Jerry Jones is usually heavily scrutinized by fans, media, and even other coaches and owners.  In my short fanhood of only 10 years, I have been that scrutinizing individual that blames all the failures and woes on Jerry Jones and his inability to share the authority of the team.

As we moved into 2009 I expected the Jerry Complex to become ever present and probably to see him coaching the team himself in 2010.  However, Gasp, to my amazement, while I was writing my daily dose today, stumbling over articles from Philadelphia to San Diego, I noticed quite a bit about Mr. Jones.

I’ve been preaching sometime now about loyalty and continuity.  All these things I believe to be essential in building a dynasty style of frachise.  This past week Jerry Jones has been quoted as saying that firing Wade Phillips would hurt the team.  Ding, Ding, Ding!!!! We have a winner, Jones has never been more accurate in his life.  You see, a coach’s longevity increases win percentages because it allows teams to build to the philosophy of the coach.  Wade Phillips is a defensive coach, so for him to flourish he should have a good defense and a well balanced offense.  Second Gasp!  Do we have that?  Since Wade came in we’ve seen faces like Igor Olshansky, Keith Brooking, and Gerald Sensabaugh come bursting onto the scene.  We have seen players like Anthony Spencer and Marcus Spears develop into great players, and we have seen our defense become GREAT, which only compliments our balanced offense.

You see winning isn’t about great coaching, it’s about trust, it’s about knowing your guy will eventually win you the big one, and sticking with him while he can’t.  That philosophy holds true with Jerry today, as he supports Roy Williams, in September as he supported Tony Romo (who has become on of the leagues best) and last year when he cut All Pro Terrell Owens for little known Miles Austin.

You know what Jerry, my respect finally goes to you.  You have learned what it means to be an Owner and a good Gm.  May the players and coaches (including Wade Phillips) bring you back a Lombardi Trophy… In time of course.

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Dallas followed up their dominating performance over the Falcons with a duplication against the Seattle Seahawks.

The Cowboys once again outplayed their opponent in all three phases of the game.  They were playmakers on offense, smothering on defense, and the special teams was the smoking gun to end the game for the second straight week.

Patrick Crayton followed a 74-yard punt return last week with an 82-yard punt return against Seattle that signaled the game’s end.

The main question that I have is: “Are you guys going to keep this up?”

Being a passionate and attentive fan is very painful when you see your team fail.  It is harder when your team beats themselves instead of being outmatched.

I believe the majority of Dallas’ losses last year were because they beat themselves.  That is agonizing because if they were outplayed, the team simply needs to draft an important player at this spot or trade for a playmaker at that spot.

Dallas has the talent, but they have not had the discipline needed to be consistent.  Without consistency, a team is not going to win championships or even get into playoffs.

Though they are showing discipline now, the bane of the Cowboys’ year is in December, and the loyal fans of Dallas have waited 14 years to see their team get back to a championship-contending level.

Is the wait going to be for nothing?

I’m truly excited by their play.  If they kept playing like they have the past two weeks, then I’d be fine with them losing a few games to bad luck or to better play by the opposing side.  What I can’t stand as a fan or analyst is sloppy play.

The greatest coaches of all time were understanding after a loss to a better team.  But no coach worth mentioning would be satisfied with the results of some of the Dallas games I have watched.

This team is almost too good to be true.

Tony Romo has thrown 120 passes without an interception and with eight touchdowns.

Miles Austin, an unknown receiver, has gained 482 receiving yards in his first three career starts.

Dallas has 17 sacks, four interceptions, eight forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries in five games after having zero in all categories for the first two weeks.

Does this sound like the Dallas team of last year?

Want to see the rest?  Check here: http://www.nfltouchdown.com/dallas-dominates-seattle-is-this-going-to-be-a-common-result/

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After the Dallas Cowboys won the Falcons game, my good friend and fellow NFL fan voice, Dan Parzych, messaged me this: “I must say….that was one impressive victory for your Boys today. I’d say big, BIG statement game.”

This was a big statement game yes, but did it surprise me? No, it did not.

The Dallas Cowboys were under a lot of pressure. They were a 4-2 team that looked like it was hanging on by the skin of their teeth instead of the dominant team that they were in 2007 or the team that looked great at times in 2008.

They were not a bad team, but more of a team that was without focus and had mistakes instead of executions for plays.

They had not even beaten a team that had a won a game. The Buccaneers still haven’t won a game, and the Chiefs and Panthers won games after they lost to Dallas.

So, they were going up against a team that had the reigning NFL Coach of the Year, a hotshot young quarterback who was the reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year, the NFL’s all-time receiving tight end, a running back who led the league in rushing last year, and a receiver who had the most receiving yards last year.

Oh, and they had made playoffs too.

It was not going to be easy. Many thought the Cowboys were, to quote T.I. and Timberlake, “Dead and Gone” and were going downhill from there with a team that had just blown their chances to beat the Giants and were done away with against the Broncos.

Dallas not only won the game, but aside from two drives, they dominated the Falcons on all three parts of the game. They scored 37 points, Tony Romo threw for three touchdowns and 311 yards.

The defense had four sacks, three interceptions, three forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery. The special teams had amazing coverage and scored a 73 yard touchdown on a punt return.

Why am I not surprised though? Why am I, James Williamson, not surprised by what Dallas did to that team?

Because Dallas is capable of doing that to, if not all, most of the teams in the National Football League, and I am as serious as a heart attack when I say that.

I remember thinking to myself, before the game started, “This team is not better than us. The only way they should win is if Dallas becomes a chicken farm and starts laying eggs.”

I have watched this team for three years now. I’ve reviewed the film so many times, I’ve actually had dreams with it playing. If I didn’t know this team, then I’d be an underachieving fan voice to say the least.

These guys are special. I know they are. When they are on, I don’t think any Dallas team can compare to them.

The problem is that they don’t stay on. They are a flickering light bulb that is unreliable and that is what makes them a tough team to watch because the light bulb will fizzle out at the most inopportune time.

Look at the talent level around them.

Please finish this at: http://www.nfltouchdown.com/why-i-am-not-surprised-by-dallas-win/

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Are the Cowboys finally making the turn from NFL’s most dysfunctional into an actual competitive football team? Do things really turn that quickly in the NFL? Does this team actually have a heart and a desire to be the best? It certainly looks that way after what was undoubtedly the best game this team has played since the 20 to 8 victory against the Giants last December.

These are tough questions that frankly we just cannot answer right now. I want so badly like most of you to believe the answer to all of those questions are an emphatic YES, but I just cannot help from having those thoughts of “they will revert back to what they have been this week” and it’s those thoughts that I want erased from my head.

We all want to believe in this team. We all want to believe in Romo. What we all want are the feelings we had in the 90’s (you know the ones). Are we being unfair? This is where things get touchy.

Thanks to Troy Aikman last week during the telecast, he said something that I know I have heard before, but it just had never clicked before. Troy said “This Dallas team has had a lot of high expectations placed upon it without reason.”

Since before Troy departed as the Quarterback of the Cowboys this team has had 1 good season. All of the rest have been average at best, yet every year we say things like “this is our year”. Why have we done that? And I am as guilty as anybody for doing it.

I know your all wondering “where in the hell is this guy going with all of this?” and well where I am going is here. This football team has been rebuilt at least 3 times since Aikman’s departure. New coaches, new players, and so on and so on and during all of that never not one time has anyone said “give them time”.

Now I know you may think I have lost my mind (and while that may be true) but I really feel like some of our displeasure with where this team is or has been, is of our own doing. Notice I did not say all (Jerry receives the credit for most of it) but some.

Is it possible that this team is beginning to make the turn? Sure it is, I think we are seeing the leading edge of this team making the turn. We all got to see some wonderful signs last week that things may be changing.

My son Miller, who is 5 is beginning to really enjoy football and asking questions about it, and even watching some of the games with me. For the first time last week I was actually able to say this “son did you see how he made that tackle” and be showing him a tackle made by a Cowboy player (thanks Mike Jenkins).

The guys on this team are actually becoming a TEAM they are owning up to there mistakes and working to correct them. Many of us have taken shots at Roy Williams for his lack of production, but people, he was the first man to say he sucked, does that not count for something?

Did you all happen to see Romo’s post game conference? Well if you did not Here it is and it is a must see.

Folks he is getting it, he is understanding what he can do and what he cannot do, and better yet how to determine when he can take a chance. He is a gun slinger that is what we love about him, we cannot ask him to turn that portion of him off. What we need is for him to know when to turn it up and when to turn it down.

I am not ready to anoint this team here to stay, but I sure do like what I am seeing.

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The Dallas Cowboys have really come off to a slow start this year. If you could cut out some of their mistakes, they would be 5-0 instead of 3-2.

However, we cannot change the past, but we can learn from it.

What did Dallas learn from its past?

First off, they signed Allen Rossum, the 49ers punt and kick returner, to help improve plays on special teams. With Patrick Crayton muffing punts, and Terence Newman being injury-prone, the Cowboys needed a genuine return man to help in that third part of the game.

Helpful additions are only part of the equation. Dallas needs to be able to correct the flaws it makes with self-discipline.

I believe this team has really been the cause of their own failures. They are too talented to be beaten out of playoffs. These guys give games away, and it really is disgusting to watch.

