One thing that I just thought of that was driving me absolutely insane in the 1st half... On most of our 1st half drives, we had a lot of success on 1st down. There were multiple times that we put ourselves into a 2nd down and 2-4 yards to go situation.

And what did big Mike do.... every single friggin time, we loaded the box with 3 TE's and ran for 0-1 yards setting up a 3rd down.

What in the absolute HELL was Mike doing!?! 2nd and short is when you take your shots down the field and pick up chunk yards. If you don't get it, fine, but at least you keep the defense honest and you still have 3rd down. That right there was the #1 reason why Dak and this offense failed. Over and over and over again Mike tried to run on 2nd and short and we failed every time.

Yeah I think I saw that Dak's first 2nd down pass was well into the second quarter and his second 2nd down pass was almost half time. McCarthy was terrible.

I haven't had the chance to watch this yet, but apparently it's pretty damning of McCarthy

Another little thing I noticed in Dallas game as I continue to dive into the WHYs of the weekend… Inquiring minds, like mine, just want to know! #StudyBall pic.twitter.com/LVaezCWvi4

— Kurt Warner (@kurt13warner) January 17, 2024

David Moore on the ticket yesterday started to hedge and hint they might run it back with McCarthy and Dak.

Pignorant said:

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David Moore on the ticket yesterday started to hedge and hint they might run it back with McCarthy and Dak.

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I could def see that happening with a new DC.

I typically am not a fan of Calishaw, but I think he had a good point this morning. Usually, the question when you want to make a coaching change is, who is available and are they better than what you have.

Right now, there are two clearly better choices than McCarthy in BB and Harbaugh. His point was, if not now, when? And who is going to be available next year?

Pignorant said:

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David Moore on the ticket yesterday started to hedge and hint they might run it back with McCarthy and Dak.

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I have no doubt that this is the plan. It's not what I would do, but Jerry (at 81 years old) has no intention of blowing this thing up. None at all.

They are going to run all the same people out there next year and expect different results.... something something something the definition of insanity.

The only silver lining is that this should give us another fun double digit win season and another playoff berth where we can roll the dice once again... we'll come up short of the NFC title game as usual, but at least we'll have 4 months of "maybe this is the year" thoughts.

Macarthur said:

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Pignorant said:

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David Moore on the ticket yesterday started to hedge and hint they might run it back with McCarthy and Dak.

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I could def see that happening with a new DC.

I typically am not a fan of Calishaw, but I think he had a good point this morning. Usually, the question when you want to make a coaching change is, who is available and are they better than what you have.

Right now, there are two clearly better choices than McCarthy in BB and Harbaugh. His point was, if not now, when? And who is going to be available next year?

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This is probably the best group of coaching candidates we've seen in recent memory, and on top of that one of the best overall groups of college QBs we've seen; "If not now, when?" is probably the right mindset to have, but I just don't think Jerry has the stones to do anything else.

I think I'd prefer vrabel over McCarthy in addition to harbaugh and BB

Pignorant said:

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David Moore on the ticket yesterday started to hedge and hint they might run it back with McCarthy and Dak.

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If they run this **** back my interest is going to plummet. You know who both of these chumps are and they're not going to change. Dak is a worse choker than Romo and Meathead can't win a playoff game.

This year was the year and they blew it.

Kashchei said:

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Pignorant said:

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David Moore on the ticket yesterday started to hedge and hint they might run it back with McCarthy and Dak.

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If they run this **** back my interest is going to plummet. You know who both of these chumps are and they're not going to change. Dak is a worse choker than Romo and Meathead can't win a playoff game.

This year was the year and they blew it.

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I'm with you and I think a ton of folks feel the same way.

Daveintx said:

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Now Jerry and Stephen are playing the whole "no interview commitments at the end of the season" card so they can go hide instead of facing the music.....

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I think they're trying to decide what to do with McCarthy and who to pursue if they replace him, not hiding. There's not really any point in an interview until that decision is made.

I actually thought the postgame interview Jerry gave was pretty on point.

ChoppinDs40 said:

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Macarthur said:

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Yeah. I think he's going to be a great pro.

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1st rounders aren't used on 1-down players only. He cannot rush the passer. Would be a huge reach in the first round.

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I think he's going to be pretty dang good at what he does in the NFl. He might be a bit of a reach in 1, but not nearly to the extent Mazi was, and that pick got defended on here.

Macarthur said:

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Kashchei said:

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Pignorant said:

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David Moore on the ticket yesterday started to hedge and hint they might run it back with McCarthy and Dak.

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If they run this **** back my interest is going to plummet. You know who both of these chumps are and they're not going to change. Dak is a worse choker than Romo and Meathead can't win a playoff game.

This year was the year and they blew it.

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I'm with you and I think a ton of folks feel the same way.

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Right? What would be the point? We know what happens in big games. We get exposed.

DTP02 said:

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ChoppinDs40 said:

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Macarthur said:

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Yeah. I think he's going to be a great pro.

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1st rounders aren't used on 1-down players only. He cannot rush the passer. Would be a huge reach in the first round.

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He'd be a bit of a reach, but not to the extent Mazi was, and that pick got defended on here.

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so, I've read online that Mazi lost weight. I'm wondering if he was asked to lose weight. That could be a huge piece of information that could really affect his future. I can't imagine wanting your rookie 1T to lose weight when he wasn't enormous to begin with.

