Was 2011 a throw-away season?

[SaltwaterServr]

Stick with me a second on this.

The players we jettisoned have been discussed ad nauseum, as has the youth movement on the offensive line.

I'm wondering if at some point the powers that be in Valley Ranch said to themselves, we can't everything we need at every position to make a solid run at the Super Bowl, but we can get enough forward motion to make a run at the playoffs.

I wonder aloud if maybe Jason and Rob got together and maybe admitted that even their coaching staff wasn't what it should be, but that there wasn't much to do about it because the guys they wanted weren't available?

We know Rob wanted his DB's coach, but couldn't get him. So rather than go with someone new who wasn't his top choice, they rolled with the last year of the Angry Poodle's contract.

In the same vein, I wonder of Garrett at one point in the offseason (or earlier than that) said to himself, "I need an OC, but the men I see out there that I feel would best fit my vision for offensive football aren't available."

Again, rather than bring in his third or fourth choice, he waited to find someone he thought he could work with.

In effect Jason and Rob put down the foundation and framework of the house, and when the cold winds of winter started howling they threw up a few tarps for a roof and walls until the spring came and they could finish their construction.

 

[The Emperor]

I agree with this premise. It's why I didn't freak out too bad when we lost to the Giants the first time. I knew our playoff chances were over at that point.

It didn't mean we didn't have a good core. It didn't mean we were "doomed," like the illiterati around here would like to believe. It just meant we weren't good enough this year.

I never expected us to win the Super Bowl in 2011. I always pegged us to compete for the conference crown in 2012. With the changes we've made at offensive line coach and secondary coach, I think we're at least on our way.

 

[DandyDon1722]

Very interesting post and quite possibly right.

I heard Brad Sham in an interview before the Giants game and he was adamant that the organization was playing with house money, especially if we got into the playoffs. They were thrilled to even be in that position.

He said the everyone absolutely knew this was a rebuilding year on the offensive side of the ball so they made the necessary changes and next year they would retool the defense.

The problem they faced was you can't sell rebuilding to the fan base so they had to play it straight and tow the line that with Romo's great play we could win a Super Bowl when most people here really knew we couldn't.

So if this truly is the master plan and Salt's right about finishing the construction, our real window starts now.

 

[Cowboys&LakersFan]

I sure as hell hope not. If it was then that's absolutely pathetic on the part of Jerry and co. You don't throw away seasons in the NFL. People wonder why Dallas fans complain so much. I've never experienced a Cowboy Super Bowl and I'm very hungry to experience one for them to throw away a season if they did so is very dissapointing.

 

[CCBoy]

This isn't a smoking gun trail for Watergate...

The team saw a chance to make a run towards the playoffs. A gamble, but it has worked for the Giants. Getting hot at the end of a season can work. Only thing, it showed that the team couldn't get around deficits in certain areas. That part of change, had to be experienced through a season.

Older players have a drop dead point in a career, you just don't know where individual set points are for different players. That's why a Philadelphia will drop them like a hot potatoe when there is doubt on longevity. Or a team such as New England, once used the cheaper value to get end of career experience and focus.

Dallas hit at the termination point, due to recent injuries and decline, for what made most of an entire offensive line unstable. It then became necessary to re-evolve that positional group.

Throw in a sudden liability of the section's top defender in the secondary. Mix in positional coaches who either under achieved or who were already headed to retirement. And then a team focused momentum could be added if direction expanded to target available coaches that were within target range for the team.

Not having a Jimmy Johnson to head the team, bringing the team up to that speed through a combined effort came into crosshairs.

Since there is a nucleus of a strong team in the mix, there probably will be intense effort this off season to get the entire team to the next level.

Change will be hidden somewhat this up coming season, although, due to the strengths of core teams for both the Giants and Philadelphia. But then, Washington has a tough defense again, and one just can't count out a Shannahan. So, we as fans, will just have to watch the Cowboys evolve and compete for the final value and level of play.

