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I'm jealous we don't have a fucking Super 8 employee here.
LOL @ The Zone
- Thread starter NoDak
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Bipo can fill those shoes.
BipolarFuk
Demoted
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Will McClay Facebook exchange :)
Me: thanks for friending me. :spinning stars:
Will: Cool
me: I live in Arizona and watch football a lot. Maybe you heard of me?
Will: No. Sorry.
Me: I want to watch football and scout players for you. I wouldn't charge you anything. I do it for the love of the game, and for respect/props.
Will: How nice.
Me: yeah. I'm kind of a big fish in a small pond. Not that damned ugly either.
Will: is this you trolling me again, ciskowski?
Me: no, im being serious, I'd like to offer my services to the team, free of charge. I scouted Nick Folk.
Will: I'll be in touch. Don't contact me, I'll contact you. If you contact me, that shows me you don't follow directions.
IM PRETTY MUCH A SCOUT NOW!!!!!! :star spin:
Me: thanks for friending me. :spinning stars:
Will: Cool
me: I live in Arizona and watch football a lot. Maybe you heard of me?
Will: No. Sorry.
Me: I want to watch football and scout players for you. I wouldn't charge you anything. I do it for the love of the game, and for respect/props.
Will: How nice.
Me: yeah. I'm kind of a big fish in a small pond. Not that damned ugly either.
Will: is this you trolling me again, ciskowski?
Me: no, im being serious, I'd like to offer my services to the team, free of charge. I scouted Nick Folk.
Will: I'll be in touch. Don't contact me, I'll contact you. If you contact me, that shows me you don't follow directions.
IM PRETTY MUCH A SCOUT NOW!!!!!! :star spin:
midswat
... soon
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- 4,241
GFY Boozeman.
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- 144,887
- Joined
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- 144,887
Grading the D-Line
I have to tell you folks that as I have been doing these articles grading the Dallas Cowboys I have dreaded this one. Part of me wants to give everyone an F. How in the world do 20 or more guys play in one season for 4 positions? The injury issues that plagued this group were beyond frustrating. You want to know why we were 8-8, look no further than the M*A*S*H unit that was our Defensive Line.
So I want to start this by dealing with the 4 men who were supposed to be our Defensive Line. One guy never contributed anything but headaches. That man is Jay Ratliff. I do not understand him at all. You talk about an ungrateful jerk, you talk about Jay Ratliff. I don't care what issues he had with the trainers and team doctors. Suck it up and be a man. How could this idiot forget the kindness shown to him by the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones in particular? Not only did we draft him, but he made the team and earned a starting role and even some honors. This earned him a big contract.
For most people that would be enough to create loyalty. Now let's throw in the coup de gras of his being a jerk. Jay Ratliff was raised by his grandparents. In 2010 they died in a fire. His Grandfather was invalid. His Grandmother could have got out and lived. Instead, she climbed into bed with the love of her life and left this world with him. That is love. You want to know what else is a form of love? Jerry Jones loaned his private plane to Jay to go take care of his family needs. How do you turn on someone who does something like that for you? How do you turn on a team that stands by you despite a DUI arrest.
When Jay Ratliff was released a friend of mine who is close to the team simply said, "Good riddance." I asked him why. To this he replied, "Jay Ratliff is just a miserable person to be around." I am wired different than Jay Obviously. If someone had done for me what Jerry did for him, I'd have taken a bullet for him. Jay Ratliff gets an F from me. There is no grade lower of course. An F is any % below 60 on most grade scales. Jay got a big fat zero. Fitting since he acted like one.
Next I am going to move on to Anthony Spencer. he started the pre season injured then ended up on Injured Reserve, playing in only 1 game. This is a guy who in 2012 was our Defensive MVP. To say I had a lot of high hopes for Anthony would be an understatement. Two years in a row he got the Franchise Tag. One of the two years he earned it. Last year was not that year. As much as it pains me to say it, and I hate blaming injuries, he too gets an F. He can redeem himself this year by signing a cap friendly contract and doing the job he was paid to do last year.
Next comes the guy who was our Defensive MVP in 2013, Jason Hatcher. He had his best season in his Free Agent year. There will be a lot of discussion on whether to Franchise him, let him go, bring him back and at what cost? I would love to see him come back. I would prefer it be a reasonable contract, not some outlandish price tag given his age, but that isn't the real world. He has every right to expect a decent salary after the year he had in 2013. Quite frankly he is the only guy on Defense who was a difference maker. I am going to give him an A-. No one else will be as high as that.
