Week 14 Game Day Chatter | Eagles @ Cowboys | 12-09-2018

[Genghis Khan]

I don't think he took any sacks today that were really his fault. I agree prior he had been. But he did a good job today dumping the ball off instead of taking the sack. Of the 3 sacks today one was a terrible snap. The 2 other were just bad pass blocking allowing immediate pressure everywhere. He just can't fumble while being sacked. It's a form thing. He was holding the ball way too low while trying to climb the pocket. A good QB coach can fix that.

He took at least one sack that was on him.

 

[Rev]

He should have said "everything that matters" and then he would be correct.

 

[Smitty]

The Dak hate on here gets ridiculous. He may not be the QB of the next decade on this team but he has already matched everything that Romo had ever accomplished in three years. He is obviously developing a rapport with Cooper and the team is winning. He also tends to do his best work in the 4th which is what you want to see from your starter.

So in short, lighten up ya pricks.

He’s matched what Romo accomplished with a far superior team around him. A much better defense (with the exception of 2009), a better OL (in general — yes, even the current version is better than what Romo had for many years), and a infinitely better running game for all but the Demarco Murray year.

 

[UncleMilti]

We're going to get Minnesota or Seattle in the 1st, don't really care which as they seem to be mostly similar teams. I might prefer Minnesota since I think our pass rush prefers immobile QB's and Cousins is nowhere close to as clutch as Wilson, but they're mostly similar in my opinion.

I definitely want to be set up to play the Rams in the 2nd round though, mainly because their run defense is shit. I don't like our chances to beat New Orleans a second time in New Orleans.

All in all, we aren't going anywhere with Dak as inconsistent as he is and the OL giving up 3-4 sacks a game. I'd take one playoff win and call it a pretty successful season overall.

From where they started? Yeah I would consider your scenario a successful season too.

The thing i worry about is Jerry and company resting on their laurels and going into the draft with no urgency. I’m also concerned the coaching staff will be left intact.
At a minimum a new QB coach and new OC is a must.

Then, to put out this team over the top we need a big NT, a safety, and a RB in the Sproles mode- fast and can be used all over the field. Then they will need to turn their attention to the OL.

 

[GShock]

From where they started? Yeah I would consider your scenario a successful season too.

The thing i worry about is Jerry and company resting on their laurels and going into the draft with no urgency. I’m also concerned the coaching staff will be left intact.
At a minimum a new QB coach and new OC is a must.

Then, to put out this team over the top we need a big NT

Lather, rinse, repeat. Will be interesting to see if Marinelli retires, and Richard gets complete control. That could change the philosophy on D, to include...

a safety,

Again, nothing new here. The Earl Thomas thing seems predestined, so we'll see.

and a RB in the Sproles mode- fast and can be used all over the field.

That was supposed to be Austin, so yes hopefully we will be in the market.

Not that jet motion from Jourdan Lewis isn't tricky

Then they will need to turn their attention to the OL.

All of a sudden, we've got problems all over the place. Is Smith breaking down completely? Is Frederick going to be able to come back? Where is the best fit for Williams?

We have needs, not the least of which will be an OC that the offense doesn't have to ignore to actually make plays. But none of them are unmanageable.

 

[jsmith6919]

 

[p1_]

doing anything special to get tweets to post correctly? I cant get em to work for me.

 

[deadrise]

This is the bottom line about Dak right now:

He spent weeks struggling to move the ball in the air. Plagued him since his rookie year.

Cooper comes aboard and that has changed a good bit. He’s up over the 250 ypg Mendoza line, which is great... except now he can’t stop taking sacks, fumbling, turning the ball over, and all of a sudden he can’t finish in the red zone.

He still has fatal flaws. Hopefully he can improve them like he’s seemed to have done with his passing since Cooper arrived.

From the my 2 cents dept: As someone who has defended Dak, after watching him in the Eagles game I don't think he's a promised-land QB. They won because of Zeke and Cooper on offense, plus a stellar defense.

Dak makes a good throw, then a horrible throw. He makes clutch plays, then puts the ball on the ground. The two TDs to Cooper were about 60% luck -- neither one was a particularly good throw.

No way Dumb and Dumber should lock him up with a lucrative contract.

 

[lostxn]

Fans on this board are definitely over the top with the hate. Unless the guy literally has a perfect game he is trash and every mistakes gets thrown around like it's the worst thing anyone has ever seen a QB make. I mean some on here literally don't think the guy is a starting NFL QB. Its just trolling when it's taken that laughably far.

Not saying the guy is perfect, no QB is. And his mistakes today were costly. But in the end he won the game. He has been remarkably clutch in his young career. It's why he has won so many games.

