Skip, Stephen A: Cowboys to finish last in NFCE

[Star Guard_31]

8-8 last year with the worst defense in the league and sooooooooo many injuries.

But what suggests to you that our defense will be better this year, or that our injury prone players will suddenly become durable?

Let's not forget that the other teams in the NFC East appear to be much improved. 5 of our 8 wins came against division rivals. Do you really think we're going 5-1 against the NFC East again this year, given the defection of DeSean Jackson within the division, a fully healthy RGIII, and the addition of Darren Sproles to an already high octane Eagles offense?

 

[5Stars]

Skip and Stephen A. are making some Cowboy posters around here so happy! Birds of a feather flock together. lol

 

[cowboy_ron]

But what suggests to you that our defense will be better this year, or that our injury prone players will suddenly become durable?

Let's not forget that the other teams in the NFC East appear to be much improved. 5 of our 8 wins came against division rivals. Do you really think we're going 5-1 against an NFC East again this year, given the defection of DeSean Jackson within the division, a fully healthy RGIII, and the addition of Darren Sproles to an already high octane Eagles offense?

They scored a total of 3 points more than the Cowboys did for the season......jump off the eagles bandwagon, they will drop back to earth this year...to expect Foles to play over his head again like last season is not realistic

 

[Coy]

Skip says the cowboys are about a 6 win team. and Stephen says they will finish in last place. and the sad part is that i can't say they are wrong. in fact i think they are right on the money.it's going to be a long year for the cowboys.6 and 10 may be being nice. time to blow up this team. the window has closed.

On the bright side If that were to happen at least we'd get rid of Garrett for sure.
Saying that I hope they are wrong and we win the NFC east, I just don't see it.

 

[birdwells1]

[quote="TwoDeep3, post: 5556035, member: 171"The schedule this season is brutal.[/quote]
This is what I've been saying in all of these prediction threads, you can't say 10 or 11 wins without going through the schedule and picking out those wins.

 

[Idgit]

It'd be nice to have a running tab on everyone's predictions each year.

I do recall several 4-12 and 5-11 predictions last year...as well 12-4 and 11-5 ones. Just curious if the same people are saying this every year.

Of course this early, before even OTAs begin (let alone real practices and preseason games) it seems really early to call the shots.

I will say this, up front the schedule seems daunting. Teams that we may normally want to put a W by are certainly no gimmees.

From what I recall, it's always interesting to see predictions, because the happy fans aren't usually any more optimistic about the likely outcomes than the 'realists' are. In many cases, it was people who complained the most about the status quo who had fairly high hopes for the coming year. The example I always used was me and bbgun (if you remember him) having the same record expectations two years running. You're not going to find a grumpier guy than bbgun overall, and I think I'm a fairly positive person myself. Yet we both had the same exact performance expectations for the Cowboys. The only difference was he preferred bringing the rest of us down along the way for whatever reason.

 

[5Stars]

From what I recall, it's always interesting to see predictions, because the happy fans aren't usually any more optimistic about the likely outcomes than the 'realists' are. In many cases, it was people who complained the most about the status quo who had fairly high hopes for the coming year. The example I always used was me and bbgun (if you remember him) having the same record expectations two years running. You're not going to find a grumpier guy than bbgun overall, and I think I'm a fairly positive person myself. Yet we both had the same exact performance expectations for the Cowboys. The only difference was he preferred bringing the rest of us down along the way for whatever reason.

BBgun is here...you just don't know who he is. Just like Rampage is here, and a few others in incognito.

 

[Zordon]

BBgun is here...you just don't know who he is. Just like Rampage is here, and a few others in incognito.

Great posters. I miss them. Along with Rynie.

 

[Sarge]

Skip says the cowboys are about a 6 win team. and Stephen says they will finish in last place. and the sad part is that i can't say they are wrong. in fact i think they are right on the money.it's going to be a long year for the cowboys.6 and 10 may be being nice. time to blow up this team. the window has closed.

Again, your avatar suits you perfectly.

 

[5Stars]

Great posters. I miss them. Along with Rynie.

Those guy are here...just under new names. If you paid attention to how they post, you see the exact same things.

 

[RonSpringsdaman20]

doesn't matter. season isn't played in may.

 

[Star Guard_31]

Here are the players we "added" this year due to acquisition, draft or return from injury.

