ADSENSE Link Ads 200 x 90
ADSENSE 336 x 280
Tyron Smith: Buck up, lil' buddiesIf you are 8-8, you don't know what you are. You beat the 3-13 teams. You lose to the 13-3 teams.
The Dallas Cowboys are 8-8 and people are pissed. It feels that fans would rather the Cowboys be 3-13 so you can say they stink. Otherwise, you can bitch about Jerry Jones, Tony Romo, Rob Ryan and Terence Newman and at the end of the day they were probably one play away from making the playoffs.
I think this needs a little perspective. I don't agree that middle of the road is death. Sometimes it is, especially teams that are perpetually 8-8 or 81-81 or 41-41. However, most of the time, teams eventually have a good year or a bad year.
Tell the Cleveland Browns, Washington Nationals or Los Angeles Clippers (and their fans) that middle of the road is death. Browns fans would have killed for 8-8.
Cowboys fans are disillusioned because the Cowboys were not just 8-8. They were 8-8 when the division winner was 9-7 and the Cowboys, literally, were a play away from the playoffs. The post-season was RIGHT there and the Cowboys shit the sheets.
Fans have the right to be angry and disappointed. Fans have the right to rail on Jerry Jones as general manager whether or not it's pointless or not. The day the media and fans go quiet about Jones' inability to run this franchise will be the day this team goes dark. It's the day the football dies. It's on fucking life support as is.
Yes, be disappointed. However, don't lose perspective. And always look for the silver lining. There is always a silver lining.
You Figured Out Some Key Positions, Via Draft
It was not a great 2011 draft for the Dallas Cowboys. Only one pick started all 16 games. Three were cut at least once. At best, the other three played part time. Still, you got your future left tackle (Tyron Smith) and starting running back (DeMarco Murray ... seven starts, 897 yards). In the last two years, you've added Smith and Murray, in addition to Sean Lee, Sean Lissemore and Dez Bryant. Granted, you'd want more depth (five of the picks the last two years are no longer on the team ... more will probably not make the team in a year), but those are five guys playing for you and it's thought Murray and Smith are franchise guys. I haven't even mentioned Bill Nagy or David Arkin working out, when healthy.
Technically, They Improved
Amid a work stoppage when the players were unable to workout with the team, practice and with nary a free agency period, working with Wade Phillips' coaching staff and fielding a team that Jones and Phillips ravaged the last four seasons, Jason Garrett took a 6-10 team and made them an 8-8 team. No, I don't think they're significantly better as a team, as players ... but they won two more games. Had they won another they're in the playoffs ... a year after 6-10 ... with the same group of players that we think are pretty ordinary. The Cowboys will have an entire off-season to properly scout and sign free agents, bring in the right mix of coaches, give the offensive line mini-camps to work together and maybe figure out a couple of spots.
Diamonds In The Rough
They might not stick around after this season, but the Cowboys found Laurent Robinson and Tony Fiammetta off the scrap heaps. In addition, Dan Bailey and Kevin Kowalski were rookie free agents. At some point this season, fans were worried to death about Robinson and Fiammetta playing from week to week.
14th Pick
The December swoon got them the 14th pick. You can find a safety or cornerback with the 14th pick. CBS Sports already have the Cowboys taking Nebraska cornerback Alfonzo Dennard.
Decision Makers
Granted, the enigma of who was making the calls was burst at the end of the season, but in "Training Camp" big decisions were made. Garrett talks about the process. There was a legitimate movement with the franchise to get younger and slightly rebound. At the beginning of the season, I called it a rebuilding year without them imploding the structure. They cut 3/5 of their offensive line and lived to tell the tale. Gone were old, expensive fatasses Leonard Davis, Andre Gurode and Marc Columbo. For a brief moment, it looked like a tide had shifted. Maybe that lingers a little.
0 Response to "Five good things from the 2011 Dallas Cowboys"
Posting Komentar