The Thread Where You Put Your Finger On It.

[superpunk]

Tell me what you think it is - stock answers not allowed, because it's not JUST any one thing.

It's not JUST Tony Romo.

It's not JUST Jason Garrett and our simplistic offense, though I suspect that's getting alot of play after Lewis's comments.

It's not JUST Wade being a bumpkin.

It's not a lack of talent.

It's not JUST injuries.

There is just something there that prevents this team from realizing it's potential. Tell me what it is.

Hell if I know.

 

[MrMom]

Lack of leadership. On the field and from the coaches.

 

[RCowboyFan]

A lot of stupid individual players and lot of players more bent on invidual glory than team glory. So called Team Leaders who come up small in key games or some key games anyway. LIke Brady James being blown out during fourth quarter and Ken Hamlin being goat on several plays.

To put simply, like many analysts have been saying and that we don't want to listen is, that cowboys team doesn't play like a team. No real team leader. And it has been that way, Wade or Bill Parcells, the team has always committed stupid penalties. So people calling for Wade because of his coaching, just have short term memory.

 

[gbrittain]

Big name players playing small in big games.

More soap opera than football.

Freelancing rather than discipline.

Dumb rather than smart.

Just to name a few...

 

[theebs]

not enough magic routes?

 

[EveryoneElse]

Wade doesn't express the importance of the pre game dump.

 

[Haley94]

Lack of reverence for the game of football. This team is stupid and doesn't seem to pay enough attention to the details of their craft. In my opinion, Romo needs to grow up and stop being such a "peter pan". He thinks he is smarter than he is. At the core of confidence is humility. At the core of arrogance is insecurity. Tell me, is this team arrogant or confident?

 

[Sitting Bull]

Agree with the first two posts. My stab:

1. Lack of leadership and unity on the field/locker room
2. Lack of discipline - stupid penalties chronically killing our drives and extending theirs
3. Poor special teams (kick coverage, punting) - lost field position every game
4. Negative turnover ratio

I never thought Parcells was perfect but #'s 2-4 are the key things he preached as being difference-makers and we aren't doing any of it.

 

[theogt]

Lack of QB protection. How many times did we see blitzers running free yesterday? I'd venture a guess that at least 60% of pass plays saw a blitzer come free at Romo, which is ridiculously high.

Most often, Romo makes the line look much better than it is. I just wish the $5+ million in offensive coaches and countless millions in offensive linemen could actually get their **** together.

 

[JIMMYBUFFETT]

Hard Knocks
Camp Cupcake
Too much hype and not enough desire
The loss of K. Kosier
The loss of M. McBriar
The loss of F. Jones
The loss of R. Williams
The Romo injury
The Barber injury
The lack of a quality backup QB
The lack of early season defense
The lack of late season offense
No ability to control the clock and close games
The loss to the Rams
Lack of leadership
Play calling and game management
Special teams
Not enough commitment to the running game
Poor decisions by Romo under pressure
Too much pressure on Romo
Zero home field advantage
Tough late season schedule
Playing 16 games in the NFL (It's a tough league to win in)
Bush , Obama , global warming , the ecomomy , assault weapons , etc...

Just off the top of my head......just too much stuff besides playing football !

 

[RCowboyFan]

Agree with the first two posts. My stab:

1. Lack of leadership and unity on the field/locker room
2. Lack of discipline - stupid penalties chronically killing our drives and extending theirs
3. Poor special teams (kick coverage, punting) - lost field position every game
4. Negative turnover ratio

I never thought Parcells was perfect but #'s 2-4 are the key things he preached as being difference-makers and we aren't doing any of it.

Blah, Cowboys were penalty prone even during his reign too. I guess too many fans have short term memories there. But then Parcells never took the blame for penalties though, unlike Wade does.

And Cowboys weren't that great in Special teams then either, although not as bad as current set though. Bruce Read is definetly pathetic. EVen I could see the gaping hole when they ran for first down during that kick.

 

[AKATheRake]

The top of the organization, Jerry Jones, makes them feel like they're the defending Superbwl champions before they even play a regular season game. He then carries it throughout the season and the coaches and players feel accomplished before they even have to prove anything. This team gets treated like they're the pinnacle of the league while Belicheck, the rest of the Bill Parcells and Kiffin coaching tree win the championships.

This team doesn't know what it takes to win the whole thing but they have to play every team they face like they are the champs because of the marketing genius' build up. They don't understand that environment but are forced into it. We're all glitz and glamor with no recent success to back it up.

To sum it up, we're a smoke and mirror show that sports dogs and ponies throughout the players and coaching staff when it comes down to game time. We're a 3rd quarter team that rarely wins a game when we score first.

 

[Dave_in-NC]

All of the above

 

[RCowboyFan]

The top of the organization, Jerry Jones, makes them feel like they're the defending Superbwl champions before they even play a regular season game. He then carries it throughout the season and the coaches and players feel accomplished before they even have to prove anything. This team gets treated like they're the pinnacle of the league while Belicheck, the rest of the Bill Parcells and Kiffin coaching tree win the championships.

