Your 2014 Dallas Cowboys fan obituaries....

Smitty · Jan 11, 2015

Post your year end thoughts here.

Sucks to lose this game but I actually feel like this year's success was/is sustainable.

Defense needs 3 pieces. Two on the DL and maybe a DB, plus health from McClain/Lee.

And of course Romo having a Rich Gannon-like end of his career.... Peaking at over age 35.

Plan9Misfit · Jan 11, 2015

1. This season was a complete success. Lots of things to build on and learn from.
2. This defense needs a shit ton of help at the d-line. We need a real DE and two DTs.
3. Murray is totally expendable based on our o-line, and I wouldn't hesitate to draft another OT in the 1st if Andrus Peat is available.
4. If Lee can return healthy and stay that way, our defense will be better even if we make zero changes at the d-line.
5. The entire focus of the offseason should be to play with the players' emotions and make them angry with the loss and make them hungry to win next season and play with the anger of a man who just learned that someone raped his mother.

vtcowboy · Jan 11, 2015

Every position on defense remains a need due to lack of talent, uncertain contract status of certain guys, and injury concerns. By group, I'd prioritize them DL, DB, and LB, in that order.

Deuce · Jan 11, 2015

mschmidt64 said:
Post your year end thoughts here.

Sucks to lose this game but I actually feel like this year's success was/is sustainable.

Defense needs 3 pieces. Two on the DL and maybe a DB, plus health from McClain/Lee.

And of course Romo having a Rich Gannon-like end of his career.... Peaking at over age 35.

Lee is injury prone and now McClain ending the season with 2 straight games with a concussion. Not inspiring.

22cowboysfan22 · Jan 11, 2015

Plan9Misfit said:
1. This season was a complete success. Lots of things to build on and learn from.
2. This defense needs a shit ton of help at the d-line. We need a real DE and two DTs.
3. Murray is totally expendable based on our o-line, and I wouldn't hesitate to draft another OT in the 1st if Andrus Peat is available.
4. If Lee can return healthy and stay that way, our defense will be better even if we make zero changes at the d-line.
5. The entire focus of the offseason should be to play with the players' emotions and make them angry with the loss and make them hungry to win next season and play with the anger of a man who just learned that someone raped his mother.

Agree with all of this. Unfortunately the chance of Lee staying healthy for an entire season are next to nil.

Cowboysrock55 · Jan 11, 2015

22cowboysfan22 said:
Agree with all of this. Unfortunately the chance of Lee staying healthy for an entire season are next to nil.

I can take him getting hurt. I just want him at the end of the season. The season ending injury is what drives me nuts.

Smitty · Jan 11, 2015

I'm going to reiterate that we overcommitted to the run this year. For example... Today... 145 yards rushing, 170 yards passing.

Couldn't get the ball to Bryant all game long.

In focusing on the run, we showed a lot of flaws in our passing game design that was hid in previous years simply on volume.

VA Cowboy · Jan 11, 2015

If Marinelli is gone then may as well start a 2015 obituary thread too.

Clay_Allison · Jan 11, 2015

mschmidt64 said:
I'm going to reiterate that we overcommitted to the run this year. For example... Today... 145 yards rushing, 170 yards passing.

Couldn't get the ball to Bryant all game long.

In focusing on the run, we showed a lot of flaws in our passing game design that was hid in previous years simply on volume.

We haven't been good at letting the passing game actually feed off the running game. We don't go play action, we go empty backfield when we're trying to pass. I'd say that passing game design is seriously flawed.

data · Jan 11, 2015

mschmidt64 said:
I'm going to reiterate that we overcommitted to the run this year. For example... Today... 145 yards rushing, 170 yards passing.

Couldn't get the ball to Bryant all game long.

In focusing on the run, we showed a lot of flaws in our passing game design that was hid in previous years simply on volume.

bbgun · Jan 11, 2015

mschmidt64 said:
I'm going to reiterate that we overcommitted to the run this year. For example... Today... 145 yards rushing, 170 yards passing.

Couldn't get the ball to Bryant all game long.

