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Another year, another lump of coal for us Cowboy fans. Seems like a lock this team is going nowhere in the playoffs again, and a 1 and done seems likely to me. We've played back to back clunker games against quality teams on the road, and winning the division to have at least one home game seems like a pipe dream at best now. For one, I doubt seriously that we beat Detroit next week. I'm not even sure we can beat Washington (especially if they keep Howell on the bench). We also need to win out and have Philly to lose at least once (to NYG). Not sure if a loss to Cards alone does it and honestly, don't care to do the homework to figure it out now.
1) It's time to admit this team has a major defense problem and Quinn appears hopeless to fix it. Whether it's just too many injuries, players worn down or an incredibly flawed scheme problem I can't say for sure (probably a combination) but the defense is completely broken now. They hardly force punts at all (Seattle zero, Philly one, Buffalo and Miami two each), they've had one interception in the last 4 games. They've had only 3 sacks in the last 4 games. Yesterday against a team missing two starting OL we got almost no pressure on the QB and receivers/TE's were wide open almost every play. The pass defense was SO bad that they were incredibly not credited with a SINGLE pass defensed for the entire game. ZERO. The Dolphins had the ball 9 times and scored on 6 drives. It would have been 7, but McDaniel inexplicably went for it on 4th and goal from the 4 or 5 yd line instead of kicking a FG. We can't stop anybody and I doubt that's changing for the rest of this season (incl playoffs).
2) The OL was bad last week and was even worse this week. Prescott was sacked 4 times and easily could have been sacked 4 or 5 other times. He was hit repeatedly. I would compare Edoga's game to Chaz Greens infamous game at Atlanta a few yrs ago, except Green just got beat over and over. Edoga was awful because he had no clue WHO to block and let his guy run free for straight shot on QB numerous times. Terrence Steele and his contract are a dark cloud hanging over this front office. They never needed to extend him when they did and his play has been putrid all year, and was again yesterday.
3) They've got a few guys that they play too much, and I have no idea why. Michael Gallup is just "out there" most games and does next to nothing. Payton Hendershot is a complete waste of a roster spot and is either getting knuckleheaded penalties, dropping throws or just out and out whiffing on blocks. There is no way in hell he should be getting any of Schoonmaker's snaps and the offense is worse because of it. At least Schoon blocks his ass off and doesn't have stupid penalties. Hendershot now has more drops (3 or 4 by my count) than receptions, and also has more penalties than receptions. I guess because of injuries and lack of depth, they have no choice but to play D Clark at LB, but he's also hopeless out there, especially in coverage.
4) I didn't think Prescott had a bad game all things considered. The pass protection horrible. We had 3 poor drives in a row after the first two drives (should have been TD/TD) but then scored on our last 3 drives, including the take the lead drive at the end of the game which Prescott was really good on despite almost no help from the OL. He took several huge hits throughout the game and stood in there till the end.
5) The Luepke fumble was disappointing (it was actually charged to Prescott because Luepke didnt hold the ball) but that was an easy TD if he just takes the handoff clean. He had been involved on several plays before that (including two short yardage runs for first downs) so he wasn't "cold" on that GL play. Probably cost us the game, though its hard to say for sure because it was the opening drive. What was equally as bad though was Pollard's lack of effort to get the ball onto the white line on the play before, which appeared to be a walk in TD. Credit the Fins safety for a great tackle, but Pollard made no effort to stick the ball across. I have little doubt that somebody like Zeke would have easily scored there, I suspect Dowdle would have scored too.
6) Fuck the refs and fuck this league office. It's 1000% inexplicable what is going on with them refusing to call holding on our guys, no matter how egregious some of them are. Parsons has now gone 39 quarters without a holding call v him. Then the refs ignored a huge one when one guy (it was either Bland or Clark) was literally tackled from behind on the 1st down play from the Cowboy 23. They ended up with an 8 yd run and an easy 1st down afterward and could run the clock out. That play happened with 1:53 left and the Dolphins would have had 1st and 20 from the 33 instead of 2nd and less than 2 from the 15. Also not real sure about what they called on Lamb that wiped out Prescott's 14 yd run to the Miami 11 (it was a 1st down conversion). They said it was an illegal shift and I thought I heard them say two men moving at same time and Lamb wasn't reset, but it appeared Lamb got reset and Ferguson continued with his motion after. McCarthy was clearly pissed at the ref and continued barking at him for several plays after that too. Maybe someone else can explain or show the replay. We ended up having to settle for a FG there. Another one was the obvious PI/hold on Lamb in the endzone where the Fins defender nearly pulled his pants off (ignored, but we got the call the next play). Parsons roughing the passer call was also 100% garbage and the Fins ended up with a TD there.
