Dallas Cowboys Jerry Jones - Did He Finally Get it Right?

With the addition of Passing Game Ccordinator Linehan, it's nice to know that Jerry finally got it right!

Congratulations should be extended for a job well done!

Dallas Cowboys Decade of Futility Book Signing

Many thanks to Brent Bankston's and his hard working staff at Bankston's Cards & Comics in Waco. Ryan Bush had another successful Book Signing for Decade of Futility today.

Jerry Jones & the Super Bowl - A Cowboys' Traditon of Futility

 by Ryan Bush

 

In Thursday's "State of The Cowboys" address, Jerry Jones showed several signs that three consecutive seasons without a playoff berth were taking its toll, admitting that the Cowboys "have got a lot of work to do."
 
Yet, being the cheerleader that he is, he couldn't help but talk about how much better the team is at this juncture than a year ago, and even managed to insert a comment - though tongue-in-cheek it may have seemed - about making a run at the Super Bowl.

This pre-training camp talk about a push to the Super Bowl is a Jones trademark. During the writing of Decade of Futility, I was shocked to learn just how much so. Since the "One Year Away" Cowboys shocked the world in 1992 by destroying Buffalo in Super Bowl XXVII by a 52-17 score, Jones has neglected to thrill listeners with Super aspirations a grand total of four times. That's four out of a possible twenty-one opportunities. Truly incredible.

Even more incredible are the circumstances surrounding those times when he deemed it better to be humble, rather than bold. The first occurrence was in the wake of Troy Aikman's retirement in 2001, when all the Cowboys were leaning upon was the unproven right arm of Georgia rookie Quincy Carter. Yes, Jones was magnanimous that day in his respect for the dark hour that his Cowboys found themselves in, foregoing any Super Bowl predictions, prophesying instead for a ho-hum mediocre campaign filled with only - yes, only - ten wins.

The only other times that Jones was silent on any personal visions of impending glory just happened to be during the first three years of Big Bill Parcells' four-year reign of pigskin terror, when Jones was effectively kept under wraps.

Jones talks so boldly because he wants the fans to know that he cares, and that he - in his position as the team's General Manager - has pieced together a roster that everyone will be proud of. He envisions himself as the sharpshooter in a darkened gym that calls his own shot on one three-pointer after another.

More importantly, is the fact that Jones believes these predictions are within the bounds of reason, even when others around him are pleading with him for patience, and temperance. 

The passing years have revealed that Jones is oblivious to any personal prohibitions related to drinking that most seductive of drinks, Cowboy Kool-Aid. The Cowboys have reaped the rewards this millennium of changing head coaches a mind-boggling four times. Five losing seasons, countless melodramas, one measly playoff victory, and a decade (2000-2009) that houses the lowest winning percentage in franchise history. 

And there, impervious to reality, criticism, and countless glaring statistics, stood the Cowboys owner yesterday, handing out a beverage that has enslaved the innocent and gullible for more than a decade. Yes, drinks are always on the house at Valley Ranch, no matter the hour, the venue, or circumstance.

Read more about Jerry Jones and the Worst Decade in Dallas Cowboys History in my new book Decade of Futility.

For a hard-copy of Decade of Futility, click here:
https://www.createspace.com/4161551


For the Kindle version of Decade of Futility, click here: http://www.amazon.com/Decade-of-Futility-ebook/dp/B00DXFGLSE/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373808496&sr=1-1&keywords=decade+of+futility

Dallas Cowboys' Decade of Futility - Jerry Jones and Bill Parcells were just one part!

Jerry & Bill - Not exactly a match made in Heaven!

Former Dallas Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells on working with Jerry Jones for four years:
“He’s a straightforward, honest guy,” Parcells said. “He really is. That’s all I look for. He was very supportive of me as a coach. Now were there things going on that occasionally I didn’t like? Yeah, there were, but that didn’t inhibit me from going to him, talking things out. He’s really great about that.”


So what drove these two apart? Find out in Chapters 15 and 16 of Decade of Futility.

For a hard-copy of Decade of Futility, click here:
https://www.createspace.com/4161551


For the Kindle version of Decade of Futility, click here: http://www.amazon.com/Decade-of-Futility-ebook/dp/B00DXFGLSE/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373808496&sr=1-1&keywords=decade+of+futility

Jerry Jones - Prophecy, Chaos & Discomfort

Jerry - pointing out flaws

While Jerry Jones holds the sports world in suspense, or rather discomfort, fans that reside closer to that elusive condition known as sanity should at least attempt to soothe their discomfort with repeated shots of logic. Forget the fact that the Cowboys General Manager, in spite of his age, is able to leave logic behind about as fast as Deion Sanders could view opposing return teams in his rear view mirror. Cowboys fans, however, owe it to themselves (and no one else, Jerry) to visit the past in order to bring about some semblance of order from this Valley Ranch imposed chaos. Please momentarily forget the fact that, in the real world, order does not proceed from chaos. Hopefully, my point will be made.

