2024 Week Three: Baltimore Ravens at Dallas Cowboys

[dbair1967]

No Jordan Phillips and no Mazi, plus Derrick Henry. What could go wrong?

Jerry said they were going to do better, didnt you hear?

 

[dbair1967]

I understand the general gist of this, but it is really a BS stat. Comparing almost anything to the pre-free agency era is BS. Apples and oranges.

I think you're somewhat missing the point.

The fact that 2024 Dallas is the ONLY modern era team on the list, THAT'S the point.

It hasn't happened since 1968, until you know, Jerry

 

[dbair1967]

 

[Aggiepride]

I think you're somewhat missing the point.

The fact that 2024 Dallas is the ONLY modern era team on the list, THAT'S the point.

It hasn't happened since 1968, until you know, Jerry

The point is that using last year's team and connecting it to this year's team is a misleading stat.

In the pre-free agency era, guys like Stephon Gilmore, Tony Pollard, Tyron Smith, Tyler Biadiaz and more would all still be on the Dallas Cowboys.

So a stat that shows the Cowboys gave up 40 to Green Bay last year and 40 this year at home would be a more accurate stat if it were done in the pre-free agency era. Teams stayed together a lot more. So a person was better able to say, last year's team did this, and this year's team did this, and we'd still be talking about the same team.

This team is not the same team that played Green Bay. Even if you just look at the secondary it is different. 2 out of 5 starting OL being different is a 40 percent turnover (not to mention that they are both rookies). What does offense have to do with defense? A lot. An offense keeps the defense off the field.

So it is apples and oranges to compare teams in the pre-free agency era when I could probably name the entire starting roster of a Tom Landry team for next year because it barely changed the next year, other than rookies, who rarely started day 1 under Landry.

 

[Aggiepride]

Jerry said they were going to do better, didnt you hear?

Is Dallas going to play "resolve" again like last year? If we lose we are really in a big hole when it comes to having a bye week. Of course, it depends on who else loses.

I just looked at the standings and technically the Cowboys are in 3rd place in the East.

 

[Aggiepride]

Lamb is worth the money. Plenty of other WR's got paid big bucks and Lamb is every bit as good as them.

Now Prescott, Steele, Hooker, and numerous others from previous yrs (Jaylon Smith, Zeke come to mind) no, definitely shouldnt have paid them.

Every bit as good doesn't mean he is worth the money. WRs are easy to replace. Let's see how many of those "plenty" are in the Super Bowl, then get back to me about being worth the money.

The goal is to win the Super Bowl. It is not to have the most pro-bowl players. The Bills getting rid of Diggs puts them closer to winning the Super Bowl, not further away. As a result, they were able to keep a couple of players who they otherwise would not have been able to keep.

That's basically what we tried to do when we traded Amari Cooper for a measly 6th. We weren't really getting rid of Amari as much as we were getting rid of the contract.

I haven't spent any time on the 2025 draft class, but I'd be willing to bet there are at least 5 WRs who can be good enough, maybe a couple of even budding superstars. I know this because every draft class has good WRs. Colleges crank them out annually.

 

[dbair1967]

The point is that using last year's team and connecting it to this year's team is a misleading stat.

In the pre-free agency era, guys like Stephon Gilmore, Tony Pollard, Tyron Smith, Tyler Biadiaz and more would all still be on the Dallas Cowboys.

So a stat that shows the Cowboys gave up 40 to Green Bay last year and 40 this year at home would be a more accurate stat if it were done in the pre-free agency era. Teams stayed together a lot more. So a person was better able to say, last year's team did this, and this year's team did this, and we'd still be talking about the same team.

This team is not the same team that played Green Bay. Even if you just look at the secondary it is different. 2 out of 5 starting OL being different is a 40 percent turnover (not to mention that they are both rookies). What does offense have to do with defense? A lot. An offense keeps the defense off the field.

