Perhaps my most pessimistic post ever

[JD_KaPow]

Our star players are the same. The quarterback is the same. This team as a whole is not devoid of talent, nor has it been in recent memory.

I'm not trying to pick a fight, I'm just tired of people saying the team is not talented. The potential is there.

Last years Cowboys were a FG away from beating the Ravens, who won the Super Bowl. The year before, had Austin not "lost it in the lights", we'd have won.

It's ignorant to say that this team is outclassed in terms of talent. It's not. The problems with this team, as I said in my OP, are fundamental problems, which is quite possibly more scary than not having the talent to win the big one.

You're not trying to pick a fight, but you say it's "ignorant" to disagree with you? Okay.

This team does not have the talent that the legitimate Super Bowl contenders do. I do not agree with you on that point. In particular, this team has lacked quality depth at a number of positions for a long time.

Performance in a regular season head-to-head matchup doesn't tell you as much as performance over a whole season or series of seasons. We have been a .500 team for several years, and the Super Bowl winners (and losers) have generally not. Now, sure, lower quality teams can sneak into the playoffs, get on a hot/lucky streak, and win the SB. The Cowboys could. But it's not very likely. Or rather, it's no more likely that the Cowboys could do that than it is for the Lions or Chargers or Bengals or Titans or any number of other teams that aren't as talented as Denver or Seattle or some others.

It amuses me how often I see two specific complaints about this team, often from the same people. 1. "We draft terribly." 2. "Why do we lose when we have so much talent?"

 

[JD_KaPow]

Okay, so.

Let me get this straight.

This current 53 man roster, in your opinion, is incapable of winning a Super Bowl?

Let me put it this way. This 53-man roster is incapable of being the Super Bowl favorite, or even on the short list of Super Bowl favorites.

Any number of teams are "capable" of winning a Super Bowl. Get in the playoffs, catch some breaks, sure, why not? Doesn't make it likely. Doesn't mean you have the best talent or best coaching or anything. Means you were good enough to get in the playoffs and take advantage of some breaks.

Right now, Football Outsiders gives us a 0.7% chance of winning the Super Bowl. Sounds about right. So yes, we're "capable" of winning the SB!

 

[Risen Star]

Okay, so.

Let me get this straight.

This current 53 man roster, in your opinion, is incapable of winning a Super Bowl?

I would say that's correct. Too many issues up front.

 

[DFWJC]

This 53 man roster has as good as or better talent than the past 10 teams to win the Super Bowl. I think everyone on this board can agree to that. .

That is nonsense.
Nearly half of an entire roster are trench players, yet somehow our fanbase, like Jerry, seems to only notice the bright shiney objects.
Right now we have
A good enough, but not great, QB
One great WR. Another decent one that is hurt all the time..the rest are nothing special
A possession TE who has had a great career but is hard pressed to score a TD
One or two good olineman out of 5. But the others are finally getting better. after several years of being terrible
An okay RB, nothing special, but not bad.

One great DE and a good DT. The rest of the dline is patchwork..castoffs even
One linebacker playing well out of 3, The other (carter) has the potential to be good
One good CB, one okay CB, one CB that hopes to someday be good
One safety coming into his own after a year off and oanther that is a rookie...the other is basically a castoff.

How on earth is this talent better than the last 10 Super Bowl champs?
that is lunacy.

 

[Sarge]

I am perplexed at how long it took so many to see how few times Romo throws the ball deep. Throw the ball DEEP every now and again Tony - it keeps the defenses honest - don't worry - it won't affect your rating that much.

Rant of the week.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I am perplexed at how long it took so many to see how few times Romo throws the ball deep.

It's still in the playbook?

 

[Sarge]

It's still in the playbook?

Apparently not -

 

[big dog cowboy]

Apparently not -

I can't remember the last time we attempted a hail mary.