The first stop on this tour of chaos takes us back to just prior to the beginning of this past season. In spite of the hope of the new season about to begin, the upbeat attitude of Jason Garrett's players and the positive outlook of many football insiders, Jerry Jones takes it upon himself to inform the world that the Cowboys have a major flaw, the offensive line. Incredibly, he then takes it upon himself to shoulder the entire blame for this condition. As a GM, he pointed out his own failure in the area of acquiring adequate offensive linemen for the upcoming year. Nothing like a boost of confidence from your boss!

Inconsistent and Erratic Offensive Line

Think what you want about Jerry's managerial skills and his eye for talent, in this instance his cryptic statements turned out to be prophetically apocalyptic for the Cowboys. With the exception of Left Tackle Tyron Smith, erratic and inconsistent play across the offensive line was the norm for much of the season. In fact, only the more drastic injury trouble of the defensive unit kept the woes of the offensive line from constantly being the topic of choice for fans and media types.

Which Way Do We Go?

For those in the know about the psychological sensitivities of the Cowboys General Manager, the defensive tribulations were not what Jerry ordered. Precious attention was being diverted away from the area pin pointed by the man in charge of knowing what the Cowboys were all about. Believe it when  I say that Jerry really wanted, yes needed to get the focus back where it belonged, on him and what he had to say. He did all he could to relieve the defensive pressure. If you don't believe me, ask Jay Ratliff.

No Playoffs!

But, alas, this all culminated in an even worse scenario than Jerry envisioned, no playoff berth. As everyone knows, we still haven't escaped the reactionary wrath of the GM. He has simply gone dormant while everyone waits.

But, Jerry definitely left no one to guess who was in charge. He first dismisses the Running Backs Coach, Skip Peete. I believe it can honestly be said that this move was completely unforeseen. It also makes no sense at all.

Not a Happy GM

For a GM to publicly identify a problem area while taking professional responsibility for its existence is considered by most to be the ultimate in maturity and due diligence. However, blaming the running game by firing the RB coach speaks of a loss of professional equilibrium. Any running back or running backs coach will tell you that a good running game begins with the offensive line. The running back has nothing to do with injuries or the erratic and poor play of his blockers. So why fire the running backs coach if the offensive line was pegged as a liability before the season began?

Your guess is as good as mine, or maybe even Jerry's!

There are more points to come from this chaos. Until them, chaotic discomfort reigns. I just wonder if Jerry realizes that it's his world that is uncomfortable. I refuse to enter such chaos by clinging to logic.

A Decade of Infamy – The Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones & Destruction

Jerry Jones does not like losing!

 The current malaise of the Dallas Cowboys is constantly being chronicled by journalistic types across a broad spectrum of media. Whether a blog post or a tweet or, imagine this, a legitimate product consisting of professional content and integrity, the daily machinations of General Manager Jerry Jones is under the watchful magnifying eye of lovers and haters alike.

Jerry Jones has his own decade of infamy.

And like the infamous bombing of Peal Harbor more than 60 years ago, the Cowboys have finished their own decade of infamy, though not from the expected sources of exterior enmity. No, this extended residence in the cellar of the NFC East was the result of a direct barrage of an Owner who exuberantly exercised his official duties as General Manager as if he were the incarnation of every Cowboys enemy in history. Misguided drafts, star crazed, misfit free agents and Coaching intervention of various types have all combined to leave the Cowboys of the 21^st Century professionally shell-shocked and with their worst decade in history.

How did this happen? Well, the details are in the forthcoming book by Ryan Bush entitled, Decade of Futility – How the Leadershipof Jerry Jones turned Americas Team into a 21st Century Debacle andresulted in the Worst Decade in Dallas Cowboys History. It is due for publication this Spring and will be available in the United States and Europe through Amazon.

For more information, please visit Decade of Futility – byRyan Bush. You are encouraged to leave your e-mail address to receive immediate notification of publication.You are also invited to take part in the conversation at the Decade of Futility Blog.

Dallas Cowboys Open Home Schedule With Sloppy 16-10 Win Over Tampa Bay

by Ryan Bush

Hey, it’s only fair to give credit where credit is due.  And, for once, the Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager nailed it perfectly.  Arlington was, in fact, the sight of spectacular and improbable happenings on this second afternoon in autumn.  An attraction was in plain sight for all to see at Cowboys Stadium.  Yes, everything was bigger – and dumber – in Texas.

