It took seven games http://www.cowboysauthorizedshops.com/authentic-cole-beasley-jersey , and more importantly four road losses, The much ballyhooed “wide receiver by committee” was, with the exception of the win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, basically DOA. The Cowboys had no offense to speak of in games where the defense was putting the team in a position to win. It became clear that Dallas had no real passing game, and opponents just focused on stopping the run and forcing the Cowboys to beat them through the air. We saw to our dismay just how that worked out. Now Amari Cooper has been acquired, at the cost of next year’s first-round draft pick, which is as clear an admission of failure as you can get. Cooper brings hope that the season can still be salvaged, although just how much hope the team should have is clearly questionable given the hole they have dug themselves.But just admitting a problem and addressing it is not enough. Well, it probably should be, but we are talking fans and sports media for the most scrutinized and polarizing team in the NFL. Fixing things during the season is one thing. Somebody has to pay. A guilty party needs to be identified and punishment meted out. That’s just how it’s done in ‘Murica. Indeed, the Cowboys have already made a move to address part of the problem, as offensive line coach Paul Alexander has reportedly been fired. Pass protection and run blocking were both issues for the team. However, that is just part of the story. The anemic passing attack may be helped with some (hopefully) better pass protection and run blocking, but it still has been pretty horrible.So welcome to an investigation of this football crime as we look at the suspects and point fingers of accusation.The receivers themselvesPart of the constant wrangling about what happened to the passing game in Dallas was the question of coaching versus execution. In looking at the latter as a cause, we start with the guys who are supposed to catch the ball. It quickly became apparent that this group just wasn’t getting the job done. Free agent acquisitions Allen Hurns and Deonte Thompson have run the gamut from disappointing to really, really disappointing. Rookie Michael Gallup got off to a slow start (although he is beginning to show signs of emergence). So far, only Cole Beasley has shown much in this group, and just as opposing defenses have been able to bottle up Ezekiel Elliott at times Dak Prescott Jersey , they also have been able to blanket Beasley in games. Forcing Dak Prescott to go to his other options is usually not to Dallas’ benefit.Tight end is a bit better, as Geoff Swaim has been steady but not spectacular. The rest of that group is still not doing much, and the team has not really figured out what they want to do with Rico Gathers. The running backs are still mostly used as safety valves, despite Elliott having been a very effective target in the win over the Detroit Lions.But while the wide receiver group may be a cause of the problems, it really isn’t their fault. They got hired, and have simply turned out to be a bad fit for what the team needs. Cooper’s acquisition just reinforces that.The quarterbackPrescott has certainly taken a lot of hits this season, both figuratively and literally. He has not looked decisive most of the time and has made a lot of questionable (at best) throws. It is also apparent he is just too nervous about his protection, pulling the ball down and leaving the pocket when he has receivers coming open and often is not as pressured as he seems to think. It is hard to criticize him too much for that latter problem given the number of sacks and hits he has had to take. The Cowboys are tied for eighth in terms of most sacks given up - and several teams with worse numbers there have not had their bye week yet. Still, the Cowboys are tied for 22nd in the league in yards per attempt and 29th in yards per game, so Prescott needs to take at least some of the responsibility here.However, he has been trending up a bit, with passer ratings of 95 or better in three of his last four games. And the firing of Alexander, with Marc Colombo promoted to fill that job for now and Colombo’s old O line coach Hudson Houck also brought back to the fold in an advisory capacity, may also help get the line playing better. It also cannot be denied that he has seen too many passes dropped when he is on target. So while he is part of the overall problem, he seems to be working hard to make things better, with some success. And there is evidence that the decision makers don’t see him as the problem, anyway. The trade for Cooper and the shakeup at O line coach looks a lot like they are trying to help Dak, not blame him.That means we turn our attention to the staff.The JonesesThere is no other team in the league where the ownership has as much responsibility and direct authority over the roster. That means Jerry Jones as GM and Stephen Jones as maybe the real day-do-day GM must be scrutinized here. After all Authentic Travis Frederick Jersey , they are the main parties involved in putting the group of receivers together to start the season. Since it has been shown to be so inadequate, that falls a lot on their shoulders. And then there was the release of Dez Bryant. While it is certainly questionable whether he was really the answer to this bunch playing better, the idea that you could discard your WR1 without really replacing him has been shown to be erroneous, at least with the offensive system that Dallas runs. Still, does that make them the real culprits here, or just accomplices who got led down a bad path? Besides, they are hardly going to fire themselves. The sudden move to part ways with Alexander and bring back Houck to help Colombo also shows that they are truly dedicated to getting things fixed. Given all that, the question now becomes, just who came up with the failed committee approach at WR?The head coachAh, Jason Garrett. The coach that so many betting sites had as the favorite to be the first fired this season (an “honor” that now goes to Cleveland Browns former HC Hue Jackson). His stamp is on this team, reflecting the large input he has on personnel decisions. The buck often stops with the HC in the NFL, but once again, the Cowboys are a unique situation with the ownership also being the collective GM. Despite the myth, decision-making in Dallas has long been a collaborative effort, and there are times that Garrett does get overruled or outvoted on key things. And as has been reported by Bryan Broaddus, DallasCowboys.com staffer and team insider, that was what happened back