2026 Season | Week 6 | Gameday Chatter Thread | Cowboys @ Packers | 10/18/2026

[Simpleton]

Exactly. The entire premise is based on playing zone defense so he's never chasing fast slot WRs 25 yards downfield with no help.

But our idiot players -- over three different DCs now -- for some reason are wholly incapable of leaning zone defense like every other team in football. So you play more man, which blows the entire concept of using Downs properly around the line.

It's a total cluster of the highest order. The next DC needs to be a lot more experienced in adjusting and using his players to their strengths, not just teaching a trendy system.

If I had my way Flores would be my top choice.

I don't know how great of an overall HC he actually is but I know he'd fix the defense year 1 and then let's hope they make a good OC hire.

But obviously it'll never happen.

 

[Smitty]

Yeah, if you would have said that this defense only gave up 23 points for the entire game, every single one of us would have signed that deal beforehand without knowing what our offense would score.

The front 7 was significantly better yesterday and the run defense was also very good.

Yesterday is all we were hoping for this defense to be -- bend but don't break.

And yet it's still not good enough because we literally have the worst coaching staff in the entire league.

Yeah but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

23 points and the Packers still basically moved the ball at will, dominated time of possession and had multiple long, drawn out drives, converted basically every third down, and dropped about 3 touchdown passes.

And Green Bay kinda stinks. Yeah, not every team will score 30+ just cause sometimes teams shoot themselves.

I think if you’re trying to read duplicatable improvement into this performance that will translate into more consistent 20 points days instead of 30 point days, that probably is incorrect.

God giving up all those picks for Quinnen Williams was so dumb.

 

[Simpleton]

Yeah but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

23 points and the Packers still basically moved the ball at will, dominated time of possession and had multiple long, drawn out drives, converted basically every third down, and dropped about 3 touchdown passes.

And Green Bay kinda stinks. Yeah, not every team will score 30+ just cause sometimes teams shoot themselves.

I think if you’re trying to read duplicatable improvement into this performance that will translate into more consistent 20 points days instead of 30 point days, that probably is incorrect.

God giving up all those picks for Quinnen Williams was so dumb.

I think two things are true, the offense was a shit show in a game that could've easily been a win because the defense managed a few stops, while also acknowledging that the pass defense was fucking atrocious considering how GB couldn't run for shit and that the front 7 was usually getting good pressure.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Seriously guys, does anyone have an explanation for why our DBs (and LBs) cannot learn zone defense like everyone else?

It goes across different DCs and different players. This isn't that hard.

I have no explanation, unless it's something to do with Jerry not letting them practice hard or long enough... but this isn't even an area where you need physicality, which of course Jerry forbids as much as possible. So I got nothing.

 

[Smitty]

Exactly what I've been saying for weeks now.

Him being able to play the slot effectively is a luxury, not something that he should be doing exclusively.

The guy is a Safety -- one known for his intelligence and ability to diagnose plays quickly. By playing him at the nickel 90% of the time, you're effectively removing these two strengths from his game.

What we've witnessed this season through just 5 games from our entire staff is coaching malpractice.

I mean, “we’re gonna take this 11th overall impact first rounder box safety and make him play nickel corner exclusively” should have been a top off that the (1) coaching staff are idiots and that (2) he was going to underperform.

Darren Woodson should have been the template here, not Cooper Dejean.

 

[Simpleton]

Seriously guys, does anyone have an explanation for why our DBs (and LBs) cannot learn zone defense like everyone else?

It goes across different DCs and different players. This isn't that hard.

I have no explanation, unless it's something to do with Jerry not letting them practice hard or long enough... but this isn't even an area where you need physicality, which of course Jerry forbids as much as possible. So I got nothing.

No clue whatsoever, probably just two shitty DC's.

I think Zimmer played a decent amount of zone and it looked ok in the second half of the year.

 

[Smitty]

Seriously guys, does anyone have an explanation for why our DBs (and LBs) cannot learn zone defense like everyone else?

It goes across different DCs and different players. This isn't that hard.

I have no explanation, unless it's something to do with Jerry not letting them practice hard or long enough... but this isn't even an area where you need physicality, which of course Jerry forbids as much as possible. So I got nothing.

I’m not saying “this is THE reason” but when we say “they aren’t practicing hard enough,” that doesn’t just mean that they aren’t tackling in practice.

I think they do these fucking gay ass walk throughs and treat them like they are sharpening their mental processing by slow play mocking their responsibilities at half speed. I don’t think it trains their brains or their bodies to play hard, fast, aggressive or with enough instinct because they are doing everything at half speed and have plenty of time to think. And I don’t think anyone is ever held accountable for mistakes.

