The big question for Cowboy fans this long, agonizing off-season is…Why is Jerry Jones staying with Wade Phillips as his head coach. If you polled most Cowboy fans they’d have Wade at the top of the list of reasons why this year’s team failed. The consensus is that Phillips doesn’t have leadership abilities that translate to his players. The clear indicator of that lapse is in the final game of the season when faced with a fourth down against the Eagles, Wade sent in the punt team while Tony Romo sent them back to the sideline and called a play. Surely quarterbacks and coaches have disagreed before about going for it on fourth down but in the context of the Cowboys season meltdown it only magnifies an already white-hot issue.
Throw into the mix the recent availability of Mike Shanahan and one has to seriously wonder if Jerry is going to stick with his pledge to keep Wade. Think about it, Jerry thinks nothing of bringing in a Pac Man, Tank Johnson, T.O. or Charles Manson if he thinks he can help the Cowboys win a few more games. Does anyone with a pulse not think Shanahan can make a difference on the Cowboys sideline? If Jerry can gamble on those types of players why would he hesitate to bring in a 2-time Super Bowl winning coach? I understand Jerry’s thinking that the grass isn’t always greener and sometimes it’s best to stick with what you have. Owners are much too trigger-happy when it comes to replacing coaches and often they take steps backwards instead of forwards but there are other times when the change is so obvious it’s like a Marion Barber straight arm to the helmet. This is that time. Jerry needs to relinquish some control like he did with Jimmy and like he did with Bill if he ever wants to return to glory (and maybe fill his new Arlington temple)! If not, next year will be a repeat under-performance of this season…and maybe worse.
Timm Matthews
The Stars did the right thing by ending their relationship with Sean Avery. I’m not sure it was Avery’s strategy but all he did was score 3 goals add 7 assists and accumulate 77 penalty minutes. More importantly he disrupted a locker room that had been tight. Almost from day one that he walked in, Avery was distant from the other players. He wore his iPod so as not to actually talk with anyone and those that he did come in contact with (Steve Ott) he tainted with his miserable personality.
The Stars are on the hook for Avery’s $3.8 million dollar contract for the remainder of the season. If they can’t trade him, which they can’t, they can try to buyout his contract for 3/4 of the total. That amounts to basically paying him $8 million of the $12 million left on his deal. It could be the worst deal that any team in any sport has ever done. Co-general manager Brett Hull convinced the rest of the management team to take a chance on a guy that everyone knew was a disaster waiting to happen. My guess is that Hull won’t stick his neck out again until at least 2018, if he’s still around. Tom Hicks also has to take some heat along with all other non-NFL owners. Guaranteeing a contract is absurd. This is the perfect example. How do smart businessmen buy into the guarantee contract syndrome? They would never do it in any other business venture but they enter the world of professional sports and they lose all ability to reason. He’ll think about it every time he writes that check to Avery (not to mention the checks he still sent to A-Rod when he was wearing Yankee pinstripes).
Avery may be gone but like the stench of a dead squirrel in your wall, he will linger for a long time.
Timm Matthews
The Cowboys needed a win and they came thru with flying colors Sunday night against the Giants. Let’s start with the defense. DeMarcus Ware is an animal. Three more sacks gives him 19 for the season which already broke his team record set last year. The all-time single-season sack record is 22.5 set by Michael Strahan (with Brett Favre’s help) in 2001. Ware will own that record after the Philadelphia game.
Eli Manning must have felt like he was in labor after spending most of the night on his back. The Cowboys had 8 sacks on the night. That sack party was set up by the fact that New York couldn’t run the ball. The Giants ran for just 72 yards. Without the threat of the run, the Cowboys came at Manning like a bank at a foreclosed home. Terence Newman had 2 picks to end drives when the Giants were trying to make something happen. This was the end to the game that the Cowboys should have had last week in Pittsburgh.
Offensively the Cowboys were far from glamorous but they were efficient. Tony Romo spread the love around with his passes so that no one got their feelings hurt. 20 of 30 for 244 yards and 2 T.D.’s and most importantly…no interceptions got the job done. Jason Witten did lead with 5 receptions but Tashard Choice had 4, T.O. grabbed 3 (and dropped one) Crayton 2, Barber 2. Love everywhere! And speaking of Choice, where the H did this guy come from? Nine carries for 91 yards and a clinching 38 yard touchdown. Do the math. He averaged 9 yards per carry. That’s University of Oklahoma kind of numbers.
Romo probably said it best. Since the NFL plays just once a week, the drama builds up much like a TV realitiy show. Other sports have to move on quickly since they play 3-4 times per week, no time for the drama to build (unless you play with Sean Avery). Two games to play and if the Cowboys keep up this level of play they’re in the playoffs and the rest of the N.F.C. has to be worried.
The Cowboys stand at 8-4 and in pretty good position for a wild-card playoff spot. Credit can be spread around to a lot of players (those not named Brad Johnson) but without doubt the swagger you see in the Cowboys step can be attributed to Tony Romo. Say what you will about his never having won anything yet (0-2 in the playoffs) but this team has a decidedly different feel and look with him behind center.
In the 34-9 thrashing of Seattle on Thanksgiving day, Romo actually looked like he was having fun again. Having fun is what Romo is all about. Some may not like the fact that he doesn’t always seem to take the game too seriously but that’s his personality and this team of stars needs Romo to keep them loose and not over-focused on the weight of expectations. The Boys have history staring them in the face as they make their final playoff push. Dallas has losing record in regular season games played in December and January since 1996 (the last time they won a playoff game). The last 4 games are against quality teams, Pittsburgh, N.Y. Giants, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Not the kind of patsy schedule Wade Phillps would prefer but hey, the playoffs are for the big boys and with Romo using all the weapons that Jerry Jones has given him, winning 3 out of 4 is do-able.
Romo may not have won a playoff game yet but if he keeps smiling and high-fiving that stigma won’t stick to him much longer. How perfect would it be for the Cowboys to turn the tables on the Giants and take the wild-card route thru New York all the way to the Super Bowl?
Timm Matthews
In the coming months we will be updating you on what is going on in sports in the the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.
Stay tuned…
