Dallas Cowboys fans are as big a part of the problem with this organization as the Owner is.
So let's start there with mass anger and blame all around.
Dallas is not entitled to Super Bowls and a SB is not the standard anywhere, but especially not here.
But ole Jerry cannot shut up about Super Bowls.
He and the fans live in a shared delusion. Both need an intervention and therapy.
What part of winning 1 playoff game every couple years spells super bowl?
I am probably echoing here. We are not entitled to a Super Bowl but it
should be the goal. In the long run no one cares if you win 3 straight 12-5 seasons. Just think of the late Marty Shottenheimer and the fact that he can't get into the Hall of Fame. You have to win the post season and not fizzle out. If you get into the playoffs with a 2nd seed, a home field advantage, and being favored by 7.5 points. You should play hard and win that game and not get blown out. This team has historically played too small in big moments and at times play down to lesser opponents. That's not good at all.
Dak's first INT was a ref consistency nightmare. No idea how you give the Packers a first down to keep the drive alive on the first series on a holding call then allow that mugging to be an INT. But that 2nd one was Dak's kryptonite. The off-schedule play by a secondary defender. Dak expected something and didn't check with his eyes. Awful INT. Probably his worst of the entire season.
But no team can put a QB in that situation. Down 7-0 before he ever gets the ball. Backed up because ST is trash all night so you keep starting inside your 20. Fair catching at the 6, taking holding penalties inside the 20? Team never got to run regular offense in the first quarter.
I thought that was a legit INT. Refs always allow more leniency in the playoffs, and overall I didn't see much that would have changed that first INT. But overall the refs have been historically bad this year. I still don't understand why the NFL who makes billions of dollars, won't shave off a few million to keep full time refs and work on them being sharp. Will it totally fix the problem? No. But it should help from some of the crazy bad calls in a lot of games this year.
You play in the NFC East where every other team is arguably set up worse going forward because they lack a QB.
Did Jalen Hurts automatically get bad because he had one bad year in an offensive scheme in Philly that didn't help him or the whole team? Also don't sleep on Washington with that number 2 pick. We keep thinking they are still in Dan Snyder land, but the reality is they have an new owner who wants to win and has sports franchise experience and have been with winning franchises. They have some good pieces there. If they get the coaching and QB solid in the offseason they could be next years Texans.
Jerry made the MM decision as I expected he would. He didn't have a better candidate already lined up so MM returns.
DQ will get a HC job in all likelihood so Dallas can part ways and very quietly point to his former assts all beating him to absolute death as reasons to believe the team will be better.
MM has to be better with time mgmt. Dak is a top 5 QB pre-snap but that also means he is focused so heavily on schematic stuff he fails to pay any attention to the clock. So the coach has to. Both guys pretending they are too important to fill that role gets us here.
Dak is still a top 6-9 QB. Nothing changes there. He was a legit MVP candidate for a reason and he fell short again for a reason. Correct what you can but live within that reality as well. You aren't making Dak a clone of Tom Brady.
BUT you do have a guy 20+ teams would kill for.
I don't see Dak as a top 5 QB even pre-snap. He's nowhere near Lamar, Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow. I would also argue Jordan Love and C.J. Stroud, and Stafford sit on that line (5-7). He sits in the conversation of Goff, Tua, Purdy, Hurts, Cousins. Dak is definitely 6 to 10. He needs to play better in big moments to get in the top 5. He also needs more help than the top 5 to get you to the top. He's still better than the QB's on 22 other teams, but he has flaws that requires him to be helped out in order to succeed.
Negatives?
Basically everything else.
You have 2 Pro Bowl OL that are aging out.
The QB is on the Jeff Bezos salary plan.
The owner and fans EXPECT you to win a Super Bowl next year.
You have 18 cents in salary cap money.
You have no middle of the draft.
CeeDee and Micah want to be the highest paid at their positions even though they have fizzled in the playoffs right along with the 40M QB.
As the kids say: I hate it here.
Can it be fixed? Yes. The NFL is a parity league where almost anything is possible.
And Dallas has a young, deep team.
Flawed and requiring re-work but still young and deep.
Dallas might need to move a big name or two.
Maybe you get Dan Quinn to overpay for Micah.
Painful to do but would free up 25-30M in future cap concerns and bring back a draft saving haul of picks.
Or maybe you trade CeeDee? Again cap plus draft haul for an all-world talent?
Move Dak? That one is a lot tougher because he already costs the money. And replacement level talent is nearly impossible to find.
But you should consider everything. Unless Dak will play team friendly now after making 200M then you might have to suck it up and eat the soup sandwich to move him.
Nothing should be off the table.
Band-aids won't fix the culture.
While I agree with you, I just don't know how much culture change you will get out of McCarthy when he's used to doing it a certain way for over 16 years. IOW, I don't see McCarthy going hard core in one season if he has never done it that way before and I don't know if the players will respond to it. But you're stuck with him for one more year, so they better go all in. I think CeeDee and Micah are both in their last year. Extending them and pushing money forward will help them against the cap since they will both cost 23 million against the cap. One of them could also be traded for picks. KC would jump on CeeDee with their lack of WR depth and no clear #1. Either way, there will be big changes since as of today Dallas is 14 million over the cap and Dak is expected to make 59million. He's not worth that and you have OL issues to deal with. But they may have to eat it so they have flexibility in the future.
It's going to be messy but I agree nothing should be off the table. I just have a gut feeling next year may not go the way the Joneses or fair weather fans think it will go. Historically it never does.
For the record, I still back the Texas Governor and have for years....as well.