Jay Novacek was there.  Randy White.  So were 80,000 other fans.  If only the Cowboys didn’t have to show up the afternoon would have gone by without a single hitch.

The starred ones were out and about Sunday, ready to prove to the football world that last week was an absolute aberration.  Don’t trust them to inform you of what, because there were too many similarities that surely had many in attendance making early dinner reservations.

Jason Witten was dropping passes.  Tony Romo spent four quarters in life-preservation mode.  And Dallas receivers were running enough dysfunctional pass patterns to make Romo wish for the return of Roy Williams.

Just maybe the Cowboys didn’t realize that there was an actual game to be played.  It is, after all, quite possible in these parts.

Elaboration pertaining to in-game matchups was minimal this week.  Everybody was too busy talking about kneel-downs to concern themselves with worrying about Ronde Barber, Vincent Jackson, or anyone else on the Tampa Bay roster.

Oh, and the owner was busy trying to conceive of a magical way to attract fans to Arlington’s glass-plated mosque for a Dallas-Tampa Bay home opener that held little local appeal.  Who really cares about banners from two decades before anyway?  The magic from those years departed from Valley Ranch in a windstorm the minute Jerry up and kicked Jimmy out of his trophy-lined office.

The last time Tampa Bay was in town for a home-opener was in 2001 at the dawning of the infamous Quincy Carter era.  I guess Jerry’s busy trying to usher in a new era of his own.  Oh, well.  Just the latest operation of futility around here.  What’s one more?

And speaking of futility, how about pegging these 2012 Cowboys.  Love’em one week, spit on ‘em the next.  What should the proper attitude be this week by Dallas’ world-famous reception committee?  It surely won’t be as forgiving as today’s.

Let’s give a shout out to the home faithful who stuck it out through three hours of perplexing miscues.  It would have been understandable had they walked out.  Especially after such a familiar start.

For the second consecutive week, Dallas received the game’s opening kickoff only to turn the ball over.  In Seattle it was Felix Jones offering up a fumble as an offering – no surprise registered here – and this time it was Tony Romo celebrating an early Christmas with an early interception to former Kansas cornerback Aqib Talib.  Tampa Bay used that early gift to move 29 yards and go ahead 7-0 on a Josh Freeman touchdown pass.

But if there were any concerns of a impending re-run from last week when Seattle used an early score as impetus to run away with the game, those were as wasted as all those high-flyin’ pre-game predictions.

Romo didn’t throw for 500 yards like Eli Manning did against these same Bucs a week ago.  His 283 doesn’t even come close.  But he was able to move the offense, blessed with a short field after a Sean Lee interception, in position for a Demarco Murray touchdown run to tie the score.  Murray finished the day with just 38 yards on 18 carries.

Romo, meanwhile, was dealing with his own set of problems.  When it wasn’t his receivers running ill-advised patterns, it was his offensive line breaking down in their protections, leaving Romo primed and ready for a Texas-sized beating.  Romo was hit from every angle throughout the course of the game, resulting in two second-half fumbles that did nothing but keep the score close.

The Dallas defense completely shut down Tampa’s passing game, holding Freeman to just 110 yards through the air on ten completions, about half of those yards coming in the final two minutes.

As much as team officials try to shrug off Dallas’ 13-11 record inside the palatial Cowboys Stadium, it’s evident that the Cowboys possess anything but a home-field advantage.  Some might say they don’t have any advantage, but that’s beside the point.  Today was a day of homecoming, a day to salute the raising of five banners commemorating championships from so long ago.  While we’re at it, let’s honor Jason Garrett’s team for walking with Lady Luck in a game that each team seemed content to give away.

It wasn’t pretty, but they got the job done at the end of the day.  There was a blocked punt that wasn’t, and a fumble return for touchdown called back, even when replays showed that it shouldn’t have been.

It was a game the Cowboys could not afford to lose.  But enthusiasm should be tempered by realizing that it was a victory with as much meaning going forward as Jerry’s overdone banner raising.

This mess is going on two weeks running, and needs to be cleaned up in a hurry.  Otherwise, it could be another seventeen years before the next banner is hoisted.

Self-Destructive Mistakes Cost Dallas Cowboys Big In 27-7 Loss

  by Ryan Bush

The self-destructive impulses of the Dallas Cowboys were out in full force Sunday afternoon at Seattle’s sunny sea of green and blue.  As has been the case of late, Felix Jones was the leader of a pack of clowns that contained more than just the usual suspects.

It was Jones’ fumble of the opening kickoff that set the tone for Jason Garrett’s squad, from which started a 27-7 west coast avalanche that promised no cover for any Cowboys player or coach this week.

