CFZ The missing elements in Cowboys attempts at championship roster building

[Praxit]

The thing this FO has never understood about Dak- he MUST have a strong running game to support him. With a strong running game, IMO we could win some playoff games with Dak. Without it, Dak is much easier for defenses to stop because he’s not an elite passer. Neither is Purdy or Goff but they both had really good running games this year.

I’m ready to move on from Dak because I don’t think this FO knows how to build the right roster for both Dak’s talents and his weaknesses. He’s not “elite” but he’s good enough to win a lot more than he has. I think Dak is now in his own head and this org has done little to give him what he needed. Same with Romo who IMO this fan base overrated. He was good but his best year (2014) happened when he had a great running game.

...were in trouble for a while. Dak will be the QB for next 3-4 years at least. Unless he gets hurt and Purdy type of QB comes in, and lights it up.

I feel Lance is not the guy. All we can hope is have some type of running game for 24'.

Dak needs that buffer. AS you mentioned, he's not elite (Mahomes). But better than avg with running game.

I too, wish he got traded or moved on elsewhere. We dont have corporation brave enough to move on.

 

[Creeper]

First point before anything else- yes, you must have talent to win in the NFL. But talent alone is never enough to win a championship.

Putting together a championship level roster is so much more than just collecting talent. Teams that win SBs or even conference championships are not just talented. They are a real TEAM, meaning their collective talent is greater than each individual talent on the team. It is why a championship team is not always the most talented roster, but the most effective roster as a complete unit. Another term for this is “complementary football”.

The Dallas Cowboys had enough talent to win 12 regular season games 3 straight seasons. But the missing element is their inability as a complete roster to overcome their collective weaknesses. Here is a short list of the Cowboys‘ team weaknesses that cannot just be fixed with individual talent.

TEAM WEAKNESSES THAT REQUIRE MORE THAN INDIVIDUAL TALENT TO FIX

• Culture (aka Unnecessary distractions) in a recent interview, Troy Aikman mentioned how the Cowboys as a team have to overcome some inherent cultural problems other teams don’t. Like watching tours of team facilities happening while they are trying to prepare each week. Like film crews from Netflix filming the owner for a “special” while the team was preparing for the GB playoff game. Aikman called this “unnecessary distractions“. Troy has mentioned after Jimmy left, you never knew what celebrity was going to show up with Jerry at practice. It creates a circus of distractions. And if the owner is the one doing it, who can correct this?

• Lack of understanding on collective roster building- one of the fun parts of being a fan is pretending we could select the right talent for our favorite team. “I like this player. He’s really good.” It’s like fantasy football. Just draft the most talented guys you can. But the problem with that is championship rosters require the talent to make a collective whole that is better than its individual parts. Otherwise all you have is an All Star team without a team concept. Sometimes it feels like this front office drafts like a fantasy football draft.
  
  
• Understanding collective complementary football- the Cowboys have had some similar problems for decades.
  • One easy example is the team’s long standing inability to stop the run. Really improving this requires multiple players that collectively as a unit make our run stopping ability much better. What does our FO do? They draft a guy in round one thinking “we’ve addressed our inability to stop the run”. Or they trade for a decent run stuffer like Jonathan Hankins. They don’t seem to ever think about needing a collective unit that can stop the run.
  • Dak Prescott is MOST EFFECTIVE with a good running game. Yet somehow this FO doesn’t draft a RB last year or recognize their aging OL is no longer great for running the ball. That oversight killed this team against the better teams last year.

So again, the missing elements for building a championship roster can be boiled down to this:

1. Eliminate unnecessary distractions.
2. Recognize talent alone isn’t enough. It takes a collective whole, not just individual parts.
3. Build a roster that complements and supports key player strengths and covers also for their weaknesses.

This is good stuff. Play as a team. Gang tackle. Swarm to the ball, keep playing until the whistle blows. block someone, always look for someone to block.

I would add one more thing to this list. Mental ability is as important, if not more important, than physical ability. This becomes even more of a factor at certain positions. Having great athletes on defense who can't recognize a play before the snap is like having bad football players. Being a step too late to the play is failure.

