It’s been a Bill Murray Ground Hog Day sort of season, and the Cowboys played the same scripted garbage game resulting in another loss, dropping them to 4-11 on the year.
The Cowboys will put us out of our misery next week when they host the Washington Redskins in a meaningless game. The Redskins have already clinched the division and a playoff spot, so it’ll be interesting to see if they start any of their starters or sit them in preparation for hosting a wild-card game. That being said, I will be pulling for the Cowboys to finish 4-12 and a top 3-5 pick for the 2016 draft.
Win or lose against the Redskins, here’s what we know about the Cowboys moving forward:
— Demarcus Lawrence star is rising. He had a slow start and I had second thoughts on his production earlier this year, but the switch flipped for him and he’s been on a terror. Lawrence leads the team with 8 sacks and outplaying the high-priced Greg Hardy.
— Greg Hardy has not been re-signed and I wonder if the Cowboys will make an offer. To me Hardy helped the defense at times, but we did not see the full-blown dominating player we had hoped. I’m on the fence on whether or not we need to re-sign him. Outside of Lawrence, Hardy is really the only true pass rusher that can get to the QB, and that puts us in a bind of sorts. So, the Cowboys have to brainstorm what they do here with Hardy.
— Randy Gregory was a disappointment, and I’m not sure he’s a fit for this defense. Gregory would probably be better served as an OLB in the 3-4. Gregory has been mauled by tackle in every game. Thru 11 games he’s played, Gregory has recorded 0 sacks. It’s possible he played with injury, but it’s possible that he is still playing under weight. We’ll see.
— The offensive line has been inconsistent. The offensive line will have another 1,000 yard backer in McFadden next week, so that is a good stat line for the group as a whole. What is not good is the fact that they also lead the NFL with the most false-starts in the league — just terrible. Do the Cowboys miss Callahan? Yes, absolutely. Frank Pollack is not getting it done, and he’s one assistant that should get upgraded in the offseason.
— Lucky Whitehead has shown marked improvement each week, and should be the guy to beat out for training camp. However, his fumbles could cost him the job if he has more.
— Assistant coaches that need to be considered for replacement: Frank Pollack; Rich Bisaccia; Wade Wilson; Mike Pope. I’ve already discussed Pollack, and with all the turnover this offseason from other teams, there should be someone better available to re-elevate the line. Bisaccia has never impressed me, and special teams has not been good. We continue to have bad field positioning and we give opposing teams good field positioning, he needs to go. Wade Wilson has been on the team too long, and none of the QBs under Romo have developed into anything for us. If the Cowboys plan on drafting a QB, they better upgrade the QB coach. Mike Pope has not helped the tight ends elevate their game. Escobar, and Hanna looked to have peaked under Pope and have not been able to help the offense. I would consider getting Dan Campbell once the Dolphins rebuild their staff.
— Sean Lee is a throwback player and put his love for the game above his long-term health with his multiple concussions this year; however, Lee had a Pro-Bowl caliber season and should have been voted in. Lee is a game changer and hopefully we can see that again from him in 2016. The Cowboys will need to be smart with the LB depth. I don’t expect McClain to be back, so the position needs to be addressed with free agency AND the draft. Dane Brugler likes Myles Jack for the Cowboys, and I’m down for that if QB is not on the table, check out my Q&A with him here.
— Byron Jones needs to stay at safety. Jones has been impressive to say the least and we could finally have Darren Woodson’s replacement. It’s been a 11-yr search, but we have a good one now. Wilcox and Heath roster spots are coming to an end soon.
— Dez Bryant’s injury has slowed him all year and his year has been a complete wash. We all know he was now the same Dez once he came back from injury. It would not surprise me if he has some procedure on his knee or his foot at the end of the year.
— Doug Free’s time could be coming to an end. I continue to think he’s moving around slow out there, and getting beat several times throughout the season. I feel like he’s on the same career path as Marc Colombo right before he was replaced by Free. Free is now in the spot where Colombo was — he needs to be upgraded. Will it be Chaz Green? Hopefully. We did use a high pick on Green, so he needs to have a hell of an offseason and maul people in camp.
— Dan Bailey was the bright spot for offensive scoring, and it earned him a Pro-Bowl nod, which is well deserved.
— The Cowboys have several key players set to become free agents. Among them are: Jeremy Mincey; Rolando McClain; Greg Hardy; Mo Claiborne; Lance Dunbar; Nick Hayden; Kyle Wilber; Jack Crawford; Ron Leary (RFA); Jeff Heath; James Hanna. The only one I’d feel good about bringing back would be Dunbar and Jack Crawford is serviceable. I’d consider making an offer to Hardy, but the rest can hit the road.
— Need a legitimate 1-tech defensive tackle. Will the Cowboys spend some money in free agency this year or use a draft pick for a defensive tackle? They better do something at the 1-tech, they’ve gone cheap and neglected the position and we’ve seen teams ram their running game right up the middle at will. Jerry Jones is on record admiring the Carolina Panther defense and a big part of what they do comes from their defensive tackles, so I wonder if there will be any sort of mandate from Jerry in this regard.
— DeMarco Murray back in Dallas could be a possibility if Chip Kelly remains in Philly and maybe if he’s out he could still become available. It’s no secret the Eagles did not get their bang for the buck when they signed Murray away from the Cowboys. With low usage, Murray still has fresh legs and could be in the mix for the Cowboys if the Eagles cut him. He’ll be 28 in February, so maybe a 3-yr deal. Besides that, I’m looking at Lamar Miller from the Dolphins. He’s a phenomenal player that fits what the Cowboys like from their RBs: height; running; pass catching; and pass protection. Drafting a RB is the other obvious option.
— Kellen Moore probably should have been inserted earlier in the season, but the Cowboys gamble on Weeden and Cassel was a colossal screw up. I knew the Cowboys were in trouble when Dustin Vaughan could not unseat Weeden in the pre-seaon, and it was a disaster the rest of the way. The Cowboys have given Moore a look these last two games, but you have to question their ability to evaluate QBs. This season felt a lot like the 5-11 seasons under Campo when we tried several QBs with no successor to Aikman in sight. Parcells had Sean Payton to help weed out the QB backlog and Romo came out on top. The Cowboys don’t have that evaluator on staff from what I have seen.
— Lesson’s learned? By now we are really hoping the Cowboys have learned from neglecting the back-up QB position and quality depth at other positions. If the Cowboys could have just won a few games, we would have looked like a different team. It’s clear the team dialed it in once Romo went down for the second time in the same year. Depth at RB was a joke as well, they rolled the dice in hoping Randle would be something, and all he did was confirm our fears and our back-up running back by committee took over. I like McFadden, he’s a 1,000 yard back, but we really need him to be a rotational player behind a more physical complete back. If we can get another solid back in here with McFadden our running attack will be legit in 2016, but if they go cheap again, forget it.
What moves would you like the Cowboys to do? Any assistant coaches need to go? Any players you want to sign in free agency? Sound of in the comments or tweet your comments. It’s been a rough season, but still Cowboys forever!
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