I think McCarthy and Dak are tied together. McCarthy clearly gave us the best version of Dak. If you get rid of him you're upsetting your QB and I'm not sure you find a better OC.

Keep them or pull the plug on both.

Definitely need to change the DC.

Macarthur said:

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DTP02 said:

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ChoppinDs40 said:

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Macarthur said:

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Yeah. I think he's going to be a great pro.

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1st rounders aren't used on 1-down players only. He cannot rush the passer. Would be a huge reach in the first round.

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He'd be a bit of a reach, but not to the extent Mazi was, and that pick got defended on here.

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so, I've read online that Mazi lost weight. I'm wondering if he was asked to lose weight. That could be a huge piece of information that could really affect his future. I can't imagine wanting your rookie 1T to lose weight when he wasn't enormous to begin with.

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That's interesting if true, from an anchoring perspective. But that would also make his lack of explosion at the snap even more concerning.

May just be that he doesn't have that explosion for NFL at this weight. Needs to lighten up.

If he was 335 and he'll play at 310-315 that isn't that alarming.

Jerry has been kicking the can down the road since Parcells. No reason to expect anything different.

That Shannahan coaching tree is looking attractive. I'd consider Slowick from the Texans too.

I think the interest in the team would dip severely if they ran it back with both McCarthy and Dak, and even more so if they somehow kept Quinn. And don't fool yourself, Jerry and that front office knows. They have their finger on the pulse of how cowboys fans are thinking, and tbh I think they're equally as frustrated. It's just going to depend if they have the gumption to do anything about it.

I think the point about Dak and McCarthy being tied together is a good one. They like each other a lot.

Woods Ag said:

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I think McCarthy and Dak are tied together. McCarthy clearly gave us the best version of Dak. If you get rid of him you're upsetting your QB and I'm not sure you find a better OC.

Keep them or pull the plug on both.

Definitely need to change the DC.

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This is the way.....We've seen what this combo is about.....

Can't see Jerry hiring Harbaugh, too independent and strong willed
Can't see Harbaugh working for Jerry, wouldn't put up with the meddling.

I would love to be wrong.

Woods Ag said:

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May just be that he doesn't have that explosion for NFL at this weight. Needs to lighten up.

If he was 335 and he'll play at 310-315 that isn't that alarming.

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I think the explosion is there. Just gotta figure out why it didn't translate.

I strenuously object. We can say Mazi is not what we hoped but we cannot say he is slow twitch. He was @BruceFeldmanCFB No. 1 physical freak in 2022 college football. https://t.co/Kxqy5soOH4 pic.twitter.com/Wd0nPhXyQd

— Bob Sturm (@SportsSturm) January 17, 2024

I just mean "less eyeballs on the team" in one form or fashion. And I know that sounds ridiculous, but I believe that they would draw less people.

Could Mike Tomlinson be available?

With so many coaching upgrades out there already, Jerry is a fool for running it back.

Tksymm7 said:

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I just mean "less eyeballs on the team" in one form or fashion. And I know that sounds ridiculous, but I believe that they would draw less people.

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I would certainly hope so, but unfortunately the cowboys are too many families "big splurge" events where they spend nearly all of their discretionary income just so they can go to a cowboy game with their wife and kids.

Snippet of something from Sturm, I'm not gonna post all of it since it is paywall content.
Regarding Quinn staying in the dime package (5 to 6 DBs and small LBs) and how it was effective when teams were in their '11' package aka 1RB and 1TE.

"San Francisco was in "big" offense for 43 snaps and rolled up 228 yards for 5.3 yards per snap (103 yards was the average total of 12, 13, 21, 22 personnel yardage in any NFL game by an offense).
Buffalo copied them and was in "big" offense for 42 snaps and rolled up 229 yards and 5.5 per snap.
Miami saw that and was in "big" for 33 snaps and 187 yards for 5.66 yards per snap.
And then Green Bay predictably did the same thing, 26 snaps for 224 yards for 8.62 yards per snap."

big offense being multiple TEs, RBs, or even a FB
Basically what a lot of people on here had been saying, and someone even predicted we would probably struggle against Green Bay because of it.
Once VDE went out, we were stuck with young and undersized linebackers.
I initially wanted to throw all the blame on Quinn and McCarthy, but at least roster wise we may have had no options.
Now, perhaps the blame goes back on them because I assume they have some influence on who we target in the offseason and/or draft, and this has been a glaring weakness for a while imo.
But maybe it all keeps going back to Jerry as well.
We either need to draft a stud LB to slot into the starting lineup, or trade for one.

It would probably hurt them more in TV viewership in Texas, because you are right people spend way to much money to go to those games.

I'll be very surprised if they bring MM back. That's a level of restraint after a loss like that I just don't think Jerry is capable of.

I think Quinn still has to shoulder some blame. If he had been adamant that he needed some size at LBer, I think they would have made a move at the deadline to add something.

Yeah I read all that from Parcells, and I've heard people say that parcels says the opposite in conversations. If Jerry could sell harbaugh, and we know Jerry can sell, that would be great

But Harbaugh to Chargers seems like a great fit.

I remember that and was real excited because of it.
, but did you watch Michigan this year? #55 - Graham I think. Looked like a physical freak same as Mazi last year.

I think it may be the system. They always have a physical freak in the middle that doesn't pan out. Remember Maurice Hurst. Same thing