To the Cowboys - with Regret from a long term fan

[EGTuna]

I don't think they quit. They were in each game at the half. The coaches did them zero favors. This team has been built to win one way and one way only, and when that way fails, it all falls apart. This team has Plan A and Next Man Up philosophy, which will work if you don't have injuries to key cogs and the talent to execute plan A as we saw in 2014 and 2016. However, lose a key cog or three, and it falls apart like the ending of 10 Cloverfield Lane.

In 2017, you have to be able to win in a multitude of ways and have plans B, C, and D ready for the inevitable attrition of the roster and/or Plan A being ineffective. We've seen each week the coaches and players say, "we're not changing anything and going to execute the game plan." This is a fundamentally flawed paradigm in today's NFL. Look at Minnesota. They lost their starting RB, starting QB, and some defensive players, yet they continue to win. Sometimes they rely on D to win, sometimes O. Pat Shurmur (who'd be my choice for HC due to his success in Minnesota and also winning 4 and 5 games in Cleveland of all places as a HC) has been able to beat teams by getting chunk plays from the passing game (as they did vs. Wash) or being a dink an dunk coupled with power running (as they did vs LAR, DET). Of course the prime example of changing your plan to fit your current set of players and the opponent is NE and NO to a lesser degree. Even with TB12, the Pats roll out multiple different plans each week depending on the circumstances. As does New Orleans. Not here. It's a dang one-way street leading straight to the top-middle of the draft.

Alas, I don't think Garrett and his tired, out-of-date philosophy are going anywhere.

 

[iceberg]

Sorry, but it's a loser mentality to quit watching when your team is down.

how many quit when they are doing well?

i've been through 1-15. i moved to dallas from oklahoma the year after that and spent money i didn't really have on endzone seats to see my first cowboy game. i got to move to dallas and be a part of the rise to 3 superbowls and even meet switzer and haley in my valley ranch neighborhood a few times. i got mocked for wearing nothing but cowboys jerseys to work almost every day of the week in the off-season. i was there when emmitt broke the rushing record and so many more memories in time from loving watching the cowboys play in the NFL.

i just don't care anymore.

i don't care about the NFL overall and the collection of sideshows it's become. i don't care who kneels for what and i'm tired of the fighting that has become and the divide it has caused regardless of who is right or wrong.

i'm tired of an NFL that can punish people who have come out of our own countries judicial system innocent, or at least not guilty, and the NFL doesn't care. it makes up punishments as it goes and does seem to play favorites in doing so.

i can't believe the NFL is going to stay the money grabbing over punishing decisions being made by how the PR winds blow goodell. he made this mess and now he's going to be rewarded for it? $50 mil a year to do just what exactly? and he must have the plane cause $50mil a year you can't afford your own airlines tickets, can you? and of course, insurance for life.

to kill an american icon of a sport.

the last thing anyone seems focused on anymore is the game and the game is why i was and have been such a huge fan.

yesterday i found out CBS removed itself from Dish Network just minutes before the game started. i fiddled around a bit with a cheap antenna and could never get my picture to come in clearly and eventually put it back on the small tv in the bedroom where it did work. as ****** as the reception was, the cowboys play was far worse. i was watching "beat bobby flay" reruns inside the hour and it didn't bother me.

this team is lost and they don't seem to care. they've been this way defining frustration in a manner only the browns fans can come close to understanding, sans the winning history to fall back on. jones is hellbent on showing goodell who is the boss and it's obvious 34 quarters later the NFL isn't playing fair. so to me, one of the few icons of the NFL that still draws a crowd week in and week out, even under apathetic conditions such as this, was sent a letter saying their conduct was detrimental to the league.

the same league killing the sport. to me.

so if you want to accuse me and others who feel like i do of having a "loser mentality" that is certainly your right.

i just don't care anymore.

 

[xwalker]

Omg stop man...

The emotional one follows Lebron from team to team and the other is a die hard Laker fan like me. I love em both just the same. It's all good Nostradamus.

Is he also a Yankees or maybe Dodgers fan?

 

[Bleu Star]

Is he also a Yankees or maybe Dodgers fan?

