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Next Year’s Champions – Again

Posted by EyesOfTX on December 28th, 2008 under Football

Those of us who are over 45 or so can remember when the Dallas Cowboys were tagged with the label of “next year’s champions” – the team that always looked good to those making pre-season predictions, but which invariably fell short when it came time to produce in the late-season and the playoffs.  Today’s thrashing at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles brought to mind the 52-10 shellacking the Don Meredith-led Cowboys suffered 40 years ago at the hands of the Cleveland Browns. 

Like those 1968 Cowboys, the team today showed up uninspired, uncoordinated on either side of the ball, and were mentally and physically dominated by a team with less-famous talent.  Jerry Jones gave Wade Phillips a half-assed vote of confidence this week - expect Wade to be fired before this week is over.  Jason Garrett is another matter, obviously, but his days as a highly-regarded offensive genius have come face to face with reality, and lost.  Jerry will need a scapegoat here, and Phillips is the obvious target.  A second go-round as “next year’s champions” is better than the annual doormat the team became in the late ’90s for most of a decade, but it’s certainly not where JJ had hoped the franchise would be as it prepares to move into its new billion dollar monstrosity of a stadium.

On the subject of the team itself, I can’t think of two more disastrously awful acquisitions for one team in the same year as PacMan Jones and Roy Williams have been for the Cowboys this year. I’d have told both of them to take off their uniforms at halftime today.  I don’t know what is wrong with Roy – perhaps he’s playing injured -  but he has been uniformly horrible since coming to Dallas, and today played like a brain dead jr. high schooler.  PacMan Jones is just as worthless as any player I’ve ever seen. Great athletic ability, but zero discipline or fundamental knowledge of how to play the game.

Were it not for the vagaries of the salary cap, I’d suggest the Cowboys should give Romo, Terrell Owens, PacMan and a few others their outright releases, and go after some free agents in the off season. Matt Cassell is going to be a free agent, and if it were possible for Dallas to jettison Romo, he’d be a hell of an alternative to bring in. But that can’t happen, of course, due to the impact Romo will have on the team’s salary structure for 2009.  So they’re stuck with Romo, for better or worse.  Jones is another matter – he can be replaced by any minimum salary CB, and the team won’t suffer in any way for the exchange.

Owens is another guy they can dump with minimal salary cap impact after this season, and the Cowboys should do it without giving it a thought.  That is, unless Roy Williams is not playing hurt, and is just as bad as he has looked since coming to Dallas.  If that is the case, then they’ll probably need to keep Owens around just to have enough playable bodies at the WR position.

It has become readily apparent now that Marion Barber is not only NOT an every down back in the NFL, he is now only the third best RB on the Cowboys’ roster, behind Choice and Felix Jones. I’d suggest the team might want to shop him around to see if they could at least get a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick, to make up for some of the damage they did to their team by trading for Roy Williams.   The team is going to need to find an alternative to Flozell Adams at left tackle, as Adams’ knees have degenerated to the point where he simply can’t cope with any competent speed rusher.  Left guard is also an obvious problem spot that needs to be addressed.

Defensively, the team is loaded. Any competent DC could take this talent and field a top ten defensive unit with it. The main sore spot is safety – Hamlin is good but not great, but other than him, there’s not much there to work with.

What it all comes down to in the end is that until JJ is willing to bring in a real head coach and give him real control of the team, the Cowboys are doomed to continued failure, regardless of the talent they put on the field.   Bill Cowher is out there waiting for a high-profile opportunity to come his way, and he’d be an obvious place to start looking.  Whether or not a real coach like Cowher would be willing to work for Jerry is questionable, but you never know unless you ask.

JJ definitely should ask.
 

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8 Responses

  1. Uptown Dallas Douchebag said:

    December 28th, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    As a devoted fair weather fan, this upsets me greatly. I really wanted to get more wear out of my blue Romo jersey. Now I have to shelve it until it’s cool to root for the Cowboys again. Unfortunately, I can’t replace it with Modano gear since the Stars are bottom-dwellers so I’d look like a complete idiot wearing anything Stars-related around town right now. Same goes for the non-first-place Mavericks and that Russian dude whose jersey I bought a couple of years ago.

    I guess I’ll just have to resign myself to wearing my Kobe Lakers jersey or some shit. That’s cool. I like them too, ’cause LA is almost as cool a town as Dallas, and they’re winning.

  2. The Dude said:

    December 28th, 2008 at 5:19 pm

    You’re being too hard on Barber who has been nothing short of a warrior for the Boys when healthy. Clearly he is not right now. I also think Roy needs a camp to get on the same page as Romo to be effective, without TO around to screw with chemistry.

