Silver and BlueBlood

love is in the air

My Dearest Wade,

I have noticed how giddy you have been during our alone time lately. It warms my heart to see you so happy…especially at Christmas.

I know you had hoped to find a contract extension in your stocking. Please don’t think I am a Grinch for not putting it there. Besides, everybody loves an Applebee’s gift card. Take your lovely family out to dinner there on me and have a nice fat, juicy steak for yourself. You deserve it.

I cannot express how much it means to me to have beaten the previously undefeated Saints. They were just way too full of themselves. It was especially sweet because that coach, whats-his-name, the one who used to languish anonymously on our staff when Purcells (I know it is PAR·cells, but I always said it pur·CELLS, just to tick off the overrated Tuna) was making me and everybody else around here miserable as heck.

Isn’t it just wonderful how that smug SOB has his team under .500 and set to miss the playoffs and that little Tuna Helper up there in the Big Easy—and it was easy, wasn’t it? Like taking candy from a baby—getting knocked off his “I’m a football genius” pedestal?

But, anyways. I digress. Back to your giddiness. I know you heard my interview with the Sunday Night Football bunch and got all excited. I know you think it means that an extension of your contract is inevitable. But did you really listen to what I said? Did you hear what I didn’t say?

Let me remind you of my words:

“When I look at our team and I look where our needs are and where our input needs to be, I like Wade Phillips’ skills there. I just want for him and for our Cowboys fans to culminate in a Super Bowl run.

“There’s nothing in me right now that wants to make a coaching change, that thinks we need to make a coaching change. I want that feeling ratified by some success and we’re at the cusp, maybe, of being able to have it.”

So, yes, my dear Wade, I did confess my love for you.

Of course I like having you for my coach. You don’t suck like Chan Gailey or Dave Campo. You aren’t disinterested like Barry Switzer. You know football, but you don’t insist on actually being the coach the way Jimmy Johnson and Bill Parcells did. You are perfect for me. You let me be the coach when I want to be, but never call attention to the fact I am doing it. You…complete me.

I love you, Wade. But even love has its limits.

You will note in my words that I said I wanted this thing to “culminate (get your mind out of the gutter) in a Super Bowl run,” and I mean it. I say it is for the fans, but you know it is really for me. My legacy is in danger. Those three Super Bowls in the nineties, and all the goodwill they bought me, are no longer enough currency to stave off a mutiny if we don’t win a playoff game soon. You hear me, Wade? A Playoff game, damn you!

No more of this “well, we finished in the top eight” crap, either. You make yourself look like a loser and an idiot and that hurts me, because it makes me look like a fool for loving you.

Am I a fool, Wade? I don’t think so. I want this feeling ratified. Justify my love, Wade. Gratify my ego, Wade. Satisfy our fans, Wade.

Or, we are through.

Happy New Year.

I remain…

Your Biggest (and sometimes only) Fan,

Jerry Jones

Popularity: 15% [?]

Not quite there yet, Red

Many have clamored for Jason Garrett’s termination; I have not.

Some have noted a dearth of Jason Garrett criticism in my writing. While I have called Wade Phillips everything, but something good to eat and have been vocal on the notion that he is not the type of head coach this team (or any team with an eye toward the ultimate prize) needs, I have been less inclined to cram an editorial boot up the proverbial arse of the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator.

The reason for this apparent discrepancy is simple: I believe that Wade Phillips’ body of work as a head coach is sufficient to deem him unsuitable to take a team to an elite status and keep it there for any length of time. He has shown that his leadership skills are as wanting as his defensive schemes skills are effective.

He has managed to post a better-than-average regular season record (79-54), but has never won a single playoff game as a head coach.

Jason Garrett, on the other hand, is still young and relatively new to the position of offensive coordinator. Phillips is past 60 and set in his ways. He is what he is and that is what he is going to be. Garrett is 43 and still growing and developing as a coordinator.

Sure, there have been misfires. At times, it has appeared that Garrett lacked the ability to adjust on the fly. Sometimes, he has appeared to get stuck in one mode or another or he has worked too hard to shoehorn one player or another into the game plan.

Of course, the position of armchair offensive coordinator is quite easy. Any informed football fan can fill it. When you have the benefit of hindsight and the knowledge of how a play,a drive, or a game plan actually worked or failed to work, it is not difficult to draw up a better scheme in your mind.

But let’s not overlook the positive impact he has had on Tony Romo and the Cowboys’ offense.

Remember, it was just a season ago that Garrett was the hottest head coach prospect in the NFL. He was courted by the Baltimore Ravens and the Atlanta Falcons and it was reported he could have taken either of those jobs. The prospects of losing Garrett prompted Jones to make him the highest paid assistant coach in the NFL (and in the history of the league, for that matter). Phillips promoted Garrett, naming him assistant head coach.