7) Hindsight is always 20/20, but I (and many others) really believed this team should have made one or two moves at the trade deadline. Seemed like they made little (if any) real effort to do so, and what many of us worried about has come to fruition. Parsons has almost no help rushing the passer and our LB play is horrendous. But the Jones/FO were satisfied with their team and thought they had "enough" to make a real run, and like everything else for 28 years with them, they've clearly been proven wrong again. Their main excuse at the time appeared to be "well we gave away picks for Gilmore and Cooks in the offseason" and while those were nice moves, it was clear they needed more. Now another season seems likely to be wasted without a real run in the postseason.
8) There are rumors swirling that Tyron Smith might be done for the year. If he is, then any chance the offense had to "outscore" teams is probably done with him. If this plays out, Edoga should probably be benched. He was beyond terrible yesterday and even worse, appears to be a total dumbass.
9) I wondered in another thread what Jones would do if indeed the season did crash and burn with another 1st rd playoff flop, it appears we are going to get to find out. Jones is fucking old, he doesnt have time to oversee another complete rebuild. But they need coaches that can maximize the talent they do have. Quinn's defense is in shambles and the downside to that is it makes it unlikely other teams would want him as HC now. Dumping the entire coaching staff (incl McCarthy) might really be something they have to strongly consider. They need someone that can help push this team over the top, and it doesn't appear McCarthy/Quinn are capable of doing that.
10) Do they blow up the cap to resign Prescott, Lamb and Parsons? That's the other huge call. Obviously we know they want to keep all 3, but Prescott has 8 seasons now and another postseason failure seems like it is looming. Lamb is the best player on the team right now IMO and by far the player on offense other teams worry about. Parsons is a great player, but he may be as good as he can get under Quinn. Perhaps to unlock his ultimate potential they need a more creative defensive coach to utilize him better.
11) Have been waiting forever to see Jimmy in the RoH, and it seems like the night will be ruined by a poor showing in the game itself. Detroit has a great OL, two good RB's and major playmakers at WR and TE. Our defense is a wreck. I won't be surprised at all if Detroit hangs 40+ on us Saturday night.
12) Right now we are the 5th seed, if we beat Detroit and Washington and Philly loses to NYG once, we'd still get the 2nd seed. Pretty much a longshot, but it's still a slight possibility. If we don't win the division we'll be the 5th seed and likely go to Tampa again, only this time Tampa is playing great and we are playing like shit.
1) It's time to admit this team has a major defense problem and Quinn appears hopeless to fix it. Whether it's just too many injuries, players worn down or an incredibly flawed scheme problem I can't say for sure (probably a combination) but the defense is completely broken now. They hardly force punts at all (Seattle zero, Philly one, Buffalo and Miami two each), they've had one interception in the last 4 games. They've had only 3 sacks in the last 4 games. Yesterday against a team missing two starting OL we got almost no pressure on the QB and receivers/TE's were wide open almost every play. The pass defense was SO bad that they were incredibly not credited with a SINGLE pass defensed for the entire game. ZERO. The Dolphins had the ball 9 times and scored on 6 drives. It would have been 7, but McDaniel inexplicably went for it on 4th and goal from the 4 or 5 yd line instead of kicking a FG. We can't stop anybody and I doubt that's changing for the rest of this season (incl playoffs).
2) The OL was bad last week and was even worse this week. Prescott was sacked 4 times and easily could have been sacked 4 or 5 other times. He was hit repeatedly. I would compare Edoga's game to Chaz Greens infamous game at Atlanta a few yrs ago, except Green just got beat over and over. Edoga was awful because he had no clue WHO to block and let his guy run free for straight shot on QB numerous times. Terrence Steele and his contract are a dark cloud hanging over this front office. They never needed to extend him when they did and his play has been putrid all year, and was again yesterday.
3) They've got a few guys that they play too much, and I have no idea why. Michael Gallup is just "out there" most games and does next to nothing. Payton Hendershot is a complete waste of a roster spot and is either getting knuckleheaded penalties, dropping throws or just out and out whiffing on blocks. There is no way in hell he should be getting any of Schoonmaker's snaps and the offense is worse because of it. At least Schoon blocks his ass off and doesn't have stupid penalties. Hendershot now has more drops (3 or 4 by my count) than receptions, and also has more penalties than receptions. I guess because of injuries and lack of depth, they have no choice but to play D Clark at LB, but he's also hopeless out there, especially in coverage.
