Will Less Distractions Equal More Wins For The Cowboys In 2009?

It’s been a few months since Terrell Owens and a few others have left for the greener pastures or been sent out to pasture and if you noticed, all is quiet in Valley Ranch. There is no daily T.O. quotes (well with the exception of that tweet he sent), no Pacman Jones police reports, just peace and quiet.

It must be nice for a change that the Dallas Cowboys can go into the off-season with fewer distractions which is unusual for them.  Dallas has always been a talented team, but it’s going to be interesting to see if they will be better off without the distractions of the last few years.

We’ve been hearing for months that the Cowboys should get rid of some of the problem children on the team and to Jerry Jones’ credit, he did just that. Now the questions will be if the Cowboys will be better or worse.

One of the questions that will be asked is will the offense be better or worse now that T.O. is gone?

Wide receiver Roy Williams is the man now for the Cowboys. He will be the primary receiver for quarterback Tony Romo which is not a bad thing. Although Williams wasn’t that productive last season, he still is a pretty good wide out.

The advantages of keeping Williams is he is younger then T.O. and seems to be more of a team player. With T.O. being gone, Romo doesn’t have to feel the need to get Williams the ball every game and he can spread it out a little more. Patrick Crayton is also emerging as a good secondary receiver not to mention they still have tight end Jason Witten.

But it’s time for Romo to step up his game.

One of T.O.’s complaints last season, which was legitimate is that Romo depends on Witten too much rather than his other receivers. But out of all the receivers and tight ends, Witten was, and still is, his most dependable go-to guy on the team, but Romo needs to start making more plays himself and find other ways to win even if the game doesn’t go his way.

Handing the ball off more to Marion Barber in critical situations wouldn’t hurt either. Maybe he’ll be a better quarterback now that the diva is gone. At least that’s what the Cowboys hope that will happen.

As for the defense, they ranked eighth last year in the NFL. Adam “Pacman” Jones impact or, in his case, lack of impact really made no difference. But you could tell when he played he wasn’t the same Pacman as he was in his rookie season. You could tell he was missing a step or two.

The Cowboys main problem towards the end of the season was stopping the run, which it doesn’t look like they have picked up an impact player in the draft to fix that problem.

It would have been nice to see free agent Ray Lewis in a Cowboy uniform. It is crucial that Jerry Jones find replacements for a soon-to-be traded Greg Ellis and departed safety Roy Williams.

Jones is a businessman who likes to take chances, but you wonder if he may have gambled a little bit too much this time. He gambled by letting some of team’s best players go and has gambled by not spending a heck of a lot of money in free agency to find replacements, but the real question will be if this team is able to step up now that most of the distractions and excuses are gone.