Though it was denied, many assumed at the time that Jones and Garrett had some sort of gentleman’s agreement that made the highly-regarded coordinator the de facto head coach-in-waiting for the Dallas Cowboys.

Unfortunately Garrett’s freshman season, which saw him mold, guide, and direct one of the NFL’s most prolific offenses and help the Cowboys to a 13-3 regular season record, was followed by a sophomore flop. The 2008 edition of the Cowboys collapsed and crumbled at season’s end, closing out the season with humiliating losses to the Ravens and the Eagles.

They finished the season 9-7 and missed the playoffs entirely. Furthermore, after being ranked second in the NFL in points per game and third in yardage in 2007, the Cowboys fell to 18th and 13th respectively in ’08.

Suddenly, Jason Garrett’s rising star was seen more as a plummeting, gaseous meteorite, crashing into the Cowboys’ shiny new home. Crash and burn; yesterday’s hero became today’s goat.

”Get rid of the bum,” has been the cry of many.

Never mind that Tony Romo’s play has continued to improve and impress. The oft-maligned quarterback has now gone four consecutive games without throwing a pick for the first time in his career.

Never mind that an undrafted free agent wide receiver,Miles Austin,has begun to establish himself as one of the league’s best. Never mind that the running game has appeared formidable at times and unstoppable at others.

Never mind that the offense is currently ranked third in the NFL in yards gained. Never mind that we have never seen a team run a better draw play.

Never mind that every week Garrett shows a new wrinkle. Remember that play on the goal line against the Chargers, where they faked a screen pass on each side and then hit a wide open Patrick Crayton in the end zone?

It is true that the offense has stalled in the red zone more than a time or two. It is true that more than a few drives have ended with a deflating missed field goal by former kicker Nick Folk. It is true that the team’s point production does not jibe with the massive amounts of yardage they have racked up.

It is also true that patience is a virtue. It was not that many years ago that Sean Payton, the current offensive genius in the league, was being stripped of his play-calling duties in New York. Think anyone thought then that he would be what is he now?

Like Payton, Garrett has shown himself to possess an innovative offensive mind. Like Payton, Garrett appears to be a steadying influence on the sideline. Like Payton, Garrett has had to fight his way through the on the job learning curve.

I believe that, like Payton, Garrett will soon prove himself to be the winner we all believed he was in 2007. In fact, I am not entirely convinced that he is not the right man to take the helm in Dallas when Jerry finally says goodbye to Phillips. How is that for a minority opinion? The Republicans will get more say on health care than I will get supporters on that one, I am sure.

I know that after 13 years of frustration, Cowboys fans are not inclined to patience. That particular virtue is wearing thin. But, where Jason Garrett is concerned, it will pay off.

Believe that.

Popularity: 24% [?]

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the stands
Not a person was cheering, not one single fan.
They all held their breath in the brisk night air,
And wondered if Santa would bypass them this year.

Their faces were painted all silver and blue,
With streaks of flesh-color from a stray tear or two.
And mom in her Nine jersey, and me in my cap,
Hoped our team would not go for that long winter’s nap.

Ho Ho Ho, Y'All

When out on the lawn I heard the snow splatter
And sprang from my chair to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a news paper predicting another bad year.

With a flick of his pen, and his sharp-edged wit,
The writer predicted the team would just quit.
He called to my memory Christmases past,
And he smirked and insisted, “This winning won’t last!”

“Now Phillips! now, Romo! now, Garrett and Witten!
And Newman, and Spencer, they’ll all be a-quittin’!
So don’t get your hopes up, you silly old fan,
These guys will collapse and disappoint you again!”

With dry lips and wet eyes, I read on with a sigh,
Who’s this fool anyway? Just a regular guy.
Not Nostradamus anymore than I.
So I rolled up that paper and started a fire.

And then with a sigh, I said to St. Nick
Come rescue this season and come do it quick.
Surely you’ve room in that magical sleigh,
To bring us a victory this coming Sunday.

We will leave the roof open so you can get in,
And we’ll greet you with shouting and clamoring din.
And we’ll hear you exclaim as you take off again,
“Merry Christmas to all…except you Redskins.”

Popularity: 4% [?]

It was supposed to be the perfect night. It was to be the perfect cherry atop the perfect season in the perfect place. New

Perfect!

Orleans, the city hammered by Katrina and then pummeled by FEMA, would show the world their indomitable spirit and their unique ability to party their way through any sort of disaster and come out the other end, drink in hand, shouting “I dare ya” in the Devil’s face.