Yeah there is about 16 teams that would love to have Dak as their starter. Problem is, you'd like that number to be more like 30...

 

[jsmith6919]

doing anything special to get tweets to post correctly? I cant get em to work for me.

No it's actually easier now, you can use either the tweet number or the whole url

 

[Texas Ace]

He threw for 455 yards. That's impressive no matter what else is involved. You don't get 455 from just dumpoffs. Yes he made mistakes, but it's 455 yards! That's Mahomes/Peyton/Brees level. You all can't even once give Dak a shit bit of credit can you? Good lord.

He missed so many opportunities and made so many mistakes that it allowed a game that should have been over at the half to become an overtime affair.

You want to focus on the fact that he battled back and threw for a bunch of yards and made plays late in the game that helped to win....ok fine.

But what if this were the playoffs and the Cowboys were playing a much better team other than a really disappointing Eagles team sitting at .500 with a terrible secondary?

We wouldn't have been given so many chances to keep making up for those miscues because we'd likely be behind by multiple scores and in the middle of a beatdown.

And that's the whole point -- his level play isn't anywhere near good enough to win in the late stages of the playoffs and yet when he costs us a game in January making the same mistakes that he's been making this regular season, there are going to be some dummies who are actually going to act surprised as if you couldn't see it coming.

 

[Simpleton]

From the my 2 cents dept: As someone who has defended Dak, after watching him in the Eagles game I don't think he's a promised-land QB. They won because of Zeke and Cooper on offense, plus a stellar defense.

Dak makes a good throw, then a horrible throw. He makes clutch plays, then puts the ball on the ground. The two TDs to Cooper were about 60% luck -- neither one was a particularly good throw.

No way Dumb and Dumber should lock him up with a lucrative contract.

The first Cooper TD in the back corner of the end zone was an absolutely perfect throw. There's plenty to bitch about with Dak but let's given him credit where it's due.

He made some real shit head mistakes over the first 3 quarters but at the end of the day he put up 450+ yards and put together an all-time Cowboys type of performance in the 4th/OT to effectively clinch the division.

I totally get why people bitch about him with the mistakes and how inconsistent he can be, I don't think anybody could've been more pissed than I was after the 2nd INT, but over these last two games the guy has broken the Cowboys record for most consecutive completions in a single game, most completions in a game, and put up 450+ to clinch the division. That's not nothing.

 

[Smitty]

From where they started? Yeah I would consider your scenario a successful season too.

The thing i worry about is Jerry and company resting on their laurels and going into the draft with no urgency. I’m also concerned the coaching staff will be left intact.
At a minimum a new QB coach and new OC is a must.

Then, to put out this team over the top we need a big NT, a safety, and a RB in the Sproles mode- fast and can be used all over the field. Then they will need to turn their attention to the OL.

And a Tight End.

 

[Smitty]

On WIP they can't stop fucking talking about the first play of the game. Apparently the first play of the game is what cost them for the rest of the game.

It took all their energy away, they are saying.

Idiots.

 

[Smitty]

Yeah there is about 16 teams that would love to have Dak as their starter. Problem is, you'd like that number to be more like 30...

There are 16 teams who would love to have Dak as their starter?

I don't think it's anywhere close to that.

I think there are more like 16 teams who are clear-cut better off with their guy than Dak.

Then there are about 5-10 teams who have similar instability.

Then there are a handful of teams with clear cut worse QB situations. Those are the ones who would be "happy" to have Dak.

 

[Simpleton]

He’s matched what Romo accomplished with a far superior team around him. A much better defense (with the exception of 2009), a better OL (in general — yes, even the current version is better than what Romo had for many years), and a infinitely better running game for all but the Demarco Murray year.

I don't think I'd call this "far superior" to what Romo had in 2007, 2009 or 2014.

Elliott is by far the best RB compared to those other teams but like you alluded to, Murray broke the franchise rushing record in 2014, and even in 2009 Barber and Felix combined for over 1600 yards on just 330 carries with a 4.9 YPC average. The 2007 team didn't have as strong a running game (it was still decent) but the weapons in the passing game were much better with a prime TO/Witten compared to half a season of Cooper/rookie Gallup and a hodgepodge of roleplayers. Of course in 2014 you had prime Dez and nearly prime Witten.

The 2014 OL was clearly better than what we've had this year and I'd argue that 2007 and 2009 were at least equal, if not better. In 2007 you had Flozell/Gurode/Leonard Davis all make the Pro Bowl, and deservedly so (not like the reputation ones later), and every starter played a full 16 except for Gurode who missed 2 games. In 2009 the line was worse but it was still pretty solid for most of the year, the only thing is people think it was shit because they got destroyed by Minnesota in the playoffs after Flozell went down.

