Rick Gosselin's NFL off-season rankings

[burmafrd]

Just because he may be objective does not mean he is right.

And anytime I read a post by someone talking about our O line as Old I know then to immediately ignore that poster from this time forward. Anyone with a modicum of football knowledge realizes that 28-32 is the prime of an O linemans career and that they can play very well up to the 36-37 range.

 

[CATCH17]

In reality we aren't far behind the Giants and Romo has only lost to them 1 time as a starter.

 

[CATCH17]

Just because he may be objective does not mean he is right.

And anytime I read a post by someone talking about our O line as Old I know then to immediately ignore that poster from this time forward. Anyone with a modicum of football knowledge realizes that 28-32 is the prime of an O linemans career and that they can play very well up to the 36-37 range.

Yep.

I read this posts all the time and get a good chuckle.

Olinemen should be able to play into their late 30's unless they have had just way to many injuries.

 

[iceberg]

Quite frankly, I'm surprised that Washington wasn't ranked above us.

Seriously, the effectiveness in receiving and the pash rush to have greater success this season will hinge on the health of Roy E. Williams and Anthony Spencer. It will not depend solely on the absense of a marquee receiver and a converted outside linebacker. It's still football, not 'Hollywood Squares'.

we created a lot of our questions/concerns that took us to #17. to get out of it, we have to prove it, not hope for it.

goose is usually the most objective writer i know of, so i can certainly see why these are concerns for him.

 

[DallasEast]

we created a lot of our questions/concerns that took us to #17. to get out of it, we have to prove it, not hope for it.

goose is usually the most objective writer i know of, so i can certainly see why these are concerns for him.

A) Terrell Owens' departure
B) Roy Williams "flourishing"
C) Anthony Spencer's pass rush

These are the discussion points Gosselin makes to slot Dallas in the lower half of all NFL teams in '09. He even mentions the Cowboys' potential of utilizing an elite level (i.e. top five) rushing attack, but even that opinion doesn't push the team at or above #16.

I wonder how far down would he push the team if Marion Barber, Felix Jones and/or Tashard Choice was eliminated from his evaluation?

 

[LeonDixson]

He overrates Atlanta, imo. The Bears too.

Like many, he is forcasting a jump by Houston. Guess we'll see. On paper it looks possible.

And I know this is the CZ, but the 'Boys at 17 seems low to me.

Otherwise, I see his reasoning for most of the ratings.

I agree with you on Atlanta. They may turn out to be that good but I think you have to weigh the "last year could have been a fluke" factor. Same thing with the Cardinals. Also, if the Cards weren't in such a weak division, I don't think they make the playoffs.

I happen to think we are a very talented team and it was mostly injuries that caused our downfall last year, but I'm not upset he rated us low. The team needs to prove they have "it".

 

[yentl911]

Am I the only one that thinks the Falcons will come back down to earth this season? I think defenses will find ways to rattle the young QB, forcing him into more turnovers, etc....

Everyone always talks about how much talent we have on this team but if we were truly that talented we would have won a playoff game or two in the past decade.

 

[Ren]

I really don't get all the love for the Giants they sucked without Burress and they replace him with a rookie and all of a sudden their the best team in the NFC again?

 

[DFWJC]

Am I the only one that thinks the Falcons will come back down to earth this season?

Probably not... seeing that the post preceeding yours (and posts before that one) said the same thing.

 

[Ren]

Everyone always talks about how much talent we have on this team but if we were truly that talented we would have won a playoff game or two in the past decade.

Our current team has very little to do with what we did in the playoffs 10 years ago even in 03 and they sure as hell ain't to blame for the Campo years. I really don't see what relevance this current teams talent had on all that

 

[burmafrd]

Goose frankly has never looked very good outside of his top 100 list, nothing else he has done has ever been anything other then mediocre.

 

[Section446]

Some people can't handle the truth, we are a pretty average team until proven otherwise.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Because fans were flooding his email box with nasty missives if he didn't pick a game a certain way, so he said "screw it."

I always thought that was a lame cop out excuse by him.

He does not seem to care about any other thing they email him and complain about, so why use it for an excuse for the games?

Cop out on his part to use that excuse.

 

[SLATEmosphere]

Good I'm glad we're 17. The players should use that as a slap in the face and needs to be posted all over their locker room.

 

[SLATEmosphere]

Some people can't handle the truth, we are a pretty average team until proven otherwise.

.Sorry but we are above average. The Saints and Texans are average.

 

[mldardy]

.Sorry but we are above average. The Saints and Texans are average.

THis is a good point. We were in the upper half of the NFL last season. Last year was a pretty mediocre year for the NFL. You had an 8-8, 9-7, and 10-6 teams win their divisions. We were one game from making the playoffs. We should probably be ranked at least in the top 15 this season.

 

[Apollo Creed]

THis is a good point. We were in the upper half of the NFL last season. Last year was a pretty mediocre year for the NFL. You had an 8-8, 9-7, and 10-6 teams win their divisions. We were one game from making the playoffs. We should probably be ranked at least in the top 15 this season.

He must've completely forgot we were one of the most injured teams in football last year. We stay healthy, no way we go 9-7 - even against that tough schedule.

 

[Doomsday101]

Some people can't handle the truth, we are a pretty average team until proven otherwise.

They will play the game and we will all find out the truth. I think we have some very good players in some very key position.

 

[sonnyboy]

I knew this months ago.

9-7 is 9-7 is 9-7. 44-6 is 44-6 is 44-6. This is our 2008 legacy and there's really no getting around it.

With that said, you have to admit there is an anti-Cowboys bias.

Any other team in our position would get a little more off-season love than we've seen.

This was a 13 win team in 2007. We suffered more than our fair share of injuries in 2008 and dropped to 9 wins.

Now I'm supposed to believe we are an 8 win team. OK.

Let's take a closer look at this list. Anyone want to explain to me why and how the #5 ranked Chargers are better than the Cowboys.

They finished strong, but they were an 8 win team! Gosselin even admits that Tomlinson at 30 may be done and of course who can count on Merriman to be what he was when he was taking steriods?

Yet Gosselin overlooks all this to rank them as the 5th best team.

Would anyone here like to tell me which Charger unit you'd take of the Cowboys?

Coaching? QB? RB? REC? OL? DL? LB? DB?

I'd really like to put this question to Gosselin?

 

[DFWJC]

Let's take a closer look at this list. Anyone want to explain to me why and how the #5 ranked Chargers are better than the Cowboys.

....
Would anyone here like to tell me which Charger unit you'd take of the Cowboys?

Coaching? QB? RB? REC? OL? DL? LB? DB?

?

I don't think I would the choose the Chargers as my example....not sure if they are 5th best, but they should be awfully good. I think injuries hurt them even more than us last season. LT was hobbled all year and even worse, Merriman was out all year. He is the heart of that D.

And by the way, many or most NFL fans outside of Dallas would take the Chargers QB (Rivers was the leagues top rated passer last year), certainly WR (w/ VJax, Chambers and Floyd), probably coaching, maybe both lines are a wash (but they have annual Pro Bowl guys on both lines), maybe LB is a wash, and DB maybe ahead of the Cowboys. RB would be close with them having a healthy LT and Sproles (though I may lean our way there). In any case it is sure not cut and dry.

Anyway, in general I agree that they are underrating the Boys, but I'd pick a few other teams to move us ahead of.