It was the perfect stage: They had the national spotlight all to themselves. It was the perfect opponent: that hated team with the silver pants, the shiny new silver – and – glass stadium, all those silver Lombardi trophies…and that infuriating silver spoon stuck in their smug gobs.

The have-nots would finally deal the haves their come-uppance. It would be glorious. It would be…perfect!

The crowd was sauced. The signs were all made and ready to wave in America’s face. The pundits—to a man (this one included)—were all certain this contest would belong to “dem Saints.” The “Who Dats” were finally set to become the “We Dats.” This would be the last major challenge, the last big hurdle to get over. Then, the boys in the Gold and Black would sprint down the homestretch and into the playoffs, sporting a perfect 16 – 0 record, and ready to zip past all NFC comers to the Super Bowl, where the other perfect team—the 16 – 0 Colts—would be waiting to play them in the perfect ending to the perfect season.

Perfection would show his elusive face in the Cowboys—Saints contest Saturday night, December 19, 2009. Only he would have a mind of his own. He would choose the wrong team. He would shun the Fleur de Lis and, instead, don the Star.

Perfection would be the Redheaded Boy Genius calling all the right plays, pushing all the right buttons. Here a run; there a run. Now a deep pass. Cowboys 7, Saints 0. Perfection would return a punt, pound the rock, dash up the sideline, blast defenders off the line, and finally, dive, braided locks flying, into the end zone. Cowboys 14, Saints 0.

Perfection would be bookend linebackers named DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer harassing the league’s newest darling, Drew Brees. They would hurry his throws, hit him in the chops, flush him from the pocket, sling him to the ground…and then do it some more. Perfection would be Ware, a wounded linebacker who wasn’t expected to play in the contest, making two key sacks, forcing two key turnovers, and sealing victory for the underdogs.

Perfection would be the other quarterback: The one who couldn’t win the big games. The one who folds like a K-Mart umbrella when the calendar reads December. While Drew Brees turned the ball over three times, Tony Romo—for the fourth consecutive week—avoided throwing an interception. What he did throw was a perfect deep ball to Miles Austin to put his team up 7 – 0.

Romo protected the ball. He managed the game. He rallied the troops. And when he needed to, he threaded the needle.

Perfection was a team motivated by necessity. Perfection wore the grim look of determination on its face and played with a distinct sense of desperation. He didn’t need a field goal from Nick Folk to seal the game, nor did he require a key third down catch from the still way – too – erratic receiver Roy Williams. Who needs those guys when even Bobby Carpenter is making plays?

As it turns out, the underachieving Cowboys were the perfect spoiler for the horseshoe-carrying Saints. New Orleans should have lost to Washington. They could have lost to Carolina. They didn’t. Luck was partnering with Perfection, conspiring to keep their perfect season intact. The Saints just kept winning and winning and winning…until most everyone was convinced they would never do anything but win.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys had held the high-scoring Chargers to their lowest season scoring output. They had strung together five straight weeks of stellar defensive performances. On offense, they had moved the ball at times with precision, only to break down in the red zone. They just had not put it all together for an entire game since their big win in Philadephia.

The Cowboys were better than they appeared. The Saints were not quite as good as they seemed. So, the Cowboys did what no one gave them a chance to do: They won the game, 24 – 17.

The Saints still control their own destiny. They still have the conference lead in wins. Now, the Cowboys control theirs, as well. If they can post wins in their last two games—against the 4 – 9 Redskins and the 9 – 4 Eagles, they will win their division.

Who knows? These same two teams may meet in the same place in a few weeks with much more on the line.

Wouldn’t that be…perfect?

Popularity: 6% [?]

How do you heal a broken heart?

It was the best of times (for some). It was the worst of times (for us).

And so it ends. In a few days hence, just like that, the clock strikes midnight, Dec. 31, 2009, and the first decade of the 21st Century draws to an end.

It came in like a lion, with the threat of worldwide computer failure—the presumed result of the Y2K bug that so many experts feared would cripple the computers of the world, impacting everything from drinking water to banking systems. (Of course, the whole thing was much ado about nothing.)

It came in like a lion, as just one year into the decade, on the 11th day of the ninth month, terror struck at the heart of America. No one would ever utter the phrase 9/11 the same way again.

And now, with Congress locked in what seems an interminable debate over health care reform, with the economy stuck in the deep freeze of recession, with the election of the first black president and the declaration of Camelot II already losing its luster…this decade goes out like a lamb, slipping into the vault of human history, waiting its turn to be prodded, analyzed, labeled, and forever put on the shelf—another volume in the ever-expanding library of Father Time.

But what, you ask, of the NFL?

