Know Your Dallas Cowboys: The Blog

5 comments to “NFL Addicts: Win Now, or Win Then?”

1. Comment by Melonball:
   Saturday, October 21st 2006 at 6:39 pm

   It’s a total team game. A great coach needs great players to execute his game plan, great players need a great coach to put them in the best positions to succeed. Here’s why I believe in Parcells. He’s done it with three other clubs already. He turned around three awful clubs and turned them into elite teams. And he’s turned this club around as well. What are people complaining about? Look at this club in 2002 and look at it now. Come on! One of the most important qualities a great coach needs is talent recognition, and that is Parcells’ forte. Why are fans so worried that Parcells won’t be able to lead this team to the next level when he has always been able to do so in the past after he has rebuilt his team into what he wanted? The 4th year was the big year for him with New York and New England, and probably would have been so with the Jets as well if Testaverde hadn’t gone down. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen this year for the Cowboys. Maybe next year, or even 2008. But it will happen. This team will replace the Philadelphia Eagles as the powerhouse of the NFC East, mark my words.

2. Comment by kickholder:
   Saturday, October 21st 2006 at 10:33 pm

   Thanks, Melonball. What Parcells has been able to do with four franchises is amazing. Likewise, what Gibbs was able to do with Washington during the 1980s and 1990s (three titles with three different quarterbacks) was similarly incredible.

   In both cases, though, I think that Dallas and Washington seem to be missing certain intangibles. Neither is a team that seems to play with confidence. Neither is a team that has a killer instinct. Both teams appear to play as if they are nervous at certain times, which appears (emphasizing appears) to cause late-game collapses from time to time. Former teams of both men worked their way to the top, and those teams did not seem to suffer from the same problems.

   So the question then becomes, if something has changed in either man’s approach to coaching, then what is that something? I am never one to pretend to know more than I do, but I’ll use just a little bit of common sense to take a guess: both organizations and their players may very well have just expected too much from both coaches, as if they were both going to snap their fingers and create championships. When that didn’t happen as everyone may have hoped (based on unreasonable expectations, perhaps), it may well have frustrated those within the organization as much as it has with the fans.

   Even if that is indeed the case, though, I don’t know what it means with respect to the question of what makes an elite coach. You have to wonder how much a coach needs to grow with his team in order to be as effective as possible. Parcells didn’t need to accomplish anything in Dallas to be considered an all-time great, and if everything goes as both of us think that it can this season, then what he will have done is unparalled in NFL history. Even if that doesn’t happen, I agree that in three or four years we may be thanking Parcells for the team he built, because the Cowboys have a great core that should be in place for the rest of the decade. As for Gibbs, I still respect him as a coach more than most, but I’ll let the Redskins faithful dissect his impact there.

