cowboy fan Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Why the Cowboys are awful and won’t make the playoffs

Morpheus - Balance

I went to Jerry Jones’ living room (Cowboy Stadium) to see the Cowboys lay one of the biggest, fattest eggs that I have ever witnessed. I have watched the Cowboys play football for over 40 years. I’m a huge Cowboy fan. There is no excuse for losing tonight. None. The Cowboys simply got their butts beaten. That’s it.

The Cowboys offense was terrible. We couldn’t run. We couldn’t pass. We couldn’t do anything. Let’s look at the numbers. 13 rushing attempts for 41 yards. O for 10 on third down. Zero. You can’t win like that. Whitten fumbled. Two passes were dropped by Miles Austin, our all-world receiver. We can’t pass protect. A blitzing linebacker came in free and blasted Romo and broke his collarbone. No one saw the linebacker. No one. This is the way the Chicago Bears play offense. We should know better.

After taking a 20 – 7 lead, the Giants scored on five straight possessions. Five! What happened to this “great” Dallas defense? They are basically the same guys who played well down the stretch last year. Keith Brooking is one of the problems. Can anyone tell me if he has made a tackle for a loss this year? He simply isn’t filling the gaps. Alan Ball at safety isn’t getting to where he needs to be on time. Michael Jenkins was supposed to be “all that and a bag of chips.” Three or four penalties last week and another one this week. He just isn’t playing well. The Giants rushed for 200 yards. They passed for 306. I’m sorry. You can’t win like that. You simply can’t. The defense finally forced some turnovers, only to give the ball to a sick and wounded offense that can’t move the ball. Now, all of the defensive problems can’t be placed only on the defense. In pro football these days, you need balance (see the Morpheus photo) between your offense and your defense. They should feed off of each other. Your offense must make enough plays to allow your defense to rest. Dallas’ offense had four or five, three and outs tonight, exposing a tired and struggling defense.

Don’t be fooled by a couple plays late in the game. That didn’t show us squat. It proved that when the NY Giants had the game on cruise control the Cowboys could move the ball. Big deal. This isn’t anything to build on. It is a disaster. The only thing that is clear is that Dez Bryant is a player.

Romo leveled like the Cowboys

The Cowboys need to go back to the drawing board. Our offensive line was terrible. It needs to be evaluated and upgraded. Kyle Kosier and Marc Columbo are injured a lot. Should we look for replacements? Leonard Davis is big but hasn’t been getting the job done. Should he be cut or traded? Doug Free got abused tonight. At running back, Marion Barber isn’t the beast that he once was. Is it him or the offensive line? I’m sorry that Tony Romo got hurt but he hasn’t played that well either. In the league today, you have to have strong performances from your quarterback every week. Manning threw some terrible passes early in the game but he managed to get it together and torch the Cowboys. So once Romo heals, is he the man?

From a coaching standpoint, Jerry Jones has to make some decisions. Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett doesn’t seem like he is the man on offense. His play calling appears to be predictable at times. If I saw one more draw to Felix Jones, I was going to vomit. Then again it is hard to be creative when your offensive line sucks. Wade Phillips seems to be a nice guy who understands football. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that players are motivated to play for him. What’s the problem with his defensive? He took over the defensive play calling about two years ago. We have never solidified the safety position. Alan Ball ain’t getting it done. We cut Ken Hamlin. We have Barry Church and Orlanado Scandrick behind Ball. Do any of those names instill confidence?

This season is over. There will be no playoffs. The Cowboys need to stop thinking about the playoffs and start figuring out how to play some real football. Football is about hitting, blocking, tackling, running and passing. Right now, the Cowboys do none of these things very well.

Finally, the Cowboy stadium is a very nice place. It is huge. It is also very, very loud. Like at all major sporting events, the noise is overwhelming. I’m not talking about the noise from the fans. I’m talking about the constant music and announcements from the PA system. Commercials fill every second when football is not being played. Commercials in HD on the Jerry-tron over head. If for some reason you look away from the distracting Jerry-tron, there are several smaller screens all around the stadium flashing some message for you to buy something. I’m sorry. I don’t like it. I wanted to go to watch the Cowboys and that’s it. I don’t need to buy a car or care that the instant replay is sponsored by some Eye Center. I don’t need to go Wild, Wild, Wild. I just want to watch a good game. I guess that’s too much to ask.

