JJT: Arrogant offseason approach has Cowboys at bottom of NFC

Cotton

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Arrogant offseason approach has Cowboys at bottom of NFC

Jean-Jacques Taylor, ESPN Staff Writer

IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys find themselves in last place in the NFC East and tied for the worst record in the NFC because they took an arrogant approach to the offseason.

It was easy to do because they finished 12-4 and won the division behind the game’s best offensive line in 2014. DeMarco Murray produced a franchise-record 1,845 rushing yards and Tony Romo had never played better when it mattered most.

And that’s why they believed their own hype.

The Cowboys pride themselves on making decisions collectively, so you can blame the quartet of owner/general manager Jerry Jones, vice president Stephen Jones, head coach Jason Garrett and scouting director Will McClay in any order you choose.

This season’s demise began with the foolish decision to make Brandon Weeden the Cowboys’ backup quarterback, because it’s obvious Garrett and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan had zero confidence in Weeden.

They gave him a Pop Warner game plan, then wondered why he didn’t produce before demoting him as starter after three winless starts. Matt Cassel, Weeden’s replacement, was acquired the week Romo broke his collarbone and the Cowboys knew they would need a starter for nearly two months.

Cassel has a 1-5 record as a starter, with five touchdowns, six interceptions and a 73.5 passer rating overall this season. He has flunked a quarterback’s most important job, which is getting the team into the end zone.

The Cowboys have scored one touchdown or less in four of his six starts. Pathetic.

A lot of the Cowboys’ offensive issues besides the obvious absence of Romo can be traced to the team's negotiating tactics with Murray. Clearly, the Cowboys were afraid of his age and his workload, which included more than 400 touches in 2014, so there was no way they were going to give him the five-year, $40 million deal he received from Philadelphia.

Matching Philadelphia’s deal wasn’t the problem. The Cowboys never really gave Murray a legitimate offer until free agency began. Everybody knows that if you allow a player to reach unrestricted free agency, the odds of him returning are virtually nil.

The Cowboys figured their offensive line was so good that even Joseph Randle, released after Week 6, and a running back by committee could get the job done.

They haven’t.

The running game may rank in the top half of the NFL, but it has been unreliable all season. The Cowboys have struggled in short-yardage situations and haven't controlled games with their running game the way they did last season.

The inconsistent running game has affected their ability to be productive with play-action passes and their deep passing game. See, it all works together.

Ignore the stats, which say the Cowboys have rushed for a 4.4 average on 346 carries and Darren McFadden has 798 yards and a 4.2 yards-per-carry average. If you’ve watched the games, you know the truth: They miss Murray -- or somebody like him.

The Cowboys eschewed selecting a runner in the best running back draft in years last spring, but it’s clear they need a starter. McFadden has been solid, but this team needs more than that because it wants a dominant running game.

In the process, the Cowboys have found out this line isn’t so good that anyone can gain 1,300 yards running behind it. You could not convince them of that last spring.

Part of the problem with the running game is the offensive line hasn’t been nearly as good as it was last season. There have been too many whiffs and too many average performances.

It’s not that Zack Martin, Tyron Smith or Travis Frederick -- the core -- have played poorly, because they haven’t. They’ve been really good in a season in which the Cowboys needed them to be great to compensate for Romo’s loss.

Bill Callahan is one of the league’s best offensive line coaches, but he and Garrett had a frosty relationship. Frank Pollack, Callahan's former assistant and the Cowboys' new line coach, will probably be among the first scapegoats at the end of this season.

There’s always a scapegoat or two when a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations ends with a top-10 draft choice.

The Cowboys handling of Dez Bryant's contract negotiations also proved to be one of the big mistakes of the offseason. When it was all said and done, the Cowboys essentially gave Bryant the same money he wanted when negotiations began.

Talk to enough folks in the front office and they’ll admit the club would’ve been better served paying Bryant in March so he could’ve been a full participant in the offseason program.

Instead, he missed all of the offseason minicamps and OTAs, so no one should’ve been surprised when he strained a hamstring early in camp that forced him to miss the entire preseason.

He broke his foot in the first game of the regular season and missed five games before rushing back. Watch him play, though, and it becomes clear he hasn’t been right much of the season.

His numbers are pedestrian and he’s had just one 100-yard game this season, which is awful for a player who averaged 91 catches, 1,312 yards and 14 touchdowns over the previous three seasons.

The Cowboys figured he was good enough to miss the offseason and still perform at the highest of levels.

It’s just one more arrogant offseason decision the Cowboys made that has turned what was supposed to be a season to remember into one to forget.
 

p1_

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Nailed it.
Most folks here did too, maybe aside from the Bryant negotiations.
We all knew Weeden sucked and so did not drafting a running back.
Stupidity and arrogance combined is deadly.
 

