you're lucky I luv you lazy bastards (this story is linked to death so I'm not sure I got all the parts but this is all you fuckers are getting):
Best of David Moore: A broken passing game doomed the Cowboys; what needs to happen for Jason Garrett to be fired
Here are the best of David Moore's stories on the Dallas Cowboys since the team was eliminated from the playoffs on Dec. 24 with a 21-12 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Troubling trend
Quick look: A pattern has emerged during Jason Garrett's tenure as head coach. What took place this season, while frustrating to those who expected this young team to build on last year's success, was true to form.
Before the Cowboys broke through and began to win Super Bowls under Tom Landry, they were known as "Next Year's
In recent years under Garrett, this team has become "Every Other Year's Divisional Round Loser.''
Doesn't have the same ring, does it?
In case you've forgotten, or blocked certain seasons from your memory, here's a brief look at the franchise's recent inability to sustain success.
2013: Cowboys lose to Philadelphia in the regular-season finale to miss the playoffs and finish 8-8.
2014: Cowboys go 12-4 in the regular season to win the NFC East, beat Detroit in the first round, then lose to Green Bay in the divisional round.
2015: Cowboys follow their best season under Garrett to this point by going 4-12 and missing the playoffs.
2016: Cowboys go 13-3 to win the division and secure the No. 1 seed in the conference before losing to Green Bay in the divisional round.
2017: Cowboys follow their best season under Garrett by going 9-7 and missing the playoffs.
"It's frustrating,'' linebacker Sean Lee said. "We see ourselves as a team who should be in the playoffs competing for a championship every year.
"We weren't able to win certain games. Close games that we won last year, we didn't win this year. We didn't execute and make plays we needed to.
"I know this, though: We have a young group who is ready to improve and come back and have a great offseason and get back on track next year."
The season was disappointing, but not a disaster. Only 10 teams in the NFL won more games than Dallas. The Cowboys went 5-1 in the division and were the only team to beat the Eagles at home.
The Cowboys have been one of the league's best road teams, going 6-2 in each of the last two seasons.
"I think we've been 12-4 just because we're a physical team and we run the ball,'' running back Ezekiel Elliott said. "I think that's one of the biggest things when you go on the road, being able to establish the run game and control the ball and control the clock."
Quarterback Dak Prescott conceded that this season was hard to swallow. He reflects on decisions and throws he made in games that didn't work out and thinks, what if?
"I mean, every human does,'' Prescott said. "I kind of don't want to and just get it out of my head. It's over with, there's nothing to be done. I'm only going to get more pissed and more aggravated the more I think about if this happens or that happens we win.
"So, it's about just swallowing it, taking the bullet, accepting the fact that we are out of the playoffs. We're out of it, and what I have to do is make myself better individually to help this team moving forward next year.''
The pattern indicates the Cowboys will be back in the playoffs one year from now. That was little comfort Monday morning as the players cleaned out their lockers at The Star.
"I don't think we're that far away,'' Lee said. "I think we showed last year the type of team we are. I thought this year we have to get back to being that type of team that wins close games, that makes big plays in clutch situations."
Seizing the moment
Now that two more teams that don't call Arlington or Frisco home are set to play in the Super Bowl, Cowboys fans will continue to wail about how the franchise has done nothing in recent years to set itself apart.
Not true. The Cowboys are the only No. 1 seed in the past five years not to advance to the Super Bowl.
See, this franchise is special.
Before owner Jerry Jones takes to the airwaves to remind everyone that the Cowboys own the same number of Lombardi Trophies (five) as New England and that Dallas was the last team to beat Philadelphia, before we suggest the gap between the Cowboys and Eagles isn't that great while acknowledging the chasm that currently exists between the Cowboys and Patriots, let's explore another facet of what has taken place.
The Cowboys are a good team. They do a good job, as Jason Garrett preaches, of living in the moment.
What they haven't done is seize the moment the way Philadelphia has done and Atlanta before them.
And Carolina before them.
What kind of questions arise from this?
The NFC has sent nine different teams to the Super Bowl in the last 10 years. The only team to go twice was Seattle.
The Cowboys have a better regular season record during this period than several of those teams. What the Cowboys haven't done is seize the moment when given the opportunity.
Is this becuase of a lack of talent, or a culture that strives to treat what takes place in Week 5 as being no different than the preparation for a playoff game? Does Garrett's emphasis on the process dull the emotional edge of participating in a big game? Are the players primarily at fault, or is the coaching staff to blame for strategic miscues and failing to put the players in position to succeed?
Being good hasn't been good enough.
Something for Cowboys fans to chew on as they watch the Eagles and Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
Firing Jason Garrett
A vocal segment of Cowboys fans can't seem to get over the fact Jason Garrett remains the team's head coach.