For the National Football League, the 2000s (old timers would call this decade The Aughts) will be remembered as the decade of dominance. The league took center stage on the American sports scene, easily outdistancing Major League Baseball to become America’s new pastime.

Glorious new stadiums rose like mighty Sphinxes from the earth to be filled to the brim and boiling over with fans eager to spend their disposable income—and their children’s inheritance, if need be—to be entertained by the American Gladiators, otherwise known as NFL players.

The team of the decade? The New England Patriots, of course.

For the Patriots, it was the best of times. They became the second team to win three Super Bowls in four years. They became the first NFL team to finish the regular season 16–0. They came within a miraculous Eli Manning-led drive of becoming only the second team in history to log an undefeated season, capped with the Super Bowl championship. Under the guidance of the derelict-looking genius head coach—and known cheater—Bill Belichick, the Patriots put together as good a decade as any team ever did.

But what, you wonder, of the Dallas Cowboys?

Ah, now we get to the meat of this New Year’s Eve dinner. You waded through this lengthy introduction to get down to the nitty gritty: How about them Cowboys?

Unfortunately, my anxious friend with the quiver in your voice and the gleam of hope in your eye, for your Cowboys, the Aughts (OK, the 2000s) were the worst of times.

Any way you slice it, the fifth decade of the NFL’s flagship franchise was as forgettable as a Friday night at home. It was far and away the worst decade in team history, and it came right after the best. Not a single Lombardi Trophy was added to the collection at Valley Ranch. In fact, there was not so much as a playoff victory to add to team lore.

The decade began with a volatile little madman named Dave Campo ranting and raving on the sideline and will conclude with the docile, doughy, take-it-all-in-stride Wade Phillips wandering aimlessly through another so-so season, all while relishing moral victories and congratulating his team on “fighting hard.”

Sandwiched between them was the football genius—if you don’t believe me on the “genius” part, ask him or anyone from New Jersey—Bill Parcells, doing his dead-level best to maneuver around the interferences of Jerry Jones to return the franchise to its rightful place of football glory.

Parcells failed to manage glory, but he did at least restore a level of respectability and left in his wake a roster many describe as being “as talented as any team in football.” (Maybe they are. If so, what a sad indictment on the whole team, from management to coaching to the players on the field. Such underachievement.)

I see the doubt on your face. You just cannot believe that, as bad as it was, this was the worst decade in team history. Fine. I will break it down, decade by decade.

Are your sitting down? Here goes…

The 1960s

Coach: Tom Landry

Record: 67 – 65 – 6

Winning Percentage: 50.7%

Playoffs: Four times

Championships: None

Remember now, this decade includes the birth of the franchise—and that first 0-11-1 season of theirs. The Cowboys did not even have the benefit of a draft their first year but were forced to pick up the castoffs and leftovers from the established franchises in order to field a team.

Still, with the steady hand of the fedora-topped Tom Landry at the helm, the Cowboys would play in their first Conference championship game in 1966. They would make the Conference championship again in 1967 and would make the divisional round in ’68 and ’69.

The 1970s

Coach: Tom Landry

Record: 105 – 39 – 0

Winning Percentage: 75.9%

Playoffs: NINE times!

Championships: Two

The 1970s Dallas Cowboys were as much the team of the decade as the Steelers. Their ridiculous winning percentage, their nine trips to the playoffs in those 10 years, their five Super Bowl appearances and two championships all put them in the rarefied air of a true dynasty. The ’70s Cowboys were 13-7 in playoff games.

The 1980s

Coaches: Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson

Record: 79 – 73 – 0

Winning Percentage: 51.9%

Playoffs: Five times

Championships: None

The 1980s saw the ascendancy of Danny White to starting quarterback, due to Roger Staubach’s retirement after the ’79 season. The decade also saw the greatest run of winning football in league history finally come to an end, as Landry’s team aged and poor drafts led to the dilution of talent near the end of the decade.

The decade ended with the brash Arkansas wildcatter named Jerry Jones storming into Dallas, buying the team, and summarily firing the greatest—and most revered—legend in the city’s history, Tom Landry. The decade that began with three trips to the NFC championship game would end with Jimmy Johnson cleaning house and going 1-15 in his initial season, featuring, essentially, a bunch of rag-tag vagabonds and a rookie quarterback named Troy Aikman.

The 1990s

Coaches: Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer, Chan Gailey

Record: 101 – 59 – 0

Winning Percentage: 63.1%

Playoffs: Eight times

Championships: Three

The ’70s Cowboys can be argued to be one of the teams of that decade, but you might not win the argument if it is conducted against a Steelers fan flashing four Super Bowl rings in your face.

