Dallas Cowboys Developing Talent?

Dallas Cowboys are developing talent, and I want to write an article and give props to the Cowboys for the development of talent over the last few years. Most of the time all we hear is that the Dallas Cowboys don’t draft well etc. I am going to take a look at the players who have stood out this season and look at where they were drafted. Too often experts quickly judge players as busts without giving them a chance to improve. So here is a list of players that the Dallas Cowboys players whose play has stood out this season and were drafted or signed as undrafted free agents by the Cowboys. Doug Free was the only player who is not a starter at his position besides the trio of running backs but he has been starting in place of Colombo. Also an honorable mention to a player that we have all ripped on should go to Bobby Carpenter, he hasn’t stood out this year and I will take that over noticing his mistakes.

Read more

The Romo Era: Dallas Cowboys Record in December and January

A lot of research went into this post (that was meant to drop last week), so this one’s pretty lengthy.

THE ROMO ERA – RECORD IN DECEMBER/JANUARY

2006 – Romo takes over for Bledsoe in Week 7 against the Giants, knocking off the undefeated Colts at home in Week 11. Last year of the Tuna.

Dallas Cowboys: 7-4 entering December.

Week 13 – Win @NYG 23-20. The Martin Gramatica game. Cowboys move to 8-4, four-game winning streak. (NYG: 6-6 after loss)

Week 14 – Loss v. NO 42-17. My Tony Romo jersey (throwback version of course) leaves the shelves of the gift shop. Drew Brees throws for like a million yards. 8-5. (NO: 9-4 after win)

Week 15 – Win @ATL 38-28. DeMarcus Ware runs in a fumble for a touchdown. T.O. scores 2. 9-5. (ATL: 7-7)

Week 16 – Loss v. PHI 23-7. Offense does nothing. Philly wins division (basically) in Texas Stadium. 9-6. (PHI: 9-6)

Week 17 – Loss v. DET 39-31. Not the 0-16 version, but pretty damn bad. Kitna comes in and kills the defense. Playoff spot is unchanged. 9-7. (DET: 3-13)

2006 December record: 2-3. Playoffs made, L @ Seattle. (Need I say more?)

2007 – A bit of a tough year to look at the December record for a couple of reasons. One – the Cowboys beat the Packers on Thursday night (Favre knocked out, Rodgers plays well, but ‘Boys win) November 29. So the rest of the league played in December that week. Also, the last week of the season was meaningless. (A Wade excuse, I know, but when Romo plays only a quarter, the Dallas Cowboys probably aren’t going win if Tony Romo doesn’t play the whole game.)

Read more

The Continuing Struggles of Tony Romo

There are so many ways the Dallas Cowboys could have beaten the Denver Broncos today.

Could there have been other ways to lose that game? Probably. But this was another game that should be in the win column. This team is not that far away from being 4-0. Should they be? No. They are exactly what they are.

Why is that? Check it out after the jump.

Read more

THE REV SPEAKS – Cowboys Giants Review

THE REV SPEAKS

Matthew R. Fuller

As an ordained Baptist minister I’ve heard my fair share of confessions.  Most are incontrovertibly genuine, with the penitents expressing a deep remorse and a concomitant pledge to turn away from the sins which, without fail, lead to shame, fear, abandonment, and heartache.  Sometimes, however, the mea culpa is more specious than the singing career of Heidi Montag

In these extreme circumstances it takes all of my Christian resolve to refrain from unleashing a thunderous torrent of dog cussing: How dare you defile the house of God with your bleeping mistakes!  Your pathetic excuses are bleeping cowardly!  Get your head out of your butt already! But that’s just me . . .

