CFZ Winning with FGs vs “beauty contests”, style points and “power rankings”

[Bobhaze]

The late Raiders owner Al Davis uttered perhaps the most succinct truth in NFL history: “Just win baby.”

That’s it. That’s sums up everything any of us need to remember about what’s really important in every NFL game- just win. There’s no swimsuit competition or “Miss Congeniality“ points in NFL games. Just wins and losses. That’s it. Win with 5 FGs and 2 TDs as we did today or win 2-0 on a late safety. Just win.

Yet it so common after a win to look closely and decide that it should have been better. Our Cowboys just beat a really good jets defense 30-10 but to some it wasn’t impressive enough. That’s ok. That’s what we as fans often do and certainly what the sports media machine does with their silly “power rankings” each week. It’s their version of an NFL beauty contest.

So here are some interesting thoughts about winning with FGs:

• The niners beat us last year in the divisional round 19-12 with 4 FGs and 1 TD. It was ugly but they advanced and we didn’t.
• Turns out “winning ugly” happens a ton in the playoffs
  • Since 2018, a whopping 11 playoff games were won by teams who had 4 or more FGs and 2 or less TDs.
  • In the 2021 AFC championship game, the Bengals beat the Chiefs scoring 4 FGs. Somehow that meant they won.
  • In the 2021 NFC championship game, the Bucs beat the pack scoring 4 FGs and eventually win the SB vs the bengals.
• In the playoffs, you are often playing great defenses. Just score. Just win.

Bottom line: JUST WIN BABY. IT WORKS.

 

[Jake]

If a "bad" offensive game is 30 points I'm okay with it. The Cowboys figured out the Jets were going to struggle to put drives together - they hit one home run - so there was no need to be overly aggressive in the red zone. Take the points and let your defense ruin Zach Wilson's day.

Mission accomplished.

 

[JayFord]

Teams win ugly all the time

the only team that gets called out for it is Dallas any other team gets call gritty and tough

its a special kind of stupid when people complain about dallas winning 17-13 as if the other team didnt come to play as well

 

[stilltheguru]

I wish we won ugly vs san fran last year. Some fans are dumb

 

[bark]

Football intelligence……
It’s a thing of beauty to see complimentary football being played.

 

[dargonking999]

So you are saying you can win in the playoffs by kicking FG’s? has anyone told that other dude in the other thread

 

[Bobhaze]

Teams win ugly all the time

the only team that gets called out for it is Dallas any other team gets call gritty and tough

its a special kind of stupid when people complain about dallas winning 17-13 as if the other team didnt come to play as well

I think most teams’ fan bases complain about winning ugly. Sure beats losing beautifully.

 

[Aven8]

We both know they could have scored 50 today Bob if they were trying. I’m sure Mike’s offense will have some lulls this season but it’s amazing to see it. Efficient and effective so far. We went full conservative mode in the RZ once the game was in hand. And let’s be honest, the Jets D is really good. Our Oline played amazing again.

 

[Cowpolk]

Just win

 

[JayFord]

So you are saying you can win in the playoffs by kicking FG’s? has anyone told that other dude in the other thread

oh yeah lol

SF did it...did it against Dallas...its kinda like they said "we got Dak Rattled, dont do too much on offense and put the defense in a bad spot"

 

[Bobhaze]

I have two family members who are die hard Alabama fans. Yes the Tide have not looked great this year so far but they’re still 2-1, and are still in the hunt for all their team goals. Like most Bama fans they are spoiled, thinking it’s their right to win every week.

When you get used to winning (as the Cowboys did in the 70s and 90s) you start to underrate how hard it is to win games to begin with. Much less winning “with style”.

A lot of winning tends to spoil fan bases because they don’t realize how hard it is to win to begin with. Turns out the other team has some talent and wants to win too.

 

[boysfanperiod]

I blame MM for forgetting to cover his mouth when calling the plays.

 

[CowboysDrew]

I have two family members who are die hard Alabama fans.

I'm sorry.

Anyway, WCO isn't going to always look sexy but it gets the job done. There's a reason Walsh stuck with it and went to the Hall of Fame on its successes.

 

[plymkr]

If a "bad" offensive game is 30 points I'm okay with it. The Cowboys figured out the Jets were going to struggle to put drives together - they hit one home run - so there was no need to be overly aggressive in the red zone. Take the points and let your defense ruin Zach Wilson's day.

Mission accomplished.

Exactly, if 30 points is a “bad offensive game” then I’m cool with it. Our defense will keep teams under 30.

I’m no mathematician but by my calculations our defense is averaging 5 points a game.

 

[NickZepp]

When you have a defense that disrupt so much and cause turnovers you don't need a ton of TDs. You get a point where you can keep it to a 2 score game with FGs and with your defense other teams aren't scoring more than twice in a half most games. I'm sure when we see teams like Philadelphia, San Francisco, Miami, Buffalo etc scoring TDs will be more important but as long as the defense makes stops I'm okay with scoring 4 or 5 FGs a game. I remember Dallas played Brett Favre the year he won the Super Bowl and Dallas basically blowing them out with 7 FGs.

 

[plymkr]

I have two family members who are die hard Alabama fans. Yes the Tide have not looked great this year so far but they’re still 2-1, and are still in the hunt for all their team goals. Like most Bama fans they are spoiled, thinking it’s their right to win every week.

When you get used to winning (as the Cowboys did in the 70s and 90s) you start to underrate how hard it is to win games to begin with. Much less winning “with style”.

A lot of winning tends to spoil fan bases because they don’t realize how hard it is to win to begin with. Turns out the other team has some talent and wants to win too.

I’d rather win ugly than lose with style points. I like real points over style points.

 

[Buzzbait]

I think most teams’ fan bases complain about winning ugly. Sure beats losing beautifully.

Truth!

 

[shabazz]

As long as we kept increasing the lead against a great defense I wont complain about the 5 field goals because of stalled drives.

it was the correct strategy in protecting the ball and NOT aiding a Jets offense that badly needed a turnover or defensive score to even be close to winning.

Next week, different team and different strategy

 

[IceStar-D7]

Game 2 without preseason I'll take it. My thing is unless we get better play from the offense-especially at one spot. This season is going to end just like the rest with us watching other teams continuing in the tournament and us sitting at home. But we're 2 and 0 and it is what it is at this point in the season. I'm just looking ahead. I seen the beginning of this movie before. Ohhs and ahhsss. Always ending with screams. I just want a different ending this time. Not just another re-run.

 

[McMicah]

Everyone needs to step back and realize we may never see a defense like that even in the playoffs. Those guys are stacked, and we destroyed them.

Maybe the 9ers are comparable? Philly isn’t looking even remotely that good. I don’t think there’s another AFC team with that defense