 

[sureletsrace]

Let me put it this way. This 53-man roster is incapable of being the Super Bowl favorite, or even on the short list of Super Bowl favorites.

Any number of teams are "capable" of winning a Super Bowl. Get in the playoffs, catch some breaks, sure, why not? Doesn't make it likely. Doesn't mean you have the best talent or best coaching or anything. Means you were good enough to get in the playoffs and take advantage of some breaks.

Right now, Football Outsiders gives us a 0.7% chance of winning the Super Bowl. Sounds about right. So yes, we're "capable" of winning the SB!

I agree with both of your posts. What I am getting at is, the Super Bowl favorites as of late do not win the Super Bowl. They've been mostly average (9-7 thru 11-5) type teams with glaring deficiencies who get hot at the right time and catch lucky breaks. I mean hell, the Ravens last year are a great example. They were not Super Bowl favorites at any point during the regular season, they barely squeaked into the playoffs. A few lucky plays here and there, and boom. Ring.

 

[Sarge]

I can't remember the last time we attempted a hail mary.

Me neither - seriously. That's kinda sad. The question is why?

 

[sureletsrace]

That is nonsense.
Nearly half of an entire roster are trench players, yet somehow our fanbase, like Jerry, seems to only notice the bright shiney objects.
Right now we have
A good enough, but not great, QB
One great WR. Another decent one that is hurt all the time..the rest are nothing special
A possession TE who has had a great career but is hard pressed to score a TD
One or two good olineman out of 5. But the others are finally getting better. after several years of being terrible
An okay RB, nothing special, but not bad.

One great DE and a good DT. The rest of the dline is patchwork..castoffs even
One linebacker playing well out of 3, The other (carter) has the potential to be good
One good CB, one okay CB, one CB that hopes to someday be good
One safety coming into his own after a year off and oanther that is a rookie...the other is basically a castoff.

How on earth is this talent better than the last 10 Super Bowl champs?
that is lunacy.

I bet I could go through the last 10 Super Bowl champion teams and point out the same amount of deficiencies.

 

[sureletsrace]

I would say that's correct. Too many issues up front.

Green Bay managed to win a Super Bowl with an offensive line worse than ours, a defensive line about the same as ours, and relatively similar talent on the rest of the team.

 

[JD_KaPow]

I agree with both of your posts. What I am getting at is, the Super Bowl favorites as of late do not win the Super Bowl. They've been mostly average (9-7 thru 11-5) type teams with glaring deficiencies who get hot at the right time and catch lucky breaks. I mean hell, the Ravens last year are a great example. They were not Super Bowl favorites at any point during the regular season, they barely squeaked into the playoffs. A few lucky plays here and there, and boom. Ring.

Sure. We have enough talent to have a 1% chance of winning the Super Bowl. I'm not sure then what your point is. The reason we don't win the SB is that teams with a 1% chance to win it almost never do. Nothing more complicated than that. Some team might catch the breaks in a given year, but the odds are that it won't be your team.

 

[Idgit]

This team was missing it's second most expensive player (by cap hit for 2013) Anthony Spencer, its 4th most expensive Jay Ratliff, it's 7th most expensive Miles Austin.

And of course Ware and Romo (top 2 earners) have already been bothered by injury this year.

That is why team's lose football games. Even really good teams lose games.

I agree with the talent premise if you are talking about every player the Cowboys have rights to at 100% health.
But active, healthy bodies? Dallas is middle of the road. We are starting guys off the street (Waters/Selvie).

This team isn't going to be better than .500 unless it catches some injury breaks finally.

As to the Romo complaints.... man, this fanbase needs to shut the heck up. The guy can't run around and create downfield chances while also protecting himself from injury and limiting turnovers. At some point he needs help. And he needs to be healthy to throw the ball deep down the field.

Claiborne has been a disappointment but it is early. He is very talented and anyone giving up on him already is insane. Cowboys are doing the right thing by limiting his reps as they can and letting him work his way to being a top CB. He clearly isn't one right now.

