The hurdle nobody mentions

[Manster68]

The 2005 season, to me, was a season that had a wide variety of emotions. Several games, we saw a team that definately took the next step towards being a serious competitor. Other games, we saw a team that made us say, "Here we go again."

When the Cowboys completed their magnificent offseason, signing Aaron Glenn, I thought for sure they were in for an 11-5 season. Unfortunately, Dallas came up 2 games short of that mark.

There was much rationalization for the Cowboys' shortcomings.
- adjusting to a 3-4 defensive scheme
- Flozell going down
- Petitti and Tucker as collapsing bookend tackles.
- Kickers struggling from as short as 29 yards out.
- Bledsoe throwing crucial interceptions.
- Parcells' conservatism

However, there is one hurdle that the Cowboys struggled with the entire season (and I'm sure the above reasons tie into this). Nobody (that I can remember) has brought this up over the past two months:

DALLAS COULD NOT CLOSE OUT THE OPPONENTS!


There was no "Stake through the heart" aura this team had last season.

Whether the Cowboys won or lost, it just seemed as though they could not get that big play. That "Kiss of Death" the true championship teams possess which leads them to the promise land.

This started right from the opening game in San Diego and ended on that Sunday Night against the Rams.

Of course, there were about four exceptions. The Cards and Lions were truly pathetic to begin with. Philly drank the "I don't give a hoot" koolaid, and Dallas drank the same koolaid in Washington.

Bottom line: Dallas needs to find a way to deliver that knock-out punch, or whatever happens this offseason will be irrelevent.

 

[silverbear]

The 2005 season, to me, was a season that had a wide variety of emotions. Several games, we saw a team that definately took the next step towards being a serious competitor. Other games, we saw a team that made us say, "Here we go again."

When the Cowboys completed their magnificent offseason, signing Aaron Glenn, I thought for sure they were in for an 11-5 season. Unfortunately, Dallas came up 2 games short of that mark.

There was much rationalization for the Cowboys' shortcomings.
- adjusting to a 3-4 defensive scheme
- Flozell going down
- Petitti and Tucker as collapsing bookend tackles.
- Kickers struggling from as short as 29 yards out.
- Bledsoe throwing crucial interceptions.
- Parcells' conservatism

However, there is one hurdle that the Cowboys struggled with the entire season (and I'm sure the above reasons tie into this). Nobody (that I can remember) has brought this up over the past two months:

DALLAS COULD NOT CLOSE OUT THE OPPONENTS!


There was no "Stake through the heart" aura this team had last season.

Whether the Cowboys won or lost, it just seemed as though they could not get that big play. That "Kiss of Death" the true championship teams possess which leads them to the promise land.

This started right from the opening game in San Diego and ended on that Sunday Night against the Rams.

Of course, there were about four exceptions. The Cards and Lions were truly pathetic to begin with. Philly drank the "I don't give a hoot" koolaid, and Dallas drank the same koolaid in Washington.

Bottom line: Dallas needs to find a way to deliver that knock-out punch, or whatever happens this offseason will be irrelevent.

Strengthen that offensive line, and you'll start getting those "knockout punches"... the Boys will then be able to hold the ball on time-consuming drives in crunch time...

 

[Manster68]

Strengthen that offensive line, and you'll start getting those "knockout punches"... the Boys will then be able to hold the ball on time-consuming drives in crunch time...

True SilverBear, but how many times did we see the defense give up late 4th quarter drives? That is part of it too.

 

[FLCowboyFan]

when you are not as good as the other team, you tend to get beat more the longer you play. That is because you are having to work much harder than the other team to keep up with them or move slightly ahead. Then you wear down and they pop a big play or they stop of offense! It is the same in all sports. Weaker players wear down and are eventually overcome more often than not.

Fix the O-Line, fix the running game, and get a good FS and you will see us close out games!!

 

[InDakWeTrust]

Strengthen that offensive line, and you'll start getting those "knockout punches"... the Boys will then be able to hold the ball on time-consuming drives in crunch time...

And put in Mb3. He seems to run through people more than outrunning them like Julius does. Like the Arizona game for example. Julius would be good for the first three quarters and then we bring in MB3 in a power back role to "knockout teams".