Simpleton

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This season's failure has almost nothing to do with what we did at RB, although clearly we should have done more either in free agency or the draft and shouldn't have come into the season banking on Randle. The Bryant thing was a bit of a fiasco, and maybe if he hadn't missed so much time he wouldn't have gotten hurt, but Denver did the exact same thing with Demaryius and he hasn't missed a single game, sometimes things just happen and it isn't anybody's fault.

Romo's injury and not having any kind of competent backup (or a competent HC who could help design a somewhat functional offense and/or cohesive game-plan with a back-up) is what really sunk the season, so blame the front office for riding with Weeden and having a do-nothing like Garrett at HC.

With 2014 Romo, and even without Dez, this team wins 10 or 11 games, runs away with the NFC East, and the rushing game probably ends up being inconsistent but still passable. We are a borderline top 10 rushing team across the board (YPC, rush YPG, total rushing yards) with Romo for about a total of 3 games and an injured Dez, do you mean to tell me that our rushing game wouldn't be decent enough with a healthy Romo or even a competent back-up like Ryan Fitzpatrick?

We averaged 4.6 YPC last year and 4.4 this year, and I know that can be skewed by big runs and we haven't been as good in short-yardage situations but to me that is not what sunk our season at all. Losing Romo and having no plan (either in terms of an actual back-up QB or in terms of the coaching staff having a cohesive plan) to win without him is what sunk it, and that is what the front office/Garrett should be blamed for.
 

Carp

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I fully backed letting Murray go, promoting Randle, and adding another piece like McFadden. I think we all had an idea that Randle was an idiot, but I don't think we knew the level of issues he had. That to me was the biggest question mark coming into the season...and it killed us. There is no way this team should have had to go out and sign a bunch of different RBs just to get through the season. Ryan Williams was in the mix for a long time, but never got a chance. That is too much time to spend on a guy we never were going to play anyways. The Romo injury certainly did not help things, but the philosophy we took at RB doomed us. Clearly we had interests in RBs in the draft, but gosh darn it, they just went off the board before we could take them.

I think we did some good things on the defensive side...adding Jones and Gregory, bringing back McClain, and of course adding Hardy. The defense was the strong point, which is odd to say.

One last thing...offensively, we do not have a player that is just a monster big play guy. Dunbar might have been, but outside of that the team had no players that we capable of being difference makers offensively. Dez is to a point, but I would not put him in the explosive category.
 

UncleMilti

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This season's failure has almost nothing to do with what we did at RB, although clearly we should have done more either in free agency or the draft and shouldn't have come into the season banking on Randle. The Bryant thing was a bit of a fiasco, and maybe if he hadn't missed so much time he wouldn't have gotten hurt, but Denver did the exact same thing with Demaryius and he hasn't missed a single game, sometimes things just happen and it isn't anybody's fault.

Romo's injury and not having any kind of competent backup (or a competent HC who could help design a somewhat functional offense and/or cohesive game-plan with a back-up) is what really sunk the season, so blame the front office for riding with Weeden and having a do-nothing like Garrett at HC.

With 2014 Romo, and even without Dez, this team wins 10 or 11 games, runs away with the NFC East, and the rushing game probably ends up being inconsistent but still passable. We are a borderline top 10 rushing team across the board (YPC, rush YPG, total rushing yards) with Romo for about a total of 3 games and an injured Dez, do you mean to tell me that our rushing game wouldn't be decent enough with a healthy Romo or even a competent back-up like Ryan Fitzpatrick?

We averaged 4.6 YPC last year and 4.4 this year, and I know that can be skewed by big runs and we haven't been as good in short-yardage situations but to me that is not what sunk our season at all. Losing Romo and having no plan (either in terms of an actual back-up QB or in terms of the coaching staff having a cohesive plan) to win without him is what sunk it, and that is what the front office/Garrett should be blamed for.
I agree...but it also would have been a first round exit, and set up another "blow smoke up our ass" offseason where Jones was convinced we didn't need to do anything outside of a bargain player here or there to get over the hump.

As it stands now, Jones at least sees this team has a ton of issues that need addressed.
 

L.T. Fan

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Arrogant offseason approach has Cowboys at bottom of NFC

Jean-Jacques Taylor, ESPN Staff Writer

IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys find themselves in last place in the NFC East and tied for the worst record in the NFC because they took an arrogant approach to the offseason.

It was easy to do because they finished 12-4 and won the division behind the game’s best offensive line in 2014. DeMarco Murray produced a franchise-record 1,845 rushing yards and Tony Romo had never played better when it mattered most.

And that’s why they believed their own hype.