Nope. You had a good streak going there & then you msesd it up..Lol

I'm the Cowboys, Lakers, Dodgers, Kings fan... Basically everything LA with the exception of the Cowboys.

 

[xwalker]

how many quit when they are doing well?

i've been through 1-15. i moved to dallas from oklahoma the year after that and spent money i didn't really have on endzone seats to see my first cowboy game. i got to move to dallas and be a part of the rise to 3 superbowls and even meet switzer and haley in my valley ranch neighborhood a few times. i got mocked for wearing nothing but cowboys jerseys to work almost every day of the week in the off-season. i was there when emmitt broke the rushing record and so many more memories in time from loving watching the cowboys play in the NFL.

i just don't care anymore.

i don't care about the NFL overall and the collection of sideshows it's become. i don't care who kneels for what and i'm tired of the fighting that has become and the divide it has caused regardless of who is right or wrong.

i'm tired of an NFL that can punish people who have come out of our own countries judicial system innocent, or at least not guilty, and the NFL doesn't care. it makes up punishments as it goes and does seem to play favorites in doing so.

i can't believe the NFL is going to stay the money grabbing over punishing decisions being made by how the PR winds blow goodell. he made this mess and now he's going to be rewarded for it? $50 mil a year to do just what exactly? and he must have the plane cause $50mil a year you can't afford your own airlines tickets, can you? and of course, insurance for life.

to kill an american icon of a sport.

the last thing anyone seems focused on anymore is the game and the game is why i was and have been such a huge fan.

yesterday i found out CBS removed itself from Dish Network just minutes before the game started. i fiddled around a bit with a cheap antenna and could never get my picture to come in clearly and eventually put it back on the small tv in the bedroom where it did work. as ****ty as the reception was, the cowboys play was far worse. i was watching "beat bobby flay" reruns inside the hour and it didn't bother me.

this team is lost and they don't seem to care. they've been this way defining frustration in a manner only the browns fans can come close to understanding, sans the winning history to fall back on. jones is hellbent on showing goodell who is the boss and it's obvious 34 quarters later the NFL isn't playing fair. so to me, one of the few icons of the NFL that still draws a crowd week in and week out, even under apathetic conditions such as this, was sent a letter saying their conduct was detrimental to the league.

the same league killing the sport. to me.

so if you want to accuse me and others who feel like i do of having a "loser mentality" that is certainly your right.

i just don't care anymore.

You issue is different than just giving up because they are losing.

If you quit until Goodell is gone then I understand but if that's your reason, you will quit watching until then even if the Cowboys are great next season but Goodell is still in power.

 

[willia451]

Sorry, but it's a loser mentality to quit watching when your team is down.

Its not that we as fans have quit. Its that we have been beaten down.

There's a difference.

My son-in-law asked me at the game yesterday how could it be that its been over 20 years since the Cowboys have had playoff success. I just told him it was because over 20 years ago Jimmy Johnson told Jerry Jones he would never win a SB without him or his players. And Jerry has been trying to prove him wrong ever since.

Then I realized he could not remember a time when the Cowboys had success in the playoffs. I told him I was sorry.

And on the big jumbo tron all the great stories from days gone by, the Landry years, Dorsett, Smith, SBs and playoffs wins, droned on to remind those in attendance how storied the franchise is. And Irving large and loud on it trying to pump the fans up in another blow out loss.

I laughed. I looked at my son-in-law and asked him if he was ready to go. And we left.

At least we got home early enough to enjoy Turkey with the family. With the TV purposely turned off.

 

[curboys]

I watched the whole game yesterday. I was also in cowboys chat.

I'm not sure what that makes me... Because I honestly went in not giving two ***** about the outcome...

All the while, my one fellow Cowboys buddy was machine gunning me and another friend texts all game about how much we suck (he's so emotional) and my other Cowboys buddy responded to said machine gunned group texts with just one response that I will quote below.

"Just enjoy the turkey dude. Let it go. I’m not even watching the game. We don’t have a real shot at another W until the Giants."

I doubt that this team is even capable of beating the Giants at their place.

 

[xwalker]

Nope. You had a good streak going there & then you msesd it up..Lol

I'm the Cowboys, Lakers, Dodgers, Kings fan... Basically everything LA with the exception of the Cowboys.

