Dallas Cowboys 2018 Regular Season Thread

[TheFlagship 432]

13 minutes ago, C-Man said:

You can use the injury thing with practically any other team. The NFL is an 8-8 league now. Catch a few breaks, get hot and you can win the title (see Philly in 2017). Have an injury or two to key players and you're picking in the Top 10 next April.

That’s true. Philly probably not the best example though as they lost Wentz and Peters and won anyway.

[Underdog 28460]

55 minutes ago, irishtexan said:

John Lynch has probably lost a step now that he's spending all his time GM'ing.

How is Jim holding up these days? 

[Jameslaw121 4445]

50 minutes ago, C-Man said:

You can use the injury thing with practically any other team. The NFL is an 8-8 league now. Catch a few breaks, get hot and you can win the title (see Philly in 2017). Have an injury or two to key players and you're picking in the Top 10 next April.

the 2017 Philly team had a pretty significant injury at QB. They adjusted. We lost an OL for a game gave up like 20 sacks to a guy making close to the league minimum....Coaching matters. Thats why I can look at all the predictions of 10-6 and think yeah, but our HC will cost us at least two games. 

[Vic Mackey 46938]

1 hour ago, TheFlagship said:

Don’t really follow the cowboys as much anymore, but I’m confused by the optimism.

Offensively, we are one injury to Zeke, Dak or Smith from being the worst offense in the NFL. The OL is already banged up. The WR core is the worst in the league. We have no TE. I get the feeling Jerry is trying to sabotage Dak this year so he doesn’t have to pay him. 

Defensively, the DL is okay. D-Law is a beast. The LBs are reliant on Sean Lee who will miss 4 games minimum. Otherwise this is a below average group. The DBs are subpar. Marinelli is a good coach which gives me a little hope.

Jason Garrett is terrible. 

This looks like a last place team and the schedule is difficult with the AFC South suddenly being good. Prediction is 5-11. Hope I’m wrong. 

Yeah this is about as generic as a BleacherReport write up, especially with all the national writers who have no idea about the team say this is the worst WR core in the league, when its no different than its been the last years. Oh wait, was it because Witten and Dez, 2 guys well past their good days left?. Yeah, thats definitely it.

The funniest thing was Jerry trying to sabotage Dak so he doesn't have to pay him. That is about as silly as it gets.

[C-Man 27083]

32 minutes ago, Jameslaw121 said:

the 2017 Philly team had a pretty significant injury at QB. They adjusted. We lost an OL for a game gave up like 20 sacks to a guy making close to the league minimum....Coaching matters. Thats why I can look at all the predictions of 10-6 and think yeah, but our HC will cost us at least two games. 

Sorry for using Philly. Bad example. Still, though, it's nuts how you see teams yo-yo back-and-forth from 4-12 to 12-4 all the time (and vice versa). Here's an interesting fact: the Cowboys are something like 19-6 the last two seasons when Zeke Elliott has suited up for the Cowboys. The defense *should* be better than it has in years past. I'm not as concerned as the WRs as others seem to be as I think Gallup will wind up being pretty good. If Dallas can play smash-mouth they should be pretty good. I'm hoping they can tread water until Frederick can get back. The schedule, though, is not easy. I could easily see Dallas winning 11 games this year. I can also see 7-9 if things don't go well. I don't think they'll crater to 6 wins or less, though.

[TheFlagship 432]

32 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

Yeah this is about as generic as a BleacherReport write up, especially with all the national writers who have no idea about the team say this is the worst WR core in the league, when its no different than its been the last years. Oh wait, was it because Witten and Dez, 2 guys well past their good days left?. Yeah, thats definitely it.

The funniest thing was Jerry trying to sabotage Dak so he doesn't have to pay him. That is about as silly as it gets.

Witten and Dez combined for 132 catches for 1,398 yards last year which was 43% of total completions and 42% of total passing yards. That’s a significant loss. Who’s going to replace that? Allen Hurns? Please. Gallup? I like him, but he’s still raw. Jarwin/Swaim/Gathers? They’ve combined for 9 career catches. Terrence Williams and Cole Beasley graded out as below average to poor last year per PFF. They’re barely rosterable. It’s an awful, awful WR/TE group, regardless of how they were last year. Like I said I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t share in the optimism from some of the DFW writers. 

