Shortcomings were clearly on display last night

[Philmonroe]

I think your post is well reasoned, but I'm just not sure about part of it. If you look at Minnesota's defense I think most would agree that it is, statistically speaking, one of the tougher defenses in the NFL, and most would say top 5. I think the eyeball test also supports that, to an extent.

I really thought our offensive play calling was pretty suspect last night. I realize when plays don't get positive yardage that they look bad, but I thought conceptually we did a poor job of attacking them.

I think the coaching staff was too unimaginative in their play calling. Having said all of the above, it would have been good enough if we had not had all the penalti and the score might have been more in our favor.

I think like you said because they didn't work you're saying they were unimaginative when they've been running these same plays all year long. If,you have previously had a problem with them ok but otherwise you kinda messed up you point. I do think they should have maybe put some more throws in the play calling when the safety's were so close to the Los. I haven't saw all 22 so maybe the CB played the War that good in man coverage but I still think more plays like that Dez one would have probably stopped that esp in earlier downs. I maybe asking for too much seeing as though they don't like to deviate much from their norm.

 

[NextGenBoys]

We aren't going to run into any team that has a defense like the Vikings. They were clamping down hard not even Seattle can do us like that. The Vikings dominant defense came at the cost of them not having an offense tho.

No, injuries came at the cost of them not having an offense. They are beyond decimated.

 

[Doomsday]

Blocking & that fly sweep thang.

They really haven't been using him as a blocker in the running game the last several weeks.

I think this would be a great time to send the team a Jimmy Johnson type message and cut Lucky!

 

[NextGenBoys]

That's a good point. That game was watching yellow paint dry, for sure.

For the record, I'm as excited as anybody for the prospects for this season, but it's definitely feeling to me like this recent stretch is wearing on the team. It felt like we coasted through both WAS and MIN almost. That said, I'm not looking past tough road wins. Or nationally televised games like the on last night or on Thanksgiving. We're taking everybody's best shots and we've been the ones left standing so far. I do think the extra days off before having to travel out east again are coming at a great time. And I'd be a lot happier with our defensive prospects in the post season with Mo back and playing well, too. If we can't pressure anybody, we have to be able to cover and we have to continue to hold up in the red zone.

Spot on

 

[KJJ]

I don't think it's forbidden talk but Dallas is just as well equipped as anyone is right now to be the last man standing and all this worry is for nothing.

Four of our last six games have come down to the wire. We have a good shot as anyone in the NFC to reach the SB but if you think there's no reason to worry and a SB birth is a given then you're just being a FAN who isn't living in the real world of the NFL. We may be 11-1 but we're far from a dominant team and a solid defensive team that has more offense than the anemic Vikings offense would have likely beaten us by two scores last night. We were lucky to escape with a win and the mistakes/penalties we saw will get us knocked off in the playoffs. With our defense we can't afford to be that sloppy offensively and expect to beat good teams in the playoffs.

 

[CATCH17]

Four of our last six games have come down to the wire. We have a good shot as anyone in the NFC to reach the SB but if you think there's no reason to worry and a SB birth is a given then you're just being a FAN who isn't living in the real world of the NFL. We may be 11-1 but we're far from a dominant team and a solid defensive team that has more offense than the anemic Vikings offense would have likely beaten us by two scores last night. We were lucky to escape with a win last night and the mistakes/penalties we saw will get us knocked off in the playoffs. With our defense we can't afford to be that sloppy offensively and expect to beat good teams in the playoffs.

No fan should ever think that. Ever. If that thought ever existed the 16-0 Patriots ended it.


All I am saying is we have the horses to do this and our defense will not cost us a game unless they are on the field with the game on the line.


This mythical team that is perfect at every position doesn't exist in the NFL and in almost every case Dallas has the upperhand because we play a physical brand of football in a league where 90% of the defenses are built to stop the pass and the 10% that are built to stop the run as well have holes all over their offense.

 

[Stash]

We aren't going to run into any team that has a defense like the Vikings. They were clamping down hard not even Seattle can do us like that. The Vikings dominant defense came at the cost of them not having an offense tho.

It just might be the best defense that we will face. And it likely did play a role in some of our struggles. But they're not something we can control, whereas our own mistakes and shortcomings exposed by them are.