There are no scapegoats from this debacle. From Jerry the Wipemaster himself, to Garrett the head coach, all the way down to the team laundry boy.  They’re all guilty…excepting quarterback Tony Romo.

The Cowboys had an unusual eleven-day gap between their season-opening victory at the Meadowlands and Sunday’s game against the Seahawks.  And all they could show for the extra time was a rotten egg that smelled far worse than Seattle’s latest chicken-fried version of a home jersey.

There were an inordinate amount of dropped passes, too many special teams gaffes, and an over-abundance of alligator-arm tackles of Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch in the second-half.  All in all, it was just the kind of performance that the officials union so desperately needed.  Not even the questionable calls of the replacement referees could affect the outcome of this one.

From the very outset, the Cowboys were bound and determined to go down the toilet, and just as anxious to prove they needed no help from the second-team zebras sharing the field.  In that vein, an otherwise forgettable afternoon in balmy Seattle can be considered a success.  Better hang that on the wall, because that’s the only trophy of achievement Dallas walked away with from this showing.

Any advantage Seattle held in the defense and special teams departments were supposed to be nullified by Dallas’ edge at the quarterback position.  Even on the road in a loud stadium, the Cowboys were the logical favorites to take this one. 

Nothing nullifies a home-field advantage quite like a rookie quarterback.  They miss blitz assignments, throw into coverage, or anything that gives the defense an opportunity to turn the tide of the game.

As it turns out, both quarterbacks had little to do with the outcome.  The rookie Russell Wilson admittedly played composed for only his second NFL start, completing 15 of 20 passes for 151 yards.  It also should be noted that Rob Ryan’s defense applied minimal pressure on him.

Rookie QB Russell Wilson was Steady

On the other sideline, Romo did have one blemish on his stat-sheet, a first-quarter interception deep in Seattle territory.  But a failing support system around him rendered his mistake inconsequential.  Romo was good when his teammates allowed him to be, which, unfortunately, wasn’t very often.

Kevin Ogletree makes the tackle after a Romo Interception

 Felix Jones’ fumble on the opening kickoff set up a quick Seattle field goal of 21 yards.  That was followed by a Chris Jones blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown, giving the home team a 10-0 advantage with less than five minutes gone.

Felix Jones Fumble

 When Romo connected with Miles Austin for a 26-yard scoring play in the second quarter to draw within three, it appeared the Cowboys were about to seize control of the game.  But a gutless defense and a myriad of drops from an unlikely source helped stall the comeback.

Miles Austin TD

 Perennial Pro Bowl tight end Jason Witten is still not one-hundred percent recovered from a preseason spleen injury, as his career-worst four drops attest to.  Two of his drops were especially costly.  One came on third-down that set up a punting situation and another occurred after he got behind the defense in the first-half and had a good chance of scoring.

Jason Witten - 4 dropped passes

 Equally as mind-boggling was the performance of a new-look no-gut defense.  A week after manning-up against a notoriously tough Giants team, the Dallas defense laid down like a beaten dog in the second-half, allowing Wilson to control the game with handoffs and short, underneath passes.  Two consecutive second-half drives by the Seattle offense spanned 20 plays, totaling 178 yards, and turned a 13-7 score into a 27-7 rout.

Any hopes of a miracle comeback were then thwarted by personal foul and substitution penalties on the same drive, which allowed the Seahawks to virtually run the clock out.

It will be a long week at Valley Ranch, as players long to get the taste of this tail-whipping out of their swollen and bloodied mouths.

Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Affecting Team Chemistry With Tony Romo Contract Talks

Jerry Jones is at it again!

by Ryan Bush

Just when the Valley Ranch soldiers were beginning to look like a disciplined unit…Poof!

It’s always something around here.  Or, in this case, a certain someone.

Why is it that some people simply can’t leave well enough alone?

Here’s the skinny: All was well at the little Ranch on the prairie…Valley Ranch, that is. And then the General Manager showed up with his checkbook.

Yes, that General Manager.

The Owner himself.

Some other time, Jerry.  Please.  Don’t mess with the team chemistry this time around.

Gotta hand it to Jason Garrett.  His 2012 Dallas Cowboys have looked focused and been all business from the time they convened for training camp out in the California wine country.  And after a yeoman-like win over New York, the ‘Boys went back home to prepare for another road battle, this time against Seattle.  No pomp.  No circumstance.  Just business.  That’s the way it should be.