The ’90s Cowboys, however, were without question the team of their decade. To that point, no team in modern NFL history had been so dominant. No team had ever won three Super Bowls in four years.

Led by Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin—the Triplets—that team left an indelible mark on NFL history. They were so good that even a coaching change from Jimmy Johnson to Barry Switzer could not deter them from winning it all.

The 2000s

Coaches: Dave Campo, Bill Parcells, Wade Phillips

*Record: 79 – 74 – 0

*Winning Percentage: 51.6%

*Playoffs: Three times

*Championships: None

*These figures are through Week 13 of the 2009 season. The Cowboys’ final record and playoff fate is yet to be decided.

In every decade before the 2000s, the Dallas Cowboys contended for multiple championships. In two of those four decades, they won multiple championships. But from the years 2000 to 2009, unless the football gods are crazy or go on extended holiday at this, the end of the ’09 season, the Cowboys will finish having never contended for a single championship. In fact, they have not so much as posted a playoff victory in 13 years.

Before this decade began, Cowboys fans considered the 1980s to be the Dark Ages of team history, with the ultimate demise of the Schramm/Landry regime, and that dreadful 1–15 season at the end of that decade. Compared to the so-so product Jerry Jones and Company have put on the field over the past 10 years, however, the 1980s look like the halcyon days of team history.

Soon it will be New Year’s Eve, and around the world people will raise a glass of Champagne to toast the New Year. Some will drink to remember; others to forget. And then they will sing together that old Scottish refrain…

Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot and auld lang syne?

And, if you are a Cowboys fan…and if the “old acquaintance” is The Aughts…the answer will be a resounding “Yes! Let’s forget all about it, the whole thing. Just…forget it.”

And then raise your glass and toast a new year, a new decade, a new head coach, a new direction…and new hope.

Maybe, just maybe, the best of times are yet to come.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Never Forget!

With insincere apologies to Quentin Tarrantino for pilfering his wonderful movie title (I even kept the curious spelling because it just seems to fit the blood-and-gluts glory of yesterday’s NFL: you know, before they instituted a glorified game of two-hand touch football), I give you the ten most underrated Dallas Cowboys in team history.

Some of the names on my list are anything but anonymous faces in Cowboys lore. Time and distance, however, have eroded their memory, until their names are seldom called and – for a new generation of Dallas Cowboys fandom – relatively unknown and completely unappreciated.

These men may be underrated for any number of reasons, ranging from never having won the ultimate title of Super Bowl champion to laboring under the long shadow of someone better – or at least better known. But they made their mark. They contributed more than time and effort to the team for which they labored. They brought talent, too. They brought grit and determination. And they enjoyed a measure of success.

George Andrie, DE (1962 – 1972)

George Andrie was 6’6”, 250 pounds, which made him a big dude in the 1960s NFL. At Marquette University, he played

George Andrie

both ways. He  led the team in receptions and was among the team’s leaders in tackles, as well.

Andrie earned the starting job at right defensive end his rookie season with the Cowboys. He proceeded to earn a spot on the NFL’s All-Rookie team. Andrie would go on to forge a fine career for himself, earning Pro Bowl honors five consecutive times from 1965 – 1969. He would also receive first-team All Pro honors in 1969.

Overshadowed by Bob Lilly, the defensive tackle known as Mr. Cowboy, Andrie was a sold player for a decade and a major contributor to the DoomsDay Defense and the emergence of the Cowboys as a championship contender.

Walt Garrison, FB (1966 – 1974)

Walt Garrison was once, twice, three times a Cowboy. He played for The Oklahoma State Cowboys in college, the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL, and participated as a bona fide bronc-riding cowboy in the professional rodeo circuit.

One of the most colorful players in Cowboys’ history, Garrison served both as a steady runner of the football and a devastating lead blocker for the halfback. He was a fan and media favorite. Any Cowboys fan who was a child of the late sixties, early seventies remembers Walt Garrison pitching his favorite smokeless tobacco, Skoal. And which of us never tried it out to see if his assertion that “just a pinch between your cheek and gum gives you full tobacco flavor without lighting up” wasn’t true?

I know I did.

The Cowboy's Cowboy

Walt Garrison was only named to one Pro Bowl team, after the 1972 season. But he played a significant role in a Cowboys’ offense that participated in Super Bowls V and VI. He played well in both games, too, rushing for 65 yards on 12 attempts in a losing effort against the Baltimore Colts, and gaining 74 yards on 14 carries against the Miami Dolphins in the Cowboys’ first Super Bowl victory.