I was referring to your Buddies.

Do you or have you lived in the LA area?

 

[Pants]

my goodness....if people want to quit watching, see ya, don't let the door hitya where the Good Lord splitya

I will watch every cowboys game from start to finish until I take a dirt nap....nothing will change that...I would just LOVE to have some hope for a season, or better yet, to not HAVE hope and then have it ripped from me

but, IMO, the back and forth with "I am gonna quit watching" vs "Go ahead and leave" doesn't make either side a fan or not....watch, don't watch...I don't care, I will be in front of a TV somewhere watching them long after any of the current players are retired from football...I started watching Dallas as a fan in the early- to-mid 70's, ain't gonna stop now

 

[Sasquatch]

Sorry, but it's a loser mentality to quit watching when your team is down.

Professional football is a product. Promoting idealized notions of brand loyalty is simply a marketing device to maintain and increase sales (ie make money) even when the product sucks.

 

[xwalker]

Its not that we as fans have quit. Its that we have been beaten down.

There's a difference.

My son-in-law asked me at the game yesterday how could it be that its been over 20 years since the Cowboys have had playoff success. I just told him it was because over 20 years ago Jimmy Johnson told Jerry Jones he would never win a SB without him or his players. And Jerry has been trying to prove him wrong ever since.

Then I realized he could not remember a time when the Cowboys had success in the playoffs. I told him I was sorry.

And on the big jumbo tron all the great stories from days gone by, the Landry years, Dorsett, Smith, SBs and playoffs wins, droned on to remind those in attendance how storied the franchise is. And Irving large and loud on it trying to pump the fans up in another blow out loss.

I laughed. I looked at my son-in-law and asked him if he was ready to go. And we left.

At least we got home early enough to enjoy Turkey with the family. With the TV purposely turned off.

Cubs fans waited 108 years between titles.

I never really understood leaving early.

 

[Bleu Star]

I was referring to your Buddies.

Do you or have you lived in the LA area?

Grew up in the LA area and entered the military at the LA MEPS.

My dad was stationed at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls when I was 8yrs old. Hence when the Cowboys fandom began. He brought a football home with a big bleu star on it and that was all she wrote.

 

[xwalker]

Professional football is a product. Promoting idealized notions of brand loyalty is simply a marketing device to maintain and increase sales (ie make money) even when the product sucks.

Sports are defined by fan loyalty. Would I enjoy the Cowboys beating the Skins if the Skins had zero fans?

 

[cityochamps]

Grew up in the LA area and entered the military at the LA MEPS.

My dad was stationed at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls when I was 8yrs old. Hence when the Cowboys fandom began. He brought a football home with a big blur star on it and that was all she wrote.

You spelled Bleu wrong

 

[TwoDeep3]

I have been a film buff since I was a kid. Loved me some movies. I would never turn off a film or get up and walk out of a theater no matter how bad it was.

About five years ago I turned off a really insipid film. I believe it was one of the latest comics I find to be absolutely humorless. Sandler, Rogen, Ferrell, Stiller or one of that ilk.

Since then I have accepted I don't need to watch every movie to the end.

Football is entertainment. The badge of honor of being a fan and not missing a game may have changed now. Something surely has to change and the team needs to know this. However, this franchise, win or lose, will generate the most viewers, and to send a signal to Jones that your dissatisfaction requires a major overhaul of thinking by the powers will be ignored.

I turned off the game yesterday after Dak's last pick. The biggest problem with being America's Team is the other franchises, especially the ones who have a history of losing, like the Chargers, will act the fool when they beat Dallas. The league has sanctioned this look at me behavior after scoring, and it quickly has become juvenile. They are trying to top each other to get on Sports Center. I normally DVR the games now so I can move from play to play and avoid the commercials. I also fast forward past this stupidity acted out as if a loser player on a loser organization like the Chargers shows their arses like they won the Super Bowl.

And what this management has done to a once proud franchise is disgusting. A Dallas team with little pride in who they are. I saw this Dallas team doing nothing to protect their own on that Witten take down. I watched the head coach after the pass interference late in the game not get angry, or chew out a ref for making the wrong call. He just frowned. And frankly I think that was because he had nothing to clap about.

