You have to hope that there is a reassessment going on

[Silver N Blue]

The season is certainly not lost after 5 games but the slope is a lot harder to climb at this point with the schedule ahead of us. So while the playoffs isn't impossible, it's looking improbable at this point barring a major shift in how this team is playing on both sides of the ball.

Regardless, as Cowboys fans, we need to hope that the front office it taking a long hard look at how they operate and why we seem to be on this endless rollercoaster that doesn't result in any great success season after season.

The coaching issues have been hashed out over and over so there's no need to do it again. But the front office really has to stop making excuses for Garrett. 8 years will be a wide sample and if the Cowboys cannot make the playoffs this year, how they could justify bringing him back from a coaching perspective would be puzzling. You have to hope that emotion and loyalty aren't the overriding factors.

More importantly, they better look at how they construct teams, specifically through FA. I applauded them when they seemed to say, "Gee, this spending wads of cash and blowing all our cap space on high priced vets isn't working, so we will be more prudent in FA". I saw that and hoped that they, while being judicious, would also be willing to spend a little extra for that one FA who made sense.

But the pendulum swung the entire other direction. Now they just sift through the crap bin and "hope" that their scouting can uncover young gems trashed by other teams and give crud veterans a rebirth. You look at the last few years and we've had very little success in FA, largely because they simply think they are smarter than anyone else and can turn other people's crap into gold. They clearly aren't Midas, that's obvious considering Thornton and Carroll and even Mayowa (granted, he's not been terrible), etc. To be fair, I really liked the Thornton signing but even I had some reservations that he might not be a 1 tech when he was a 3-4 DE in Philly. So who made the decision that Thornton could be a 1 tech? Who made the decision that despite sucking, Carroll would be a solid zone CB here?

In the end, I don't know who makes the end decisions on FA personnel. Is it Jones? Is it McClay? How much say does Marinelli, Garrett and Linehan have? But at some point, whoever is making the decisions has to do a better job. This team cannot simply rely on the draft alone, at some point, they have to have some success in FA.

 

[Jake]

FA is not the answer. they need to draft and more importantly develop better. That's on the FO and coaches. you can't take rounds 2-7 off in the draft, or spend every single 2nd round pick on a project or high risk selection, just because the dope running the team "never won a SB laying up, I go for the green." Hasn't worked, at least not in the last 23 years.

FA gets you Brandon Carr at $50 million, who 95% of this forum wanted run out of town a year after he signed. They also remain pressed against the cap, which usually happens after you've had some sustained success or a SB run, which they have had neither. Just seems to be a never ending cycle with this FO that we are stuck with.

Brandon Carr was good before coming to Dallas, is good after leaving Dallas, and was never as bad as some "fans" - who yell at the first guy they see in the TV screen on a completed pass - made him out to be while in Dallas.

 

[Jake]

They'll get back to work. They won't wring their hands. They instruct and move forward. They'll win some and lose some.

 

[CyberB0b]

The season is certainly not lost after 5 games but the slope is a lot harder to climb at this point with the schedule ahead of us. So while the playoffs isn't impossible, it's looking improbable at this point barring a major shift in how this team is playing on both sides of the ball.

Regardless, as Cowboys fans, we need to hope that the front office it taking a long hard look at how they operate and why we seem to be on this endless rollercoaster that doesn't result in any great success season after season.

The coaching issues have been hashed out over and over so there's no need to do it again. But the front office really has to stop making excuses for Garrett. 8 years will be a wide sample and if the Cowboys cannot make the playoffs this year, how they could justify bringing him back from a coaching perspective would be puzzling. You have to hope that emotion and loyalty aren't the overriding factors.

More importantly, they better look at how they construct teams, specifically through FA. I applauded them when they seemed to say, "Gee, this spending wads of cash and blowing all our cap space on high priced vets isn't working, so we will be more prudent in FA". I saw that and hoped that they, while being judicious, would also be willing to spend a little extra for that one FA who made sense.