This is one game they cannot give away, especially since their record is 3-2. They need to bump it up to 4-2 against a playoff team like the Atlanta Falcons to make the statement that they aren’t overrated, but actually a good team.

What are the keys needed to beat the Atlanta Falcons in Dallas this Sunday?

First off, this team has to  score touchdowns. Too many drives have happened where Dallas settled for a field goal instead of getting a touchdown. These results are due partly to a failed 3rd-down conversion here and there, but what is really muffling the Cowboys’ drives is penalties.

Penalties are like hiccups. They are annoying, unwanted, and mess up the flow of whatever one is doing. The flow in this case being momentum, which I’ve learned is almost half the game.

Dallas has to keep momentum going on every drive without revolvers going off around their feet.

The biggest thing for Dallas is that the run game has to happen this week. Last week, it took over a half to really get the run game going to where it kept a lot of pressure off Tony Romo and confused the defense.

It is much easier to throw passes when the defense doesn’t know if it is going to be a handoff or a pass. Atlanta is ranked 17th against the run, so the Cowboys are certainly capable of running the ball against this team.

For the run game to work, the line has to keep doing what it has been doing. Left guard, Kyle Kosier, who missed the majority of last season, has really helped the line assert its dominance on the line of scrimmage.

However, expect Dallas to feature all three running backs this Sunday, providing Felix Jones does play.

Marion Barber, who was nursing a quad injury in the game against Kansas City, was very sluggish, and when Tashard Choice took over, Dallas got the the help it needed to win the game in overtime.

Felix Jones has been out the past two games due to a knee strain, so the loss of him was equivalent to the Lakers without Kobe Bryant. I’ve spent hours yelling at Lady Luck about how she needs to keep him healthy.

He is the X-factor in the game. He brings that third dimension of offense to this team. He has speed unlike any other running back I’ve seen in the NFL, he has the explosiveness of a gunshot, and he has an eye for the hole that just stuns you.

His first NFL carry was for an 11 yard touchdown run against the Browns. We are talking about someone very special.

If those three running back can execute this Sunday, then I don’t see how Dallas can be beaten. They are, arguably, the best group in the NFL.

Once the running game is established, Dallas should be able to score via air travel.

Want to view the rest? Please go here: http://www.nfltouchdown.com/keys-to-victory-in-a-must-win-for-dallas-against-atlanta/

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If it’s about the Cowboy’s and is published in a public forum, chances are, my eyes don’t miss it.  Regardless of my opinion of the writer, which varies from one media outlet to the next, I give each article a fair shake, not so much as a result of them being deserving, but by virtue of my ardent insatiable Cowboy information addiction.  In my daily dose, I must weather quite a bit of negative speculation; which I’m okay with for the most part, considering that in many cases in the past it has been deserved.  But sometimes the media’s opinion will take a quote and completely twist it around to make the news more interesting and more marketable.  I further believe they do this because it creates an opening for them to write more articles on the same subject either posting a retraction or to further prove their assertion, with, in the end, helps them meet whatever quota their bosses demand of them.

Last year, this issue, in my mind, was an epidemic, which led to Jerry Jones finally imposing a mandate that gagged the whole of the organization from speaking to the media during the early part of the off-season; Jerry being the only exception to the rule.  I, personally, applauded this move.  The media, obviously, was pretty upset about it.  But when you take words out of the owner’s mouth such as, “I was told he was healthy enough to play” said in regards to Marion Barber, and turn it into “Jerry Jones calls Marion Barber a wuss,” you have to know there will be consequences.

Nevertheless, it’s a new year, and the mediots are at it again.  With it sprung in my head an idea:  There should be some forum that makes an effort at keeping these particular  media members honest.  Just as they notoriously paraphrase  the various gum-bumping of members of the Cowboys organization, so shall I do what I can to paint the picture that was originally intended by the benefactor of said quote.

The latest quote receiving negative attention is Jerry Jones assertion that he believes the Cowboy’s team will play to the level of the new stadium; that these player’s will feel a slight push towards winning  surrounded by a structure that could only be described as elite compared to it’s peers Texas Stadium  and the Cotton Bowl, as well any other stadium ever built in the world.  While the following doesn’t exactly twist Jerry’s word’s, it is worthy of correction.

In Jean-Jacques Taylor blog entry “Jerry Jones has lost his mind,” he contends that the stadium will have absolutely no effect on the players or the outcome in the game.

Jerry Jones is a marketing genius, but he has lost his mind if he thinks Cowboys Stadium will make a single bit of difference in the team’s performance this year.

It won’t.

Just like the emotion of the final game at Texas Stadium didn’t help the Cowboys beat Baltimore last December. And just like the raucous crowd the night “The Triplets” were inducted into the Ring of Honor didn’t help the Cowboys beat the hated Redskins.

I suppose it’s fairly easy to take this out of context; not much reaching is necessary to do so.  And, granted, the last thing I want anybody within the organization vocalizing is lofty expectations, such as the Cowboy’s being Super Bowl bound in 2009.  But I think what Jerry was trying to relate to the media is that this team is going to fight to make us forget 44 to 6, 9 and 7, and 12 years without a play off win.  And this stadium, built with the teams storied history and prior dynasties in mind, is going to motivate them all the more to ensure their play reflects the excellence that their predecessor’s demanded of themselves.

Furthermore, the interior of Cowboy’s stadium creates an atmosphere ripe for a fanatic frenzy.  As you walk from your car to your seat, having been inundated with Cowboy’s lore and past glory, I would imagine you won’t be able to  resist screaming at the top of your lungs as the Cowboy’s take the field, move the ball, and destroy the opposing team’s various ball carriers and signal callers.  JJT seems to believe that the price of the ticket will ultimately create a golf crowd, highlighted by the occasional clinking of glasses, as the fans toast various well-performed plays, considering his quote:

Actually, Jerry should be concerned that there will be so many corporate butts in the stands that it’ll be a quieter venue Texas Stadium, known for being a wine-and-cheese crowd.

Yeah, okay.  If you say so, Jean.

Those “corporate butts” at the end of the day are still human, and chances are they are still fans, and therefore are not immune to getting drawn into the hype that just sitting in that stadium must create.  Also, I would further predict that the ability to see every detail of the game in high definition via that 60 yard long big screen will help fuel the excitement.  Make no mistake, the media may need to yell their questions at the top of their lungs in the wake of a football game, as they question the ringing ears of players from both sides of the field.

But, hey, that’s just me speculating from a positive angle.  As the season progresses, I’m sure the media will afford me plenty of opportunities to offer up a corrected translation of what was actually said vs. their misguided misinformation.

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When identifying yourself as a Cowboy’s fan for the first time to someone who also is a Cowboy’s fan, the first question that typically come’s up is, “What did you think about them releasing T.O.?”  Beyond being genuinly interested in your perspective, there is an ulterior motive in that question.  The asker want’s to determine what kind of Cowboy’s fan you are.  Are you optimistic, pessimistic, or realistic.

Personally, I try to be realistic about everything in life, but, admittedly, when it comes to my Cowboy’s, the preverbial hope springs eternal.  In all of the forum’s I contribute to, I’m typically regarded as the homer; the guy who always expects the best from this team.  With that in mind, despite the fact that the media and sport’s analyst abroad have already wrote off the 2009 Cowboy season, I will make an attempt to shift the light from the Cowboy’s good side and focus on what could go horribly wrong.

The first thing that comes to mind for me is conditioning.  Considering the barrage of injuries the Cowboy’s weathered last year and the now infamous December swoon the Cowboy’s are known for (14 – 32 since 2000 in December), questioning the Cowboy’s overall conditioning seems like a logical place to begin.  So far, the picture that has been painted by Cowboy’s staffer’s and the kinder mediots, is that quite a few of the Cowboy’s have been working throughout the offseason to make sure they are properly conditioned for the season.  But isn’t that the standard company line every offseason?  The injury list is already stacked, and training camp doesn’t start until the end of July.  How does that happen?  The broken, bruised, and busted I understand; but strains and pulls typically indicates improper hydration and/or stretching.  In my mind, if a player is getting paid millions of dollars to play this game, he should futher understand that preparation for training is just as important as the actual training.

Coaching.  You really have to wonder about the coaching situation.  Making Wade Phillips the Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator is unprecedented in football.  It sends the message that Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett are sharing the role of Head Coach or, the more accurate way of looking at it, Jerry Jones is the Head Coach.  The thought is scary, but to hear him weigh in on strategy before, during and after games, really makes me wonder how much say he has in getting the ball to certain players.  And if he does have a say in this, it’s not hard to figure out what is truly wrong with this team, despite all of their collective talent.

Aside from the questionable dual role, I feel pretty confident in Wade’s ability to make the Cowboy’s defense rank top 10 this year.  However, Jason Garrett’s ability to make a T.O.less offense work is definitely a big question.  Since the beginning of his tenure as OC, the pass first mentality has been evident.  And, to be honest, to a certain extent, that approach based on previous personnel was justifyable.  However, this year, the Cowboy’s offense, despite the very few modifications to the starting line-up on offense, are now built for balance.   Does Jason recognize this need?  Can he effectively call plays designed to spread the ball over that trio of backs, duo of TE’s, and that potentially clutch WR group?

