An injury update for Cowboys Fans starts today’s Daily Dose!  Marion Barber and OLB DeMarcus Ware have been listed on Thursday’s injury report.   Ware sat with back pains, however, it is hard to believe he’ll even consider missing this game.  Ware has been playing with a wrist and neck injury through the past few weeks.

RB Marion Barber, was listed as not practicing with a knee injury.  The injury is not expected to be serious, and Barber is expected to go Saturday night against Philly.  If Barber is limited, it is good news that the Cowboys were able to get Tashard Choice back in the lineup.

Lastly, You can expect Marc Colombo to go Saturday, which will be a huge boost.  Doug Free has been playing some good football and will rotate snaps with Colombo.  Free hasn’t done enough to take Colombo’s spot, but has done enough to comfort some Cowboys fans who might be afraid what life will be like after Flo.

Giants look to hire

It has been reported through the Newark-Star Ledger that the Giants have contacted Defensive Coordinator/Head Coach Romeo Crennel.  If you remember Crennel paired with Charlie Weis to help the Patriots become a dominant dynasty earlier in the decade.  Crennel would be a smart choice for the Giants, despite his 3-4 scheme, he is a brilliant defensive mind who could easily translate some of the issues on the defense into strengths.

What can Brown do for you?

Eric Mangini has been granted a reprieve.  He will indeed be the coach of the Cleveland Browns next season.  That being said, he better figure out something with star player Joshua Cribbs.  Mangini really started to get things going at the end of the season, thanks in large part to Jerome Harrison and Cribbs.  Cribbs was quoted on Sirius NFL Radio as saying “We all just started to by into (Coach Mangini’s) system.” If the end of the season is any indication about how the Browns can play now that players and coaches are on the same page, bit things could happen.  Especially with a mastermind like Holmgren at the helm.

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So what about Marc Colombo? Coach Wade Phillips says he’ll not be ready for the season finale. Actually, listening to Wade talk about it makes me wonder if Colombo will be ready to go for the wildcard round. People actually seem to be worried about Doug Free getting another start while Colombo heals. I’m not, and I’ll tell you why.

I compared our last four games, all of which Free has started in place of Colombo, to four games earlier in the season when Colombo was starting and playing fully.

The first thing I noticed is that while Free shouldn’t be a part of matching numbers that Colombo was a part of, the comparison showed that in each set of four games we converted a total of 25/53 on third downs. But a little more telling about it that we had a lot more third downs with Colombo in the game.

Next I wanted to see how Romo faired in the pocket and if there was a notable difference between Free and Colombo playing, and there was a small difference. With Colombo, Romo was sacked nine times for a loss of 47 yards. With Free, Romo was sacked just seven times for a loss of 42 yards. Now we could argue that 2 sacks over four games doesn’t make that much of a difference, but I’m pretty sure that Romo and every other QB in the game would tell you that every sack matters. Read the rest of this entry »

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You gotta love Football Season!

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News came out today that the Dallas Cowboys 3rd round pick Robert Brewster will miss all of training camp and likely more. At this point the Cowboys are simply hoping that he’ll be able to play this year, though they are still evaluating whether he’ll be placed on Injured Reserve or the PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) list.

He suffered a tear to his pectoral muscle during post-minicamp workouts – he was lifting weights when it happened. Currently walking around with his arm in a sling, the news of his injury is troublesome for the Cowboys.

Many of you might think he’s only a rookie, and that he wouldn’t have contributed that much anyway, but you need to consider that he added valuable depth at right tackle behind Marc Colombo.

If he is placed on Injured reserve, he would be ineligible to play again until the 2010 season. If he should be placed on the PUP list instead, he would not count against the 53-man roster and would have about 10 weeks to try to recover before the Cowboys would have to either play him or place him on IR.

Here’s hoping from one fan to another that this isn’t the beginning of another very long and injury plagued season for the Cowboys.

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This is really quite funny because you don’t often hear of the music gap being jumped in the NFL. That’s something most often reserved for the NBA with guys like Shaq and Charles Barkley, bet you forgot about his little stint in music, huh?

Well Free Reign is a band formed by Dallas native guitarist Justin Chapman, Leonard Davis, Cory Proctor, and Marc Colombo – it’s a heavy metal band and if you’re into that kind of music it’s pretty good too. It’s easy to say that they’ve successfully made the jump from football to music and could actually have a new career after football with it. Will they sell out stadiums like Metallica has for years? I doubt it, but it’s pretty good.

For those of you who haven’t heard them yet, you can go to the Free Reign MySpace page and check them out. They have two songs on there right now, and hopefully they’ll have more soon. Here is the press release from Australian record label Riot Entertainment:

Free Reign has been branded ‘Heavier than Metal’ for their intense musical style as well as their intimidating stage presence. They bring something unique to this powerful genre.

“This is an amazing opportunity for Riot and to further establish our name internationally,” said Riot Owner / CEO John Howarth. “Free Reign is a band with massive potential. There has been an enormous buzz surrounding them since they appeared on the scene a few months ago. Free Reign has already been flooded with endorsements. Their marketing potential is limitless. These guys are already huge sports stars, but they have shown they have the talent to diversify. I am positive that Metal fans will embrace Free Reign and see them take it to the next level. These are exciting times for Riot and we are excited to see what the future holds. When the opportunity arose to work with Free Reign I jumped to it! This is something that has never been done before and this band is a long term project. It’s also been great working with John Gomez of TQ Management putting this deal to bed”.

They are also slated to headline at the Dallas House of Blues on June 27, so if you’re in the area go check out Free Reign. I can’t even imagine of offensive linemen up on stage getting rowdy playing heavy metal.

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