So in the comments of an article written by the master fanshot expert thebigham "America's Game, America's Team. 70's edition" (read it right now click on thebigham's name) there arose a discussion between myself and some of the other members of the BtB community. I think it is a good enough topic of discussion to try and bring to its own Fanpost (not a fanshot! haha). Truth be told by no means do I think I'm clearly right about this even though I will use as much logic as I possibly can to try and prove my point and sway anyone I can to my side. FiT&T said:
Jerry keeps this up long enough and they won’t be America’s Team any more.
I replied that nothing can change who America's Team is and later on Seanrude (who I respect greatly) mentioned examples of Raider Nation and the Dolphins. Good points by both but here is where I'll argue why we will always be America's Team after the jump.
How much can you trust guys like Mike Mayock to get it right? And what might you have done differently, in hindsight, if you were running the Dallas war room in 2008? Going back through my notes, I came across Mayock's top prospects, along with the draft order of the players taken in round 1, below and thought you guys might want to check them out. This one's from four years ago, so the players have already had plenty of time to show their skills (or lack thereof).
I was struck by OCC's article asking Who Were The Luckiest NFL Teams In 2011? I encourage you all to read the article if you haven't already. The short answer is that comparing predictions based on a teams points scored and points allowed versus actual wins and losses indicates that teams like the Packers, Chiefs, and Broncos were fortunate in that they amassed more wins than their on-field performance would predict. It also suggests that, conversely, teams like the Vikings, Eagles, and Dolphins were not in Lady Luck's good graces this season. Our Fair Cowboys were in the middle of the pack, as the 11th unluckiest team with a -0.6 variance. But beyond 2011, one of the other statistics OCC mentioned really caught my eye.
Strangely enough, this is my favorite time of the NFL season. I spend more time reading Chia's posts and evaluating players than I do working. As such, the blog bug bit me this morning and I'm ready for a second attempt a blueprint for a successful off-season.
Here's what we are factoring in so we're all on the same page. Since many of the readers on this site actively view Drafttek.com, their latest mock is the one we will use for this post. Also, we're gonna roll with best guesstimate of 20MM in cap space after Newman is cut.
And finally, we are gonna assume Dre Kirkpatrick is gone by #14 despite that not being the current status on Drafttek. Here we go!
Does anyone think it's equal value for the Bengals if Dallas trades pick number 14 for Cincy's 2 first rounders? And supposing this deal would be made, who would you suggest we take with those 2 picks? Of course this needs to be done within reason as I wouldnt expect players like Coples be available there. i feel we have so many holes on defense that we need to get extra early picks. With Cincy having so much cap room available they may be able to sign f/a's and trade up for a player who they think can vault them into divisional contention.
America's Game is the NFL Flims collection of the Superbowl winners and what they went through that year. I have owned the Cowboys set for years now and recently decided to rewatch them. Either you never saw the DVD, weren't alive for the real thing or maybe forget. So I have put together some memorable quotes that either somehow relate to the current team, important to franchise history, or are just a classic.
Over the next few weeks and course of all the draft talks, mocks, boomers and busters, let's try to examine what's most important to getting the Boys back on track. So much talk about corners, lineman both offensive and defensive, safeties, and linebacker. Everyone will have their own take on what's best for the team, and why not, it's fun pretending to be Jerry Jones once in a while.
However, the answer to it is pretty simple, think former greats. More after the jump.
Hello Cowboys Fans,
I had an idea for a mock draft in which your sports nation site acts as your team. Over the next few months I plan to visit each team's site and allow for each reader to help pick your team's draft pick. Please answer the poll to select your team's draft pick.
Wes Bunting now rates Alameda Ta'amu as the #11 best player in this draft. For those unfamiliar, Ta'amu is a big muscular physical 335lb player with a motor that doesn't quit. He is not a fat blob, he's thick and strong. This sounds exactly like what you want out of a nose tackle, does it not?
But Dallas already has a pretty good nose tackle in Jay Ratiff, why would they want to change something that's been working? There's so many things that aren't working why would such a change be a prime candidate for a valuable 2nd round pick?
Dallas has a defensive line problem. Successful 3-4 defenses like San Francisco and Baltimore got a lot of pressure out of their defensive ends in 2012. San Francisco, for example, got 13 sacks out of their two starting defensive ends. Dallas' two starting DEs (Kenyon Coleman and Jason Hatcher) only combined for 5.5 sacks.
Dallas fans also noticed that interior pocket-collapsing pressure was absent again in 2011 just as it had been in 2010. Ware had a career year but what's amazing is that he missed a number of sacks because the QB was able to step up in the pocket. The Eli Manning games in particular stand out as Ware was frequently in Manning's 5-step and 7-step drop point BEFORE Eli got there. So if you beat a QB to his drop point how is it even possible not to get the sack? Ware didn't get those sacks because Eli would just stop his drop and step up away from the pressure. His guards and centers (which Giants fans will tell you were not that good, by the way) stonewalled the Cowboys d-line at the line of scrimmage, providing Eli all the room he needed to waltz around in the pocket. Had there been more pocket-collapsing pressure, who knows how many QBs Ware would have bagged in 2011!
So we've established that the defensive line play both individually (sacks) and as a component of a team (pressures and pocket-collapsing) was an issue in 2011. Why would moving Ratliff help?
Showing 1 - 10 of 6,742 Older
