How narratives may be driving your view of the Cowboys QB Daniel Houston Dorance Armstrong Jr. Jersey , who goes by @CowboysStats on Twitter, is a great source of analytics for all things Cowboys. One of the reasons he’s such a good source is he tends to analyze whatever data he’s looking at and then draws conclusions from his analysis.This may sound like the logical thing to do, but I assure you, it is not. In today’s media environment of hot takes, black/white thinking, and clickrates, many folks form an opinion and then go looking for data to support that opinion.Which may be what prompted Houston to write this recent comment.When I read Houston’s take about “bad impressions” (or “preconceived opinions” as I might have phrased it) I was reminded of a book I once read by Jean-Francois Manzoni, a Professor for Leadership and Organizational Development in Lausanne, Switzerland. His book is titled “Set-up-to-Fail Syndrome: Overcoming the Undertow of Expectations” and describes a dynamic that essentially sets up perceived underperformers to fail. Back in 2011, I wrote about the Pygmalion Effect which explains how once an expectation is set, people will act in certain ways that are consistent with that expectation, causing the results of the expectation to become true - even if the initial expectation is based on a false premise.The Set-up-to-fail Syndrome is essentially the exact opposite of the Pygmalion effect.It describes a dynamic in which employees perceived to be mediocre or weak performers live down to the low expectations their managers have for them. Manzoni’s basic premise is that human beings apply labels to others all the time. A positive label in many ways is the equivalent to a get-out-of-jail free card: many mistakes will simply be overlooked or downplayed. A negative label requires an inordinate effort to overcome, if it can be overcome at all. The reason for this is that applying labels helps us make up our minds and form opinions faster without having to painstakingly analyze and evaluate all available facts. This is especially true when there is an information vacuum, such as the information vacuum in the relationship dynamic between fans or media members and players or coaches on a team. Because we don’t really know the players or coaches, we often default to labels that fit our preconceived opinions.“Dak Prescott can’t throw deep.” “Tyrone Crawford is overpaid.” “Kris Richard shouts a lot on the sidelines; ergo he must be a good leader and the next defensive coordinator.” “Garrett is a Princeton grad who often outsmarts himself, particularly in his playcalling. Also, he claps a lot.”“Jerry Jones is an oil-man so he cannot know anything about football”. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. These are labels that cling tighter than amermaid’s T-shirt and last longer than a white crayon. Let’s look at two labels a little more closely. “Dak Prescott doesn’t see open receivers downfield.” One of the newer narratives that have popped up this season is that Prescott regularly misses open receivers. And suddenly folks are seeing open receivers all over the place - but are these fine folks simply seeing what they want to see (or what the narrative dictates they have to see)? Perhaps you remember the following play from the game against the Jaguars:Here’s what Tony Romo had to say about that play:Tony Romo has had spectacular success as an announcer, but this is one play he simply got wrong. It is true that at the very end of the play, Elliott was indeed running towards the end zone without a defender in sight.But if “you’re going to look back at the tape” what you’ll see is that Dak Prescott was flushed out of the pocket by poor pass protection long before Elliott ran free as an unmarked receiver downfield. Here’s a screenshot from the exact play that shows Dak already up and running while Elliott has just barely cleared the linebackers. If you were looking for an open receiver, you would have found one on this play, just like Romo did. Doesn’t mean that the open receiver was an actual viable option on the play.None of this means that Prescott doesn’t miss open receivers. He does. Just like any other QB. It’s just that when you are expecting to see open receivers, you will see open receivers. “Defenses are loading the box because they don’t think Dak Prescott can beat them.”I recently saw a conversation about defenses not taking Dak Prescott seriously as a passer, which is why those defenses were regularly loading the box with “8 Dalton Schultz Color Rush Jersey , 9, sometimes 10 in the box to stop Zeke.”I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 10-man box outside of a goal line stand or perhaps a 4th-and-1 situation, but that’s beside the point. The issue here is the self-fulfilling nature of such labels. Once folks buy into such a label, they will begin to see what they want to see. So every time folks see a safety move down into the box, they’ll take it as further proof that defenses load the box against the Cowboys because they don’t think Prescott can beat them through the air.Never mind that that defenses load the box far less against Elliott than against many other running backs. NFL.com’s Next Gen Stats conveniently keep a tally of how often running backs run against 8+ defenders in the box. Turns out, Ezekiel Elliott faced loaded boxes on just 24% of his runs, which ranks him 20th among the 47 qualifying running backs with at least 40 attempts so far this year. