jobberone
Kane Ala
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First of all let's get something up front. I've been a Dallas Cowboy fan since 1964. Every year it's SB or bust for me just like the team's goals. So any criticism should be taken as constructive.
I tend to look at the big picture first. I divide the teams goals into those for the offense, defense, STs, and coaching. Drafting is an offseason endeavor.
There are certain long standing goals for NFL teams on offense and defense. I'm not getting into the stats for STs although I recognize there are metrics for punts inside the 20, percentage of touchbacks, yada yada.
Let's do defense first. The defense met its goals this last year. And in general it has done well overall the last decade although it has been too inconsistent at times and crumpled in some games. But the overall goal is to give up 17 points or less per game. Obviously those goals can change and is dictated by game to game situations. But the overall goal seems to work well for teams each year. We met that goal this year with flying colors. We gave up 15.6 ppg which was 2nd in the league. If we put up those numbers next year and avoid those aberrant games like the MN game then we'll be just fine. The one area on defense that needs improvement is the turnover department. And while pass pressure was better than average it wasn't stellar which IMO it should be given our talent. And it didn't show up when needed at times. The run defense was superb giving up 90 ypg and the pass coverage was decent at 225 ypg. That was good for 4th and 20th in the league respectively.
I'm not getting into the defensive needs too deeply but most acknowledge we need a ball hawking FS. I see us taking a NT should one fall. I think we will draft a DB especially if a CB/S hybrid falls. They would jump at a steal at ILB and obviously any 3-4 team is looking for more OLBs.
On offense the gold standard is 25+ points per game. We scored roughly 22 ppg last year. That 22.6 ppg was 14th in the league. What's worse is we gained right at 400 ypg which was 2nd in the league. That should translate into roughly 500 points. We scored 362 points. We left approximately 138 points on the field which is almost 9 ppg. I'm basing that on another gold standard. That is you should score 80 points per 1000 yds gained. The Saints gained a few yards more a game than we did. They scored 500 points off the same yardage we gained.
Our run offense was very good at 131 ypg good for 7th in the league. Three backs gained over 2100 yds at 4.8 ypc. We gained almost 6400 yds and over 1300 more than the opposition. The pass offense was also very good at 268 ypg or 6th in the league. Romo passed for about 4200 yds. But he only threw for 26 tds. His interception ratio was good however.
We are set at TE although I wouldn't turn down a stellar TE in the draft. Witten had over 90 receptions. I see a lot of good there and a little bit of bad. Some of those throws should have gone to the number two WR. We're equally good at RB. I think MB was hurt most of last year. He never regained his form from the first two games. If he can come back and the staff thinks he can then he'll be back. If not then I look for either a trade or he will be released. I don't see the latter happening. So I don't see us drafting at RB. Everyone knows we need future starters on the OL and I see us drafting a C or OG/C as well as an OT. We're set at QB. We need a number two WR. I don't see RW being that guy. I say we draft a WR in either the first or second round no later than the 4th.
I'm not getting into STs. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out we need a kicker. And we could use some help in the kick return game. We were pedestrian for the most part. Punt returns were ok. And our coverages were good. A kicker and a dynamic returner would be great. We must get a kicker.
The most glaring need for the Dallas Cowboys is to score more points. The major hole there is the need for more dynamic WRs. Look at the big passing teams in the league and look at their WRs. Their depth shines compared to ours. BTW, we scored 14 rushing TDs compared to only 26 passing TDs.
Those thinking we don't need another WR need to take another hard look at the state of the union.
There are those that think we need another HC. I'm of the opinion we could have a more dynamic HC but I think any gains from that are offset by the expertise this guy has on the defense. I'm still on the fence regarding Garrett. He can be a genius and at times he appears to be a dunce. You cannot fault the yards gained but you can the points scored. I lay the offensive problems at his feet with the understanding he has been handicapped by a pedestrian number two WR. I wonder if the OL could have better recognition of blitzes and stunts. Whether that's on the OL or the coach or both I don't know. Not privy to that information so I'm left to worry and wonder why. I'm not a big Campo fan as I'm not into the bend don't break philosophy. But I surely do give him and Wade credit for the results. I'm also a fan of our ST's coach.
I'm of reasonably good cheer about the Cowboys and I'm looking forward to another season.
I tend to look at the big picture first. I divide the teams goals into those for the offense, defense, STs, and coaching. Drafting is an offseason endeavor.
There are certain long standing goals for NFL teams on offense and defense. I'm not getting into the stats for STs although I recognize there are metrics for punts inside the 20, percentage of touchbacks, yada yada.
