The excited fan vs. the realistic fan

[Idgit]

A lot of assuming you know what someone does to come up with their opinion in your post.

Yeah, well, a lot of years on the board and a lot of shared opinions on these topics. You start to get a feel for what the consensus is going to be, and it doesn't, surprisingly, vary all that much from season to season as long as the team hasn't won the championship.

 

[cern]

Yeah, well, a lot of years on the board and a lot of shared opinions on these topics. You start to get a feel for what the consensus is going to be, and it doesn't, surprisingly, vary all that much from season to season as long as the team hasn't won the championship.

no one who posts here is to blame for the team's demise. who's left to blame? front office, coaches or players. front office has been much improved since Stephen started calling the shots. we've had some good players. that just leaves the coaching.

 

[Idgit]

no one who posts here is to blame for the team's demise. who's left to blame? front office, coaches or players. front office has been much improved since Stephen started calling the shots. we've had some good players. that just leaves the coaching.

I wouldn't think of blaming posters here for the team's demise. I may blame them for having irrational tantrums regularly and then posting about how realistic they are about everything.

Generally speaking, I don't like the notion that anybody gets 'blame' for a team not winning a championship. I'd blame the organization for not trying, and some organizations really don't try. I don't think that's been the issue in Dallas. I do blame the organization for continuing to do things I believe are dysfunctional and get in the way of getting the right players to make a run more often. Things like not being quite aggressive enough in VFA (though I like the conservative approach overall, they've missed on multiple opportunities for cost-effective upgrades in recent years. I blame Jerry for inviting chaos and distraction. I blame Jerry for undermining his coaches (he's done this going all the way back to Jimmy) and for letting his players have an open door to him and a means of going around his head coaches. But mostly, I think we've fielded teams capable of competing for championships in 2007, 2014, 2016, 2018, and it looks like we'll be in that category again this year. None of those teams got it done, but there are reasons for that that vary from season to season. All you can really do, though, in the current era (if you're not named Belichick) is be competitive and try to make a run. There are 5-6 teams each year good enough to compete for championships. Only one of them can win it. The fact that we didn't with any of the four teams I mentioned is more an indication of how hard it actually is to do than a reflection that we're doing something badly wrong and need to blow things up.

 

[DandyDon52]

There comes a great barker, Jerry, who is perpetually expecting a Super Bowl. I love Jerry, but he is lost in mediocrity.
Some of you, too.
Blokes, goons, scholars, oafs ... You have every right to be optimistic. Yet
We are, realistically, a DT, a safety and a QB away from the Super Bowl.

Can you, assorted ruffians, offer honest views about your expectations in 2019??
Will ya?

10-6
1 and out in the playoffs.
Repeat in 2020.

well I will go with what you said, only if they play WC round it might be 2 and out and they might make 11-5.

 

[DandyDon52]

I wouldn't think of blaming posters here for the team's demise. I may blame them for having irrational tantrums regularly and then posting about how realistic they are about everything.

Generally speaking, I don't like the notion that anybody gets 'blame' for a team not winning a championship. I'd blame the organization for not trying, and some organizations really don't try. I don't think that's been the issue in Dallas. I do blame the organization for continuing to do things I believe are dysfunctional and get in the way of getting the right players to make a run more often. Things like not being quite aggressive enough in VFA (though I like the conservative approach overall, they've missed on multiple opportunities for cost-effective upgrades in recent years. I blame Jerry for inviting chaos and distraction. I blame Jerry for undermining his coaches (he's done this going all the way back to Jimmy) and for letting his players have an open door to him and a means of going around his head coaches. But mostly, I think we've fielded teams capable of competing for championships in 2007, 2014, 2016, 2018, and it looks like we'll be in that category again this year. None of those teams got it done, but there are reasons for that that vary from season to season. All you can really do, though, in the current era (if you're not named Belichick) is be competitive and try to make a run. There are 5-6 teams each year good enough to compete for championships. Only one of them can win it. The fact that we didn't with any of the four teams I mentioned is more an indication of how hard it actually is to do than a reflection that we're doing something badly wrong and need to blow things up.

I agree on all but the last part, they are doing something badly wrong.

 

[Idgit]

I agree on all but the last part, they are doing something badly wrong.