 

[Redball Express]

This team has been and is being built in an image of BP teams. The various parts are being acquired, but the whole hasn't really played BP-type football.

And by that I mean, physical, tough football every week in an intimidating manor and with a rep that precedes the team going into any contest.

This has been a problem with this team since BP arrived.

Story after story follows BP everywhere he goes about how this player that has been brought in as a BP-Guy is going to play like some player off one of BP's past teams and fill a need.

You know what I mean. This guy is going to be like Harry Carson and this guy is going to be like Ottis Anderson and this guy is going to be like LT..ad nausium.

Or we actually have guys BP has had such as Key and Terry Glenn and Aaron Glenn and Richie Anderson and now Bledsoe and others where they once had a good season or two under BP but now much later in their careers are expected to reguvenate somehow and play that way again because it's BP on the sidelines with them in Dallas and they are all looking for one last harrah.

I'm not sure that's enough to get this team to win together.

Because this team to me has the feel of a cobbled-together sort of crew that are mostly rejects from other teams and on the back side of their careers, they often to me don't play like a unit that is tested and forged and playing with a single purpose.

They run hot and cold all year long and last year, ran out of gas in the second half of the season and much of that to me was because we have a lot of vets that are in their 30's in key positions on the team, many of whom are direct BP imports and they just don't play 60 minutes of football like they did when they were younger.

They just don't have the skills anymore to do it for 60 minutes as they are older. That's just obvious to me and probably to a few others out there, too.

And as a unit, they just aren't as hungry. That's also pretty obvious, too.

In the loss to the Rams at the end of the season, the team stunk up the joint in that game.

To me, the heart of this team should have shown thru. Regardless if their playoffs were over, they should have gone out and played and won and finished the season on a high note and tried to establish momentum for '06.

But they didn't. They folded..just as they had done numerous times during the year. And they shugged off the loss as a hangover because they had no chance at the playoffs.

That to me completely showed what a team we have. Pride and pride in being a Dallas Cowboy or at least a BP Guy team should have made for a much more urgent effort.

But it never happened.

BP had to have been saddened greatly. So many times last year he expected them to grasp the challenge and rise above it but they shrunk from the task.

We all saw it and it wasn't because Flozell Adams wasn't playing.

Under Parcells, what we are primarily seeing is a continual stream of players from outside the organization, mostly veterans, that are playing already for big contracts instead of having begun their careers here and established their careers here and made their success here.

And as a unit, they just don't have a clear identity nor the drive. Successful Cowboy teams of the past had clear identities and the drive. The old Landry teams were built under his schemes and they played as an extension of him. Under him, you were going to have to outcoach him and outplay his team for 60 minutes.

They were drafted and signed and traded and molded into their identity as Dallas Cowboys. they were cool, calculated and focused.

When Jimmy Johnson came in, the tarnish was on the Silver Star and he rebuilt he team in his own image but did it by drafting and trading for players that fit his mold and they were primarily young and hungry. Thye played with enthusiams, recklessness and physical intimidation and played for 60 minutes.

Under BP so far, it's not been any of that. BP has been outcoached time and again in the three seasons he's been here. I can count at least 2 games each year where coaching decisions made by BP directly cost the team points and/or games.

And that's a big difference on the field from what Dallas fans are used to seeing. Just at the coaching level.

And this shows up in the 4th Qt. with the type of problems you mention. The team is populated by a goodly number of imported players who have no particular allegence to Dallas or the Dallas Cowboys.

They are here because BP is here and he's paying them very good money to be here but I don't think it promotes a strong identity in being a Dallas Cowboy or having a mission on the field or in needing to win a 6th SB.

And this is what drove so many of our past great teams to success.

They were Dallas Cowboys more or less from top to bottom and they played with a chip on their shoulders and a swagger in their play forged from years of playing together and they created a reputation that preceeded them into every game.

I've seen little sign of it from the BP teams. And because it doesn't really seem to exist at this point, I think the team just coughs up furballs in the 4th Qt. Heck, in some games, the furballs were coughed up in the 1st Qt., like they weren't ready to play or were disinterested.