[Trey3216 15325]

1 minute ago, TheFlagship said:

Witten and Dez combined for 132 catches for 1,398 yards last year which was 43% of total completions and 42% of total passing yards. That’s a significant loss. Who’s going to replace that? Allen Hurns? Please. Gallup? I like him, but he’s still raw. Jarwin/Swaim/Gathers? They’ve combined for 9 career catches. Terrence Williams and Cole Beasley graded out as below average to poor last year per PFF. They’re barely rosterable. It’s an awful, awful WR/TE group, regardless of how they were last year. Like I said I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t share in the optimism from some of the DFW writers. 

They graded out that low because of your first sentence.  Witten and Dez were no longer threats.  They keyed in on Williams and more especially, Beasley, on 3rd downs.  Why worry about those you can keep in front of you when you can blanket those that can hurt you?  

[Jameslaw121 4445]

1 hour ago, C-Man said:

Sorry for using Philly. Bad example. Still, though, it's nuts how you see teams yo-yo back-and-forth from 4-12 to 12-4 all the time (and vice versa). Here's an interesting fact: the Cowboys are something like 19-6 the last two seasons when Zeke Elliott has suited up for the Cowboys. The defense *should* be better than it has in years past. I'm not as concerned as the WRs as others seem to be as I think Gallup will wind up being pretty good. If Dallas can play smash-mouth they should be pretty good. I'm hoping they can tread water until Frederick can get back. The schedule, though, is not easy. I could easily see Dallas winning 11 games this year. I can also see 7-9 if things don't go well. I don't think they'll crater to 6 wins or less, though.

All of that might be true, but Garrett has been the coach here for 7 years and had 2.5 winning seasons (it's three if you count beating Philly at the end of the season in a meanless game that cost 3 ro 4 slots in draft order. And also show what a dumbass coach he is). and one playoff victory......1

[Junior Miller 1502]

That whole "lost _____% of production" trope that gets thrown around is always flawed. The game doesnt work that way because of the sheer variables involved. Now without Witten barking in his ear to get him the ball and without Dez throwing bitch fits I think it'll be easier for Dak to just work his reads and find the open receiver. The way he did in 2016 when I bet Witten and Dez left him alone more since he was a rookie nobody expected anything from

[Junior Miller 1502]

1 hour ago, Jameslaw121 said:

All of that might be true, but Garrett has been the coach here for 7 years and had 2.5 winning seasons (it's three if you count beating Philly at the end of the season in a meanless game that cost 3 ro 4 slots in draft order. And also show what a dumbass coach he is). and one playoff victory......1

Garrett is definitely a negative on this team. In all four major US professional sports in something like the last 45 years there have only been I think 3 coaches who have won a championship past the 5-year mark of being with a team. Meaning the coach didn't win a title in his first 5 years there. That's a huge sample size and the data shows a near impossibility for a coach who's been winless as long as Garrett to get a title with the same team

[Vic Mackey 46938]

4 minutes ago, Junior Miller said:

That whole "lost _____% of production" trope that gets thrown around is always flawed. The game doesnt work that way because of the sheer variables involved. Now without Witten barking in his ear to get him the ball and without Dez throwing bitch fits I think it'll be easier for Dak to just work his reads and find the open receiver. The way he did in 2016 when I bet Witten and Dez left him alone more since he was a rookie nobody expected anything from

Exactly. Dez and Witten became net negatives to this team. You know why those guys got so many receptions? Because they had a ridiculous amount of targets compared to everyone else. And this was not for the better of the offense. Dak will work much better without those 2 and it will show. In fact, his best time period with this team was when Dez was hurt for those games his rookie year. Gallup and Hurns will easily fill in for Dez. If they were smart, they'd get Rico more involved and move away from the big personnel they love to run.