In focusing on the run, we showed a lot of flaws in our passing game design that was hid in previous years simply on volume.

Romo's arm strength is a big reason why. no way he makes the two throws that Rodgers did to Adams (which he zipped by Moore) or rookie Rodgers in the end zone. as a result, we leave a lot of yards/opportunities on the field.

Simpleton · Jan 11, 2015

Increase the level of talent on defense as much as we can through the draft and free agency, let Murray go, sign Peterson to a short deal and give it a go over the next 2 years while Romo can still play.

Cowboysrock55 · Jan 11, 2015

The good news is our O-line should only get better. 4 starters on the O-line were 25 or younger this year. I see no reason why that group won't continue to get better. Especially a guy like Martin who dominated as a rookie. He's only going to get bigger and stronger in the NFL.

Cotton · Jan 11, 2015

Too fucking soon for me.

p1_ · Jan 11, 2015

Our weak D-line is our achilles' heal. It's so easy to see. Once we address this glaring weakness, we can count on pressure to change games and not
rely solely on the offense to carry the day.

boozeman · Jan 11, 2015

Iamtdg said:
Too fucking soon for me.

Yeah, can't even find the energy to give a shit about next year right now.

townsend · Jan 11, 2015

I'm happy as I can be in the circumstances. I think whoever kept putting a fragile Romo in an empty backfield to get murdered needs a stern talking to.

I feel like this season died where it had to. Aaron Rodgers was just too good to lose. We made to many mistakes to win.

That being said we played a great game and had a wonderful season. The 5 game win streak after Thanksgiving was awesome. Romo changing his rep was awesome.

I kinda think this season was lightning in a bottle, I think we'll see our lack of talent murder us as Romo continues to decline. But I'm really happy we had another year as winners.

Smitty · Jan 11, 2015

townsend said:
I'm happy as I can be in the circumstances. I think whoever kept putting a fragile Romo in an empty backfield to get murdered needs a stern talking to.

I feel like this season died where it had to. Aaron Rodgers was just too good to lose. We made to many mistakes to win.

That being said we played a great game and had a wonderful season. The 5 game win streak after Thanksgiving was awesome. Romo changing his rep was awesome.

I kinda think this season was lightning in a bottle, I think we'll see our lack of talent murder us as Romo continues to decline. But I'm really happy we had another year as winners.

I'm not 100% convinced the lack of talent is that glaring. We are definitely not Seattle or Denver overflowing with lots of high end players, but if we really invest in our lines it makes the players behind them play better.

Of course that doesn't mean that your OL will run roughshod over every defense it faces. Especially when teams commit to stopping the run like every single team we faced down the stretch did.

But it did allow Romo, Murray and Bryant to have career years. That's no coincidence.

Do the same for the DL now and watch the results. We can be a consistently good team on the backs of line play. Everything else will fall into place, as we'll be getting a buck fifty on every dollar for the skill position players behind.

DLK150 · Jan 11, 2015

I've cooled down thanks to excessive beer intake *hic* and a very satisfying lasagna despite having to cope with Packer fan relatives on social media.

My obit:

Far exceeded my expectations.
I made it back to full homer mode for the first time since 1996 and I really don't mind.
Happy with the way this team stuck it out to the end in just about every game.
We're missing some pieces on defense and if Marinelli is gone, we may be back to the drawing board.
Romo's window is closing. We can expect maybe two more solid years out of him but need to seriously start addressing the position.
I hate the way this season ended and it will leave a bitter taste in my mouth for awhile.
This year's team kind of got me back into the game, I had been adrift for awhile.
I can't honestly say the future is bright because we have so many question marks regarding players' health, contracts, etc.

RIP, 2014 Dallas Cowboys. At least you kept things interesting.

Carl · Jan 11, 2015

Enjoyable Season. The easily correctable things, I think are an upgrade at Punter; an upgrade at KR/ PR.

After that it gets harder; but focus most be on the D; specifically DL and S. We need play-makers on D.

We actually got fortunate this season with the lack of injuries, I hope that holds moving forward.

Your 2014 Dallas Cowboys fan obituaries....

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