Other than the pick-six, we had, what, one pressure and one sack on Rivers the rest of the day? With Spencer and Ratliff on the bench, you better be able to get pressure from your backups. Throw in Ware's back and Selvie's concussion, and let SD hold at will, and you have a recipe for sitting in the pocket patiently and eating our lunch. We'd done a really nice job to that point all year getting pressure from our front. If we can't do it against DEN, we're going to get diced up on defense, again.

I don't agree on the injury breaks, though. We're deeper than we have been, and I think this team, injuries and all, is capable of winning 10 games and, probably, the NFCE. We just have to execute better on offense, and keep getting the pressure we've seen the other three weeks of the season from here on out.

 

[Risen Star]

I don't see it as a fight. It's a difference of opinion on the talent level. Let's talk about it. That's what these boards are for.

I think our OL is improving but it's still marginal. We've run the ball better the last couple of weeks, if that can continue it's better than marginal, however a lot of the reason we ran the ball better was more of an emphasis on delays and draws. Getting movement through scheme. I haven't yet seen this OL really put a hat on a hat and move people. It's a group with an UDFA rookie with a knee issue and a 36 year old vet on his last legs. Not to mention a RT the team feels the need to cover for. Not exactly an overly talented group.

The DL is pretty frightening. You have guys there that wouldn't even be in the league if they didn't play here. Countless JAGs. I credited the coaching for that performance against the Rams but I think overall you'll see little production. It's DeMarcus Ware, Jason Hatcher and not much else. It has to be one of the least talented DL depth charts in the league.

Now if I believe all of the above is true, and I know games are won or lost in the trenches, how can I possibly believe this team is as talented as the last 10 Super Bowl champions?

I had a member here tell me recently, thank God we signed Barry Church when we did. Really? Why? Did I miss something where Barry Church is now some great talented safety? We're overrating him. That's not to pick on Church. Let him develop. It's one example of how we overrate our talent.

 

[Idgit]

I don't see it as a fight. It's a difference of opinion on the talent level. Let's talk about it. That's what these boards are for.

I think our OL is improving but it's still marginal. We've run the ball better the last couple of weeks, if that can continue it's better than marginal. But it's still a group with an UDFA rookie with a knee issue and a 36 year old vet on his last legs. Not to mention a RT the team feels the need to cover for. Not exactly an overly talented group.

The DL is pretty frightening. You have guys there that wouldn't even be in the league if they didn't play here. Countless JAGs. I credited the coaching for that performance against the Rams but I think overall you'll see little production. It's DeMarcus Ware, Jason Hatcher and not much else. It has to be one of the least talented DL depth charts in the league.

Now if I believe all of the above is true, and I know games are won or lost in the trenches, how can I possibly believe this team is as talented as the last 10 Super Bowl champions?

I had a member here tell me recently, thank God we signed Barry Church when we did. Really? Why? Did I miss something where Barry Church is now some great talented safety? We're overrating him. That's not to pick on Church. Let him develop. It's one example of how he overrate our talent.

You know I think you overvalue trench play, but with Spencer and Crawford and Ratliff even Bass out, we are getting thin right now. I do agree that we're not as talented as the last 10 Superbowl Champs, obviously.

Church, though, has played really good football this year. We're not overrating him, and we don't need to wait to see if he gets mentioned for a probowl nod to recognize good Safety play.

 

[Beast_from_East]

Most of you know me as a sunshine-pumping, eternal optimist homer when it comes to the Cowboys. However homeristic I may be, I'm not blind either. I'm going to jot down my irritations and concerns here, just to see what you guys think. These are in no particular order.

-Claiborne, why are you playing so absolutely awful? 99 out of 101? And we spent two top picks on this guy? It's only his 2nd year, but man, he really needs to show some sort of improvement. He's playing soft. Really soft.

