Who's to blame for the late-game collapses?

[JPostSam]

garrett is getting a ton of blame for the late-game collapses, though he deserves very little of it.

ryan, meanwhile, is getting very little blame for the late-game collapses, though he deserves a ton of it.

the side of the ball for which garrett is responsible took fourth-quarter leads against the jets, patriots, lions, cardinals and giants.

the side of the ball for which ryan is responsible, however, gave up those same fourth-quarter leads.

in crunch time, the offense has come through.

the defense has not.

that garrett hasn't taken a podium and barked, "if anyone around here could draw up a decent coverage in the last 5 minutes of a game, we'd be 12-1 right now and you all would be kissing my pasty white ***!" just shows that he has more composure than anyone on this board.

 

[Cowboys&LakersFan]

It's 50/50 IMO Garrett and Rob.

 

[big dog cowboy]

The owner since he hired the GM who hired the HC.

 

[Idgit]

Clearly, the problem with coughing up leads in the last two minutes of games is on the defense. I'm not a fan of Ryan's, but that's because of his family. To be fair to the guy, I think the team knew it had huge problems on defense that we just couldn't get around to addressing this offseason. It's not like we were the Texans, who spent their whole draft upgrading that side of the ball. We had bigger problems on offense that needed attention.

 

[fifaguy]

The problem lies with the Cowboys culture, specifically the lack of accountability for making mistakes. Parcells may have tried to change this during his brief tenure; the organization otherwise has been very soft since Jimmy left. I don't know whether Garrett is the guy to fix this problem...

 

[BigWillie]

ryan, meanwhile, is getting very little blame for the late-game collapses, though he deserves a ton of it.

You haven't been reading this board much then.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Have coaches made mistakes?

You bet.

No question.

But the issue is much more than that...



It's the talent.


Yeah, really.

There's some great talent at some positions, while other positions have starters who either aren't starting material (i.e. Holland) or should no longer be considered starters at this level (i.e. Newman, James).

And that's the problem– The overall talent level is watered down by the number of below average players out on the field, with the result being a team that is slightly better than average.

Improve the talent and you'll be surprised (or maybe not) how much better the coaching staff coaches and many more wins this team picks up... And not 3-point wins either.

 

[WV Cowboy]

Then don't put the fat kid at shortstop where he will fail. Put him at first base where he has to tools to do the job.

If we don't have the talent in the secondary to blitz, blitz, blitz, ... then don't blitz, blitz, blitz.

Ryan needs to work with the talent that he has and put them in positions to succeed.

Now teams know that if you just hang around long enough the Cowboys will do something stupid and give you the game.

I think our players know this too.

 

[InmanRoshi]

These same players were 31st in the league in points allowed last year under Wade.

..... just saying.

We desperately need another outside pass rusher. Once Ware and Ratliff get gassed late in the game, we have no pass rush and the QB can stand in the pocket all day and pick us apart.

 

[JPostSam]

If we don't have the talent in the secondary to blitz, blitz, blitz, ... then don't blitz, blitz, blitz.

Ryan needs to work with the talent that he has and put them in positions to succeed.

this.

we would have a ton more sacks by now if only we had better coverage from the secondary. our guys are getting penetration, but quarterbacks are surviving because they can throw to open receivers before they get smashed by ware or ratliff. in that case, the answer isn't to send more rushers -- which, clearly, isn't working -- but to cover better so that quarterbacks have to hold the ball a little longer. often, all our guys need is another half-second or so.

 

[Everlastingxxx]

The players.

Bring in whoever the hell you want to coach these pack of losers. You are going to get the same result. This team is rotten at the core. Time to blow it up.

I feel sorry for Rob Ryan. He probably over estimated the talent on this defense. Now he understand why this defense was 31st last season.

 

[LittleD]

These same players were 31st in the league in points allowed last year under Wade.

..... just saying.

We desperately need another outside pass rusher. Once Ware and Ratliff get gassed late in the game, we have no pass rush and the QB can stand in the pocket all day and pick us apart.

The Giants only seem to have Pierre Paul and he didn't seem to get gassed on Sunday. Three to 4 of our front seven on defense are average at best. Two of our cornerbacks are average and Newman and Ball are below average. We also have at least two on the offensive line that are below average, maybe three. I would say that we are fortunate to be average this year. I think that the last two losses will lead to finger pointing and collapse for the remaining 3 games. It's time to make some big changes in personnel and coaches.... That's my two cents now give me yours.

 

[InmanRoshi]

It's time to make some big changes in personnel and coaches.

We've already made huge changes in coaches this last year. How about we give it two years before we start a perpetual cycle of changing systems and chasing our tail in a circle every offseason?

And of course JPP looked beter than Ware at the end of the game. Ware was either on the sidelines getting his arm worked on or trying to play with one arm, and the Giants had 10 more minutes of time of possession.

 

[Doomsday101]

Garrett is the HC buck always stops with the HC. I think everyone shares in the losses and the wins when you lose I think each guy can look at themselfs and find something better than could have done to help their team win. If all people want to do is look for a scape goat fine that is their choice but I'm not putting any loss on 1 man

 

[DBOY3141]

Players.

We do not have enough talent. Many folks have hit it on the head, some of our starters should not be starting. They just aren't good.

this off season, I think you will see wholesale changes on the defense.

The offense needs two new OL, to be a consistent top 5 (minus injuries). Heck, you could say we are now, but this years injuries on that side of the ball has really slowed the process.

Defensive players are the issue to this team.

Newman
Ball
James
Brooking
Spears
Hatcher

are not very good players

 

[Chocolate Lab]

So apparently we had enough talent to build leads through 58 minutes of these games, and then that talent suddenly left the field the last two minutes.

Interesting.

 

[DallasDomination]

Then don't put the fat kid at shortstop where he will fail. Put him at first base where he has to tools to do the job.

If we don't have the talent in the secondary to blitz, blitz, blitz, ... then don't blitz, blitz, blitz.

Ryan needs to work with the talent that he has and put them in positions to succeed.

Now teams know that if you just hang around long enough the Cowboys will do something stupid and give you the game.

I think our players know this too.

Wade Phillips did this towards the end of his tenure and people complained his defense was getting to vanilla. Wade tried both and failed horribly, Rob will learn soon enough these players can't de anything great. So he just like Wade, will have us playing more coverage and simplify the defense to fit the players.

 

[Gadfly22]

I'm puzzled by the way offenses seem able to eat up big chunks of yardage at the end of these games. You expect that sometimes when a team eases off the QB pressure and goes into a prevent defense mode.

But Ryan likes to keep the pressure on. The problem is, it doesn't get there: opposing QBs are able to eat up big chunks of yardage while their O-lines manage to hold off the pressure. And it's easy to say the Cowboys need another strong pass rusher (what team wouldn't like another?), but there just seems to be nothing confusing in the defenses at that point, so the pressure is ineffective, and the secondary is left exposed.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

It's pretty simple...Dallas has one pass rusher in Ware who is playing injured and taking a pounding because he's constantly chipped. As he wears down late in games late in the year, Dallas cannot generate any pass rush whatsoever.

Ratliff has gone from a top of the line interior player to just above average, Spencer's sole move seems to playing patty cake, none of the DEs have ever been pass rushers, and the ILB are all atrocious blitzers.

The only way to get any pressure on the QB is to send a DB and oppenents know this, targeting the void or whomever Spencer is attempting to cover.

 

[casmith07]

We have too many holes on defense, but we had more pressing holes on offense (Tackle).

I think the draft will be defense heavy this spring with a little interior OL sprinkled in.