 

 

[Vic Mackey 46938]

2 minutes ago, Junior Miller said:

Garrett is definitely a negative on this team. In all four major US professional sports in something like the last 45 years there have only been I think 3 coaches who have won a championship past the 5-year mark of being with a team. Meaning the coach didn't win a title in his first 5 years there. That's a huge sample size and the data shows a near impossibility for a coach who's been winless as long as Garrett to get a title with the same team

Marvin Lewis is the only other coach I can think of that gets more of a pass from his owner than Garrett. Neither have did shit yet still are still employed with their original team as head coach. I don't get it and both fanbases are fed up with each respectively. 

This team has shown it can win in spite of Garrett in 2014 and 2016. It will just take a very efficient offense. They have the pieces to do it. And no, this OL is not banged up. One guy is out with a disease illness. We have a competent backup (much better than Chaz replacing Tyron). The rest of our starters are good to go on the OL. No excuses from the offense this year.

[EvilCaseMcCoy 691]

14 hours ago, Vic Mackey said:

No excuses from the offense this year.

1

But, what if I want to make excuses?

[Catdaddyhorn 3444]

15 hours ago, Vic Mackey said:

Marvin Lewis is the only other coach I can think of that gets more of a pass from his owner than Garrett. Neither have did shit yet still are still employed with their original team as head coach. I don't get it and both fanbases are fed up with each respectively. 

This team has shown it can win in spite of Garrett in 2014 and 2016. It will just take a very efficient offense. They have the pieces to do it. And no, this OL is not banged up. One guy is out with a disease illness. We have a competent backup (much better than Chaz replacing Tyron). The rest of our starters are good to go on the OL. No excuses from the offense this year.

Garrett has reached higher heights in terms of peak regular season performances and fielding a team that seemed championship worthy,  however Lewis has gotten to the playoffs a lot more frequently and has had to deal with an all-time garbage organization in terms of scouting and front office departments. Not sure you can say one one is clearly better than the other. 

[Vic Mackey 46938]

34 minutes ago, Catdaddyhorn said:

Garrett has reached higher heights in terms of peak regular season performances and fielding a team that seemed championship worthy,  however Lewis has gotten to the playoffs a lot more frequently and has had to deal with an all-time garbage organization in terms of scouting and front office departments. Not sure you can say one one is clearly better than the other. 

I never said one was better than the other. 

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

Again, it doesn't fucking matter who the Head Coach is.  It could be Vince Lombardi, Jerrah won't give up enough influence in the organization for anyone to remake the culture in the organization and the locker room.  Garrett is mediocre at best, but Jerrah is the problem.... he's always been the issue since he fired Jimmy.

[Vic Mackey 46938]

5 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Again, it doesn't fucking matter who the Head Coach is.  It could be Vince Lombardi, Jerrah won't give up enough influence in the organization for anyone to remake the culture in the organization and the locker room.  Garrett is mediocre at best, but Jerrah is the problem.... he's always been the issue since he fired Jimmy.

Remake the culture or not, a better coach could at least gameplan, know how to manage the clock, call plays, adjust, etc. None of what Garrett can do. We get the culture is toxic and that starts with Jerry and the front office but a better coach would be better day to day for this team.

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

Now here's where Jerry is usually (not always, hey Papa John's and wrong side of the Anthem debate) pretty smart..... making Jerrah Jones richer.

 

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

3 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

Remake the culture or not, a better coach could at least gameplan, know how to manage the clock, call plays, adjust, etc. None of what Garrett can do. We get the culture is toxic and that starts with Jerry and the front office but a better coach would be better day to day for this team.

Would it?  Dave Campo, Chan Gailey, and Barry Switzer say hi.  What makes you think Jones would make a good hire???  He won't even fire the worst GM/President in sports today.  We'd probably just trade one set of problems for another.  Moving around the deck chairs on the Titanic.... I get it, firing Red would feel good, but we have almost 25 years of evidence that it wouldn't save the franchise from it's owner.  So fire away.... I don't really care, but just putting lipstick on the pig.

 

[Junior Miller 1502]

He's not even trying not to look completely sleazy now. A casino? What's next? Liquor stores? A brothel? 

