THE OFFICIAL 2023 DALLAS COWBOYS OFF-SEASON THREAD || Cowboys Gonna Cowboy

[tero]

I hope that medical staff can give Lee some fresh legs in 2 weeks

 

[slicknick951]

the sad part about all this is we are first in the division so Jerrys prob not even going to address the needs on the team. They will blame this season on injuries and we will be here next year also

 

[chiacrack]

Idk how any fan who actually follows and watched this team be surprised about last night

We've seen Dallas suck it up for weeks now, honestly since Denver

Nothing good will come out of this season and frankly it could get real bad here on out

There are injuries on D no doubt and it sucks but last night was atrocious

That 2nd round waste of a pick is really hurting right now

Next year they need to dedicate every resource to OL and defense

 

[mr s j king]

Jeff Heath deserves all the bashing he will receive for his wack a** safety play last night.
But I believe we could have done the same thing to the Saints safeties if we had tried!
Every week you see safeties all over the league getting roasted, but we have decided not to attack down field.
Not sure who is calling the shots on offense, but whoever it is needs to go immediately.

 

[ackdaquick]

Rob Ryan and Co. might have just ended our season. They were celebrating like they had something to prove and came out and proved it. If we had the preparation and gameplanning of Peyton and the Saints we would be the 1a or 1b offense in the league. Another let down/dissapointment that this team is pretty much the same as last year. Injuries and all.

 

[mpire]

Dudes on the Saints were dead *** celebrating like they just won the SB

The hatred for Dallas is part of the reason I love being a fan because whenever we do at some point, return to the glory days, it will be lovely. I firmly believe some people will on suicide watch

Part of Drew Bree's pregame chant he says "Lets go out there and show them who the real Americas Team is."

Problem is we don't have the guys that realize what it means to wear the star, minus Dez and in all honesty, Dez looked as if he is starting to succumb to the mediocrity type of culture now. Either that, or his agent told him to be on his best behavior and test the open market next year which is very possible.

Sad part of all this is that we are number 1 in the division still. God the NFC East is bad

 

[blackboyfly]

Romo has been horrible this year. Casual fans will look at his stats and think otherwise... but he's been bad this season. Accuracy, decision making, all that. Telling you guys now, don't read the article in the spoiler if you don't want to be even more upset.

Spoiler

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2013...th-the-cowboys-offense-explained-in-two-plays

What's Wrong With The Cowboys Offense Explained In Two Plays[/SIZE=5]

Sure, the New Orleans Saints offense blew out the Dallas Cowboys defense. 49-17 was the final score, Drew Brees and the Saints offense set all kinds of records, it was humiliating. But at least the defense has some kind of excuse to offer. They were banged-up before the game and then lost Sean Lee. You can't totally let the defense off the hook, but at least there's something you can say is a major factor. The Cowboys offense has no such excuse. Two plays in the Saints game tells me almost all I need to know about what's going wrong.

Neither of these plays involve dropped passes or penalties. Those issues have plagued the Cowboys on and off all season, but I wanted to look at some more fundamental issues.

We start with the Cowboys losing 21-10 near the end of the first half of the game. Dallas has two timeouts and 1:32 on the clock. The hope is to get at least three points, possibly seven, before heading into halftime. Dallas would get the ball to start the second half, so just maybe they could start putting some pressure on the Saints. But it all goes wrong.

The drive starts on a positive note with an 8-yard completion to Jason Witten. 2nd and 2 at the Cowboys 28. Now, Dallas had just come off a drive where DeMarco Murray put up 67 yards en route to a rushing touchdown. It's 2nd and 2 and you just spent the previous drive gouging the Saints on the ground, yet Dallas doesn't even consider a run play. Jason Garrett and Bill Callahan deserve the lion's share of the blame here. They don't even line up a back in the backfield to make Saints contemplate run, they go with 5-wide. Play-calling is suspect.

But even so, once you're in passing formation, why not use your best weapon, Dez Bryant? Because he's being double-teamed on every play and they are pressuring him at the line? Not really, look at Dez with single coverage at the line of scrimmage from a corner that is playing 7 yards off of him.

Ok, so you don't run the ball, and you don't use your best weapon when you have an open opportunity to audible to him on a quick slant, hitch, or whatever. You run the play as called. Then it falls on your quarterback to make the right throw. Tony Romo instead chose the worst of all options.

First, there's Cole Beasley wide open just past the markers. Feel free to re-watch the film on this, he is wide open and the safe choice for a first down. But say Romo didn't want to go safe on second down and wanted to get down field. Fine, but then he chooses the wrong option again.

Sorry for the blurry screen capture. But it's easy to see what went wrong. There's an open Beasley in the black box. Up at the top is a wide open Jason Witten (yellow box), about 13 yards downfield and ready to get extra yardage up field. Instead, Romo throws to the most covered guy on the field, Terrance Williams in red. Three Saints (in green) are near him, one deflects the pass. Even Dwayne Harris at the bottom of the pic is a better option.

Oh, and getting back to double-teaming Dez. One of the reasons Witten is so open is because Dez has cleared out the corner and the safety. Now, if a team is going to commit those kinds of resources to Dez, and leave Witten wide open, then Romo has to take advantage of it. He didn't. See how Dez opens things up below. (Witten in yellow, Dez in red)

So after that play is over, Dallas faces a 3rd and 2. They really need to convert here, not only to keep alive their dream of scoring points before halftime, but to keep the ball away from Drew Brees before halftime. The Cowboys line up again with an empty backfield. (Noticeably not even attempting a run, or faking a run with play-action, or even making the Saints account for a run. It's not like DeMarco Murray is not a viable option catching a pass out of the backfield if you want to send five receivers out on the play).

