Jerry Jones – The Only People Suffering Are The Fans

Jerry Jones - Not Smiling

After the disappointing loss to the Redskins to end the season and all playoff hopes, Jerry Jones went on the equivalent of a managerial tirade, warning coaches of the discomfort to come. Subsequently, Running Backs coach Skip Peete, Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan and Passing game Coordinator – Tight Ends Coach, John Garrett have been fired. Everyone seems to be walking and talking softly at Valley Ranch, not sure where the ax will fall next.

Meanwhile, the fans of America’s Team are watching what has to considered a type of torture. I’m not necessarily referring to any physical torment, but extreme discomfort of a more psychological nature. If you’ve ever had to endure the acting of a B movie, you know what I mean. The words are recited, the emotion is forced, the plot is too obvious, full of repetitious and trite cliché’s. As I said, torture.

Well, that is what has been emanating from the general Manager’s office for quite awhile, a second rate production that’s full of glitz and glamour, but no substance. In fact, this production is growing so monotonous that fans are growing tired of hearing and seeing the same thing year after year.

Fans couldn’t care less about the financial empire Jerry has created. But they do care about a team being put on the field that is successful. They expect it, especially since the legacy of the Cowboys is about winning consistently.

And the sad fact is that, in spite of the financial success of Jerry Jones, he has been nothing but a loser as a General Manager since their last Super Bowl Win which most think was won with the bulk of Jimmy Johnson’s efforts. That’s almost two decades ago.

The only consistent part of Jones’ production since is the football mantras repeated, the forced emotion, the trite cliché’s, the promises of a different plot year after year after year after year after year………and, oh yes, don’t forget the losing and mediocrity………..Torture, that’s what it is. And after a while, the ones being tortured can decide to invest their attention to something else, for the discomfort is too much.

After all, Fans have their limit when it comes to suffering needlessly.

Stephen McGee’s Release From Dallas Cowboys Might Only Be Temporary

by Ryan Bush

One moment safe and secure on the 53-man roster, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Stephen McGee was waived in the next instant Saturday morning when the Cowboys signed Cincinnati tight end Colin Cochart to the active roster.  McGee’s status as the team’s third quarterback behind Kyle Orton and Tony Romo was something of an uncertainty through the final stages of the preseason as injuries started to pile up around him, increasing the likelihood of the Cowboys going long at other positions, thereby forcing McGee out.

That was exactly the scenario that played out, though not in the predicted order.  For a few short hours, McGee thought he was part of the team for the fourth consecutive year, only to find himself cut adrift as the round game of waiver claims reached Valley Ranch.

With Jason Witten’s status for Wednesday night’s game against the New York Giants still a toss-up, the Cowboys elected to sign Cochran as an insurance policy at the tight end position in case Witten’s lacerated spleen does in fact prevent him from playing.

Signing Cochran doesn’t necessarily mean the Cowboys are committed to him long-term, nor does it mean they’ve given up on McGee, a fourth-round draft selection in the 2009 draft.  Head coach Jason Garrett is pleased with the level of talent behind Witten on the depth chart in John Phillips and James Hanna, but needed another tight end to ensure that he has three available to open the season.  

Should doctors announce Witten to be out of the danger zone where his health is concerned, whenever that should happen to be, the team might choose to release Cochran and attempt to re-sign McGee.  If recent history suggests anything, it’s that a third quarterback is a must-have for the Cowboys, who have watched McGee take to the field during the regular season in each of the past two seasons.  Garrett isn’t one to tempt the football gods for too long in this area, having earned a spot start on Thanksgiving Day as the No. 3 signal-caller himself on Thanksgiving Day in 1994 as a member of the Cowboys.  McGee’s name would have to be the first on the list should the Cowboys go shopping for one.

All of that depends, of course, on whether McGee is picked up by another team in the meantime.

