Tanking would have been the right strategy

[dallasdave]

What do you think Jimmy Johnson would have done? Keep playing those bum starters who already threw away the season, or would Jimmy have played backups to further evaluate them those last few games in order to determine who stay or goes? I believe Jimmy would have been in rebuilding mode come December.

Right, Jimmy was a winner and did what ever it took to be the best. Well said indeed Sir

 

[zekecowboy]

x 100

We should never, ever, say Cowboys have the smartest fans in the NFL....

Nor management

 

[RonnieT24]

It sucked trading Herschel Walker and tanking our way into 3 super bowls.

If this team was on it's way to 1-15 and was all but eliminated from playoff contention in October like that '89 team was I would not have minded a fire sale at the trade deadline. However this team was not in that position. It was never more than a game and a half out of the division lead as I recall and had a realistic chance of winning it until week 17. Yes most of us would agree that they were not going to go very far in the playoffs upon getting there.. but who cares? I would rather watch my team scrap its way to the playoffs for 16 games than tune it out after 10..

 

[TequilaCowboy]

Surely you must be Joe King.

LOL,, i see what you did there.....and don't call me shirley.

 

[RonnieT24]

Right, Jimmy was a winner and did what ever it took to be the best. Well said indeed Sir

Except shut his loud mouth and quit dissin his boss to anybody who would listen. His ego (along with Jerry's) probably cost us at least two more Super Bowls..

 

[TequilaCowboy]

Except shut his loud mouth and quit dissin his boss to anybody who would listen. His ego (along with Jerry's) probably cost us at least two more Super Bowls..

I'll take a loud mouth, ego centric but knowledgable HC who disses a meddling owner if he gets me championship teams and SB rings. And yes, it was also Jerry's inflated ego, who felt 500 coaches could coach this team, that led to the demise. How many has he gone through already? I lost count.

 

[dallasdave]

I'll take a loud mouth, ego centric but knowledgable HC who disses a meddling owner if he gets me championship teams and SB rings. And yes, it was also Jerry's inflated ego, who felt 500 coaches could coach this team, that led to the demise. How many has he gone through already? I lost count.

Well said indeed Sir

 

[kskboys]

If this team was on it's way to 1-15 and was all but eliminated from playoff contention in October like that '89 team was I would not have minded a fire sale at the trade deadline. However this team was not in that position. It was never more than a game and a half out of the division lead as I recall and had a realistic chance of winning it until week 17. Yes most of us would agree that they were not going to go very far in the playoffs upon getting there.. but who cares? I would rather watch my team scrap its way to the playoffs for 16 games than tune it out after 10..

Sure, but that's the fan in you.

I'd rather trade away some talent and use those draft picks to build a super bowl contender. And it's more than OK to feel either way.

And then you have to ask, where do you draw the line? Tough decisions come up every year before the trade deadline. If your team is 04 is it OK then? There is no clear line as you're inferring, Ron.

 

[Beaker42]

x 100

We should never, ever, say Cowboys have the smartest fans in the NFL....

OP’s right - we ******* ourselves.

 

[Rockport]

Sure, but that's the fan in you.

I'd rather trade away some talent and use those draft picks to build a super bowl contender. And it's more than OK to feel either way.

And then you have to ask, where do you draw the line? Tough decisions come up every year before the trade deadline. If your team is 04 is it OK then? There is no clear line as you're inferring, Ron.

That’d be great for every team in the NFL but every team in the NFL knows that draft picks aren’t guaranteed. Are you alive?

 

[plymkr]

People talk about it never being helpful to lose on purpose, but we've been struggling to get to 8-8 every year for 15 years. If overcoming adversity to get to middling were actually such a character builder, we would have won many Super Bowls by now.

We're picking 10th. Which is OK. But we could have been picking 3rd or 4th or something in every round. So that's 40-50 spots of surrendered draft capital. And we didn't make the playoffs, so that flurry of wins at the end of the year did nothing but set us back long-term.