Don Meredith, another colorful Cowboy and the Cowboys quarterback for the first part of Garrison’s career, once said of Walt Garrison, “If it was third down, and you needed four yards, if you’d get the ball to Walt Garrison, he’d get ya five. And if was third down and ya needed 20 yards, if you’d get the ball to Walt Garrison, by God, he’d get you five.”

Everson Walls, CB (1981 – 1989)

After recording a slow time in the 40-yard dash, NFL scouts backed away from Everson Walls, believing him to be too slow to make it as a cornerback in the National Football League. Consequently, he went undrafted.

Everson Walls’ hometown team, the Dallas Cowboys, offered him a free agent rookie contract. Walls paid them back by snagging 11 interceptions his rookie season, good enough to lead the NFL. Walls would go on to play in four Pro Bowls and be named All-Pro once. He recorded 44 interceptions in nine years with the Cowboys.

Unfortunately, many simply remember Walls as the defender futilely swiping at the ball San Francisco’s Dwight Clark caught against the Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game of the 1981 season. The play became known simply as “The Catch,” and it forever changed the fortunes of the two teams. Walls’ coverage was not bad on that play. Clark simply made a great play on a ball only he could reach.

Ralph Neely, RT-LT (1965 – 1977)

Ralph Neely and hall-of-famer Rayfield Wright secured the tackle positions on a stellar Cowboys offensive line for more than a decade. Wright has rightfully been honored for his prowess by being inducted into both the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor and the National Football League Hall of Fame. Ralph Neely, through no fault of his own, has yet to be invited to either place.

Neely was drafted in the second round of the 1965 draft by both the Houston Oilers of the AFL and the Baltimore Colts of the NFL. He initially signed with the Oilers, but when the Colts traded his rights to the Dallas Cowboys, he reneged on the agreement with the Oilers and signed with the Cowboys.

At 6’ 6” and 265 pounds, Ralph Neely was a big, strong, versatile lineman. The first half of his career he played the right tackle position. He was moved to left tackle in 1971. Neely was named to the NFL All-Pro team three times from 1967 to 1969. He played in two Pro Bowls, 1967 and 1969. He participated in four Super Bowls and retired after the Cowboys won Super Bowl XII in 1977.

Nate Newton, LG (1986 – 1999)

Nate Newton fell into bad company and made poor choices after his professional football career was concluded. Caught transporting over 200 pounds of marijuana in Louisiana, he was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.

While many choose to focus on Newton’s moral and legal failures, it should be pointed out that since his release from prison, he has apparently turned his life around and is doing his part to encourage kids not to repeat his mistakes.

None of that has any bearing on what Newton accomplished on the football field. A huge man – and powerful – the 6’3 lineman played at a reported 318 pounds, but that may be short-selling him. Though Nate was a jolly fellow and always good for a quote before or after a game, he was fierce competitor and significant contributor to an offensive line some have called the best in history. Newton played in six Pro Bowls and was named All-Pro twice.

Nate helped pave the way for Emmitt Smith to run for more yards from scrimmage than any back in league history. He also helped create the pocket for statuesque Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman. Newton and his compatriots bowled over the competition, becoming the first team in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in four years.

Billy Joe DuPree, TE (1973 – 1983)

Too cool

Bill Joe DuPree has one of those cool Louisiana surnames that just sticks with you. But he was more than just a cool name in a Cowboys uniform; he was the starting tight end for a very good Roger Staubach (and later, Danny White) led offense for all of his eleven years with the team. At 6’ 4”, 225 pounds, DuPree was a good run blocker and an excellent receiver.

DuPree played in three Pro Bowls during his career. He also recorded a 25 reception, 225 yard game against the Saint Louis Rams in 1975. The following year, he would go off for 195 yards against the Saints. Impressive showings for a tight end. DuPree  would finish his career having recorded 41 touchdown receptions. He averaged 13.4 yards per reception.

Ed “Too Tall” Jones, DE (1974 – 1989)

Ed Jones was the first player taken in the 1974 draft. It was a good pick by the Dallas Cowboys.

Ed was Nicknamed “Too Tall” because, at 6’ 9”, he was the tallest man in the NFL. He used his height to great advantage, swatting passes back into the faces of frustrated quarterbacks throughout his career. Jones was the starting left defensive end for the Cowboys from 1975 until he retired in 1989.

The NFL did not begin officially recording sacks until 1982. Once they did, Jones would record 57.5 sacks from 1982 – 1989, an average of just over eight per season. He recorded 13 sacks in 1985 and 10 in 1987.

Jones was named to the Pro Bowl for three consecutive seasons, from 1981 – 1983. He was also named first-team All-Pro once, in 1982.

