How bad do we suck? Let us count the ways.

[dbair1967]

The leadership:

1A) Jerruh
1B) Red Headed Fucktard

The leaderships minions:

1) ST coach
2) DB coach
3) LB coach
4) DL coaches. Loved Leon Lett as a player, but he is getting nothing out of these guys.
5) Dare I say Marinelli? More talented team than past few yrs, lousier results and the team makes absolutely no fucking plays. The next time this defense steps up when a game matters will be the first time in eons.
6) Most offensive coaches get a pass because the backup QB play, the Dez injury and the Dunbar injury really handicapped them.

The players (Top-10 in order of suckitude)

1) Barry Church. Vastly overpaid, misses multiple tackles every damn game and couldn't cover a bed with a blanket. Worst starter on the team IMO.
2) Tyrone Crawford. Major disappointment after getting the contract he got. Has made virtually no plays all year. Really has regressed as a player from a year ago.
3) Demarcus Lawrence. Still has good upside, but has to be the biggest disappointment on the team in terms of the kind of player I thought he'd be this yr. One sack in 8 games is pathetic.
4) JJ Wilcox. Apparently cant learn the scheme, lost in coverage like his mentor Church. Finally benched.
5) Rolando McClain. Appears to be overweight. Looks slow and is useless in coverage. Misses tons of tackles. Should have been cut, Hitchens was better at MLB than he has been this year.
6) Nick Hayden. Other than two knocked down passes, has been virtually invisible all year.
7) Jeff Heath. Probably has been better than Church or Wilcox, but not by much. Another guy that's probably shouldn't be here.
8) Joseph Randle. Thankfully they cut him, but kid was an A-1 knucklehead. Proved he should have been cut after the b/s last yr.
9) Brandon Carr. Couldn't make a play now if his life depended on it. Like so many others on the team, his tackling is atrocious.
10) Cole Beasley (the punt returner). Just awful, one of the worst I have ever seen at it.

Barring the miracle of miracles, this will have to go down as one of the most disappointing, underachieving Cowboy teams in franchise history. The owner should fire the GM and HC and probably clean house with the coaching staff. A priority should be placed on getting a really fundamentally solid, no nonsense coach that wont try to be players best friend.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Rolando actually made more plays for the Eagles than the Cowboys Sunday night. He's so freaking lost out there.

 

[Omegasupreme]

I regularly see Terrance Williams and Devin Street line up for plays including the "we like the mismatches we can get from the 5 wide set", but they somehow receive less than single coverage and disappear. Streets cant get off the line and Terrance can only catch certain level passes. When the Garrett WR plays have worked, it has been with much more talented and/or fast WRs.

Beasley at least can catch.

Something is just wrong with the talent evaluation when players are basically drafted because of the great production in college and the character but are not big, fast, strong or freakish enough to be expected to succeed in a prominent role in the NFL. Randle, Williams, Street, are all examples.

It seems like Jerry plays along with the Garrett family philosophies just to a point and then he gets whatever impact player they need no matter what. I get the feeling that even Dez would not be on the team if the Garrett family were exclusively drafting the offensive players at that time.

 

[Doomsday]

I regularly see Terrance Williams and Devin Street line up for plays including the "we like the mismatches we can get from the 5 wide set", but they somehow receive less than single coverage and disappear. Streets cant get off the line and Terrance can only catch certain level passes. When the Garrett WR plays have worked, it has been with much more talented and/or fast WRs.

Beasley at least can catch.

Something is just wrong with the talent evaluation when players are basically drafted because of the great production in college and the character but are not big, fast, strong or freakish enough to be expected to succeed in a prominent role in the NFL. Randle, Williams, Street, are all examples.

It seems like Jerry plays along with the Garrett family philosophies just to a point and then he gets whatever impact player they need no matter what. I get the feeling that even Dez would not be on the team if the Garrett family were exclusively drafting the offensive players at that time.

But then you get the Martellus Bennett's of the world. All the tools, but then for years we don't understand why "the light hasn't come on yet." Then that light magically comes on, when they leave Dallas and they become Pro Bowl players for others.

To me this is Williams in a nutshell. I think he DOES have all the tools. This is NOT Randle. Randle couldn't make the starting lineup anywhere else in the league, off field problems and personal issues aside.

 

[Midswat]

Crawford has been a mystery to me. Listen, I'm not a scout. I'll never pretend to be one of these dickwads pouring over All-22s and giving analysis. But there was more than a few real football people raving about Crawford this offseason, talking about how good he was going to be.


McClain is just a turd. He doesn't "love" football - hence his retiring twice already. While he impressed me last year, I never fully believed he had turned some corner. A tiger doesn't change his stripes, as they say.


Never trusted Randle either.... just a knucklehead. See McClain minus the retiring twice.



But all in all, I think most of our player shortcomings can be traced back to coaching. Our inability to recognized players skillsets, put them in positions to make plays, or to exploit mismatches. We have bad coaching. Last years fluke with DeMarcos dominance and weak schedule clearly masked that. But it is what it is. And it isn't going to change anytime soon. We are a mediocre organization.