Also, signing a veteran backup quarterback - unless you're a serious contender, not a Jerry Jones magical-thinking contender - is a waste of resources. We got Andy Dalton. At the end of the year, our backup quarterback was better than the backup quarterbacks for other teams with injured starters. So we won a few games. It didn't help us. It hurt us. See paragraph 2.

I can see where you're coming from but in the big picture tanking would have been bad. If the Dallas Cowboys have taught me anything it's that a talented player will get lost in the dysfunction of the organization and get wasted. The best examples of this organization not getting the most of out of players is Taco Charlton and Zeke. Taco was a bust for us and then played better, not great, but more productive on another team. Zeke Elliott is the best example of a waste of draft capital and talent. He was picked 4th, so a previous "tanked" season gave us the 4th pick. We draft Zeke and the Titans draft Henry. Henry rushed for 2000 yards I believe this past season and Zeke 900 or so. Zeke was great his first year but since then he's been a headache with off the field problems, suspensions, bad behavior, etc. Now he's an on the field problem with being fat and slow and a fumble machine.

I'm not bashing Zeke, I'm bashing the dysfunctional organization. Zeke was a blue chip stud his rookie year. Then the organization that pretty much demands mediocrity from it's players and coaches took an elite back and made him mediocre. There's a few players that can rise above the organization's demand and enablement of mediocrity. Players like Dak, martin, Romo, Dez. But those players love football. Players like Zeke love partying and being a celebrity.

So in summary don't fret too much about missing out on draft capital because we would have turned that great, blue chip stud into an average player. The organization will have to commit to winning again and until that happens then most talented players will be overpaid, underachieving JAGS.

 

[G2]

If this team was on it's way to 1-15 and was all but eliminated from playoff contention in October like that '89 team was I would not have minded a fire sale at the trade deadline. However this team was not in that position. It was never more than a game and a half out of the division lead as I recall and had a realistic chance of winning it until week 17. Yes most of us would agree that they were not going to go very far in the playoffs upon getting there.. but who cares? I would rather watch my team scrap its way to the playoffs for 16 games than tune it out after 10..

Same here. Many are simply using hindsight. I guess I don't see the point in following a team with conditions. I honestly enjoyed how hard the team fought to stay in the division hunt, especially the defense.

 

[RonnieT24]

Same here. Many are simply using hindsight. I guess I don't see the point in following a team with conditions. I honestly enjoyed how hard the team fought to stay in the division hunt, especially the defense.

Yeah with Covid having killed over 2 million people worldwide in the last 12 months you would think that would underscore the value of living in the moment. Tomorrow is not promised... Jerry Jones will be 80 soon.. You think he's sitting around mapping out a 5 year plan? What guarantee do we have that this team would not be beset by injuries NEXT year after tanking to get a better draft pick. If Dak, Tyron, La'el and Zack go down again next year the results are gonna look a lot like they did this year. And instead of having that 5-6 weeks of excitement we fans were treated to down the stretch this year we would have had a 2-14 season after 11 straight losses to chew on. No thanks.. Give me the hope of watching the defense finally start to show signs of life.. watching Donovan Wilson emerge as a playmaker, watching the young linemen gain some game experience.. watching the receivers (and Schultz) show just how good they are.. I'll take that, the three game win streak, albeit against bums, and the hope we held right up until the final game over losing 11 in a row and pray some draft pick fixes everything for us.. NEXT YEAR..

 

[RonnieT24]

I'll take a loud mouth, ego centric but knowledgable HC who disses a meddling owner if he gets me championship teams and SB rings. And yes, it was also Jerry's inflated ego, who felt 500 coaches could coach this team, that led to the demise. How many has he gone through already? I lost count.

