Official Game Thread - Week 18 - Cowboys @ Commanders

[Primus Porcus]

Dallas Cowboys @ Washington Commanders

When: Sunday, January 7th 2024 - 4:25 PM
Where: Fedex Field, Landover Maryland
How to Watch: FOX - Kevin Burkhardt, Greg Olsen announcing
TV Distribution Maps < - Link​

 

[Chris]

 

[Bulldog]

So, 3 of the team's best players in Allen, Curl and Samuel will not be 100% even if they do play on Sunday.

Looks like that 4-13 record is pretty safe.

 

[Skinsfan1311]

Our gameplan:
Tailgate.
Leave.

 

[Bulldog]

Are you talking about fans or the team?

 

[Primus Porcus]

 

[Bulldog]

What's up with that? A guy is full go on Wednesday and is out on Thursday? I didn't see any update on a specific injury for either player.

One thing's for sure - we need to find defensive backs that can stay on the field. Castro-Fields and Christian Holmes couldn't even make it through their first NFL games playing regularly on the first-team defense.

 

[Boone]

One has to wonder if the ‘there’s nothing to be gained by playing in a meaningless game’ factor isn’t in play with some of these ‘injuries’ especially to pending free agents like Curl. Hmm?

 

[Om]

It would to me.

 

[Bulldog]

Probably part of the mindset of a few players. If I were a new GM coming in I don't know that kind of approach would be something that would motivate me to give a guy a big contract, though.

Guys like TJ Watt played in games where the Steelers were eliminated from the playoffs but was professional enough to get on the field and represent.

Everyone can show up with a smile and give maximum effort when the sun is out for them and all is right with the world. It's what guys do in adversity that count in the long run.

That's one reason Howell deserves to come back in 2024 even if the team takes a quarterback in the top 3 of the draft.

He's earned a place as a spot starter/top backup at least, and could end up starting a number of games the way the NFL carousel is going each year with injuries at the position.

 

[Boone]

Probably depends on how interested a player is in COMING back here - it can’t be that tantalizing a prospect for vet free agents. Absent a real desire to stay in DC it’s all about being healthy for 2024.

 

[Bulldog]

I agree, but if I were one of those players I would not go and sign with the Arizona Cardinals to get away from a new regime in DC as they are likely to be back in this position at 4-13 again next year .

From a team standpoint I agree with Jimmy Johnson though in that he was not inclined to bring back too many players from the 3-13 team they inherited from Tom Landry.

His phrase of 'if we can lose with you, we can lose without you' rings loudly on a team that vastly underperformed expectations in 2023 and where you can point to only a few players that seemed to give 100% effort and good performance through the season.

And the irony? The 'top' players as identified on this team mostly occupy positions on the defensive side of the ball.

 

[Boone]

Yeah, I’m actually anticipating a lot more roster turnover than most seem to expect. I’ve heard, you can’t turn the entire roster over in a single offseason, but actually you can come pretty close.

 

[Bulldog]

Dallas got rid of a lot of players, veterans that had been with the club. That was a couple of years before full free agency began so guaranteed contracts and monies didn't play a role.

However, in Washington beyond Terry, Allen, Payne and a couple of others there really aren't many big contracts on this team to navigate through.

A lot of these players can be released or waived with little cap impact.

Again, I think ANY GM comes into a situation where a team is 4-13 and sees a team that needs a lot of help.

From my perspective there were guys walking through some games this season as well as others that despite their effort are just not NFL starters.

I am sure the new GM will see even more.

 

[Neophyte]

Yeah, I’m actually anticipating a lot more roster turnover than most seem to expect. I’ve heard, you can’t turn the entire roster over in a single offseason, but actually you can come pretty close.

I think we have a better chance than most teams to turn over a significant amount of the roster because of the large number of players we have who are out of contract at the end of the season.

The irony is that if this roster had been built correctly, we'd have a much harder time turning it over because of dead money - perhaps the only benefit of Ron's poor GM skills.

 

[Bulldog]

But then we would in all likelihood have more players that were worth keeping

Just be glad we are not the Broncos with a 35 year old quarterback with eroding skills that will cost $85M in dead money to release and an additional $40M in guarantees to keep come the next league year.

Washington actually is set up for a perfect offseason IF the new management team comes in and makes the right moves.

In 3-4 years THIS could be the best team in the NFC if they have Beathard's eye for talent and Shen is able to bolster our analytics capabilities.

 

[Chris]

I don’t view a pro player on an expiring contract and facing free agency skipping a final, meaningless game any different than a college star looking forward to the draft and skipping a meaningless bowl game.

It’s a business decision. The teams have absolutely no loyalty to players, why should players to teams?

 

[Neophyte]

I disagree, BD.

I'm not sure we would have more players worth keeping. Just look at who IS under contract.

 

[Boone]

I don’t view a pro player on an expiring contract and facing free agency skipping a final, meaningless game any different than a college star looking forward to the draft and skipping a meaningless bowl game.

It’s a business decision. The teams have absolutely no loyalty to players, why should players to teams?

Certainly a fair point.

 

[Primus Porcus]