2025 Season | Week 14 | Gameday Chatter Thread | Dallas Cowboys @ Detroit Lions | 12/4/25

Texas Ace said:

And "they" are fucking idiots because I'm available. Do "they" want to sign me to play LT for their team?

You know who else is always available? Terrence Steele -- and I can't wait till we send that asshole packing.

That's such a stupid phrase and I'm surprised something that dumb caught on.

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Yep.

Simpleton said:

I really, really hate saying this but if the OT's look more or less the same over the last 4 games as they have over the first 13 I think there is a very strong argument to consider OT with either of our two 1's, especially if we end up in the 15ish range as I expect.

If your boy Bailey is there when we pick it's a no-brainer, but if he's gone and either Fano or Mauigoa (both RT's) are on the board there is a very real possibility that they are the BPA.

Throw in the fact that Steele is eating up a huge chunk of cap space for nothing, and Guyton's inconsistencies, and I think you could easily argue for clearing Steele's contract with a BPA RT pick in the first and hoping Guyton can improve to "average-ish" at LT.

I really would not love it given the situation on defense but if the BPA plays a position that is also one of the weakest on the team, what can you do?

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Defense defense defense defense defense

They've gotten by with the tackle situation not being great.

They can't get by with this defense.

Simpleton said:

As far as Eberflus replacements go, I still generally believe in former HC's who were good DC's but just didn't cut it as HC's.

With that in mind I'd be more than happy with someone like Raheem Morris, Gannon, Schwartz, or maybe even Leslie Frazier.

But if the defense ends the year looking more like they did over the last 3 games than last night, am I rolling the dice on a random position coach over hoping Eberflus can figure it out in year 2 with some more talent?

That's where I'm iffy.

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God help me but I'd snap up Schwartz in a heartbeat.

Genghis Khan said:

Defense defense defense defense defense

They've gotten by with the tackle situation not being great.

They can't get by with this defense.

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I generally agree but I could easily see the board being a certain way where a Fano or Mauigoa are the clear BPA's with a bunch of meh defensive options.

There's always a trade down but we know how that goes.

Genghis Khan said:

Defense defense defense defense defense

They've gotten by with the tackle situation not being great.

They can't get by with this defense.

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I agree, I'm not worried about the offense. Here is an idea, take your second year OTs and develop them? Take your rookie OT and develop him? It was a bad game but I'm not going to overreact to what hasn't been a problem most of the year.

Keep Pickens, your have Flournoy looking good as your third option. Develop the young offensive line and just keep rolling.

The defense, needs a new coordinator first of all. But safeties, LBers and pass rushers. We need them all. I'll leave corner off for now but that very well may be a need to. Bland hasn't been good.

It was the let down game. This team, for whatever reason, is not mentally tough enough to handle success and expectations.

You can't blame it on talent, there is no way to have studs at every position. Coaching and Scheme. You notice Detroit played with a certain intensity, we don't possess that, can't remember the last time we were the more aggressive, tougher team.

The defense has improved since the bye, but the scheme is soft. How many times do we see defenders fall backwards when making tackles? They are basically catching and trying to hold on. Detroit tackled. They consistently hit our players and stopped extra yardage.

We have 4 games left, we should be favored in all 4, we will find a way to lose one of those games. It's how they were raised.

Cowboysrock55 said:

I agree, I'm not worried about the offense. Here is an idea, take your second year OTs and develop them? Take your rookie OT and develop him? It was a bad game but I'm not going to overreact to what hasn't been a problem most of the year.

Keep Pickens, your have Flournoy looking good as your third option. Develop the young offensive line and just keep rolling.

The defense, needs a new coordinator first of all. But safeties, LBers and pass rushers. We need them all. I'll leave corner off for now but that very well may be a need to. Bland hasn't been good.

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But what if we cut Steele?

Are you really willing to roll the dice next year on Guyton, Thomas and Cornelius at OT?

I'm assuming there's no way these jokers move Smith to LT, even if that's the obvious move with Bass at LG.

Newt said:

It was the let down game. This team, for whatever reason, is not mentally tough enough to handle success and expectations.

You can't blame it on talent, there is no way to have studs at every position. Coaching and Scheme. You notice Detroit played with a certain intensity, we don't possess that, can't remember the last time we were the more aggressive, tougher team.

The defense has improved since the bye, but the scheme is soft. How many times do we see defenders fall backwards when making tackles? They are basically catching and trying to hold on. Detroit tackled. They consistently hit our players and stopped extra yardage.

We have 4 games left, we should be favored in all 4, we will find a way to lose one of those games. It's how they were raised.