Which leads us to the embarrassment that occurred in Arlington (and not Dallas, thanks to former Mayor Laura “Madam No” Miller’s childish stonewalling, but don’t get me started) on Sunday night.  What should have been a glorious moment for the Dallas Cowboys was instead turned into a horrifying display of amateur football.  Thanks to the “franchise” quarterback, the grand opening of The Death Star was unequivocally marred.  If Jerry were to ask my advice (and why he doesn’t is beyond me) I’d demand that he pay FOX analyst Troy Aikman whatever he wished to pull a Favre and lace up his cleats just one more time.  (I’d also suggest he fire Wade, a.k.a. Mr. Fix It, immediately.  That’s for another column, however.)  Maybe I’m just sentimental since #8 won three Super Bowl titles during my formative high school years, but at this point any measure, no matter how extreme, should be enacted.  How many times are we devoted and deceived Cowboy fans going to be forced to listen to the mealy-mouthed confessions of one Tony Romo?  After every putrid game he’s delivered the same tired “I promise to protect the ball better” speech.  In Sunday night’s three-INT implosion against the hated Giants he was beyond careless with the pigskin.  He was reckless.  He was feckless.  He was gutless.  (For those who value this stat, Romo’s 29.6 QB Rating was the second-worst of his career after the 22.2 bomb he dropped in December 2007 against the hated Eagles.  The Cowboys would have beaten the Giants by at least a touchdown had Romo only thrown two picks!)  Like all Dallas disciples, I’ve grown extremely tired of Romo’s lip service.  Either you stop throwing the ball to the opposing team at an alarming rate—I don’t mind the occasional turnover that comes in the course of a long season, but there’s a limit to my grace—or stop feeding namby-pamby apologies to the media and the fans.  Call me a hidebound fundamentalist Southern Baptist, but either you sin or you don’t.  (This is a kissing cousin to the Big Bill Parcells theology of it is what it is.)  I am not trying to alarm you, but the Cowboys are a decidedly average 11-10 in their last 21 games.  That’s only ten more wins than the junior college Detroit Lions have posted over the same period of time!  This would be funny if it weren’t so sadly mediocre and true.

Romo still has a very vocal cadre of supporters, and these slimy sycophants are almost as crazy as Pacman Jones at the Joule Hotel.  At least he came out on Monday and held himself accountable for the loss against the Giants. While I admit this Romo reaction is light years better than his illicit Cancun vacation with Jessica “Yoko Ono” Simpson in January 2008, and much improved from his flippant if this is the worst thing that happens to me comment after last season’s win-or-go-home disaster in Philly, Romo could blame himself for the mess that is the Obama Healthcare Plan and I still wouldn’t be satisfied.  Quarterbacking the Cowboys is one of the most glamorous and visible positions in all of sports, along with Shortstopping the Yankees (groan) and Caddying the Tiger (no pictures during his backswing), and Romo treats it like he’s playing Tecmo Bowl on Nintendo.  Whatever.  Then there are the Romo lemmings who are quick to point out that his career has started just like the prototype of all NFL QBs, Peyton Manning (http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MannPe00.htm).  Except for these salient facts which the lemmings either leave out or forget: Manning played four years at a major-caliber SEC college against many future pro athletes, and he was drafted #1; Romo played at tiny Eastern Illinois against many future rec league athletes and he wasn’t drafted at all; Manning was born with football genes and groomed to be a QB from birth; Romo was born with backward-hat-wearing genes and groomed to be a wannabe golfer from birth.  Again, whatever.

Those laypeople that support Romo are doing him no favors, just as Romo’s own teammates are sabotaging his ability to improve.  In order for a sinful soul to be completely washed clean, the guilty party must be surrounded by a circle of believers who, while offering forgiveness, also buffet him with ample amounts of tough love.  In this case, Romo’s accountability partners and prayer warriors are failing him immensely.  The praise for #9 (and I’ m not talking about the true winner Mike Modano) was effusive from Valley Ranch on Monday and Tuesday (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/092209dnspocowboysinsider.2cc1f57.html), further complicating the paradox of Romo’s greatness.  Teammates should absolutely stand by each other in times of crisis (and if they don’t they end up in the football hinterlands of Buffalo), but if Romo’s fellow Cowboys truly had his best interests at heart they would sit him (and Terence Newman while we’re at it) down and deliver a come-to-Jesus message: you can be one of the all-time greats if you just learn some discipline.  (Yet another reason Jerry should have hired Norv “Aikman Architect” Turner in 2007, along with the fact that Turner’s electric Chargers are chugging along at 9-0 in December and Wade’s anemic Cowboys are choking along at 3-5 in the coconut-crunching final month.)  Like a group of buddies who stage an intervention for one of their own who is abusing drugs and alcohol, so must Romo’s teammates stage an immediate intervention for the embattled quarterback.  His legacy—and the Cowboys’—depends on it.