Now, the Cowboys do nothing to help get someone open here. They don't run a bunch formation, they don't run any pick plays, instead the just send their guys out in the pattern. Why can other teams use formation and picks to free up guys on a third and short? You see all over the NFL each week. Instead, Dallas uses no imagination and sends five guys upfield.

Even without any creativity, Cole Beasley manages to get a step on his guy, but instead of leading Beasley, Romo throws the ball just a tad late making Beasley reach to his back shoulder to grab the ball. That's all the defender needs to make a leap and knock down the ball.

It's not a terrible pass or decision by Romo, but it's just enough of an off-target throw that the defender knocks it down. If he leads Beasley just a tad on this, the Cowboys convert. In addition, if you watch the play, Witten is being single-covered by a linebacker and is just coming uncovered when Romo throws it. If he holds the ball (he has time to) he's going to get Witten wide open crossing the middle. (see below).

The Cowboys punt, Drew Brees puts seven on the board and the rout is on.

This encapsulates much of the Cowboys offensive woes. Last week against the Vikings, the Cowboys players failed to execute on critical plays and even though they won, the offense was sputtering. This week, the Cowboys offense collapsed on all levels. The play-calling was suspect whether it was the situation (why not run on 2nd and 2?), or creativity, (can we get a bunch formation or a pick play or something on a third and 2?). It's also clear that Tony Romo is playing poorly recently. Whether it's picking the wrong guy to throw too, or throwing a pass just a little off-target, or not calling an audible into something that will work, his game has been off.

Dallas has two weeks to get this fixed.

Obviously you can't really blame the QB for a game in which the other team dropped 50 points. But the offense has been bad since Denver, it's already cost us games, and will cost us more.

 

[ackdaquick]

Someone a few pages back said it seems like we hold on certain things that work, to use later but don't or we use in the wrong situation or time. For the NFL to be a copycat league, I don't see the Cowboys copycatting what seems to be working around the league. Or even take something working and tweek it. To me it seems they don't design plays specifically for what a team might do or has lacked to do. They don't get their best athletes in space with the ball. It took this long to finally start using a no huddle offense besides the obvious times, and Jason took over when? Do you all think Romo makes the better decisions on those plays shown at another point, like last year? Or is something else making him think too much or second guess?

 

[blackboyfly]

I think the coaches have engraved in his mind that he can't throw 20 interceptions again. And thus he's playing conservative at times this year. Don't think his skills are deteriorating at all. His mindset has just changed. Not giving his guys a chance to make plays.

 

[mpire]

The fact that the first time we put Dez in the slot was a result of Romo making the adjustment himself and having him and Cole Beaseley switch spots, resulting in Dez's first and only catch of the game just goes to show you how inept this coaching staff is.

 

[ecruteakcityboy]

Lee might be out for the year.
At this point im not sure if i care or not.

 

[mpire]

Lee might be out for the year.
At this point im not sure if i care or not.

Lee is our best player on defense period.

But we were .500 with him.

 

[captainsneakerhead23]

Looks like we lost Durant for 3-4 weeks as well.

At this point all I can do is

 

[essential1]

With the exception of the OLine (which I think needs two maybe three new guys).. Even then I could ignore it. Because if they gave focus to the run.. DeMarco & threat of the pass game can cover up some of the line issues I have.

Nonetheless, only the defense should be focused on for the next 6 months. Nowhere else even deserves a look.

Re-haul the entire damn thing.


Keep Ware because he actually requires a lot of protection, even if he has lost a step)
Sean Lee because he's a ball hawk, and tough player


Everyone else willing to upgrade or try to. (Mo, Carr, Wilcox, Durant are all keepable.. But look for someone else and see what's there)

 

[N41D]

If you're Jason Garrett, and it's your job on the line, how do you continue to sit there and let Bill Callahan call plays?

As bad as Garrett was at time the last couple of years, Callahan is the worst offensive coordinator we've had here in awhile. He's terrible.

 

[mr s j king]

We would be 3-7 if Garrett was still calling the plays.
The only reason Garrett is here is because he was good for business.
Says the right things.
Has the right look.
A professional demeanor.
Not sure why Jerry feels like he has to keep "selling" the Cowboys.
Maybe he hasn't connected winning with making money.
Just win and it doesn't matter how big your jumbotron is.

 

[Remy LeBeau]

Ed Reed is being released, could we possibly pick him up?

 

[blackboyfly]

I wouldn't mind. Couldn't be worse than Jeff Heath. Though Wilcox should be back next game. Still, wouldn't hurt to have Ed teaching Church and Wilcox, plus his leadership would be a plus.

But honestly, why would he want to come to Dallas ?

 

[ecruteakcityboy]

As long as we dont over pay him.

 

[mr s j king]

From NFL.com:
Now that the Houston Texans are cutting ties with Ed Reed, the veteran safety will take just over $400,000 in remaining salary to the waiver wire.

 

[eazye 804]

Just got my espn mag in the mail today...

& guess who's on the cover with his head down & back turned


Will read it later

 

[ecruteakcityboy]

Just read about the Sam Hurd drug case.





:x

 

[blackboyfly]

Just read about the Sam Hurd drug case.





:x

Was an amazing read. Mad long but I strongly encourage everyone to read it.

Wonder who he was selling weed to in Dallas

 

[ecruteakcityboy]

Was an amazing read. Mad long but I strongly encourage everyone to read it.

Wonder who he was selling weed to in Dallas

There had to have been at least one or two high profile players imo. Not just some undrafted practice squad safety.

 

[cubanref]

This team has so much potential ....Jerry needs to just be the owner, sign paychecks and root from the owners box. Garret needs to be gone after this year. We need a change in Dallas bad...wish we could get someone like Gruden

Its sad when the gm/owner thinks that just becasue we are in 1st place that 5-5 is acceptable for a team with this much "talent"