It's official... I'm off the Romo bandwagon. Can't wait until he's gone.

[Doomsday]

our defense would just be gassed because the offense couldn't stay on the field.

But.... Our Time of Possession was invariably greater than the opponent. If our D is 'gassed' it's just because they're out of shape.

I mean Carolina and New England blew us out. But what other great offenses did we face? Green Bay hasn't been themselves this year without Nelson and with Lacy sucking out loud. Giants and Eagles were shitty for most of the year on offense, not just against us. Atlanta was hot when we faced them and they killed us in the 2nd half, but the defense played pretty well in the first half. New Orleans was nothing special on offense this year. Jets, Bills, Dolphins, Bucs, Washington, Seattle early in the year, they all had their struggles on offense.

All of this is fair to say too, just like it is fair to say our defense just plain sucks. Especially the Legion of Boobs secondary.

 

[Omegasupreme]

The only time I have seen teams intentionally not score when they could is NOT when the opposing team is weak but rather if the opposing team has an offense that needs to be slowed down and kept off the field. Playing the possession/opportunity game where you forecast that if you can slow the game to 8 total possessions of 4 each team, you have a better chance than trying to just outscore an explosive team.

I've never heard of a "this team's offense is not very good and we can beat them later in the game when they are tired, so let's not beat them now" philosophy.

 

[yimyammer]

Especially the Legion of Boobs secondary.

lol, you got a bet or something to see how often you can repeat your catch phrase around here?

 

[Doomsday]

The only time I have seen teams intentionally not score when they could is NOT when the opposing team is weak but rather if the opposing team has an offense that needs to be slowed down and kept off the field. Playing the possession/opportunity game where you forecast that if you can slow the game to 8 total possessions of 4 each team, you have a better chance than trying to just outscore an explosive team.

I've never heard of a "this team's offense is not very good and we can beat them later in the game when they are tired, so let's not beat them now" philosophy.

And I've never heard anyone saying what you're arguing against here. Nobody ever said teams intentionally didn't score.

I am saying just what it was all season. "We know we won't have to worry about hanging 35 on them, so We keep it conservative and low risk, rope a dope 'em, then when we need to drive it 95 we will, when we need a short FG drive we'll get it."

Every time a opponent needed something, invaribly they got what they needed. Every time. Even the Giants when we won, got what they needed up until Manning's bonehead botch. We didn't stop them there. Manning stopped them.

This defense sucked. It looked better on paper because there was no fear of our offense. It didn't "keep us in games." The opponents were conservative and patient, then got what was needed when needed.

 

[TheZoneSucks]

Both the problems on offense and defense are the result of the choker culture that this franchise has taken on during the Garrett era. They choke on offense on 3rd & 1. They choke on defense when they need a stop the most. They choke in the red zone. They just choke period, even historically so at times. I've never seen anything like it in any sport at any level. Books will be written about it one day. I'm sure of it.

The reason they choke is because 1) Garrett has no alpha male characteristics to demand more from them or at least put fear of failure into them, and 2) they get paid too much and so embarrassment over failure is greatly reduced when you are a multi millionaire. All of this is a result of the no accountability atmosphere fostered by the part time, fake GM.

 

[Doomsday]

It's not unreasonable and not a stretch at all to say that opposing coaches looked at this offense with Romo out, Dez out and no Murray, and said, "Know what, we can afford to be ultra conservative on offense and eliminate mistakes, not give them any turnovers then when we need something, we go get it."

The 2 or 3 really good offenses we faced, blew us out. The rest of them rather they be bad, mediocre or fair to middling, somehow managed to get what they needed when they needed it just about every time, even driving the length of the field on us when needed.

That means your defense sucks. Let's not delude ourselves.

 

[Doomsday]

Both the problems on offense and defense are the result of the choker culture that this franchise has taken on during the Garrett era. They choke on offense on 3rd & 1. They choke on defense when they need a stop the most. They choke in the red zone. They just choke period, even historically so at times. I've never seen anything like it in any sport at any level. Books will be written about it one day. I'm sure of it.

The reason they choke is because 1) Garrett has no alpha male characteristics to demand more from them or at least put fear of failure into them, and 2) they get paid too much and so embarrassment over failure is greatly reduced when you are a multi millionaire. All of this is a result of the no accountability atmosphere fostered by the part time, fake GM.

Add to this the built in injury excuse, the loserspeak code words for 'moral victory' (we fought we scratched we clawed) and it's pretty easy to see why this team has no scroat.

 

[Scot]

It's both
We obviously couldn't score points on offense

But just as if not more important is our inability to stop them on defense. I forgot the number but I believe it was 10 out of our 12 losses ( the ones weren't blowouts) we were either leading or tied going into the fourth quarter or OT and our defense blew the lead every time! They were never able to make the stop at the end of the game when it mattered most!