The Offensive Line.  Despite the catalog of failure that was the 2008 season for this group, very little was done to fortify the line.  Enemy #1 amongst Cowboy’s fan’s is likely between Flozell Adams, notorious for False Starts and struggling with speed rushers,  and Cory Proctor who seems to be physically and mentally inferior to the average defensive lineman.   The Cowboy’s added a few rookies, but it will likely be two to three years before any of them see extended playing time, barring another unlucky barrage of injuries.   Therefore, regardless of the dangerous weapons, if Romo doesn’t have adequate time to identify the open receiver and our running back’s don’t have time to accelerate or a hole to accelarate through, this team’s offensive effectiveness will be marginal, at best.  And, obviously, with a steady dose of 3 and out’s you get an exhausted defense in the 2nd half.

Youth served.  Another huge difference in the 2009 Cowboy’s vs. the 2008 Cowboy’s is average age.   The Cowboy’s lost quite a few starting veterans over the offseason, particularly on defense (Anthony Henry, Roy Williams, Keith Davis, Tank Johnson, Zach Thomas, Kevin Burnett, and Chris Canty).  Add to that the fact that the Cowboy’s drafted 12 rookies, and you have a team exceptionally younger than last year.  With youth, typically comes a marked improvement in overall speed.  But, speed minus experience can often lead to going fast in the wrong direction, ultimately, putting said youngster further from where he needs to be in a given play…and no amount of speed can fix that.

Special Teams.  Special Teams has been quite possibly the softest spot on this team for the last few seasons.  In response to that, Wade Phillips went out and got a Special Teams coach that is considered by many to be the best in the business.  But, if you consider that he’s brand new to this team and quite a few of the player’s he will have to work with are also brand new to this team, if not to the league, how much improvement can we really expect?  It’d be one thing if Decamallis was working with the exact same group of player’s as last year, but the truth is,  10 of those 12 rookies are expected to play significant roles on special teams if they want to make the team.  That could be a disaster in the making, regardless of how good the coaching is.

Romo.  It happened with Jeff Garcia.  Then, many speculated, the same happened with Donovan McNabb.  No more T.O., no more impressive numbers.  In two stops previous to Dallas, T.O. left a huge hole in otherwise pedestrian offenses, which led to the cliched theory  that T.O. makes QB’s better than what they really are.  Will this prove to be true of Romo?  Prior to T.O., Romo was an undrafted Free Agent 4th on the depth chart of a bunch of no-bodies and has-beens.  But in 2007, the Romo to T.O. connection rewrote the franchise record book.  In 2008, opposing defenses took T.O. out of the equation and the Cowboy’s go 9 – 7 and miss the Play Off’s.  Coincidence?  I hope so, but it is something to consider before assuming Romo’s name will eventually find it’s place in the Ring of Honor or Hall of Fame.

Obviously, there are question’s about team-wide depth,  overall wide receiver talent, last year’s rookies stepping into starting roles, and the pandoras box of intangible questions about heart, chemistry and leadership.   The truth is, another barrage of injuries could end this season like last year.  If Roy William’s is not, at least, consistent, the ground game will likely suffer significantly.  And if Scandrick or Jenkins don’t, at least, duplicate their last year’s performance the defense will leak like a sieve.   That is football.  All the moving part’s have to be functional, or the machine will not work.  As for the immeasurable contribution of heart, leadership, and chemistry, this will likely be determined by how the team begins the season.

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Despite the suffering I endured, I learned quite a bit about the little things in football. In a season where your expectations are marginal, you tend to not question all the bad things that can happen in a given season because you expected them. In 2007 my expectations were actually pretty low. Sure we were in the Play Offs the year prior, but we were all aware of our limitations at CB and so I felt are defense was going to get torched every week. My expectations came equipped with knowledge that this team was incomplete and could be exploited.

But in 2008, there wasn’t a weakness to be found, for the exception of behind the QB and, hey, it’s Romo, he doesn’t get sacked. He’s elusive. He’s got a feel for the pocket. He knows how to avoid the defensive rush. Blah, blah, blah. CB was more than fortified with a healthy Newman and the additions of Pacman, Jenkins and Scandrick. Safety was manned by 2 Pro Bowlers. The LB’s and DL had a decent rotation. It was going to be the return of the Dooms Day defense coupled with an offense that outscored every team in the league the year prior. My expectations, needless to say, left no room for any excuses for failure, for the exception of injury.

And then injuries happened, but still…I had questions. And a good many of those questions were answered by my incessant need to feed off all things Dallas Cowboy’s football related in any sports site available. And believe me, despite all that I already knew about this game I love, I learned so much more than all my years combined in this season alone because of this failure to my expectations. What did I learn?

You can’t buy a Super Bowl. My boyhood perception of how the Cowboy’s played other teams was somewhat skewed. I felt, they didn’t simply win. They man-handled their opponents. I’m not sure how I missed it, but in hindsight, those games were hard. Every one of them was a mountain for that team to climb. My memories of Emmitt Smith play out like a highlight reel. But not every run Smith made yielded yards. Not every game was won with Emmitt’s feet. Irvin didn’t make the acrobatic catch to win every game. Aikman, in his time, wasn’t considered a great quarterback with the likes of Dan Marino, Joe Montana, John Elway, Jim Kelly, Phil Simms, Randall Cunningham, Warren Moon and Boomer Esiason playing at that time. They were in fact fallible. And character, well, the undesirables were starters on that roster too. . But everyone played and played hard. They worked together. It wasn’t exactly what you would call a great composition of talent, either. There were players playing above their station, as the Super Bowl MVP of 1995 might have indicated.

I learned about the power of belief. Belief is a strong word in the world of football. I watched the interview of Ray Lewis prior to the Baltimore game assured in my own belief that the Cowboy’s would win having the stronger offense in a game that featured two very stout defenses. But after the interview, I had my doubts. Why? You could see that Ray Lewis believed. And since we all know that he is what makes that defense play beyond their individual reputations, I knew that entire defense believed too. And then, when I saw their offense play with that same sense of entitlement to the win in this game, absolute dread seeped in. And harder still about that game is the Cowboys repeatedly gave me hope in that fourth quarter, only to see those hopes crashed on a shore of missed tackles and missed opportunities.

It reminded of something I remember seeing throughout that successful 2007 season. Remember Romo’s smile? Sure I wrote several articles about the power of his smile and how the offense seemingly played better when he wore that on his face. But I never really delved in, I don’t think, into what that smile meant. But I think we all know that ultimately it meant he believed. He believed in the plays being called, the players that surrounded him, and his ability to do whatever he wanted with that ball without contention. A fumble here, an interception there, but the next time we saw him in the huddle, there was that infectious smile again saying something like “Hey, will get them this time.” And typically he was right. He generally always followed up a bone headed mistake with something to make you forget all about it.

Throughout the offseason following the draft and through the preseason I had a sliver of a doubt about rather or not this collective of talent could play as a team. But that doubt was constantly assuaged away with sports analyst abroad stating with utter confidence this Cowboys team was going to be a force to be reckoned with. Like no team I have heard about in the preseason in years prior, this Cowboys team was the talk of the town with their impressive role call at training camp. This highlighted by the Hard Knocks crews turned the Cowboys into the ultimate Hollywood team. And with that, I wondered what type of effect it would have on these Cowboys. But I wanted to believe what they sold us: That’s part of being a member of the Cowboys. You have to get used to that attention because the Cowboys are America’s team. I learned that no football team is bulletproof to distraction; no body is immune to acting different under the encouragement of the stage lights. These guys, million dollar contract or not, are just like any of us.

The Texans in years past with David Carr under center taught us about how important the Offensive Line is, regardless of the other talent present on the field. But once again I made the mistake of believing irresponsible sports analyst who stated that the Cowboys OL are only second to the Browns, in terms of strength. Then, as the season progressed, I learned how he came to that determination; not through observation, but pure stats and a popularity contest known as the Pro Bowl. How effective were the passing and running games in the year prior? How often did the QB get sacked? Of these players, who went to the Pro Bowl? The first two questions could be answered naming one player: Tony Romo. He made both Jason Garrett and the Offensive Line look great in 2007! I was there; I saw it.

The last question answered itself over time. The Pro Bowl, unfortunately, take’s 1/3 of fans votes. And let’s face it, how many fans vote for players outside of their team? A huge bias is in place in the voting, and well, it pretty much has rendered the game to serving as an ability for a ‘popular’ player to petition for more money on his contract. But because some sport’s analyst from a credible source said my OL was great and I wanted to believe it, my questions of this assessment initially didn’t go very far…not until their performance demanded I do so. And to be honest, I was disgusted. Because I watched these players in the offseason and I saw that they thought very highly of themselves for all the recognition getting poured on them when any Cowboy faithful who watched the 2007 season should know these accolades were completely undeserved.

And so it is in the game football. Fans and analyst alike are not impervious to misleading concepts. As a fan I don’t watch every game and can’t expect a sport analyst to watch every game of the previous season for every team he decides to write an opinion on. But the ultimate lesson here, regardless of whose formula it is that measures performance, they are all based on stats which doesn’t always tell the whole story.