The guy who we all feel should always be above that is DeMarcus Ware. The Cowboys all time sacks leader. A probable first ballot Hall of Famer some day. Ware still got pressure on the Quarterback as good as anyone in the NFL, but he didn't get all the way to him like he has always been capable of doing. Multiple injuries were mostly to blame and he missed time for the first time in his career. I sort of expect him to be an automatic candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. He wasn't even lingering in the shadows of that last year. He is without a doubt one of my all time favorite players in Cowboys History, but he gets a C from me. 6 sacks. It just isn't good enough in any sense of the word. Yeah, he pressured the QB. But when you look at expectations versus production, it is a gap. He was average at best. That is the best I can give him.
Tyrone Crawford was supposed to be an integral part of our Defensive Line. So was Josh Brent. One got injured and the other got drunk. Rest in peace, Jerry Brown. Suddenly an area of potential strength was suspect. Brent retired, Crawford kicked the walking habit, and hamstrings popped. One of the loudest may have been Ben Bass'. He was versatile. A guy who could fill in across the 4 positions. Not from his couch though. All of which left Cowboys fans rending their clothes and shrieking. The dream line with 2 good productive backups became a revolving door.
First I need to talk about George Selvie. He was without a doubt, a pleasant surprise. I am going to give him a B, but with this caveat. I want him to be depth. I have no desire to see him starting for us any more. Just no. It's not that he was bad. If I gave him a B, I obviously think he played above average. The problem is, he wasn't great, and I do not think he can be great. Serviceable? Yes. Useful depth? Yes. Great? Naw, I don't see it. I do appreciate how hard he played though.
Next came Nick Hayden. The guy who played where Ratliff should have. Like Selvie I am going to give him a B. He wasn't great, but he wasn't awful either. He certainly played well above his established reputation. I don't know how much of their elevated play was Rod Marinelli. I just know I am grateful they did play decent or we would have been so much worse. But I don't ever want to see him as a starter again either. Useful depth, yeah. I'd welcome him back. I'd use him to spell guys. That'd be just fine. Fine is not great. I want great. He's not great. A D-line that could have been great, was anything but.
After these players it is hard to even talk about most of the rest. They were here one week, gone the next. The names I remember are Everette Brown, Marvin Austin, Corvey Irvin, David Carter, Drake Nevus, Caesar Rayford, Edgar Jones, Jason Vega, Jarius Wynn, George Winn, Martez Wilson, Jerome Long, Frank Kearse, and a partridge in a pear tree. Seriously, how many is that? Who did I miss? I am sure I did. It would be a miracle if I didn't. Some of these guys showed up for practice, got hurt, and were waived injured. It was unreal. No, it was surreal.
I believe I named 22 players in this piece. 13 in the last paragraph. They all get an F from me. Call me bitter. Call me harsh. But if you do, tell me what they did to deserve a better grade? Especially the ones who didn't get hurt and just weren't good enough to keep. A few of them were highly regarded in their original drafts. They had golden chances to be the next man up, instead they became the next man down.
I felt like a watchman on the deck of a ship yelling "Man overboard." At times, I wanted to jump overboard myself. I have never seen anything quite like that in my life. Not for any football team. There are fans who literally have told me other teams could overcome that. You would seriously have to be high or stupid to believe that. I'm not saying we couldn't have played better. There is no excuse for how pathetic the Defense was in 2013. This roll call of mediocrity, minus one guy's solid contributions, isn't an excuse. It's a direct symptom of the disease.
There's some talk about waiving Ware to say cap room. We save more room by restructuring him than we would waiving him. Waiving him also creates another hole to fill. Maybe that hole is filled by bringing back Hatcher and Spencer. I think I would, if the price were right and the deals were relatively short. Here's the bottom line for me as it pertains to the Defensive Line. I'd like to see Crawford do what Hatcher did with his opportunity, namely shine and surprise. He's the only guy I can honestly say I hope is still there 5 years from now.
In other words the entire Defensive Line needs an overhaul, and it should start this year. I would literally take 3 Defensive Tackles and 2 Defensive Ends in this Draft and not gripe one bit. We need the depth. We need preparation for the future, and we need better results than 2013 got us. That's why their grades suck. Except one guy. The rest, either need to step up, get lost, or shut me up. I am fine with all three options.