That's why we fell behind so often in games and had to play like crazy just to even things by halftime..Lack of mission..lack of drive.

And it's especially disconcerting coming from these BP teams because we as fans have been told time and again that BP teams don't play that way.

So, I say get an identity established as a team that other teams have to account for and stop importing BP-Guys in the twilight of their careers and instead bring in young, healthy, hungry players to our posiions of need that will be Dallas Cowboys for more than 2 or 3 years.

Then you'lll have a team that is fresher in the 4th Qt, has an identity that is their own and not strictly some offshoot of Bill Parcells and his past teams and the 4th Qt. starts to be decided by the hungriest team on the field.

Not the most hyped coach on the sideline.

My 2 cents.

Parcellswaterboy

 

[THUMPER]

That's Parcells' style of playing-not-to-lose rather than playing-to-win. Get used to it.

 

[AbeBeta]

those 4th quarter defensive lapses aren't a surprise. a good D can only do so much if the O isn't producing. the D put the O in a position to win the game over and over.

 

[burmafrd]

As usual the water boy gets it wrong.
No team without any heart would hang in there game after game and fight to the end as we did this last season. Only in two games did that happen- the last skins game and the rams. Rams it was easy to figure out- we did quit. Skins everything went wrong. 2 out of 16 is pretty good. And both those came at the end of the season when the handwritting was on the wall about our O line. The Carolina game gave us hope- but once we were out of the playoffs the guys laid down. I know you hate BP, water boy, but try and be objective a little more.

 

[noshame]

That's Parcells' style of playing-not-to-lose rather than playing-to-win. Get used to it.

Bingo

 

[Cowboy4ever]

That's Parcells' style of playing-not-to-lose rather than playing-to-win. Get used to it.

I dont get this sentiment about parcells. Football is a game of percentages. Sometimes, you make the right play,, and it just dot work out. For example, I know a bunch of people critize the call to play for the FG in the first Washington game instead of being more aggressive. But it was the right move and I would bet You that if he had to do it over again, he would do the same thing, 10 out of 10 times. It was getting late in the game, the D had completely shut them down, 13 points means they need 2 TDs to win when they have shown no ability at all to move the ball. So why take a risk of a turnover, and let them get back in it quick. It was the right call then and its still the right call. Now some blown coverage let everyone down, but that mean he was wrong to play for the FG. I think alot of the non aggressiveness on Parcells part was because he didnt trust the oline, esp mid and late season.. not because of his mentallity.

 

[Redball Express]

As usual the water boy gets it wrong.
No team without any heart would hang in there game after game and fight to the end as we did this last season. Only in two games did that happen- the last skins game and the rams. Rams it was easy to figure out- we did quit. Skins everything went wrong. 2 out of 16 is pretty good. And both those came at the end of the season when the handwritting was on the wall about our O line. The Carolina game gave us hope- but once we were out of the playoffs the guys laid down. I know you hate BP, water boy, but try and be objective a little more.

Actually, I like BP, but he's not getting it done. Last year, he got everything he needed to produce a playoff team and it fell apart. And I mean everything.

Record harvest of FA's, abundant draft picks to use to rebuild the defense in his image, enormous cap space to fit it all in, etc.

And still, after all that, the players he 'likes' still couldn't even win a nothing game against the worst team, the Rams.

I realize that excuses abound as to why this team under-perfomed AGAIN.

For the 3rd year in a row.

It seems like we lose one guy each season that crumbles our chances each season. Last year it was Woodson. This last year it was Flozell Adams.

I don't really buy that. These are just excuses and BP knows he should have gotten much better out of the '04 and '05 teams. But he's not.

And I really beleive I've got a few valid observations as to why. And because I like BP, I also feel it's fair to critisize him. He doesn't get much of that in Dallas, but one more season like '05 and you're going to start hearing it.

And as for the Rams game, that had to have burned every Cowboys fan last year. And you are right about the 2nd. Skins game. That also was the most pathetic game I've seen from a Cowboys team in some time. So was the first Skins game.

But that's water under the bridge.

My beef right now is that we don't just keep bringing in more of these supposed BP-type players and instead draft and sign younger players and create more of a Dallas mentality rather than making us the refugee site for every Jets/NE/Jints coach or player that pops to the surface.