[BurdineBandit 812]

20 hours ago, TheFlagship said:

Witten and Dez combined for 132 catches for 1,398 yards last year which was 43% of total completions and 42% of total passing yards. That’s a significant loss. Who’s going to replace that? Allen Hurns? Please. Gallup? I like him, but he’s still raw. Jarwin/Swaim/Gathers? They’ve combined for 9 career catches. Terrence Williams and Cole Beasley graded out as below average to poor last year per PFF. They’re barely rosterable. It’s an awful, awful WR/TE group, regardless of how they were last year. Like I said I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t share in the optimism from some of the DFW writers. 

I would need some advanced stats on this. They were 43% of "production" (I'll call it), which means about 21% each, maybe because they were about 1/5 of our viable receiving options each? (Williams, Beasley, Zeke).... that's not some huge ridiculous amount. Dez was our primary receiver, and was  notoriously a pretty average (to below average) primary WR.

I'd need the advanced stats to show me how much better our offense was when Dez and Witten were the primary targets for  the majority of targets during a given drive/quarter/game. Because my untrained "Joe Fan" eyes it had been 2 years already where trying to get Dez involved in the game resulted in the rest of the offense getting off rhythm.

[Vic Mackey 46938]

30 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Would it?  Dave Campo, Chan Gailey, and Barry Switzer say hi.  What makes you think Jones would make a good hire???  He won't even fire the worst GM/President in sports today.  We'd probably just trade one set of problems for another.  Moving around the deck chairs on the Titanic.... I get it, firing Red would feel good, but we have almost 25 years of evidence that it wouldn't save the franchise from it's owner.  So fire away.... I don't really care, but just putting lipstick on the pig.

 

Barry Switzer won a Super Bowl. Not sure what your point was there. Did he ever miss the playoffs?

Campo with this roster would be much better than Garrett. Put Garrett on the rosters Campo worked with and he might win 2 games a year max.

I don't give a shit about Jerry when it comes to wanting Garrett fired. If you want Garrett to stay because you don't think we'd bring in anyone better, thats fine. But he should have been fired after 2015. He doesn't need to be here any longer. At least the other coaches you listed knew the basic coaching aspects of the game. 

[EvilCaseMcCoy 691]

2016 RECEIVING
NAME	REC	TAR	Catch Rate	YDS	% of Total	AVG	TD
Cole Beasley	75	98	77%	833	22%	11.1	5
Dez Bryant	50	97	52%	796	21%	15.9	8
Jason Witten	69	95	73%	673	18%	9.8	3
Terrance Williams	44	61	72%	594	16%	13.5	4
Ezekiel Elliott	32	40	80%	363	10%	11.3	1
Brice Butler	16	32	50%	219	6%	13.7	3
Lance Dunbar	16	24	67%	122	3%	7.6	0
Geoff Swaim	6	8	75%	69	2%	11.5	0
Lucky Whitehead	3	3	100%	48	1%	16	0
Gavin Escobar	4	7	57%	30	1%	7.5	1
Keith Smith	3	3	100%	20	1%	6.7	0
Darren McFadden	3	5	60%	17	0%	5.7	0
Alfred Morris	3	6	50%	11	0%	3.7	0
Rod Smith	1	1	100%	4	0%	4	0
Totals	325	483		3799		11.7	25

2017 RECEIVING
NAME	REC	TAR	Catch Rate	YDS	% of Total	AVG	TD
Dez Bryant	69	133	52%	838	25%	12.1	6
Terrance Williams	53	78	68%	568	17%	10.7	0
Jason Witten	63	87	72%	560	17%	8.9	5
Brice Butler	15	24	63%	317	10%	21.1	3
Cole Beasley	36	62	58%	314	9%	8.7	4
Ezekiel Elliott	26	38	68%	269	8%	10.3	2
Rod Smith	19	23	83%	202	6%	10.6	1
James Hanna	4	9	44%	88	3%	22	1
Alfred Morris	7	9	78%	45	1%	6.4	0
Ryan Switzer	6	7	86%	41	1%	6.8	0
Noah Brown	4	9	44%	33	1%	8.3	0
Keith Smith	5	5	100%	26	1%	5.2	0
Geoff Swaim	2	2	100%	25	1%	12.5	0
Totals	309	493		3326		10.8	22

[EvilCaseMcCoy 691]

Not sure how that compares to other WR1s but Dez's 52% seems like a pretty bad catch rate.  

