We had San Francisco up against the ropes

[rnr_honeybadger]

12 points won't win most games, much less playoff games. The Cowboys scored 29 points in their last 2 playoff losses. 14.5 points isn't enough these days.

The Eagles scored 35 in the SB and lost.

And the last two seasons we have blamed the WR's, the RB, the Offensive Coordinator. Whose turn is it this season? We going to blame the scouts? CD Lamb seems like a good candidate to be thrown under the bus by Dak. Tony Pollard? Lack of tight ends or too many tight ends?

 

[Sydla]

It's hard to take seriously any Cowboys fan that doesn't put, at least, some of the blame on that 49ers loss on Dak. He wasn't very good that day, as were some other guys.

 

[Sydla]

The 9ers game was lost due to the break-up of the WR corps, and the fact the offensive line was ignored, and pass protection doesn't allow the QB a clean pocket to step up into. All these emotional tirades about the interceptions are just Band-Aids placed over the real hole in this team.

Every player in the NFL has weaknesses. For Dak to function, he needs a cleaner pocket. He also needs better receivers than the crap that was running out on the field last year. Jones scuttled any success this team might have enjoyed when he traded Cooper. Cooper protected Cee Dee and allowed him to beat defenders regularly, and get in the end zone.

When Pollard went down the game was lost. Yet even if Pollard didn't fall, the game was lost because this franchise cannot target the real issues and build a better team.

This next season will be much like this last season. Instead of shoring up the offensive line, we will see again this mix and match, and one key injury and the house of cards falls.

And again we will see after this coming season the vitriol of the hurt feelings set throwing shade on Dak, when so much of this is like the seven blind men and the elephant.

Tony Romo could move and find a clean spot to throw the ball. He could sidestep, or juke a defender and get to a place where he could launch a pass. This is a trait Mahomes has. Dak does not have much in the way of this ability. Therefore he needs protection. Staubach could wiggle out of trouble and find a spot to throw the ball. Aikman stood in a pocket with little movement and delivered. Aikman had a better offensive line.

This team needs to assemble the best offensive line in football for them to be all they can be.

Another way to look at this is Hurts was considered by all here before this last season as not great. How did he arrive in the conversation of the best in the league?
They built an offensive line that protects him.

He stands unmolested, much like a frat house touch football QB who has all day to survey the field. Hurts didn't become all world. The players that surround him were improved to mask his shortcomings.

The 9ers game was lost because Jerry does not know how to actually target the problems and fix them. He waits until it is too late and he's slapped in the face.

Mazi is a prime example of this. The offensive line is the problem and will be shown to be another season wasted because of an old man who has to be the final decision maker, as they said in the third installment of Indiana Jones....

He chose poorly.

A few things.

One, yes, there were issues along the OL and at WR and Pollard getting hurt and Zeke being a slug didn't help, but again, Dak wasn't very good. He wasn't sharp, he made some questionable reads, he missed open WRs that could have changed the course of the game, he made some really bad passes. Does he get all the blame, of course not. But sitting here suggesting that it was the OL and WRs and RBs that lost us the game is just a real stretch. There's nothing that suggests if we had a better OL or WRs that Dak would have performed much better and we would have won. When he's missing guys wide open, it's hard to imagine that changing the WR, for example, suddenly makes him see those wide open WRs.

Two, the Eagles have had a really good OL for a few years, even before Hurts took over. So no, he didn't get better because his OL suddenly got really good in 2022. It was good before that. Hurts improvement was multi-faceted - adding AJ Brown was a huge factor, he's apparently a tireless worker and spent a lot of time in the previous offseason training and working with guys to improve his passing. Plus, he just got comfortable in the NFL. Guys tend to get better the more comfortable they get in the league.

