Weeden Speaks

[Idgit]

He was "good enough" to manage a win with the Texans. That says something too.

No doubt about it. That game against Atlanta immediately comes to mind. The offense seemed to be doing a fine job and then that defense just collapsed and couldn't stop anything. And setting or tying league records for fewest turnovers speaks volumes.

That's the thing. He got defensive support and was able to win with HOU. Our problems last season were bigger than just the QB. It's mystifying that we weren't able to step up and win a few of those games. NY. PHI. NO. They were all right there to be had with just a play or two. From the QB or otherwise.

 

[Alexander]

This is a nice way of bashing the offensive staff. They didnt make him feel comfortable in the system. There was a lack of communication. That's all on the staff. He has also mentioned in the past that he felt held back and they wanted him to play overly conservative. This new information all goes to that same theme. Sounds like everyone was completely unprepared for the contingency that Romo would go down for an expended period of time. It was almost as if they thought they could just play conservative with the backup QB for a few games until Romo returned. So they spend little time with the backup QB situation. Big mistake.

That is one reason why I find it hard to hang the failure strictly at Weeden's feet. There was an element of how he was coached and how the gameplans basically put him in a situation where it would be difficult for him to win. He is an awful QB, no question about it. But he was not done any favors by this staff.

 

[CowboyRoy]

How about a little context here?

He had 18 pass attempts in his first start with the Texans, a total of 11 passes completed. Won 16-10. Following week, Houstons defense held the Titans to 6 points. What an accomplishment.

Yah, keep going!! Why did you stop there? The next few games please. Thank you.

 

[mattjames2010]

Yah, keep going!! Why did you stop there? The next few games please. Thank you.

What "Next few games"? He played two games for the Texans. Keep up.

 

[CowboyRoy]

That is one reason why I find it hard to hang the failure strictly at Weeden's feet. There was an element of how he was coached and how the gameplans basically put him in a situation where it would be difficult for him to win. He is an awful QB, no question about it. But he was not done any favors by this staff.

Houston was like 1-5 to start the season. They lost their top 2 QB's and half way through the season lost their best offensive player at RB. Their defense got healthy and was driving that team, but they won like 10 in a row to close out the season. Hell of a coaching job if you ask me. And after the first few games, Weeden was playing fantastic. And he all but said it was the way he was being coached as opposed to Dallas. People listen, but they dont hear.

 

[Stash]

How about a little context here?

He had 18 pass attempts in his first start with the Texans, a total of 11 passes completed. Won 16-10. Following week, Houstons defense held the Titans to 6 points. What an accomplishment.

Again, he "accomplished" a win. In his one start with the Texans, they were able to secure a win. Which is more than the Cowboys staff could ever accomplish with him. And they had two years to work with him, while Houston had a week or two. This isn't attempting to prop up Weeden as good, it's an indictment of what this staff was unable to do.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Romo-friendly = we will draw up half arse plays. He will complete some. Some he won't.
Romo will make plays. Usually towards ends of game. Speeding things up winning games.

Only Romo can run the offense. It's his offense NOT Romo-friendly. It's Romo-offense.

 

[Stash]

That's the thing. He got defensive support and was able to win with HOU. Our problems last season were bigger than just the QB. It's mystifying that we weren't able to step up and win a few of those games. NY. PHI. NO. They were all right there to be had with just a play or two. From the QB or otherwise.

Is it "mystifying" or is the root cause clearer than we want to believe?

And keep in mind that even these 'close games' that we would like to point to were against either average or poor opponents. The teams that made the playoffs handled Dallas with relative ease, and the good ones left no doubt.

 

[CowboyRoy]

What "Next few games"? He played two games for the Texans. Keep up.

Ah true, but you conveniently left out the stats in the 2nd game because they obviously didnt support your argument.

He threw for 200 yards and 2 TD's and also ran in a 3rd TD. Hell of a game for a QB in his 2nd game with the team with no training camp.

So now that we can effectively eliminate Weeden from being the problem, it becomes clear what the problem really is.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Romo-friendly = we will draw up half arse plays. He will complete some. Some he won't.
Romo will make plays. Usually towards ends of game. Speeding things up winning games.

Only Romo can run the offense. It's his offense NOT Romo-friendly. It's Romo-offense.

Its almost like............."whatever, we dont need a game plan. Romo will just improvise and we can rely on him". Its like once he went down they were totally caught off guard and were scrambling to come up with game plans for another QB. So they went untra conservative. Typical panzy, scared game plan.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Is it "mystifying" or is the root cause clearer than we want to believe?

And keep in mind that even these 'close games' that we would like to point to were against either average or poor opponents. The teams that made the playoffs handled Dallas with relative ease, and the good ones left no doubt.

And probably some of these same posters that are clamoring that the Houston Defense was the savior of that team are probably the ones clamoring for us to take a WR with the first pick in the draft.

 

[tyke1doe]

Denver lost Manning for several weeks.. How did they get to the Superbowl?


Lots of teams seemed ok with their backups. We could only win 1 game with all 3 of ours.

That is ssssoooo pathetic. You have three backups and they could only manage to win ONE game - and the one game we won was gift-wrapped to us via DeSean Jackson being DeSean Jackson.

 

[mattjames2010]

Again, he "accomplished" a win. In his one start with the Texans, they were able to secure a win. Which is more than the Cowboys staff could ever accomplish with him. And they had two years to work with him, while Houston had a week or two. This isn't attempting to prop up Weeden as good, it's an indictment of what this staff was unable to do.