The Cowboys pride themselves on making decisions collectively, so you can blame the quartet of owner/general manager Jerry Jones, vice president Stephen Jones, head coach Jason Garrett and scouting director Will McClay in any order you choose.

This season’s demise began with the foolish decision to make Brandon Weeden the Cowboys’ backup quarterback, because it’s obvious Garrett and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan had zero confidence in Weeden.

They gave him a Pop Warner game plan, then wondered why he didn’t produce before demoting him as starter after three winless starts. Matt Cassel, Weeden’s replacement, was acquired the week Romo broke his collarbone and the Cowboys knew they would need a starter for nearly two months.

Cassel has a 1-5 record as a starter, with five touchdowns, six interceptions and a 73.5 passer rating overall this season. He has flunked a quarterback’s most important job, which is getting the team into the end zone.

The Cowboys have scored one touchdown or less in four of his six starts. Pathetic.

A lot of the Cowboys’ offensive issues besides the obvious absence of Romo can be traced to the team's negotiating tactics with Murray. Clearly, the Cowboys were afraid of his age and his workload, which included more than 400 touches in 2014, so there was no way they were going to give him the five-year, $40 million deal he received from Philadelphia.

Matching Philadelphia’s deal wasn’t the problem. The Cowboys never really gave Murray a legitimate offer until free agency began. Everybody knows that if you allow a player to reach unrestricted free agency, the odds of him returning are virtually nil.

The Cowboys figured their offensive line was so good that even Joseph Randle, released after Week 6, and a running back by committee could get the job done.

They haven’t.

The running game may rank in the top half of the NFL, but it has been unreliable all season. The Cowboys have struggled in short-yardage situations and haven't controlled games with their running game the way they did last season.

The inconsistent running game has affected their ability to be productive with play-action passes and their deep passing game. See, it all works together.

Ignore the stats, which say the Cowboys have rushed for a 4.4 average on 346 carries and Darren McFadden has 798 yards and a 4.2 yards-per-carry average. If you’ve watched the games, you know the truth: They miss Murray -- or somebody like him.

The Cowboys eschewed selecting a runner in the best running back draft in years last spring, but it’s clear they need a starter. McFadden has been solid, but this team needs more than that because it wants a dominant running game.

In the process, the Cowboys have found out this line isn’t so good that anyone can gain 1,300 yards running behind it. You could not convince them of that last spring.

Part of the problem with the running game is the offensive line hasn’t been nearly as good as it was last season. There have been too many whiffs and too many average performances.

It’s not that Zack Martin, Tyron Smith or Travis Frederick -- the core -- have played poorly, because they haven’t. They’ve been really good in a season in which the Cowboys needed them to be great to compensate for Romo’s loss.

Bill Callahan is one of the league’s best offensive line coaches, but he and Garrett had a frosty relationship. Frank Pollack, Callahan's former assistant and the Cowboys' new line coach, will probably be among the first scapegoats at the end of this season.

There’s always a scapegoat or two when a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations ends with a top-10 draft choice.

The Cowboys handling of Dez Bryant's contract negotiations also proved to be one of the big mistakes of the offseason. When it was all said and done, the Cowboys essentially gave Bryant the same money he wanted when negotiations began.

Talk to enough folks in the front office and they’ll admit the club would’ve been better served paying Bryant in March so he could’ve been a full participant in the offseason program.

Instead, he missed all of the offseason minicamps and OTAs, so no one should’ve been surprised when he strained a hamstring early in camp that forced him to miss the entire preseason.

He broke his foot in the first game of the regular season and missed five games before rushing back. Watch him play, though, and it becomes clear he hasn’t been right much of the season.

His numbers are pedestrian and he’s had just one 100-yard game this season, which is awful for a player who averaged 91 catches, 1,312 yards and 14 touchdowns over the previous three seasons.

The Cowboys figured he was good enough to miss the offseason and still perform at the highest of levels.

It’s just one more arrogant offseason decision the Cowboys made that has turned what was supposed to be a season to remember into one to forget.
Even after another season is about to expire since Murray left, some would still say he didn't he didn't have that much effect on the running game. It was mostly the OL that made him succeed.
 

Jiggyfly

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This season's failure has almost nothing to do with what we did at RB, although clearly we should have done more either in free agency or the draft and shouldn't have come into the season banking on Randle. The Bryant thing was a bit of a fiasco, and maybe if he hadn't missed so much time he wouldn't have gotten hurt, but Denver did the exact same thing with Demaryius and he hasn't missed a single game, sometimes things just happen and it isn't anybody's fault.

Romo's injury and not having any kind of competent backup (or a competent HC who could help design a somewhat functional offense and/or cohesive game-plan with a back-up) is what really sunk the season, so blame the front office for riding with Weeden and having a do-nothing like Garrett at HC.