This leads me to my next lesson learned. The media is a monster; the worse kind of monster. Remember Aliens with Sigourney Weaver? The media is that kind of monster. You see, their pretty dangerous in their own right, but then their articles act like those spider-looking creatures with tails (or tales if you prefer) that plant little eggs in you which hatch and create more monsters. See the parallel? Then we get all these disciples regurgitating what was said by a previous reporter with an anonymous source and the epidemic spreads.

Which brings me to the last lesson.

In the wanning moments of that dreadful season, everyone had an opinion of who should be fired, who should be released, and who should change as a player or coach. I’ve offered my opinion on these drastic changes a few times myself. Some have even suggested the Cowboys owner Jerry Jones should fire the Cowboys GM Jerry Jones and have started a fund raiser requesting donations of $5 or more to put said request on billboards throughout the city.

Word? You think that might work? Sorry, I sense an epic fail in the making. Maybe if it was just a strange coincidence that both these individuals had the same name, just maybe, that would work. But we are talking about a wealthy man who made his money in oil. I’m sure he saw plenty of billboards suggesting he fire himself to save the environment and we all see how well he took that suggestion. He bought a football team with his earnings. He didn’t spend it repairing the environment or donating it all to some note worthy cause, though I’m sure he’s made a few contributions here and there that is not a drop in the bucket to his accumulative wealth; he purchased a football franchise to live out the ultimate Fantasy Football League and has been doing so now for twenty years.

So, write your letters. Sing your songs. Make your jokes. But know your role. As a fan, you are static. Your opinion does not effect change even if you have a plane with a huge banner circle Jerry Jones mansion. I have said it before: That is the rub of being a fan of anything in general; you share in the success and failures of outcomes you have nothing to do with as a spectator. It is a frustrating existence when your team loses. But the human condition forces us to believe that we can control all things, which is why we argue, debate, fight, and go to war. This concept in life is bigger than just the game of football. It affects everyone and everything around us. And when you broaden your view to see the big picture and all that it encompasses, such as the war, the suffering that surrounds us, the news filled with inhumanity in a world dominated by humans (irony intended), things like a losing season of your favorite football team seems so small. And that is the biggest lesson of them all…

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Summer is in full bloom, and that means we are getting ever so close to the beginning of training camp. It is this time of year that has every football fan tied in knots, and I am no different.

While the Cowboys have yet to don anything but shorts and helmets the style of this team is beginning to take focus.

Every team in the NFL is good enough to win the Super Bowl! Or at least that is what they want us to believe. This years Dallas Cowboys are no different, at this moment many of us have very legitimate concerns about the receiver, quarterback, and O-line positions and basically the overall play of the offense.

Jerry Jones and Wade Phillips can tell us all day long that they have faith in the young receivers and that the offense is working hard and coming together, and blah, blah blah! We all know that the majority of that is just a bunch of crap to make us feel warm and fuzzy about the upcoming year!

Let me be clear about something, the offense in my opinion should be as good as and possibly better than last year’s team. I honestly feel and believe that Romo will be a better QB this year, and that Roy Williams can and will do a more than adequate job as the teams #1 receiver, and with the running game that the Boys have this should be enough to carry that side of the ball.

The offensive unit will always be the most glorified, it has all the stars, and scores all the TD’s, but I am here to tell you that if you are an offensive person, and like to see scores in the 40’s each week you are in for a rude awakening.

This is now a control and time of possession unit, we should no longer see play after play of three receivers all running 40 yard triple move routes (not saying we are not going to see these still, just not as many), instead we will see a lot of two tight end sets, short hooks, out routes, slants, and fades, but primarily large amounts of MBIII, Felix, and T-Choice.

There is something taking place on this team that everyone should start paying attention to, THE DEFENSE!!

Granted there has been very minimal contact so far so we cannot quite see the full picture yet, but all the early reports talk about how attacking, and pressure filled this unit is. Mickey Spagnola at DC.com had a great article up on Tuesday about this very thing. Here is my rookie attempt at designing a graphic that shows the alignment!

In his article he went into pretty in depth detail about how the defense was lined up at one point in the day, and I must tell you this type of scenario is going to cause major headaches for opposing offenses.

Everyday it seems I hear about the competitions taking place on the defensive side of the ball, and each and every one of these guys are pushing each other to be the best. This unit already has there competitive juices boiling over, and its FREAKING JUNE!

This unit is priming itself to have a major impact not only within the team, but they are looking to, in the immortal words of Ebby Calvin ‘Nuke” LaLoosh “Announce their presence with authority!”

We have all heard the old saying “where there is smoke there is usually fire!” all I can say is that the defense of the Dallas Cowboys has had a ton of smoke emitting from its smoke stack!

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Does every one really have to be spoon fed something to understand what’s going on? Yes, Jerry Jones said that … and see that, it doesn’t even matter to go on. Just because Jerry says it does not mean that it’s either true or deserving.

What keeps surprising me is that we have yet to hear from “What’s His Name” in the kind of way that McNabb and Garcia both heard from him after he left Philly and San Fran, respectively. It was actually a topic covered quite well after his release, wondering when it would happen and what he would say, exactly.

So now it’s been a few months and he has said some things, but by no means has he gone medieval over the situation either. And then you have ESPN – like a special needs kid with a candy bar I tell you – they are even covering the most dramatic sports news available by telling us that TO hasn’t found a place to live yet. Yeah, I said it, THEY did it!

And without any sense of subtlety at all, we now have yet again witnessed another TO -vs – Romo moment in the media. “Romo Friendly” is not “TO friendly“, and whether or not a player can figure out that it doesn’t matter, the media should at least be able to stick to their genre. The tabloids cover gossip, sports media covers sports. Why, oh why ESPN is that so hard to grasp.

No body even knows what “Romo Friendly” means. People keep expecting an expert or obscure to step up and say that it means several things that all fit very specifically on some magic expert list of quarterback qualities, and in truth it simply means that players who fit well with his style are “Romo Friendly“.

Owens has rarely ever been anything but “TO Friendly” and as someone said recently, There are only stats for two guys on a team, the quarterback and the head coach. No one ever says a wide receiver lost a Super Bowl or playoff game – unless that receiver is Patrick Crayton of course.

So the next time anyone says anything about Owens and the whole “Romo Friendly” phenomena, be sure to slap ‘em once real good with your right hand, and then follow through with another slap from your left. How’s that for “Romo Friendly“?

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This was one of the most gut wrenching drafts for me to watch. Mainly because there was plenty of opportunities for JJ and the Cowboys to do as they have done in years past, and completely deviate from the plan, and try to make a splash.

Now I know everyone wanted to see the Cowboys draft a player or players that would have an immediate impact in one or more of the positions of need. I too would have loved to see them land a top notch Safety or O- Lineman to compete for a starting spot. However by the time the Cowboys went on the clock, all of those players were gone. It was at that particular point in time that my heart began to race, for this is the exact spot in years past when management has overreacted and reached for someone. This year however it was different, Jerry trusted his scouting department, and trusted their board.

The Dallas Cowboy scouting department felt that there was a handful of players that may be available to them with the 51st pick that held 1st round talent, but after that you could throw a blanket over the rest. Simply meaning once the first rounders were gone everyone else was of equal talent. The 2009 NFL draft then became more about “value” than “name”.

As Cowboy fans we have spent much of our time since Jerry took the rains of the team, being upset that they could not separate the difference between a “name” and an actual “football player”.

The verdict on this draft will not be known for at least 3 years. As the draft began to unfold I realized what was happening and could not believe how stupid I was at not figuring out their plan before hand. The plan was a simple one, but like many of you I had become so mesmerized by what positions needed upgrading, that I completely lost focus about what the true intentions of the draft are. The same things I have for years blasted Jerry for doing I was now doing. The art of drafting college players to become NFL players, is an art, and an art not many have had a lot of success doing. Those who have had success will all say that “if you draft out of need you are going to fail, but if you trust your board and take the best available talent that fits your scheme then you are going to succeed.”

In 2008 the Dallas Cowboys had 3 major areas of concern; (1) Special teams (this team lost at least 3 games last year due to there piss poor kick coverage) (2) Secondary (the corner play last year was better, but the lack of a ball hawking safety hurts.) (3) O-Line depth (as you all remember when Kosier went down last year so did the play of this unit)

When the Cowboys time on the clock came, and Louis Delma, Patrick Chung, Darcel Mcbath, Eric Wood, and Max Unger were gone, the Cowboys made a move to collect another draft pick. If you look at the needs of this team, which of the three areas noted could they have the most positive effect on in this draft? SPECIAL TEAMS! This unit has been horrific for several years now, and in dire need of drastic changes. This unit was slow, old, and very poorly coached. The Cowboys took care of the coaching side of things with the hiring of Joe D, and with the exception of the 101st pick (Stephen McGee) they totally revamped the special teams unit. Every single player they drafted this past weekend can be immediate players!

Sometimes in life what we think we want is not necessarily what we need. If this special teams unit plays to there capabilities this year they will impact this team far more than ANY OTHER PLAYER THAT WAS AVAILABLE AT 51. There is no one player that could have made the Cowboys 12-4 last year! but with the load they pulled yesterday this unit could have!

Welcome to the team gentlemen!