That angst didn't dissipate Tuesday as Oakland and Chicago held introductory news conferences for their new hires. In the words of Raiders owner Mark Davis, luring Jon Gruden out of the TV booth to lead his franchise "is a big effing deal."
Effing wasn't the exact word choice, but it's the G-rated translation.
None of this excitement is evident at The Star these days as Garrett goes about deciding who will be his next quarterback coach. That qualifies as a significant coaching change this offseason for Jerry Jones.
For fans who lament the owner's life choices in this matter, for those who can't understand Jones' insistence on sticking with a head coach who has one playoff victory in his 7 1/2 seasons, maybe this will assuage your frustration.
If the Cowboys fail to make the playoffs in 2018, Garrett won't survive.
Skeptics among you will have trouble swallowing that statement. You embrace the idea that Jones has invested so much time into Garrett that the 75-year-old owner is reluctant to change now. You subscribe to the notion that the head coach has some sort of hypnotic hold over Jones and has lulled him into complacency the way he does reporters in his daily news conferences.
It's a process.
Don't buy into those theories. If Garrett isn't the best version of himself in the upcoming season, if the Cowboys don't return to the playoffs, Jones knows he must make a change.
Jones genuinely likes and respects Garrett. But he's no more loyal to Garrett than he was Tony Romo or DeMarcus Ware or any other individual.
Jones' ultimate loyalty is to the organization. That's his identity. That's how his legacy will be judged.
The Cowboys leaned on a rookie quarterback in Dak Prescott and a rookie running back in Ezekiel Elliott to compile a 13-3 record during the '16 season. They secured the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye. An exciting, close loss to Green Bay in the playoffs was viewed as nothing more than a speed bump.
Broken passing game
A wide range of issues and variables have kept the Cowboys from making the playoffs in five of the seven full seasons under head coach Jason Garrett. Theories abound for this season's shortcomings. Put this one near the top of the list:
The passing game is broken.
Quarterback Dak Prescott and receiver Dez Bryant failed to rise to the occasion during Elliott's six-game suspension and fell flat again Sunday. What took place between these two against the Seahawks was painful.
Watching this Dallas offense at the moment is painful. The Cowboys failed to score a touchdown against an injured Seahawks defense that had allowed 72 points in the previous two games. The Cowboys have averaged 17.4 points in the last seven games, and that accounts for games in which they scored 38 points against Washington and 30 against the New York Giants.
Prescott's quarterback rating of 51.3 on this afternoon marked the fourth time in the last six games he's been under 61. He's thrown for 200 or more yards just three times in the last nine games -- this wasn't one of them -- and has five games with two or more interceptions this season.
"It makes me respect this league, the game, the preparation and everything it takes to be great in this league so much more," Prescott said. "Having a first year like I did, I think you almost want to take things for granted. And then you come in the second year and a lot of things just go against you and it's tough. On the field, off the field, you have to battle through it.
"I feel like I've done that. I've given my all. I'll learn from it and get better."
Prescott needed to be better early in the third quarter. On second down from the Cowboys' 29-yard line, Prescott tried to hit Elliott in the flat. The ball sailed, was intercepted by cornerback Justin Coleman and returned for a touchdown.
It was the fourth pick-six Prescott has thrown this season.
"I did a poor job of staying with my pre-snap plan," Prescott said. "I kinda changed my mind mid-play, then eventually tried to get back down to the check down. My feet were not underneath me, a little off balance, trying to throw it over people and it sailed on me.''
His second interception came later in the quarter. The Cowboys were on the Seattle 25-yard line, primed to score and take the lead, when the ball went through Bryant's hands and was intercepted by Seattle linebacker K.J. Wright.
The Seahawks scored a touchdown 13 plays later to take a nine-point lead.
"The second one, I think I have to throw him a better ball," Prescott said of the interception. "Just put it right there on his face mask and don't give him a chance to drop it, I guess."
Bryant dropped the first ball thrown to him Sunday. His drop that led to the interception was his 12th of the season. Sandwiched between those two plays was a fumble on an 8-yard reception that led to a Seattle touchdown.
"The fumble was a big play of the game," Garrett said. "It was an opportunity for us to get him going."
Bryant hasn't been going for awhile. His last 100-yard game in the regular season came on Nov. 13 of last season. He has been held to 65 yards or fewer in 12 of the team's 15 games this season -- Bryant caught three passes for 44 yards against Seattle -- and has scored only twice in the last nine games.
"On a day like today, when they were really putting a lot of guys in the box and a lot of guys up front, we would have liked to have made more plays throwing," owner Jerry Jones said.
The Cowboys didn't make those plays.
It's a big reason they won't be in the playoffs.
"Frustrating, as simple as that," Prescott said. "It's hard to get over. I'm sure I'll get over it at some point, but right now is not the time.
"It's tough. It's a tough game. It didn't go our way. I didn't play well enough for us to win, as simple as that."