when Dez was turned loose. Garrett and Jerry Jones both had to be really sold on that idea, and were the last ones to come around on it. In a possibly related note Youth La'el Collins Jersey , you may be aware of the heavy criticism Garrett took for being at a World Series game in Los Angeles on his off day. It has also been noted that Houck moved to California when he retired. Coincidence? Maybe not. It might just reflect that Garrett’s position with the team is stronger than some think, that he was partly behind bringing Houck back, and was given the responsibility to seal the deal.So there must have been another voice who drove the things that led to the offensive malaise. And that is the suspect that stands out as the real villain of this crime.The offensive coordinatorScott Linehan’s fingerprints are all over this one. The Dez Bryant decision, and a lot more. His offensive staff was largely redone, including the replacement of O line coach Frank Pollack by Alexander.At the time of the multiple changes in the offensive assistants, it was easy to argue that Linehan was putting the blame for the failures of 2017 on everyone but his own coaching. Now that the problems have continued into this season, that holds water no better than a sieve. The perception, especially in light of the hiring of his adopted son former backup Kellen Moore as the new QB coach, was that the new offensive staff firings and hirings were pretty much hand picked by Linehan. Now that has all come apart, and there are no more fall guys. The verdict for Linehan should be a clear “guilty”, and he should pay the ultimate price in NFL terms of being fired himself. The only reason that particular ax has not fallen is that there is not clear replacement on the staff (save having Garrett take up the OC duties himself, which was something that was judged to not be a good idea when they were largely taken from him by the Joneses) and changing the OC in midseason is pretty hard to do. Were the Cowboys even deeper in a hole, that might have come about. But the team still has a chance to turn things around over the last nine games, however faint it might be. And as we saw in the Jaguars game, Linehan can still do some good things calling plays. With the addition of Cooper, it is up to him to make things work better. Now he has a lot of motivation to win more games, if for no other reason than to make himself more employable if he is indeed fired.He should be. It will probably not be until after the season ends - unless things continue to go badly. This should be just a temporary reprieve, because he is the greatest cause of the struggles of the offense. Case closed. This Sunday is the latest game of all games for the Dallas Cowboys. They’re 3-5 with everything on the line. Is that enough to motivate them? Only time will tell.The last time that we saw these two teams square off in a game of significance was November 19th of last year. That game ultimately wound up as a loss for the Cowboys http://www.cowboysauthorizedshops.com/authentic-geoff-swaim-jersey , the worst loss in AT&T Stadium’s history.Tonight the Cowboys are on the road. What will happen? Will it be epic? Will it be fun? Whatever it is, it’s surely going to be something special. Here are BTB’s five bold predictions.The Dallas Cowboys break 17 points offensivelyThrough four road games this season the Cowboys have yet to score more than 17 points on the road. That’s not good and it’s certainly not a formula for victory as they have yet to win away from AT&T Stadium.Whether it comes in legitimate timeor garbage time, the Cowboys are going to break 17 points this particular Sunday. The offense has been the criticism of the world for weeks on end now, if they fail to do this yet again they’ll have reached a truly new low.Jason Garrett will win two challenges in PhiladelphiaPeople are still unsure exactly why Jason Garrett threw the challenge flag on Monday night against the Tennessee Titans, but hey the past is the past.Weird things happen in Philadelphia, really weird things. This night is so weird that the Philadelphia Eagles have a Super Bowl banner hanging in their stadium for crying out loud. It doesn’t get any weirder than that.There’s no explaining what will happen tonight, and that’s why Red Ball is going to win two red challenge flag moments.Amari Cooper has more receptions than Golden TateThe last time that these two teams met, which was also in Philadelphia, the only touchdown of the game was scored by the wide receiver for the Cowboys that wore number 19 (shout out Brice Butler). We highlighted this in our YouTube preview of the game (subscribe to our re-launched channel here).The Cowboys got to break in their new wide receiver last week and did so to a nice degree. Philadelphia is anxious to debut Golden Tate, and would you believe that he’s also wearing number 19 just like Amari and Brice?Golden Tate will probably be used more effectively by Philadelphia than Amari will by Dallas, but Tate also plays in an offense with far more mouths to feed. This should be Amari’s night in terms of straight comparison to Golden Tate.Leighton Vander Esch will record an interceptionNo Sean Lee means the Cowboys are going to be leaning on their first-round rookie linebacker quite a bit, and Leighton Vander Esch has certainly lived up to that challenge all season long.Carson Wentz and Vander Esch are both from small-school programs, it’s a unique common denominator that the two share and something that makes for fun and interesting stories about how they grew up.It’s time for LVE to properly introduce himself to the quarterback he’ll spend a lot of his career hunting down. Go get your hands on that ball, Leighton. Maybe take it back to the house, too. That seems like a good idea.Ezekiel Elliott will have three rushing touchdownsLook, I know this sounds ridiculous but they’re called bold predictions for a reason. We’ve talked a lot all week long about how this is the first game of significance for the Cowboys in Philadelphia since 2015, but it’s their first time playing there under the lights of Sunday Night Football since 2014.You’ll remember that 2014 as the night of Dez Bryant. The Cowboys all-time leader in receiving touchdowns hauled in three of them (shout out to Nolan Carroll) that night as the Cowboys took a huge step towards winning the NFC East. Tonight on SNF it’s time for another Cowboy to get his own hat trick. Ezekiel Elliott (and Dak Prescott for that matter) have yet to play in Philadelphia in a game that matters as mentioned. These are moments that Zeke thrives on. Let’s hope he cashes in on that.