I have to tell you folks that as I have been doing these articles grading the Dallas Cowboys I have dreaded this one. Part of me wants to give everyone an F. How in the world do 20 or more guys play in one season for 4 positions? The injury issues that plagued this group were beyond frustrating. You want to know why we were 8-8, look no further than the M*A*S*H unit that was our Defensive Line.
So I want to start this by dealing with the 4 men who were supposed to be our Defensive Line. One guy never contributed anything but headaches. That man is Jay Ratliff. I do not understand him at all. You talk about an ungrateful jerk, you talk about Jay Ratliff. I don't care what issues he had with the trainers and team doctors. Suck it up and be a man. How could this idiot forget the kindness shown to him by the Dallas Cowboys and Jerry Jones in particular? Not only did we draft him, but he made the team and earned a starting role and even some honors. This earned him a big contract.
For most people that would be enough to create loyalty. Now let's throw in the coup de gras of his being a jerk. Jay Ratliff was raised by his grandparents. In 2010 they died in a fire. His Grandfather was invalid. His Grandmother could have got out and lived. Instead, she climbed into bed with the love of her life and left this world with him. That is love. You want to know what else is a form of love? Jerry Jones loaned his private plane to Jay to go take care of his family needs. How do you turn on someone who does something like that for you? How do you turn on a team that stands by you despite a DUI arrest.
When Jay Ratliff was released a friend of mine who is close to the team simply said, "Good riddance." I asked him why. To this he replied, "Jay Ratliff is just a miserable person to be around." I am wired different than Jay Obviously. If someone had done for me what Jerry did for him, I'd have taken a bullet for him. Jay Ratliff gets an F from me. There is no grade lower of course. An F is any % below 60 on most grade scales. Jay got a big fat zero. Fitting since he acted like one.
Next I am going to move on to Anthony Spencer. he started the pre season injured then ended up on Injured Reserve, playing in only 1 game. This is a guy who in 2012 was our Defensive MVP. To say I had a lot of high hopes for Anthony would be an understatement. Two years in a row he got the Franchise Tag. One of the two years he earned it. Last year was not that year. As much as it pains me to say it, and I hate blaming injuries, he too gets an F. He can redeem himself this year by signing a cap friendly contract and doing the job he was paid to do last year.
Next comes the guy who was our Defensive MVP in 2013, Jason Hatcher. He had his best season in his Free Agent year. There will be a lot of discussion on whether to Franchise him, let him go, bring him back and at what cost? I would love to see him come back. I would prefer it be a reasonable contract, not some outlandish price tag given his age, but that isn't the real world. He has every right to expect a decent salary after the year he had in 2013. Quite frankly he is the only guy on Defense who was a difference maker. I am going to give him an A-. No one else will be as high as that.
The guy who we all feel should always be above that is DeMarcus Ware. The Cowboys all time sacks leader. A probable first ballot Hall of Famer some day. Ware still got pressure on the Quarterback as good as anyone in the NFL, but he didn't get all the way to him like he has always been capable of doing. Multiple injuries were mostly to blame and he missed time for the first time in his career. I sort of expect him to be an automatic candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. He wasn't even lingering in the shadows of that last year. He is without a doubt one of my all time favorite players in Cowboys History, but he gets a C from me. 6 sacks. It just isn't good enough in any sense of the word. Yeah, he pressured the QB. But when you look at expectations versus production, it is a gap. He was average at best. That is the best I can give him.
Tyrone Crawford was supposed to be an integral part of our Defensive Line. So was Josh Brent. One got injured and the other got drunk. Rest in peace, Jerry Brown. Suddenly an area of potential strength was suspect. Brent retired, Crawford kicked the walking habit, and hamstrings popped. One of the loudest may have been Ben Bass'. He was versatile. A guy who could fill in across the 4 positions. Not from his couch though. All of which left Cowboys fans rending their clothes and shrieking. The dream line with 2 good productive backups became a revolving door.
First I need to talk about George Selvie. He was without a doubt, a pleasant surprise. I am going to give him a B, but with this caveat. I want him to be depth. I have no desire to see him starting for us any more. Just no. It's not that he was bad. If I gave him a B, I obviously think he played above average. The problem is, he wasn't great, and I do not think he can be great. Serviceable? Yes. Useful depth? Yes. Great? Naw, I don't see it. I do appreciate how hard he played though.
