Dallas Cowboys Rule?

Hello,

First of all welcome to Blog #979 of themusicaddict.

I'm an ardent Dallas Cowboys fan and have been for as long as I can remember. That's even through the scandals of Hollywood Henderson, the so called White House, Michael Irvan's "Do you know who I am?, Charles Haley's penis and signing Pacman Jones even after all the dumb things he's done. As someone who believes all people should act with civility, I also expect the same of the teams and organizations I cheer for. The last few years I've considered cheering for another team, but it would probably be very hard to give my heart completely to another team after so many years. Although I do follow the Bucs and 49ers as well? It seems all three teams have bright futures.

I also expect those organizations to perform at a high level on the field, whether it's a playing field or a business field. The last few years have been rough for the Cowboys. They've had a few off the field issues haven't played very well on the field. They only have one playoff win in the last 15 years, another reason why I haven't jumped on the Tony Romo bandwagon.

The Cowboys troubles reached the nadir last season when Wade Phillips was the coach of the Cowboys. I never knew why Jones stuck by him for so long. I would have never hired him in the first player and definitely wouldn't have let him stick around for so long. He may know a lot about defense, but he knows very little about dealing with players. When his defense faltered so badly, what reason did the players have to listen to him. His seemingly lack of discipline really cost him last season when the season started out horribly and he lost his players. Without that discipline the players seemed to have given up to a certain degree. Then Tony Romo had that season ending injury, which may have been a benefit for him. Finally the Cowboys gave up the most points in their proud history.

Obviously some changes needed to be made. Jason Garrett had the interim taken off his head coach status. Hiring him was a much smarter move than hiring Wade Phillips, Garrett brings discipline to this team, see Marion Barber ignoring the rules last season and now no longer with the team. I'm still not 100% sold on him. Sometimes he acts like he's not sure what he's doing and I'm not 100% sold on his offense and play calling. While I'm glad he's not the next Wade Phillips I also don't think he's the next Jimmy Johnson or Tom Landry.

Another much needed change was the Cowboys lured Rob Ryan from the Browns (guess he wanted a better chance to win) and he installed a new more aggressive defense. After 3 games the defense still seems a little rough, but it's making an impact. Then once the lockout was over the Cowboys cut several high price, past their prime players. Players such as Roy Williams, Marion Barber and Andre Gurode. Those decisions look very good as those players have gone on to do absolutely nothing so far. The only other move I wish they could have made was to sign Nnamdi Asomugha. He would have cost about $15 million, but he would have complimented the extremely fragile Terrance Newman and Michael Jenkins at the crucial corner back spot.

The Cowboys came into this season with a lot of youth, but also a lot of motivation. I think they really wanted to prove how last season was an anomaly. So far Dallas is 2-1 on the season and they've played 3 fairly good teams so far. Dallas plays another good team this weekend when 3-0 Detroit visits Dallas. This game will be a good measuring stick for both teams. There were a lot of good things for the Cowboys last night, but a lot of things that were very concerning as well.

Now on to last night's game. Dear NFL, I would like 3 hours of my life restored for watching that game last night. That was one of the ugliest games I've seen in a long time. I'm glad Dallas found a way to win. Sarcasm alert: look for another thriller next Monday night as the Manningless Colts visit Tampa Bay. Other than the Cavaliers losing LeBron James, I can't think of a team losing one player that has made such a difference. It's possible the Colts won't win a game this season. Although they do play fellow doormat Kansas City on October 9th. How much does the NFL not want this to be the MNF game do you think? I don't think the Kerry Collins show coming to town is going to bring a lot of walk up tickets.

Anyway let's start with the good from last night's game first. For the second straight game, Tony Romo played a very gutsy game. Not only that but he played a very smart game. He's finally learning when to throw the ball away instead of trying to force it into coverage. Although the Cowboys didn't score any touchdowns, they were able to score enough to win. Also the running game is finally able to gain some traction. Felix Jones rushed for 115 yards on only 14 carries. Also in their fourth game of the season, Dallas had their first 10+ yard rush.

Which leads to the next good thing. Dallas' defense has a few holes in it. But Rob Ryan's constant pressure defense kept the Redskins off all night. The Cowboys defense bent all night long but never completely broke. Also Demarcus Ware is a pleasure to watch. They play with more heart and intensity under intense Ryan than they did for lackadaisical Phillips. The corners continue to be soft though.

