Cowboys Much More than the Team That Bill Built

                As I watched the Cowboys dismantle the Browns Sunday afternoon, I wondered why Jerry Jones still gets so much heat and so little credit.  Jerry Jones haters love to attack him.  They attribute his success to staff he hired, lucky moves, the Minnesota Vikings, and other acts of God.  The reality is that all those factors and many more have contributed to Jerry’s success, and yes, I said success.  The media loves to say that the Cowboys have not won a playoff game in ten years, and I admit that won’t suffice for the Cowboys.  That said, Jerry has earned three more Super Bowl trophies than the media darling Philadelphia Eagles have had in their entire existence.  The fact is Jerry changed this league.  Maligned as a thoughtless and ruthless braggart, Jerry was degraded by his peers and told that he would be the end of the league.  Twenty years later, the other owners can thank Jerry for revolutionizing the way teams and the league generate the mind blowing income they do.  So what of the media declaration that this team is actually just the creation of Bill Parcells?  Well, first of all, Jerry hired Bill to help do just that.  Smart move number one!  But watching Wade Phillips up his mark to 14-3 as the regular season coach of the Cowboys, I could not help but notice a few things. 

Many of the people making the difference on Sunday can thank Jerry 100% for being there.  First of all, and most importantly, there is Jason Garrett.  How many teams have opened their seasons with new offenses and watched those teams struggle.  One need only look at the beloved Redskins and Jason Campbell , who has changed offensive schemes every year of his career, to see what no continuity means for an NFL offense.  Watching Garrett pull the strings on the Cowboys offense Sunday was reminiscent of Norv Turner so many years back.  Could anyone else in the NFL talk a coach with the skill and desire of Jason Garrett into being a coordinator instead of a coach?  Who knows what it took, but only Jerry Jones could make that happen, and he did.  If Garrett is gone, chances are, so are the Cowboys shot at a Super Bowl this year.  At the very least, it would have taken more time for the offense to get it together and maybe even more preseason and more injuries.  Instead, week one looked like a team that was ready to dominate on offense.   Next, I looked at the free agents.  TO was no Parcells pick, and he has makes that offense devastating.  When he went down last year the Cowboys were ordinary.  The Cowboy offensive line pushed a massive Cleveland defensive line all over the field.  I remembered all the experts and arm chair ants declaring how Jerry had overpaid for the then “underachieving” Leonard Davis.  Many declared this the first dumb move of the “no Parcells” era.  Plus, the Cowboys were asking Leonard to move back to his college position of guard.  “That is way too much to pay for a guard,” the experts decried.  Leonard is the anchor of this offense and a brilliant Jerry move.  Watching Romo have all day with his back covered, except for one ugly play, made resigning Flozell Adams brilliant.  How about the no Parcells draft this year?  In the first game of the season, three rookies played key roles.  Felix Jones looks “all-world”, Tashard Choice looks much better than Parcell’s bust Julius Jones and plays mean special teams, and Orlando Scandrick made a big late round contribution with Terrance Newman out.  Heck, we have not even seen Mike Jenkins yet.  I wonder if Bobby Carpenter was calling Bill from the bench to see if he would get him to Miami?   I won’t even bring up how happy I am that Jerry overruled Bill to draft  DeMarcus Ware or the impact of bringing in and resigning Ken Hamlin to save a porous secondary.  My Goodness, there was even and Isaiah Stanbeck sighting!

No one knows what lies ahead in any NFL season, just ask Tom Brady.  The one thing you do know is that Jerry Jones will give his Cowboys everything he can to win.   I am not saying that Bill Parcells and many others have not contributed to the success of the 2008 version of the Dallas Cowboys.  I am saying that Jerry Jones has proven himself to be one of the premier owners and general managers in Sports.  As Jerry finishes building the new Texas Stadium as a Pantheon to the most famous and most valued franchise in sport, He must chuckle when the little arm chair ants declare what a dolt he is.  Well, what am I thinking? Jerry is already thinking a couple years ahead.  He can’t hear the ants.