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Last week or so I've been hit with something my doctors, psychiatrist and neurologist have diagnosed as "debairitis".

Here's the description:

Debairitis.

/dee-BAHER- eye-tiss/

Within the last six months, affecting general critical thinking related to,but not limited to, vocation, education, socialization and overall existential persistence.

1. Sudden optimism over little glimmers of hope or molecular evidences of positivity regarding the Dallas Cowboys.
2. Gnashing of teeth in defense of the optimism.
3. Believing Joseph Randle was RB messiah.

Treatment: Drugs and substances only add to the euphoric and irrational optimism. True treatment can only be found in radical bouts of loss such as 4-12 or terrible drafts etc. However, the recurrence around the 4th month of the year through the 8th month us highly probable.
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Now my diagnosticians only only found the first two symptoms as diagnosable but here is what they pinpointed.

1. The amount of good running backs on the roster. DMC, Morris, and Elliot can all be number 1 RBs as well as great pass catching options. Jackson could be a serious beast - it's really hard to see a player that big who is that fast and productive and not see the potential (except for lack of reps because of depth).

2. Anthony Browns speed. In the defensive secondary, it's either the Quick or the Dead. He is not the Dead.

3. Mark Nzeocha. Watched him in some of the OTAs and his closing speed and pass defending skills are strong. He said "the coaches here said they like my speed..." and with his size and background as a safety, he might be a diamond in the European rough. He ran a 4.48/40 so he has verifiable speed.

4. Durant. Lee. Returning McClain and Nzeocha. (All play the pass well). Hitchens and Gachkar as depth. The middle of the defense might be the only part of the defense fun to watch.

5. Kavon Frazier. The more footage I see, Sleeper in the 2016 Draft - YouTube, the more I see a physical player with good range and find the ball. As great an athlete and talented as Byron Jones was, his highlight reel was not even close to Fraziers. Does not mew that Frazier is going to be a Senator, or a team captain or a CB/FS, but Frazier has some stuff.

6. Darius Jackson. Beast. Res Ipsa Locuitur. 4.35/40.

7. Charles Tapper. Beast. Tapper is a perfect example of the Anti-Garrett scouting. "Well, how productive was he in college"? Tapper was okay in productivity. What is Tappers athleticism compared to anyone his size at his position? Elite! Now, examine Devin Streets, "we liked his productivity in college" but what is Streets upside compared to anyone his size at his position? Zero.

8. Thornton. In a perfect world, Crawford is on the left edge, Thornton is the 3-tech and Chris Jones was 1-tech. But Thornton and Crawford side by side might end up being the Josh Evans (280 LBs) /Jason Fisk (295lbs) tandem that the Super Bowl Tennessee Titans had in 1999 when they had a solid unbending defense who quietly shut teams down. Some thought it was Eddie George but the defense was undersized but furious and just made tackles on the inside of the line.

9. The tension of just coming out of a 4-12 season where injuries are said to be the culprit but every major sports media has pointed to a team that had no options, coaching, line of progression or leadership during those injuries. The Cowboys were so lost without Romo that the NFL network said in February that "Jason Garrett is somehow keeping his job, we don't know why, but somehow he is." That tension is screaming change. There will be change.

10. Ed Eagan. He has virtually no shot unless he can return kicks, be the gunner or shows off his insane quickness. But debairitis none the less with Eagan.
 
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I guess it's just kind of that optimism you have when you are standing at the South Pole: any direction you turn and go is up. I think it's win-win this year: the team bounces back or the team is changed dramatically. Last year was technically worse than any Campo year
 

Rynie

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I guess it's just kind of that optimism you have when you are standing at the South Pole: any direction you turn and go is up. I think it's win-win this year: the team bounces back or the team is changed dramatically. Last year was technically worse than any Campo year

Not technically. It was one of the worst seasons ever. Didn't we tie the Colts for fewest turnovers on defense in NFL history?
 
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I guess it's just kind of that optimism you have when you are standing at the South Pole: any direction you turn and go is up. I think it's win-win this year: the team bounces back or the team is changed dramatically. Last year was technically worse than any Campo year

Good thread and there's truth to this. Although I don't see a bounce back as significant as many do. I think it would be a miracle if Romo remained healthy all season. And even if he does, there's no guarantee he plays up to his standard level we've grown accustomed to. I just remember him looking pretty average (at best) in the games he played last year, including pre-injury.