But the pendulum swung the entire other direction. Now they just sift through the crap bin and "hope" that their scouting can uncover young gems trashed by other teams and give crud veterans a rebirth. You look at the last few years and we've had very little success in FA, largely because they simply think they are smarter than anyone else and can turn other people's crap into gold. They clearly aren't Midas, that's obvious considering Thornton and Carroll and even Mayowa (granted, he's not been terrible), etc. To be fair, I really liked the Thornton signing but even I had some reservations that he might not be a 1 tech when he was a 3-4 DE in Philly. So who made the decision that Thornton could be a 1 tech? Who made the decision that despite sucking, Carroll would be a solid zone CB here?

In the end, I don't know who makes the end decisions on FA personnel. Is it Jones? Is it McClay? How much say does Marinelli, Garrett and Linehan have? But at some point, whoever is making the decisions has to do a better job. This team cannot simply rely on the draft alone, at some point, they have to have some success in FA.

They're also missing the mark on home grown talent. Crawford, Witten, and Dez aren't close to living up to their contracts.

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

The Dallas Cowboys all time record after a bye week = 25-14
The Dallas Cowboys record after a bye week under Garrett = 3-4

Hope all you want.

 

[LucaBrasi]

Brandon Carr was good before coming to Dallas, is good after leaving Dallas, and was never as bad as some "fans" - who yell at the first guy they see in the TV screen on a completed pass - made him out to be while in Dallas.

right. Carr was/is a good corner, who was WAY overpaid in FA in 2011.

I Understand how FA works and there is a right way to use it. I don't think this franchise will ever do that because they either mismanage their cap or they don't draft and develop well enough and have more holes that can be filled in one offseason thru draft and FA. Never ending cycle with the Jones' boys. Maybe next year!

 

[Hardline]

The one doing the reassessing needs to be reassessed as well.

 

[links18]

I don't know what is going on, but I have been reduced to watching old games from the 90s on YouTube. Man, we were stacked.

Seriously, this organization took a 13-3 team that needed just a little more to get over the top and made it worse. They should have resigned Leary and then let Collins, Green and a vet compete for RT. They should have signed a FA pass rusher, kept Church and signed one of the CBs as a transition mechanism to the young guys. Instead, they went full blown rebuild mode in the secondary and decided to rely on a late 1st round pick and a journeyman FA facing a suspension to improve the pass rush. Its almost like they didn't think we were as good as our record last year. Maybe we weren't?

 

[75boyz]

the owner needs to realize that his hand-picked clapper is not the answer...Jones is so desperate to look "smart" that he is driving the team into the ground trying to get Garrett to look like a legit HC...he isn't...good guy? yes...want him in the organization somewhere? sure..what are those departments called that their sole job is "rah-rah"?

that all being said, this will never, ever happen...in my mid 50's so I have to wonder who will last longer, me or the jones crew before we sniff a championship

I share both your age and this specific concern as well...

 

[KingintheNorth]

his was the week to switch to Eberflus.

Now we'll wait until the offseason and probably go with him. I wish we would get someone that has done it at a high level though.

I've seen a few fans suggest this and I'm not sure why. It's a nothing hire. Do we think Eberflus is sitting there with all the answers and Rod is just shutting down all of his ideas? The same people hyping up Eberflus are the same people who told you Marinelli is a miracle worker and that no major additions were needed on defense this off-season.

This is the equivalent of firing and Garrett and naming Scott Linehan the head coach. It would make zero difference.

 

[CATCH17]

I've seen a few fans suggest this and I'm not sure why. It's a nothing hire. Do we think Eberflus is sitting there with all the answers and Rod is just shutting down all of his ideas? The same people hyping up Eberflus are the same people who told you Marinelli is a miracle worker and that no major additions were needed on defense this off-season.

This is the equivalent of firing and Garrett and naming Scott Linehan the head coach. It would make zero difference.

It's change and that's really the only reason I'm for it.

We've done the Rod Marinelli dance and it's not working.

No defense should get worked as bad as ours does at times. All we need is a few punts and we can't get that.

Give Rodgers a minute and he scores a TD...


I just want change. For better or worse.

 

[KingintheNorth]

It's change and that's really the only reason I'm for it.

We've done the Rod Marinelli dance and it's not working.

No defense should get worked as bad as ours does at times. All we need is a few punts and we can't get that.

Give Rodgers a minute and he scores a TD...


I just want change. For better or worse.

