To my fellow realists... Are you as encouraged as me?

[DallasEast]

That looks like a classic DE quote contrived to fit DEs agenda. Very nice.

Starting last December:

I see 8-8 too if Wade hangs around... Yippeee

Yep. Me too. I see 8-8 and can venture out to enjoy the games with the fellas, as I do every year, with the comfort of at least knowing what to expect. Fool me once...

Given what we know today, 8-8 seems very realistic. If a couple of card call the right way then perhaps 9-7 happens. As it stands right now, 8-8 is staring us all right in the collective mugs.

I'm not counting the guy out. Hopefully you're right. I would love nothing more than to eat my 8-8 mediocrity prediction.

There's definitely nothing wrong with tempering expectations... especially when evidence to do so has been presented time and time again. I just don't see the reason why some have gotten on JJT because of an 8-8 prediction. That's essentially what they are right now. (a talented middle of the road team that doesn't know how to put it all together... & gets zero help from the coaching ranks)

Fool me once...

My homer shades are off this year. Prove it to me. 8-8 is what I see. Anything more will be icing on the cake.

Fool me once... That happened last year.

There won't be a twice. I'll enjoy my Boys this year will full expectations of 8-8. If anything more substantial happens I will embrace it but I will not expect it. I see too much that still needs to improve. I can actually go out with the fellas and enjoy the games at the local watering hole this year because my expectations are tempered. This is a good place to be.

If 8-8 = playoffs then I guess we limp in for a WC.

I call that constructive criticism. You call it not being a fan. I call it 8-8 this year. You're probably seeing 14-2 through those rose colored shades and a Super Bowl victory. I've been burnt once by a team with such high expectations only to have Baltimore and Philly absolutely throttle our Romo led gladiators in the month of December. Oh that pesky month of December...

Call it as you wish.. My opinion will remain my opinion. I really couldn't give a **** if you respected it or not. Wade sucks, Garrett sucks, Romo needs to step it up... & Roy Williams needs to really prove that the multitude of draft picks we gave up for him were justified... That all spells 8-8 to me. If we do better than that then I will be pleasantly surprised. I know better than to go in with high hopes this year though. They were exposed last year and have much damage control to do (on the field) in order to right the ship.

I always felt TO was a talented WR that was not being used correctly. That's well documented. I even clowned like an *** when I thought we would keep him another year. Well, He went bye bye, I ate my crow (tasted lovely), & apparently we had all moved on. So it was thought... Now we all get to return to the place we enjoy perusing daily and see TO thread after TO thread dominating the scene. MEH

You can question my fandom if you'd like but let me reiterate once more, I really don't give a **** if you feel that way about yours truly.

As would I... The butt hurt by fans over what commentators say about a team that, at this point, could justifiably be perceived as 8-8 is amazing.

I give em 8. I still see mediocrity at 8-8. Anything more would be a pleasant surprise but definitely not expected. The lofty expectations exited stage left last year with 24-33 in the last game at Texas Stadium and 6-44.

Get over it. Your Cavs suck. (and they now have an over the hill center to give them all over 15-20 minutes a game..lol) So much for LePrince doing it all alone without any help from Shaq!! Weren't you harping on how Kobe hadn't won any championships without Shaq? How you like him now? Kobe and LePrince no longer have that in common.

Look at the roster as is and try not to make this a Terrell Owens discussion. As I stated, 8-8 is what I expect and anything beyond that will be icing on the cake.

Get off of your high horse slate. Idiotic & Biased?...lol Last year I had lofty expectations due to information fed to me by the mediots and the players that all fell for the hype driven machine. Every week I hungout with friends (some fellow Cowboys fans) and we watched this team's Jekyll and Hyde act all season long. I'm not about to let myself get caught up in that whole belief that we're reaching for the pie in the sky again this year. 8-8 is my expectation and I will watch every game with a reserved eye. If they exceed my expectations that will be wonderful. I will celebrate just as much as I have every year. I just won't "expect" it this year. The disappointment that was endured last year won't be in the cards this year. They have some **** to prove to me.

Enjoy your lofty beliefs. We've all been there. If they disappoint this year, while you're sulking and ready to destroy your tv screen, I will be content in knowing that they're meeting my expectations.