3. Comment by Melonball:
   Sunday, October 22nd 2006 at 6:18 pm

   Coming from a guy who invented the nerve-o-meter, I gotta think it’s not so much the Cowboys playing nervous, but rather their play is making you nervous. lol They make me nervous, too, and here’s why, I think. Ever since Parcells arrival, especially after the ‘03 playoff appearance where the Cowboys exceeded everyone’s expectations, we have been waiting with bated breath for the team to take that next step. We’re nervous because we finally have some real hope, yet because the team hasn’t proved anything yet, there’s still doubt and dread of this group of players failing. We as Cowboys fans are spoiled rotten. We’ve only endured a few seasons of losing recently and fans act like it’s been an eternity. Cowboys fans are notorious for unrealistic expectations. We had them in 2000, 2002, and 2004. This year the expectations seem to be valid, but fans are scared to death they are seeing nothing but a mirage yet again. I think that’s why you’re seeing the over-reactions going on after the painful loss to the Eagles, so many throwing Parcells and Bledsoe under the bus. Rather than face disappointment, these fans are basically throwing in the towel and declaring Parcells and Bledsoe too inept to lead the team to victory. No expectations equals no pain. Kind of chickensh*t if you ask me, frontrunner stuff. I mean, after all, what makes victory sweeter than having been there during the bad times, or keeping heart through periods of adversity during the season?
   Let me try and prove my point that all the hostility against Parcells and Bledsoe is nothing more that emotional defense, an emotional need to vent frustrations and find scapegoats to deflect the overwhelming fear of this team turning out to be in the end just another team in the NFL, nothing special. Most Cowboys fans absolutely cannot stand the idea of any more mediocre seasons, myself included, although I welcome the excitement that comes with the uncertainty as we go along finding out here (although I guess it helps that I believe in this team). Ok, so why are so many fans so distraught over the Eagles loss? Because we seriously expected to win. But tell me this, and this is my point, before Parcells and Bledsoe arrived, when was the last time we actually in our hearts expected to go into Philly, into the heart of the demon, and expect to beat them? 1999 right? That’s a heck of a long time ago, and it didn’t even happen then. Not only did we lose the game, we lost Michael Irvin and our hopes for the season. So all this blasting of Parcells and Bledsoe is completely irrational.
   It seems to be a common theme going around lately that the Cowboys are missing something- an edge, swagger, killer instinct, whatever. I’ll tell you what this club has been missing over the last several seasons, kickholder. It’s called talent. They may finally have enough to get over the hump, but they still haven’t proved anything yet. Until they do, how can you expect them to display open swagger and confidence? This squad is still young and inexperienced at a lot of key positions, especially on the defense. There’s your culprit for a lot of the meltdowns we have seen, imo. I think you’re oversimplifying things, bro. Parcells teams have had their share of struggles in the past. Take the Giants. After a strong playoff performance in ‘84, the Giants were expected to contend for the division in ‘85. Although they got a wildcard, they lost the division to the Cowboys who pulled off a miracle in one of Landry’s best coaching jobs ever. We all know what happened the next season. ‘87 and especially ‘88 were big disappoinments, before Parcells and the Giants bounced back to win the division in ‘89 and win it all in ‘90. Similarly, in ‘94 Parcells guided a not-ready-for-primetime 10-6 Patriots team to a wildcard berth before suffering a 6-10 setback the following season. (Sound familiar, can anyone say ‘03 & ‘04 Cowboys.) ‘96, AFC championship. I really doubt that any unrealistic expectations among the players or within the organization are translating onto the field of play. The players and coaches are usually pretty well grounded; if they aren’t, Parcells has a habit of setting them straight. As usual, the unrealistic expectations are endemic to the fans and the local media. Which is another reason why you always get so much grumbling, right? It just couldn’t be possible that the fan or reporter could be wrong is his assessment of the team; obviously the coach and players are underachieving! lol
   Cowboys fans need to exhibit some patience. Not likely to happen, I know. But the blasting of Bledsoe really disturbs me. The guy led us to only our second winning season in 7 years. That’s nothing to sneeze at. Those fans spouting off about how only a Super Bowl win is acceptable in Dallas need to shut their pompous a**es up! Undoubtedly those are the same lamebrains who go on and on about Landry even though he lost 3 Super Bowls, 5 NFC championships, 2 Eastern Conference championships, and 2 NFL championships. Unrealistic doesn’t even begin to describe some of the attitudes of some of our fellow fans.
   Anyway, today has been a great Sunday. The Eagles go down to Matt Bryant’s incredible game-winning 62 yrd FG, the Panthers got beat by the Bengals, and the Colts are kicking the Redskins’ butts as I write. This huge game tomorrow night just got real HUGE! A win followed by a win over the Panthers next week would put the Cowboys in a commanding position. If that happens I think you’ll begin to see some of the swagger and confidence you’ve been looking for. The pressure is on Monday night, we’ll really see where this team is at right now, I think. Are they ready for primetime? I can’t wait to find out!

4. Comment by kickholder:
   Sunday, October 22nd 2006 at 6:46 pm

   Great points, and I wouldn’t expect less. I need to “promote” you to author. Interested?

   Anyway, very true that it is probably me who is nervous. My dad was a high school coach, and two interrelated things he would always say that I can’t forget: “You’re playing like your nervous!” (followed by “What the hell are you nervous about?”) and “You’re playing not to lose! That’s a sure-fire way to lose!” That’s the context in which I’m thinking of this, but I’ll concede the point about my own nerves (LOL). I’m also a St. Louis Cardinals fan, so I’m sure I’ll be thinking the same thing…

5. Comment by Melonball:
   Monday, October 23rd 2006 at 6:24 pm

   Well, that’s a good point I didn’t really consider. Nervousness on the field probably goes hand in hand with the youth and inexperience on this defense. I remember in baseball, I was never nervous about my fielding because I was good at it, but I was always nervous at the plate, especially with runners on. I was always looking for a walk and consequently struck out a lot. Playing not to lose, and consequently losing most of the battles. Then the light finally came on on how to hit, and I started coming to the plate with confidence. My last year I only struck out once, and ended up drawing a ton of walks as well. So nervousness and confidence are inversely related. There’s just so much inexperience on this defense, they need to get their skins on the wall. I don’t think we need to worry about the offense. Lots of veterans, and I watched them pull off quite a few clutch drives last season. This season there’s even more experience on the offense, and I’ve already seen some clutch plays. They just didn’t make enough plays against the Jags and Eagles. And lost in the pick to Sheppard at the end, how about that play by Glenn and Bledsoe on 4th and 18 to even get them in position? That got lost in all the despair. That was an incredible play by Terry Glenn, and what a throw by Bledsoe! This team never quits, that’s what I like.
   Promotion to author, huh? Sure, why not? I’m leaving for a job assignment out on a Navajo reservation out in the desert of Northern Arizona, so it’s not like I’m going to be having any kind of social life for a while. lol Although, I’m sure I’ll piss off a good percentage of any readers. lol

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