The results just aren't there yet.

Parcellswaterboy

 

[dbair1967]

those 4th quarter defensive lapses aren't a surprise. a good D can only do so much if the O isn't producing. the D put the O in a position to win the game over and over.

blah blah blah

and the offense had the team in position to WIN games vs Washignton and Seattle, the defense had the LEADS both times and blew it...they blew the lead vs NYG the first time, nearly blew the KC game after playing horrible for 60 mins...played poorly vs Philly and Washington in the 2nd games, and laid down in OT vs Denver

there is no rule that says to win a game you must score 28 pts, the object is to score MORE than your opponent...it doesnt matter if its 6-3, 10-7, 31-30 or whatever

David

 

[MinnesotaCowboy]

This team has been and is being built in an image of BP teams. The various parts are being acquired, but the whole hasn't really played BP-type football.

And by that I mean, physical, tough football every week in an intimidating manor and with a rep that precedes the team going into any contest.

This has been a problem with this team since BP arrived.

Story after story follows BP everywhere he goes about how this player that has been brought in as a BP-Guy is going to play like some player off one of BP's past teams and fill a need.

You know what I mean. This guy is going to be like Harry Carson and this guy is going to be like Ottis Anderson and this guy is going to be like LT..ad nausium.

Or we actually have guys BP has had such as Key and Terry Glenn and Aaron Glenn and Richie Anderson and now Bledsoe and others where they once had a good season or two under BP but now much later in their careers are expected to reguvenate somehow and play that way again because it's BP on the sidelines with them in Dallas and they are all looking for one last harrah.

I'm not sure that's enough to get this team to win together.

Because this team to me has the feel of a cobbled-together sort of crew that are mostly rejects from other teams and on the back side of their careers, they often to me don't play like a unit that is tested and forged and playing with a single purpose.

They run hot and cold all year long and last year, ran out of gas in the second half of the season and much of that to me was because we have a lot of vets that are in their 30's in key positions on the team, many of whom are direct BP imports and they just don't play 60 minutes of football like they did when they were younger.

They just don't have the skills anymore to do it for 60 minutes as they are older. That's just obvious to me and probably to a few others out there, too.

And as a unit, they just aren't as hungry. That's also pretty obvious, too.

In the loss to the Rams at the end of the season, the team stunk up the joint in that game.

To me, the heart of this team should have shown thru. Regardless if their playoffs were over, they should have gone out and played and won and finished the season on a high note and tried to establish momentum for '06.

But they didn't. They folded..just as they had done numerous times during the year. And they shugged off the loss as a hangover because they had no chance at the playoffs.

That to me completely showed what a team we have. Pride and pride in being a Dallas Cowboy or at least a BP Guy team should have made for a much more urgent effort.

But it never happened.

BP had to have been saddened greatly. So many times last year he expected them to grasp the challenge and rise above it but they shrunk from the task.

We all saw it and it wasn't because Flozell Adams wasn't playing.

Under Parcells, what we are primarily seeing is a continual stream of players from outside the organization, mostly veterans, that are playing already for big contracts instead of having begun their careers here and established their careers here and made their success here.

And as a unit, they just don't have a clear identity nor the drive. Successful Cowboy teams of the past had clear identities and the drive. The old Landry teams were built under his schemes and they played as an extension of him. Under him, you were going to have to outcoach him and outplay his team for 60 minutes.

They were drafted and signed and traded and molded into their identity as Dallas Cowboys. they were cool, calculated and focused.

When Jimmy Johnson came in, the tarnish was on the Silver Star and he rebuilt he team in his own image but did it by drafting and trading for players that fit his mold and they were primarily young and hungry. Thye played with enthusiams, recklessness and physical intimidation and played for 60 minutes.

Under BP so far, it's not been any of that. BP has been outcoached time and again in the three seasons he's been here. I can count at least 2 games each year where coaching decisions made by BP directly cost the team points and/or games.

And that's a big difference on the field from what Dallas fans are used to seeing. Just at the coaching level.

