The wheels fell off when...

[gazjor1]

Felix Jones went down injured, no D could stop him as he was so fresh and exciting.

He was our Petersen, Turner of carrying the ball.

A big hole that we couldnt fill - wrap him up in cotton wool for next 9 months.

Come to think of it the Cardinals loss turned our season

 

[Jimz31]

I would agree with you about Felix had the coaching staff used him more.

It was obvious that he brought something special to this team....obvious only to the fans though.

 

[magic-sword]

Not entirely true - look at the Cincinnati game - Romo hurt the team, special teams hurt the team - the wheels were never secured coming out of the gate.

Cowboys had a 17 point lead and nearly blew it due to turnovers and special teams, stupidity. "Rinse repeat" The following week was against the Cardinals and it got worse. Recall this is after losing to the Commanders!

Hints at the short-comings for the secondary, the play-calling, the tackling, etc. were shown in pre-season, it has been a patchwork situation all year.

One phase - a running back is not enough - you have to win three phases of the game to be great. Barber and Jones were very good (running for 198 yards) and the Cowboys still mange to win by one point.

Summary:

But Romo also wasn't that sharp, going 14-of-23 for a season-low 176 yards. He also had a fumble and an interception, making it eight straight games that he's been picked off. He salvaged his day with three touchdown passes, two in the fourth quarter.

Down 17-0, the Bengals didn't exactly storm back. Crawled is more like it.They got a pair of field goals before halftime, the second set up by a Romo fumble. Then Palmer started to click, going 72 yards in 11 plays on his first drive of the second half, capping it with an 18-yard touchdown to Houshmandzadeh that made it 17-13.

Then came Romo's interception, leading to another field goal that got the Bengals within a point early in the fourth quarter.

Even Dallas coach Wade Phillips said winning "doesn't make up for everything," not when the Cowboys go from losing a division game at home to nearly blowing this one.And not when Owens catches only two passes, then delivers a postgame statement and leaves without answering any questions.

Romo looked his way less partly because Dallas ran 38 times for 198 yards, with Felix Jones going for 96 and Marion Barber for 84.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Felix Jones went down injured, no D could stop him as he was so fresh and exciting.

He was our Petersen, Turner of carrying the ball.

A big hole that we couldnt fill - wrap him up in cotton wool for next 9 months.

Come to think of it the Cardinals loss turned our season

Nope. We didnt even utilize Felix really.


The wheels wobbled many times LAST year.
Then they fell off at the end of the year.

This year we put the wheels back on with loose lug nuts.
They wobbled ALOT during the season and completely fell off yesterday.

 

[Shinywalrus]

1.) Kosier goes down.
2.) OL communication is stunted.
3.) OL cannot protect.
4.) Romo is harried excessively, focuses for a short period of time on his prime outlets.
5.) Romo goes down for 4 weeks after establishing a pattern of predictable targeting.
6.) Romo comes back injured, forced to play conservatively, continues pattern of target telegraphing.
7.) Romo gets healthy, stays in same pattern, but offensive flow is completely disrupted. RHG isn't dynamic enough to take it in hand and reestablish balance and polish, misperceives Romo's freelancing as part of his "character" as opposed to bad habits picked up during a weak period and post-injury.
8.) ???
9.) Profit

 

[Bach]

...when Jerry took full control over the team again once Parcells left town.

 

[Faerluna]

Losing McBriar was also huge.

Palescu did not provide good field position with his punts most of the time. That, along with the terrible tackling on punt returns, always put the D in a bad position from the get go.

 

[Shinywalrus]

...when Jerry took full control over the team again once Parcells left town.

Do you have an argument to couple with that assertion, or is this some abstract conclusion you've come to? I've yet to hear a decent argument for why this is the case, considering that the only real evidence we have of Jerry's interference since Parcells' departure was a push for Martellus Bennett, which turned out pretty well for us.

 

[CowboyWay]

WHen Wade was hired.

 

[percyhoward]

The wheels fell off when we couldn't meet the challenge of playing all five of the league's Top 5 defenses in our last 7 games.

Until then, the wheels were just wobbling.

 

[Bach]

Do you have an argument to couple with that assertion, or is this some abstract conclusion you've come to? I've yet to hear a decent argument for why this is the case, considering that the only real evidence we have of Jerry's interference since Parcells' departure was a push for Martellus Bennett, which turned out pretty well for us.

Have you seen the coaching staff he assembled? The circus atmosphere he helps perpetrate?

The man has no idea how to build an actual "TEAM". Sure he can throw some money around at some name players and have the sheep swoon. But what good is that going to do in the end when you hire a HC who has a history of never winning in the postseason. Wade has always been a guy that will get you on most years anywhere from 7-9 to 11-5. Last year he peaked at 13-3 but then still ended up one and done in the playoffs. At least the man's track record of postseason ineptitude is still intact and yet Jerry seems plenty adamant about bring him back for "continuity".

Continuity with Wade Phillips - woo-hoo!!! Not to mention another year trying to groom the next HC in Garrett who still hasn't shown he's even a serviceable OC.

And I can hardly wait til July and the next installment of Hard Knocks: Jerry Does Dallas, again.

But please, keep drinking the koolaid if it makes you feel better.

 

[5Countem5]

1.) Kosier goes down.
2.) OL communication is stunted.
3.) OL cannot protect.
4.) Romo is harried excessively, focuses for a short period of time on his prime outlets.
5.) Romo goes down for 4 weeks after establishing a pattern of predictable targeting.
6.) Romo comes back injured, forced to play conservatively, continues pattern of target telegraphing.
7.) Romo gets healthy, stays in same pattern, but offensive flow is completely disrupted. RHG isn't dynamic enough to take it in hand and reestablish balance and polish, misperceives Romo's freelancing as part of his "character" as opposed to bad habits picked up during a weak period and post-injury.
8.) ???
9.) Profit

Best post I have read in 2 days...