I can understand that but my fear is that Eberflus gets the interim, the defense sucks slightly less, so Jerry overreacts and hands him the job. This team needs a new defensive staff in the off-season and an infusion of defensive talent.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Free Agency is a tricky thing because it, by and large, doesn’t work. Especially for Day 1 and Day 2 free agent signings. This season the FA signings that are really working out are Calais Campbell, AJ Bouye and Pierre Garcon.


Campbell and Bouye are on the same team and Garcon and Campbell are 31 years old. And I think it’s real optimistic that Garcon and Campbell will end up playing to their contract’s value. At least with Garcon and Campbell, they are excellent team leaders and both the Jags and Niners are trying to rebuild with a younger roster and veterans like Garcon and Campbell can show the right way to go about being a professional football player.


If you’re signing too many FA’s, then there is something wrong. Either the coaching isn’t good at that position, the talent evaluation is off at that position or we are focusing our efforts towards the wrong position/aspect of the game.


What I know about the Cowboys under Garrett is that our defense has stunk and we’ve had issues (particularly on defense) with hamstring and lower back injuries. I don’t think going to a 3-4 scheme is the answer or a smart move, but I think we have given Marinelli 4 years (basically 5 years) and the defense has now regressed instead of progressed. I think we’ve given Woicik 7 years and we really haven’t progressed with hamstring issues other than once a player’s hamstrings get sore, we put them on the shelf in preseason. That slows their development just like it has Switzer’s and Awuzie’s. We are lucky to get somebody like Lewis who has caught on quickly despite little to no training camp and preseason.


Remember, Garrett stated that he wanted to go to this Kiffin/Marinelli scheme in large part because he was afraid of the injury rate in the NFL and wanted an easy scheme to learn so we can better use ‘next man up’ when a player goes down. However, it’s not working as this team still cannot play defense without Sean Lee. And for a simple scheme…we sure do get confused a lot.


We need to better modernize our strength and conditioning. I really don’t see another team out there with the hamstring and lower back injuries that we have. And we need to modernize the defense instead of blitzing less than 5% of the time. We may be ‘easy to scout and tough to beat’ some seasons, but sooner or later that ‘easy to scout’ works against us. And we can’t just sit back and be afraid to take calculated risks in fear of injuries.





YR

 

[erod]

Stephen and Jerry have polar opposite opinions on this. Both are wrong. The answer to the offseason approach is somewhere in the middle.

 

[THEHEREAFTER]

I thnk this is more about personnel failures than one brain dead play call.

True but no doubt the loss and going 2-3 into the bye inspired it. It's the way sports work. One play can change the entire outlook and narrative.

 

[cowboy_ron]

I hope there's a "reassessment" at the HC level.

 

[fifaguy]

I don't know what is going on, but I have been reduced to watching old games from the 90s on YouTube. Man, we were stacked.

Seriously, this organization took a 13-3 team that needed just a little more to get over the top and made it worse. They should have resigned Leary and then let Collins, Green and a vet compete for RT. They should have signed a FA pass rusher, kept Church and signed one of the CBs as a transition mechanism to the young guys. Instead, they went full blown rebuild mode in the secondary and decided to rely on a late 1st round pick and a journeyman FA facing a suspension to improve the pass rush. Its almost like they didn't think we were as good as our record last year. Maybe we weren't?

I think you're giving them too much credit in saying they "didn't think they were as good as their record".

 

[LocimusPrime]

Was Wade Phillips a better coach than Garrett. His winning percentage says so, but what do you think? Are the about the same?

 

[links18]

Was Wade Phillips a better coach than Garrett. His winning percentage says so, but what do you think? Are the about the same?

Wade lost the team in 2010. Garrett hasn't lost a team yet, but maybe its coming?

 

[Motown12]

FA is not the answer. they need to draft and more importantly develop better. That's on the FO and coaches. you can't take rounds 2-7 off in the draft, or spend every single 2nd round pick on a project or high risk selection, just because the dope running the team "never won a SB laying up, I go for the green." Hasn't worked, at least not in the last 23 years.

FA gets you Brandon Carr at $50 million, who 95% of this forum wanted run out of town a year after he signed. They also remain pressed against the cap, which usually happens after you've had some sustained success or a SB run, which they have had neither. Just seems to be a never ending cycle with this FO that we are stuck with.

Great Post...spot on