 

Give credit to Garrett for this positive development.  In a league where a team often takes on the personality of their head coach, it should be a comfort for fans to have someone like Garrett leading America’s Team at this point in time.  Garrett has been on Super Bowl teams before, and knows how to handle success.  More importantly for a first-time head coach employed with the task of cleaning up from Wade Phillips’ headfirst dive into the NFL furnace, he was there firsthand when the Dallas dynasty of the ‘90s fell apart from the top down.  He knows the trademarks of a puppet, Barry Switzer, when faced with one, and was determined not be the next in a long line of Jerry’s Puppets that earned an inauspicious exit down the Valley Ranch garbage shoot.

The media tires of his straightforward press conferences laced with what are perceived to be worn-out cliché’s.  But at least his steady demeanor is rubbing off on the right people. By each and every early indication, this year’s Cowboys appeared to be taking on some of that personality.  That’s big news after so many seasons of emotionally-charged collapses.

 

And then the rumor began swirling this week that Jerry Jones was negotiating with Tony Romo’s agent about a contract extension. Why now, Jerry?  Why not wait till later, huh?  After all, it isn’t like Romo’s contract expires at the end of this season.  This isn’t the fabled “contract year” Romo’s laboring under.

 

Ah, it’s been a good seven, eight, nine days (however long it has been since Dallas last played a football game) for the Cowboys genial owner.  His $2.1 billion empire goes into New York with an underpaid, underweight offensive line and takes down the mighty Giants by the strong arm of Romo.  Brilliant!

Then, a few days later, the invention of JerryWipes hits the market, Jones’ new pet eyeglass cleaner that can also be used to wipe clean so many other things not worth mentioning.  Believe me, the appearance of Jones’ personal portfolio has been greatly improved with this stroke of genius.  Brilliant again!

But what’s a perfect week without a little splurge?  What better way to let the world know that the Cowboys are “back” than by throwing a few wads of cash around the parking lot?  Especially at your big-name, big-smile quarterback.

So goes the thought process of Jerry Jones.  As much as he likes to say it, winning isn’t happiness to him.  If it was, the almighty dollar wouldn’t get mixed up in the equation so often.

And he would have known better than to broach the wormy subject of contract extension with the captain and savior of his franchise.  Nothing is more of a distraction for a player or a team than to have a contract hanging over the franchise quarterback.

Garrett has worked eighteen long months to rid the locker room of any, and all, distractions.  Bespeaking of his character, Garrett loathes distractions.  That’s why Marion Barber and Leonard Davis are gone, and why he’s given the Mike Jenkins and Felix Jones situations such kid glove treatment.  That’s why he is a one-day-at-a-time-while-going-forward type of guy.

 

The Cowboys were only beginning to reap the rewards of Garrett’s philosophy when Jones walked around the corner wearing newly-shined eyeglasses and waving cash under Romo’s nose. It’s the last thing the doctor would have ordered for the second week of this season.  This isn’t time for handouts.  It’s time to prepare to go on the road to one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL.  It’s time to try to win back-to-back road games for the first time in nearly three years.  It’s time to try and get a leg-up within the NFC East, not to mention the entire conference.

Yes, Jerry, Romo is a special player, but his bank account isn’t really suffering at the current date. Remember, it wasn’t even five years ago you gave him that $67 million deal.  The only thing Romo needs concern himself with for the next five months is reading blitzes, throwing touchdown passes, and the welfare of wife Candice and baby boy at home.  That’s it.

 

Romo is confident with this offensive cast, he’s happy at home.  No need to mess that all up with worries of financial security when his playing days are done.  Because, let’s face it, in all probability this will be Romo’s final contract as an NFL player.

Garrett and the Cowboys don’t need Romo preoccupied with a full season in front of him, nor do they need him, even subconsciously, resting on his laurels with his future set in stone.  Should Romo relax, then it’s safe to say it’s only a matter of games before the evidence starts to reveal that the rest of the locker room has followed his example.  This is too important a season for everyone involved for that to happen. 

So, Jerry, shall we wait on the compensation act?  The probabilities of it turning out for the good are next to none, if even that good.

Fining Dallas Cowboys Left Tackle Tyron Smith For Horse-Collar Might Be Overdoing It For NFL

Tyron Smith's Horsecollar Tackle

Leave it to the NFL front-office to throw a bucket of cold water on a hero.  And just why did they have to pick on this guy?  Surely, out of fifteen other games over the weekend there was some other available offender to soak.

Perhaps you heard the news that came over the wire earlier this week.  Tyron Smith, the Dallas Cowboys’ No. 1 pick from last year’s draft and latest experiment at left tackle, was docked $15,000 by the league for his horse collar tackle of Giants linebacker Michael Boley.

Now, let’s give the NFL at least a smidgen of credit here.  When they set out to make a point about rules and regulations, they do just that.  Ask the New Orleans Saints. But isn’t it going way past the point of fairness to apply the sponge to a player’s pocketbook who was just doing his job?

