Dallas Cowboys: Prepare Yourselves, It's Going to Be Bad

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.