An Offseason Of What-ifs For Dallas Cowboys Can Finally Be Silenced Against Giants

 A perpetual game of what-ifs has been played around the Dallas Cowboys’ team complex since last January’s season-ending loss to the Giants in Week 17.  It’s to be expected when you lose a firm grasp on the division in one meeting, and then watch someone else steal it right out from under your nose during the next.  What if Tony Romo’s hand hadn’t been swollen like a purple pumpkin from contact with a helmet a week earlier?  What if Demarco Murray had been in the backfield instead of on the sideline with a broken ankle?  What if Dan Bailey’s kick that would have forced overtime three weeks previously at Cowboys Stadium had gone through the uprights, rather than off the hand of Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul?  What if the Cowboys had won the NFC East instead of the Big Blue G-Men?  The suppositions go on and on…

The Cowboys entered that month of all months, December, with a 7-4 record, but collapsed down the stretch, finishing with an 8-8 mark.  There was no season-ending celebration, no playoffs.  Instead, the Cowboys got to recline in a tub of ice while the Giants marched through the NFC Playoffs and all the way to a Super Bowl championship.

The Cowboys’ entire off-season program of free-agent signings, the draft, and mini-camps, has been geared to beat the Giants, winners of five of the last six meetings in the series.  Cornerbacks Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne join safety Barry Church for what is expected to be a much better secondary than the one Eli Manning torched at will twice in the season’s final months. 

These three pieces, among others, have the Cowboys feeling confident of their chances this time around.  You can hear it in their voices, see it in their walk.  The Cowboys know the challenge ahead, yet realize the opportunity.  The Giants are the champions, but are not invincible.  Last year’s down-to-the-wire contest in Arlington that ended on a blocked field-goal proves that.

And here we are, eight months later, on the other side of training camp, preseason and final cutdowns, with the Giants directly ahead.  It’s time to put an end to this game of what-ifs, and could’ve-would’ve-should’ves.  The Cowboys say they want the crown for themselves.  Well, now is the time to go and take the first major step in winning it.

Dallas Cowboys' Felix Jones’ Uninspiring Play Gives Additional Meaning To Remainder Of Preseason on the Long Road to the Super Bowl

 By Ryan Bush

As late August threatens to give way to September, head coaches and general managers have begun to anticipate the first of two roster cut downs in order to reach the NFL-mandated 53-man roster.  Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett has been pelted with questions from the media this preseason surrounding the team’s wide-open battle at three of the five receiver positions, leaving little room for other discussion.  Cole Beasley’s seven-catch performance in San Diego on Saturday night has only intensified the ongoing debate among coaches, players, and fans alike.

Meanwhile, a developing story at the running back position has to have Garrett and general manager Jerry Jones a bit concerned as well.  Three weeks of training camp and two exhibition contests into the season and what once was thought to be a roster position set in stone has turned into a host of veritable question marks that is nothing but disconcerting.

Entering his fifth season in the league, Felix Jones traveled to California for training camp with a firm grip on the No. 2 halfback position behind last year’s rookie phenom Demarco Murray.  But one uninspiring practice after another, coupled with two sub-par performances against Oakland and San Diego, has left Jones’ role with the team very much in doubt. The speed that convinced the Cowboys to draft him twenty-second overall in the 2008 draft out of Arkansas seems to have disappeared, and his impressive agility right along with it.  And all this developing around two running backs, Murray and Olawale, that have made the most out of every carry.  Without a doubt, this could spell trouble for the Cowboys and Jones.

In a league that has adopted a dual-running back fold as the norm, the Cowboys were counting on Jones to be Murray’s sidekick in the backfield, spelling him intermittently throughout the course of each game.  Jones’ game-breaking abilities in the passing department made him a valuable asset as a third-down back in Jason Garrett’s offense as well.

The tone from the front-office suggests the Cowboys are prepared to be patient with Jones, who is coming off off-season shoulder surgery, and aren’t watching the waiver wire for any possible replacement.  

But how long their patience will last is the question?

Because,  it’s no secret that Garrett needs production from his No. 2 back and might be hesitant to expect Olawale to fill that role as a raw rookie in the case that Jones continues to flounder, making the final two exhibition games versus St. Louis and Miami, oh, so very important.