The defense is better than 2007 or 2014 but it's similar to what we had in 2009.

All in all, there are some aspects that are similar, some aspects that are worse and some that are better compared to Romo's top teams, but I think it's overboard to call this team "far superior". Certainly what we have right now is better than what Romo had in, say, 2011 or 2012, generally speaking.

 

[1bigfan13]

This is the bottom line about Dak right now:

He spent weeks struggling to move the ball in the air. Plagued him since his rookie year.

Cooper comes aboard and that has changed a good bit. He’s up over the 250 ypg Mendoza line, which is great... except now he can’t stop taking sacks, fumbling, turning the ball over, and all of a sudden he can’t finish in the red zone.

He still has fatal flaws. Hopefully he can improve them like he’s seemed to have done with his passing since Cooper arrived.

If he learned to stop taking sacks and got his turnovers under control, I could actually stomach the missed throws and wouldn't mind him being the starting QB for the foreseeable future.

I don't care if he throws for 400 yards and 3 TDs every week, all those sacks and turnovers would make it difficult to get behind the guy long term. I think it's fair to say that Dak's mistakes alone are costing this team approximately 10 points each week. Despite dominating teams statistically, the Cowboys are sweating out one possession victories each week all because Dak is either fumbling away scoring opportunities for the Cowboys, fumbling in his own end zone, taking sacks to knock his team out of FG range, or just flat out missing throws to wide open receivers.

It's hard enough to score and win games in this league without your own QB gifting the opposing teams 7-10 points each week.

The good thing is two of his fatal flaws (taking sacks and ball security) seem like they can be improved rather easily with proper coaching........getting rid of Kellen Moore is a start. The bulk of his offseason work needs to be focused on getting the ball out on time and keeping two hands on the ball when the pocket gets crowded. He needs to work on those two issues until they become second nature to him.

 

[Texas Ace]

If he learned to stop taking sacks and got his turnovers under control, I could actually stomach the missed throws and wouldn't mind him being the starting QB for the foreseeable future.

I don't care if he throws for 400 yards and 3 TDs every week, all those sacks and turnovers would make it difficult to get behind the guy long term. I think it's fair to say that Dak's mistakes alone are costing this team approximately 10 points each week. Despite dominating teams statistically, the Cowboys are sweating out one possession victories each week all because Dak is either fumbling away scoring opportunities for the Cowboys, fumbling in his own end zone, taking sacks to knock his team out of FG range, or just flat out missing throws to wide open receivers.

It's hard enough to score and win games in this league without your own QB gifting the opposing teams 7-10 points each week.

The good thing is two of his fatal flaws (taking sacks and ball security) seem like they can be improved rather easily with proper coaching........getting rid of Kellen Moore is a start. The bulk of his offseason work needs to be focused on getting the ball out on time and keeping two hands on the ball when the pocket gets crowded. He needs to work on those two issues until they become second nature to him.

Yup.

Outside of the Saints game, we've just been getting by despite his mistakes because we've played a bunch of teams with mediocre records during this winning streak.

I highly doubt the Saints (in a rematch in the Superdome), Rams, or even the Seahawks or Bears will be as forgiving in the playoffs should Dak leave a bunch of plays out on the field in those contests.

And I hope Michael Gallup doesn't have any rookie incentives in his contract because he's missed about 200 yards and 3 TDs in just the last 3 weeks alone thanks to Dak.

 

[Rev]

I think once we get Frederick and a healthy Martin back then the sacks won't be as much of a problem. I'm concerned with Smith and having to possibly find a LT.

Of course all of this wont happen until next year so we will just have to live with what we have now.

 

[1bigfan13]

He’s matched what Romo accomplished with a far superior team around him. A much better defense (with the exception of 2009), a better OL (in general — yes, even the current version is better than what Romo had for many years), and a infinitely better running game for all but the Demarco Murray year.

Why do Cowboys fans love acting as if Romo was made to work with scraps while Dak was gifted a Super Bowl ready roster?

With the exception of maybe 2 or 3 years Romo played with some really good offensive linemen in front of him. Go back and check the rosters. He typically had 1-3 Pro Bowl caliber OL as well as some solid starters blocking for him.

Romo also pretty much always had a strong running game to lean on. Aside from the 2012 season DeMarco Murray was a fantastic lead back. So it just wasn't the 2014 season. Also, let's not forget that Romo had a Hall of Fame TE in his prime as well as two All-Pro WRs.