Miles Austin: Struggling Cowboys Need Much Bigger Dose of No. 19, They Also Need

Sometimes the answer to winning more games is staring you right in the face.  And in the case of the Dallas Cowboys, the answer is getting the ball to Miles Austin a heck of a lot more.  He is unquestionably Dallas’ best player.

Think about it.  During the broadcast of last weeks Vikings-Cowboys game, Troy Aikman made it clear that he thought Miles Austin and Andre Johnson were the two best receivers in the entire NFL.  In the entire league!  Wow!

But the Cowboys don’t take full advantage of Austin.  When he got called for pass interference and had his touchdown nullified against the Vikes, Jason Garrett should have gone right back to him over and over again.  He had just blown right past a helpless corner.  Don’t tell me he couldn’t have easily done it again.

Part of the reason defenses fear guys like Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson, and Randy Moss is because they know teams are going to keep throwing the ball to them relentlessly—frustrating the helpless defenses to no end.

Dallas doesn’t do that with Miles.  Just once it would be nice to see them throw to Austin on six consecutive plays—catch or no catch.  If he’s the best in the league, chances are he’s going to make something big happen.  Make the defense stop him on every play.  Defenses are relieved when Romo doesn’t throw to Austin.

This is about coaching, and Garrett needs to do the unconventional and make Austin the team’s unequivocal workhorse and go-to guy.  The coaches have to wake up and do it fast.

I have made it clear that I believe Jon Gruden should be the new coach of the Dallas Cowboys.  But having said that, is it at all possible for the team to still get into the playoffs and do damage?  The answer is yes.

The reason this case can be made is based on pure talent alone.  And don’t bring up the cliché of saying, “It takes more than talent to win games.” 

Would you rather have a team with say the limited talent of the Buffalo Bills as long as they could boast of being the most penalty-free team in the league, or would you take the talented Cowboys and all of their penalty problems?

And let’s not forget, even with all of their mishaps, Dallas has been in every single game late into the fourth quarter, and one could argue that they beat themselves in each of them.  If they can fix this one problem, they have a chance.  But that’s a big if.

The Cowboys may also be falling victim to some terrible officiating.  Yes, every penalty that was called on them against the Vikings was “technically” legit.  But “technically” legit penalties are consistently, I don’t know, NOT CALLED!

NFL officials are finding it increasingly chic to pull out the yellow hanky against the Cowboys.  The ridiculousness and frequency with which the men in stripes are penalizing Dallas is actually embarrassing officials as a whole as much as it is the Cowboys.

But Dallas has to figure this subtlety out and do it quickly.  It’s you against the proverbial world, "Boys.  If you give anyone an opportunity to play a role in ensuring that you fail, they will."

And the Cowboys need to understand that every single team in the league is going to do everything in their power to beat them.  Teams get up to play Dallas like no other.  It’s like a mini Super Bowl for them—especially when the game is played at Cowboy Palace.

Don’t the players in Dallas get this?  I don’t think they do.  So let me spell it out again:

Teams throughout the league hate you, and it makes their seasons just to beat you and laugh about it in your faces.

It’s the price that comes with being labeled “America’s Team.”  Every time a reporter asks Romo what it’s like to play in Dallas under all that pressure he simply brushes it off, claiming that there’s pressure like that in every NFL city.

Uh…no, Tony!  There’s more pressure to win in Dallas than there is anywhere else. Either embrace that fact and stop making excuses, or let Jerry trade you to that pressure cooker known as the Detroit Lions.

At some point, even with all the penalties, the players need good old-fashioned pride to kick in—the pride of wearing the star that Roger Staubach, Bob Lilly, Tony Dorsett, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith wore.

And enough with the excuses!  Yes, Wade Phillips is soft on his players.  Yes, Jason Garrett tends to call very predictable plays.  And yes, Jerry Jones is more involved than most owners.  But these players are extremely well paid, blessed to play for the most popular professional team in all of sports, and afforded the opportunity to perform in the world’s greatest stadium.

It’s time for them to step up as men and earn all of those perks.  The head coach and owner have given them everything they need to be successful.

For all of his shortcomings as a fire-and-brimstone general, Wade Phillips is an outstanding defensive mind—one of the top two or three in the league, and the players should honor that.  The veteran Phillips has earned it over a 30-plus year NFL career.

And Jerry Jones is the most aggressive owner in the league.  What fan wouldn’t want an owner who wants to win the way Jerry does?  He’s also the one who put all of this talent on the field and spent 1.2 billion dollars building one of the “Seven Wonders of the World” for them to show off in.  The players need to recognize and respect that.

And if these players can’t honor Wade and respect Jerry, they should know that those same players who revel in beating the Cowboys on Sunday would give anything to come to Dallas and replace them—to play for Jones in that massive stadium in front of a global fan-base.

The players need to stop acting entitled.  Yes, Dallas is to Cowboy players as Hollywood is to movie stars, but that can be dangerous.  This current crop of players can't afford to walk around town like they've won something, because they haven't, and once they retire, they'll be easily forgotten if they fail to win big.

The 2010 'Boys can still win enough games to get into the playoffs.  And if they do that, they can go on the road and beat anybody.

I wouldn't be worried about having to go on the road to play Arizona, Seattle, New Orleans, Minnesota, Philadelphia or New York. 

They can beat any of those teams anywhere—if they have their heads in the right place.  And that’s the key to everything—especially in overcoming these penalties. 

Only time will tell if they can quickly put it all together.  But the playoff-door is still cracked open.  They just have to kick it in and not look back.