There have been times during the long championship drought that they have been, for sure. The run from 2014 to the present, they've made a lot more good moves than bad.

 

[sean10mm]

All you can really do, though, in the current era (if you're not named Belichick) is be competitive and try to make a run. .

I'd go as far as to say that's all that Belichick is doing, too. He's not fielding historically great teams (except 2007, ironically), so much as being more consistent about having teams make it to the playoffs so they have a CHANCE to make a Super Bowl run. The big difference between him & everybody else is that he's taking more swings.

My view of the modern game is that the gap between "embarrassing wild card loss" and "Super Bowl champion" is razor-thin now. Based on everything from injury luck to the specific matchups you draw to sheer chance, once you make the playoffs anything goes - and that cuts both ways, now more than ever. It amplifies the value of good coaching because you can't bludgeon your way through by hoarding talent.

And this makes Garrett's utter mediocrity feel like a disproportionately large handicap. At some point the team will need an extra something to squeak out a win for a Super Bowl run, and it feels like almost nobody believes Garrett is capable of providing that.

 

[Idgit]

I'd go as far as to say that's all that Belichick is doing, too. He's not fielding historically great teams (except 2007, ironically), so much as being more consistent about having teams make it to the playoffs so they have a CHANCE to make a Super Bowl run. The big difference between him & everybody else is that he's taking more swings.

My view of the modern game is that the gap between "embarrassing wild card loss" and "Super Bowl champion" is razor-thin now. Based on everything from injury luck to the specific matchups you draw to sheer chance, once you make the playoffs anything goes - and that cuts both ways, now more than ever. It amplifies the value of good coaching because you can't bludgeon your way through by hoarding talent.

And this makes Garrett's utter mediocrity feel like a disproportionately large handicap. At some point the team will need an extra something to squeak out a win for a Super Bowl run, and it feels like almost nobody believes Garrett is capable of providing that.

I see the balance of the league right now exactly the same way you see it, but don't agree that we're at a coaching disadvantage. Garrett's more than capable of coaching a Superbowl team, and the games we've lost when we've actually had competitive teams have come down to either crazy calls/bad luck (Dez caught it, Cobb clearly didn't; and we had a secondary that didn't match up v. Rodgers where we might well have matched up better against some of the other play off teams) or just weird rules (the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at home, early, on Butler that reversed a huge catch plus added penalty yardage and killed what looked like a scoring drive early in a game we lost on a last minute pass and game winning fg).

As you said, the difference in these games is razor-thin. Just ask the Saints last year in how they got jobbed v. LA. Or the year before when they gave up that last gasp td to Diggs v. MIN. It's not that Sean Payton can't coach, and it's not like he didn't have comparable teams to the Rams and Vikes. It comes down to bad calls and just one or two big plays most of the time. When you only get one bite at the apple and miss, it's game over for the whole year.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

I see the balance of the league right now exactly the same way you see it, but don't agree that we're at a coaching disadvantage. Garrett's more than capable of coaching a Superbowl team, and the games we've lost when we've actually had competitive teams have come down to either crazy calls/bad luck (Dez caught it, Cobb clearly didn't; and we had a secondary that didn't match up v. Rodgers where we might well have matched up better against some of the other play off teams) or just weird rules (the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at home, early, on Butler that reversed a huge catch plus added penalty yardage and killed what looked like a scoring drive early in a game we lost on a last minute pass and game winning fg).

As you said, the difference in these games is razor-thin. Just ask the Saints last year in how they got jobbed v. LA. Or the year before when they gave up that last gasp td to Diggs v. MIN. It's not that Sean Payton can't coach, and it's not like he didn't have comparable teams to the Rams and Vikes. It comes down to bad calls and just one or two big plays most of the time. When you only get one bite at the apple and miss, it's game over for the whole year.

You haven't been this prolific since Jerry got a facelift. Stop it; you will twist an ankle or break a nail!

 

[TwoDeep3]

Yeah, well, a lot of years on the board and a lot of shared opinions on these topics. You start to get a feel for what the consensus is going to be, and it doesn't, surprisingly, vary all that much from season to season as long as the team hasn't won the championship.

As does the results it would appear.