I have dedicated 57 years to this team. Reading newspapers, listening to sports talk on the radio, spending umpteen hours talking Dallas football on message boards, and of course watching the games. I scalped tickets one year to pre-seasons games I was so desperate for Cowboy football. My feelings have nothing to do directly with losing. I can handle losing because all teams have losing seasons. It's the repeated decisions by this franchise which reveals itself in the inconsistent results from one season to the next. That is poor management and leader ship.

It's the antics of the players after scoring. Or other things that are forbidden to be mentioned on this site.

It's the league leadership making decisions to water down this sport.

It's the commissioner who is Hell bent on showing everyone he is the most important man in football with his capricious rulings.

It's the other owners who watch this despot ruin a game I have loved for most of my life to the point of missing holidays to watch the game. Drive across the state to watch them practice.

I am not a quitter, but there will come a point when the effort I put out will not be rewarded by the team and league who takes my fandom for granted.

So when I see people say they are about done, I do not feel the need to tell them they are quitters. I know what they are feeling.

This product on the field now is worse than any of the first five seasons and last several seasons of Landry. Worse than the last season of Switzer. Worse than Chan Gailey. Worse than Campo.

Never bad enough for several seasons to actually have draft slots to rebuild with play makers. Always this middle of the road crap Jerry Jones serves up.

I have seen enough of twenty years of bull shate from this owner, and I think I have about had enough.

 

[Bleu Star]

You spelled Bleu wrong

FIFY

 

[TheGoat73]

I don't think they quit. They were in each game at the half. The coaches did them zero favors. This team has been built to win one way and one way only, and when that way fails, it all falls apart. This team has Plan A and Next Man Up philosophy, which will work if you don't have injuries to key cogs and the talent to execute plan A as we saw in 2014 and 2016. However, lose a key cog or three, and it falls apart like the ending of 10 Cloverfield Lane.

In 2017, you have to be able to win in a multitude of ways and have plans B, C, and D ready for the inevitable attrition of the roster and/or Plan A being ineffective. We've seen each week the coaches and players say, "we're not changing anything and going to execute the game plan." This is a fundamentally flawed paradigm in today's NFL. Look at Minnesota. They lost their starting RB, starting QB, and some defensive players, yet they continue to win. Sometimes they rely on D to win, sometimes O. Pat Shurmur (who'd be my choice for HC due to his success in Minnesota and also winning 4 and 5 games in Cleveland of all places as a HC) has been able to beat teams by getting chunk plays from the passing game (as they did vs. Wash) or being a dink an dunk coupled with power running (as they did vs LAR, DET). Of course the prime example of changing your plan to fit your current set of players and the opponent is NE and NO to a lesser degree. Even with TB12, the Pats roll out multiple different plans each week depending on the circumstances. As does New Orleans. Not here. It's a dang one-way street leading straight to the top-middle of the draft.

Alas, I don't think Garrett and his tired, out-of-date philosophy are going anywhere.

Ive skipped the last 2 games. My family is shocked, but I just can’t right now.

 

[Tommy]

In fact it's a winner mentality to quit on quitters. Saying that enough is enough.

Stupid post of the day!

 

[xwalker]

Grew up in the LA area and entered the military at the LA MEPS.

My dad was stationed at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls when I was 8yrs old. Hence when the Cowboys fandom began. He brought a football home with a big blur star on it and that was all she wrote.

It's different when you have ties to the teams which you have to all of them.

The people that are fans of any two of the following with no ties to them are often band wagon fans.
Cowboys or Patriots
Lakers or LeBron
Yankees or Dodgers

 

[JDSmith]

It's different when you have ties to the teams which you have to all of them.

The people that are fans of any two of the following with no ties to them are often band wagon fans.
Cowboys or Patriots
Lakers or LeBron
Yankees or Dodgers

You're living in a fantasy world if you think there are any bandwagon Cowboys fans left. Anyone who was a bandwagon fan in the 90's has moved on to other teams or died of old age. The Cowboys have had about as much playoff success as the Browns for the last 2 decades, that doesn't exactly fill the bandwagon.