Jason Williams – ILB – Western Illinois

Robert Brewster – T/G – Ball State

Stephen McGee – QB – Texas A&M

Victor Butler – OLB – Oregon State

Brandon Williams – OLB – Texas Tech

DeAngelo Smith – CB – Cincinnati

Michael Hamlin – S – Clemson

David Buehler – K – USC

Stephen Hodge – S – TCU

John Phillips – TE – Virginia

Mike Mickens – CB – Cincinnati

Manuel Johnson – WR – Oklahoma

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With the 2009 NFL draft looming ever so close, we are no closer to knowing what the Cowboys will do. Do they stand pat and make selections as they come? Or do they group some of there later picks together and try to make a move to the first round? Well either way I will not be shocked.

One thing we do know is that Jerry is not a big fan of moving to the first round this year because of the possibility of next year being  an uncapped year. Has Jerry ever let his better judgement get in the way of his desire to “Make a splash”? Never! So in that realm of thinking what picks would Jerry need to package to move up to a position to be able to grab a splash maker? and who could that splash be?

When moving into the first round we must first assume that the player that they would be moving up for is one that is going to be a starter and one that can contribute at a high level immediately.

One area that all of us have said needs some love and attention is the Offensive line. Now in order to get into position to grab one of the top four Tackles, Dallas would need to get into the top 15 picks. This would be a costly move, both financially and would cause serious repercussions to the rest of their draft. Once again nothing would surprise me, but this is a highly doubtful proposition. The requirements of such a deal would more than likely be; next years first and this years third.

Now the option of moving up into the lower half of the first to grab Max Unger from Oregon  is a much more probable idea. I could definitely see a “There has been a trade made” scenario take place where the Cowboys would send the Philadelphia Eagles the 51st pick and the #120 and next years 3rd for the 28th pick of the Eagles. Although I see this as being a very possible scenario, I personally feel the Cowboys would not use the 28th pick on an offensive lineman.

There are two options that I feel may be to tough for Jerry to contain himself on. First scenario would involve some sort of trade probably involving next years 1st rounder and several of this years being shipped to Denver in exchange for there recently acquired 18th selection. While the Broncos could use as many first round picks that they can get, I believe they will trade one of those picks away in order to gather more picks. The Cowboys by making this trade could put themselves into prime position to gather one of the following; (a)Jeremy Maclin (b)James laurinaitis (c)Percy Harvin (d)Eben Britton

Option #2 would be much less risky but could pay big dividends quickly! Better yet it would not involve jumping into the first round! The boys could send next years 2nd round pick and this years 4th #117 to New England in exchange for their first of 2nd round selections this year #47. If a trade like this was done they could leave the second round and fill two major needs and still pick in every round the rest of the way out. They would also leave this round with two top flight players. Now the players that I believe that they could get would be #47 (a)Darius Butler CB UCONN (b)Alphonso Smith CB Wake Forest (c)Marcus Freeman ILB USC (d)Duke Robinson OG Oklahoma.

Then follow that selection with the #51 (a)Sean Smith S Utah (b)Jauquin Iglesias WR Oklahoma (c)Louis Murphy WR Florida (d)Louis Delmas FS Western Mich. (e) Darry Beckwith ILB LSU

I understand that none of this means anything as this is mere speculation, and is no different than watching Star Wars and thinking that there may actually be a Luke Skywalker! However since we are only 17 days away from the draft what else am I going to do?

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All this talk about Terrell Owens feeling betrayed by Jerry Jones is just a waste of everyone’s time. Now I’ve said for a long time that Owens has issues, but that his production usually outweighed his issues by enough to keep him around. I’ve said that this team could move into the 09 season with Owens and be just fine. But obviously it didn’t and they won’t.
The problems Owens caused were usually rather trivial and didn’t amount to very much until the media got a hold of it, then suddenly every fan had an opinion of it as I’m sure each player and coach did as well. Never mind whether or not these coaches and players knew the whole story or witnessed it and knew things about it each time that the media did not, the media was able to color every story to their own needs. Often, the media was given an extra push by the words of some of the players.

Read the rest of this entry »

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As we make the turn towards the final week of March, the next big question for Cowboys fans is what will Jerry and the Cowboys do with their eleven draft picks? We all know the needs, and where they will be making selections, but what we do not know is how will they use them!

I started this project with the thought that I would do two versions. The first version was going to be just using the 11 picks that the Cowboys currently have. Then I thought I would try to mock what the Boys may do, as far as moving up and down. Strange thing happened though! After completing my initial Mock, I realized that if they were able to walk away from the draft with these players, I would be completely satisfied!

Now I understand that this team is not going to draft eleven players, but Jerry can have another very successful draft.

Take a look and let me know what you guys think.

2009 Actual Draft order:

2nd rd. pick #51:      Darry Beckwith      ILB      LSU

3rd rd. pick #69:      Mike Mickens           CB        Cincinnati

4th rd. pick #101:    Michael Hamlin     SS         Clemson

4th rd. pick #117:     Xavier Fulton         OT        Illinois

5th rd. pick #156:     Mike Wallace          WR       Mississippi

5th rd. pick #166:     Pat White                 Ath.     West Virginia

5th rd. pick #172:     Sammie Lee Hill    DE        Stillman

6th rd. pick #197:     Roy Miller                 DT        Texas

6th rd. pick #208:     Andy Kemp              OG        Wisconsin

7th rd. pick #210:     Antonio Appleby   ILB       Virginia

7th rd. pick #227:     Garrett Reynolds   OT        North Carolina

Here are some other Mock Drafts! Here, Here,  Here , and Here

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How long should the regular season be? It’s an issue often discussed among fans and NFL members alike … should the season be longer? The majority opinion seems to be no since it would put an added strain on players that are already battling through bumps and bruises over 16 games in the regular season, then you add the pre-season into the mix and it just seems cruel.

But the latest discussions seem to be focusing on the idea of a trade-off between the two, converting a pre-season game or two into regular season games so the overall schedule is still the same.

Roger Goodell has his take on the situation, but it appears that he is more worried about profit than anything. You see it’s hard to justify the NFL’s current pricing for pre-season games when the starters rarely play more than three quarters in a pre-season game, and even that’s beyond the norm aside from one game.

It’s a valid point too; tickets cost just as much for less performance and less stakes. Even season ticket holders have to pay full price those games, so it begs the question, should a pre-season game be converted to a regular season game?

The proposed idea has either been switching one or two games over, which will add to the number of regular season games without adding any extra games to the whole season. But in reality it actually does add to the whole season for the teams, not in that they have to play an extra game, but that they have to compete at a professional level for an extra game.

That’s another four quarters bone jarring hits that take a toll on the players. Another 60 minutes of stress on player’s bodies that adds up by the time the playoffs roll around. That’s another 60 snaps that the coaches have to plan and scheme for. The question is whether or not it’s justified to put that burden on teams.

I won’t sit here behind my little desk and pretend that I know the answer; truthfully I doubt anyone has the right answer on this subject. Owners stand to gain an extra $4 million in profit from even one game being converted, while teams would have to battle through an extra game trying to make it to the Super Bowl.

Personally I believe that we could use one more regular season game and one less pre-season game, but even I realize the consequences of such an adjustment. I cringe just like the next guy when players are hurt on the field. It’s my biggest problem with Philly fans, is that when Irvin broke his neck 10 years ago in Philly, those fans were cheering as he lay still on the ground. Every fan in football should be sympathetic to a player being hurt, no matter what team they play for, no matter what’s on the line, play-offs, super bowl title, or otherwise.

These guys go out and literally risk their lives and health for our entertainment, and unfortunately, that is not without consequence for some in the short term, and all in the long term.

It’s not just because of the length of the schedule that these things come up, though. It’s my opinion that the current format for bye weeks is in need of adjustment, with or without changing the number of regular season games.

No team should have a bye week before week 5, anything before that not only makes for an extended stretch of week after week abuse to end the season, but it guarantees injuries and poor performance in the playoffs. With the change of date and venue for the Pro Bowl in next year, it’s even more evident as it’s expected that few true starters will agree to play in the game if it’s played a week before the Super Bowl. Effectively making the Pro Bowl a free-for-all game instead of an All-Star game, putting more stock into being elected to the Pro Bowl than actually participating in it.

So think bye week assignments should only span from week 5 to week 14, even with the current 16 game schedule. Beyond that it’s wondered if the pre-season is even needed at all anymore.

Nowadays players are less likely to need exhibition games to get back into shape after an off-season since teams generally start off-season conditioning programs before the draft in April, and they now go through multiple voluntary workouts, OTA’s, and mini-camps before even attending the mandatory training camp. In all, there are plenty of reasons why the concept of a pre-season is just outdated and unnecessary.

Then again, would anyone argue that the pre-season games helped Matt Cassel prepare for a season as the starter in New England after seeing Brady go down in week one? How about all the guys trying to earn a starting spot, or simply more playing time in general, with good performances in exhibition games? Are not pre-season games invaluable to teams for those reasons?

It’s a sticky subject that has plenty of sound logic on both sides on the fence, and while it would set a new precedent for the NFL, should it not be the players, coaches, and owners deciding what happens to the schedule next? The owners, with the few exceptions the likes of Jerry Jones and Al Davis, have little to do with weekly team operations and arguably are not the best representatives in a debate such as this.