 

[Fletch]

There comes a great barker, Jerry, who is perpetually expecting a Super Bowl. I love Jerry, but he is lost in mediocrity.
Some of you, too.
Blokes, goons, scholars, oafs ... You have every right to be optimistic. Yet
We are, realistically, a DT, a safety and a QB away from the Super Bowl.

Can you, assorted ruffians, offer honest views about your expectations in 2019??
Will ya?

10-6
1 and out in the playoffs.
Repeat in 2020.

Well, I think many in here believing we’re a QB away are short-sided and deal with E.D.

We will go 5-11 with a wildcard birth and then run the table. It’s curtains for the league. I repeat, curtains!
#ieatfunions

 

[Eanwen]

There comes a great barker, Jerry, who is perpetually expecting a Super Bowl. I love Jerry, but he is lost in mediocrity.
Some of you, too.
Blokes, goons, scholars, oafs ... You have every right to be optimistic. Yet
We are, realistically, a DT, a safety and a QB away from the Super Bowl.

Can you, assorted ruffians, offer honest views about your expectations in 2019??
Will ya?

10-6
1 and out in the playoffs.
Repeat in 2020.

I'm not reading this whole thread, I'm just here to point out that being "excited" and "realistic" aren't mutually exclusive. I'm almost always excited for the new season, despite whatever expectations I have for that iteration of Cowboys.

 

[sideon]

You can be an excited but realistic fan, i think the title should be changed to delusional vs realistic fans.

I think we are two DT's and a Safety away from being a true competitor. While Dak is not the best QB in the league I think we are going to have to win with him and if you put enough talent around him, we can.

Well damn how much talent is he going to need? You can't have all pro at every position, and if that's what it takes then you don't sign him long term.

 

[CB61]

There comes a great barker, Jerry, who is perpetually expecting a Super Bowl. I love Jerry, but he is lost in mediocrity.
Some of you, too.
Blokes, goons, scholars, oafs ... You have every right to be optimistic. Yet
We are, realistically, a DT, a safety and a QB away from the Super Bowl.

Can you, assorted ruffians, offer honest views about your expectations in 2019??
Will ya?

10-6
1 and out in the playoffs.
Repeat in 2020.

I think Jerry gets a little local weed makes them with his feed at times

 

[CouchCoach]

I believe I am a realist about this team. I have no expectations because I realize I do not have enough information to form an opinion about what type of season they're going to have. So many variables to consider.

Take one player, for instance. Randall Cobb, good speed, good hands and a good yac guy. However, all of his time has been spent with the most pinpoint accurate passer in the league and a master at throwing covered receivers open. Realistically, is that Prescott's strong suit? However, Cobb could be a great addition and really improve the passing game. I can be optimistic that he will help the offense and the QB but realistic at the same time that he played with a Tier 1 QB that some consider no worse than the 2nd best in the game.

Are the only fans that are excited the optimistic ones? Are realists dreading the season? The real difference is that realists think optimists only rely on hope while they rely on observable evidence and too often play the "homer" card. It is still all about perception and processing.

But the real question is why does anyone here care how or why someone else views the team or the season? I do not care if you are over the top and we're going to the SB or down on the team and it's a 6-10 season. What does interest me is how you arrive at that because that can sway my opinion. I see things posted here all the time that cause me to think about that in a different way, consider another viewpoint.

There are some people that will not accept the negative, they refuse to bend. They're the little girl digging through the horse poop exclaiming "I just know there's a pony somewhere under here for me"!! God bless them for we need as many of them as we can find in this world. The only problem I have is when they get defensive because someone else does not share the same viewpoint, does not process the same information in the same way.

Face the realism. There is no fanbase more entitled and spoiled than the Dallas Cowboys one. We think we deserve to win and when we don't, we were robbed, the league is against us, the refs are against us. 23 years and counting since the Big Dance is OK for the Browns or the Lions but not for the fans of the Cowboys. The realism is that we struggle to accept what we have become. We are fans of just another team when it comes to championships. We are the old woman looking into the mirror and seeing what was, not what is.

 

[Paradox]

Face the realism. There is no fanbase more entitled and spoiled than the Dallas Cowboys one. We think we deserve to win and when we don't, we were robbed, the league is against us, the refs are against us. 23 years and counting since the Big Dance is OK for the Browns or the Lions but not for the fans of the Cowboys. The realism is that we struggle to accept what we have become. We are fans of just another team when it comes to championships. We are the old woman looking into the mirror and seeing what was, not what is.