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t situations where defenses do load the box more heavily against Elliott (perhaps on 1st-and-10), but those situations probably have more to do with the threat Elliott poses to defenses than with defenses not taking Prescott seriously as a passer. Because by that circuitous logic, defenses would not be not taking guys like Ben Roethlisberger, Matthew Stafford, or Philip Rivers seriously either. These are just two examples of how subscribing to a given label can lead to all sorts of weird mental gymnastics folks go through to support a narrative. In another discussion I saw recently, folks were trying to differentiate between Prescott’s accurate and inaccurate completions in an effort to “prove” Prescott’s lack of accuracy. Analysis paralysis. Manzoni calls it labels, others call it prejudices, filters, or stereotypes. We use them all the time. They are a kind of mental shortcut which we often use to form judgments and make decisions. The downside is that these shortcuts usually involve focusing on just one aspect of a complex problem and ignoring others. My point here is simply to point out the pervasiveness of labeling, how quickly it happens, and how it can distort our view of what’s really going on, like when we try to see something through an out-of-focus lens: we’ll see something for sure, but are we sure we’re seeing the right thing?Subscribing to these labels inevitably leads you down a rabbit hole that ultimately results in the ignorant certainty that you’re right and people that don’t agree with you are stupid. It’s the cardinal sin of many self-styled “analysts”.Most of the labels I used in this post were negative labels associated with the Cowboys, which also exposes my own label: I generally view the Cowboys a little more favorably than many others do. But understanding your own use of labels and questioning their validity is the first step in making yourself a more knowledgeable fan. In sports, there is one sure-fire way of getting rid of negative labels: winning. Winning is a great deodorant. If the Cowboys string together a few wins and suddenly find themselves back in playoff contention, a lot of these negative labels will disappear and will be replaced by - you guessed it - positive labels.Doesn’t make those labels any better or more valid, but at least the mood around Cowboys Nation might improve a little. Ladies and gentlemen, the Dallas Cowboys have themselves a winning streak. It only took 10 games into the season https://www.dallascowboysfanshop.com/Michael-Gallup-Jersey , but it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. At least that’s how Cole Beasley felt after the game.Not only have the won two in a road, but they’ve been able to do so on the road. After dropping their first four road games of the season, Dallas now looks like the road warriors with two big wins against the Super Bowl teams representing the NFC over the last two years. The offense struggled quite bit as they didn’t score a touchdown until the fourth quarter, but the defense was outstanding. They kept the high-powered Falcons offense out of the end zone until the last two minutes of the game. Fortunately, the offense responded with a drive that gave them a shot to win the game. Thanks to this victory, Thanksgiving just got a lot more interesting. There were many things to talk about in this game. Here are 10 thoughts on the Cowboys win against the Falcons.1. A case of the dropsiesThe Cowboys had a golden opportunity on the games first play from scrimmage when Matt Ryan was slightly off with a throw to tight end Austin Hooper. The ball went right into the hands of Maliek Collins, but unfortunately he wasn’t able to hang on.You just felt like this could be one of those games where one miscue could be the difference maker and you hated seeing the Cowboys squander a great opportunity to make a big splash early.Speaking of drops, the Cowboys took their opening possession 85 yards on 15 plays for a field goal to take a 3-0 lead. The only problem is it should have been 13 plays for 88 yards and resulted in a touchdown instead of a field goal. The normally sure-handed Cole Beasley had a perfect pass go right through his hands. Points were hard to come by in this one so it was disappointing that the offense had to settle for three there.2. Randy GregoryRandy Gregory underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in late October causing him to miss a couple games, but he has played well since he returned. Gregory did a great job putting pressure on Matt Ryan, making a sack that put the Falcons out of field goal range in the first half. Gregory was showing up on tape quite a bit, even when he didn’t make the play. He was constantly getting pressure and forcing Ryan out of the pocket. It was another solid performance for the Cowboys young pass rusher.Gregory now has had a sack in three of his last four games. Fun fact:3. Wolf HunterThis game featured two of the top rookies in the league - wide receiver Calvin Ridley from the Falcons and linebacker Leighton Vander Esch from the Cowboys. Both have a real shot at winning Offensive/Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. The Cowboys front office received a lot of criticism for passing on Ridley in the draft, but