Harvey Martin, DE (1973 – 1983)

Harvey Martin and “Too Tall” Jones were bookend defensive ends on the famed DoomsDay Defense of the 1970s Dallas Cowboys. While Jones was adept at quarterback sacks, he was more of a run-stuffer and pass blocker. Harvey Martin, on the other hand, was a sack machine. Most of his sack count is unofficial due to the fact they weren’t officially recorded by the league until his final two seasons.

Martin’s sack numbers are nonetheless impressive, if not staggering. As a rookie, he recorded eight sacks. He was the first Cowboy (and the only one until DeMarcus Ware matched him in 2008) to record twenty sacks in a season. He finished his stellar career with the unofficial count of 114 sacks.

Martin’s post-football life, like so many before him and many after, was not pretty. He became a substance abuser, suffered bankruptcy, and was arrested for domestic violence.

The former four-time Pro Bowler died of pancreatic cancer in 2001. He was 51 years old.

Danny White, QB-P (1976 – 1987)

Danny White was the Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback-in-waiting behind Roger Staubach from 1976 – ’79. He was also the team’s starting punter. As a punter, he was dangerous. Not only was he among the league’s best at his craft, he was always a threat to throw or run for a first down.

In 1980, White became the Cowboys’ starting quarterback. Staubach, who remains the team’s greatest icon (along with Landry), retired after the ’79 season, and Danny White was finally given the reins he had been chomping at the bit to take.

White wasted no time establishing himself as a more-than-capable replacement for the legendary QB. In his first year as a starter, he guided the team to the NFC championship game, which the Cowboys lost to the Philadelphia Eagles. It was a tough loss and a bitter pill, but gave Cowboy Nation the confidence that their beloved team was in good hands.

In 1981, Danny White’s second year at the helm, the Cowboys returned to the NFC championship game. This time, the game was in San Francisco at Candlestick Park. The 49ers were led by the young upstart quarterback Joe Montana. They were young, talented, and hungry.

The game would prove to be a classic. It was a back and forth battle of gargantuan proportions. Down 27 – 21, Montana led his team down the field, but stalled in the red zone. On a scrambling, desperation play, with Ed “Too Tall” Jones bearing down on him, Montana heaved a prayer into the end zone as he was falling out of bounds. Receiver Dwight Clark, with cornerback Everson Wall trailing him, was crossing the back of the end zone. Clark made an improbable leaping catch on a ball that seemed to be sailing harmlessly overhead. The touchdown gave the 49ers a 28 – 27 lead late in the fourth quarter.

The play was simply called “The Catch,” and stands as one of the most famous plays in the annals of NFL history.

On the ensuing drive, White would lead his team into San Francisco territory, only to be sacked and fumble the ball. What seemed to be an inevitable field goal that would have secured a 30 – 28 victory was not to be. The Cowboys lost.

The following season, the Cowboys would make the NFC championship game for a third straight season. They would lose again, this time to the Washington Redskins.

In his book, “The Catch,” which chronicles the impact the Montana to Clark pass had on the two franchises, the coaches, and the players involved, author Gary Myers says no player’s career was more adversely impacted than Danny White’s. He sees it as the turning point, the catastrophic moment that would mark the beginning of the Cowboys’ slow descent into mediocrity and would keep White from being recognized as a truly great NFL quarterback.

Danny White was selected to just one Pro Bowl, but he closed out his career in possession of many of the franchise’s career records. The numbers he posted were anything but pedestrian:

• 21,959 yards passing
• 1761 completions on 2950 attempts (59.7% completion ratio)
• 155 touchdowns to 132 interceptions
• 482 yards rushing, with eight rushing touchdowns
• He had a 62 – 32 regular season record and was 5 – 5 in the playoffs
• His career quarterback rating was 81.7
• He punted 610 times, averaging 40.4 yards per punt

Don Meredith, QB (1960 – 1968)

Football fans from my generation (I am, ahem, somewhere past 40) remember “Dandy” Don Meredith more for his

Dandy!

work on Monday Night Football, as part of the legendary crew featuring himself, Howard Cosell, and Frank Gifford. Meredith brought homespun wit and humor to the broadcast and often engaged in playful verbal sparring with the brainy – but potentially insane, and decidedly egomaniacal – Cosell.

Who can forget Don Meredith singing, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over,” when he deemed a game out of reach?

Don Meredith was a fan favorite from the start. He was an east Texas boy from the small town of Mount Vernon who had starred at SMU in Dallas and then, via trade with the Chicago Bears, joined the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL.

Meredith joined the Cowboys when they were a fledgling expansion club and not very good. His first two years, he was the backup quarterback to Eddie LeBaron. In 1963, coach Tom Landry named him the starter and by 1966, Meredith had helped to mold the Cowboys into a formidable, championship-contending playoff team.

