AU-panther

Most of this fan base would have a fit if they spent a #1 pick on a QB a year after spending a top 10 pick on a QB. They would start whining some gibberish about needing to protect him or give him weapons.

So now its hypothetical...LoL

Do you honestly think that the team would have passed on a comparable cost LT in free agency that they felt was better at playing the one position of LT than Cam Erving because they felt Cam was potentially better at various positions instead of the one position of LT? The answer is they wouldn't have. With Elflein they probably did like some of his versatility because on game days most teams only have 7-8 o-lineman active to cover 10 starting and backup spots, because of this all teams value versatility in their o-lineman. Rhule talking about versatility was mostly coach speak when selling players to the media and fans. In reality the amount he values it in the actual selection process is probably pretty similar to other coaches. He just happens to talk about it a lot and naive fans run with it. Part of the reason he talked about it was there was nothing else to talk about it. You couldn't talk about their pro blows? nope How about their really high PFF scores? nope You could talk about their injury history. That isn't really a selling point though is it?

It was actually a topic somewhat in the podcast, they were discussing how much Brady was to be blamed. Of course, Rhule is ultimately responsible for both, but it was just a question asking which was his biggest mistep. Also the versatility crap was a bunch of coach speak. People are overthinking it. Someone thought Erving could play LT at a high level and they were wrong. Someone thought Elflein could play guard at a high level and they were wrong. They didn't pick a bad LT because they were looking for versatility, they picked a bad LT because they don't know how to evaluate. During the process they probably appreciate versatility, any coach would but the main reason they signed Erving wasn't because he was versatile, that might have been a bonus in their mind but they signed him because they thought he could play LT. I get it you want Rhule gone, a lot of us do, but it might not happen.

I'm not missing any point, it was just a question based on the podcast. Yes, both could be considered a weakness, I'm just curious what people considered the bigger weakness of the two.

Same question for you, would have better personnel decisions on the offensive side of the ball or better offensive staffing helped more?

What do you think would have helped him more, better OC or better QB and O-line?

I actually like a lot of what Ellis says and people should listen to the podcast, some of their comments about Brady were a bit surprising. Ellis is actually more even keel than most fans. Like he said, Tepper might have been wrong about Rhule, it happens. Not only do most first time hires not work out, when you think about it most HC hires overall don't work out. Would have a search committee helped the first time? maybe, maybe not. Rhule still could have been a candidate, Tepper might still have picked him. The Giants had a "football person" (DG) running their search and they wanted Rhule also. The biggest concern with Rhule going into it was his lack of NFL experience, and that looks to be true at this point. If Rhule ends up getting fired it will be because of his inability to address the QB position and the offensive line, specifically with his free agent acquisitions. The defensive side of the ball has actually been above average overall, their college evaluation will probably be ok relative to the rest of the league when we look back in a few years. Alot of us were very critical of the Teddy, Sam, Erving, and Elflein signings when they happened. If Rhule gets fired it will be because of those decisions.

Hackett definitely seems good on paper. I would be extremely happy with the choice, but the realist in my also knows that every year some "hot coordinator" gets a HC job and they often fail. Everyone keeps thinking in terms of two options, keep Rhule, Fire Rhule, but there could be a third. What if Tepper keeps Rhule unless he knows for sure he can get the next coach he wants? For example Tepper might be willing to make a change for Hackett, but if not you wait another year. I'm not saying that is what you should do, but sometimes when you fire a guy its dependent on who you have lined up to replace them.

Good and bad are relative terms. Seems to be a difficult concept for people around here.

It would not surprise me at all if some teams, us included, have similar grades on the top 1-2 QBs this year that they did on QBs 4 and 5 last year. That doesn't guarantee these guys will work out, but purely from an evaluation standpoint the situations are similar.

are you sure? Ranking all 32 NFL teams by record from 2000-2020 | List Wire (usatoday.com) Last 20 years Cowboys are 11th in winning percentage. Thats above average and includes all of the salary cap years. Even during the no salary cap years, the other teams didn't have the salary cap either. I'm sure he wasn't the only one with deep pockets.

People love to talk about how there isn't any consensus 1st overall type of QB, guess what? We don't ahve the overall 1st pick. This is a bad year to have the 1st overall pick and need a QB. Usually if you have the 1st overall pick you are hoping for a Luck or Manning type of prospect. There isn't that in this class. Last year if you were picking 12th you would have ended up with the 5th QB off of the board, this year year maybe the 2nd. There is a very good chacne thye could have similar type of scouting grades.

