Meeting Quota Players Call Intensity into Question

ARLINGTON, Texas - Most Cowboys players and coaches blamed Sunday's 27-20 loss to Chicago on poor execution and untimely mistakes. Only a couple players were able to offer reasons for those mess-ups.
Cornerbacks Terence Newman and Mike Jenkins said the game was lost in the week of nfl jersey
preparation leading up to the home opener. In their opinion, the players didn't take the Bears seriously enough.
"Some things had kind of got let go in practice," Newman said. "It's not our coaches, they don't really know some of the things that were going on, but as players we've got to crack down and make sure some of the stuff that was going on doesn't go on. We've got to make it a game situation in practice. We go hard in practice, but maybe our intensity needs to go up a little bit."
Newman wouldn't give specifics about a lack of intensity, but Jenkins assessed that some players had bought into the praise and high expectations surrounding the team, and didn't think Chicago would be such tough competition. Linebacker Brady James also pointed out that teams aren't going to lay down for the Cowboys.
"It's bad," Jenkins said. "We got caught up in a lot of hype, and we just need to come out and we need to execute and we need to get W's. There's nothing else to talk about. Everything around us, all the players. You've got a lot of stuff going on. We're the Dallas Cowboys, one of the nation's biggest teams. I think we 49ers jersey
just need to come out and play ball.
"We probably underestimated them. I think a lot of guys underestimated this game."
Though the 0-2 start was unexpected, back-to-back losses are hardly unprecedented for winning teams. The Cowboys lost their first two games after Thanksgiving last year, once again bringing up talk of a "December swoon," but won their next four, including the club's first playoff victory in 13 years.
"Every team is going to be frustrated at some point in time, for this reason or that reason," Newman said. "I think we need to just come in tomorrow, have a little team meeting and get some things off our chest, because right now this football team has no identity.

Newman said he had talked to fellow members of the secondary Saturday night about creating a reputation as a group that flies around the football and makes plays. He said the offense, defense and special teams each need to make their own identity.
Others didn't believe that intensity was lacking.
"We don't have a bunch of guys that shy away from telling it like it is," Spears said. "So if he does see something that we need to do, and if we're lacking intensity, then he needs to voice that to us so we can get it fixed. But that D-line group that I'm in and that room that I'm in, we go to work every day. So I can't agree with that comment from my perspective."
Unlike Newman, Spears didn't believe a team meeting would fix things. He said the only thing the Cowboys can do to get out of the hole they've created is to start winning.
"Push the easy button, push the panic button and say these guys need to Saints jersey
come together and talk," Spears said. "That's not the issue, man. We've got to play better. You can talk about this until you're blue in the face. And you can keep talking and keep talking and end up 0-15, and all you've done all year is had a bunch of team meetings.
"We need to meet on the practice field and meet on Sunday and win games, and that's the cure-all for everything when it comes to this game."