Almost certain help:

Sean Lee (starting MLB, huge upgrade)
Henry Melton (starting DT3)
Tyron Crawford (full rotation in oline, upgrade in depth DE and DT)
Zack Martin (starting OG, upgrade)
DeMarcus Lawrence (full rotation in RDE, start downgrade short term...though Ware was not very gd in '13, death upgrade with Selvie/)
Terrel McClain (upgrade at DT1..>>Hayden)
Jeremy Mincey (DE depth upgrade)
Ryan Williams (RB depth upgrade)
Devin Street (probable WR depth upgrade...Miles was non-existent in 2013)


possible help:

Anthony Spencer (by wk 6 or so)
A Hitchen (LB depth)
K Bishop (young depth)
Amobi Okoye (possible DT depth)
M Johnson (only possible, but if plays is depth upgrade)
B Gardner (DE depth)
T Mitchell (CB depth)
A Dixon (S depth)
W Smith (LB depth)
B Malena (possible 3rd down back upgrade)

Plus, this is one of the younger teams in the league now.
Those teams usually experience internal growth as well.
Additional players with large or small upside:

Tyron Smith (becoming elite)
Dez (becoming elite)
Frederick (only 2nd year starter)
T Williams (2nd year starter)
Mo Claiborne (big upside)
Wilcox (only 2nd year, prob starter)
Carter (much potential, won't be worse)
Escobar (very high potential)

I struck the offensive players for the sake of an easier comparison since his quote was in response to the lack of defensive improvements. As far as your top 4 improvements go...

Sean Lee - This is only an upgrade if he can stay on the field. What gives you confidence Sean Lee will remain healthy this year after missing significant time each of the past 3 seasons?

Henry Melton - Assuming he is completely healthy --which shouldn't isn't a foregone conclusion -- at best this is a wash. From a production standpoint, Melton's last two complete seasons (2011 & 12) barely eclipsed Hatcher's single season production last year.

Tyrone Crawford - For a guy still looking for his first career sack and coming off an Achilles injury, Crawford sure generates a lot of hype. Personally, I've seen more out of Hayden at this point that I have Crawford.

DeMarcus Lawrence - You mention Lawrence in tandem with George Selvie; what makes you think Selvie is going to play at the same level as last year? A lot of his sacks occurred as a result of the constant double teams directed at Ware. All the sudden the attention that Ware was getting is now going to be focused on Selvie. Keep in mind last year was a career year for him. Selvie is what he is, and that is a soon to be 28 year old DE playing in his 6th season who has likely reached his ceiling. He is a known quantity at this point in his career. Expecting him to produce back-to-back career years would have been like expecting DeMarcus Ware to follow-up his 20 sack season with an encore performance the very next year.

 

[Zordon]

Those guy are here...just under new names. If you paid attention to how they post, you see the exact same things.

I don't think so but if they are, PM me guys!

 

[Idgit]

BBgun is here...you just don't know who he is. Just like Rampage is here, and a few others in incognito.

Hard to say, but I don't recognize anybody with bbgun's sense of humor, anyway. He cracked me up. Then again, I don't miss the constant complaining.

Great posters. I miss them. Along with Rynie.

lol, rynie and 'great poster' used in the same sentence. That dude could barely spell his own name. Forgot about him. Good times.

 

[Idgit]

I don't think so but if they are, PM me guys!

PM me, too! Any former banned member who's back incognito. Just so I know who's who. I miss you guys.

 

[BoysFan4ever]

I imagine most national sports guys will pick the Cowboys to have a poor season. They are basically rebuilding the D line, they have holes in the secondary, they have a QB coming off surgery & they play some tough teams.

I go with the flow 8-8 if they catch some breaks but for 2 guys to pick them to have a bad year isn't shocking. They've done nothing for a number of years.

 

[Section446]

I imagine most national sports guys will pick the Cowboys to have a poor season. They are basically rebuilding the D line, they have holes in the secondary, they have a QB coming off surgery & they play some tough teams.

I go with the flow 8-8 if they catch some breaks but for 2 guys to pick them to have a bad year isn't shocking. They've done nothing for a number of years.

With Spencer starting the season on PUP (wasn't expecting a lot from him anyway), Lawrence is going to have to put up a DROTY-type performance.

 

[Zordon]

PM me, too! Any former banned member who's back incognito. Just so I know who's who. I miss you guys.

Just curious, if a banned member came back to the site after a 3-4 year hiatus would he still be ban on site status or would there be some leeway?

 

[Zordon]

lol, rynie and 'great poster' used in the same sentence. That dude could barely spell his own name. Forgot about him. Good times.

Rynie was a bad arse dude who brought some good info on the gameday experience.

 

[Star Guard_31]

They scored a total of 3 points more than the Cowboys did for the season......jump off the eagles bandwagon, they will drop back to earth this year...to expect Foles to play over his head again like last season is not realistic

The total points figure is a bit deceptive though. The Eagles were clearly a different team under Nick Foles than they were under Vick. Their offense averaged 23 points per game with Vick under center, once Foles took over that increased to 29 points per game. During Foles' 12 games, they scored over 30 times on 6 different occasions, including a 54 and 49 point performance. I'd call that high octane.

I hope you're right and Foles does fall back down to Earth, but people also said the same thing about Tom Brady after his breakout year.