I would also add leadership. You need players on the field who lead the team to victory. Their determination to win motivates the other players to win. Call it swagger or whatever. But someone on the field has to wrangle the other players to play with confidence and desire.

 

[DallasEast]

So true. It’s as if Jerry seems to think when he gets a good QB, he can carry the team. It’s crazy.

It is only crazy when an observer thinks about it from their perspective. Try thinking about it from his perspective.

Dak Prescott was a fourth round pick, who blew his socks off. He eventually signed him for $100 million+ (e.g. 100% support)

Tony Romo was undrafted, who blew his socks off. He eventually signed him for $100 million+ (e.g. 100% support)

Quincy Carter was a second round pick, who he personally selected. Poor work ethic and weed got Carter booted but not because of his on-the-field performance.

Observers can say Jones did not pick an Aikman or a Brady or a Mahomes or a Montana. Is it impossible to think Jerry Jones thinks he has done so? Multiple times even?

Jones does not think his quarterback evaluation skills are crazy. And that's the most insane thing of all.

 

[plasticman]

I think one of the main culture aspects is playoff intensity. Really, at this point, how are they not embarrassed by the constant disrespect by the media and other team's personnel. I'm still waiting for them to get angry enough to make the collective commitment that it ends.

In the 2010 season the Super Bowl was played in their stadium. I expected this to be a non-stop subject matter that was invoked without stop from Jerry Jones. It should have been one of the core issues during that season, particularly given the success of the previous season.

Not only was the subject even barely mentioned throughout the season, Jerry Jones chopped the training camp into three phases with three different locations so that he could market the team. He openly campaigned for the Cowboys to play an extra preseason game, the Hall of Fame game.

After starting 1-7, Phillips was fired. The last game was a blowout by the Packers. Not only did they humiliate the Cowboys in that game but they would end up being the SB representative for the NFC. For over a week they paraded around Dallas with their Packers jerseys.

It gets even worse.

That season, one of the most popular plays on Broadway was "Lombardi" which focused on the days leading up to the Ice Bowl. As you can imagine, the "bad guy" in the play was Tom Landry.

 

[Bobhaze]

This is good stuff. Play as a team. Gang tackle. Swarm to the ball, keep playing until the whistle blows. block someone, always look for someone to block.

I would add one more thing to this list. Mental ability is as important, if not more important, than physical ability. This becomes even more of a factor at certain positions. Having great athletes on defense who can't recognize a play before the snap is like having bad football players. Being a step too late to the play is failure.

I would also add leadership. You need players on the field who lead the team to victory. Their determination to win motivates the other players to win. Call it swagger or whatever. But someone on the field has to wrangle the other players to play with confidence and desire.

Those are all good additions. I sometimes wonder if Cedee’s appearing to be pouting is an examp,e of a lack of leadership. Not every player is a leader but you certainly hope your best players are. If your best players practice hard, work hard in conditioning and in the weight room, that also has a major positive effect.

 

[Bobhaze]

I think one of the main culture aspects is playoff intensity. Really, at this point, how are they not embarrassed by the constant disrespect by the media and other team's personnel. I'm still waiting for them to get angry enough to make the collective commitment that it ends.

Agree 100% PM. That all starts at the top. This owner never seems to get embarrassed by anything. And sadly that apparently filters downward.

I remember that SB V loss the Cowboys had against the colts and how upset the leaders of that team were at how poorly they played that day. It drove them that entire off-season and into the next season. When they played the dolphins in SB VI, they played a near perfect game, winning 24-3 and dominated in all 3 phases of the game.

 

[RodeoJake]

Just the opinion of an old countryboy, but it seems to me the roster is top heavy with stars. That ain't leaving enough pie to pay for the lunch pail type of players who do the dirty work.

 

[Bobhaze]

Just the opinion of an old countryboy, but it seems to me the roster is top heavy with stars. That ain't leaving enough pie to pay for the lunch pail type of players who do the dirty work.

Good point. Or the FO doesn’t seem to even know what kind of “dirty work” players will work with their “stars”.