I think people are making a big mistake here thinking that if you just gave Dak the Eagles OL, suddenly he'd be just tearing **** up. Yes, a better OL would help. A better #2 WR might help. Better playcalling should help. But at the end of the day, Dak just wasn't very consistent last year and was doing things that simply had nothing to do with the OL or the WR. He just was plain bad at random times last season. That's just the reality and if this team wants to move beyond where they keep sputtering out, yes, the roster needs to be better and play better but Dak absolutely has to improve his play (or specifically just get more consistent).

PS - I have no idea if Mazi Smith was the correct choice in terms of him as a player, but DT was absolutely a big hole on this team. So to suggest that OL was the absolute clear biggest need that should have been filled at 26 is a stretch (and doesn't even take into account that at that pick, there really wasn't any OL available that wouldn't have been considered a bit of a stretch).

 

[CowboyFrog]

A few things.

One, yes, there were issues along the OL and at WR and Pollard getting hurt and Zeke being a slug didn't help, but again, Dak wasn't very good. He wasn't sharp, he made some questionable reads, he missed open WRs that could have changed the course of the game, he made some really bad passes. Does he get all the blame, of course not. But sitting here suggesting that it was the OL and WRs and RBs that lost us the game is just a real stretch. There's nothing that suggests if we had a better OL or WRs that Dak would have performed much better and we would have won. When he's missing guys wide open, it's hard to imagine that changing the WR, for example, suddenly makes him see those wide open WRs.

Two, the Eagles have had a really good OL for a few years, even before Hurts took over. So no, he didn't get better because his OL suddenly got really good in 2022. It was good before that. Hurts improvement was multi-faceted - adding AJ Brown was a huge factor, he's apparently a tireless worker and spent a lot of time in the previous offseason training and working with guys to improve his passing. Plus, he just got comfortable in the NFL. Guys tend to get better the more comfortable they get in the league.

I think people are making a big mistake here thinking that if you just gave Dak the Eagles OL, suddenly he'd be just tearing **** up. Yes, a better OL would help. A better #2 WR might help. Better playcalling should help. But at the end of the day, Dak just wasn't very consistent last year and was doing things that simply had nothing to do with the OL or the WR. He just was plain bad at random times last season. That's just the reality and if this team wants to move beyond where they keep sputtering out, yes, the roster needs to be better and play better but Dak absolutely has to improve his play (or specifically just get more consistent).

100%, he should take the majority of the blame for that loss. I do think MM saw last year what KM wants to do vs the way the team strengths have devloped and that was a big reason for the change. Does this mean Dak will all the sudden be Mahomes, NO, I'm hoping it does get Dak back to being Dak which in my book is a good QB who makes plays but at the end of the day protects the ball to live another day when needed.

 

[rambo2]

And the last two seasons we have blamed the WR's, the RB, the Offensive Coordinator. Whose turn is it this season? We going to blame the scouts? CD Lamb seems like a good candidate to be thrown under the bus by Dak. Tony Pollard? Lack of tight ends or too many tight ends?

Probably the biggest reason they lost that game by 1 score was the short week and having to travel from one coast to the other.

 

[BossRhino]

Dallas is close...real close. The team is no longer drafting to simply be competitive (8-8 Garrett-type seasons, spit, and pat someone on the butt). Rather, the team knows Philadelphia and San Francisco are the only two dogs that stand in the way. The team is drafting bigger, stronger, nastier, and harder-hitting players in the arms race with Philly and SF. Dallas got the wake-up call when the 49er's came into Dallas with their boom box and out-muscled Dallas in that playoff loss two seasons ago. I think this is the year Dallas overtakes the NFC conference.

 

[TwoDeep3]

A few things.

One, yes, there were issues along the OL and at WR and Pollard getting hurt and Zeke being a slug didn't help, but again, Dak wasn't very good. He wasn't sharp, he made some questionable reads, he missed open WRs that could have changed the course of the game, he made some really bad passes. Does he get all the blame, of course not. But sitting here suggesting that it was the OL and WRs and RBs that lost us the game is just a real stretch. There's nothing that suggests if we had a better OL or WRs that Dak would have performed much better and we would have won. When he's missing guys wide open, it's hard to imagine that changing the WR, for example, suddenly makes him see those wide open WRs.