 

[Stash]

I don't think it's forbidden talk but Dallas is just as well equipped as anyone is right now to be the last man standing and all this worry is for nothing.

For nothing? I'll agree to disagree.

 

[Stash]

You say they exist, but then you say lots of things in the heat of emotion that are later proven to be completely wrong.

How 'bout this: you name a few posters for me you think are incapable of criticizing the team, and I'll take the time to see whether or not your claim is accurate. I'll provide links to posts to support my argument. Otherwise, this just falls into the bucket of 'what can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without a reason' and we can all handle it accordingly.

Stand in front of a mirror. But if course you'll continue to deny the obvious, no matter how many times it's clearly pointed out to you.

As for 'jettisoning starters' goes, perhaps I read into your comment. Here's what I was referencing, though. Re: Doug Free you said he was 'awful' 'beaten like a drum repeatedly,' that it was a shame Green wasn't healthy enough to replace him, and that a 'replacement needs to be found' in the long and short term. I'm paraphrasing in between the quotes here, of course, but let me know where I've read into things too much.
http://cowboyszone.com/threads/shortcomings-were-clearly-on-display-last-night.364868/

Re: Brandon Carr, you said he has "zero playmaking, poor awareness, plays soft, gives too much cushion, mediocre tackler. You name it, if it's bad, he's showing it. Cornerback becomes a bigger need every week."
http://cowboyszone.com/threads/shortcomings-were-clearly-on-display-last-night.364868/

Maybe you weren't talking about jettisoning these guys from the roster completely and just wanted to keep them as highly paid backups after replacing them as starters? Or maybe I misunderstood what you really meant by 'short term' or 'replacement' or 'bigger need every week.' If you were actually expecting to keep these starters as backups in order to not jettison them from the roster, it seems expensive and impractical. But if I jumped to the conclusion that you meant actually replacing them on the roster when you didn't, then allow me to apologize.

Do you deny that Free should be replaced? Short term if possible and long term for certain. Or is your case that every player on this team is irreplacable or beyond reproach? It sounds like you want specifics from me, while not taking a solid position yourself.

 

[KJJ]

No fan should ever think that. Ever. If that thought ever existed the 16-0 Patriots ended it.


All I am saying is we have the horses to do this and our defense will not cost us a game unless they are on the field with the game on the line.


This mythical team that is perfect at every position doesn't exist in the NFL and in almost every case Dallas has the upperhand because we play a physical brand of football in a league where 90% of the defenses are built to stop the pass and the 10% that are built to stop the run as well have holes all over their offense.

If you think our defense won't cost us a game unless they're on the field with a game on the line then we're not likely to reach the SB, much less win a SB. If you don't have a defense that can help save a game for you it will catch up with you in the playoffs. We may play physical but we make too many mental mistakes, that lead to penalties that negate good plays. We were repeatedly shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties that had us in 3rd and long all night and crap like that will get us ousted from the playoffs. We escaped with a win against a struggling Vikings team that's now lost 6 of their last 7 games.

 

[Shuff]

Lucky and Escobar are very expendable. We played a team with a great D at home and a team that needed the win much worse than we did. We made lot of mistakes and still won. I am ready for next week. We are 11-1, I am fine with that.

 

[NextGenBoys]

If you think our defense won't cost us a game unless they're on the field with a game on the line then we're not likely to reach the SB, much less win a SB. If you don't have a defense that can help save a game for you it will catch up with you in the playoffs. We may play physical but we make too many mental mistakes, that lead to penalties that negate good plays. We were repeatedly shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties that had us in 3rd and long all night and crap like that will get us ousted from the playoffs. We escaped with a win against a struggling Vikings team that's now lost 6 of their last 7 games.

I'm not a big fan of our defense, but we typically don't make too many mistakes. We play very sound football. The problem is our talent level.

 

[Proximo]

Let's say Lucky and Elliott doesn't fumble, what are you saying today? You act as if this is who we are as a team. We had a bad game, that's not the norm here. And I feel we had a bad game because we played a REALLY GOOD defense. If we play like this every week, or most weeks, you'd have a better argument.

This.

Last night's game was an outlier for us. Every team has stinkers. It's no surprise our stinker came on the 3rd game in 12 days and against one of the best (if not the best) defense in the NFL.

Sort of like in prize fighting- styles make fights. They were a bad matchup for us, and all circumstances considered, it was probably the best opportunity for the Vikes to beat us, and we still grinded out a win.

