To the glee of all Cowboys fans, Wade Phillips swept Valley Ranch clean on Saturday as the Cowboys roster was trimmed from 75 to 53 players in preparation for the season opener at Cleveland. Everyone was in high spirits for, according to the Cowboys faithful, 2008 is their year.
And then along came Jones.
Nobody mentioned, though, that Owner and General Manager Jerry Jones was bringing along his vacuum to scour the waiver wire afterwards. The same moldy piece of plastic that has sucked up the likes of Antonio Anderson, Mike Ulufale and Cha-ron Dorsey in the draft is back in business after a five year layoff. Coaches and front office personnel talked him out of utilizing it for this past April's draft, but Jerry has insisted that his Player Evaluation Mechanism will do wonders when used on the corner of his most treasured avenues, Free Agency & Destruction.
And what has he found this time around?
Well, first of all, it appears that, after sitting in the attic while Bill Parcells was top dog in Dallas, his masterpiece needed a little tinkering. And, as they say in racing, it appears he went the wrong way with the adjustment. Instead of scraping at the top of the free agent barrel as was his norm in the mid to late '90's, the bottom of the barrel seems to look much more enticing to him at present day.
After diving in, the man that fired Tom Landry came up with....Brooks Bollinger?
I'm afraid this is not a hoax.
Reportedly, the team is looking to groom a young quarterback behind Tony Romo and are interested in Bollinger, who was cut by the Vikings on Saturday. The Cowboys went the whole way last season with only two quarterbacks on the roster, Romo and Brad Johnson, so the team will place him on their practice squad, right? Wrong again. After talking all of camp as to how the organization was content with just two men to take snaps, a 180 degree turnaround has come to pass.
Why three quarterbacks?
Romo looked sharper than ever in games against the Chargers and Texans, and after a poor showing in the preseason opener versus San Diego, Johnson was spectacular in relief versus Denver and Houston. Johnson, who looked indecisive at times last season, has shown that a second time around in Jason Garrett's offense is much less bumpy than the first, proving he's more than capable if needed to step in.
The question remains that if the QB's are performing better than ever, why all the sudden interest in 'grooming' someone? Especially Bollinger.
Bollinger was drafted by the New York Jets in 2003, and has played in 19 games in his career, starting 10, and passed for 2,155 yards, with 8 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Not bad numbers, but have you actually watched him perform? Less than inspirational, to be sure. Johnson is known as Mr Check-Down but Bollinger might be better known as Mr Pitch-Out for his erratic play.
He is 2-8 as a starter. His 75.2 career rating is very telling, because even though he hasn't thrown many interceptions, the big plays haven't been there either. Bollinger looks scared to even look for a medium range pass in the middle of the field, opting for passes out in the flat which don't always end up in the field of play and helps lead to many stalled offensive drives.
Granted, Jets fans will point to 2005 when he was awarded the team's offensive player of the month honors, yet still his inconsistency was ever apparent in that span.
I hope Jerry wasn't impressed with the 5 year veteran's showing on Thursday at Texas Stadium.As an ode to the building that was hosting it's final preseason game, Bollinger left a stench that smelled older than the storied structure itself, by completing 6 of 18 passes for 62 yards. That's not even 4 yards per attempt.
Bollinger couldn't beat out Chad Pennington in New York, and shame on him for providing no competition for the struggling Tavaris Jackson last season.
Is this really worth spending any amount of time trying to fix?
This would also mean that Jerry is passing up on free agents Chris Simms and Joey Harrington. I'm not proclaiming Simms and Harrington to have superhuman talent or anything, but wouldn't they be an upgrade compared to Bollinger? By far they would, and any football person would tell you the same.
I know backup QB signings usually get passed over, but this one I had to comment on. The ramifications to America's Team could be mountainous if Bollinger ever steps onto the field in a silver and blue uniform.
For you younger fans out there, Jerry's possible move might leave you a little incredulous, but this stuff has been happening since the day he handed Jimmy Johnson a check and told him to hit the road.
No, I'm not surprised.
But I never cease to be amazed.
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