All the fans I know feel their teams get screwed over by the officials or the league at times. But Cowboys fans probably do scream the loudest about it. I'm all in with my bias during the season, but I certainly don't blame every loss on the refs. At least half of the blame goes to Goodell.

Also, I think your mirror analogy leans toward pessimism, not realism. Why can't we be the young man looking at his bright future?

 

[cern]

I believe I am a realist about this team. I have no expectations because I realize I do not have enough information to form an opinion about what type of season they're going to have. So many variables to consider.

Take one player, for instance. Randall Cobb, good speed, good hands and a good yac guy. However, all of his time has been spent with the most pinpoint accurate passer in the league and a master at throwing covered receivers open. Realistically, is that Prescott's strong suit? However, Cobb could be a great addition and really improve the passing game. I can be optimistic that he will help the offense and the QB but realistic at the same time that he played with a Tier 1 QB that some consider no worse than the 2nd best in the game.

Are the only fans that are excited the optimistic ones? Are realists dreading the season? The real difference is that realists think optimists only rely on hope while they rely on observable evidence and too often play the "homer" card. It is still all about perception and processing.

But the real question is why does anyone here care how or why someone else views the team or the season? I do not care if you are over the top and we're going to the SB or down on the team and it's a 6-10 season. What does interest me is how you arrive at that because that can sway my opinion. I see things posted here all the time that cause me to think about that in a different way, consider another viewpoint.

There are some people that will not accept the negative, they refuse to bend. They're the little girl digging through the horse poop exclaiming "I just know there's a pony somewhere under here for me"!! God bless them for we need as many of them as we can find in this world. The only problem I have is when they get defensive because someone else does not share the same viewpoint, does not process the same information in the same way.

Face the realism. There is no fanbase more entitled and spoiled than the Dallas Cowboys one. We think we deserve to win and when we don't, we were robbed, the league is against us, the refs are against us. 23 years and counting since the Big Dance is OK for the Browns or the Lions but not for the fans of the Cowboys. The realism is that we struggle to accept what we have become. We are fans of just another team when it comes to championships. We are the old woman looking into the mirror and seeing what was, not what is.

I wish it would quit raining so I could go back outside and hunt turkeys.

 

[CouchCoach]

All the fans I know feel their teams get screwed over by the officials or the league at times. But Cowboys fans probably do scream the loudest about it. I'm all in with my bias during the season, but I certainly don't blame every loss on the refs. At least half of the blame goes to Goodell.

Also, I think your mirror analogy leans toward pessimism, not realism. Why can't we be the young man looking at his bright future?

Because I am an old guy and relate to the old woman better. Now, if I can look in the mirror and see a hot young partially clothed (only the unimportant parts covered) woman, now we be talkin' bout some optimism.

I think the one thing we've been missing as a fanbase was that call in NO in the NFCCG. That was the first thing that hit my mind when that happened, what if that had happened to us? Or better yet, how about that was us in NO and we got the benefit of that call? Mercy me, would that have not been some fun or what?

I really do like that sort of thing because there are so many deep enders on these sites that they are really entertaining. I could only imagine some of the ones I knew well on the old DC.com site after Dez's "catch" in GB pounding on the keyboard with the look of a madman on their faces.

You can tell the coaches and the players that it's just a game but don't try telling some of the posters that.

 

[CouchCoach]

I wish it would quit raining so I could go back outside and hunt turkeys.

Can't you convince them to come in out of the rain? Then you can save bullets and club them or put little pillows over their faces and smother them.

 

[Pantone282C]

There comes a great barker, Jerry, who is perpetually expecting a Super Bowl. I love Jerry, but he is lost in mediocrity.
Some of you, too.
Blokes, goons, scholars, oafs ... You have every right to be optimistic. Yet
We are, realistically, a DT, a safety and a QB away from the Super Bowl.

Can you, assorted ruffians, offer honest views about your expectations in 2019??
Will ya?

10-6
1 and out in the playoffs.
Repeat in 2020.

My reply probably won't be unique, however, while I agree that we need a DT or two, a safety, and maybe a OT, we can win with Dak if given enough support and a system that fits him. Let's see how the draft and an unfettered KM does.