 

[cmd34]

we play two road games against bad teams in Florida, then Carolina at home, the Redskins twice, at Green Bay, host the Jets, and at Buffalo.

That's 3 really good defenses. Also, at Green Bay and at Buffalo won't be good for Romo's back.

I say at best we go 4-4.

 

[dbair1967]

I regularly see Terrance Williams and Devin Street line up for plays including the "we like the mismatches we can get from the 5 wide set", but they somehow receive less than single coverage and disappear. Streets cant get off the line and Terrance can only catch certain level passes. When the Garrett WR plays have worked, it has been with much more talented and/or fast WRs.

Beasley at least can catch.

Something is just wrong with the talent evaluation when players are basically drafted because of the great production in college and the character but are not big, fast, strong or freakish enough to be expected to succeed in a prominent role in the NFL. Randle, Williams, Street, are all examples.

It seems like Jerry plays along with the Garrett family philosophies just to a point and then he gets whatever impact player they need no matter what. I get the feeling that even Dez would not be on the team if the Garrett family were exclusively drafting the offensive players at that time.

I know you hate T Williams for some reason, but for where he was drafted and his production since he has been here, he was a quality pick. He was never drafted to be THE GUY, he was drafted to be a complimentary player, and he has done that well.

Street and Randle were 5th rd picks. Neither were overdrafted or anything. Randle had some ability but was a turd. Street appears to work hard but so far hasn't displayed enough ability to be on the field regularly.

 

[Omegasupreme]

I know you hate T Williams for some reason, but for where he was drafted and his production since he has been here, he was a quality pick. He was never drafted to be THE GUY, he was drafted to be a complimentary player, and he has done that well.

Street and Randle were 5th rd picks. Neither were overdrafted or anything. Randle had some ability but was a turd. Street appears to work hard but so far hasn't displayed enough ability to be on the field regularly.

You are kind of speaking to my point. It really should not matter where he was drafted, it should only matter what he is able to contribute now. He is very limited in the kind of catches that he can make, he has no physical presence and disappears. Miles Austin was not drafted at all and is ten times the athlete and receiver that Terrance is. Right now, Terrance is on pace for 46 receptions from 94 targets, 680 yards and 4 TDs. That doesn't make you mad from a WR who is supposed to be a fairly major contributor to this passing offense?

But to your point, no, you are wrong , Terrance (where ever he was drafted) IS being expected to have a fairly prominent role as #2 WR. If you know the offense then you know that Terrance's role to Dez is the same as Isaac Bruce to Torry Holt, Reggie Wayne to Marvin Harrison, Miles Austin to Terrell Owen, and TJ Houshmanzadeh to Chad Johnson. They all functioned the same way in the Air Coryell (Martz, Tom Moore, Garrett, and Bratkowski) offense that Jason continues to run. Terrance is no where near the quality of WRs that those other WRs were. Last year when Romo had his banner year Terrance had just 37 catches (in 16 games which is just barely over 2 catches per game) from 64 targets (which means targeted only 4 times a game average). Both of those stats are pathetic for the role opposite Dez.

I don't hate the player. I think he is miscast (again my question is about talent evaluation especially for this offense) for this offense, especially since he is so limited. Cole Beasley was targeted 49 times last year and caught 37. Cole is faster and can jump higher and is much more explosive in short area. Terrance is a liability. Several times now, including in the playoff game against Green Bay, Romo has to throw passes to Terrance that he doesn't find ways to catch. For good or for bad, the offense requires the WR to catch in small windows or fight to catch while cover. Terrance falls down if the ball is above his head and body catches because of his small hands. Show me a catch he has made above his chin. I have seen him alligator arm two touchdown passes and miss first downs because he doesn't extend his arms upward and outward.

If he had a role like Laurent Robinson or Patrick Crayton where he was a 4th option (behind Witten and the natural #2 WR) when Romo is scrambling, then Williams would make sense. But there is a good chance that Murray had 53 receptions last year because #2 Terrance Williams just could not get open. If this team is going to win with this offense, that kind of lack of production should be driving the fans and the front offense crazy.

 

[dbair1967]

The games where Dez was out aside, TW has never been the "2nd option" here. Option 1A and 1B were always Dez or Witten. The entire passing offense is designed around them. I'd argue TW was never really even the real 3rd option, that was Demarco Murray. (Murray had 50+ catches each of the last two years with us). Lastly, you had the rise of Cole Beasley as a legitimate 3rd down threat, and he has played that slot role well.

Then you have to factor in how much we ran the ball last year. We played a lot of close games, ate up clock and played with leads. All those things contribute to how many passes are thrown and completed.

Williams' first two years in the league he scored 13 tds (not counting the three in postseason last yr) and averaged 17 yds a catch. Not sure what you reasonably expect a 3rd or 4th option in an offense to do here, unless you are condoning the idea of throwing the football 50 times a game or something.