Thoughts on State of the Union

[dboyz]

I'm disappointed, very disappointed as I'm sure we all are.

1. Barber is a beast and it was absolutely the right decision to start him yesterday. Why he didn't start earlier in the year I'll never know. He was one the best if not the best player on the field. If I'm Jerry Jones, I sign him long term.

2. We need someone another guy who can cover, CB, safety or maybe both, in the worst way. I'm not saying this is the reason we lost, because there were other factors, but it was a factor.

3. I still believe in Romo. This was his first full year starting. He made a lot of plays out there. He also made some mistakes and he needs to correct those.

4. As good as Ratliff played on the nose this year, I'd like to see Ratliff switch to end, and Ferguson back next year. I would look at drafting a massive two gap nose tackle. It makes defending the run in the 3-4 much easier.

5. We must get more disciplined. A lot of the mistakes we made yesterday we've made all year, we've just been good enough to overcome them. False-starting repeatedly in your home stadium is awful (if may have been Gurode's fault). I'm willing to cut Phillips a little slack, but if this is a constant problem, we must bring in someone else.

Well I've got more, but that's enough for now.

 

[Natedawg44]

Drops by Crayton and Fasano were huge. TO I can live with the occasional drop for everything else he does, but those guys no excuse.

 

[Sasquatch]

I'm disappointed, very disappointed as I'm sure we all are.

1. Barber is a beast and it was absolutely the right decision to start him yesterday. Why he didn't start earlier in the year I'll never know. He was one the best if not the best player on the field. If I'm Jerry Jones, I sign him long term.

2. We need someone another guy who can cover, CB, safety or maybe both, in the worst way. I'm not saying this is the reason we lost, because there were other factors, but it was a factor.

3. I still believe in Romo. This was his first full year starting. He made a lot of plays out there. He also made some mistakes and he needs to correct those.

4. As good as Ratliff played on the nose this year, I'd like to see Ratliff switch to end, and Ferguson back next year. I would look at drafting a massive two gap nose tackle. It makes defending the run in the 3-4 much easier.

5. We must get more disciplined. A lot of the mistakes we made yesterday we've made all year, we've just been good enough to overcome them. False-starting repeatedly in your home stadium is awful (if may have been Gurode's fault). I'm willing to cut Phillips a little slack, but if this is a constant problem, we must bring in someone else.

Well I've got more, but that's enough for now.

I agree with everything except #1. Barber is the better of the two runners, hands down, but he is more valuable to the team as a closer. Recall that at the beginning of the season we were getting off to slow starts but finishing very strongly because MBIII would come in and get everyone psyched when the game still hung in the balance. Yesterday, when we needed that shot in the arm, MBIII was starting to slow down a bit.

Some guys are just more valuable coming out of the bullpen even if they have what it takes to be a starter. I think that's the case with MBIII.

 

[AdamJT13]

1. Barber is a beast and it was absolutely the right decision to start him yesterday. Why he didn't start earlier in the year I'll never know. He was one the best if not the best player on the field. If I'm Jerry Jones, I sign him long term.

Yesterday's game didn't do anything to erase the concerns that Barber's style would cause him to wear down if he was a featured back, or that his lack of speed occasionally hurts.

If I'm Jerry, I make Barber play next season under his RFA tender, give him a chance to be the featured back for a season, then see how he does. I'd rather pay a little more after I know exactly what I'm getting than to pay a lot and not get what I'm paying for because I was too impatient.

 

[Natedawg44]

Yesterday's game didn't do anything to erase the concerns that Barber's style would cause him to wear down if he was a featured back, or that his lack of speed occasionally hurts.

If I'm Jerry, I make Barber play next season under his RFA tender, give him a chance to be the featured back for a season, then see how he does. I'd rather pay a little more after I know exactly what I'm getting than to pay a lot and not get what I'm paying for because I was too impatient.

I agree adam. That's also why I think we must take a RB in the 1st or 2nd next year.

 

[DTK]

To me it's simple. We have enough youth and talent to make a deep playoff run next year, but next year is the year I'd target to try and win it all. Yes we are young, but we have a few aging stars (Ellis, Owens) and we need to take a shot at it all now. So, Jerry needs to be very aggressive in FA to fill a few holes. Most notably at: CB, RB, S.

We obviously need a CB bad and I draft one in round one next year. A rookie can come in and play the nickle back position much better than Reeves.

I'd also target a speedy third down type of back with a 2-4 round pick. Looks as if the RB class is going to be deep, so we should be able to wait until them to still get quality.

I'd spend the other first round pick on BAP. Doesn't matter to me if it's another edge rusher, for Ellis is done soon. I just hate drafting for need for it comes back to bite us later on.

We obviously need another WR and of course a safety, but I'll avoid that debate for now. I'm not sure if Stanbeck or Hurd are future #2's or what, but the more you have the better chance you have of hitting on one.

But to me this offseason, Jerry needs to be VERY aggressive.

 

[AmishCowboy]

It looks like it will be a deep class in the draft of postions we need: CB, a young WR and a RB to spell Barber, if we reign Hamlin the Cowboys should be in Good shape.

 

[dboyz]

Yesterday's game didn't do anything to erase the concerns that Barber's style would cause him to wear down if he was a featured back, or that his lack of speed occasionally hurts.

If I'm Jerry, I make Barber play next season under his RFA tender, give him a chance to be the featured back for a season, then see how he does. I'd rather pay a little more after I know exactly what I'm getting than to pay a lot and not get what I'm paying for because I was too impatient.

I can live with that as well. I'm just convinced he's the guy, but your approach is the less risky strategy.

I think what we need is for Barber to be the lead back and to have a change of pace guy (ideally a Westbrook clone) to lighten the load a little. I'm not too worried about him being worn down, but I would like to see him limited to about 20 carries per game.