all that criticism is slowly disappearing because that Vander Esch kid was all over the field again.Vander Esch finished the game with eight tackles and three pass break ups and was constantly making big plays, including this tackle while being engaged with a blocker. Impressive.He should have gotten credit for two tackles on this play.4. Bad clock management before the halfWhen there’s only 29 seconds left in the half, the opportunity to get points aren’t very good, but the Cowboys effort on that last possession was absolutely terrible. They had the right idea on the first play when they took a shot down the field, but then they went with two-straight plays to Zeke to end the half. The Falcons secondary is suspect and the Cowboys needed to attack them. Prior to that drive, the Cowboys offense only had three possessions in the first half. That’s not a lot of chances to get points so they needed to get points whenever they can. That was a very weak attempt by Jason Garrett. At least try.Garrett has been drug over the coals with is too-conservative approach at times and this isn’t going to do much to change that.5. Heads up play by LCRight tackle La’el Collins prevented disaster when he recovered a Zeke fumble near midfield. Not only did he save the Cowboys from having a costly turnover, but he had the instincts to fall forward. Just that little jump was enough to pick up the first down and keep the drive going.Instead of nothing, the Cowboys offense continued to drive down the field and score their first touchdown of the game.6. The Vander PickWhat’s bolder than calling a Leighton Vander Esch pick in last week’s game for his first career interception? How about doubling-down with another one this week. Well, that’s what RJ Ochoa did in his bold predictions and the Cowboys rookie linebacker didn’t let him down.It should be noted that the ball bounced off of Calvin Ridley. Isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?It was such a huge play in the game as the Cowboys were only up by three points and had to fend off a Falcons offense looking to respond after being down for the first time in the game. The Cowboys offense capitalized as Ezekiel Elliott scored a touchdown two plays later.7. Barely BrettAfter the Cowboys put together their first touchdown-scoring drive of the game, they had a chance to take the biggest lead of the game up to that point (four points). But alas, it wasn’t meant to be as rookie kicker Brett Maher shanked the extra point https://www.dallascowboysfanshop.com , keeping it a three-point game. You just felt like that kick would come back to haunt them. And it almost did.Just when he started struggling enough to make Cowboys fans worry, what did he do? He nailed a 42-yarder to win the game. He went from zero to hero.While it was great to see him knock down the game winner, it doesn’t get lost that Maher has been struggling. He’s now missed a kick in each of his four games. As automatic as he was early in the year, he’s now become an unstable element to the Cowboys kicking game.8. Special teams not so specialMaher’s struggles in one thing to keep an eye on as this is his first year in the league. We don’t know how this is going to play out. While that brings about uncertainty, the leg of punter Chris Jones has been a strength of the Cowboys over the years. But for some reason, he’s been a little off on some of his kicks. My colleague Michael Strawn noticed the same thing.And if that’s not bad enough, what in the world was Lance Lenoir doing on that sidelines play? Those kind of plays will not keep you on the roster.9. Dak delivers down the stretchThe offense had it’s struggles. Even when they moved the ball, it seemed like all they could muster up was field goals. The Cowboys offense didn’t score a touchdown until the fourth-quarter. The defense had done everything in their power to contain one of the best offensive teams in the league, but it looked as if it was going to be for naught when the Falcons tied the game at 19 with just under two minutes left in the game.Luckily, Dak Prescott and company were able to respond with a 10-play drive for 51 yards that set up Maher for the game winner. I don’t know how many Cowboys fans had faith they’d pull it off at that point, but that Prescott kid keeps showing up in these big moments.Technically, Matthew Stafford got another one today, so he still leads by one.10. Get by with a little help from our friendsTo celebrate defensive tackle Christian Ringo being promoted from the practice squad, it’s been fun to make Beatles references this week. Yep, that’s what we do. But this one is certainly appropriate. Not only did the Cowboys do their job by beating Atlanta, but their AFC neighbors to the south did them a solid as well. The Houston Texans knocked off the Washington Redskins 23-21, dropping the Skins to a record of 6-4.With Dallas just a game behind the Redskins, it sets up a very huge Thanksgiving battle on Thursday. It’s always been the feeling that if the Cowboys just string some wins together, the Redskins would eventually falter to where Dallas could catch them, but it looks like that is happening sooner versus later.To make matters worse, Redskins quarterback Alex Smith appears to have suffered a serious leg injury as he was carted off the field with an air cast. That means the Cowboys will get another shot at Colt McCoy on Thursday.