There are also those voices who believe that Jason Garrett should “dumb down” the offense in order to make it more Romo-friendly.  This, too, would be a faulty solution.  According to QB Rating (again, for those who value this statistic), Romo’s lofty 94.2 would be third in history (behind Steve Young’s 96.8 and Manning’s 94.9.  Note: in order to qualify, a QB must have 1,500 pass attempts; with 1,363, Romo should easily pass that threshold by October) and makes him the second-best active passer behind Manning.  Should Romo indeed become, as Big Bill constantly preached, just a bus driver, handing off 35 times to his eclectic stable of backs?  As good as Barber, Choice, and Felix Jones are, I’m not sure this is a viable course of action.

A fitting way to color the portrait of one Antonio Ramiro Romo, therefore, is with many brushes, each drawing a patron’s eyes to different sections of the canvas with every look.  Romo is like a work of art by the famed abstract painter Picasso: the sum is clearly greater than the parts.  One week it’s hide-the-women-and-children ugly (http://www.sgallery.net/artnews/data/upimages/2007/08/picasso.jpg) and the next it’s spend-three-hours-in-awe resplendent (http://www.artquotes.net/masters/picasso/picasso_guernica1937.jpg).  In Dallas, however, the only masterpiece that matters is a Super Bowl ring.  (Or at the very least, an NFC Championship ring.  It is naïve to expect more from this heartless bunch.)  Anything less is a complete and utter failure.  While I’m not the ultimate judge, I will say with confidence that Romo’s repeated confessions always ring extraordinarily hollow.  We’re all waiting, Tony.  You’ve repented time and time again, but we have yet to see sustained excellence on the field.  Perhaps we’re expecting too much.  Maybe you just don’t have it between the ears to lead the Cowboys to the promised land.  (My favorite local theory.)  Instead of becoming Romo the Redeemed he’s merely Romo the Recidivist.  The Book of Proverbs (that’s in the Bible, folks) reminds us well: As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. If Romo throws up many more atrocious games like he did on Sunday night I’ll be throwing up.  And it’d be a travesty to waste the $6 I spent on the cup of Dr Pepper at Cowboys Stadium.

Here ends the lesson.  And all of God’s people say . . . “Amen!”

Emmitt Smith Rips the 2009 Dallas Cowboys

Recently Emmitt Smith ripped this years Dallas Cowboys, but know one will hear it on television, because his stint with ESPN already ended in failure. The reason for this failure is because Smith has yet to master the spoken English language, or the fact that leopards don’t have stripes. You can read his top 20 stupid quotes at the the Fed Online. The only people that will here Emmit’s rant will be anyone that heard him on his preseason radio tour.

What happened to the Emmitt Smith we all know and love?
Most likely Emmitt’s pride is hurt from the failure of his television career, and now he is resorting to being a radio shock jock so that he can regain relevance in the media. Most players reserve negative comment about their former franchise, but I guess when you realize that your media career is over you will do or say anything. Below are Emmitt’s comments that appeared on Read more

Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson split, break up, end relationship

IT’S OVER…according to People magazine. Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson have officially broken up (as official as that could be). Read more

Is Tony Romo the Reason for the Dallas Cowboys Losses?

I have a theory about guys. I admit it’s still a new theory, but the more I ponder it, the more it rings true. The theory is simple, sophomoric even. In every group of guys, there is “That Guy.” You know the one I am talking about. The loud-mouthed, immature douche bag that thinks it is absolutely hilarious to “man-check” his supposed friends.

Every group has one. Whenever you see three or more guys gathered you know, at some point or another, one of those guys will reach out give a little tap. This tap is not friendly and encouraging, but rather the most vile and underhanded blow to the most sensitive of regions.

The situation always plays out the same. The douche will wait until his friends are engrossed in a conversation, or focused on an attractive female who has just walked by, or merely looking the other way. Then comes the strike. With a swing of the arm and snap of the wrist, the victim is rolling on the floor in agony, waiting for the dreaded “stomach feeling” that comes after every nut shot. The attacker meanwhile, is laughing uproariously while the rest of the group looks on in horror and shock.

For those who are still unsure as to what I am talking about when I refer to the dreaded “Man Check,” I offer an example of the lowest of blows.