4) I didn't think Prescott had a bad game all things considered. The pass protection horrible. We had 3 poor drives in a row after the first two drives (should have been TD/TD) but then scored on our last 3 drives, including the take the lead drive at the end of the game which Prescott was really good on despite almost no help from the OL. He took several huge hits throughout the game and stood in there till the end.
5) The Luepke fumble was disappointing (it was actually charged to Prescott because Luepke didnt hold the ball) but that was an easy TD if he just takes the handoff clean. He had been involved on several plays before that (including two short yardage runs for first downs) so he wasn't "cold" on that GL play. Probably cost us the game, though its hard to say for sure because it was the opening drive. What was equally as bad though was Pollard's lack of effort to get the ball onto the white line on the play before, which appeared to be a walk in TD. Credit the Fins safety for a great tackle, but Pollard made no effort to stick the ball across. I have little doubt that somebody like Zeke would have easily scored there, I suspect Dowdle would have scored too.
6) Fuck the refs and fuck this league office. It's 1000% inexplicable what is going on with them refusing to call holding on our guys, no matter how egregious some of them are. Parsons has now gone 39 quarters without a holding call v him. Then the refs ignored a huge one when one guy (it was either Bland or Clark) was literally tackled from behind on the 1st down play from the Cowboy 23. They ended up with an 8 yd run and an easy 1st down afterward and could run the clock out. That play happened with 1:53 left and the Dolphins would have had 1st and 20 from the 33 instead of 2nd and less than 2 from the 15. Also not real sure about what they called on Lamb that wiped out Prescott's 14 yd run to the Miami 11 (it was a 1st down conversion). They said it was an illegal shift and I thought I heard them say two men moving at same time and Lamb wasn't reset, but it appeared Lamb got reset and Ferguson continued with his motion after. McCarthy was clearly pissed at the ref and continued barking at him for several plays after that too. Maybe someone else can explain or show the replay. We ended up having to settle for a FG there. Another one was the obvious PI/hold on Lamb in the endzone where the Fins defender nearly pulled his pants off (ignored, but we got the call the next play). Parsons roughing the passer call was also 100% garbage and the Fins ended up with a TD there.
7) Hindsight is always 20/20, but I (and many others) really believed this team should have made one or two moves at the trade deadline. Seemed like they made little (if any) real effort to do so, and what many of us worried about has come to fruition. Parsons has almost no help rushing the passer and our LB play is horrendous. But the Jones/FO were satisfied with their team and thought they had "enough" to make a real run, and like everything else for 28 years with them, they've clearly been proven wrong again. Their main excuse at the time appeared to be "well we gave away picks for Gilmore and Cooks in the offseason" and while those were nice moves, it was clear they needed more. Now another season seems likely to be wasted without a real run in the postseason.
8) There are rumors swirling that Tyron Smith might be done for the year. If he is, then any chance the offense had to "outscore" teams is probably done with him. If this plays out, Edoga should probably be benched. He was beyond terrible yesterday and even worse, appears to be a total dumbass.
9) I wondered in another thread what Jones would do if indeed the season did crash and burn with another 1st rd playoff flop, it appears we are going to get to find out. Jones is fucking old, he doesnt have time to oversee another complete rebuild. But they need coaches that can maximize the talent they do have. Quinn's defense is in shambles and the downside to that is it makes it unlikely other teams would want him as HC now. Dumping the entire coaching staff (incl McCarthy) might really be something they have to strongly consider. They need someone that can help push this team over the top, and it doesn't appear McCarthy/Quinn are capable of doing that.
10) Do they blow up the cap to resign Prescott, Lamb and Parsons? That's the other huge call. Obviously we know they want to keep all 3, but Prescott has 8 seasons now and another postseason failure seems like it is looming. Lamb is the best player on the team right now IMO and by far the player on offense other teams worry about. Parsons is a great player, but he may be as good as he can get under Quinn. Perhaps to unlock his ultimate potential they need a more creative defensive coach to utilize him better.
11) Have been waiting forever to see Jimmy in the RoH, and it seems like the night will be ruined by a poor showing in the game itself. Detroit has a great OL, two good RB's and major playmakers at WR and TE. Our defense is a wreck. I won't be surprised at all if Detroit hangs 40+ on us Saturday night.
12) Right now we are the 5th seed, if we beat Detroit and Washington and Philly loses to NYG once, we'd still get the 2nd seed. Pretty much a longshot, but it's still a slight possibility. If we don't win the division we'll be the 5th seed and likely go to Tampa again, only this time Tampa is playing great and we are playing like shit.