And this shows up in the 4th Qt. with the type of problems you mention. The team is populated by a goodly number of imported players who have no particular allegence to Dallas or the Dallas Cowboys.

They are here because BP is here and he's paying them very good money to be here but I don't think it promotes a strong identity in being a Dallas Cowboy or having a mission on the field or in needing to win a 6th SB.

And this is what drove so many of our past great teams to success.

They were Dallas Cowboys more or less from top to bottom and they played with a chip on their shoulders and a swagger in their play forged from years of playing together and they created a reputation that preceeded them into every game.

I've seen little sign of it from the BP teams. And because it doesn't really seem to exist at this point, I think the team just coughs up furballs in the 4th Qt. Heck, in some games, the furballs were coughed up in the 1st Qt., like they weren't ready to play or were disinterested.

That's why we fell behind so often in games and had to play like crazy just to even things by halftime..Lack of mission..lack of drive.

And it's especially disconcerting coming from these BP teams because we as fans have been told time and again that BP teams don't play that way.

So, I say get an identity established as a team that other teams have to account for and stop importing BP-Guys in the twilight of their careers and instead bring in young, healthy, hungry players to our posiions of need that will be Dallas Cowboys for more than 2 or 3 years.

Then you'lll have a team that is fresher in the 4th Qt, has an identity that is their own and not strictly some offshoot of Bill Parcells and his past teams and the 4th Qt. starts to be decided by the hungriest team on the field.

Not the most hyped coach on the sideline.

My 2 cents.

Parcellswaterboy

I agree with you about building the teams up with great drafts and selected young FA's as was done by JJ in the early 90's however we will never see that happen again for one primary reason: SALARY CAP!

 

[juice28]

And put in Mb3. He seems to run through people more than outrunning them like Julius does. Like the Arizona game for example. Julius would be good for the first three quarters and then we bring in MB3 in a power back role to "knockout teams".

I agree with your reasons, but I think you have them in reverse. Let MB soften the D up and in the 4th let JJ run past all the tired banged up defenders.

 

[Zaxor]

Did you cut and paste all my old posts Parcellswaterboy..because I have been whistling that same tune for awhile now...

 

[big dog cowboy]

That's Parcells' style of playing-not-to-lose rather than playing-to-win. Get used to it.

 

[JackMagist]

Whether the Cowboys won or lost, it just seemed as though they could not get that big play. That "Kiss of Death" the true championship teams possess which leads them to the promise land.

This was the most frustrating thing about '05 for me. And it was due to the idiotic "Bus Driver" offensive philosophy of one man...Bill Parcells. Bill and his don't lose it with offense so we can win it with defense crap cost us at least 4 games last year that we could have and should have won. We will never be big time winners until Parcells changes his ideas about offense or retires again.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I think their inability to close out the game came down to a few things:

1. Awful O-Line play. They simply were not opening holes. You could blame the RB's, but after seeing Julius tear up one of the best run defenses in Carolina when he was getting some holes and Barber doing the same to Seattle, the fact of the matter was the O-Line was the culprit. Closing out games is about being able to get first downs running the ball so you can control the ball and the clock. While Dallas was great at winning time of possession, when it came crunch time they were mediocre at best in this area.

2. FG Kicking I think there's a fine line between settling for a FG too easily and getting killed by bad FG kicking. Guys like Shottenheimer love to "settle" for FG's instead of getting the first down and assuring the win. While Payton seemed to "settle" a bit for FG's compared to Parcells, this teams was killed more by just awful FG kicking. I think teams in general should look back at how many key victories the Pats had due to Vinatieri making clutch FG's and they should be more adamant about finding and developing good kickers.

Anyway, Dallas ranked dead last in FG % from 30-49 yards last year and considering they play in almost dome like conditions, that's ugly.

3. Pass Rush it was better, but it still wasn't where it needed to be. Good pass rushes that last well into the 4th quarter help come up with key turnovers.

4. Free safety Usually Davis was the culprit of screwing up on a play or getting beat for a big pass that led up to a TD. Pile wasn't much better.


Rich................

 

[DLCassidy]

Did you cut and paste all my old posts Parcellswaterboy..because I have been whistling that same tune for awhile now...

Wow. You guys whistle long boring tunes.