As I pondered this theory, I realized its implications. The Man-Check guy is not just an annoying friend. He is a cancer of the worst kind. A scourge to the unity of a close group of friends that, if left unchecked (no pun intended) can tear apart even a group of close-knit friends.

The implications in professional sports are simply frightening. If in every group of males, there is that one guy, what havoc could he do to an entire season? What would happen if the Dallas Cowboys Man-Check guy were allowed to roam free, spreading a reign of terror throughout the team? More importantly, who is the Dallas Cowboys Man-Check guy?

This is a question that requires plenty of thought, for the answer is not obvious. As I wonder, it is clear that the Dallas Cowboys season was not lost due to poor coaching or poor on-field performance. It is so clear now what happened. The Man-Check player in the Dallas Cowboys had free reign in 2008 and was able to completely destroy any team moral, resulting in in fighting and a lack of cohesion on the field.

But who was this dastardly villain of the worst sort. I am quick to blame Pacman or Tank Johnson, but that is too easy. Their trouble making is more blatant and open. Guns and strippers are their modus operandi. No, the lowest of villains is not so apparent. He lies in wait, disguising himself as a productive member of the team, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

As outsiders to the day-to-day workings of the Dallas Cowboys, we will never know for certain whom this harbinger of pain and misery is, but with a little deductive reasoning, I am confident that we can eliminate several characters and eventually hypothesize who the villain is.

Right of the bat we can eliminate any loud mouthed, high profile characters. Pacman and Tank are right out of the mix. Terrell Owens, for the first time in his life, is uninvolved in the shenanigans being discussed. It’s too easy for him. TO likes public attention. Besides the nut tap is too basic for him. No real creativity. Why nut tap when you could accuse others of favoritism?

It’s not TO.

Roy Williams is too new. He’d get knocked out for even thinking of nut tapping someone. The same is true for Felix Jones and Tashard Choice. Jason Witten leads by example, as do Demarcus Ware and Zach Thomas. They would never even dream of performing a man-check. Plus, given their overall size and demeanor, they are unlikely to ever be victims either.

Bradie James can’t, as he is too busy keeping the fans in line with a swift and sure right hook to the glasses.
In looking throughout the roster no one stands out as culpable. Barbie Carpenter would be hung from a goalpost if he tried it. Marion Barber is too quiet. The receivers are too busy whining about their catches and the offensive lineman would never get the timing down. Flozell Adams would always swing too early and either have his tap blocked or would miss completely.

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe there is no man-check guy for the Dallas Cowboys. But wait; there is one person I have not named. Someone who can rest assured that there would never be any retaliation within the team. Someone who is popular enough to get close to every member of the team, yet still be distant enough due to flaky, game losing performances.

This person has an axe to grind. With the pressure of the entire team on him at all times, it is clear that this individual has plenty of frustration that needs an outlet. That’s right. Tony Romo has more than enough motivation to nut tap everyone who crosses him.

It’s perfect. A high profile quarterback with plenty of spotlight and a celebrity girlfriend. No one outside the team would ever suspect Tony Romo, and with numerous individuals within the team complaining about his decision-making and supposed favoritism, Romo has more than enough targets.

It’s so clear now. All of Terrell Owens whining and moaning of favoritism is not an actual complaint. He is trying to draw attention to Romo’s vicious attacks without actually going public with his accusations.

No wonder the offensive line won’t block for him. Why would you protect someone who constantly gives you a quick man-check?

2008 was not a disaster due to any lack of preparation or on-field performance. It was a clear statement that Tony Romo unleashed a reign of terror not seen since the days of Attila the Hun. The Dallas Cowboys lack of production on offense was a concerted effort to get Tony Romo knocked out of games. It was a push to remove the protective covering on any starting quarterback so retribution could be doled out and Tony Romo could be stopped. If only Ed Werder would have covered this story. Maybe the Dallas Cowboys season could have been saved.

Are Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson Married? Who Cares?

While on my morning commute, as I switched through stations, I came across 107.5 FM in Dallas. They were discussing a rumor floating around that Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo had married his girlfriend, singer Jessica Simpson.

This is not the first time a rumor involving Tony Romo’s nuptials has been spread throughout the metroplex. In 2007, rumors abounded that Tony Romo and singer Carrie Underwood, of American Idol fame, had tied the knot.

