Cowboys' Super Bowl Road Not Paved By the Draft or Free Agency

Tyron Smith, Michael Huff, Patrick Peterson, JJ Watt.  All possible future Dallas Cowboys and will undoubtedly provide the customary stir of excitement that comes with new toys to go under the Valley Ranch tree.  Stirs of excitement are one thing, but winning and representing in the Super Bowl is altogether another matter. 

The key to a Cowboys Super Bowl revival lies in converting this finesse team to a stout, physical team that is able to sustain the rigors of a brutal NFC division and conference. To do this, they must make a commitment to more physical practices with or without pads. They must also open up the majority of the positions on the team to competition. It’s long been time to toss out the anointing oils Phillips and the gang grew so fond of using.

Brutal down the stretch critical games and playoff games are played during the season but won in mini and training camps where you forge aggression, physicality and a never die attitude. It is this mentality and heart of a team that overcomes key late season games in hostile territory, a rash of injuries or the gauntlet of road playoff games against rested opponents.

Combining physical practices with more practices in pads is a great start and begins to scratch the surface of the problem: not having serious competition at all of the positions.  While it may be unfair to say that any of these players are unmotivated players at heart, it is fair to say based on recent history that some of them have learned bad habits from a coach that has had the worst influence on the temperament of the organization in Cowboys history. 

The Cowboys need to be un-Waded and retrained.  James, Brooking, Newman and Williams need to understand that being experienced has little or nothing to do with playing hungry and affecting the outcomes of games. A big salary and heavy cap hit also should not be cause for them to breathe easy.  And the entire offensive line should hear the same speech, because they had the distinction of being absolutely atrocious. 

New permanent head coach Jason Garrett is fully justified in keeping starting jobs for Romo, Witten, Free and Ware. No one can make a reasonable argument that they haven’t earned starting jobs or accuse them of not making enough plays.

The same can’t be said for all of the other positions on the team.  While previous coaching staffs were considered players’ coaches for the considerate way they dealt with team personnel, it is way past time to be concerned with the feelings of players.  Now is the time at Valley Ranch to decide who can help add to the trophy case and who needs to be freed to go help another team reach that vaunted 6-10 mark. 

The toughness factor of certain units on teams is on full display year after year. The Ravens defense and running game keeps the team a contender year in and year out. The Giants physical offensive line has them in the hunt for the NFC East every season. The Steelers defense makes even their kicker tough.  And the Jets defense and running game have paved the way for their team to be a regular participant in the AFC’s most meaningful games. They beat two unanimous future Hall-of-Famers (Manning and Brady) with a physical defense and running game. 

The Cowboys running game, on the other hand, is regularly shut down, and sometimes it even appears that the opposing defensive linemen are receiving the snap from center. Romo’s ability to escape and improvise has masked some tremendous deficiencies of the offensive line, but he alone cannot forge an identity of toughness and physicality for this team.  

Merely suggesting the Cowboys defense is physical or tough is laughable and could cause the listener or reader to lose IQ.  Dallas played games where offenses moved through its defense with the greatest of ease in the most critical times of the game (see Chicago and New Orleans). This defense is not going to scheme its way into dominance no matter who the coordinator is. Instead, it will take Spencer acting like his next QB sack will save his job. It will take James and Brooking deciding that running backs coming to their neighborhood have to pay a toll when they get past the tackles.

Safeties have to understand that they can no longer continue to provide a sanctuary for receivers down the middle of the field—they protect them as if they are going extinct. Ratliff will have to realize that quickness can get sacks but can also leave holes wide open and that having a stouter nose tackle will help the team stop the run and wear out opposing running backs.   Ratliff needs to see a healthy share of defensive end if the rushing defense is to improve.  Maybe it’s more fun to play nose at 300 lbs. with his quickness, but it’s also more fun for opposing running backs. 

It might be exciting to add Huff in free agency and Smith or Watt in the draft, but Dallas cannot think for a moment that they will change the temperament or character of the team—offensively or defensively.  It’s the other way around, in fact. Dallas must ask what kind of unit or team they want Smith, Huff or Watt to be a part of.

Keep in mind, in 2007 and 2009, the Cowboys were 13-3 and 11-5 respectively. In one of those drafts, they had no first or second rounder.  And no starters resulted from the draft other than the kicker. In the other draft, they selected Anthony Spencer (15.5 sacks in four years), Doug Free (couldn’t get on field his first 2 years) and Alan Ball, who became the fourth corner.

In the 2010 draft, when they went 6-10, they got Dez Bryant and Sean Lee, who both proved to be highly productive starters and reserves. In the 2008 draft, when they went 9-7, they drafted Felix Jones, Tashard Choice, Mike Jenkins and Martellus Bennett, who have all spent time as productive starters and reserves. There is little correlation between draft success and winning for this team in large part because the issues lie in the foundation and not in the personnel.

Cowboy fans should enjoy the draft and watch the free agency updates when the time comes, but make no mistake, clues for whether or not they are Super Bowl bound will come from updates on position battles and the toll of training camp. Show me three or four 2010 starters who in 2011 will call the Cowboys bench home, and I will show you a team that is beginning to show its teeth and develop the instinct that the other NFL killers possess.

The Super Bowl this year may not be in Cowboys stadium, but with some heated competition this summer, the eyes of the world could once again be trained on the Cowboys star come February 2012.