Next came Nick Hayden. The guy who played where Ratliff should have. Like Selvie I am going to give him a B. He wasn't great, but he wasn't awful either. He certainly played well above his established reputation. I don't know how much of their elevated play was Rod Marinelli. I just know I am grateful they did play decent or we would have been so much worse. But I don't ever want to see him as a starter again either. Useful depth, yeah. I'd welcome him back. I'd use him to spell guys. That'd be just fine. Fine is not great. I want great. He's not great. A D-line that could have been great, was anything but.
After these players it is hard to even talk about most of the rest. They were here one week, gone the next. The names I remember are Everette Brown, Marvin Austin, Corvey Irvin, David Carter, Drake Nevus, Caesar Rayford, Edgar Jones, Jason Vega, Jarius Wynn, George Winn, Martez Wilson, Jerome Long, Frank Kearse, and a partridge in a pear tree. Seriously, how many is that? Who did I miss? I am sure I did. It would be a miracle if I didn't. Some of these guys showed up for practice, got hurt, and were waived injured. It was unreal. No, it was surreal.
I believe I named 22 players in this piece. 13 in the last paragraph. They all get an F from me. Call me bitter. Call me harsh. But if you do, tell me what they did to deserve a better grade? Especially the ones who didn't get hurt and just weren't good enough to keep. A few of them were highly regarded in their original drafts. They had golden chances to be the next man up, instead they became the next man down.
I felt like a watchman on the deck of a ship yelling "Man overboard." At times, I wanted to jump overboard myself. I have never seen anything quite like that in my life. Not for any football team. There are fans who literally have told me other teams could overcome that. You would seriously have to be high or stupid to believe that. I'm not saying we couldn't have played better. There is no excuse for how pathetic the Defense was in 2013. This roll call of mediocrity, minus one guy's solid contributions, isn't an excuse. It's a direct symptom of the disease.
There's some talk about waiving Ware to say cap room. We save more room by restructuring him than we would waiving him. Waiving him also creates another hole to fill. Maybe that hole is filled by bringing back Hatcher and Spencer. I think I would, if the price were right and the deals were relatively short. Here's the bottom line for me as it pertains to the Defensive Line. I'd like to see Crawford do what Hatcher did with his opportunity, namely shine and surprise. He's the only guy I can honestly say I hope is still there 5 years from now.
In other words the entire Defensive Line needs an overhaul, and it should start this year. I would literally take 3 Defensive Tackles and 2 Defensive Ends in this Draft and not gripe one bit. We need the depth. We need preparation for the future, and we need better results than 2013 got us. That's why their grades suck. Except one guy. The rest, either need to step up, get lost, or shut me up. I am fine with all three options.
NoDak
Hotlinking' sonofabitch
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I guess now he can point out how he doesn't rubber stamp every thing. See here how critical he was? See? SEE!!??
So he named a bunch of guys that shouldn't have even been on an NFL roster, and gives them bad grades? Big fucking deal. Ask him how critical he is towards the people that put us in the position to have to use these scrubs. Blaming it on injuries doesn't cut it in this instance. Replacing a turd with another turd still stinks.
So he named a bunch of guys that shouldn't have even been on an NFL roster, and gives them bad grades? Big fucking deal. Ask him how critical he is towards the people that put us in the position to have to use these scrubs. Blaming it on injuries doesn't cut it in this instance. Replacing a turd with another turd still stinks.
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I'd like to see how he grades the coaching staff. Especially his girlfriend.
NoDak
Hotlinking' sonofabitch
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Might be kind of hard to ask him, since he hides in his safe haven. We could just ask schmitty for a grade.
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Texas Ace
I'll Never Dream Again
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Bob Roberts
Professor StinkFinger
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~hides under table~
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Thing is, he could post more.
All of the "cabal" led by superpunk and others are not there dominating discussion.
You basically just have a bunch of pissed off Cowboy fans then a couple of dorks like Idgit who scold them.
The mods and the rest? Benign.
I am going to let this one brew until the morning. Much more fun that way.
Yes, I realize that makes me appear to be a professional troll. And I will take that shame.
All in all, he still has his little minions there, posting little things here and there.
There are others like this Corso guy, who actually is not that retarded, who still cling to the Hostile is God theory.
D
Deuce
Guest
He won't take the bait. He'll just cut/paste your comment, take it to the OWN and laugh at you behind closed doors.
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