The other problem I see that your point makes clear too is this: I also think this GM and his giggling VP son vastly overrate who is a star around here. Think about about how many times they sign their stars to big contracts even though having those stars has resulted in minuscule playoff results.

 

[DandyDon52]

First point before anything else- yes, you must have talent to win in the NFL. But talent alone is never enough to win a championship.

Putting together a championship level roster is so much more than just collecting talent. Teams that win SBs or even conference championships are not just talented. They are a real TEAM, meaning their collective talent is greater than each individual talent on the team. It is why a championship team is not always the most talented roster, but the most effective roster as a complete unit. Another term for this is “complementary football”.

The Dallas Cowboys had enough talent to win 12 regular season games 3 straight seasons. But the missing element is their inability as a complete roster to overcome their collective weaknesses. Here is a short list of the Cowboys‘ team weaknesses that cannot just be fixed with individual talent.

TEAM WEAKNESSES THAT REQUIRE MORE THAN INDIVIDUAL TALENT TO FIX

• Culture (aka Unnecessary distractions) in a recent interview, Troy Aikman mentioned how the Cowboys as a team have to overcome some inherent cultural problems other teams don’t. Like watching tours of team facilities happening while they are trying to prepare each week. Like film crews from Netflix filming the owner for a “special” while the team was preparing for the GB playoff game. Aikman called this “unnecessary distractions“. Troy has mentioned after Jimmy left, you never knew what celebrity was going to show up with Jerry at practice. It creates a circus of distractions. And if the owner is the one doing it, who can correct this?

• Lack of understanding on collective roster building- one of the fun parts of being a fan is pretending we could select the right talent for our favorite team. “I like this player. He’s really good.” It’s like fantasy football. Just draft the most talented guys you can. But the problem with that is championship rosters require the talent to make a collective whole that is better than its individual parts. Otherwise all you have is an All Star team without a team concept. Sometimes it feels like this front office drafts like a fantasy football draft.
  
  
• Understanding collective complementary football- the Cowboys have had some similar problems for decades.
  • One easy example is the team’s long standing inability to stop the run. Really improving this requires multiple players that collectively as a unit make our run stopping ability much better. What does our FO do? They draft a guy in round one thinking “we’ve addressed our inability to stop the run”. Or they trade for a decent run stuffer like Jonathan Hankins. They don’t seem to ever think about needing a collective unit that can stop the run.
  • Dak Prescott is MOST EFFECTIVE with a good running game. Yet somehow this FO doesn’t draft a RB last year or recognize their aging OL is no longer great for running the ball. That oversight killed this team against the better teams last year.

So again, the missing elements for building a championship roster can be boiled down to this:

1. Eliminate unnecessary distractions.
2. Recognize talent alone isn’t enough. It takes a collective whole, not just individual parts.
3. Build a roster that complements and supports key player strengths and covers also for their weaknesses.

good post bob, but you left out Coaching, philosophy and being a scrooge.

Jerry has failed big time on hiring HC's since Jimmy. He may still believe any HC is ok for a SB run if you just give them the talent needed,
and also have the triplett philosophy going. A few stars who will carry a team to the SB.
Even fans think Aikman, Emmitt, and Irvin are why the 90's team won 3 SB's.
I dont agree with that, they helped and were important, but the defense and all those guys, not just hailey gave cowboys a #1 defense, team effort.
The offense the whole offense gave them a great offense, and the special teams, were special remember the blocked punts, punt returns int's etc?

As for the HC's, parcells was still good but too old and the others were all lackluster including the HC in training lol JG, and mike who was never
all that good of a coach and it shows up in playoffs, even when he was with GB.

So 2 more flaws
Philosophy and planning
Hiring a good HC , not a puppet , someone who can be the leader of the team, and change the culture.
These 2 are the most important, because as you said you can win in playoffs with a bunch of talented individuals.

And all of these things mentioned here will never change, because this is jerry's toy and he will play with it how he wants to.
The stadium always fills up, so that makes jerry feel supported and like he is doing a good job at GM lol. And the team is a cash cow,so
he has no incentive to change anything. He will keep on doing it his way and failing,because he has fun doing it and cash flow is good,
and people are always talking about his team, good or bad he doesnt care as long as they are talking.

