A new season brings the same old story for the Cowboys

So who are the 2012 Dallas Cowboys? Currently they sit at 2-2 after a Monday Night beating by the Bears 34-18. They now enter their bye week with games against the Ravens, Panthers, Giants, Falcons and Eagles coming up. With the way they are playing they could easily go winless against those teams as they go into the middle of November.

Once again I find myself scratching my head trying to figure this team out. I have the same questions I've had every season since 2008. They are the model of inconsistency. They go out week one and play a great game against the defending champion Giants and then go to Seattle and get crushed. Then they win a close game against the Buccaneers and then of course the loss to the Bears last night. Once again it looks to be another roller coaster season for the Cowboys. Are they just an average team with a few above average players who have a good game every now and then? Maybe they are just not good enough to deal with the elite teams in the NFL on a weekly basis.

What is wrong with this team and why do they seem to go through the same things year after year? Other teams in the league seem to put everything together with far less talent. Is it the players, coaches, owners?? Is it a combination of everything in the Cowboys organization? What is certain is that there is a black cloud hovering over this team that just won't go away. As a fan I can only write about what I see and what I've seen are the same things that have plagued the Cowboys year after year recently. It just always seems to be the same story with this team as each season passes.

Here is what I see from the Cowboys. And keep in mind this over the last five seasons, not just this season...

- Lacking intimidation on offense, defense and special teams

- Conflicting comments coming from the head coach and the owner as well as players

- Unable to play four quarters consistently

- Dropped passes

- Penalties

- Over throws, fumbles and interceptions

- Lack of focus

- No imagination on offense

- No identity on offense

- Confusion on defense

The 2012 season can easily spiral out of control in the next month and a half. I understand that many teams go through a lot of the things that I have listed above about the Cowboys, but I've also seen a lot of those teams work through their issues and move on to compete for championships. With the Cowboys it's always the same old story. Learn from things that happen, improve and get better is what the team says. But how many years can that be said before they finally learn and get better? When is it time to do it instead of saying it year after year? I for one am sick and tired of it being said over and over again. What is stopping this team from getting over the hump and competing for a championship?

I just don't know and I won't pretend that I do. What I do know is that as a fan it's beyond frustrating to watch the Cowboys play the same way in recent years and then be told that they will learn from what is happening, they will get better and they will make sure it doesn't happen anymore. Enough already!!! It's like swinging a hammer and hitting your hand. You know it hurts every time you hit your hand and you express that something needs to be done about it, but you keep doing it. When does it finally get through to you that maybe, just maybe if you stop hitting your hand then it will stop hurting!!

Just look at some of these quotes I found over the last few seasons. It may seem that I'm picking on Romo considering most of the quotes are from him, but I'm not. It just seems like he is the main player who keeps saying it.

After losing to Chicago 34-18 this season.

“I’m going to have to reassess a couple of things that are happening and make sure that they don’t happen again,” Romo said. “We just have to make a conscious effort to make sure and control that aspect, and saying that I can’t try to do too much. I think that I tried to do that tonight, and going forward, I just have to do my job and I will.”

After losing to Seattle 27-7 this season.

“You’ve got to be able to learn. This is all part of that process. Coach Garrett said it today, today’s an important day of never really getting too high after a big win or too low after a loss. You’ve got to be critical of yourself, evaluate it – win or loss – and get better.”

After losing to New England 20-16 in 2011.

"This team is continuing to grow and get better," Romo said. "We just need to finish a game like today and we will I think."

After losing to Detroit 34-30 in 2011.

"Today and over the next week or two, it's going to be difficult to look back at it, but at some point here, we're going to move on," Romo said. "There's a lot of guys doing a lot of good things. We'll evaluate it and get better from it."

After losing to the Giants 33-31 in 2009.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't able to play up to the level the rest of the other guys did," Romo said. "I have to get better at the mistakes I made and I will."

This is just a small sample, but it's something that has bothered me the last few years. It's almost like the movie Groundhog Day. It's the same story over and over again and it gets to be too much after a while. I want nothing more than for the Cowboys to achieve greatness again. It's been too long since the glory days when the Cowboys won three Super Bowls in four years back in the 90's. After the Cowboys bye week the next five games will tell a whole lot about how the 2012 season will play out.