Since Jerry Jones has become owner of the Cowboys, how many teams have a higher winning percentage? How many have more Super Bowls? Not sure if he really proves the point you are trying to make. Don't get me wrong, I agree with you that I hope Tepper, if he makes a change, decides to put qualified people in position to help conduct a search, but anyone thinking Tepper or any owner won't be heavily invested in the final decision is delusional. Also all of this talk about people who are "smart enough" is often said with hindsight. If we hire a "qualified" person and he picks a coach who doesn't work out, do we still get to say he is smart enough? Nobody wants to admit this but there is a little bit of luck involved, if there was a fool proof way to pick a head coach every team would have a good one. NFL coordinators can be good at NFL level Xs and Os, but sometimes struggle with running the team as a whole. College coaches can sometimes be good with the CEO aspect but struggle with the NFL level Xs and Os. EX NFL head coaches are usually EX because they were bad. How often do proven NFL level coaches really become available? Rhule felt like a boom or bust type of hire. You are hoping for that Jimmy Johnson type of hire. Right now, it's not looking like that. My guess is if we do decide to look for another head coach we'll take the opposite approach. Usually when a decision doesn't work people tend to try the opposite later. I could definitely see us going with a NFL level coach.

running the search and having final say is two different things. Like most coaching decisions, odds are Rooney ultimately decided, which is how most coaching searches go and anyone who thinks Tepper won't have the final say in the next coaching search is delusional. About the most you can ask for is for Tepper to put people in place to help him make the correct decision, and even if that happens there is no guarantee that it will be a successful pick.

What legitimate source said Colbert made the call for Tomlin and not Rooney?

Letting people do their job doesn’t necessarily mean picking the coach. For all we know Colbert might have liked a guy that would have been terrible and Rooney made the call to go with Tomlin. People are naive or stupid if they don’t think that more times than not the owner makes the final call on the coach.

Answer isn’t obvious because there is no guarantee you can find a QB the following year. Even if it is a “stronger class” they might be gone before you pick. Either way, the QB is exponentially more important so if one is available that you like, you pick him. If you don’t like them, don’t force it and just wait.

up to Colbert? Based on what? I would guess most coaching decisions are ultimately up to the owner regardless of what is reported.

Single selections are a bit of a small sample size. Here again, I'm not saying Tepper needs to make the decision, I'm just saying people are drawing some absolute statements from a singular decision that are never really absolute. on a side note, did Colbert make the final call on Tomlin? or Rooney?

Do search committees really do any better job at finding coaches? It's easy to second guess the process once you know the results. Would a search committee have hired Jimmy Johnson for the Cowboys? Mike Tomlin for Pittsburg? I'm not saying Rhule is the answer, or that Tepper needs to make the decision all on his own, but when it comes to finding a coach or even a QB, more times than not you are wrong. I'm more interested in how you handle it once you realize it isn't working.

Just to play devils advocate it is possible for arm length to be overrated but for BC to actually be better suited at guard. Maybe he has the potential to be a great guard instead of an average LT. At this point who knows, either way the staff needs to pick a spot and get him some reps at this point.

Ron never had back to back winning seasons with prime Cam Newton. Just think about that. What is our record last year with prime Cam Newton, how about this year?

Fitterer deserves a pass. This mindset started before he was here. I said it at the time, someone in the organization thought they could win with Teddy. Everyone was trying to convince themselves he was "just" a bridge QB which was never the case. If he was, we would have kept him a second year, and drafted someone this year for him to bridge to. Fact is the team thought they could win with him and when they didn't, they got rid of him. In the meantime, the defense, which was extremely young, actually showed some promise last year. So now I'm sure they are thinking if they can just find a decent QB that they can actually be a competitive team. Rookie QBs take time, so they started looking for vets, Watson never devolved, Stafford went elsewhere, so they decided to try a former 1st round pick QB. Simply put we tried to win quick, started the first year Rhule was here, it's costing us now.

He is the type of candidate that would be up for an OC position and might turn out good. My only concern would be it would a step up for him. The biggest complaint about this staff is they are new to their job and although Dorsey has been in the NFL the job itself would be new. I could see the team wanting an experienced OC. Maybe Dorsey goes to a team with an experienced HC, and our inexperienced HC looks for an experienced OC.