AsthmaField
Outta bounds
- Messages
- 26,489
- Reaction score
- 44,544
*I apologize for the length*
I'm starting to really trust this Dallas team and if they win this game against NY, I think I'll honestly trust them and believe in them. The team just feels right to me, and it has been a long, long time since I could honestly say that. To explain why, I'll have to look backwards for a moment before continuing to look forwards.
When I was just getting old enough to really, really get in to football in 1989, it was Jimmy's first year in Dallas. I had loved Johnson's teams at Miami and really enjoyed the way they played. So I was pretty excited to see Jimmy coming to my favorite team in the world, although like most Cowboy fans, I had to struggle with the loss of Landry.
So, I had fairly high expectations in Johnson's first year in 1989. Well, I was a tad disappointed, to say the least, but I did see the energy and excitement that Johnson brought from the Hurricanes, and I thought better days were probably ahead. Losing 15 of 16 games wasn't easy though, and while I felt like Jimmy was just what the team needed... some doubts did creep in. Maybe he really was in over his head. Maybe his rah-rah college style just wasn't cut out for the NFL. Mainly just the same concerns that the media was putting out about Jimmy and Jerry.
1990 brought Emmitt Smith and a 7-9 record that was a big improvement over the previous year. They played better and Emmitt was clearly a budding superstar. There was a 4 game win streak and records aside, the team simply played better win or lose.
1991 saw a team that was just starting to become a powerful force in the NFL. Players that had been there in 1989 and were looked at as throw away players were suddenly playing at a near pro bowl level. Nate Newton, Mark Tuinei, Kevin Gogan, K-Mart... those guys that helped the team lose 15 games in 1989 were suddenly helping Dallas win 11. By the last quarter of that season, Dallas was largely the team that would win 3 of the next 4 super bowls. They had improved as the year went on and won their last 5 games that year.
Of course in 1992 they went to San Francisco for the NFC Championship game, beat them and went on to win the super bowl. They were the bully of the NFL. A Dynasty.
Really though, the birth of that dynasty was in the latter half of the 1991 season when they had won their last 5 games and figured out just how good they were and what they could do to teams. That understanding and confidence was the fuel that drove that team to greatness.
So, after watching the 5 game win streak to end 1991 and then the beginning of 1992, I had a really good feel for what that team was all about. What its strengths were, and what it didn't do as well. Who they should beat and which teams might give them some trouble. I had a high level of trust about those Cowboy teams because, for the most part, they beat who they were supposed to beat, the way they were supposed to beat them. They had bad games, but they never really looked bad and they always played with the same excitement and enthusiasm.
They were good and knew they were good. They didn't let me down, even in a loss. They were still the team that I knew them to be. Some might would have called it being cocky as a fan, but I knew what they were going to do on Sunday's, that was all. If they were playing a middle of the road Chicago team, I had confidence that, unless something went wrong, Dallas was going to go win that game. When they went to the NFC Championship game at Candlestick Park, I felt like Dallas would win even though they were the underdogs, going into the home of a Dynasty. You could just see it and feel it.
So, now, back to the 2014 Dallas Cowboys. I'm not saying this team is going to become a dynasty and dominate 3 of the next 4 super bowls... but I am starting to get some of the same feelings about this squad. Starting to trust them and understand their capabilities.
It isn't their record, even though it is good. In 2007 I never got this feeling. I thought they were good and would do well, but I was never quite sure just when they would **** the bed, so to speak. Unfortunately, they did in the divisional round of the playoffs against a NY Giants team that they had beaten handily twice already that season. I never was sure which Dallas team was going to show up, or which unit on the team would let the other unit's down.
That 2007 team felt a little like an experiment that was difficult to have dependable, repeatable results. Like if they played the Bears again, anything could happen. In '91 and '92, if Dallas beat the crap out of a team, you just knew they'd be able to line in a week and beat that same team the same way. Repeatable results.