Let's do defense first. The defense met its goals this last year. And in general it has done well overall the last decade although it has been too inconsistent at times and crumpled in some games. But the overall goal is to give up 17 points or less per game. Obviously those goals can change and is dictated by game to game situations. But the overall goal seems to work well for teams each year. We met that goal this year with flying colors. We gave up 15.6 ppg which was 2nd in the league. If we put up those numbers next year and avoid those aberrant games like the MN game then we'll be just fine. The one area on defense that needs improvement is the turnover department. And while pass pressure was better than average it wasn't stellar which IMO it should be given our talent. And it didn't show up when needed at times. The run defense was superb giving up 90 ypg and the pass coverage was decent at 225 ypg. That was good for 4th and 20th in the league respectively.
I'm not getting into the defensive needs too deeply but most acknowledge we need a ball hawking FS. I see us taking a NT should one fall. I think we will draft a DB especially if a CB/S hybrid falls. They would jump at a steal at ILB and obviously any 3-4 team is looking for more OLBs.
On offense the gold standard is 25+ points per game. We scored roughly 22 ppg last year. That 22.6 ppg was 14th in the league. What's worse is we gained right at 400 ypg which was 2nd in the league. That should translate into roughly 500 points. We scored 362 points. We left approximately 138 points on the field which is almost 9 ppg. I'm basing that on another gold standard. That is you should score 80 points per 1000 yds gained. The Saints gained a few yards more a game than we did. They scored 500 points off the same yardage we gained.
Our run offense was very good at 131 ypg good for 7th in the league. Three backs gained over 2100 yds at 4.8 ypc. We gained almost 6400 yds and over 1300 more than the opposition. The pass offense was also very good at 268 ypg or 6th in the league. Romo passed for about 4200 yds. But he only threw for 26 tds. His interception ratio was good however.
We are set at TE although I wouldn't turn down a stellar TE in the draft. Witten had over 90 receptions. I see a lot of good there and a little bit of bad. Some of those throws should have gone to the number two WR. We're equally good at RB. I think MB was hurt most of last year. He never regained his form from the first two games. If he can come back and the staff thinks he can then he'll be back. If not then I look for either a trade or he will be released. I don't see the latter happening. So I don't see us drafting at RB. Everyone knows we need future starters on the OL and I see us drafting a C or OG/C as well as an OT. We're set at QB. We need a number two WR. I don't see RW being that guy. I say we draft a WR in either the first or second round no later than the 4th.
I'm not getting into STs. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out we need a kicker. And we could use some help in the kick return game. We were pedestrian for the most part. Punt returns were ok. And our coverages were good. A kicker and a dynamic returner would be great. We must get a kicker.
The most glaring need for the Dallas Cowboys is to score more points. The major hole there is the need for more dynamic WRs. Look at the big passing teams in the league and look at their WRs. Their depth shines compared to ours. BTW, we scored 14 rushing TDs compared to only 26 passing TDs.
Those thinking we don't need another WR need to take another hard look at the state of the union.
There are those that think we need another HC. I'm of the opinion we could have a more dynamic HC but I think any gains from that are offset by the expertise this guy has on the defense. I'm still on the fence regarding Garrett. He can be a genius and at times he appears to be a dunce. You cannot fault the yards gained but you can the points scored. I lay the offensive problems at his feet with the understanding he has been handicapped by a pedestrian number two WR. I wonder if the OL could have better recognition of blitzes and stunts. Whether that's on the OL or the coach or both I don't know. Not privy to that information so I'm left to worry and wonder why. I'm not a big Campo fan as I'm not into the bend don't break philosophy. But I surely do give him and Wade credit for the results. I'm also a fan of our ST's coach.
I'm of reasonably good cheer about the Cowboys and I'm looking forward to another season.
I'm sorry, but I don't buy that. Is the year a complete success without that Lombardi trophy? No, I would say not, but I have a hard time saying that a season is a complete failure if the team doesn't win it all. That means Tom Landry was successful in only about 7% of his seasons as coach, Jimmy Johnson was only successful in only 40% of his seasons, etc. That means that every coach, every team, every quarterback in the hall-of-fame was an abject failure because no one wins superbowls even half of the time. Not even close if they are with a team for a long time. Parcells, Cowher, Walsh, heck, even Vince Lombardi all failed to do anything other than fail the majority of their careers. If that's the case, then why on earth would Wade succeed where all of these others have failed so miserably? Seems a little unrealistic to expect that kind of success year after year to me.