 

[jswalker1981]

I sure as hell hope not. If it was then that's absolutely pathetic on the part of Jerry and co. You don't throw away seasons in the NFL. People wonder why Dallas fans complain so much. I've never experienced a Cowboy Super Bowl and I'm very hungry to experience one for them to throw away a season if they did so is very dissapointing.

They didn't throw the season away. They just realized what most fans are too delirious to see. We weren't good enough to win the super bowl at the start of the season. Look at GB and New Orleans. Do you really think we could compete with them? They didn't not try to win games. They just had realistic expectations of what we could do this year. Super Bowl teams aren't built in one offseason.

 

[big dog cowboy]

This was a rebuilding year. Period. Yet we still improved by two games over last year.

Just one reason I don't get those calling for Garrett's head.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

Very interesting post and quite possibly right.

I heard Brad Sham in an interview before the Giants game and he was adamant that the organization was playing with house money, especially if we got into the playoffs. They were thrilled to even be in that position.

He said the everyone absolutely knew this was a rebuilding year on the offensive side of the ball so they made the necessary changes and next year they would retool the defense.

The problem they faced was you can't sell rebuilding to the fan base so they had to play it straight and tow the line that with Romo's great play we could win a Super Bowl when most people here really knew we couldn't.

So if this truly is the master plan and Salt's right about finishing the construction, our real window starts now.

Playing with house money is a very apt analogy.

Hindsight being without corrective lenses, as it is, one can look back one year further and envisage the powers that be considering that with a little luck and a few good breaks we could emulate the success Philly had in 2010 in what was considered a rebuilding year for them as well. The major difference between the two organizations is that we didn't make the playoffs as they did in that season, and we didn't sign a $100 million dollar QB contract and follow it up with a $70 million CB contract.

I don't necessarily agree that 2012 is our year for a run for the Lombardi, but I do think that 2013-2015 are going to be some very interesting years for this franchise. Very interesting indeed.

 

[DragonCowboy]

I disagree. I feel like this is being used as an excuse for the fact that we came out terribly against the Giants Week 17.

Honestly, I feel like whoever you have out there, Garrett should've had them prepared for the game. I honestly wasn't a big fan of Garrett, and I unfairly hated on him after the game, but I think he deserves at least another season.

I want to see what he does this offseason and the 2012 season. We have the opportunity to be real good. We'll see how it goes. But I don't think last year was rebuilding. Rebuilding teams should not be competing for the division title in week 17.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

I disagree. I feel like this is being used as an excuse for the fact that we came out terribly against the Giants Week 17.

Honestly, I feel like whoever you have out there, Garrett should've had them prepared for the game. I honestly wasn't a big fan of Garrett, and I unfairly hated on him after the game, but I think he deserves at least another season.

I want to see what he does this offseason and the 2012 season. We have the opportunity to be real good. We'll see how it goes. But I don't think last year was rebuilding. Rebuilding teams should not be competing for the division title in week 17.

The fact we were competing for the division title is evidence neither pro nor contra of a rebuilding year. As I said, Philly fans accepted at the outset they were rebuilding in the 2010 season with the departure of McNabb and a few key defensive players. Similarly, they not only competed but won the division. The NFC East being won by a 9-7 team for the first time in 50 years can be construed as a blown chance by our team that is rebuilding, but not as irrefutable proof that competing for the division in a down year meant that we weren't rebuilding.

 

[Sarge]

We have a TON of holes to fill. The process to us winning a Superbowl will take time and patience. Call it it what you will, we need to get better in quite a few areas.

.02

 

[ZeroClub]

L. Davis needed to go. Maybe Gurode did too. But simply throwing some spare parts at their vacancies isn't "rebuilding."

 

[SaltwaterServr]

L. Davis needed to go. Maybe Gurode did too. But simply throwing some spare parts at their vacancies isn't "rebuilding."

No, it's clearing cap room to rebuild further along. The first step in some positions isn't a remodel, but a razing of the entire structure to start with a smooth foundation, if you will.

 

[burmafrd]

Hind sight is certainly 20-20.

I have no doubt that if Jerruh and Jason had suspected the NFC East would be so weak this year that 9-7 would win the division, they would have kept Gurode and picked up a couple of veterans at guard.