So hope for change lol, but it isnt going to happen anytime soon, maybe in 2050 lol.
I have lost interest in talking about what needs to change or be done, because I know jerry will never do what we think should be done.
Jerry thinks he knows it all and is a genius because he is a billionaire, so he will not do what we or anyone else thinks should be done.
This recent runback should tell everyone that jerry is just not on the same page as the rest of us.

It also shows how cheap he is with his own $ lol. He cant pay mike 6 mil to do nothing, he just is too cheap like an old scrooge,
so even though it hurts his chances and causes him to miss out on other unusual HC's available , he brought mike back, and it is all about
the $ .
Also BB would have cost 20 mil a year, and again jerry is too much of a scrooge to pay that much for a HC when he believes any one of 500
could take his team to the SB lol.
It would have taken $26 mil to switch to BB and that is for one year lol,and that comes out of jerrys wallet no the cap. And he just cant spend that much.

I have noticed for the most part jerry only spends big money on things that will generate more revenue.
Paying HC's a lot of money doesnt generate any $ or it would be way less than what he is paying.

Mike cant get to a SB, much less win one with jerry running things. so just blow off 24. and who he hires after mike wont be any better.
And who knows he may extend mike, if that is the cheapest way to go lol.

I didnt think even jerry was stupid enough to pass on BB but I guess he is, and so are many other teams , like wash, nyg, eagles etc.
everyone said bill is done or cant do it without brady, are probably the same people who said Brady was done when he left NE, his arm is gone,
he is too old etc etc, then brady plays great on a team full of talent and wins a SB!
BB would be best on a team that has a lot of talent already.

Ok I will shut up now.

 

[75boyz]

Totally agree with the message of your OP Bob but my broken record self seems to never be able to get past the 2 most influential positions of the roster.

The HC and QB.
Our current titleholders both suck at playoff football.

Will Jerry ever hire another Jimmy/Parcells type HC while nailing a highly pedigreed QB selection at the same time?

That's where I'm at.

It's kind of the catch all answer for me.
Everything else would fall into place with at least one more ring if we nailed both choices imo.
And yes, that is to include the ability to overcome Jerry's meddling/culture.

I believe the right HC and QB duo could overcome Jerry.
I think you and Jake think no coach and QB could.
Opinions vary.

That's mine.

 

[Bobhaze]

Totally agree with the message of your OP Bob but my broken record self seems to never be able to get past the 2 most influential positions of the roster.

The HC and QB.
Our current titleholders both suck at playoff football.

Will Jerry ever hire another Jimmy/Parcells type HC while nailing a highly pedigreed QB selection at the same time?

That's where I'm at.

It's kind of the catch all answer for me.
Everything else would fall into place with at least one more ring if we nailed both choices imo.
And yes, that is to include the ability to overcome Jerry's meddling/culture.

I believe the right HC and QB duo could overcome Jerry.
I think you and Jake think no coach and QB could.
Opinions vary.

That's mine.

I don’t disagree with your point. But I do believe it takes a lot more than just a head coach and a QB.

good post bob, but you left out Coaching, philosophy and being a scrooge.

Jerry has failed big time on hiring HC's since Jimmy. He may still believe any HC is ok for a SB run if you just give them the talent needed,
and also have the triplett philosophy going. A few stars who will carry a team to the SB.
Even fans think Aikman, Emmitt, and Irvin are why the 90's team won 3 SB's.
I dont agree with that, they helped and were important, but the defense and all those guys, not just hailey gave cowboys a #1 defense, team effort.
The offense the whole offense gave them a great offense, and the special teams, were special remember the blocked punts, punt returns int's etc?

As for the HC's, parcells was still good but too old and the others were all lackluster including the HC in training lol JG, and mike who was never
all that good of a coach and it shows up in playoffs, even when he was with GB.