With 2014 Romo, and even without Dez, this team wins 10 or 11 games, runs away with the NFC East, and the rushing game probably ends up being inconsistent but still passable. We are a borderline top 10 rushing team across the board (YPC, rush YPG, total rushing yards) with Romo for about a total of 3 games and an injured Dez, do you mean to tell me that our rushing game wouldn't be decent enough with a healthy Romo or even a competent back-up like Ryan Fitzpatrick?

We averaged 4.6 YPC last year and 4.4 this year, and I know that can be skewed by big runs and we haven't been as good in short-yardage situations but to me that is not what sunk our season at all. Losing Romo and having no plan (either in terms of an actual back-up QB or in terms of the coaching staff having a cohesive plan) to win without him is what sunk it, and that is what the front office/Garrett should be blamed for.
I agree with everything said.

Every question marked turned into a worst case scenario and Garrett has zero ability to adjust on the fly.

His biggest failing as a coach over his tenure has been his inability to tailor game plans to the talent available.
 

Simpleton

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I agree...but it also would have been a first round exit, and set up another "blow smoke up our ass" offseason where Jones was convinced we didn't need to do anything outside of a bargain player here or there to get over the hump.

As it stands now, Jones at least sees this team has a ton of issues that need addressed.
Yea, I'm just saying I wouldn't go off the deep end about what we did at RB, signing Hardy, not extending Dez earlier, etc., that I'm sure the media will throw out for the next 7 months until training camp as crosses that the front office has to bear.
 

UncleMilti

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Yea, I'm just saying I wouldn't go off the deep end about what we did at RB, signing Hardy, not extending Dez earlier, etc., that I'm sure the media will throw out for the next 7 months until training camp as crosses that the front office has to bear.
I agree 100%.

I actually think McFadden would be good to pair with a young RB out of the draft. He hasn't been terrible.
 

shane

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They definitely messed up not bringing in someone decent to replace Murray. McFadden's been serviceable but he is not equipped to be a feature running back who grinds teams down. That is what we need. The fact that they didn't bring in some bruiser shows immense arrogance.
 

Chocolate Lab

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Called it even in the preseason. Not that it was that hard -- the worst thing for this organization is, ironically, some success the previous year.

Next year with lowered expectations and a renewed commitment to actual practice and improvement instead of protecting from injury, we'll probably be really good again.
 

Cotton

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Called it even in the preseason. Not that it was that hard -- the worst thing for this organization is, ironically, some success the previous year.
And, every bit of that comes down to coaching.
 

Genghis Khan

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This season's failure has almost nothing to do with what we did at RB.
I couldn't disagree more.

Two major things changed from last season: our running game and defensive turnovers. I put major blame on those two things for this failed season.

It's not that the ypc was slightly down this year, but that it was very inconsistent this year. Teams therefore didn't respect our running game. Which means it was harder to throw and we increased the burden on Romo. And oh look, he got hurt.
 

Genghis Khan

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I fully backed letting Murray go, promoting Randle, and adding another piece like McFadden. I think we all had an idea that Randle was an idiot, but I don't think we knew the level of issues he had. That to me was the biggest question mark coming into the season...and it killed us. There is no way this team should have had to go out and sign a bunch of different RBs just to get through the season. Ryan Williams was in the mix for a long time, but never got a chance. That is too much time to spend on a guy we never were going to play anyways. The Romo injury certainly did not help things, but the philosophy we took at RB doomed us. Clearly we had interests in RBs in the draft, but gosh darn it, they just went off the board before we could take them.

I think we did some good things on the defensive side...adding Jones and Gregory, bringing back McClain, and of course adding Hardy. The defense was the strong point, which is odd to say.

One last thing...offensively, we do not have a player that is just a monster big play guy. Dunbar might have been, but outside of that the team had no players that we capable of being difference makers offensively. Dez is to a point, but I would not put him in the explosive category.
The fact that it took us so long to recognize how ineffective Randle is, is alarming. Even in the off-season it wasn't hard to see.
 

Rev

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The fact that it took us so long to recognize how ineffective Randle is, is alarming. Even in the off-season it wasn't hard to see.
For most of us. :unsure
 

L.T. Fan

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Well his production behind a Philly offensive line might agree with that fact.
Then what accounted for his success here with the same line. Murray was an exceptional runner and I don't think that can be successfully disputed.
 

L.T. Fan

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I couldn't disagree more.

Two major things changed from last season: our running game and defensive turnovers. I put major blame on those two things for this failed season.

It's not that the ypc was slightly down this year, but that it was very inconsistent this year. Teams therefore didn't respect our running game. Which means it was harder to throw and we increased the burden on Romo. And oh look, he got hurt.
Pretty much.
 
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