It must be admitted that Smith was doing anything but blocking on this play, to acknowledge the technical fine print in Smith’s contract, so he was obviously out of his comfort zone.  Smith was, instead, running downfield with all the speed that one could expect out of a 300+ lb NFL lineman, trying to cut off the streaking Boley before the Giants linebacker reached the end zone.

Tyron Smith in hot pursuit!

Unlike the rest of his teammates, Smith caught up to the ballcarrier inside the five-yard line and took Boley out of bounds with a semi-flying, half-lunging tackle that drew a flag because he took the defender to the ground by the back of his shoulder pads.  For a  psychologically fragile team like the Cowboys have proven to be at MetLife Stadium in recent visits, Smith’s flag-inducing takedown could be considered a game-saver.

Were Boley to have scored then, all chaos ensues.  Romo goes pick-happy again, the defense caves-in and the Cowboys lose by two-dozen or more.  But he didn’t, and the Dallas defense walks off the field three plays later strutting and chest-bumping after an unlikely goal-line stand.  

It’s not often a team finds inspiration in giving up three points, but this was one of those times.

Which brings us back to Smith.  So he committed a horse-collar.  And what does that mean these days?  Every horse-collar is a personal-foul in the game, and a fifteen-yard walk-off, yes, but not every one is subject to a monetary fine by Park Avenue constituents. 

Advantage Belongs To Dallas Cowboys Against Inferior Seahawks Team

by Ryan Bush

Lingering Memories?

      1-0  and headed for trouble.  That’s the warning call for Jerry Jones’ bunch of party crashers as they board their flight for a second consecutive road contest to begin the 2012 season.

No, the “trap” cries coming from the gallery have nothing to do with players possibly feeling good about themselves after an impressive victory to open the season.  But there’s an uncommon amount of support to the theory that the Cowboys are the inferior team of the two.  Seahawks lassoing Cowboys?  Who woulda thunk it?!

It’s only Week 2 and we’re already trying to convince ourselves that Pete Carroll has turned the dirty birds of Seattle into the NFL version of USC. Sorry, but last week’s loss to the desert birds of Arizona extinguished any, and all, hopes of Carroll fielding an NFL giant in 2012.  He is a likable guy, but is still starting a rookie quarterback, and couldn’t even get past the Cardinals, of all teams, with an extra timeout in the second half last week.

Depicting Sunday’s clash in the Great Northwest as a “trap” game for the visiting Dallas Cowboys might be considered a mere turning of a benevolent face toward a home team that is desperately seeking for something good to happen to them early in the season.  Trying to convince yourself that Carroll is fielding a better team than Jason Garrett’s bespeaks of some incurable form of mental illness.  And, anyway, how can anyone call any road game in the NFL a “trap” these days?  Whatever happened to parity and equality of conditions?

Speaking of conditions, it should be much, much cooler at kickoff time on Sunday than back in Big D’.  All you Texas tailgaters can thank the NFL scheduling committee for preventing you from having to flip burgers off the hood of your truck in sweltering 90-degree heat.  Heat-stroke, metallic burgers, and Jerry World.  The consequences of mixing the Seattle Seahawks into all that would likely result in a monotonous three-and-a-half hours. Ah, the weather.  Just one of the many indicators that the Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks are not on equal footing at this juncture.

Running backs.  Demarco Murray versus Marshawn Lynch.  Though only in his second NFL season, the edge is obviously in Murray’s corner.

Receivers?  The Cowboys not only outclass Seattle in this department, they out-universe them.

Offensive line.  Little evidence to support the theory that the Cowboys actually possess one.  Advantage Seattle.

Front-seven.  Edge belongs to Dallas, but only because they have a guy named Demarcus Ware.

Secondary?  Still too early to call on this one.  Let’s call it a draw.

Worry Over Dallas Cowboys Running Back Depth Uncalled For

by Ryan Bush

Demarco Murray

Eleven days in between games is just too much time.  Not for the Dallas Cowboys, but for the whole circus around them.  Especially after a victory, when magicians start chanting and dreamers start dreaming, and a token sample of reality is tossed into the fray as a comical source of combustion.  And what a combustible moment it was this time around, when fans peered into the backfield behind local hero 1A, Demarco Murray, and saw….........

Yeah, that’s what they saw.  Ghosts of emptiness.  No sight sets more teeth on edge nor as many brains on a hysterical path of concern that spills its way onto Internet webpages.

It was a frightening moment for some careworn fans when they realized the ramifications for America’s Team should Demarco Murray happen to go down with an injury during the course of this season.  Uh, yes, it wouldn’t be good, that much is known, and has been known since Murray’s last ailment cropped up last December.

So will Murray last?

He’d better, so the operative reply has been going.  For Jason Garrett’s longevity.