-Austin, I'm about ready to offer a hamstring swap with you. It is absolutely inconceivable that one person could have this many freakin problems with the same muscle over and over and over with science and health technology where it's at. Dude, you are being frail. Let your sack drop and get out there. Take a freakin Flexeril. I don't know. Good lord.

-Romo. I am probably one of your biggest supporters ever, but if you don't start throwing the ball down the field, you don't deserve to be QB of this organization. I don't care what play JG or BC call in. You change it. Or, if you're changing out of it, then you, like Austin, need to man up and be a big boy and sling that sucker down the field. I don't care if Dez has two guys draped on him. Throw him the MFFB.

-Ware. You are in my top 10 favorite Cowboys of all time, but man, you really need to quit jumping offsides. I'm sosososososososo sick of seeing you jump across, only to see the ball snapped while you're over the line of scrimmage. You are giving the offense a free play. You might as well just take the entire defense off the field, because essentially, that's what you're doing. SIT STILL UNTIL THE BALL IS SNAPPED!!

-Witten. You also are in my top 10. But, you really have never seemed to work on the physical aspect of your game. You've never been the fastest and the strongest, but from watching you play, you've never seemed to improve on your speed or strength. I don't know what you need to do. Lift more? Run sprints? Figure it out bro, because time is catching up with you. Lose one more step, and it won't matter how perfect your route running is.

-terrance. You're a rookie, so I'm not even going to capitalize your name. From what I've seen so far, you don't even deserve to be on the field. Please stay seated on the bench, I don't want to see your number on the field again this year. Idiot.

-Lee/Carter. I'm clumping you both together, because you both should act as one. You need to rely on each other, and frankly you both look pretty awful out there. Lee, not as bad. Still, several times this year y'all look freakin lost out there. It's zone coverage, not brain surgery. Don't let anyone get in your zone without you being all over their ***. I dropped back into zone in H.S. as a 14 year old 316lb NT. If I can figure it out, you can too.

-Coaching Staff. I've defended you to the nth degree. The offense last week was absolutely pathetic. Abysmal. Putrid. I watched a play where all 4 receivers ran the same ****** route. 10 yard comebacks. Are you flipping serious? The talent and potential we have is so much better than this. Pull your proverbial heads out. You have a freaking Ferrari that JJ and SJ have provided you, and you refuse to shift out of first gear because you like when the engine sounds loud. You're going to blow it because you are being short sighted and refuse to change or go against the norm.

I'm sure I missed a few things, but this'll do for now.

This 53 man roster has as good as or better talent than the past 10 teams to win the Super Bowl. I think everyone on this board can agree to that. I don't know what the problem is, but as a Fanatic, I expect improvement. This is way too good of a football team to be having FUNDAMENTAL, FOUNDATIONAL problems. Period.

Nice post..................I agree with just about everything you said.

 

[jimmy40]

Green Bay managed to win a Super Bowl with an offensive line worse than ours, a defensive line about the same as ours, and relatively similar talent on the rest of the team.

Rodgers and Romo are relatively similar?

 

[BoysFan4ever]

Green Bay managed to win a Super Bowl with an offensive line worse than ours, a defensive line about the same as ours, and relatively similar talent on the rest of the team.

You're right but they also have a top 2 or 3 QB. We don't and that's not bashing Tony but he's not as good.

Great points though.

 

[DFWJC]

I bet I could go through the last 10 Super Bowl champion teams and point out the same amount of deficiencies.

Maybe 60-70%, but certainly not as many.
IMO of course.
I'm not sure ANY of the l0 winners had as many deficiencies, let alone all of them.
I do think dallas is on the uptick personnel-wise though. And if some of the younger guys (Claiborne, Williams, Carter, Frederick, Leary, Wilcox, Escobar, etc) come around like we hope they will, maybe the gap get filled in a hurray. i still think our combined trenches have a ways to go though. That dline is smoke and mirrors right now.