Now on to the bad things: Those soft cornerbacks, Jenkins and Newman sure seem to be injured a lot. Also I'm not sure why Dallas wasn't able to get a very good pass rush until late in the fourth quarter. Thankfully Dallas found enough defensive players from other positions to stop the Redskins enough. Demarcus "Wrecking Ball" Ware got that huge sack, the sack where it looked like he jumped offsides. Also I loved when Anthony Spencer tracked down Rex Grossman, as Spencer tackled him he forced the fumble. Sean Lee had another good game, getting yet another interception and recovering the fumble that Spencer forced. Although Grossman looked decent in the game, it's always good when he's playing for the other team. He's got to be the worst quarterback ever to start a Super Bowl game.

(Side note: while exercising this morning I was thinking if I bought a new Cowboys jersey, which Cowboys player jersey would I buy? I need to see more of these tough kind of performances from Romo over the next several weeks for me to fully jump on his bandwagon. So no I wouldn't buy his jersey. Dez Bryant seems like he might be the next obvious choice. However he seems he's injured as much as he's healthy. He also reminds me of a little kid playing in a soccer match, more intent on catching a butterfly than playing. Jason Witten is solid but unspectacular. Felix Jones has brief flashes, but needs to have more sustained excellence. I would probably get a Demarcus Ware, Sean Lee or Miles Austin jersey at this point. I've bought two Cowboys jerseys before. Those of the great Emmitt Smith and also Roy Williams. No not the wussy wide receiver, but the stud defender.)

Other bad things, this team seems like it needs to improve it's coaching. How many times was Phil Costa going to mis snap the ball? I know he's a first year starter, but it seemed like he was snapping the ball completely random. I know that the Cowboys don't have a lot of depth at wide receiver. With Miles Austin injured and Dez Bryant, well who the hell knows what he's doing? That left the Cowboys with Jesse Holley, who's more notable for winning a reality show contest. Also they have Laurent Robinson, who just barely resigned with the team. However he showed some shiftiness once he caught the ball. Also there's Kevin Ogletree, who shows why he's never moved up the depth chart very much. (Since I'm talking about only wide receivers I'll only briefly mention the salary sucking Martellus Bennet. He showed little effort in that terrible attempt of Romo's pass into the end zone. What was that hold on the nice Felix Jones run? And one catch for 6 yards. As with Roy Williams and Marion Barber, it's time to send this waste down the line. One of those players who tempts with potential but always chokes in performance.)

If I was Jason Garrett I would go back to basics this week. I can't believe I'd be writing that about a NFL team, but a lot of these players are very young. Phil Costa also needs some more work and so does Dez Bryant and the other young wide receivers. (I hope that Bryant doesn't turn into a doesn't work hard enough player like Martellus Bennett.) Also I know a lot of their problems in not scoring touchdowns are due to their youth. But they desperately need to figure out how to turn some of those field goals into touchdowns. Scoring 18 points in the NFL isn't going to win you enough games to have you be a strong possibility of winning the Super Bowl.

That being said do I think this Cowboys team is really going to challenge for a Super Bowl title this year? Um no, did you watch that game last night? Dallas had ugly stretches of both offense and defense. Besides Costa's random snapping pattern, there were too many other mental errors. I have a feeling the wide receivers and cornerbacks are going to be question marks all season. (Jerry cornerbacks looks like it will be the #1 off season priority.) After 6 years Tony Romo looks like he's ready to take on the quarterback mantle previously held by Danny White, Troy Aikmen and my favorite Roger Staubach. He has learned to throw the ball away and he's showing some leadership. It's hard to tell if he was showing leadership last night or just doing a lot of screaming. That's not the kind of thing you can discern watching the game on TV.

Both Dallas and Detroit have a great measuring stick game next week when they play each other. I can't believe I'm writing this sentence: I'm scared of the Detroit Lions. They seem to be a legitimate 3-0 and feature defensive monster Ndamukong Suh, After what promises to be a very physical game thankfully Dallas has their bye. That's a great time for a bye for Dallas. It will give some of their injured players time to heal, especially Austin and Romo. It will also give them two weeks to work on the much needed basics.

themusicaddict