilliance against the Cowboys. But when compared to the steadiness of Troy Aikman, his inexperience in big games showed glaringly. "As long as you stay under control and don't make mistakes, you can win games like this even if it looks like you are struggling," says Aikman, who threw only one interception in three playoff games this postseason. That postseason experience was the only major difference between the Cowboys and Steelers this time around -- "our nucleus carries us because they know how to win," Jones says -- but even that edge is dissipating.




Future strong teams will suffer from the same problem Jones is encountering. They can't afford to keep a huge nucleus of stars around for their entire careers. "When we had our good teams," says Joe Gibbs, the former Commanders coach who was selected to the Hall of Fame Saturday, "we had a nucleus of 12 players we could rely on. Now if you can keep eight you would be lucky. That is a major difference. That spreads out the talent more evenly around the league, so it becomes more difficult to dominate."



"As long as we can keep our nucleus together, we will continue to be a factor in deciding who wins the Super Bowl," says Aikman, who earlier acknowledged that in the second half of this latest title game, he could feel things "slipping away."




(those are from http://www.sportingnews.com/archives/superbowl/30.html)



Might it look something like.........this?




Miles Austin
Dez Bryant
Doug Free
Mike Jenkins
Felix Jones
Sean Lee
Mat McBriar
Terence Newman
Jay Ratliff
Tony Romo
Anthony Spencer
DeMarcus Ware
Jason Witten


Sort of? Too many? Too soon for "nucleus" status for some (Dez, Sean Lee...)?

Thoughts?

Sean Lee hasn't proven he can stay healthy enough to be a part of anything. Anthony Spencer has yet to prove he's anything more than a jag. I hate to admit it, but Felix Jones hasn't established himself at all, and given the short life span of RBs, he's fast running out of time to do so. And I don't think that this team should be counting on Mike Jenkins for anything.

I'd like to say you ommitted "player X" from your list, but the drafts have been so poor in recent years that those up and coming guys aren't there to be found.

I think Phillips could develop into a guy that helps us a lot, but I don't see him becoming a star like Witten. Not sure if you could include him in the core or not. But other than Lee and Bryant, I don't see a lot of players with the potential to really pop in the next few years. Which makes the upcoming draft doubly important.

 

[sonnyboy]

It's sooooo easy to get overly critical after a 6-10 season. But to do so is just as damaging than over evaluating the talent.

This is a great "core". Most teams would jump all over this and gladly swap their top 13 for ours.

Miles Austin
Dez Bryant
Doug Free
Mike Jenkins
Felix Jones
Sean Lee
Mat McBriar
Terence Newman
Jay Ratliff
Tony Romo
Anthony Spencer
DeMarcus Ware
Jason Witten

Andre Gurode
Bradie James
Kyle Koiser
Spears
Bowen/Hatcher

I added 5 to the list I see as more than capable starters. Or players I'd have no problem seeing on a SB roster neext year.

We need 4 new starters. ROG, ROT, FS, SS.

Not that troubling when you consider none need to play to a pro-bowl level. We just need four more capable starters.