Then again, maybe it’s all mute and nothing will come of the talks this year. It only means that it’ll be discussed again next year. But you guys tell me, how many pre-season games should be re-designated as regular season games?

You can also comment below if you have a more varied opinion than what a poll can let you describe.

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You know, since the season ended, you’ve been offered dozens upon dozens of articles and columns from journalists and bloggers alike with the top five or ten, or whatever number, things that the Cowboys must do to bounce back from the woes that buried them in 2008. A season that ended with the unsightly demise of the team’s final shreds of hope in Philly.

So here’s the top ……. You know what? I don’t know how many things we’re going to come up with here for the Cowboys to do this off-season, I mean in addition to what they’ve already done of course. So we’re going to take a stab at it from a more site-wide perspective and let the number fall where it may. Here’s what the Cowboys need to do before August:

1. It’s obvious, but playing as a team is potentially the best thing they can do. No more appeasing wide receivers who want the ball more, no more trying to prove who can do what and journalists wrong in their doom and gloom opinions. It’s time to step up and give everything you have every game, to play for your teammate as though your life depends on it.
2. Because their life sort of does depend on it, or their livelihood rather. Now that Jerry Jones has cut Terrell Owens, it should be crystal clear to all the players that who you are, what you can do, and what you bring to the game on the field doesn’t matter. If Jerry can cut T.O. then he can cut anyone on that team, and that message needs to be replayed through the P.A. system at Valley Ranch for the next five months.
3. Finding the proper motivation to go and out win some ballgames can be a challenging task nowadays, but it should be simple. These players all want a Super Bowl, and we’ve just gotten a real good demonstration of how a 9-7 team can reach the Super Bowl and lose it by so little … use that to motivate these players.
4. Now that Owens is gone and that message from #2 is still resonating in everyone’s mind, stop overpaying the players! It’s time to go by market value and if a player doesn’t like it, he can go elsewhere. Cutting Owens just proves to him that it’s not a matter of if he’ll be cut for being selfish or greedy, but when. Fear is a great motivator.
5. Be mean. It’s time for Colombo and Ratliff and Davis and Newman and … everyone … to get mean on the field. Start dominating the field and even the players that can’t dominate, act like it cause you’ll play harder that way. Get mad, show some emotion and go after the hit like that guy just beat your sister! It’s time to make the rest of the league fear the amount of talent on this team.
6. Someone has got to step up and lead this team. Even if Wade didn’t resemble a puppet and Garrett wasn’t too afraid of stepping on anyone’s toes, they can’t lead this team. It needs to be a player that does it and there is none better for the job than the quarterback. Troy Aikman never hung his head in shame after a bad play, he yelled across the field so that whoever just screwed up could hear him over the crowd noise! It’s time for Romo to find his outdoor voice and tell everyone very loudly when they screw up, including himself.
7. Fans need to bring their outdoor voices to games too! What is the point of home field advantage if the fans don’t do their part? Fans at games should leave a game calling in sick to work for the next day because they can’t talk anymore. When the team organizes a special deal like a white out, the fans need to go overboard trying to do it. I’m talking about white jerseys, shoes, pants, hell … white faces and hair even.
8. Fans should also stop buying into everything that is reported by ESPN (Everlasting Sorry Pieces of …. Nevermind). ESPN has a reputation for stirring up controversy where there is none, and in the case of Owens prematurely, for a reason, it’s because they do it! Reporters rarely have as many answers as they proclaim and very often a good journalist is one that will fudge a couple of details for a really juicy story. That’s not the hype you should be buying into … it only feeds their narcissistic need to do it again and again and that kind of attention is bad for any team.
9. And finally … when is Darren Woodson going to go all Dat Nguyen on us and become a coach for our struggling secondary? I can only imagine …

Well there you have it … 9 things this team must do to be successful next year. And just so nobody confuses me with any one of these journalists who pretend to have all the answers in five easy steps, these nine things are but nine of the many that need to be done, but these are a good start and in logical order after cutting Owens.

GO COWBOYS!!!

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Just when we think that maybe this team is going to get what it needs this off-season personnel-wise, here goes Jerry Jones flapping away about the … ready for it? The best player available.

First thing that comes to mind when I think about him saying that is last years draft … that was the mentality that went into drafting Felix Jones, Tashard Choice, Mike Jenkins, Orlando Scandrick, and Martellus Bennett. Maybe Bennett needs to keep his rap career on hold, but a year later and that guy certainly fits the idea of “best player available.” Same goes for any one of those guys.

But the second thing that comes to my mind … and this kind of a big one … we have needs to be filled this year beyond just taking talent. Our safety corps need help.

Hamlin is really living up to the stereotypical mold of a player just looking for his payday. He came in a short term deal after some issues arose in his career, played well enough to deserve a nice contract, and instead got a huge contract. Talk about adding insult to injury, this guy didn’t even earn what should have been a nice contract in 2008, let alone the huge contract he signed.

Roy Williams is gone, and so the Cowboys sign Gerald Sensabaugh. Coming out of Jacksonville to sign a one year deal, he’s got a few decent seasons under his belt and looks to be a major upgrade over Roy Williams. He’s still no Ed Reed but the guy can still play in a 3-4 though. He’s had some off-the-field issues, and while we don’t need another one of those, it’s hard to say the guy is trouble when you see what his legal issues have been.

He’s been charged with reckless driving on his motorcycle, which got him a suspended license that later got him charged with driving with a suspended license. That’s two of his three issues right there and they don’t worry me at all, aside from wondering if he’ll have a wreck at some point during the season anyway. His lone concerning issue was a charge for possession of a firearm. It’s not a traffic incident but it’s not an outright crime either.

Tank Johnson had similar issues and he turned out okay, yeah he was a total moron after the Philly game shouting about being a free agent heading into the locker room after that beating, but he didn’t cause problems for the team on the field, and he stayed out of trouble.

Then you have the likes of Pat Watkins, a guy that can’t seem to stay healthy for even half a season; Courtney Brown, who hasn’t done much to talk about yet; and Tra Battle, a guy that was signed for depth mid-season and made a noticeable impact on special teams on the opening kickoff of his first game. Three developmental players at best, though Battle seems to have a leg up on the other two.

And now we have talks coming about switching another corner to safety at least part-time. I say another because Anthony Henry was the leading candidate for that change before he was traded to the Lions for Jon Kitna. Henry was a logical choice for the simple reason that he was struggling in the man coverage scheme that Phillips began using religiously by mid-season. Henry had always been a zone type of guy, and his age only seemed to expose that fact even more.

Terrence Newman was the first to bring it up publicly that Orlando Scandrick, the perennial cover guy in the slot in his rookie season, could be switched to safety. I understand the temptation in such times of bad play at safety to take your best corner in the middle of the field and move him to safety, it almost makes sense because the area of the field is largely the same, but Scandrick isn’t a safety, and playing safety verses playing corner does not come down to position on the field.

Aside from the media speculation that seemed to pour over Newman’s comments, we haven’t really heard anything else about that. Instead we’re now hearing that Scandrick is likely safe at corner and Alan Ball has taken his place under the speculative guillotine.

Same argument applies to Ball as Scandrick; the only difference is that Ball hasn’t been as productive as Scandrick even with the extra time in the league. It doesn’t even matter that much that we’re lacking depth at corner without Ball in the lineup because we’re short even with Ball playing corner because he can’t be relied upon to contribute. I say move him to safety and see if he can finally play good enough to justify keeping his spot on the roster, and if not, cut him loose next year.

That’s just at safety, folks, and here Jerry Jones is saying we can take the best player available. I know it’s get old, but it’s still true to say that Jerry need some help getting the General Manager stuff done.

Check out Part 2 of this article at ACowboyNation.com.

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So T.O. is gone, now what?

Jerry Jones has finally stepped up and rid the Dallas Cowboys of their number one troublemaker.

At least, that is what the pundits and critics are saying. For them, the release of Terrell Owens makes the Cowboys a better team – a sort of addition by subtraction.

Overall, the move to release Owens has been met by praise from most members of the media and fans alike.

But, I’m not one who favors the move.

No, Terrell Owens is no saint. Still, he was a very productive member of the Dallas Cowboys. Some point to his numbers and say he is on the decline and no longer an elite receiver. Still, he managed to post yet another 1,000 yard/10 touchdown season, and that was considered a down year. Personally, I believe the lack of creativity in the offense, more specifically, failure on the part of offensive coordinator, Jason Garrett, had more to do with his statistical drop-off than diminishing skills.

Had Owens lost a step? He actually seemed like he was faster this season.

Off the field, Owens has been labeled a distraction or cancer. However, everything seemed to be going okay until the big fiasco involving Owens, Garrett, Romo, and Witten. And, in all honesty, none of us truly know what transpired. The only information leaked to the public came from ESPN’s Ed Werder and his “sources”. The “sources” were never identified. It did seem though that whoever the “sources” were, they definitely had an agenda. Much like the talking heads at ESPN who seemed like they were on a mission to get Owens released from the Cowboys.

I found it particularly funny listening to ESPN analysts Keyshawn Johnson and Chris Carter lambast T.O. at every opportunity for demanding the ball more. These are two individuals who pretty much did the same thing during their careers. Keyshawn even took it one step further and wrote a book. I guess he has forgotten about that.

