If the Oakland Raiders have taught us one thing, it's that you cannot build a team with all the bad men in the league and expect to win.
The Dallas Cowboys need to take a serious look in the mirror, and figure out if they want to be the Oakland Raiders in 10 years. That is where they are headed. Jerry Jones might as well start shopping for track suits.
Observe: the carousel of knuckleheads currently parading through the Cowboys locker room.
T.O.: the hated endzone-dancing, team-destroying, waste of space that had the chance to be great in Philly and blew it up for a few dollars more.
Tank Johnson was arrested multiple times, kicked out of Chicago, and is now playing a position in a defense he's not really suited to.
And don't let me forget, Pacman. If only he were just a chubby yellow blip, it would be so much easier. He's a bad person. Period. He shows no inclination to change, and his assertions that he has or will, should be treated as bold-faced lies.
He's going to do it again.
Jerry Jones goes nuts every year at free agency, boldly ignoring the trend of Super Bowl-winning teams being built in good drafts and smart free agent additions. The Colts, Patriots, Steelers, Giants, and Eagles routinely draft more players than the other teams, and sign fewer big name free agents.
Yet all of them have won or played in a Super Bowl in this decade. The teams that go nuts in free agency, like the Cowboys and Raiders, sometimes hit it right for a year, but inevitably slide downward.
I think this year is the year the Cowboys will start imploding.
Wade Phillips is a nice guy, but he's a lame-duck coach. Jerry Jones is paying his offensive coordinator more money just to keep him away from other teams until Phillips screws up enough to be fired. The players know it, so they know the first sign of adversity is going to result in a coaching change.
So why should they listen to him about anything? Cowboys fans should also be concerned with the exodus of Bill Parcells' people from their staff. Parcells has stolen almost all the key personnel that built the Cowboys team that won 13 games last year. That ain't good.
Jerry Jones likes "yes" men—people who agree with him. That's why both his kids work in the front office. He knows he can control Jason Garrett, mold the team to his liking, and he's just enough of an egomaniac to think he can run the team to a championship.
He cannot. Without a great coach to stand up to him, he picks bad players and signs costly, ineffective big-name free agents. I would not be surprised if within two seasons the team is back to 5-11.
Well, at least the new stadium will be nice.
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4 months ago
Big Eagles fan here. Let's hope you're right!
from 4 months ago
Well, I'm sorry to say that I'm sounding like you guys here, all doom and gloom. Next thing you know I'll be pelting Santa Claus with beer bottles.
4 months ago
You need to seriously put down the crack pipe, dude. After ranting and raving about how Jerry goes hog wild every off season and Philly plays it cool, this year, Philly went and signed Samuel to some 6/60 contract and Jerry didn't sign any free agents. Adam Jones was a trade, and a very good one at that. If he doesn't play, Dallas gets a 4th back. If he screws up, Dallas gets a 5th rounder. A very small gamble. For the most part, TO and Tank Johnson have been very under the radar. I tell you, I was against TO coming to Dallas big time. But I stand corrected. He seems to be genuinely trying to be a team guy. He still has his flare ups, but a lot of guys do.
The coaches who replaced Parcells' guys are no slouches. They were really good position coaches and that's why they got promoted to DC and HC jobs. They weren't so good there, except Campo, who was a good Defensive Coordinator.
I think you're just a Dallas hater and you always see the glass half empty when it comes to Dallas.
from 4 months ago
Actually, I am a Cowboys fan, have been one for over 15 years. I'm just objective about my sports teams. I'm not saying they're going to drop to 5-11 this year, but the age and makeup of the team is in contrast to the models of success we are currently seeing in the league. I just feel that as soon as a little tiny losing streak hits, the team will bust apart because there is no foundation of leadership in the coaching staff or, as far as I can see it, on the field as well. Romo is a good, solid QB, but there are a lot of problems I can see going down.
Personally I hope it all turns out great, but I'm a pragmatist, not an optimist.
4 months ago
Most blogger should be shot and you're no exception. Get a real job.
from 4 months ago
You do realize this is a sports writing website? What else are blogs but editorials on certain subjects.
BTW, I run a hotel in Washington state and go to college full time, this is just for shits and giggles.
4 months ago
"If the Oakland Raiders have taught us one thing, it's that you cannot build a team with all the bad men in the league and expect to win."
At the same time, if Jerry Jones has taught us anything, it's that if a team can find a retired former pro bowl Cowboys' running back who is an Ivy League alumnus with a special gift for counseling troubled players, he can take reasonable risks on signing players considered irredeemable by other teams.
The championship teams of the 90's were to a great extent built on a defense, the cornerstone of which was Charles Haley--a player cut loose by San Francisco which considered him an intractable social misfit with a severe anger-management problem.
Then, too, there is T.O., branded by the Eagles' front office, the press, and the vast majority of fans as a malignant individual who would spread his egocentricity and discontent like a pox throughout the Dallas organization.