Oh, & just in case you weren't aware, LePrince will never do it alone!

The Cavs = 1 big FAIL.

I gave em 8-8 prior to TC.

At this time I see 9-7. That's called very cautious optimism. I still think the coaching staff has loads to prove and key emerging leaders on the field really need to embrace this time to step up.

You definitely won't get over 8 wins and I am a realist about our team. 9-7 is what I see thus far.

9-7 at best currently. The regular season is 16 games long not 12.

Bozo out.

Adjusted to 8-8... We'll beat those other two helter skelter teams in red.

I said 8-8/9-7 in the offseason and I am sticking to it. We'll have yet another mediocre season and miss the playoffs. It may surprise some but won't surprise me at all. I'm looking forward to the coaching change(s) that will follow........

Simmer down johnny boy. Most here are not ready to give up by any means... People see huge deficiencies and problems. This is a message board where those thoughts and ideas are documented. The revolution will not be televised so you can step down off of the soapbox. We're well on our way to 8-8 which I happened to have predicted in that long offseason and took a thrashing for it. Nostradamus would be proud... Oh, by the way, you forgot shill. I'm glad you're tickled pick by the road to mediocrity. Have fun with that.

Agree. While teams like Cinci are playing consistently well every game, we're playing up or down to the level of our competition... There is no continuity because the coaching just is not there. We'll only go so far on the "will of the players". 8-8 here we come. Yay...

8-8... 9-7 at best.. and yet another playoffs miss. Gotta love it.

I don't really get into the whole starting new threads just to push an agenda but I will gladly continue talking about what irks me the most in a current thread. Players like RW11 , Barbie, and coaches like Hoov really get under my skin. I'm glad we won and are now 4-2 but some counter forces still remain. If anyone has issue with people talking about things that interest them, be it positive or negative, the choice is always there to refrain from hitting the reply button. If your curiosity got you enough to click on what you might have considered a questionable thread, at least take some solace in the fact that you still have the choice to refrain from responding...

Deion and Merrill Hoge are simply seeing what the minority on the board with loud mouths see. I guess sometimes hearing it from a former NFL player kind of places a slightly higher legitimacy on it even if those former NFL players are considered dumber than a box of rocks and butthurt over the loss of TO. The level at which some go to sweep the riff raff under the rug is highly entertaining. You've got some guys that profess to rarely posting but have somehow managed to post 2000 responses in the last day telling those with opinions to keep it all in one thread... Like we've never before seen multiple threads loosely resembling the same subject on the board...

I hope more alleged "mediots" step up and call Roy out. It's well deserved. Perhaps that's the only thing that will get him to step up his game, stop running lazy routes, stop whining about how he's getting a bad rap, and start finding himself where Romo expects him to be on a regular basis. It's funny how no one can answer my question of why it appears as though Romo's INTs stopped when he stopped keying on Roy as his first option... That cracks me up to no end.

On a positive note, Romo is no longer keying on the lazy route runner and has instead chosen to focus his attention on the emerging, strong, precise, determined game of Miles Austin. I applaud Romo for finding what works best for him, as well as the team, and exploiting it. Romo may have just found his go to guy for the near and foreseeable future. Thank goodness for that! With three healthy RBs, a serviceable threat in Witten, Austin burning on the corner, Joe D's STs playing like madmen, and Hoov's defense doing it's job this team just might make a liar out of me and my 8-8 / 9-7 prediction. I sure would love to eat that crow. Keep up the great work Cowboys. :starspin

"The following statement indicates that I have zero confidence in the team finishing above .500, but I'm inserting a +.500 record claim
which I can cash in later just in case my admitted lack of properly evaluating the overall team, schedule, etc., falls flat on its face".​

.​

 

[Cover 2]

Starting last December:

"The following statement indicates that I have zero confidence in the team finishing above .500, but I'm inserting a +.500 record claim
which I can cash in later just in case my admitted lack of properly evaluating the overall team, schedule, etc., falls flat on its face".​

.​

At least he said he would be happy if the team did better. I don't really see the big deal if he thought the team would be 8-8. It's not like that is what he was hoping for. It's just what he thought.