[FloridaHorn 4735]

Looks like we should just throw it to Swaim every play.

[futureman 22421]

133 targets last year.  to be distributed freely in 2018.  healthy zeke and this offense is top five.  

[Gene Parmesan 3993]

1 hour ago, Junior Miller said:

He's not even trying not to look completely sleazy now. A casino? What's next? Liquor stores? A brothel? 

Won't somebody please think of the children.

[Junior Miller 1502]

133 targets to that tard and almost half of them were completely wasted downs. At least 3 tipped off his hands and got picked with a couple being pick 6. 

Damn I'm glad that busted fuck is gone. No wonder no one wants to sign his dumb ass. 

[EvilCaseMcCoy 691]

Quick comparison of career catch rate averages:

Dez - 58%

Odell - 62%

Julio - 63%

AJ - 58%

AB - 66%

Hopkins - 56%

Not too far off from the elite guys for his career but 52% over the last two seasons is below average.

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

 

[Rabidhorn 121]

Another Cowboy OL gets injured.

[Vic Mackey 46938]

14 minutes ago, Rabidhorn said:

Another Cowboy OL gets injured.

Who? Looked on Twitter and saw nothing.

[C-Man 27083]

41 minutes ago, EvilCaseMcCoy said:

Quick comparison of career catch rate averages:

Dez - 58%

Odell - 62%

Julio - 63%

AJ - 58%

AB - 66%

Hopkins - 56%

Not too far off from the elite guys for his career but 52% over the last two seasons is below average.

Most of those are deep threats too, something Dez really never was. You're going to have more non-connections if you've got more "long" targets.

[C-Man 27083]

18 hours ago, Junior Miller said:

Garrett is definitely a negative on this team. In all four major US professional sports in something like the last 45 years there have only been I think 3 coaches who have won a championship past the 5-year mark of being with a team. Meaning the coach didn't win a title in his first 5 years there. That's a huge sample size and the data shows a near impossibility for a coach who's been winless as long as Garrett to get a title with the same team

Yeah, I remember Norm going through that not that long ago. I get the stat but I wonder how many examples there are of guys that stick around 5+ years with one team anyway. There's not a lot of HC-continuity, especially in the NFL. There are examples of guys like Gary Kubiak or Pete Carroll who won Super Bowls after a handful of seasons as HC with other teams but, yes, they technically won them in the first couple of years with the team they won with.

I don't think Garrett is a great coach by any stretch. Hell, I don't know if he's a good coach but I don't think he's the reason the Cowboys haven't won the SB. You can only coach the players you are given with this franchise. For the better part of the post-Jimmy Era that hasn't been good enough. I think they're putting together a good roster now, one that can win big if they catch some breaks, so we shall see what happens.

[Underdog 28460]

There are many, many Ginger brain farts regarding in game coaching out there, but the one that sticks out the most for me is his game mgmt, or lack of it, for the Packer game last season.  Throwing the ball and not running down the clock was inexcusable. 

 

But PB nailed it earlier, the problem lies with Jerry.  Until that fuck dies, We fans are stuck with mediocrity until then.

And refresh me on the Gailey era, why didn’t that work out?  Did Troy just not buy into it?  Only real fond memory I have of that time is the Game winner bomb to Rocket vs. the Skins, that was a great fucking call.  

[Vic Mackey 46938]

There are many, many Ginger brain farts regarding in game coaching out there, but the one that sticks out the most for me is his game mgmt, or lack of it, for the Packer game last season.  Throwing the ball and not running down the clock was inexcusable. 

 

But PB nailed it earlier, the problem lies with Jerry.  Until that fuck dies, We fans are stuck with mediocrity until then.

And refresh me on the Gailey era, why didn’t that work out?  Did Troy just not buy into it?  Only real fond memory I have of that time is the Game winner bomb to Rocket vs. the Skins, that was a great fucking call.  