That is on Jerry for promoting this atmosphere. It is on Jerry for selecting the head coach who instills this atmosphere. And it’s on the head coach for actually being stupid enough to think this “we are all friends and you are grown men so I don’t have to yell at you,” approach can work.

And the worst part of it all, is that they brought in this teal friendly atmosphere because they actually thought Schitty Shittenheimer was an offensive “guru.”

We are predictable as fuck.

It’s one thing when you have the OL we had in 2014-16 and can slam DeMarco Murray and Ezekiel Elliott down everyone’s throat. This team needs creativity for its wideouts and it’s getting exactly none.

 

[Bipo]

Offense has been figured out. Double the two 8 digit salary WRs. Make the rest beat you. And they can't.

 

[data]

and we interviewed Jonathan Gannon, too

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Offense has been figured out. Double the two 8 digit salary WRs. Make the rest beat you. And they can't.

Why not, though? We've spent all these resources on the OL, and Williams is a decent enough back.

Question, did I hear Tirico correctly -- and maybe I didn't -- that Jerry this week directly gave a speech or otherwise himself "motivated" the DL to stop the run better? I wonder if Jerry thought, like he does, that he'd step in and make a difference, and it just undermined the HC instead.

This is two weeks in a row the entire team looks unmotivated, and this week you can't blame fatigue. Wonder if the players know the coach is a lame duck already and have let go of the rope.

 

[Simpleton]

We're in the same spot we've been in for years, waiting for Jerry to die.

The rest is just context.

 

[data]

Stephen: Shotty, this rut cannot continue what are we going to do?

SOM: obviously we’re looking at the things that didn’t go right in this offensive - rut - ~air quotes~ that you say we’re in

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Stephen: Shotty, this rut cannot continue what are we going to do?

SOM: obviously we’re looking at the things that didn’t go right in this offensive - rut - ~air quotes~ that you say we’re in

We have played in Green Bay more than a few times now. What is mind blowing to me is that we can't even figure the fucking cleats out. Like in what world should our guys be falling all over the place, or cleats falling off the damn shoe. Like this is amateur hour shit.

At the end of the day the Packers did to our offense a lot of what the Bucs did to our offense. Basically look like you're going all out blitz on every play. This shouldn't be that hard to beat. Even if all of those guys drop off they are at a severe disadvantage covering the pass. But yet we still can't figure that shit out a week after the Bucs made us look silly with it.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

I had no idea The Man, The Myth, The Legend himself had an X account:

 

[data]

We have played in Green Bay more than a few times now. What is mind blowing to me is that we can't even figure the fucking cleats out. Like in what world should our guys be falling all over the place, or cleats falling off the damn shoe. Like this is amateur hour shit.

Baby steps. let’s figure out the glare in our own stadium first

 

[Genghis Khan]

God giving up all those picks for Quinnen Williams was so dumb.

The really dumb part was including the contingency that they get the highest of our 2 firsts.

 

[Genghis Khan]

Seriously guys, does anyone have an explanation for why our DBs (and LBs) cannot learn zone defense like everyone else?

It goes across different DCs and different players. This isn't that hard.

I have no explanation, unless it's something to do with Jerry not letting them practice hard or long enough... but this isn't even an area where you need physicality, which of course Jerry forbids as much as possible. So I got nothing.

We keep making bad coaching hires.

 

[Genghis Khan]

and we interviewed Jonathan Gannon, too

He wasn't the issue. The problem is us.

 

[Genghis Khan]

We have played in Green Bay more than a few times now. What is mind blowing to me is that we can't even figure the fucking cleats out. Like in what world should our guys be falling all over the place, or cleats falling off the damn shoe. Like this is amateur hour shit.

At the end of the day the Packers did to our offense a lot of what the Bucs did to our offense. Basically look like you're going all out blitz on every play. This shouldn't be that hard to beat. Even if all of those guys drop off they are at a severe disadvantage covering the pass. But yet we still can't figure that shit out a week after the Bucs made us look silly with it.

Good coaches pay attention to small details. Bad coaches do not.

 

[Simpleton]

The really dumb part was including the contingency that they get the highest of our 2 firsts.

The only issue with trading for Quinnen is we have a demented owner who thinks we can win with a HC who hadn't gotten a sniff for a HC spot in 15 years.

Quinnen showed last night he's still an elite All Pro talent, it's just going to waste like all the other top talent we've had here over the years.

It wouldn't make one damn bit of difference if we had that extra 1st or not, it'd provide some hope and make the draft process more fun, but this team will never do shit even if we had 5 first round picks next year unless Jerry changes how he manages the HC situation.