Jerry proved this point when Barry Switzer came off his couch to win a Super Bowl. Whether people want to acknowledge it or not Jerry and Jimmy needed each other to build what they built. Jerry's wheelin and dealin methodology and Jimmy's connection to the college talent was a perfect match. Here's the thing.. the longer Jimmy stayed in the pros the less clued in he was on the college talent. It's no coincidence that he never got anywhere near building a team as good as the one he had in Dallas down in Miami. None of the running backs he drafted ever approached Emmitt.. none of the QBs could hold Aikman's jockstrap. None of the linemen .. well to be honest most of the great linemen he had were drafted by Landry.. Nate, Gogan and Tuinei were all on the roster when he arrived.. The Haley trade never happens without Jerry.. Neither does the Herschel trade. No matter how many times Jimmy tries to claim credit for those Earth shaking moves the fact is he didn't make them.. The owner and GM did.. Even if they were Jimmy's idea.. he couldn't make those deals without Jerry.. he knows it.. I know it and you know it..

Make no mistake about it.. I will ALWAYS assign 50/50 blame to both men for their falling out and what it cost my favorite team. I firmly believe there was at least one more Super Bowl in that nucleus.. But people claiming they would have won 5-6 in a row clearly don't understand football and Father Time. That team was going to get old no matter who was coaching it. Also the physical demands of playing 3 extra games every year was going to catch up with their bodies.. Finally Jimmy abrasive little dictator manner was going to wear thin as his young team matured. There were reports that Haley showed up for work looking to beat the crap out of him on more than one occasion. Jimmy liked to play mind games with the guys.. and used fear to motivate.. At some point those guys were going to realize that they had nothing to fear.. He wasn't cutting Mike, Big E, Emmitt, Nate..Tooey.. Aikma, Haley, Pup, Woodey or any other great player with a couple of Super Bowl rings already.. Maybe he would have been able to adapt.. I don't know.. but I doubt it..

 

[G2]

Yeah with Covid having killed over 2 million people worldwide in the last 12 months you would think that would underscore the value of living in the moment. Tomorrow is not promised... Jerry Jones will be 80 soon.. You think he's sitting around mapping out a 5 year plan? What guarantee do we have that this team would not be beset by injuries NEXT year after tanking to get a better draft pick. If Dak, Tyron, La'el and Zack go down again next year the results are gonna look a lot like they did this year. And instead of having that 5-6 weeks of excitement we fans were treated to down the stretch this year we would have had a 2-14 season after 11 straight losses to chew on. No thanks.. Give me the hope of watching the defense finally start to show signs of life.. watching Donovan Wilson emerge as a playmaker, watching the young linemen gain some game experience.. watching the receivers (and Schultz) show just how good they are.. I'll take that, the three game win streak, albeit against bums, and the hope we held right up until the final game over losing 11 in a row and pray some draft pick fixes everything for us.. NEXT YEAR..

I asked the question, when exactly do you determine is the right time to start your tanking. The one any only rational reply I got was a couple games after Prescott's injury. And I respect that opinion, I just am not wired that way. I doubt many franchises are when you're still in playoff contention. It's rare we would win a SB, but as a player or coach the future is highly unknown and guaranteed and playoff experience is crucial. We were a couple of injured players away from a couple more wins. Imagine if we didn't lose so many playmakers.

 

[kskboys]

That’d be great for every team in the NFL but every team in the NFL knows that draft picks aren’t guaranteed. Are you alive?

Are you even capable of having an adult convo?

 

[Rockport]

Are you even capable of having an adult convo?

Not with you apparently.

 

[fivetwos]

I can see where you're coming from but in the big picture tanking would have been bad. If the Dallas Cowboys have taught me anything it's that a talented player will get lost in the dysfunction of the organization and get wasted. The best examples of this organization not getting the most of out of players is Taco Charlton and Zeke. Taco was a bust for us and then played better, not great, but more productive on another team. Zeke Elliott is the best example of a waste of draft capital and talent. He was picked 4th, so a previous "tanked" season gave us the 4th pick. We draft Zeke and the Titans draft Henry. Henry rushed for 2000 yards I believe this past season and Zeke 900 or so. Zeke was great his first year but since then he's been a headache with off the field problems, suspensions, bad behavior, etc. Now he's an on the field problem with being fat and slow and a fumble machine.