Two, the Eagles have had a really good OL for a few years, even before Hurts took over. So no, he didn't get better because his OL suddenly got really good in 2022. It was good before that. Hurts improvement was multi-faceted - adding AJ Brown was a huge factor, he's apparently a tireless worker and spent a lot of time in the previous offseason training and working with guys to improve his passing. Plus, he just got comfortable in the NFL. Guys tend to get better the more comfortable they get in the league.

I think people are making a big mistake here thinking that if you just gave Dak the Eagles OL, suddenly he'd be just tearing **** up. Yes, a better OL would help. A better #2 WR might help. Better playcalling should help. But at the end of the day, Dak just wasn't very consistent last year and was doing things that simply had nothing to do with the OL or the WR. He just was plain bad at random times last season. That's just the reality and if this team wants to move beyond where they keep sputtering out, yes, the roster needs to be better and play better but Dak absolutely has to improve his play (or specifically just get more consistent).

PS - I have no idea if Mazi Smith was the correct choice in terms of him as a player, but DT was absolutely a big hole on this team. So to suggest that OL was the absolute clear biggest need that should have been filled at 26 is a stretch (and doesn't even take into account that at that pick, there really wasn't any OL available that wouldn't have been considered a bit of a stretch).

I disagree with most of your post. Explain how it is Dak looks like the MVP the game before the 9ers game and suddenly can't hit the ground if he dropped the ball. Could it be the best defensive team in the league facing a porous offensive line, with a sketchy WR corps and almost no running game? You say we have no examples but the entire season when he played was an example of when he was in the pocket relatively unharrassed, and a balanced offense, he performed. Yet when he was harried, especially as the season progressed, he became less productive. Especially when the running game began to fail.

Hurts also is an example, regardless of your characterization. And you suggesting adding AJ Brown only underscores my point. The Eagles have a great line and a balanced offense. Dak plays behind a deteriorating line and anything behind Cee Dee last season was crap. And your comfortable comments about Hurts just aligns with what i am sayhing. Dak requires better line play. Is He Rodgers, or Mahomes? No, but he can win.

And giving Dak the Eagles line isn't the entire story. You have to give him a running game, and receivers who can catch the ball, and not allow it to bounce off their hands into th other team's possession.

I am not saying Dak is an MVP. I am saying if you build the team correctly Dak can close the deal. And that includes putting an offensive line together instead of parts meant for other line positions. And in the final analysis, Dallas has this player to work with, and the comments by fans of just getting rid of him is blind to the results, and the good players Dallas has moving on or getting older why waiting for the next Tom Brady.

 

[diamonddelts]

NFL Network is airing the 2022 Confernce game right now.

Man we had them until Pollard got injured. Dirty tackle also. Can't believe a bigger deal wasn't made out of that by the league.

Defense held that SF offense to 6 points up until that point. SF was rolling through everyone before that game.

We had them.......

We were close but we never had them. Dak and the offense has shown an inability to execute against SF defense for two years in a row.

 

[Whyjerry]

NFL Network is airing the 2022 Confernce game right now.

Man we had them until Pollard got injured. Dirty tackle also. Can't believe a bigger deal wasn't made out of that by the league.

Defense held that SF offense to 6 points up until that point. SF was rolling through everyone before that game.

We had them.......

I agree totally. I watched the game twice since. It was going to be a grind because SF had a great defense. Warner was a beast that game. Dak did not play as bad as many said here. Those 2 INTs were bad but they were still in it. Diggs had a terrible game. I truly think the game was lost because of the Pollard injury. Zeke did absolutely nothing and they should have featured Davis after the injury. Much closer game than people think. Need to win those regular season games so you play that game at home.