This team doesn't know what it takes to win the whole thing but they have to play every team they face like they are the champs because of the marketing genius' build up. They do understand that environment but are forced into it. We're all glitz and glamor with no recent success to back it up.

Stop with Bill Parcells BS. Like he did something great with Cowboys. Seems like Fans are always nostalgic after the fact. BP's teams continously broke during December, heck even worse than current Wade team. People seem to forget, how his last season ended with losing to worst team in NFL, pretty bad ( lions) and backing into playoffs.

But Jerry is certainly to blame. His choice of coaching is been pretty pathetic. Seemingly always making the wrong choice. He was highly impressed with Mike Singeltary but didn't pull trigger. He got infatuated with Garret and let Sparano walk. Seems like Sparano was the brains behind the offense last year.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

I'm starting to lean towards Jerry Jones

he's too involved with the team, and I think he panders to the big-money players too much

there's not a winning culture here, it seems to be a, "play just well enough to get your money from Jerry" culture, because he will pay top-dollar to have you back

 

[CATCH17]

Players making bonehead mistakes.

Once our players get this cleaned up nothing will stop them.

 

[yimyammer]

To me it's really simple; it's the little things, lack of discipline and a lack of attention to detail.

You don't have to blow everyone out and you don't have to bomb it down field all the time when you can get the 3 to 5 yard passes and runs all day long and you don't need all-stars at every position (See Miami-which now has a better record and New England).

In these days of parity, coaching and player development matters more than ever.

Having a competent staff that can focus on and teach the following will give you a chance to win almost any game you play:

Game management:-control the clock, use your offense to rest your defense and keep your defense fresh so they can demoralize your opponent.

Protect the ball and don't turn the ball over - EVER!! (Even when it's late in the first half and it looks like it will work as a punt in the worse case scenario.)

Know your job!! COLD!! Know the rules, your assignments, the play book and ALL situations so they are merely unconscious reactions during the game.

Don't commit penalties - be disciplined enough to not commit penalties & be knowledgeable enough to know when your about to commit one, so you don't.

The short game works too!! You don't have to commit to an extreme vertical offense. Moving the ball forward and keeping your defense off the field for a few series might be exactly what they need to be fresh in the 4th quarter. Plus if you can get 3-5 yards every down, you will never be stopped. Use the high percentage short game to open up the low percentage vertical game, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!

Play as a team at all times! Offense, if you can't score, then stay on the field as long as you can to control the clock, wear out the defense and keep your defense fresh. Receivers, if you can't catch the ball, don't give up!! Protect your QB and keep the defense from intercepting the ball at all costs---this is one time where you are allowed to commit a penalty if that’s what it takes.

If they could do all of the above on a consistent basis, we would have already clinched the playoffs and maybe the division.

 

[Wimbo]

Jessica Simpson.

 

[AKATheRake]

Stop with Bill Parcells BS. Like he did something great with Cowboys. Seems like Fans are always nostalgic after the fact. BP's teams continously broke during December, heck even worse than current Wade team. People seem to forget, how his last season ended with losing to worst team in NFL, pretty bad ( lions) and backing into playoffs.

But Jerry is certainly to blame. His choice of coaching is been pretty pathetic. Seemingly always making the wrong choice. He was highly impressed with Mike Singeltary but didn't pull trigger. He got infatuated with Garret and let Sparano walk. Seems like Sparano was the brains behind the offense last year.

I said his coaching tree that Belicheck and Coughlin are apart of. I didn't say Bill Parcells is what we need. Get your facts straight and don't even try to rationalize your jump the gun post. Why don't you stop telling people to stop. A question was asked, it got answered. You're looking for a push over? It isn't me. I may be a fan of a push over team with push over coaches and fans but I'm no push over. You don't put food on my table buddy and you sure as hell don't pay attention to details well enough to tell me anything.

 

[TwentyOne]

First of all it's Romo.

After a promising start last year he declined instead of further improving his game. He has clearly problems to read defenses and go fast through his progressions. Maybe playing with all those stars and their demanding behaviour is something he is overwhelmed with - id don't know. But what i know right now he doesn't look like the long term answer we all hoped for. He has a gunslinger mentallity but the way he played this season that is no excuse for his bad throws and decissions.

Second is Garrett.

Same here as with Romo. He had a great year last year but he isn't able to build on it. Defenses figure out how to play his offense and he is just not able to adjust to it. But i will not call for his head. The media hyped him and i don't believe in hype. This is his second year as a OC just look what happened to Stewart. I think he can be a good OC but he needs time to develope. I hope we keep him at OC.

Third and maybe suprisingly is RB.

I love MBIII because i like the way he runs. But watching Choice and Jones i think what fits our offense much more is a slashing RB. We have a big physical line. We need a fast and elusive RB to fit that kind of OL and not a physical one. As much as i love Barbers style i think RB by commitee is the way to go in the future. Give Jones the main load and let Barber close out the game.


What i like is our OL. I like Wade as HC too especially after he showed that he is able to improve our defense. And i think we should keep Stewart and give him some time to develope under Wade.