All we really have to go on is what Owens said publically. Yes, he did criticize Garrett and even Romo. But was he wrong in doing so? I don’t think so. We, as fans, all saw it. And if we’re completely honest, we all thought it too. Owens simply voiced it – and, was vilified by some of the fans and media for doing so.

When the Cowboys were 13-3, and Owens was getting the ball, he was model teammate. Last season, the team went 9-7, and he wasn’t getting the ball, and he was upset. So, he doesn’t like losing. Or, better yet, he like several other superstars, felt like he could help the team win if he had the ball in his hands.

Isn’t that what we want from our top players?

I wonder what the reactions would have been if Jason Witten had made the same statements?

Would he have been vilified? Or, heralded a leader?

I guess we’ll never know.

In listening to Jerry Jones, he insisted that this move had nothing to do with locker room chemistry, but everything to do with change. He also stated that his belief in wide receiver Roy Williams was a major reason for his decision. But, clearly that is not the case. Jerry, uncharacteristically, bowed to the pressure by the media, fans, and some of the people on his staff. Jerry didn’t want to release T.O. You have to believe that after witnessing the success of Arizona and the success of their “81/11 tandem”, Jerry had visions of the Cowboys being able to duplicate or surpass them with their own tandem.

But, Jerry decided to cave in. And he sided with those who wanted T.O. gone. None more so than Jason Garrett, who by all of accounts, told Jones he didn’t feel he and Owens could co-exist.

So now what?

If I’m offensive coordinator, Jason Garrett, I’m feeling the immense pressure.

Even without Owens on the team, the Cowboys have a tremendous amount of talent on offense. They still have the offensive line, Romo, Witten, Bennett, Williams, and their trio of running backs. In my opinion the X-factor is going to be Miles Austin. No disrespect to Patrick Crayton, he proved that he can be a decent 2^nd receiver. But, he is much more effective in the slot but lacks the outside speed the Cowboys need. Austin has the size and speed. He has shown flashes that he is capable of being a 2. He just hasn’t been consistent, mostly due to injury. But, if he is able to step up and be a force, this offense has the ability to be very potent.

That is where Garrett comes in. It will be up him to create mismatches, and free up his playmakers to make plays. He won’t have the luxury of teams doubling Owens on nearly every play, so he is going to have to be creative – something, he definitely wasn’t last season.

Of course, Romo will have to prove that he is the franchise quarterback Jones believes he is as well.

But, that is a topic for another discussion.

As for Garret though, I’m not sure he is up to the tasks, but he had better be. It is not a good sign when opposing defenders comment that your offense is one of the simplest to figure out. And, if the offense is still stagnant much like it was towards the end of last season, he no longer has the Original 81 to point the finger at.

The bright lights will shine squarely on him. And, if he fails, he will no longer be the coach in waiting.

He’ll be amongst the unemployed. Or, at least should be.

The Wizard has spoken.

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Well I’m excited to start writing for the site however I am not excited about our recent offseason moves. Don’t take this as me slamming the Cowboys I’m just simply highly aggravated lately with our front office management.

So far my grade for this offseason’s moves is a D it certainly can be worse but not much.

We all know Jerry Jones is the GM for the Cowboys and I have to say I am completely disgusted already with the off-season moves.

First we trade Anthony Henry whom lead The Dallas Cowboys in interceptions in 2007 and we already cut Pacman Jones so now all we have is Terence Newman who can’t seem to stay healthy for an entire season to save his life and the Dallas cornerbacks  are weak to begin with!

So we get rid of Henry now it’s Newman, Jenkins, and Scandrick as the top three corners?

Give me a break; remember when Jenkins refused to even attempt to tackle Derrick Ward last season? (footage here) that’s a great guy to have in your top three corners.

I’ve heard rumors about Shaun Springs coming to Dallas and that would certainly help the cornerback situation. However, either way, by trading Henry we lose much needed depth at Corner and actually lose cap space because of Kitna’s contract, when we could have just signed a free agent backup such as Kyle Boller or Rex Grossman who is younger and likely better.

Dallas gave up another late round pick to the Lions did Dallas give them enough this year? We already gave them our 1st round picks and 3rd for Roy Williams and we don’t learn we get ripped off by them again. Kitna is 36 years old I really don’t see much of a difference between him and Brad Johnson.

The Lions were 0-16 last year and by those standars aren’t by any means a good football team yet we keep giving them picks and taking their players that leave much to be desired.

Lastly, hasn’t our entire defense had a problem with this guy? Terence Newman, Ware, and Bradie James. Definitely a good way to get a locker room closer together.

We get the chance to sign Ray Lewis a MLB something we actually need, someone who would take command in the locker room and instead we get Keith Brooking.  The Cowboys had their most disappointing season possibly of all time last year and what do they do to start the off-season? Trade a needed Corner, get a washed up outside linebacker we don’t need and waste a bunch of cap space.

Dallas also has not resigned Chris Canty who was a vital part of the 3-4 defense last year, now he is on the New York Giants.

Now im not completely ignorant not everything you want can happen. Maybe signing Ray Lewis was a strech but wait Demarcus Ware had this to say

“You know, actually, when we played Ray Lewis and Baltimore at the end of the season, he came over and pointed to my helmet. He said, ‘I want to wear this star on my helmet, that’s my dream…that’s my dream.’ When we got to the Pro Bowl, he did it again. He came at me every day. It’s a great opportunity for him. His door is open. He’s an unrestricted free agent. He’s trying to get down where the star is. He told me he needed me to get him Jerry Jones’ phone number for him. I just busted out laughing.” (Link here)

Wait a second…You’re telling me Demarcus Ware and Ray Lewis our both good friends off the field. Yes they are, so with me typing this seething I think to myself we could have had Ray Lewis and Demarcus Ware the two captains of the defense and take over the entire locker room.

There would be no split locker room or animosity with Lewis coming into the Cowboys defense and Ware saying “this is my defense” The two are already friends!

 We aren’t getting a 1st round pick this year so virtually we head into next season with the same exact team as last year. If not a little worse. If that doesn’t scare us Cowboys fan’s i’m not sure what will.

 I hope I’m wrong about all this, because all I want is the Cowboys to actually succeed and not be a joke to the media and fans. 

But I’m starting to think the longer Jerry Jones is GM the worse this team is going to be. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great owner and business man and has made the Cowboys into an economic powerhouse in the NFL. But looks how many coaches we’ve been through in the last 13 years of not winning a playoff game. How many times do you think he would have fired the GM if it wasn’t him?

Dallas fan’s deserve better, and so does this team.

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Those pushing for a regime change at Valley Ranch might want to keep their television sets handy Friday at 6:30, as the Owner of www.FireTheCowboysGM.com is scheduled to do an interview on Sports Talk with David Marcus this evening.

Sports talk airs on KFWD-TV 52. Click here to find your local cable channel.

In addition, the guys at www.CowboysFanRebellion.com tell me that a request to Dale Hansen of WFAA 8, the local DFW ABC station, to publicly support the movement has been denied. Here’s what Dale had to say:

“Oh I’m with you ….. but since I know it’s such a futile effort I’m staying away from it … he won’t ever change …..

But I’ll ask him about it when I can and see what he says

Good luck with it

dale”

It’s a rather confusing response considering that Dale has been outwardly critical of Jerry Jones in a special series he’s doing all this week. Seems like he’d be the perfect candidate to get behind this since he says he’s “with” us.

Don’t be like Dale Hansen, if you agree that Jerry Jones should hire a real GM, then head on over and sign the petition, and donate to the billboard.

“All it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing” – Edmund BURKE

Jerry Jones may not be evil, but just think about it …

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With the latest and shameful coming out of Valley Ranch this week, it makes sense finally to put some of these pieces into place for next season. One of my favorite speculations at this point is coming from www.CowboysFanRebellion.com. MSchmidt64 is the author, and you can also find him over at www.DallasCowboysCentral.com. Here’s a piece of his article followed by a link to check out the whole thing.

COWBOYS TO HAVE NEW HEAD COACH IN ‘09

Many of the more level-headed among us had a feeling that this team wouldn’t open up Yet-To-Be-Decided-Corporate-Sponsor Stadium with Wade Phillips at the helm. Or at least, that’s what we hoped.

Come on. Wade Phillips? A head coach who has never won a playoff game in his long, long, NFL career? A man who has just presided over quite possibly one of the most embarrassing seasons ever for your Dallas Cowboys? A character who, in terms of the always important marketability angle, is more likely to cause fans to part with their hard earned dollars for a multitude of various prescription and non-prescription drugs as opposed to personal seat licenses?  

So it was no real surprise when I logged onto the interweb recently and found out, officially, that he’s no longer running the show. Sure, there had been evidence before. Hints dropped here and there. But now we know for sure. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Head Coach for the 2009 Dallas Cowboys will be…. Jerry Jones.

Head Coach Jerry Jones. To be honest, I wanted to come up with a catchier moniker for the old-new big man, one that would appropriately characterize his role as Owner/General Manager/Head Coach/Team Physician/Quality Control/Character Consultant for the organization. But with “slash” already taken by Kordell Stewart, and “solidus,” while appropriately sinister, sounding more like one of the Transformers, I’m just not creative enough to do better (aside: work in Jerry Jones reconstructive face surgery angle here? Take this down). Maybe Jerry/Jones? Ehh.