But no one suspected what happened this year in the division. NO ONE.

 

[ZeroClub]

No, it's clearing cap room to rebuild further along. The first step in some positions isn't a remodel, but a razing of the entire structure to start with a smooth foundation, if you will.

That's honest and accurate. Jerry executed a demolition at C and LG.

It galls me a bit when folks assume that firing aging vets and replacing them with inadequate spare parts is "rebuilding" or "getting younger." It isn't.

... of course, a primary goal of the management would be to replace aging vets with starting caliber replacements. Jerry didn't accomplish this at C and LG last season; Jerry merely completed a demolition at those positions.

 

[WV Cowboy]

I have said this many times over the last part of the season.

We all talk about upgrading our talent level, .. and that would be great. I hope we can in several areas over this off-season. The more talent the better. Get us more talent Jerry!

Now about our talent, when you are leading in the fourth quarter of many of your games, only to lose, ... the question is not "did you have enough talent to compete with those teams", .. because obviously you did.

The question becomes, "what is wrong with the core/foundation of this team that they can't finish?" Why can't they do it when the big moment comes, .. when the game is on the line, when the season is on the line?

Is it coaching? Is it lack of coaching? Is it not responding to coaching? Lack of leadership? Is it something in the core, the gut of this team?

To me, this is where the problem is. Upgrading the talent level is always good, and may cover up this deficiency a little more, but until we identify it and correct it, it is always going to be there, .. jumping up to bite us.

This same deficiency, whatever it is that we lack in our heart, in our gut, is why we fell behind 21-0, in the first half of the most important game of the year, .. and not our talent level.

I hope we improve our talent level, I do.
I am a coach, so I am always trying to get the best players, .. but there is something else disturbing going on with this team that we have to pinpoint and fix.

 

[Risen Star]

A throw away season? No.

Year one of a long term plan to fix this franchise? Yes.

 

[hmcorp]

I have said this many times over the last part of the season.

We all talk about upgrading our talent level, .. and that would be great. I hope we can in several areas over this off-season. The more talent the better. Get us more talent Jerry!

Now about our talent, when you are leading in the fourth quarter of many of your games, only to lose, ... the question is not "did you have enough talent to compete with those teams", .. because obviously you did.

The question becomes, "what is wrong with the core/foundation of this team that they can't finish?" Why can't they do it when the big moment comes, .. when the game is on the line, when the season is on the line?

Is it coaching? Is it lack of coaching? Is it not responding to coaching? Lack of leadership? Is it something in the core, the gut of this team?

To me, this is where the problem is. Upgrading the talent level is always good, and may cover up this deficiency a little more, but until we identify it and correct it, it is always going to be there, .. jumping up to bite us.

This same deficiency, whatever it is that we lack in our heart, in our gut, is why we fell behind 21-0, in the first half of the most important game of the year, .. and not our talent level.

I hope we improve our talent level, I do.
I am a coach, so I am always trying to get the best players, .. but there is something else disturbing going on with this team that we have to pinpoint and fix.

the difference between this coached team and previously coached teams is that when we fell back 21-0 it didnt finsih the game 38-3.

it got us back to 21-14 and within striking distance in the second half.

it just wasnt enough iwth the players and coaches we had with the lack of offseason.

this year will be very interesting.

 

[WV Cowboy]

the difference between this coached team and previously coached teams is that when we fell back 21-0 it didnt finsih the game 38-3.

Is that where this franchise has to come to, .. "well at least after falling behind 21-0 in the first half, .. we didn't get blown out."

You do remember that the game ended up at 31-14, right?

Falling behind 21-0 in a "play-in" game, against a division rival, for the division title, is a big problem.

We can sugarcoat that all we want, but a game of that importance should have been an epic battle, blood sweat & tears, for 4 quarters, leaving everything out on the field.

We didn't show up until the 2nd half, and lost by 17.

I don't know about any on you all, but I was extremely disappointed.

 

[Hoofbite]

If that was their mentality, they should have just committed to quitting and went for that #1 pick.