It was a terrible call and should have given Dallas a new set of downs, but the bigger issue is it highlights Schotty's shitty game management in always being conservative and not understanding he was bringing his rubber knife to a gun fight. The end of the first half was another great example of this. I'm not always a "go for every 4th down" guy but sometimes you get in a game and it's obvious you need TDs and TOP and the risk is worth the return. Schotty is hardwired by his Dad and manages the game like it. Like he's still in the late 80's. Either he'll need to evolve this offseason, or we simply have another Jason Garrett on our hands.
Pretty much. The back 7 is historically bad. The LB corp is historically bad. Williams is hoss, but he can only do so much. This defense is really like 6 players away from being good or good enough to be ship level. Their 3 top players are DT's. You'll have to convince Clark to bring down his cap number which probably means guaranteeing a later year on this contract. But beyond the 3 DT's, Overshown (who badly needs a better DC), and the rookie edge, the Cowboys don't have anything. Years of missing in the draft has come back to bite them. Maybe the rookie CB is something. Maybe Bland gets better with another offseason of health. Maybe we can keep Houston as a situational pass rusher, but that leaves the team needing 2 more LBs (at least), 2 CBs (at least), 2 more DEs (at least), and a couple of safeties. All of this is predicated on firing a terrible DC and getting a 4th DC in 4 years and changing schemes once again. Zimmer was a unbelievably stupid choice last year because of his age and ambitions.
He can be better than CeeDee but that's like top 5-6 in the league when Lamb is healthy playing well. It's been shown that Jerrah without backing ass into a good QB to lead the franchise is lost at sea. What you posit here is for the Cowboys to pretty much be a bottom 10 team for a half dozen years. We've seen it before. The only reset which will matter is Jerrah dies and Stephen either surprises us and just does finances or he does shortly after and the family decides to sell. Otherwise, it's very difficult to want a hard reset because the Cowboys are so bad at so many things.... drafting included. I do think maybe letting Dak go so he can win elsewhere may be the biggest solid they could do for him.
The good news on Pickens is he just brought down his contract value by like 3-5m a year this week if you do want to bring him back.