2025 Season | Week 1 | Gameday Chatter Thread | Cowboys @ Eagles | 9/4/2025

[Cowboysrock55]

Better QB's are better for a reason, but they aren't supermen who consistently win games despite their teams fuck ups. Lamar Jackson in particular couldn't drag Baltimore to playoff wins the last two years due to team fuckups, along with a few of his own.

At least in the bubble of just last nights game, I'm not sure what Dak was supposed to do. He can't catch the ball for the receivers. And frankly Ferg dropped a TD right before the fumble too. But if you look at the entirety of his career that may be a different story. There have been missed opportunities and short comings of Dak. But in terms of last night? Dak looked really good.

 

[Stars]

I can't imagine being optimistic after 30 years.

It's Candide level naivety.

I'm optimistic on a game by game experience, for the most part. I stopped looking at the team through the lense of "Can they win the super bowl" because we all know how this team is ran. So at that point, why would I even watch the team, beyond some nostalgic love of the Cowboys. I guess after this many decades of failure, I hope the team gets lucky.

But this year, especially this first game, with all the shit that's just happened, I thought they would get the shit beat out of them. But they played well and certain players that need to play well (Dak) had good games. So I'm not just going to shit all over the team because they lost.

We could non-stop shit on Jerry and the front office dealings til the end of time. And I certainly like to join in on occasion. But normally, I'm not that doom and gloom about 1 game in the regular season. I used to be. I was a horrible person to be around.

I dont even know what I'm trying to say. I'm optimistic about certain aspects of the team that allow me to enjoy a game. The end.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

I don't think we have the right DC for that.

Yeah, I'm with you on this. But I think the players will get better regardless.

 

[Genghis Khan]

You need to be special to win a Super Bowl.

Not really true anymore.

Had there been a Super Bowl winning team last year, I don't think they would have been special outside of the running back.

 

[Genghis Khan]

But with each passing year, your tolerance for this foolishness dwindles.

Yep.

And we're coming off one of our worst off-seasons in a long time.

2 in a row in fact.

But don't act like those who can't are being unreasonably pessimistic either, because history is on our side, not yours.

Yep.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

I stopped looking at the team through the lense of "Can they win the super bowl" because we all know how this team is ran.

Yeah I know some here will judge and disagree but I've learned that you just have to enjoy the journey. If you can't enjoy the regular season because you know how the story ends, then there really isn't a point in watching the games at all. And so yeah, I'd much rather watch a Dallas team play well and win football games than to not. And if I can take anything from last nights game (Still not sure that you really can) I think this team is capable of a really good season.

 

[Simpleton]

Not really true anymore.

Had there been a Super Bowl winning team last year, I don't think they would have been special outside of the running back.

Pass rush also.

But thankfully that theoretical team lost 2 of their 3 best pass rushers.

Speaking of which, did anybody notice Nolan Smith last night?

Dude might not even be as good as Sam f'ing Williams.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Had there been a Super Bowl winning team last year

 

[Genghis Khan]

Forget the drops.

5.5 yards per attempt against that decimated secondary.

To be fair, those CD drops were egregious. The YPA should have been better.

But Dak always seems to struggle against Fangio

 

[Smitty]

I think this is true to an extent, he's not Burrow, Allen, etc., who can sometimes elevate their teams all on their own, although if Lamb just catches 1-2 of the three second half drops you could easily say Dak won us the game with big plays down the stretch.

They weren't just three random drops at random points in the game, one was a huge 3rd down conversion late in the 3rd (or even early 4th) that would've given us a 1st down around the Eagles 35, instead we were punting. The other would've given us a 1st down around the Eagles 20 with 2 minutes left.

Better QB's are better for a reason, but they aren't supermen who consistently win games despite their teams fuck ups. Lamar Jackson in particular couldn't drag Baltimore to playoff wins the last two years due to team fuckups, along with a few of his own.

He's the highest paid QB in the league, still right? That's one of the problems with having him.

I mean, I'd argue I wouldn't really want him at any price because he just doesn't elevate his game or anyone else's, but, at least if you were paying him a bargain contract you could afford some more support around him.

 

[Simpleton]

At least in the bubble of just last nights game, I'm not sure what Dak was supposed to do. He can't catch the ball for the receivers. And frankly Ferg dropped a TD right before the fumble too. But if you look at the entirety of his career that may be a different story. There have been missed opportunities and short comings of Dak. But in terms of last night? Dak looked really good.