Very few individuals in any walk of life are utterly beyond redemption.
There is something in the water at Valley Ranch that miraculously appeared with the arrival of Calvin Hill.
If Hill, a brilliant and exemplary man who has an outstanding record of bringing out the best in a troubled player has signed off on Pacman Jones, Cowboy fans can rest easily.
from 4 months ago
You may be right, I can't help but remember those teams in the 90's that really made me fall in love with the Cowboys. The difference I see on those teams, with the exception of Charles Haley, is that those miscreants were drafted or signed at around the same time and were on the team when it rose from 1-11 to the Super Bowl. I don't know if the mercenary atmosphere that seems to pervade the team at this point has the same sense of comraderie as those teams did. In addition, Jimmy Johnson was a powerful presence in the locker room and front office, he kept Jerry Jones in check and exerted his will on the team. Do you see Wade Phillips doing the same? Or Jason Garrett, as it inevitably will be?
4 months ago
Well said, Aaron. I like this article, it's written well, but I'm a Cowboys fan so it is hard to stomach. I am very afraid of Wade! He is a lame-duck coach, and when we lost to the Giants in the playoffs, he looked rattled on that final drive in which Romo threw the pick that sealed it. I was never sold on Wade, and until one of his teams win a big game I never will be.
As far as Pacman, the risk for the Cowboys is so small that long as he doesn't go shoot someone or do something utterly ridiculous to hurt team morale, he can do nothing but help. We didn't have to give up much for him, so I'm not really worried about him. I just worry about the mental toughness and ability to lead of Wade Phillips and Jerry "I Own You" Jones wrecking the team if they slide. You are right about Garrett waiting in the wings and that isn't fair. Hopefully we can play over that and be successful this season where these inevitable issues can be put off for awhile.
Great article, though!
from 4 months ago
Winning is the balm that soothes all aches. Nothing I've mentioned will come to pass this year as long as they win. But the Giants are back, the Eagles are better, the Redskins are essentially the same, so not really a threat. It's a tough division, and one thing is certain, the league never shakes out the way we think.
As for Pacman being a low-risk item, he is in the sense that he could cause an uproar in the locker room. There is usually only one high profile primadonna in every locker room, and having more than one is a big risk. I think the risk is much more on that end than any other. But you are right, if he keeps his nose clean, we got a top-ten cornerback for a 4th round pick, and he's an exceptional punt and kick returner as well. High risk, high reward.
4 months ago
i have to disagree. Jerry Jones is a hard guy to deal with. he doesn't take crap from anyone, which is exactly the reason Owens, Jones, and Johnson fit so nicely into the line up. i'm absolutely a hopeful thinker since I'm a Dallas fan, and i am very bias. so my opinion may be tainted. but i have seen what Jerry Jones has done in the past. i know that Jones has been there as a large part of building three of the five Super Bowl championships in the 90's. Just because Dallas has not been the top in the past decade means not very much. Since there were only eight different champions in the last 10 years and 14 different teams who made it to the championship game in the last 10 years. I'm not scared at all that the cowboys will fall apart. Owens is happy on the cowboys, and Jerry Jones won't put up with crap from any of the other guys, so they won't have enough time to screw anything up. As for Phillips, if Jones decides to get rid of him, then it only means he has someone better for the job. So all in all, i value your oppinion, and give you my own. Dallas fans don't start worrying about them yet, as for this year. expect big things!
4 months ago
There you go, some Philly fans get out of control and nobody can forget it. Not only that, but now all Eagles fans are being blended together into one ugly, mean mess. Have you ever even been to an Eagles game? So long as you don't wear your Cowboys jersey, you should be fine. Read my article on the topic.
Me, I'm 12 years old and haven't attended a game in my life.
from 4 months ago
philly is a horrible place. i live a few hours from there. when dallas played philly at philly the first year owens played with dallas. when people were leaving someone yelled thats T.O's car. it was a nice BMW it wasn't his car for real. but when someone yelled that. someone else kicks the headlights out. it is how philly is. they'll run people from the city no matter how good they are. personally i would have done the same thing T.O did. i would much rather play for a team who has a winning tradition. a team who can say they hold 5 rings. and the most trips to the superbowl. if i wasn't apart of that legacy, then i'd be trying to get out or get more just like him.
4 months ago
As I said, some Philly fans can be really nasty.
from 4 months ago
I don't mean to lump every Eagles fan into one lump, but en masse the Eagles fans seem to be more pessimistic, mean-spirited, and prone to causing trouble. There are a few places I'd say are as bad or worse, like Oakland, and most European and South American soccer fans are 100 times worse than the most horrible Philly fan. You seem to be a relatively well grounded 12 year old, and a decent writer at that, so keep it up. Try to stay grounded, remember, there is lots worse than being an Eagles fan. You at least have good teams to rally around most years. Try being a Detroit Lions fan, with no present, no past, and no future success.
4 months ago
That's true. You bring up a good point.
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