This year though, is starting to feel remarkably like those early 90's seasons back in the day. Like they really are what you think they are... a damn good team. These Cowboys are a run first, grind it out unit that is going to give any team fits. They play fast on defense and swarm to the ball and deliver a shot when they get there. The OL bullies people and we just know that they're going to do it each game. They might have an off game here or there... but they're going to knock the **** out of you even then. They make you pick your poison and then once you choose, they make you pay dearly.
A confidence that the defense will have to put 8 or 9 guys up in the box to slow down the OL and that run game... and knowledge that if they do, Romo, Bryant, Williams and company will make them sorry they did it. Want to flood the zones with defensive backs? Fine, we are just about to run right over your *** with Murray and you can't do one thing about it. You know the run play - we don't do many - so DeMarco is running right through this hole... this one right here... and we will see if you can stop him.
I haven't felt that in a very, very long time.
Yes, the pass rush needs to get better and it might eventually cost the Cowboys in the playoffs, but the record they end up with isn't really what I'm talking about here. No, I'm talking about the way this team is playing. How they're winning. A trust I have in the team that they'll do the right things. They'll dominate where you expect them to.
And the best part about all of it? The Cowboys see it too. They are starting to realize - just like that 1991 team - that they are good. That they are more physical than you, can put you in bigger binds, can outperform you, and that they're better coached than you. They have a better plan than you do.
They're just now realizing it. They see that these are repeatable results and that understanding is empowering them more and more with every victory.
They've been laughed at and made fun of for years, just like those guys who lived through that 1-15 1991 season. These guys have seen the wasteland and their hunger to be at the top of the mountain is immense and is driving them. Just like the rest of the NFL sees it... these Cowboys see just what they're doing to teams and they're loving it. They're just coming out of that cocoon at the end of that metamorphosis, and they're not the team they once were.
This is what I think I am seeing and the NY game is just another brick in that wall. If they can do what they should. What we all think they will, then if will be further confirmation that they are turning into the team we've all hoped for.
In the end, oddly enough, it is Jerry Jones himself that provided an apt analogy for the team learning that they really are great: It is like a room in which everything has been drenched in gasoline... it just takes one spark for the entire thing to blow up in a fraction of a second, and engulf everything that stands in its path.
This team is learning what it is. It's becoming what it once was.
I'm starting to really trust this Dallas team and if they win this game against NY, I think I'll honestly trust them and believe in them. The team just feels right to me, and it has been a long, long time since I could honestly say that. To explain why, I'll have to look backwards for a moment before continuing to look forwards.
When I was just getting old enough to really, really get in to football in 1989, it was Jimmy's first year in Dallas. I had loved Johnson's teams at Miami and really enjoyed the way they played. So I was pretty excited to see Jimmy coming to my favorite team in the world, although like most Cowboy fans, I had to struggle with the loss of Landry.
So, I had fairly high expectations in Johnson's first year in 1989. Well, I was a tad disappointed, to say the least, but I did see the energy and excitement that Johnson brought from the Hurricanes, and I thought better days were probably ahead. Losing 15 of 16 games wasn't easy though, and while I felt like Jimmy was just what the team needed... some doubts did creep in. Maybe he really was in over his head. Maybe his rah-rah college style just wasn't cut out for the NFL. Mainly just the same concerns that the media was putting out about Jimmy and Jerry.
1990 brought Emmitt Smith and a 7-9 record that was a big improvement over the previous year. They played better and Emmitt was clearly a budding superstar. There was a 4 game win streak and records aside, the team simply played better win or lose.
1991 saw a team that was just starting to become a powerful force in the NFL. Players that had been there in 1989 and were looked at as throw away players were suddenly playing at a near pro bowl level. Nate Newton, Mark Tuinei, Kevin Gogan, K-Mart... those guys that helped the team lose 15 games in 1989 were suddenly helping Dallas win 11. By the last quarter of that season, Dallas was largely the team that would win 3 of the next 4 super bowls. They had improved as the year went on and won their last 5 games that year.
Of course in 1992 they went to San Francisco for the NFC Championship game, beat them and went on to win the super bowl. They were the bully of the NFL. A Dynasty.
Really though, the birth of that dynasty was in the latter half of the 1991 season when they had won their last 5 games and figured out just how good they were and what they could do to teams. That understanding and confidence was the fuel that drove that team to greatness.