I'm not bashing Zeke, I'm bashing the dysfunctional organization. Zeke was a blue chip stud his rookie year. Then the organization that pretty much demands mediocrity from it's players and coaches took an elite back and made him mediocre. There's a few players that can rise above the organization's demand and enablement of mediocrity. Players like Dak, martin, Romo, Dez. But those players love football. Players like Zeke love partying and being a celebrity.

So in summary don't fret too much about missing out on draft capital because we would have turned that great, blue chip stud into an average player. The organization will have to commit to winning again and until that happens then most talented players will be overpaid, underachieving JAGS.

Nice read, and unfortunately true.

Goes back to Jerry's insistence on being liked by players and being accessible.

Creates an awful environment that is difficult for any coach to overcome.

 

[gjkoeppen]

People talk about it never being helpful to lose on purpose, but we've been struggling to get to 8-8 every year for 15 years. If overcoming adversity to get to middling were actually such a character builder, we would have won many Super Bowls by now.

We're picking 10th. Which is OK. But we could have been picking 3rd or 4th or something in every round. So that's 40-50 spots of surrendered draft capital. And we didn't make the playoffs, so that flurry of wins at the end of the year did nothing but set us back long-term.

Also, signing a veteran backup quarterback - unless you're a serious contender, not a Jerry Jones magical-thinking contender - is a waste of resources. We got Andy Dalton. At the end of the year, our backup quarterback was better than the backup quarterbacks for other teams with injured starters. So we won a few games. It didn't help us. It hurt us. See paragraph 2.

Beside exaggerating things if there wasn't anything wrong with tanking the NFL wouldn't have a rule against tanking. 5 times in your exaggerated 15 years of 8-8 seasons the Cowboys won the division 5 times with wins of 13,13,12,11 and 10 wins Yes they had some 8-8 seasons but my question did you whine like this with Landry when he had his last 3 years where the Cowboys only won 7 games twice and only 3 games his last year or his first 6 years where he won 7 games a season but once and then 5,5,4,4 and zero?
.
.

 

[dallasdave]

Jerry proved this point when Barry Switzer came off his couch to win a Super Bowl. Whether people want to acknowledge it or not Jerry and Jimmy needed each other to build what they built. Jerry's wheelin and dealin methodology and Jimmy's connection to the college talent was a perfect match. Here's the thing.. the longer Jimmy stayed in the pros the less clued in he was on the college talent. It's no coincidence that he never got anywhere near building a team as good as the one he had in Dallas down in Miami. None of the running backs he drafted ever approached Emmitt.. none of the QBs could hold Aikman's jockstrap. None of the linemen .. well to be honest most of the great linemen he had were drafted by Landry.. Nate, Gogan and Tuinei were all on the roster when he arrived.. The Haley trade never happens without Jerry.. Neither does the Herschel trade. No matter how many times Jimmy tries to claim credit for those Earth shaking moves the fact is he didn't make them.. The owner and GM did.. Even if they were Jimmy's idea.. he couldn't make those deals without Jerry.. he knows it.. I know it and you know it..

Make no mistake about it.. I will ALWAYS assign 50/50 blame to both men for their falling out and what it cost my favorite team. I firmly believe there was at least one more Super Bowl in that nucleus.. But people claiming they would have won 5-6 in a row clearly don't understand football and Father Time. That team was going to get old no matter who was coaching it. Also the physical demands of playing 3 extra games every year was going to catch up with their bodies.. Finally Jimmy abrasive little dictator manner was going to wear thin as his young team matured. There were reports that Haley showed up for work looking to beat the crap out of him on more than one occasion. Jimmy liked to play mind games with the guys.. and used fear to motivate.. At some point those guys were going to realize that they had nothing to fear.. He wasn't cutting Mike, Big E, Emmitt, Nate..Tooey.. Aikma, Haley, Pup, Woodey or any other great player with a couple of Super Bowl rings already.. Maybe he would have been able to adapt.. I don't know.. but I doubt it..

Jimmy JOhnson built the team that won 3 Super Bowls in the 90's, The Cowboys were the worst team in the league in 1989 when Jimmy Johnson took over as coach and he took them to the top. Jimmy JOhnson is an all-time Great Coach