So Head Coach Jones it is. And why not?

• He already decides what schemes we’ll run (Was Phillips the best coach available? Or the best 3-4 coach available?).
• He already decides if players are being utilized correctly.
• He’s already refused to bring in much needed help for former head coach Wade Phillips, and, in refusing to hire him a Defensive Coordinator, essentially relegated him to that role.
• He already sets the fines for players who break team rules.
• He’s already the guy that players go to when they have complaints about other coaches or players.
• He’s already the guy that gives pre- and post-game pep talks in the locker room and on the sidelines.
• He’s already the guy that looks at the X-Rays on injured players.
• He already sits next to Wade during Press Conferences and probably has provided him with note cards with what he’s supposed to talk about on them.

You can see the full article and comment on it by going to www.CowboysFanRebellion.com. While you’re there take a minute and sign the petition to have Jerry Jones hire a real GM. We’re really starting to gain some support, so you won’t be alone. Sign The Petition.

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It’s amazing to me how things can get so out of shape after a disappointing season in Dallas. Never mind that the team did win 9 games on one of the tougher schedules in the league, or that they lost a game to each of the eventual Super Bowl contenders by 6 points, one in overtime. It all comes crashing down.

It’s been a slow end of the week and weekend so far news-wise, so it’s easy to recap what has happened this weekend. There’s been two major stories to come out of Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine, first is Wade’s now infamous “I can’t … against the rules” comment when asked for an update at the combine on Friday, and second is Michael Crabtree and his broken foot.

It’s nothing new for the Cowboys to be thrust into the media spotlight at any event in football, even during the Super Bowl and Pro Bowl the Cowboys were discussed in-game by the analysts calling each game. But the team usually never sinks to such a low as this, one man stepping up and claiming ultimate rule and power over a team, is that even possible?

Jerry Jones has tried to do it in the past, but he’s never been quite so successful at it until now. “I’m the guy that’s got the full picture,” Jones says, and he adds, “I just want to make sure you’re not getting bits and pieces of information. That’s not doing anybody any good and you’re not making accurate reports.” So please, let us see what is accurate.

Since Jerry Jones, who is now beyond any doubt Head Coach Jerry Jones, is the guy then we can safely say that the spread of misinformation amongst the media is his fault. Sure, he’s made it clear today that he wasn’t the one giving the false information to the press, but then he’s also taking control with his gag order, essentially placing his team on lock down. That’s to say that he has the power to do so, to control the situation, why else would he be doing this?

So that must mean that he failed to enforce his rule in the past, that’s how the misinformation leaked to the press.

He says “All I’m trying to say is basically that’s where you need to go to see where the status of that decision is.” Since he is the only Dallas Cowboy allowed to speak to the media now, it means that he is where to go for the status of all decisions.

So how about it Jerry … What’s going on with Terrell Owens? What is the plan to fix the woes of the 2008 season? How will you declare a leader for this team on the field? Who will be coaching the players? What players are staying and going? Can the fans sit down in this new stadium? Is team chemistry important? Is 9-7 good enough?

For most of that, he simply isn’t saying at this point. But Head Coach Jerry has stated that 9-7 is good enough, which brings me to my next point. Sure, the Cardinals went 9-7 and made it to the Super Bowl, they played their best football at the right time of the year. Let us not forget, though, that had they been in any other division they probably wouldn’t have gotten the chance to play their best football in January. The combined record of their NFC West opponents was 13-35, so Arizona knew they were in the playoffs in mid December.

Even the AFC West, with the Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos, and Chargers; still had more combined wins than the NFC West. And it took a week 17 showdown between the Chargers and Broncos to hold all teams in that division at no better a record than .500.

Being that the Cowboys play in the NFC East division, I think it’s safe to say that while a 9-7 division title can happen, it won’t for the Cowboys.

But the real question, the one that will not be asked at this event, or any other, is how can one man run a football team in the NFL? Jerry Jones has tried to do it for 20 years now, and while it started with the likes of Troy Aikman and Jimmy Johnson, without them this team hasn’t even won a playoff game.

A lot of the time, Jimmy Johnson is given credit for running a Super Bowl franchise, but he was just the Head Coach. He was the coach at a time when Jerry Jones didn’t know enough about the sport to try doing so much as he does now, and he had something extra. He knew how to approach Jerry Jones; he knew how to handle his players.

In the years since our last playoff win he’s tried it Jimmy’s way and been tough. He’s tried it Chan’s way and been lenient, he’s even tried being tough the Parcels way, and none of it has really worked for him.

Maybe he’s figured doing it the way someone else would isn’t good enough anymore, so he’s doing it his way, I don’t know. But I can tell you that gagging your entire coaching staff during their time of the year isn’t going to work.

Letting your players be the primary source of misinformation to the media isn’t going to work. Coddling your players with new deals and huge contracts whenever they want isn’t going to work. And bringing in fading talent isn’t going to work either.

The simple truth is that Jerry is asserting his control over this franchise without controlling anything. His players talk to the media, but his coaches can’t. He imposes fines to the players that are cheaper than my gas bill. His overpaid Offensive Coordinator interviews for every job available, every year.

The only thing Jerry is controlling is who gets more time in front of the cameras, and while he’s made it clear that his coaches aren’t good enough for it, he’s also made it clear that his players are.

Personally, I’d rather my coaches talking and my players working, not the other way around.

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With all the talk about Terrell Owens and whether he’ll be in a Cowboys uniform next year, the subject of whether or not we can sustain a potent passing game without him has been raised. It’s something that nobody has the answers on, but it makes me wonder, why don’t we?

What is it about Roy Williams that says he can’t handle the load without T.O. across the field? Perhaps the best argument against him is that he played for the Lions until last year, and I know this because I’ve seen it written in so many places, and by so many people. The popular opinion is that he sucks because he was with the Lions.

People like to throw out there that he’s only had one season over 1,000 yards, but what I don’t understand is why the same amount of logic isn’t placed on both sides of the discussion.

He played for the Lions … when is the last time the Lions did anything notable in their passing game? Even I had Mike Furrey on my fantasy team a couple of years ago, but that was also the same year in which Williams got his 1,000 yards, so something was obviously working better that year.

So he comes to Dallas, narrowly escaping a full claim to the worst season in NFL history, and he catches 19 passes for a couple hundred yards. The truth is that Williams, while he caught fewer passes than he could have, was only about 3 yards per catch behind Owens. That means that had our offense not collapsed from mid-season on, he could have ended up with more yards than Owens. Sure, it’s not likely since Owens is the number one wide out, but it’s possible that he could have without him doing anything different.

That has to make you wonder something, how can we be facing such trouble without Owens when Williams was producing at a similar level per catch? Now watch that, I said per catch. A lot went into why Williams had fewer catches, some of it was his fault, some of it wasn’t, so we can’t really make claim to the cause in either direction.

What we do know is, even after Jerry Jones so cryptically told the attending reporters at his press conference yesterday that they weren’t going to get the answer they wanted, that even if he does cut Owens loose, he wasn’t the only guy producing.

T.O. was the only player at a skill position playing in every game of the season.

T.O. did have a blow out game against his former team, nearly breaking his own career record for yards in a game.

None of that says that this team won’t produce over the top should he be gone in 7 months. And to say that we need to pick up another receiver either through the draft or free agency is just idiotic. Why would the Cowboys risk bringing in another player as a project from the draft when we still have Stanback, Austin, and Hurd who have yet to progress past that same status?

Why would we bring in another free agent receiver when we’ve got Williams not playing up to his ability last season; Owens the center of a bigger fuss than Bill Clinton, and the other free agent wide outs we’ve brought in during this decade that have quite literally flopped?

A lot of what’s being said centers around the attention that Owens gets, some off the field, and some on the field. Can this team be any good without Owens occupying double coverage? Well, tell me this, how did Michael Irvin do it all those years? He was never the fastest receiver; he was just a go-up-and-grab-it type of guy. For all accounts, Williams is that type of guy also, he’s just never had a QB worth $60 million throwing it to him.

Give it an off-season, a full training camp and preseason, and you’ll see that Owens is going to get more competition from his right than from the defensive backs facing him.

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“You and I both know that the one you are asking about all the time, if I have an answer for . . . if I gave you the answer you want to hear, then you would already have had it, so the fact you don’t have it ought to tell you something. Or it should.“

I’m sure you’ve all seen it by now … it’s been on every Cowboys related headline since the words were first spoken. Jerry Jones found a way to once again let himself be open for interpretation.

A lot of you have expressed confusion over what he said, but let’s look at it and see just how clearly he answered the T.O. question.

“If I gave you the answer you want to hear …” We all know that most of the beat writers that were at that press conference have been spouting off about the T.O. situation. Most of them, most of the time, have expressed their desire to see Owens released. So my take on this answer is that Jones is saying if we were going to hear Owens will be released, we would have heard it by now.

Your guess is really as good as mine, but if I were a betting man, I’d bet strongly in favor of keeping Owens after hearing a statement like that. Only time will tell if Jones backs it up.

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