So, after watching the 5 game win streak to end 1991 and then the beginning of 1992, I had a really good feel for what that team was all about. What its strengths were, and what it didn't do as well. Who they should beat and which teams might give them some trouble. I had a high level of trust about those Cowboy teams because, for the most part, they beat who they were supposed to beat, the way they were supposed to beat them. They had bad games, but they never really looked bad and they always played with the same excitement and enthusiasm.
They were good and knew they were good. They didn't let me down, even in a loss. They were still the team that I knew them to be. Some might would have called it being cocky as a fan, but I knew what they were going to do on Sunday's, that was all. If they were playing a middle of the road Chicago team, I had confidence that, unless something went wrong, Dallas was going to go win that game. When they went to the NFC Championship game at Candlestick Park, I felt like Dallas would win even though they were the underdogs, going into the home of a Dynasty. You could just see it and feel it.
So, now, back to the 2014 Dallas Cowboys. I'm not saying this team is going to become a dynasty and dominate 3 of the next 4 super bowls... but I am starting to get some of the same feelings about this squad. Starting to trust them and understand their capabilities.
It isn't their record, even though it is good. In 2007 I never got this feeling. I thought they were good and would do well, but I was never quite sure just when they would **** the bed, so to speak. Unfortunately, they did in the divisional round of the playoffs against a NY Giants team that they had beaten handily twice already that season. I never was sure which Dallas team was going to show up, or which unit on the team would let the other unit's down.
That 2007 team felt a little like an experiment that was difficult to have dependable, repeatable results. Like if they played the Bears again, anything could happen. In '91 and '92, if Dallas beat the crap out of a team, you just knew they'd be able to line in a week and beat that same team the same way. Repeatable results.
This year though, is starting to feel remarkably like those early 90's seasons back in the day. Like they really are what you think they are... a damn good team. These Cowboys are a run first, grind it out unit that is going to give any team fits. They play fast on defense and swarm to the ball and deliver a shot when they get there. The OL bullies people and we just know that they're going to do it each game. They might have an off game here or there... but they're going to knock the **** out of you even then. They make you pick your poison and then once you choose, they make you pay dearly.
A confidence that the defense will have to put 8 or 9 guys up in the box to slow down the OL and that run game... and knowledge that if they do, Romo, Bryant, Williams and company will make them sorry they did it. Want to flood the zones with defensive backs? Fine, we are just about to run right over your *** with Murray and you can't do one thing about it. You know the run play - we don't do many - so DeMarco is running right through this hole... this one right here... and we will see if you can stop him.
I haven't felt that in a very, very long time.
Yes, the pass rush needs to get better and it might eventually cost the Cowboys in the playoffs, but the record they end up with isn't really what I'm talking about here. No, I'm talking about the way this team is playing. How they're winning. A trust I have in the team that they'll do the right things. They'll dominate where you expect them to.
And the best part about all of it? The Cowboys see it too. They are starting to realize - just like that 1991 team - that they are good. That they are more physical than you, can put you in bigger binds, can outperform you, and that they're better coached than you. They have a better plan than you do.
They're just now realizing it. They see that these are repeatable results and that understanding is empowering them more and more with every victory.
They've been laughed at and made fun of for years, just like those guys who lived through that 1-15 1991 season. These guys have seen the wasteland and their hunger to be at the top of the mountain is immense and is driving them. Just like the rest of the NFL sees it... these Cowboys see just what they're doing to teams and they're loving it. They're just coming out of that cocoon at the end of that metamorphosis, and they're not the team they once were.
This is what I think I am seeing and the NY game is just another brick in that wall. If they can do what they should. What we all think they will, then if will be further confirmation that they are turning into the team we've all hoped for.
In the end, oddly enough, it is Jerry Jones himself that provided an apt analogy for the team learning that they really are great: It is like a room in which everything has been drenched in gasoline... it just takes one spark for the entire thing to blow up in a fraction of a second, and engulf everything that stands in its path.
This team is learning what it is. It's becoming what it once was.