So 2 more flaws
Philosophy and planning
Hiring a good HC , not a puppet , someone who can be the leader of the team, and change the culture.
These 2 are the most important, because as you said you can win in playoffs with a bunch of talented individuals.

And all of these things mentioned here will never change, because this is jerry's toy and he will play with it how he wants to.
The stadium always fills up, so that makes jerry feel supported and like he is doing a good job at GM lol. And the team is a cash cow,so
he has no incentive to change anything. He will keep on doing it his way and failing,because he has fun doing it and cash flow is good,
and people are always talking about his team, good or bad he doesnt care as long as they are talking.

So hope for change lol, but it isnt going to happen anytime soon, maybe in 2050 lol.
I have lost interest in talking about what needs to change or be done, because I know jerry will never do what we think should be done.
Jerry thinks he knows it all and is a genius because he is a billionaire, so he will not do what we or anyone else thinks should be done.
This recent runback should tell everyone that jerry is just not on the same page as the rest of us.

It also shows how cheap he is with his own $ lol. He cant pay mike 6 mil to do nothing, he just is too cheap like an old scrooge,
so even though it hurts his chances and causes him to miss out on other unusual HC's available , he brought mike back, and it is all about
the $ .
Also BB would have cost 20 mil a year, and again jerry is too much of a scrooge to pay that much for a HC when he believes any one of 500
could take his team to the SB lol.
It would have taken $26 mil to switch to BB and that is for one year lol,and that comes out of jerrys wallet no the cap. And he just cant spend that much.

I have noticed for the most part jerry only spends big money on things that will generate more revenue.
Paying HC's a lot of money doesnt generate any $ or it would be way less than what he is paying.

Mike cant get to a SB, much less win one with jerry running things. so just blow off 24. and who he hires after mike wont be any better.
And who knows he may extend mike, if that is the cheapest way to go lol.

I didnt think even jerry was stupid enough to pass on BB but I guess he is, and so are many other teams , like wash, nyg, eagles etc.
everyone said bill is done or cant do it without brady, are probably the same people who said Brady was done when he left NE, his arm is gone,
he is too old etc etc, then brady plays great on a team full of talent and wins a SB!
BB would be best on a team that has a lot of talent already.

Ok I will shut up now.

Good post. I agree that coaching matters a lot. I don’t know if we will ever know how much Jerry unwittingly undermines his head coach.

His silly weekly “radio show” along with Stephen’s show are just stupid. Jerry talks about things that he has clearly not talked about with his HC. Players know the HC is not the final say regarding discipline, hiring of assistant coaches, etc. The HC in Dallas is inherently undermined constantly.

And it’s the main reason when fans here talk about getting a HC with major recent skins on the wall, they don’t realize those type of coaches won’t come here for two reasons: 1. Jerry won’t hire one like that and hasn’t since Parcells (and he did that to get his stayjum passed) and 2. Why would they choose to come here and be undermined and made to be part of an ongoing circus?

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Simple, a QB who performs as well in game 18 and games 1-17. We don't have that.

A fat run stuffer on the line.

Good LBs who can play run or pass

 

[75boyz]

I don’t disagree with your point. But I do believe it takes a lot more than just a head coach and a QB.


Good post. I agree that coaching matters a lot. I don’t know if we will ever know how much Jerry unwittingly undermines his head coach.

His silly weekly “radio show” along with Stephen’s show are just stupid. Jerry talks about things that he has clearly not talked about with his HC. Players know the HC is not the final say regarding discipline, hiring of assistant coaches, etc. The HC in Dallas is inherently undermined constantly.

And it’s the main reason when fans here talk about getting a HC with major recent skins on the wall, they don’t realize those type of coaches won’t come here for two reasons: 1. Jerry won’t hire one like that and hasn’t since Parcells (and he did that to get his stayjum passed) and 2. Why would they choose to come here and be undermined and made to be part of an ongoing circus?

Recent published reports of Jerry saying he could work with Belicheck leads me down a wishful thinking path that Jerry might eventually cave on his yes men HC hiring reputation.

'Bout all I got, lol.