Okay, but again, the discussion should be towards the defense of the Houston Texans then. Not, "Weeden started, Weeden won". He played a good game, a game where the Houston Texans nearly shut down the Titans completely.

Around the time Weeden was playing, I give him a bit of an excuse, our defense was getting banged up. I even admitted he played well in the New Orleans game, but we had a scrub of a defensive line that couldn't get to Brees enough while he was injured. The lack of turnovers hurt as well. Even when our offense was scoring, like the Atlanta game, our defense folded.

There were numerous factors as to why our team failed this year, injuries and the lack of turnovers being two of the major factors. I blame Jerry/Stephen and this coaching staff for not providing this team with the proper depth in case of injury.

I simply just don't know of many teams that have lose their starting QB, WR, starting RB, and had a banged up D and went on to win many games in the regular season. The only team similar to ours this year was Ravens, and they also struggled. That's a team with a Super Bowl winning coach and QB.

 

[Stash]

And probably some of these same posters that are clamoring that the Houston Defense was the savior of that team are probably the ones clamoring for us to take a WR with the first pick in the draft.

I also remember that Houston's defense was a train wreck and a complete liability for a good part of the season. And yet, somehow, the team and coaching staff managed to turn things around, and during the season no less!

Wouldn't it be great if we had a staff who could ever accomplish such things? Wouldn't it be great if we could sign a defensive free agent who was actually better after they got here instead of worse?

 

[CowboyRoy]

That is one reason why I find it hard to hang the failure strictly at Weeden's feet. There was an element of how he was coached and how the gameplans basically put him in a situation where it would be difficult for him to win. He is an awful QB, no question about it. But he was not done any favors by this staff.

Look, I am NOT a big fan of Weeden. Never liked him and good have predicted his demise here. But 1-11 with backup QB's? Cmon!!

 

[Sydla]

lol dont bother bro, these people dont and wont ever get it. Madden can be won with the worst QB in the game.

Which, of course, no one on this board ever uttered.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Okay, but again, the discussion should be towards the defense of the Houston Texans then. Not, "Weeden started, Weeden won". He played a good game, a game where the Houston Texans nearly shut down the Titans completely.

Around the time Weeden was playing, I give him a bit of an excuse, our defense was getting banged up. I even admitted he played well in the New Orleans game, but we had a scrub of a defensive line that couldn't get to Brees enough while he was injured. The lack of turnovers hurt as well. Even when our offense was scoring, like the Atlanta game, our defense folded

There were numerous factors as to why our team failed this year, injuries and the lack of turnovers being two of the major factors. I blame Jerry/Stephen and this coaching staff for not providing this team with the proper depth in case of injury.

I simply just don't know of many teams that have lose their starting QB, WR, starting RB, and had a banged up D and went on to win many games in the regular season. The only team similar to ours this year was Ravens, and they also struggled. That's a team with a Super Bowl winning coach and QB.

The only problem with your assessment is you need to add in "poor coaching".

Lose your:

-Starting QB, RB, WR
-Banged up D (banged up D)?
-Poor coaching

 

[Idgit]

Is it "mystifying" or is the root cause clearer than we want to believe?

And keep in mind that even these 'close games' that we would like to point to were against either average or poor opponents. The teams that made the playoffs handled Dallas with relative ease, and the good ones left no doubt.

Maybe. Thing is, on the takeaways, we've got a guy at DC with a long track record of success with turnovers. And we know the emphasis he puts on it. And then we went out and improved the front fairly dramatically in terms of personnel. So I actually am perplexed we weren't more successful.

Now, some of the lack of takeaways comes from teams being able to out score us easily. Some comes from the teams we played taking care of the ball against everybody. But still, there were a lot of games ther a backup QB would have one with just one more pick or one fewer drop or one untimely penalty. It was bizarre.

 

[Sydla]

Again, he "accomplished" a win. In his one start with the Texans, they were able to secure a win. Which is more than the Cowboys staff could ever accomplish with him. And they had two years to work with him, while Houston had a week or two. This isn't attempting to prop up Weeden as good, it's an indictment of what this staff was unable to do.

It is simply amazing how people can't grasp this simple context.

A high quality staff squeezes out more than one fluke win with a backup QB over a 12 game stretch.

 

[Stash]

Okay, but again, the discussion should be towards the defense of the Houston Texans then. Not, "Weeden started, Weeden won". He played a good game, a game where the Houston Texans nearly shut down the Titans completely.

I got to that point in my previous post.

Around the time Weeden was playing, I give him a bit of an excuse, our defense was getting banged up. I even admitted he played well in the New Orleans game, but we had a scrub of a defensive line that couldn't get to Brees enough while he was injured. The lack of turnovers hurt as well. Even when our offense was scoring, like the Atlanta game, our defense folded.

Totally agree.

There were numerous factors as to why our team failed this year, injuries and the lack of turnovers being two of the major factors. I blame Jerry/Stephen and this coaching staff for not providing this team with the proper depth in case of injury.

Agree again.

I simply just don't know of many teams that have lose their starting QB, WR, starting RB, and had a banged up D and went on to win many games in the regular season. The only team similar to ours this year was Ravens, and they also struggled. That's a team with a Super Bowl winning coach and QB.

And I certainly wouldn't begin to make the case that all of those things weren't huge factors. But like we've both said, there's also the factor of blaming all of the people responsible for having a poor roster behind them. Coaches doing a bad job. Defensive mediocrity and sometime outright collapse, despite getting what you needed. Bad trades for guys who were either poor fits, were coached poorly, or simply never got the chance.

This past season was an epic example of ineptitude and disappointment, and there are plenty of reasons why.