In 2008, another rumor spread that Tony Romo had married his new girlfriend, Jessica Simpson. This rumor was allegedly confirmed by Jessica’s mother who said “Jessica is already married to Tony. What are you talking about?”

Later Jessica mysteriously commented, “Well, I guess if my mom said it, it must be true.”

While this rumor was later proven to be just that, a rumor, TMZ reported in October that Romo and Simpson were extremely serious, and were considering a 2009 wedding. This has given rise to the latest Tony Romo marriage rumor that I heard this morning.

While in all likelihood this recent rumor, like all the others, is false, the thought of a Romo, Simpson wedding is a scary thought for most Cowboys fans. There is a growing suspicion that Jessica is a major factor in Romo’s on field performance, and that the Cowboy’s quarterback would be a better player if he were to break things off with Daisy Duke.

I, for one, am sick of these rumors and the controversy over this relationship. Tony Romo is a professional in the NFL. He got there through hard work and dedication. To think that he would let himself get distracted over a girl is kind of ridiculous in my mind.

Romo is entitled to a personal life. Every NFL player has a personal life, and every NFL player has distractions coming from their personal life, no matter if their wife or girlfriend is a college sweetheart, or untalented singer with a less talented sister who makes Milli Vanilli look like the Vatican Choir. But to think that a celebrity girlfriend would ruin an entire team’s season is laughable.

Yes, Tony Romo performs poorly at the end of the season. Yes, the 2008 Dallas Cowboys season ended in complete disaster. However, this debacle did not come about because of one relationship. There were numerous on-the-field issues that hurt the team far more than Jessica Simpson.

Terrell Owens was taking plays off. Jason Witten was playing injured. The offensive line was without Kyle Kosier and simply was not giving Romo the protection he needed. Without a strong running game due to injuries to Felix Jones and Marion Barber, the Cowboys had to use their passing attack, and with the O-Line not performing as well as they are capable, Romo was pressured and forced to make rushed throws and poor decisions.

None of this had anything to do with Tony Romo’s girlfriend, unless of course she took a crowbar to Marion Barber and Felix Jones, which I did not see reported on TMZ.

Cowboys Laughing, Acting Like “Last Day of School” On Return Trip From Philadelphia

I just got to the office on this beautiful December Monday morning, and I have to admit that after yesterday’s 44-6 loss to the Eagles by the Cowboys, I was looking forward to today’s drive. Everyone down here in Dallas is going to be in such a tizzy over how poorly the Cowboys played, for an outsider and (some might say) Cowboys hater, it will be fun listening to the Cowboys get raked through the coals for their awful performance.

After watching some of the game — I’m a Dolphins fan, so the Dolphins-Jets game took precedence — I thought things could not get any lower for the Cowboys. But in the time since the game has ended, two stories have emerged that have shown that things very well could, and did, get lower.

First, there was the report that Tony Romo collapsed in the shower, which I posted about last night.

Then, there is the story that I just heard on 1310 The Ticket here in Dallas this morning while driving in. Norm Hitzges was manning the morning slot today, subbing in for the Musers and Gordon Keith. While Norm Hitzges can be something of a downer and is prone to attacks of hyperbole, he knows his football and I was excited to hear his perspective on the Cowboys-Eagles massacre.

What I was not prepared for was the report by Mark “Friedo” Friedman about his experience flying home on the Cowboys charter after the Eagles game last night.

According to Friedo, the Cowboys charter was not the sad, sullen, and despondent scene that one might expect. As someone who grew up around college football, and saw many a post-loss locker room, bus, and plane, I can say with certainty that my expectation would have been a pretty quiet and somber plane ride for the Cowboys. Not only did their season end with an absolutely horrific showing, but this was a team with “Super Bowl or Bust” aspirations coming into the year. I don’t care how much money you make, I would assume that if you take pride in your job and performance that it would be hard to recover from the pounding they took in Philadelphia.

Not so, according to Friedo.

He described the scene as “like the last day of school”, with dominoes being played in the back and lots of laughing and carrying on. He said that he was reluctant to say anything, seeing as how the Cowboys are nice enough to allow media members on the charter, and that only leads me to believe that he may have muted the reality of what was actually going on. Friedo did not mention any specific names, nor did he say if alcohol was flowing, but he made it pretty clear that if you did not know who won the Cowboys-Eagles game, you just might assume it was the Cowboys from their conduct on the plane.