Come to find out, it’s Garrett that everybody’s busy pointing fingers at right now.  A shared backfield is the chic thing in the NFL nowadays, and it’s Garrett’s fault for not providing the Cowboys with one.

 So everyone wants two running backs.  As if that’s the way it’s always been.

When Bill Parcells drafted Marion Barber III in the 2005 draft, only twelve months after selecting Notre Dame’s Julius Jones, it was considered a stroke of innovational genius.  A two-back system!  What a thought!

Nobody around the Ranch had even considered such a formula before, chiefly, because there was no reason to.  Besides the fact that Jerry Jones never took the responsibility of filling the position very seriously, the reason Emmitt Smith never enjoyed the benefits of a capable backup in his thirteen years on the beat, excepting, maybe, Chris Warren, was that he didn’t need one.  It wasn’t the star-like qualities of Sherman Williams that convinced the Cowboys to give the Alabama running back a shot in the second round of the 1995 draft.  It was his lack thereof.  Williams wasn’t good enough to be a starter.  That’s why Dallas drafted him, as sad as it sounds.

 

To Jones, Emmitt was too good to have somebody nipping at his heels begging for playing time.

Nobody seemed concerned about his health, or the consequences of a fly-by-night injury.

But, you say, Emmitt never got hurt!

That’s exactly the point, and one small coincidence that makes the Cowboys’ success in the ‘90’s so amazing, and this rant about Garrett’s supposed slipshod methods to piecing together a roster so ridiculous.

Murray has no one reliable behind him because the head coach hasn’t had enough time to find someone to put there.  

 

Has one victory blinded so many to the fact that, yes, Garrett, in year two, is still cleaning this roster out from the Wade Phillips era?

Left Tackle Position Has Dallas Cowboys Seeing A Lot Of Yellow

Left tackle Tyron Smith - Beaten

 by Ryan Bush

Twelve years of Flozell Adams.  Then two with Doug Free.  And now here we are one game, and three false starts, into the Tyron Smith era.

Is it too early to suggest a pre-snap jinx has been laid upon the Dallas Cowboys’ left tackle position?

And The Greatest Lesson Learned About the Dallas Cowboys After Their First Win Is…????

Miles Austin Tochdown Celebration

A Victorious Tony Rom

 by Ryan Bush

A flair for exaggeration and overreaction has contaminated Cowboy-lovers across this great land in the wake of what amounts to a generally unexpected season-opening victory against the reigning Super Bowl Champs, New York Giants.  It’s known as CowboyMania.  A more infectious disease has never been acknowledged in the psychiatric community.

 From a 24-17 game that can be boiled down to a handful of toss-up plays, the Cowboys walked away with a newfound respect from fans and dissidents alike.  Monday morning quarterbacks no longer see a Cowboys team that crumbles near closing time, but a group of something special that has yet to be determined, or maybe even realized.

What’s different about these Cowboys?  Truly, the question of the week, though the significance of it has been diminished somewhat after so many disturbingly empty answers have been put forth lately. Saying the Cowboys are a championship team after a victory that could have easily swung the other way is a learned exercise in futility around Cowboy Nation.  No team has been better at teasing the public in recent seasons than the Dallas 

Cowboys.  Too bad so few realize this.  

Proclaiming Tony Romo as a “much-matured quarterback” reeks of an overreaction disorder.  True, Romo was brilliant against Big Blue, but it wasn’t the first time he’s been.  And saying that Rob Ryan’s defense was “significantly improved” from last year’s unit is only stating an obvious fact that even Ray Charles couldn’t have missed.

What we learned from this victory is that Brandon Carr is a significant upgrade from Terence Newman and that Morris Claiborne is a solid player who will only get better with experience.  Barry Church is more mobile than predecessor Abram Elam, and Bruce Carter is able to stop stretch plays with far better effectiveness than Keith Brooking.

In hindsight, the game had many similar storylines to Dallas’ 2005 season-opening contest against San Diego.  The Cowboys proved to be penalty-prone in each.  Just like Romo faced a first-and-30 situation in the fourth quarter, Bledsoe found himself backed up on his own 8-yard line in the second quarter after four penalties in five plays left the offense in another and-forever position.  Kevin Ogletree is the out-of-nowhere hero at wide receiver currently, just like Patrick Crayton’s 89-yard, one touchdown performance made him then.  A year after finishing 6-10 with multiple double-digit losses with an atrocious defense, the 2005 bunch had mettle enough to win on the road against a good San Diego team.  And only eight months after being throttled by seventeen points against these same Giants on the same turf, this group of Cowboys calmly, and collectively, beat what is still considered to be a great team in their own backyard.

