lane;4764326 said:
i've been watching the cowboys since 1975 and i know there are plenty here that have watched as long or longer than i have.
i was 8 years old when i started this obsession.
i'm 45 now.
i've seen it all....the good, the bad and everything in between.
please tell me what is the root cause of what we are seeing now?
The more pressing question is why the Cowboys, considering the defensive philosophy of its division rivals, continue to disregard the importance of a cohesive interior line, particularly center. Why does a Jason Garrett offense continue to perform sloppily. His offense has been in place through the Wade Phillips era to the present. I said it before about Wade and I'm to the point of saying it again. I'm afraid that one or
both of either Garrett or Romo might not be a part of the Cowboys when they hoist another Lombardy Trophy.
When the Cowboys were winning in the nineties, they did it with the two basic things you need to do to win the NFC East ... running and defense. They seem to be solving the defense but the running game is STILL not a staple of the offense. As much as Garrett says that the Cowboys are a physical team, it rings hallow when Romo is throwing the ball over 40 times in games they fall behind in. They are a finesse team and bare no resemblance at all to the bulldozing leviathan that Norv Turner and Jimmy Johnson constructed.
What gives the Cowboys the edge? Is it Romo? Is it Murray? Is it Bryant? The defense?
The superbowl era teams had an edge, a swagger, an aura. Teams knew beforehand that they would have to pick the poison of their own demise. They also new that the coach on the sidelines opposite of them wanted to kill 'em ... and by any means necessary. On most sundays, there was a feeling that something lethal had been unleashed and the opposite team would be in for the fight of their lives, and there was only one way out ... piece by piece.
The current edition of the Cowboys is an expose in timidity and fragility. No other way to put it. The year they looked most like the super years was 2007 and whatever that was died at Texas Stadium in the third battle with the Giants. And since then, the Giants have gone on to prosper while the Cowboys continue to languish.
Like a bad cold, this o-line deficiency holds them back and there is little you can do with substandard talent. It must run its course. Romo will not get better behind the current group. The team will succeed in spite of them, not because of them.
The more sobering analysis is the fact that free-agency has guaranteed a level playing field and the quality of all teams have suffered as a result. Gone are the days when everyone knew that it would be San Francisco and Dallas at the end of the season. Teams are so thin at important skill positions that winning back to back championships is more difficult now than its ever been.
Most of this mess can certainly be laid at Jerry Jones' feet and he seems to want flash more than substance. A team that never drafted a receiver with its first pick after Johnson chooses Dez Bryant, an undeniable talent, but who looks increasingly like a player who can't get out of his own way. Since the debacle against the Giants in 2007, the o-line has been neglected and only this year has begun to be addressed in a serious manner. Jones pays too much, too soon and keeps his players too long, as Terence Newman showed for example. He wants a docile and conciliatory coach who can co-exist in his model of control over a franchise that has won just one playoff game in sixteen seasons. Does he care immensely about his team? Unequivocally, but unless something changes, there might be many more seasons of mediocrity to follow.