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I agree, I'm not too upset about the individual loss, it's more the trends that I'm seeing with the sloppy fumbles, laughable ST play, etc.

All of that came home to roost again last night, shitty defense aside.

I’m done griping for now.

I’m just going to say this.

I doubt any of us expected this team to go 8-0 for the rest of the season. Speaking for myself, if you had told me 3 weeks ago that we would go 2-1 on this 3 game stretch, I would be FGFPing for it or I would just laugh at you. I halfway expected us to lose last night but I got sucked in by the news of Detroit’s injury situation and thought we might have a chance.

I like Schotty. I think he brings fire and creativity to this team. Like Simp, I think he’s done a good job galvanizing the players. But for whatever reason, they weren’t prepared last night and Detroit just wanted it more. I’m hoping this is a learning opportunity for him and this season can be a building block for better seasons for years to come. I still think we have a good chance to go on another run and win 10 games. Will it get us into the playoffs? That depends on if Philly falls apart but even if we do, we’re likely not going anywhere in the playoffs.

I guess that’s enough sunshine pumping from me.

Chocolate Lab said:

Not sure what you're saying... When you get a new head coach, he usually gets to hire his people to work for him, right?

It sounds like they wanted almost a Switzer situation where the OC and DC are already hired for him.

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I'm just saying that Schottenheimer was McCarthy's OC already. So you said "They wanted to hire Schotty as OC before they hired the head coach (to replace McCarthy)." Schotty was already the OC?

Again, just on the coverage of this team... it's very frustrating that we don't really know what goes on behind the scenes. I don't love Schotty's constant "I love these guys so much" and "I'm super proud of them no matter what" even after terrible performances theme. Then you have people like Bobby Belt, who does hear some things, say he's a bigger disciplinarian then any coach here for a long time. And maybe he is, but who knows what that means? Maybe he's 5% better on that than Mike, but that's still way too little. We know Jerry limits all his head coaches to some degree, but we never know exactly how much. Frustrating.

Chocolate Lab said:

Again, just on the coverage of this team... it's very frustrating that we don't really know what goes on behind the scenes. I don't love Schotty's constant "I love these guys so much" and "I'm super proud of them no matter what" even after terrible performances theme. Then you have people like Bobby Belt, who does hear some things, say he's a bigger disciplinarian then any coach here for a long time. And maybe he is, but who knows what that means? Maybe he's 5% better on that than Mike, but that's still way too little. We know Jerry limits all his head coaches to some degree, but we never know exactly how much. Frustrating.

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Maybe he's disciplining someone somewhere but I know lackadaisical HC's when I see them and letting your team consistently fumble for weeks on end to the tune of being 2-3X higher than most of the league, and letting sloppy ST's slide all year, is not the sign of a HC who is drilling his team on the details.

I'd argue the ST coach should be gone before Eberflus even, it's just not as noticeable because ST's aren't as big a part of the game.

Smitty said:

I'm just saying that Schottenheimer was McCarthy's OC already. So you said "They wanted to hire Schotty as OC before they hired the head coach (to replace McCarthy)." Schotty was already the OC?

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He was before under Mike, sure. But that doesn't mean he would be under the new HC, right? That's not how it works, at least with other than a total puppet HC.

I mean, if you hired Mike Vrabel (totally hypothetical of course, it wouldn't actually happen here), you'd let him hire his OC, right? But it sounds like the Joneses wanted to hire the OC first, then an HC afterwards.

And BTW, this thinking all goes back to Dak. They gave him a lot of say and want him to be happy. In fact, it's the number one criterion for a coach. (Well, number 2 behind the Jones Comfortability Factor.) And I don't think that's the way to go about things. Dak hasn't earned that, and I wouldn't let even a truly great QB make those decisions.

stellar

And that's from our supposed LB Whisperer DC. I have to admit I bought into that as well.

he's the only one to use "statue" as a compliment

bbgun said:

stellar

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That first play is actually what I said about Murray earlier, he doesn't run to the ball when he has a lane, he runs to engage with the OL even to the point of opening up a running lane with the space he's vacating.

I've never seen anything like it, and it's the main reason I have LB as the top offseason priority on defense.

Jer throwin' a little shade

bbgun said:

he's the only one to use "statue" as a compliment

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What about when TO's agent said he was "a man of statue"...

bbgun said:

Jer throwin' a little shade

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Well, Jerry.... If you wanted the team to consistently be ready to play and get coached up, then maybe you'd foster a culture within the organization that would allow for such a thing to occur.

"I'm surprised my average HC, who's never been a HC before, that I hired so I could control maintain control of all football matters, is putting together disappointing results".

Fuck you, Jerry.