Yet, for all of that, the intangible evidence garnered from Wednesday’s win was probably the more encouraging sign that Garrett’s team is heading in the right direction.

Upset Victory Over New York Giants Carried Extra Meaning For Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones

 by Ryan Bush

Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones - Happy once again!

Forgive Jerry Jones for being his usual gushing self in a victorious Dallas Cowboys locker room the other night.  Because nearly seventeen years after his last Super Bowl championship, he may have actually had a legitimate reason to wave his indomitable silver and blue pom-pom like a schoolgirl in front of her graduating class.

You see, Wednesday’s 24-17 victory over the defending champion Giants was more than about just the upset and the glory of winning a division game on the road, a recent novelty around the Ranch.  For Jones, it was a definitive in-your-face gesture toward the New York front-office.  Exactly the kind of moment that Jones enjoys best.

Jones’ off-season was marred when the NFL came down hard on the Cowboys for overreaching their financial bounds in doling out huge payments to Miles Austin, Demarcus Ware, and a handful of others, during the uncapped 2010 season.  The league docked the team according to how much they calculated Dallas went over the “cap,” which was determined to be $10 million.  So Dallas was operating with $10 million less in their 2012 salary pool than they expected.  Now, compare that number to Washington’s $36 million reduction, and things don’t look quite so bad.  But $10 million is still a good chunk of change to play with in free-agency.

Jones vowed to appeal the ruling, claiming that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was delving into a legally compromising position of semantics and double-talk.  Jones wanted to know how a team could be penalized for violating an unwritten gentleman’s agreement by signing contracts that the league office had stamped their approval upon.

Giants Owner - John Mara

It was then that Giants owner John Mara smugly acknowledged that the Cowboys had gotten off lightly, and should be grateful for this reprieve from Goodell’s cabinet.  It could have been much worse for those poor little extravagant ‘Boys from Dallas, Mara assured the world.

Mara, it was later reported, was the leading figure who brought the infractions before the league office, and patiently waited for its results to swamp the coasts of his division rivals.  Now that the verdict had been officially declared, Mara was simply basking in the moment of personal triumph and smearing it in the face of Jones.

For undisclosed reasons, Jones eventually decided to drop the appeal and play the season shorthanded, though it greatly upset his off-season plans.  $10 million out of pocket, Jones and the Cowboys were unable to re-sign wide receiver Laurent Robinson, who tallied eleven touchdown receptions last season, forcing them to enter the 2012 campaign with a group of unknowns behind Miles Austin and Dez Bryant on the depth chart.

It was especially satisfying for Jones to witness not only his Cowboys take it to the Giants on the scoreboard, but little-known Kevin Ogletree step into Robinson’s former position and fill up the stat sheet with two scoring grabs of his own.  Realizing that the Giants had fallen from champs to division cellar-dwellers I’m sure didn’t cause him to lose any sleep, either.

Kevin Ogletree’s Sudden Emergence For Dallas Cowboys A Matter Of Opportunity

by Ryan Bush

The uneducated perception holds that a receiver who doesn’t catch a prescribed amount of passes is underachieving, or simply isn’t very good.  The common concurrence being that those who do are totally worthwhile.

Which is completely ludicrous.

Consider:  Roy Williams had 25+ catch seasons in each of his last two years with the Cowboys.  It didn’t mean he was a good player.  Tony Romo didn’t trust him.  Never did.  Romo couldn’t even get on the same page with Williams.

The knock on Kevin Ogletree has always been about his lack of productivity.  After catching only 14 passes last season, his third in the league, his spot on the team entering training camp was tenuous at best.

Which might be slightly unfair when taking all things into consideration.

Let’s remember the teams that Ogletree has been a part of and the talent surrounding him.  Dez Bryant.  Jason Witten.  Laurent Robinson.  Miles Austin.  Even Felix Jones. Ogletree didn’t catch many passes because there weren’t that many for him to catch.  Bottom-line.

Without dismissing the potential for vast improvement, last season wasn’t any indication of a lack of talent on Ogletree’s part, or the final straw for head coach Jason Garrett.  In fact, the reality of the situation was that the Cowboys were waiting on him to fill the void left when Laurent Robinson signed with Jacksonville this past off-season. So Ogletree hit the weights to improve his upper-body strength and trained harder to improve his physical conditioning.

A few months later, on the first Wednesday night game in the NFL’s modern era, Ogletree and the Dallas Cowboys reaped the benefits of it, as Ogletree tallied 114 yards receiving and two touchdowns on eight receptions – more than half of the previous year’s total – in an upset win at the New York Giants.

       

 

Some players are overrated, while others are overhyped.  And some, like Ogletree, simply need a chance to stick their foot in the door.