 

[Bleu Star]

At least he said he would be happy if the team did better. I don't really see the big deal if he thought the team would be 8-8. It's not like that is what he was hoping for. It's just what he thought.

:laugh2: DE is the research authoritah!!! :laugh2:

Nothing the research king posted goes against anything I have said to this point. I love the extremes some will go to in order to try and belittle those that don't share their perspective. Keep the laughs coming DE.

 

[DallasEast]

At least he said he would be happy if the team did better. I don't really see the big deal if he thought the team would be 8-8. It's not like that is what he was hoping for. It's just what he thought.

It's not a question of whether he was seeking happiness or not. It's not like he's wishing a key player to get injured to make his prediction come true. He just couldn't never foresee the team finishing above 8-8, but there was never anything practical about his prediction as far back as last December.

He provided himself with a safety net (on rare occasions) of 9-7 just in case the team did exactly opposite what he more often publicly proclaimed. In short, the Bleu Star's 'realism' fell short of the team's actual potential for 2009 the very moment he made it.

 

[Joe Realist]

Every night in one thread there is a pissing match..

 

[Bleu Star]

Feel free to keep that research going.

 

[Bleu Star]

Are you having fun?

 

[Bleu Star]

It's not a question of whether he was seeking happiness or not. It's not like he's wishing a key player to get injured to make his prediction come true. He just couldn't never foresee the team finishing above 8-8, but there was never anything practical about his prediction as far back as last December.

He provided himself with a safety net (on rare occasions) of 9-7 just in case the team did exactly opposite what he more often publicly proclaimed. In short, the Bleu Star's 'realism' fell short of the team's actual potential for 2009 the very moment he made it.

One man's opinion is another man's garbage. What a lovely universal thought.

 

[RainMan]

Most fans -- and certainly on this board -- tend to overreact ... when things are going well, and when things are going bad.

The team is probably never as bad as we think it is, or as great as we think it is.

I find this team much more likable than in recent years. The bad apples are gone, and this is a team that appears to have pretty good chemistry. I see great effort each week, and that hasn't always been the case in recent years.

As fans, many of us wanted Owens and Adam Jones, and Terry Johnson, and Greg Ellis, and OU Roy Williams gone. We wanted grinders ... tough players who played hard and would lead. We wanted a safety who could cover, make plays and not point. We wanted a new special teams coach. We wanted Wade to run the defense. For the most part, we got the changes we wanted.

I'm not sure Jerry bought into all these moves originially, but Stephen and maybe Wade and Garrett helped persuade him. And maybe in some cases, Jerry got his way (Stewart's exit?)

The other change I wanted was Wade gone. I still don't think he's the guy to get Dallas to the Super Bowl, but he has made an effort to be more involved in things and hold the players more accountable. I still don't think he'll get a new contract and I think Jason Garrett is going to replace him in January.

I'm encouraged by what I see, but I'm not going to start pounding the table and yelling "Super Bowl." they will stumble at some point in the next few weeks and lose a game they probably should have won. The mood of the fans will swing wildly the other way when that happens. And of course, December looms.

But we'll deal with December when it gets here. I really like this team and am hoping for the best.

Good, level-headed post as always, Chief.

Two contributions -- as minor as they might be -- that I'll add.

1) What I like about this team, as some have pointed out in recent weeks, is we finally have defined role players who contribute. It seemed like in years past we were trying to build a team with a legitimate top-end, Pro Bowl-caliber playmaker at every position. It resulted in an odd assembly of personnel at times, frankly. Victor Butler may never be a star in this league, but he doesn't have to be. He personifies what is going right for this team this year. Heck, even Carpenter is able to get on the field without making a fool of himself.

2) Like you, I'm of the belief we should tap the breaks on the Wade love. Don't get me wrong -- I think he's doing a fine job so far and, frankly, gets bashed at an unfair level. He has done a pretty fine job here in the regular season and even if that never translates to the postseason, it's better than what some coaches could do. He's not pondscum. But I do question if he has the vision as the lead man to ever take this franchise to the ultimate destination. The good news? He's positioning himself very nicely this year to prove he can.

 

[Joe Realist]

Are you having fun?

hey now