Feel like we're pretty close to the Seahawks from a few years ago when they lucked into Russell Wilson + before they had to pay him. At least in my homer mind. Gives the team a huge boost when can use the $ elsewhere.

Need to hit the defensive line hard in the offseason.

I don't think the spike is necessarily on Garrett, isn't the QB running the 2 minute drill to make that split second decision?

Sure the sideline was telling them to spike it. And we were picking up yards at will against them in the 2nd half outside of the one turnover. We probably pick up the 1st pretty often even with only two downs.

I'm not going to second-guess it. The offense put up 31 points in 30 minutes' TOP. There are any of a couple dozen individual things that might be looked at and questioned but the Cowboys were the 6th straight team that Rodgers hung 30+ points on. Even if they survived this one they'd have been forced to win shootouts with Atlanta and probably NE and basically forced to hope things bounce their way. The defense needs to factor in more.

If I were to point to one thing it'd be the failure to draft an impact defensive player, outside of maybe Byron Jones. DLaw and Gregory were pretty big misses. One impact player changes everything about yesterday.

But again I'm very optimistic, partly because there's still reason to hope for good results from the defensive players in this past class. Smith and Tapper are both high-upside players, Collins and Brown started most of their rookie seasons and didn't embarrass themselves and hopefully they build on that. I don't know anything about the so-called Barry Church clone in Frazier (but he did at least make the team and hold his roster spot).
And the sick thing is that it's already considered an awesome draft class, despite that only four players from it played any meaningful time.

When I look back at 2016, I think I'm just going to see a team that unexpectedly skipped the line and avoided maybe years worth of painful QB hunting and rebuilding. They weren't good enough to outlast GB yesterday but it was close...does anybody see a reason that has to be true next year, or the year after? They're no longer pressured to pursue a QBotF prospect or RB so they can check those of the list, they can afford to retain their offensive line and other key pieces.

Yeah no doubt. QB is the hardest thing to find and we have one. DAK is maybe not ever going to be the best in the NFL but every indication is he's good enough. There's hope for the future.

Defense is a lot easier to build on the fly.

Don't love the whole "hey we would have had to beat Atlanta and NE" attitude. Who cares? They don't come easy these days, but if you win THAT game in THAT fashion, I like my chances vs the Falcons and Pats.

Ditto

You missed my point. I'm saying they're are tangible things you can look at where they have an opportunity to improve immediately so they don't have to fade coinflip shootouts. That's what it was before the game and the wouldn't have been any different had a few plays gone another way and resulted in a W. It's the difference between being dominant and just being a good team. They ran relatively well all year and caught a lot of breaks (and did with some key GB injuries the other day), not to mention being at home, healthy and rested. They're out because they're not there just yet, not because of a given call or spike decision or w/e, Fat Mike did his fair share with GB to btw but what else is new.

Garrett works, the offense works. The defensive system works too (and cheaply) but they're going to be meh until they secure a couple real playmakers. Now that we're finally getting good news about Jaylon Smith and can focus on D this offseason they can get there easier than the other one-dimensional NFC teams they want to separate themselves from.

My only issue with that attitude is you never know when you're finally there, roster wise. Maybe you get those pass rushers finally, and lose one week 12 + Zeke goes down right before the playoffs. Every year is a total crapshoot. This year was totally winnable, and straight up coaching cost us the best chance at that game. Would it have been more winnable with a pass rush on top of all the stuff that went so right (as you said we ran great)? yes of course. But there's no telling when your pass rush looks amazing, and then your offence goes full Eli. That example is so textbook. The Giants made their D incredible and literally their whole O vanished this year. So maybe we can improve the roster, but a winnable game is a winnable game, and your 13 year old cousin knows to not give the most deadly QB in the playoffs a prevent D on 3rd and 20 (and all the time in the world that comes with it) when it's the underneath play that kills you for FG range anyway, not the end zone bomb.

No dominant teams in the NFL this year though especially NE without a healthy Gronk. Would have been favored at home over Atlanta and then get PIT or NE on a neutral field.

The biggest knock against the Cowboys was 'youth' on offense and that wasn't why we lost at all really. If anything the coaching staff looked more nervous than Dak I would say if that makes any sense.

Just heard that if Dallas cuts Romo they save 15mil against the cap, but if they trade him they only save 5mil but get a draft pick. If that's true then I'm thinking it might be better for both sides (Romo could choose his own destination) to cut him and pick up a top tier player or 2 in free agency for the defense and just roll with the picks they have.

It almost sounds like you played against one of the GOAT QB playing at a GOAT level.

They will probably get a 4th or worse pick, I don't think that is worth $10 million in cap space. Don't know their cap situation though.