When I first heard this, it shocked me. But after Norm and Friedo discussed it a little more, it sadly started to make some sense.

As they explained, many of the Cowboys players made over $100,000 just for the Eagles game. As I’m sure you know, NFL players get paid by the game. 16 game checks in total, each of which can be pretty exorbitant amounts when you are talking about contracts between $5-10 million per year. For a playoff game, each player would have received an additional $18,000 (I believe), which for many would be a huge step down in pay.

As hypothesized by Norm and Friedo, many NFL players view football as nothing more than a job. Why should they be expected to be excited about playing another game, and risking serious injury, for a mere fraction of their usual paycheck?

Hmm…let me see…

Perhaps because you are being paid so much money in the first place to help your team achieve its goals, which are to make the playoffs? Perhaps because your owner overpaid many of you in a go-for-broke strategy this year to make a run at the Super Bowl? Perhaps because you have professional pride? Perhaps because $18,000 is still a lot of money and more than you’ll be making now sitting on your ass during the playoffs!?!?!

Look, I understand the realities of the NFL. I realize that these guys are professionals and that football is as much their job and livelihood as practicing law is for a lawyer, or medicine for a doctor. And a lot of lawyers and doctors hate their jobs and do it just for the money. I get it. Kind of.

But football players are playing a game, a game in which passion and will can oftentimes be the difference between winning and losing. So part of your responsibility when you cash those $X00,000 game checks is to put forth a maximum level of passion, will, focus, and effort that enables you to maximize your individual talents and potential. Jerry Jones may not always make smart decisions, and he may bring lots of problems on himself, but no one has ever accused him of not taking care of his players or having their backs. How could the Cowboys players play like did on Sunday, let their owner down with such a putrid performance, and even look themselves in the mirror — let along act like kids “on the last day of school” on the charter.

Norm and Friedo were right: for many NFL players, they simply do not share the live-and-die mentality that many fans share with their teams. The sad thing is that players get paid such ridiculous sums of money because there are passionate fans who will watch TV, pay for tickets, buy merchandise, etc. Many of these fans were probably despondent in their recliners or crying in their beers after watching that pathetic performance Sunday night. One Cowboys fan who is a friend of mine called me and asked me to talk him out of hanging himself in the middle of the 3rd quarter. I’m not sure he was completely joking.

Am I making too big a deal of this? Maybe. Are most of the Cowboys players probably heartsick and frustrated at another December failure? Maybe. Do a lot of the players feel a sense of responsibility to Jerry Jones and the fans, and feel bad for letting them down? I sure as hell hope so.

According to Norm and Friedo, Tony Romo said after the game something to the effect of “It’s just a game. If losing a football game is the worst thing that happens to me, I’ll have a pretty good life.” And while that is a great perspective to have from a personal standpoint, and would sound great in a Hall of Fame or post-career speech, or even during an interview later in the offseason, fans don’t want to hear that right after the game. They want to know that you are suffering as much, if not moreso, than they are.

Unfortunately, it sounds like Tony Romo’s perspective was shared by the majority of his teammates.

And hearing this story in the immediate aftermath of the Cowboys loss makes it pretty obvious why the Cowboys are not playing in January and why a team like the Miami Dolphins still is. Do you think Dolphins players would be hooting and hollering on the plane ride home after a loss with Bill Parcells and Tony Sparano on the plane? I cannot imagine so. Those two men command more respect than that, and you know they would not be able to forget the loss so easily.

Do you think Chad Pennington or Peyton Manning can walk away from a loss thinking “it’s just a game?” I don’t know either of them personally, but I would wager that they have never once thought that in the immediate aftermath of a loss. Tony Romo gets the pub and the big contract, but Chad Pennington has been a more successful quarterback in December and is playing this year into January for a team that was 1-15 last year. Honestly, who would you rather have as your quarterback for next year?

There are 1,001 reasons why the Cowboys feel short of expectations this year. Friedo’s observation of their post-game conduct on the charter home was a pretty disappointing symptom of the disease of mediocrity that engulfs what many call the NFL’s most talented roster.

But that’s the beauty of the NFL, and why it is the most popular league in American sports.