By ecthompsonmd|2010-10-26T02:23:36-04:00October 26th, 2010|Sports|8 Comments

Another economic stimulus package?

My prediction of a Dallas Cowboy collapse against the Atlanta Falcons was flat wrong. I’m happy for that. We saw the most complete game from the Dallas Cowboys in over two years. Who would’ve guessed? As a lifelong Cowboy fan, I wonder what this week will hold.

Yesterday, a New York Times editorial had a lukewarm endorsement for a second stimulus package for our ailing economy. Republicans are already yelling that Obama has created a jobless recovery. Yet they seem to have no understanding of how a recovery works. First, businesses began to make money and stop hemorrhaging money. Then, once there was enough demand for more product, businesses began to higher, again. Unfortunately, when we stand back and look at how our economy has changed over the last 30 years, we must ask ourselves, where are the jobs going to come from? Over the last 30 years, Republicans have stressed that corporations must be leaner and more efficient, which has caused corporations to push jobs overseas. This means that there are fewer jobs here at home. So I fear that as businesses begin to recover, jobs will be created overseas and not here at home.

As Jeff Madrick from Campaign for America’s Future puts it:

In the past 30 years, government, with a few exceptions, did not adequately sustain and nurture society, or help it adapt to change. Government invested less in America, it regulated less, and it led less. It was a lost generation.
The financial crisis occurred because of this widespread disdain for and distrust of government. Under ideological pressure to which both political parties subscribed and under the influence of powerful vested interests, government stepped back and gave financial markets largely free rein. Very risky investments were made with enormous levels of debt; the failure of one firm could take down an entire industry . Common sense was discarded and new, highfalutin theories about the rationality and efficiency of markets dominated thinking at the best universities, the halls of Congress, and the boardroom of the nation’s central bank. Always, the argument was the financial community understood risk better than any government could.

I do not know if we truly need a second stimulus package or not. I do know that America needs help. President Obama and wimpy Democrats on the Hill need to pass legislation which makes it harder for corporations to ship jobs overseas. This legislation must tax raw materials leaving our country to be manufactured overseas and must tax the finished product coming back into the country. This will discourage businesses from shipping jobs overseas and, more importantly, encourage businesses to continue to invest in America. Even if a law like this were passed tomorrow, the effects would not be seen for another several years. But we need to start sometime.

Reform of Wall Street will act as a “mini stimulus” because currently money that would be reinvested into the corporations is now being heaped on executives. Instead of giving upper management millions of dollars in bonuses, that same money can be used to hire more people, upgrade factories and improve productivity. Congress needs to look seriously at reforming this ridiculously dysfunctional practice of heaping large rewards on CEOs.

President Obama has the right plan. Green jobs. We need to invest in clean energy. This is a multibillion dollar industry which will help America on so many levels. This will act as a second stimulus. We need to invest in wind and solar energy and in more efficient power plants. This will cause businesses to begin to hire tens of thousands if not millions of people. Congress needs to act in multiple ways to stimulate this industry. We need tax incentives so that businesses will invest in new plants. (I’m still not sure about nuclear power. When we figure out what to do with the nuclear waste, then I’m all for nuclear power, but right now we don’t have a solution. Digging a big hole and sticking it in the ground somewhere just doesn’t seem viable for the long term.)

True, healthcare reform will also help the economy. We need to curb the growth of this industry. This will allow business to free up moneys which can be reinvested in building new plants and increasing wages.

The New York Times editorial is a little bit off the mark. This should not be surprising to anyone since the Times has been walking around in a cloud of confusion for many many years. I’m not beating up the New York Times. I will leave that to conservatives who never tire at being of the Times. But I think that with a little more thoughtful reflection they could’ve come up with the right formula for long-term success of our economy.

By ecthompsonmd|2009-10-28T06:51:45-04:00October 28th, 2009|Economy|Comments Off