 

[CATCH17]

If you think our defense won't cost us a game unless they're on the field with a game on the line then we're not likely to reach the SB, much less win a SB. If you don't have a defense that can help save a game for you it will catch up with you in the playoffs. We may play physical but we make too many mental mistakes, that lead to penalties that negate good plays. We were repeatedly shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties that had us in 3rd and long all night and that will get us ousted from the playoffs. We escaped with a win against a struggling Vikings team that's now lost 6 of their last 7 games.

If we were doing the 60/40 run to pass ratio I would believe it KJJ.

But we're not.

We are rare.

Your logic has not applied to this team. Even the game we lost our offense still had a chance at the end.

I don't and haven't seen any team blow us out and in a league where the average game is decided by 7 points or less, a team that normally wins the possession battle, a team that only allows 19 PPG, imposes their will on the ground, and is most likely going to have homefield throughout the playoffs then no I ABSOLUTELY do NOT see this defense costing us unless they are on the field with the game on the line and then the other team STILL has to score.

Our defense is good enough to make sure our offense is the reason we win or lose.

Had we lost LAST NIGHT it would've been the offenses fault and that is what it will take to stop this Cowboys team. You have to stop us from imposing the will and if you have the horses to do that you also have to have the horses to run away with the game.

 

[KJJ]

I'm not a big fan of our defense, but we typically don't make too many mistakes. We play very sound football. The problem is our talent level.

Our defense made a pretty big mistake last night with a penalty that cost us a rare INT and Browns rookie mistake on Thanksgiving on the DJack TD could have helped cost us the Washington game. Most our mental mistakes are coming on offense with false starts and holding calls that are wiping out nice plays and putting us in long down situations. We didn't play very sound football last night and it almost cost us that game.

 

[NextGenBoys]

Our defense made a pretty big mistake last night with a penalty that cost us a rare INT and Browns rookie mistake on Thanksgiving on the DJack TD could have helped cost us the Washington game. Most our mental mistakes are coming on offense with false starts and holding calls that are wiping out nice plays and putting us in long down situations. We didn't play very sound football last night and it almost cost us that game.

I think the Scandrick call was BS. That's a no call to me. The mistake against Wash was a pure mistake blown coverage. Just saying for the most part, we play soundly on defense. Not perfect. But we don't make too many mistakes.

 

[Denim Chicken]

I think this would be a great time to send the team a Jimmy Johnson type message and cut Lucky!

I think people are overreacting to the fumble.

 

[romothesavior]

As this magical season and record-setting win streak continues, I can't help but be more and more concerned as this team's weak links continue to be exposed. While I think they have popped up here and there from time to time over the course of this season, they seemed to happen collectively last night.

Maybe it was coincidence? Maybe it was a great defense helping to expose them?

But, whatever the reason, they were more glaring last night than I think they've been all season.

Doug Free - The guy was awful last night, and that's outside of a bogus 'holding' call that negated the biggest running play of the night. He was beaten like a drum repeatedly in pass protection and gave up two sacks at minimum and was responsible for the forced fumble.

It was so obvious that Collinsworth specifically called him 'the weak link' of the Cowboys' line. That's something we all knew, but it said a lot that it was pointed out by a commentator too. It's unfortunate that Chaz Green can't stay healthy to give the team another option, but something needs to be done about Free's issues, for both the long and short term. Adjustments need to be made in blocking and a long term replacement needs to be found.

Jason Pierre-Paul is coming on, and he's repeatedly given Free problems. I worry this could be a huge factor in the upcoming game against the Giants.

Brandon Carr - the guy just isn't very good. Other than being available every week, he doesn't bring much to the table. It's one thing for rookie Anthony Brown to struggle, it's quite another for a veteran who's been around as long as Carr has. Zero playmaking, poor awareness, plays soft, gives too much cushion, mediocre tackler. You name it, if it's bad, he's showing it. Cornerback becomes a bigger need every week.

Lucky Whitehead - time to end this failed experiment. After what looked like signs of development and improvement, it's obvious that it's not happening. He's showing why he was an undrafted free agent. It's one thing to Ben a 'one trick pony', but when you can't even handle that 'one trick', it's time to look elsewhere. Besides the big fumble, he continues to be indecisive and dangerous on punt returns. And if he can't do that, he has little to no value. And his issues are forcing the team to use Beasley out there to fair catch every punt when he's out there.