How do we know Stephen is any better? We can hope but we will never know. I hope he's smart enough to actually hire a GM because neither him nor his Dad are.

 

Gailey came in when the triplets were aging and our roster was being depleted slowly. He got to the playoffs twice but no wins. Him and Campo with this roster would be much better than Garrett.

 

 

[Underdog 28460]

Yeah, don’t know much about Jr.  Does he consider himself a football man like pops?  But Jerry is the head of the snake that needs to be cutoff, hopefully everything else will fall into place.  Not holding my breath though. 

Edited September 6, 2018 by Underdog

[Gene Parmesan 3993]

22 minutes ago, Underdog said:

Yeah, don’t know much about Jr.  Does he consider himself a football man like pops?  But Jerry is the head of the snake that needs to be cutoff, hopefully everything else will fall into place.  Not holding my breath though. 

He seems to fancy himself a football man imo.

[Vic Mackey 46938]

He seems to fancy himself a football man imo.

Well so does Jerry if you ask him.

[EvilCaseMcCoy 691]

1 hour ago, Underdog said:

Yeah, don’t know much about Jr.  Does he consider himself a football man like pops?  But Jerry is the head of the snake that needs to be cutoff, hopefully everything else will fall into place.  Not holding my breath though. 

If he's really the one who convinced Jerry to draft Martin over Manziel, I'll consider it a plus.  He and Will McClay seem to be doing better than whatever Jerry was doing. 

[Viper 12034]

4 hours ago, Junior Miller said:

He's not even trying not to look completely sleazy now. A casino? What's next? Liquor stores? A brothel? 

I like where this is going

[Catdaddyhorn 3444]

I think Stephen views himself as a capalogist more than a pure personnel guy.

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

Also, the hope is Stephen isn't quite the glory hound (not to be confused with glory hole) his father is and can work well with others.  Stephen has had to live and thrive in his father's shadow his entire life, that can manifest good and bad traits, but one of them may be he's not quite the peacock his father is.  Stephen hasn't really achieved anything other than win the genetics lottery and be born into a family which became rich due to his father.  Steven has decided he will follow his father's footsteps but must earn his own accolades or won't get nearly the rope with the press and fanbase.  Jerrah still has those 3 Super Bowls Jimmy delivered to him in the mid 90's (and yes the third one was of Jimmy's design too).  Stephen will have to be much more successful than his father has been the last 25 years or he could find his time has lead man for the Cowboys extremely uncomfortable.  Hopefully that leads to a better management style in which he stays within the business end reliance on others for player personnel input.  Then again.... you could get this guy:

 

Moving on....... This dude.  Wow.  

 

[EvilCaseMcCoy 691]

Wow, good thing Demarco left all that meat on the bone. 

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

Rough..... We just got this guy.

Quote

Cowboys placed OG Parker Ehinger on injured reserve with a knee injury.

He'll be sidelined at least eight weeks before becoming eligible to be designated for return. Ehinger was just acquired from the Chiefs on August 31 but injured his knee in Thursday's practice. Dallas signed OG Kadeem Edwards.

 

[Viper 12034]

I believe we also worked out Xavier Su'a-Filo

[C-Man 27083]

21 hours ago, EvilCaseMcCoy said:

If he's really the one who convinced Jerry to draft Martin over Manziel, I'll consider it a plus.  He and Will McClay seem to be doing better than whatever Jerry was doing. 

Yeah, that's a really, really good harbinger for the post-Jerry Cowboys.

[Rabidhorn 121]

The Cowboys re-signed backup guard Kadeem Edwards after placing Parker Ehinger on injured reserve because of a knee injury that knocked him out of Wednesday's practice

[EvilCaseMcCoy 691]

9 minutes ago, Rabidhorn said:

The Cowboys re-signed backup guard Kadeem Edwards after placing Parker Ehinger on injured reserve because of a knee injury that knocked him out of Wednesday's practice

Dodged a bullet there by not going back to Green.  

[Junior Miller 1502]

Damn Ehlingers suck