What was Jerrys biggest mistake?
- Thread starter LatinMind
- Start date
17yearsandcounting
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,391
- Reaction score
- 1,678
Thinking Jason Garrett could coach. Way to throw away the prime years of some of the best Cowboys ever.
Proximo
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 4,697
- Reaction score
- 9,117
17yearsandcounting;5042409 said:
Either you can see the future or your statement is a little premature. Jason Garrett's chapter isn't fully written yet. Let's see how this plays out before we start calling it "Jerry's biggest mistake ever".
Blue Eyed Devil
Active Member
- Messages
- 474
- Reaction score
- 56
The Roy Williams trade.
That single decision is probobly the reason why a team with this many stars failed to reach the superbowl. It's extremely rare that you have a top-tier QB, a top-tier pass rusher, a top-tier left tackle, a top-tier running back, and a top-tier wide receiver and not sniff championship games.
But the Roy Williams trade set everything off. The trade lost valuable draft picks that could be o-linemen or safeties, it touched off the desperation trade-downs and draft picks such as Robert Brewster that resulted in zero players remaining on the team after 4 years, and it chewed up 50+ million that could have been used to sign o-linemen, safeties, etc.
That single decision of basically throwing so many draft picks and so much money in the garbage, tying your hand behind your back, meant that the team couldn't add the players to its roster that they needed to. Think about it, if the league was to penalize a team with a $50 million salary cap penalty and the reduction of a 1st, 3rd, and 5th round pick it would by far and away be the biggest penalty in NFL history. Such a penalty would be viewed as being insanely punitive and people would protest the league offices for such a crazy penalty, they would say a team suffering this penalty could never recover because it would be so onerous... and yet that's what the Cowboys did to themselves with the Roy Williams trade.
All this team needed were a couple average role players in spots like the o-line and safety to shore up weaknesses and put it over the top but those role players never came on the roster because the draft picks and dollars that would have been exchanged for them sit in Roy Williams' and the Detroit Lions' bank accounts.
That single decision is probobly the reason why a team with this many stars failed to reach the superbowl. It's extremely rare that you have a top-tier QB, a top-tier pass rusher, a top-tier left tackle, a top-tier running back, and a top-tier wide receiver and not sniff championship games.
But the Roy Williams trade set everything off. The trade lost valuable draft picks that could be o-linemen or safeties, it touched off the desperation trade-downs and draft picks such as Robert Brewster that resulted in zero players remaining on the team after 4 years, and it chewed up 50+ million that could have been used to sign o-linemen, safeties, etc.
That single decision of basically throwing so many draft picks and so much money in the garbage, tying your hand behind your back, meant that the team couldn't add the players to its roster that they needed to. Think about it, if the league was to penalize a team with a $50 million salary cap penalty and the reduction of a 1st, 3rd, and 5th round pick it would by far and away be the biggest penalty in NFL history. Such a penalty would be viewed as being insanely punitive and people would protest the league offices for such a crazy penalty, they would say a team suffering this penalty could never recover because it would be so onerous... and yet that's what the Cowboys did to themselves with the Roy Williams trade.
All this team needed were a couple average role players in spots like the o-line and safety to shore up weaknesses and put it over the top but those role players never came on the roster because the draft picks and dollars that would have been exchanged for them sit in Roy Williams' and the Detroit Lions' bank accounts.
- Messages
- 58,971
- Reaction score
- 60,826
Weird that *this* thread wasn't immediately taken seriously.
Over the years, he's made enough mistakes for everybody to have a favorite. Not drafting Moss appears to have been a huge one, but Irvin played more than a little role in that decision, and it's hard to say Jerry was necessarily wrong under the circumstances.
I think the Galloway trade, personally, was a disaster. I understand the rationale for it, but we just gave up way, way too much for that player. And then it worked out in about the worst way imaginable from there.
Roy Williams was a really bad trade, too, but we gave up less for worse reasons.
I think hiring Wade Phillips (a man I respect) was a significant mistake that's going to get overlooked. He did an adequate job, but was never a good enough coach to get the team over the hump. The right hire of a good young coach at that point might have paid huge dividends. I do have to acknowledge, though, that the timing was just awful as we were in a tight spot.
I'm probably missing a few doozies, but other than these obvious examples, there are a lot of risks that Jerry's taken over the years that just didn't pan out. He gets blamed for these, as he should, but when you take big risks they're not all going to work out, so dinging him for the ones that don't is only fair if you also give him huge props for the risks that pay huge dividents (eg, Charles Haley, TO, whatever).
Over the years, he's made enough mistakes for everybody to have a favorite. Not drafting Moss appears to have been a huge one, but Irvin played more than a little role in that decision, and it's hard to say Jerry was necessarily wrong under the circumstances.
I think the Galloway trade, personally, was a disaster. I understand the rationale for it, but we just gave up way, way too much for that player. And then it worked out in about the worst way imaginable from there.
Roy Williams was a really bad trade, too, but we gave up less for worse reasons.
I think hiring Wade Phillips (a man I respect) was a significant mistake that's going to get overlooked. He did an adequate job, but was never a good enough coach to get the team over the hump. The right hire of a good young coach at that point might have paid huge dividends. I do have to acknowledge, though, that the timing was just awful as we were in a tight spot.
I'm probably missing a few doozies, but other than these obvious examples, there are a lot of risks that Jerry's taken over the years that just didn't pan out. He gets blamed for these, as he should, but when you take big risks they're not all going to work out, so dinging him for the ones that don't is only fair if you also give him huge props for the risks that pay huge dividents (eg, Charles Haley, TO, whatever).
Tabascocat
Dexternjack
- Messages
- 27,785
- Reaction score
- 38,831
LatinMind;5042398 said:
I don't think that even makes Jerry's top 10.
IMO, letting Jimmy go was the tipping of the iceberg. The talent from that team led to another ring under Switzer and that gave a huge ego boost to JJ which was not in the best interest of this organization.
I know Jerry wants to win badly and that leads to some bad decisions, aka..the Williams trade. He was trying to make a bold move and it backfired.
LatinMind
iPhotoshop
- Messages
- 17,458
- Reaction score
- 11,571
Idgit;5042419 said:
i agree with all this too. But IMO none of these had the impact of not drafting Moss had. Dallas had irvin and nobody else. Aikman was forced to take too many hits because of this. irvin was forced to take them hits that ended his career because aikman would put it in a tight spot and with the zone coverage and doubles irvin would get there was always a player waiting to hit him. And Emmitt was bottled up. He did what he did but he couldve done a whole lot more with a guy like moss opposite ivrin.
And im not surpised the responses this thread already got. i just ignore read past them
Tabascocat
Dexternjack
- Messages
- 27,785
- Reaction score
- 38,831
LatinMind;5042438 said:
Jimmy "left" because of tensions between him and Jerry. If JJ would have just kept his trap shut and not play a meddling owner, things would be very different today. We might even have a couple more rings, who knows.
As for Moss, I can't really blame them passing on him. He had a lot of attitude problems coming out of college and even skipped the combine. There were some red flags. Ellis seemed like the safe bet.
BoysFan4ever
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 8,593
- Reaction score
- 3,510
Dash28;5042405 said:
This.
Tabascocat
Dexternjack
- Messages
- 27,785
- Reaction score
- 38,831
LatinMind;5042448 said:
Not ignoring the what if's on Randy, but he was never a Cowboy, Jimmy was. I also made a point on Randy, he had attitude problems coming out of college, so I will not blame Jerry for passing on him, 19 other teams did too.
It is a fact Jerry and Jimmy had issues, it is not a fact Moss would have came in here and been our savior.
