last night was rough, but I'm taking a pause on writing this year's chapter just yet. The defense scares the hell out of me, but it was also a 9/11 anniversary game in NY (NJ, but still) and emotionally charged. That first half could have put us in a very different situation if a play or two goes differently (and yes, I understand it could have been worse if we don't get that fumble recovery). We also had some insane drops. That Pickens drop up the right sideline alone could have changed the game altogether.

The offense is clearly still a top 10 potential offense, maybe even top 5 like last year. The defense terrifies me, but it's game 1 under a new DC, and with a ton of turnover across the defensive roster. We didn't get much pressure, but I expect more to come there too. And, I expect Downs to make more and more of a "coaching" impact game by game.

Prediction after last night....9-8. Hopefully that goes up quickly. The worst thing would be for us to be in no man's land again just on the outside looking in for playoff, and just missing out on a top 10 pick again (although I think we have to give our better of the 2 picks for 2027 to NYJ; and I also realize pick 12 miraculously worked in our favor this time around).

zgolfz85 said:

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last night was rough, but I'm taking a pause on writing this year's chapter just yet. The defense scares the hell out of me, but it was also a 9/11 anniversary game in NY (NJ, but still) and emotionally charged. That first half could have put us in a very different situation if a play or two goes differently (and yes, I understand it could have been worse if we don't get that fumble recovery). We also had some insane drops. That Pickens drop up the right sideline alone could have changed the game altogether.

The offense is clearly still a top 10 potential offense, maybe even top 5 like last year. The defense terrifies me, but it's game 1 under a new DC, and with a ton of turnover across the defensive roster. We didn't get much pressure, but I expect more to come there too. And, I expect Downs to make more and more of a "coaching" impact game by game.

Prediction after last night....9-8. Hopefully that goes up quickly. The worst thing would be for us to be in no man's land again just on the outside looking in for playoff, and just missing out on a top 10 pick again (although I think we have to give our better of the 2 picks for 2027 to NYJ; and I also realize pick 12 miraculously worked in our favor this time around).

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We can make all the excuses we want on drops and fumbles and what ifs. And all of us hope this was just an opening day thingy but we got beat much worse than the score shows.

But, long season of upsets and injuries, ups and downs.

Let's see how the Redskin game pans out next week…

The Giants also got every effing bounce until we finally got that turnover.

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The Giants also got every effing bounce

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And Ceedee Lamb didn't push off the db for offensive interference on his td? It goes both ways. The Cowboys were terrible.

Also, the Giants QB was 7/7 on 3rd down passes. That is huge.

This game felt as hopeless and demoralizing as the Green Bay playoff game. I haven't felt as bad about a cowboys game in a long time. Just doesn't inspire any confidence at all going forward.

ApachePilot said:

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Cowboy fans will never see a change if they keep filling the stadium and buying all the Cowboy merchandise. The Jones don't have a reason to change. It's insane to think the Cowboys last Super Bowl was in '95. I bet a good majority of Aggies on here weren't alive. Too storied a franchise for the product. Cowboy fans are loyal to a fault.

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Its got to be tough to be a Cowboys fan in your 20s. You've never seen any real success but you still get accused of being a front runner.

Enrico Pallazzo said:

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I'm afraid we are in for generations of morons. I don't see Stephen running this much differently - right now Will McClay runs the draft/personnel (and has been good overall), but Stephen handles the contracts and cap. Most of the contract idiocy has largely been his doing. Then John Stephen Jones is the likely heir on waiting after Stephen.

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Been saying this for years. Stephen Jones is a big problem and for anyone thinking things will get better when Jerry is 6 feet under and Stephen is running it completely is an absolute fool. By all accounts Jerry is pretty much a figure head now and has been for years. This is Stephens baby and while the buck stops w Jerry its Stephen thats been driving the bus off the cliff for years.

The only hope is that in about 15-20 years or so Jerry probably will be gone and Stephen will be wanting another shiny new stadium . So maybe he goes out and hires his version of Bill Parcells to give us a decent team for a 2-3 year window so he can try to get municipalities or tax payers to chip in.

PatAg said:

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ApachePilot said:

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Cowboy fans will never see a change if they keep filling the stadium and buying all the Cowboy merchandise. The Jones don't have a reason to change. It's insane to think the Cowboys last Super Bowl was in '95. I bet a good majority of Aggies on here weren't alive. Too storied a franchise for the product. Cowboy fans are loyal to a fault.

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Its got to be tough to be a Cowboys fan in your 20s. You've never seen any real success but you still get accused of being a front runner.

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As a Giants fan, with a best friend who is a rabid Cowboys fan, there are similarities and differences. (We have a three day 'cooling off' period agreement where we don't call the other after they play each other. I may not hear from him for 3 weeks now?!)

I say as a Giants fan while we have had somewhat recent success with two SBs in living memory, we have been pretty bad to really bad for several decades other than those two seasons. Friend maintains that his Cowboys are always good, seldom great, but it's been 30 years since SBs for a team that spends $$$ and gets stars on the field.

So agree with you about young and middle age fans having frustration over not conquering the mountain, but you usually have season to season success with double digit victories. That will still draw very young fans in. Older Giants fans have noticed that their kids and younger people in their lives have avoided being a Giants fan, Bills, Chiefs, etc instead. Giants mismanagement has cost them a generation of fans.

Until you go through radical change, you need to have wild failure to put that in motion. Otherwise Jerry is going to keep on the same path. I am not a Cowboys hater, I think our teams are very similar in the last 30+ years. So I have empathy.

Now if we talk about the eagles....yuk.