I agree. If they can get a 1-2 then take it and the cap hit. Any later and I'd probably just release him and take the cap space.

http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/dallas-cowboys/

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/cap/2017/

In a nutshell, they are fubar.

As far as Romo, he's a 36-year-old injury riddled QB with a $24.7 million cap hit. Unless Matt Millen somehow gets a job, no one's trading for him.

Catching up, but jsb, come in off that ledge.

First, they're not FUBAR. We've seen FUBAR Cowboys cap situations before and this is far from it. FUBAR is when you have a bad, old team and don't have the resources to retain quality free agents. Neither applies here. They have options all over the place ranging from easy cuts to younger players that can be restructured (which is more favorable with younger stud players and while the cap is skyrocketing).

Second, your cap information is incorrect; you need to know how cap accelerations work. His $24.7 million cap figure is the number if he were to stay on another year and pay him. Since he's not, that figure is now irrelevant - they will not have to pay his base and just absorb $19.6m in accelerated bonus - which seems eh, until you remember that this is an option because they have a new QB working for minimum salary. Their QB costs actually drop by $5m this year not to mention the massive savings in the following two years. Which allow them an easier time in resigning some younger quality players.

Third, the trading team only has to pay base salary, which is only $14m for 2017, and with no guarantees required. Obviously that's very reasonable if you know what QBs cost.

They're going to go into 2017 with their entire starting offense returning except for Doug Free (easy $5m cap savings move) and probably Terrance Williams, and ofc Ron Leary but they have an equally good option there. So no real key losses, and only a couple due extensions. On defense they have a lot of free agents in the secondary but at the same time none are superstars, they're also free of Carr's contract and he's talking retirement anyway.

Dallas salary obligations are high because they have a strong (and young) roster already in place. They can make room for one or two name players but there were never going to do any headline record deals. Some of these teams with all this space have **** rosters or all kinds of expiring contracts. The Browns for example have $100m+ in space, but lack the internal talent to spend it on, so they're going to have to spend through the nose in free agency for other's castoffs.

In fact for anyone doubting - here's a rough draft of the 2017 lineup we already have signed, subtracting obvious cuts and fringe guys. Red for loss risk with retirement/injury. Blue for a few 2nd year or younger guys worth thinking about and probably block out a signing or pick for their role.

QB: Dak, unfilled
RB: Zeke, Morris
TE: Witten?, Hanna, Swaim
OL: Tyron, Collins, Fredbeard, Martin + Green
WR: Dez
WR2, 3: Unfilled, Beasley

DE: Unfilled RDE, DLaw, Mayowa, Tapper, Irving (EFA)
DT: McClain, Thorton, M Collins,
CB: Unfilled 1 Scandrick, Anthony Brown, [COLOR="red"]Unfilled[ 4/COLOR]
S: Byron Jones, Unfilled
LB: *Jaylon Smith*, Sean Lee, Hitchens + bodies

K: Bailey
P: Jones

That's a great place to start from. They're young and recent draft returns (esp Dak) radically changes the cap outlook. Some spots to fill like anybody but they'll field a good team and can afford to sustain it a bit.

A good litmus test: go through the roster's contracts page, and find all the major long term deals they're stuck with that you wish they weren't.

For me, Romo's the easy/obvious one now that Dak fell out of the sky, and I'd say Tyrone Crawford is definitely questionable right this second (but not a lost cause if he bounces back). Cedric Thornton is lower priced but same deal. The list looks short for me.

The rest (like Doug Free) they aren't stuck with. Would you want to give up Dez to recover his cap space right now? Tyron? Lee? Frederick? Cowboys high dollar deals are going to high performance players mostly, and the mid-range deals look pretty decent value-wise to me as well. Scandrick, Beasley, Bailey at ~$3m each are no-brainers.

I could see us going after a FA like Kendall Wright or Andre Holmes. Nothing crazy but something Dak can use. And then throw the whole draft at the D-side with BPA just about anywhere on that side of the ball. I think they kick the can down the line one more year at WR/TE, which will become a 2018 priority.

I've heard the draft is pretty deep at dline and corner. Something that hopefully means good things for us.

I dunno, let's just see what HOF owner Jerry Jones and NFL Coach of the Year Jason Garrett come up with

seriously though how does Belichick not get COTY every season

Because sportswriters are as dumb as the average coach?

Having Brady is used to discredit Belichick. Deflategate. Spygate. Formationgate. All dumb reasons but it doesn't matter when voters are just that dumb. The award/voting has become more of an "exceeding expectations" thing rather than a quality of coaching thing.

So Romo to be released Thursday reportedly

End of an era

Wishing him all the best.....in the AFC....

Haha truth