Does he play 2016 with any kind of restrictive brace? Is his mobility or psyche affected? His predictable yet seemingly undefenseable spin move... can he still pull that off? Etc.

Because Garrett proved he can't win without Romo. And Kellen proved he doesn't belong in the league.
 
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I just meant technically Campo had three years of 5-11 and Dallas was 4-12 last year.

But for the whole bounce back thing: there could be this thinking that "Once Romo comes back..." which Jerry may believe through Garrett. But Jerry spoke enough times last year about the "coaching up" or remediation that was lacking that, I think, what will happen if the offense is unchanged and just inserted again with Romo, the negative result will cause change.

But there was enough under the breath rhetoric and criticism about the offense that I don't think anyone is going to allow last year to happen again. It might be Linehan and Pollack or just the intensified responsibility of such a high draft pick at RB being justified but my debairitis tells me that things are going to look different. Not necessarily scheme change but adding more solution-plays rather than just running the same plays over and over expecting different results.
 

Doomsday

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8-8 is the 'bounceback.' Gets us back to where we really are instead of the wild swings between the extremes, the flukes of 12-4 and 4-12. Although with our coaching, 4-12 is a lot less of a fluke than 12-4.
 

ThoughtExperiment

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But there was enough under the breath rhetoric and criticism about the offense that I don't think anyone is going to allow last year to happen again. It might be Linehan and Pollack or just the intensified responsibility of such a high draft pick at RB being justified but my debairitis tells me that things are going to look different. Not necessarily scheme change but adding more solution-plays rather than just running the same plays over and over expecting different results.
You have more faith than I do. If anything, the plan is to amass so much talent on offense that even the most simplistic plays work.

And they probably will, because we are insanely talented on offense. That defense is still the turd in the punch bowl, though.
 

onlyonenow

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Good thread and there's truth to this. Although I don't see a bounce back as significant as many do. I think it would be a miracle if Romo remained healthy all season. And even if he does, there's no guarantee he plays up to his standard level we've grown accustomed to. I just remember him looking pretty average (at best) in the games he played last year, including pre-injury.

Does he play 2016 with any kind of restrictive brace? Is his mobility or psyche affected? His predictable yet seemingly undefenseable spin move... can he still pull that off? Etc.

Because Garrett proved he can't win without Romo. And Kellen proved he doesn't belong in the league.

you really are over the edge of the world as regards Romo. A brace? what off the wall world did THAT come from?

You are basing all your hopeful fears on a very short period in time last year when there is a great deal of other data and indications that are exactly opposite.

Of course the real reason you post this is because you HOPE Romo is done.
 
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You have more faith than I do. If anything, the plan is to amass so much talent on offense that even the most simplistic plays work.

And they probably will, because we are insanely talented on offense. That defense is still the turd in the punch bowl, though.

From another recent article. This is where I see that Jones and Garrett smile and tell the world that the defense didn't hold up and that they are just waiting for healthy Romo, but at the after party, the Jones are angry that the team and season looked that feckless and unsalvageable after Romos injury.....or even before the injuries.

Look for the hint of growling:

''We're not sticking our head in the sand right here and saying, 'Well it's all about the injuries,''' Jones said. ''But I still say a lot of teams have a big problem if they don't have their main signal caller. Should we have won more games? Of course we should have. I do think we can have a major turnaround.''
 

ThoughtExperiment

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Yeah, but I think that's pure lip service. He says that occasionally to try to placate some season ticket holders who got mad. But everything else he says and does screams that 2015 was a fluke and we should forget it ever happened.
 

dbair1967

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From 4-12 to 8-8

That'd be Jones "major turn around"

"Look here folks, we doubled our win total from 2015, that's major progress for any team"
 

ThoughtExperiment

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From 4-12 to 8-8

That'd be Jones "major turn around"

"Look here folks, we doubled our win total from 2015, that's major progress for any team"
You joke, but that's really what they'll say.

Say we go 9-7 and miss the playoffs. They'll boast about the great bounce back winning year they had.
 

dbair1967

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You joke, but that's really what they'll say.

Say we go 9-7 and miss the playoffs. They'll boast about the great bounce back winning year they had.

It was half jokingly, but yeah he absolutely will use that spin if the team doesn't make the playoffs.

And then he'll glowingly talk about how Garrett "only has one losing season, and that was due to injuries"
 
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