Yea, I get looking at the history of everything and using it as a barometer for every game going forward, it just feels tedious and disingenuous at times.

Dak played well in this single game, he'll play well in others, he'll play worse in others, I personally would rather look at each game objectively without constantly dragging the past with me into everything I see moving forward.

 

[Simpleton]

He's the highest paid QB in the league, still right? That's one of the problems with having him.

I mean, I'd argue I wouldn't really want him at any price because he just doesn't elevate his game or anyone else's, but, at least if you were paying him a bargain contract you could afford some more support around him.

Yea, the contract is preposterous, no arguing that.

 

[Genghis Khan]

alleged defending champs

 

[Smitty]

At least in the bubble of just last nights game, I'm not sure what Dak was supposed to do. He can't catch the ball for the receivers. And frankly Ferg dropped a TD right before the fumble too. But if you look at the entirety of his career that may be a different story. There have been missed opportunities and short comings of Dak. But in terms of last night? Dak looked really good.

No, I don't agree.

You don't know what he was supposed to do? You don't think in a game with 188 yards passing we can't go back and watch the film and find some big plays he might have left on the field, some open WRs he didn't see, some passes that he got lucky weren't picked off, etc?

Balderdash. You can start with underthrowing Jake Ferguson in the redzone on a pass where if he had properly led him, it's a touchdown.

The winning QBs in this league, you can find those things with them too, but the difference is, they make enough of the plays to put up the necssary stats to win. And I'm sorry, winning is heavily connected with throwing for more than 200 yards and zero touchdowns.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Yea, the contract is preposterous, no arguing that.

The contract is bad. I don't really know that it changes the way the Jones boys do business at all though. We lost the spending Jerry a long time ago.

 

[Genghis Khan]

The Eagles didn't stop Dak one time. CeeDee did.

Well, there was the fumble also.

We didn't score a point in the second half. It's kind of hard to argue that they didn't stop Dak one time.

I'm with you on CD though, he was awful after the first quarter.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Balderdash. You can start with underthrowing Jake Ferguson in the redzone on a pass where if he had properly led him, it's a touchdown.

You don't know that, Ferg dropped a TD that went right threw his hands. I mean if the argument is that Dak wasn't perfect, sure he wasn't. But he did enough to win the game last night.

I have yet to see a QB throw a perfect game. Shit watch Mahomes and you'll see missed throws.

 

[Smitty]

I'm optimistic on a game by game experience, for the most part. I stopped looking at the team through the lense of "Can they win the super bowl" because we all know how this team is ran. So at that point, why would I even watch the team, beyond some nostalgic love of the Cowboys. I guess after this many decades of failure, I hope the team gets lucky.

But this year, especially this first game, with all the shit that's just happened, I thought they would get the shit beat out of them. But they played well and certain players that need to play well (Dak) had good games. So I'm not just going to shit all over the team because they lost.

We could non-stop shit on Jerry and the front office dealings til the end of time. And I certainly like to join in on occasion. But normally, I'm not that doom and gloom about 1 game in the regular season. I used to be. I was a horrible person to be around.

I dont even know what I'm trying to say. I'm optimistic about certain aspects of the team that allow me to enjoy a game. The end.

They look more or less exactly like they did in the Garrett and McCarthy (probably a little worse, honestly) years.

 

[Simpleton]

The contract is bad. I don't really know that it changes the way the Jones boys do business at all though. We lost the spending Jerry a long time ago.

Probably not, although it might've been the difference between keeping someone like Jourdan Lewis and letting him walk.

Impossible to say, but it's still an issue that Dak is the highest paid QB while only being probably somewhere around 8th-10th best or so.

 

[Smitty]

You don't know that, Ferg dropped a TD that went right threw his hands. I mean if the argument is that Dak wasn't perfect, sure he wasn't. But he did enough to win the game last night.

No, he didn't. You don't know that he punches it in on the final drive if CD doesn't drop it.

It's much more of a sure thing that a properly led pass to Ferguson results in a TD. We know Dak flubbed that pass (I'm not talking about the one where Ferguson was drilled for the penalty, I mean the one earlier where it hit the defender's helmet and Ferguson had to reach back for it).

And like I said, it's nuts to say on an evening where he couldn't move the ball at all in the second half that you won't find missed open receivers, bad decisions, etc.