 

[Bobhaze]

Recent published reports of Jerry saying he could work with Belicheck leads me down a wishful thinking path that Jerry might eventually cave on his yes men HC hiring reputation.

'Bout all I got, lol.

Jerry can say he would be comfortable with BB but I can’t see Bill B being comfortable with Jerry and the 3 ring circus he leads here.

 

[Bobhaze]

Simple, a QB who performs as well in game 18 and games 1-17. We don't have that.

A fat run stuffer on the line.

Good LBs who can play run or pass

This roster as constructed this past few years would not have won more with Brady or Mahomes.

Thinking a star QB or a nasty LB or flashy WR is all we need is part of the problem with the way this FO thinks. A collection of stars is different than a TEAM that plays complementary football.

 

[Kolemmitt]

Go back to 1989 when JJ took over and 2002 when BP was in charge. Their ways worked. If someone can convince Jerry of this, we might have a chance

Jerry wants to be the biggest star and take the credit. When JJ and BP were in charge, they were the focus. Jerry couldn't handle that. That's why we won't every get a strong coach again, as long as Jerry is running things.

 

[Kolemmitt]

This roster as constructed this past few years would not have won more with Brady or Mahomes.

Thinking a star QB or a nasty LB or flashy WR is all we need is part of the problem with the way this FO thinks. A collection of stars is different than a TEAM that plays complementary football.

Exactly. Once the culture that Jimmy had built was gone, Aikman could not win, Bledsoe could not win, Romo could not win, and Dak can not win.
We need to stop acting like one or two more players or the right QB will solve the issue. The issue is with Jerry.
We went to three NFC championship games in a row with Danny White, a good, but not great QB, and now we can't sniff the NFC championship game with QBs that are every bit as good as White, or better than White. Why? The culture Jerry built.

 

[Miller]

First point before anything else- yes, you must have talent to win in the NFL. But talent alone is never enough to win a championship.

Putting together a championship level roster is so much more than just collecting talent. Teams that win SBs or even conference championships are not just talented. They are a real TEAM, meaning their collective talent is greater than each individual talent on the team. It is why a championship team is not always the most talented roster, but the most effective roster as a complete unit. Another term for this is “complementary football”.

The Dallas Cowboys had enough talent to win 12 regular season games 3 straight seasons. But the missing element is their inability as a complete roster to overcome their collective weaknesses. Here is a short list of the Cowboys‘ team weaknesses that cannot just be fixed with individual talent.

TEAM WEAKNESSES THAT REQUIRE MORE THAN INDIVIDUAL TALENT TO FIX

• Culture (aka Unnecessary distractions) in a recent interview, Troy Aikman mentioned how the Cowboys as a team have to overcome some inherent cultural problems other teams don’t. Like watching tours of team facilities happening while they are trying to prepare each week. Like film crews from Netflix filming the owner for a “special” while the team was preparing for the GB playoff game. Aikman called this “unnecessary distractions“. Troy has mentioned after Jimmy left, you never knew what celebrity was going to show up with Jerry at practice. It creates a circus of distractions. And if the owner is the one doing it, who can correct this?

• Lack of understanding on collective roster building- one of the fun parts of being a fan is pretending we could select the right talent for our favorite team. “I like this player. He’s really good.” It’s like fantasy football. Just draft the most talented guys you can. But the problem with that is championship rosters require the talent to make a collective whole that is better than its individual parts. Otherwise all you have is an All Star team without a team concept. Sometimes it feels like this front office drafts like a fantasy football draft.
  
  
• Understanding collective complementary football- the Cowboys have had some similar problems for decades.
  • One easy example is the team’s long standing inability to stop the run. Really improving this requires multiple players that collectively as a unit make our run stopping ability much better. What does our FO do? They draft a guy in round one thinking “we’ve addressed our inability to stop the run”. Or they trade for a decent run stuffer like Jonathan Hankins. They don’t seem to ever think about needing a collective unit that can stop the run.
  • Dak Prescott is MOST EFFECTIVE with a good running game. Yet somehow this FO doesn’t draft a RB last year or recognize their aging OL is no longer great for running the ball. That oversight killed this team against the better teams last year.