 

[tyke1doe]

...when Jerry took full control over the team again once Parcells left town.

I'll go one better ... when Barry Switzer "led" this team to a Super Bowl. That validated Jerry's opinion that any of 500 coaches could lead the Cowboys to the Super Bowl.

And he's been inserting any old coach into the lineup ever since.

Sorry, guys, but unless Jerry Jones steps back and gives control to a real football man and real coach, expect more of the same.

I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

 

[DTK]

Losing McBriar was also huge.

Palescu did not provide good field position with his punts most of the time. That, along with the terrible tackling on punt returns, always put the D in a bad position from the get go.

I agree 100%! To me this was the biggest loss of the season. Our defense had to continually defend short fields while our offense always had to go 80 yards.

 

[kbman]

WHen Wade was hired.

You beat me to it......

 

[rtrn2zn]

When the Commanders ran that safety press against Owens and loaded the box, other teams picked up on it, Garrett ended up countering against the Cardinals by having Owens run double and trip routes which, combined with the loss of Felix to spread the field, and Kosiers absence, led Romo to be battered by the Cardinals mediocre pass rush, eventually breaking his pinky, which caused us to lose 2 or 3, both games we would have had at least a 50 50 chance in with Romo, and also effected his ability to get in synch with RW.

and that was that.

The Offesive and Defensive collapses against the Steelers, and Defensive collaspe late against the Ravens were just gravy.

Let us all not foget, the onsides kick in that Commanders game went through the hands of a Dallas player. Come back and win that game, do other teams push to implement that scheme against us?

Maybe the wheels actually came off when we went into the season with Patrick Crayton as a number 2 receiver without the speed or skill set to spread the other side of the field and allow other teams to push their safeties up into the box and double over owens. Or when Brad Johnson looked servicable in the pre-season game with the starters so we didn't really pursue a back up.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

Have you seen the coaching staff he assembled? The circus atmosphere he helps perpetrate?

The man has no idea how to build an actual "TEAM". Sure he can throw some money around at some name players and have the sheep swoon. But what good is that going to do in the end when you hire a HC who has a history of never winning in the postseason. Wade has always been a guy that will get you on most years anywhere from 7-9 to 11-5. Last year he peaked at 13-3 but then still ended up one and done in the playoffs. At least the man's track record of postseason ineptitude is still intact and yet Jerry seems plenty adamant about bring him back for "continuity".

Continuity with Wade Phillips - woo-hoo!!! Not to mention another year trying to groom the next HC in Garrett who still hasn't shown he's even a serviceable OC.

And I can hardly wait til July and the next installment of Hard Knocks: Jerry Does Dallas, again.

But please, keep drinking the koolaid if it makes you feel better.

What do you drink to help you get through times like this?

 

[WoodysGirl]

Losing McBriar was also huge.

Palescu did not provide good field position with his punts most of the time. That, along with the terrible tackling on punt returns, always put the D in a bad position from the get go.

I think McBriar's injury and Romo's injury had an equal amount of impact.

Paulescu was serviceable, but he showed the value of McB.

Brad Johnson was awful. No other way to put it.

 

[Bach]

What do you drink to help you get through times like this?

It's been like this most of the last 13 years. If I drank alcohol I'd be dead by now.

 

[Bach]

I'll go one better ... when Barry Switzer "led" this team to a Super Bowl. That validated Jerry's opinion that any of 500 coaches could lead the Cowboys to the Super Bowl.

And he's been inserting any old coach into the lineup ever since.

Sorry, guys, but unless Jerry Jones steps back and gives control to a real football man and real coach, expect more of the same.

I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

Unfortunately you are dead on.

Jerry was right that any of 500 coaches could lead that group to the Super Bowl. But do you really want to aim for coach 498 or 499 on the list just to try and prove a point?

Jerry knew exactly that that's what he did with Barry. That's why several years ago he stated if he had to do it over he would've replaced Barry after they won the Super Bowl. Now why would you replace a HC that just won the Super Bowl if you thought that HC actually contributed to winning the Super Bowl? The answer is you wouldn't. But Jerry knew he "proved" a point and should've left it at that.

Most people that cared about winning would've replaced Jimmy with the best HC they could find and a quality personnel man, even if Jerry wanted to continue "making the final say".

But Jerry was more about trying to stick it to Jimmy and prove a point. We ended up being lucky to have snuck one more championship out of that group before Jerry, Lacewell and Barry drove it to the ground though. But even though he proven his silly point, he couldn't leave well enough alone. He had to hire Gailey and undermine him by basically having him be a glorified OC and a HC in name only. And then when he canned him he did the same thing with Campo, except Campo was the glorified DC and loyal, someone Jerry could feel more "comfortable" with.

What it amounts to is Jerry is the biggest fool in the NFL. Like you said, winning a Super Bowl with Barry validated in his mind that he could win doing it "his way". Even though he apparently failed to understand that the team that won in '95 was only two years removed from being back to back champions and that Jerry's "way" isn't what got them to the Super Bowl in the first place. That '95 team was basically the same team that had won it all two yeas before and still had enough talent left over from Jimmy's days and the ineptness of Jerry and Barry hadn't taken full effect yet. But in Jerry's mind, he can claim he won it "his way" and we continue to suffer due to his egomania.