    Like it or not we’re wearing Romo until his contract expires in 2029.

    But you’re right on. Show TO, Tank, Crayton (should have happened last year), and Henry the door. Show Wade and Pacman the door that kicks them in the nuts while it closes.

  3. EyesOfTX said:

    December 28th, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    Dude: Barber obviously is not right at the moment, and hasn’t been for weeks. But it’s been apparent all year that the Cowboys cannot field a competent running attack early on in games with Barber manning the tailback slot. He is just a bull rusher who is effective when the opposing defense is tired in the 4th quarter. He does not have the moves or field vision to dominate early in games, as Choice obviously does.

    I like Barber as a player, but only in a specific role. He’s just a limited guy, and the team needs to recognize that about him.

  4. The Dude said:

    December 28th, 2008 at 5:44 pm

    You’re right that Barber’s role is the bull rusher – but I think you underestimate HIS impact in tiring out opposing defenses. Jones will be big for Dallas, and Choice has been a great surprise, but in terms of physical leadership I really think this team takes its cue from a healthy Barber. The guy initiates contact like nobody else in the league at his position except for B Jacobs, who has a lot more going for him physically.

    I gotta disagree with you that he hasn’t been the answer all year at TB. When Romo went down teams keyed on Barber and rightly so, making it almost impossible for him to have the same sucess. At any level when a team is one dimensional results change drastically.

    Sure, Dallas’s most rich position is at RB. But I really don’t think any duo/trio would be as effective w/out a healthy Barber banging on the opposing D 15+ times a game.

  5. PatronSaint said:

    December 29th, 2008 at 6:57 am

    I’m on the Dude’s side here. Barber is the least of the Cowboys’ problems. Or, rather, not a problem. Whatever.

    One thing that people don’t praise him enough for is being able to rocket himself forward for that extra yard when he is bottled up. Once it is clear he is going to be tackled, he just launches his body upfield. It is good for an extra first down or two every game.

  6. EyesOfTX said:

    December 29th, 2008 at 7:06 am

    Patron Saint – you’re misunderstanding my point. I don’t consider Barber to be a “problem”, I consider him to be an asset whose limitations make him expendable to the team. In Felix Jones and Tashard Choice, you have two very good NFL backs who far more fit the NFL prototype than does Barber. Barber is a fine guy to have around as a role player, but not an every down back – thus, he is expendable as trade bait, if you can get something of value in return for him. I’m not sure you can, but it’d certainly be worth a try.

    If you take a look at the great backs in the NFL over the last 20 years or so, none of them look like Barber. The prototype guy is a smallish, quick back who can make little cuts in traffic and break tackles when necessary. They’re 5′9″ to 5′11, 185 to 210 lbs. Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Priest Holmes, Marshall Faulk, etc. Adrian Peterson represents a notable exception, but he has speed and agility that Barber simply lacks.

    If the Cowboys possessed a great, power-blocking line, then Barber would be great to have. But they don’t, and that limits Barber’s real effectiveness to the 4th quarter, when the opposing D is tired.

    He’s not a bad back at all – in fact, he’s probably above average. And he’s certainly no part of the “problem” with the team. He’s just an asset who is expendable, given the tremendous talent possessed by the other guys at his position.

  7. anonymous said:

    December 29th, 2008 at 11:45 am

    I’d like to see the cowboys pick up a huge NT that is dominant against the run. Dominant 3-4 defenses always have one. Ratliff is a good player, but is more of a pass rusher, in my opinion. The Dallas defense is a little on the finesse side in my opinion.

    The hole at safety is glaring. Ceasing to play Roy Williams was a start, but he has to actually be replaced by someone. Maybe this is the year that Henry moves over.

    I think a lot of the problems you attribute to Barber early in football games are actually due to O-line play and Jason Garrett. I don’t see Barber missing too many holes. But since the cowboys have Jones and Choice, I wouldn’t mind jettisoning Barber. That’s too much money to have tied up in running backs when recent history around the league shows you can get one on the cheap (look no further than Choice). But I doubt any team would give much for him for this very reason.

    Anyways, its probably a waste of time to hope that Dallas will make any material improvements as a team as long as JJ is doing his fantasy football manager imitation.

  8. EyesOfTX said:

    December 29th, 2008 at 12:10 pm

    No, Barber doesn’t “miss” too many holes, but early in games, he is too slow to get to some that Choice and Jones have no problem exploiting.

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