Gavin Escobar - His status as a draft bust was already secure, but he went to great lengths to eliminate any doubts last night. The guy just provides little to nothing to this team. While he might be able to contribute in the passing game, the team simply doesn't use him in that way. And, right or wrong, he can't handle what they are asking him to do. And the combination of he and Vince Mayle are hurting this team's blocking, not helping it. One of them should go for a capable blocker. I think bringing back Austin Traylor would be a smarter move at this point than wasting more time with these two.

The 'pass rush' - and the obvious lack thereof. The team played against arguably the very worst offensive line they will see all year and the results were still disappointing. The Tyrone Crawford experiment looks worse and worse all the time. What they're paying that player to do so little is just an awful return on investment. And it speaks volumes that he wasn't able to make an impact lining up against a 3rd team right tackle. Overall, I still fear that the obvious weakness from this group will be this team's undoing and ultimately cost them a chance for a championship.

I don't think that any of these points are ground-breaking or haven't been discussed before, but I felt that they were more glaring last night than they have been all season, and this team is fortunately that they didn't cost them the game.

I very much hope that some, if not all, can somehow be improved upon or corrected before it's too late.

While I agree with most of what you wrote, this is true of any team in the NFL. It is next to impossible to build a "complete" team in today's era with the salary cap.

Also, I think you are underestimating the effect of lack of rest (i.e., 3 games in 11 days). I think it made both teams especially sluggish.

 

[KJJ]

If we were doing the 60/40 run to pass ratio I would believe it KJJ.

But we're not.

We are rare.

Your logic has not applied to this team. Even the game we lost our offense still had a chance at the end.

I don't and haven't seen any team blow us out and in a league where the average game is decided by 7 points or less, a team that normally wins the possession battle, a team that only allows 19 PPG, imposes their will on the ground, and is most likely going to have homefield throughout the playoffs then no I ABSOLUTELY do NOT see this defense costing us unless they are on the field with the game on the line and then the other team STILL has to score.

Our defense is good enough to make sure our offense is the reason we win or lose.

Had we lost LAST NIGHT it would've been the offenses fault and that is what it will take to stop this Cowboys team. You have to stop us from imposing the will and if you have the horses to do that you also have to have the horses to run away with the game.

What logic am I applying to this team? Just want to make sure you're not getting anything twisted. I'm saying our defense will eventually catch up to us in the playoffs if we don't find a consistent pass rush. You can't depend on your offense to win games every week or it will catch up to you in the playoffs. We had a decent pass rush last night due to all the problems on the Vikings OL. Some are acting like our offense is never going to miss a beat and it did last night but fortunately we were playing against an anemic offense. Scoring only 17 points would have gotten us beat 5 times this season and had 3 other games go into OT. I don't see our offense getting us knocked off in the playoffs if we do get knocked off, it will be our defense.

Our offense had to put over 26 points in two of our last four wins. We still can't stop anyone with games on the line. Our D gave up a drive and a TD in the closing seconds last night that helped turn the final seconds into a real nail biter. In our last two games the defense surrendered TD's in the closing seconds giving our opponents a chance. We're winning games due to our offense being the #1 team in the league at chewing up the clock and putting points on the board. We proved last night we're capable of stopping ourselves with STUPID penalties!

We're having to protect our defense by keeping that unit off the field as much as we can. We lost the time of possession battle last night despite facing the 30th ranked offense. Any good offensive team we face we're going to have to score more than 17 points to win. We've won most of our games this season due to our offense overcoming our defensive issues. What we saw last night offensively with the penalties/mistakes that had us in 3rd in long all night will get us knocked off in the playoffs unless our defense steps up and you can quote me on that.

 

[KJJ]

I think the Scandrick call was BS. That's a no call to me. The mistake against Wash was a pure mistake blown coverage. Just saying for the most part, we play soundly on defense. Not perfect. But we don't make too many mistakes.

There's mistakes in coverage which is one reason we rank so poorly against the pass. We leave receivers open and have allowed opponents to convert too many 3rd and long situations. Even though we were facing the 30th ranked offense, the Vikings had the ball for almost 34 minutes. We have a bend but don't break defense and that approach usually catches up with you in the playoffs.