They were however able to keep us close enough to win the game most of the time. They just blew it at the end and allowed the other team to score the go ahead score

 

[Doomsday]

They were however able to keep us close enough to win the game most of the time.

IMO that's a illusion, and much more a product of opposing offenses staying ultra conservative and mistake free, until of course they needed either a FG or a TD to win the game.

It's why we weren't getting turnovers, Bub.

The good offenses we played, blew us the fuck out of the stadium.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

It's both
We obviously couldn't score points on offense

But just as if not more important is our inability to stop them on defense. I forgot the number but I believe it was 10 out of our 12 losses ( the ones weren't blowouts) we were either leading or tied going into the fourth quarter or OT and our defense blew the lead every time! They were never able to make the stop at the end of the game when it mattered most!

They were however able to keep us close enough to win the game most of the time. They just blew it at the end and allowed the other team to score the go ahead score

Having no cataclysmic players on defense is what killed us. The Lbs as a group were maybe above average, we received almost no plays from our CBs (not to mention were let down by pretty much all of them at one crucial point or another) and our safety situation was a mess. Then of course we barely improved our pass rush despite 2 'vaunted' additions to the line.

Marinelli got about as much as he could out of that group.

What I said above and what everyone else already pointed out about our offense's inability to give the Cowboys much separation is why the D blew games late. If the offense somehow was able to hold their end of the bargain up like last year (controlling the clock, coming up with timely big plays on a somewhat consistent basis); we might have been able to get away with an average D that played above their means.

 

[Doomsday]

What I said above and what everyone else already pointed out about our offense's inability to give the Cowboys much separation is why the D blew games late.

They 'blew games late' because they suck.

Our defensive suckage is reflected in the stats. We had fewer plays ran against us than 26 other teams, meaning we are #6 on fewest plays against. So there goes the "tired defense" crap. They weren't tired. They played fewer snaps than most other teams. If they were tired it is due to poor conditioning, not due to too much time on the field.

We were 17th overall in yards allowed, 16th overall in points allowed. 15th in 3rd down success rate against. 16th in 4th down success rate against.

Bottom half of the league overall but with much fewer snaps played.

 

[peplaw06]

But.... Our Time of Possession was invariably greater than the opponent. If our D is 'gassed' it's just because they're out of shape.

You gotta look at more than the season long TOP. Yes, for the entire season, our TOP was 31:00 and our opponents was 29:00. But look deeper.

How many games did we win the TOP battle by more than a minute? 6

Two of them were against Philly, who doesn't give a shit about TOP. We had the ball for 40 and 38 minutes in those two games. Two more were the Dolphins and Giants game in Week 1 when Romo played, and we won the TOP big, just under 39 minutes and 37 minutes, respectively. The other two were the Patriots and the rematch with the Giants. The Patriots were up so big, both teams were killing the clock in the 2nd half. The second Giants game was the one where the offense actually had a good game with Cassel, and the Harris kick return did us in.

The other 10 games we lost the TOP badly in 7 of them. The three games which were close in TOP were the Bucs 10-6 barnburner, the Saints overtime game, and the Seahawks when they were 2-4. Those three were definitely winnable games. Many of the those seven games where we lost the TOP battle included a late score by the other team when we were trying to hang around. Those games, the defense was definitely gassed. In fact, in each of the last 6 games of the season we lost TOP by more than two minutes.

 

[peplaw06]

Another thing to look at re: defense being gassed. We had the fewest number of third downs in the league, and were 27th in third down conversion rate. That tells me that we're not having long sustained drives very often.

 

[Doomsday]

6th fewest snaps played yet in bottom half of the league in just about every category. This means you suck.

 

[Hoofbite]

Romo could shit in my 3yo daughters mouth and I wouldn't quit him.

But would you quit him if he shit in your mouth?

 

[Scot]

That's why I said it was both

If we were able to score one more TD each game we would have won enough to be in the playoffs. A lot of good it would have done us. We'd get blown out the first game

But it's a circular argument

The fact is they both let us down when it mattered most

If our offense was functioning like it should/could then or defense that we had this year would have been "good enough"

 

[dbair1967]

That tells me that we're not having long sustained drives very often.

Unless something dramatically changed, late in the season we were leading the league in drives over 5 mins. We also finished 10th in time of possession this year. Not as good as last yr but not horrible either.

 

[onlyonenow]

to me it comes down to the D being unable to make any critical stops when it mattered the most.

 

[peplaw06]

We also finished 10th in time of possession this year.

Nope. 13th. And go back and read my post on game breakdowns.

 

[Doomsday]

If our offense was functioning like it should/could then or defense that we had this year would have been "good enough"

Teams were getting what they needed, whether it be 13 or 30. There's no evidence at all it wouldn't be the same deal if they needed 28 every time. We give it up, every time.