Talent is only part of a very complicated equation of what makes a winner. Character, resolve, will, preparation, and pride are all equally as important. Watch highlights of Roy Williams running his routes yesterday and tell me he showed character, will, and pride? Listen to the excuses of Wade Phillips and tell me that he instilled a sense of resolve in his team, or adequately prepared his coaches and his players to play Philadelphia?

The Dallas Cowboys may have treated their plane ride like “the last day of school”, but for millions of Cowboys fans across the country, they were all forced to treat last night and today like what it really is: the last day of the season. And for the fans who are truly passionate, the ones whose ticket purchases and other monetary outlays pay the $X00,000 game checks, it will lead to a cold and frustrating Winter. If nothing else, even if the Cowboys players don’t really care themselves, you would think they would have enough respect for the fans and their owner to empathize and at least give the appearance of caring.

I thought 44-6 said it all. This morning, Friedo proved that just when you think the Cowboys players cannot care any less, or be less passionate or prideful about winning, they bust through the floor of expectations to reach a new low.

But hey, like Tony Romo said, it’s just a game right?

Tony Romo Collapses in Shower From Rib Injury – Calls Off Punt Team on 4th and 1

Many Cowboys fans may have thought that things couldn’t possibly get worse after the team the left Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia Sunday night, tailed tucked firmly between their legs after a 44-6 drubbing.

But for a brief moment in the locker room on Sunday night, it appeared that things might get worse — much worse.

Quarterback Tony Romo collapsed in the shower after the game on Sunday night, much to the shock of everyone in attendance. Brian Davis of the Dallas Morning News was in the locker room and provided the following account of the scene:

“As someone who was standing there watching this whole scene unfold, I can tell you the players were shocked. They didn’t know what to do. Deon Anderson went out running for emergency help, but Maurer and associate athletic trainer Britt Brown were all over it.

Adam Jones, of all people, was standing there yelling at me, another reporter and a TV camera man to get back. Let me tell you, running into the shower was the last place we needed to be at that moment. Jerry Jones’ personal security chief, Roosevelt Riley, came out to push everybody back and an equipment staff member grabbed all of Romo’s things and headed to the training room.

When asked later what happened, Romo said, ‘Um, you know, I was just a little banged up, I guess.’”

Luckily for Tony Romo and the Cowboys, there were no catastrophic consequences of his shower fall. Unfortunately for Tony Romo and the Cowboys, his shower collapse was by far the easiest of the team’s collective collapses to bounce back from after Sunday night. In a game in which the Dallas Cowboys could have sewn up a playoff spot with a victory, the team basically rolled over and played dead against a division rival.

I know that Jerry Jones came out and said his coaching staff for next season was already in place, but I think Wade Phillips, Jason Garrett, and pretty much everyone on the field gave Jerry plenty of justified reason to rethink that proclamation. How you can lose 44-6 and show no heart, no focus, and no effort in such a huge game is beyond me.

And did anyone else notice when Tony Romo told the punt unit to go back to the sidelines on 4th and 1? It certainly looked like Wade Phillips was the one who was confused, rather than the one in charge. The Cowboys picked up the first down, although they did not score on the drive. So while the decision by Romo to go for it was spot on, it is not really his call to make. Both Joe Buck and Troy Aikman seemed to think it raised the question of who is really in charge in Dallas. We can completely discount Joe Buck’s opinion because he hates sports and I hate him, but Troy Aikman is not prone to talking bad about the Cowboys unless it is well deserved. And he seemed perplexed by Romo’s apparent, though successful, insubordination.

At the end of the day, there are too many failures and questions in the wake of Sunday night to list here right now. Luckily, everyone in Dallas will have a whole offseason to stew about the Disappointing Season of 2008 and pick apart every little detail.

One thing is for sure: the Cowboys are far too talented to miss the playoffs and to continue playing this poorly in December. When a team underachieves like the Cowboys did this year, it usually means a coaching change will be, or should be, forthcoming. Is there anyone out there who can really defend Wade Phillips after tonight’s mess?

My brother had a little slip of the tongue earlier today while watching the game and called Wade Phillips “Fade Whillips.” I do not think it was intentional, but it certainly is apt. And despite what Jerry Jones said last week or what he says in the immediate aftermath of this game, it is only reasonable to think that the tenure of Wade Phillips is about to quickly fade before the team is allowed to underachieve again in December in 2009.

Next Page »