So again, the missing elements for building a championship roster can be boiled down to this:

1. Eliminate unnecessary distractions.
2. Recognize talent alone isn’t enough. It takes a collective whole, not just individual parts.
3. Build a roster that complements and supports key player strengths and covers also for their weaknesses.

Great post per usual Bob

One thing on distractions and culture around here and it is something that has always stood out to me....watch how our top rookies change over the years. So you have a college kid who is hungry and wants to prove himself in the NFL. The Cowboys call and you are their pick. When we have hit this pick you get a kid that is working hard, keeping their head down, trying to make that instant impact. Year 2 happens and they mature as players but there is a little more talking. Year 3 and they have their brand. I think what this organization does is shows them they can say and do whatever and it doesn't matter. Some of the players don't have that mentality they had year 1. They are about the million other things buzzing around the Cowboys and it's a distraction or they make their own distractions. It just feels this way....from hard working kid from college to the brand who has their hand in as many pies as possible.

 

[TwistedL0g1k]

Dallas does not have a culture problem, it has a roster problem.

With a better roster and especially a better QB, the "culture" problems would disappear.
"Culture" is just a vague excuse.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

First point before anything else- yes, you must have talent to win in the NFL. But talent alone is never enough to win a championship.

Putting together a championship level roster is so much more than just collecting talent. Teams that win SBs or even conference championships are not just talented. They are a real TEAM, meaning their collective talent is greater than each individual talent on the team. It is why a championship team is not always the most talented roster, but the most effective roster as a complete unit. Another term for this is “complementary football”.

The Dallas Cowboys had enough talent to win 12 regular season games 3 straight seasons. But the missing element is their inability as a complete roster to overcome their collective weaknesses. Here is a short list of the Cowboys‘ team weaknesses that cannot just be fixed with individual talent.

TEAM WEAKNESSES THAT REQUIRE MORE THAN INDIVIDUAL TALENT TO FIX

• Culture (aka Unnecessary distractions) in a recent interview, Troy Aikman mentioned how the Cowboys as a team have to overcome some inherent cultural problems other teams don’t. Like watching tours of team facilities happening while they are trying to prepare each week. Like film crews from Netflix filming the owner for a “special” while the team was preparing for the GB playoff game. Aikman called this “unnecessary distractions“. Troy has mentioned after Jimmy left, you never knew what celebrity was going to show up with Jerry at practice. It creates a circus of distractions. And if the owner is the one doing it, who can correct this?

• Lack of understanding on collective roster building- one of the fun parts of being a fan is pretending we could select the right talent for our favorite team. “I like this player. He’s really good.” It’s like fantasy football. Just draft the most talented guys you can. But the problem with that is championship rosters require the talent to make a collective whole that is better than its individual parts. Otherwise all you have is an All Star team without a team concept. Sometimes it feels like this front office drafts like a fantasy football draft.
  
  
• Understanding collective complementary football- the Cowboys have had some similar problems for decades.
  • One easy example is the team’s long standing inability to stop the run. Really improving this requires multiple players that collectively as a unit make our run stopping ability much better. What does our FO do? They draft a guy in round one thinking “we’ve addressed our inability to stop the run”. Or they trade for a decent run stuffer like Jonathan Hankins. They don’t seem to ever think about needing a collective unit that can stop the run.
  • Dak Prescott is MOST EFFECTIVE with a good running game. Yet somehow this FO doesn’t draft a RB last year or recognize their aging OL is no longer great for running the ball. That oversight killed this team against the better teams last year.

So again, the missing elements for building a championship roster can be boiled down to this:

1. Eliminate unnecessary distractions.
2. Recognize talent alone isn’t enough. It takes a collective whole, not just individual parts.
3. Build a roster that complements and supports key player strengths and covers also for their weaknesses.

Since Jimmy left, this team has yet to have an elite defense and 98% of them were not even playoff quality defenses. Since Jimmy left there were only a handful of years that the OL was playoff quality,,, if and when Jerry gets around to prioritizing those things simultaneously then this team will have a chance, even with a yippy QB.