So it is apples and oranges to compare teams in the pre-free agency era when I could probably name the entire starting roster of a Tom Landry team for next year because it barely changed the next year, other than rookies, who rarely started day 1 under Landry.

Same coaches...same culture...mostly same players

 

[dbair1967]

Every bit as good doesn't mean he is worth the money. WRs are easy to replace. Let's see how many of those "plenty" are in the Super Bowl, then get back to me about being worth the money.

The goal is to win the Super Bowl. It is not to have the most pro-bowl players. The Bills getting rid of Diggs puts them closer to winning the Super Bowl, not further away. As a result, they were able to keep a couple of players who they otherwise would not have been able to keep.

That's basically what we tried to do when we traded Amari Cooper for a measly 6th. We weren't really getting rid of Amari as much as we were getting rid of the contract.

I haven't spent any time on the 2025 draft class, but I'd be willing to bet there are at least 5 WRs who can be good enough, maybe a couple of even budding superstars. I know this because every draft class has good WRs. Colleges crank them out annually.

The Eagles WR's were in the Super Bowl the yr before last, right? What about the Niners WR's, just last yr.

You mention the Bills (and could have said Cheifs too) but those teams have Josh Allen and Mahomes. We dont.

Funny you mention Cooper, remember the yr we acquired him to begin with?

 

[Maveric]

 

[Aggiepride]

The Eagles WR's were in the Super Bowl the yr before last, right? What about the Niners WR's, just last yr.

You mention the Bills (and could have said Cheifs too) but those teams have Josh Allen and Mahomes. We dont.

Funny you mention Cooper, remember the yr we acquired him to begin with?

The point is that WRs are easy to replace and we need to sniff a SB. Every team has its own unique make up. The Niners are not paying their QB yet. They have a different cap situation. When the Eagles got the the SB, were they paying Hurts a huge contract yet? So then they had certain players retire, they unloaded others and so forth.

All these numbers are from Spotrac.

Nick Bosa, for example, is on the books for a base salary in 2024 of 1.1 million and a signing bonus of 10 million. The cap hit is 14 million.

One reason the Niners played a little hard ball with Brandon Aiyuk was to get his price down. But Jerry is scared shitless (mostly of the possibility of fans not showing up).

Aiyuk in 2025 will cost a base of 1.2 million, a signing bonus of 4.6 million with a cap hit of 11 million.

MEANWHILE Lamb in 2025 costs the Cowboys a base of 25 million, a signing bonus of 7.6 million, with a cap hit of 35.4 million.

And I could go on and on.

Now, which team do you think has a higher likelihood of going to the Super bowl this season barring injuries?

At what point are we going to truly be all in on winning a SB? Or are we going to go year after year having to brag about how many pro-bowl players we have? We will then call in on the shows (so the hosts have something to talk about) and complain that player abc got overlooked for the Pro Bowl.

What if we hadn't signed Lamb? Would he have sat out an entire year and hurt his market value, or would he have played and needed to play to the best of his ability?

Now envision being able to call a team, for this season, and make a deal for a RB (the way the Niners did with McCaffrey) or a DT, or you name the position. We could do that because we'd have cap space for 2025 and 2026.

Oh my gosh, but then what happens if we don't have Lamb next year? The sky is falling! I don't know, would Stephen Diggs be willing to play on the same team as his brother for less than what Lamb is being paid? Could that difference get us a special teams player to help out there or a backup QB? Is it guaranteed that Rush re-signs? How about getting better than Rush?

How about also adding Tee Higgins? Since Zack Martin might retire at the end of this season, perhaps Tee Higgins and Diggs. Cooks is a UFA after 2024, so there could have been room. Or maybe resigning Cooks.

What does "all in" mean? Are we all in for the year 3000 to win a SB? When are we going to make a serious push for that particular year? Will it be 2025, 2026?

What Jerry is doing is he is always trying to have a competitive team, and then he is hoping that we get lucky. Maybe the Niners and Eagles will have half their team hurt.