Meredith suffered two heart-breaking losses in NFL championship games at the hands of Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers. His team hosted the first meeting in 1966 and lost in a wild, high-scoring affair, 34 – 27. The next meeting, in 1967, took place in Green Bay on the coldest day any NFL football game was ever played. The famous “Ice Bowl” game came down to a Bart Starr quarterback dive into the end zone. The Packers won the game 21 – 17.

Don Meredith was named to three Pro Bowl teams. He was the NFL’s player of the year in 1966. During his career, which was cut short by his unexpected decision to prematurely retire, Meredith threw for over 17,000 yards and 135 touchdowns.

Don Meredith is in the Dallas Cowboys’ ring of honor and ought to be in the NFL Hall of Fame. But, as the every loquacious quarterback once quipped, “If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, wouldn’t we all have a merry Christmas?”

Popularity: 33% [?]

Collision Course

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. – Robert Frost

The Dallas Cowboys  are 8 – 4, and as coach Wade Phillips reminded the media, that makes them winners. Unfortunately, their foe Sunday, the San Diego Chargers, are 9 – 3, riding a hot streak, and, well, they, too, are winners.

The two teams, though they seldom meet – this is only their ninth meeting – have plenty of history. Norv Turner, the Chargers’ coach, is a former offensive coordinator for the Cowboys. Wade Phillips is the former defensive coordinator for the Chargers. Both men were strongly considered for the coaching position in Dallas, after Bill Parcells left. Most thought Turner would be Jerry Jones’s choice.

He wasn’t. Phillips was. Jones figured he had the offense covered with Jason Garrett (who was a hot commodity at the time, you may recall). What he needed, in his mind, was someone to whip the defense into shape. Wade has done that.

Phillips has also posted a nice winning percentage with the Cowboys…especially if you do not count December or the playoffs. Dallas’s December woes are well chronicled and much debated. Meanwhile, Turner’s Chargers are 15 – 0 in December. Turner’s team made the conference championship in 2007, losing to the New England Patriots. They made the Divisional round last year and lost.

While the Chargers try to figure out how to take that next step and make the Super Bowl, The Cowboys are just trying to solve December and finally post a playoff win for the first time in thirteen years. The Chargers want to win this game; the Cowboys have to win it.

Phillip Rivers and company are as dangerous an offense as any this side of New Orleans. They create matchup problems all over the field, especially with Tight End Antonio Gates. The Dallas Defense is playing well, though, currently ranked fifth in points allowed and 14^th in yards allowed per game.

The Cowboys’ high-octane offense, however, has not played as well in recent weeks. They run well one week, pass well the next, but haven’t put the two together in awhile.

Sunday’s game will come down to quarterback play, defense, and coaching. One might give an ever-so-slight edge to Phillip Rivers over Tony Romo, but it is razor-thin. Romo has played well this year, while Rivers is playing out of his mind. Defensively, you have to like Dallas. Phillips knows how to prepare a defense and call a game on that side of the ball. And he knows the Chargers.  The Coaching edge, it says here, belongs to Norv Turner, simply because he has proven he can get his team ready to play the games that matter most and get into the post-season, where he has had good success with the Chargers.

The wildcard may be Jason Garrett. If he can mix his game plan up enough to keep the Chargers off-balance and resist the urge to be cute when he needs to just be right, his offense could have a nice day against the Chargers, which ranks 15^th in points allowed and 12^th in yards given up.

The outcome of the game may very well determine Wade Phillips’s future with the Cowboys…and he knows it. His margin for error is nonexistent after the loss last week to the Giants. Should his team lose its grip on the NFC East and fall into a wild card fight, or out of playoff contention entirely, he will need to dust off that resume.

The Chargers will come to play. Of that, there is little doubt. If the Cowboys do, as well, this could be the NFL game of the week. The series edge is decidedly in the Cowboys favor. They hold a 6 – 2 series edge over the Chargers. But this is not your daddy’s Chargers…or your momma’s Cowboys.

For Wade Phillips and his Dallas Cowboys, in light of recent late-season collapses, this is definitely the time for them to take that road less traveled.

Prediction: Cowboys win 27-24.

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"Yo! Ice Cream Man. Over here!"

The Dallas Cowboys beat the Giants Sunday. If you do not believe me, just ask head coach Wade Phillips. He will delight in telling you all of the good things his team did that day. He will outline all of the ways his team won.

It was, after all, a record-setting day for Tony Romo and a record-tying day for Jason Witten. The defense played well…well, if you don’t count that ridiculous 74-yard Brandon Jacobs “scamper” (if a play that lasts long enough for you to order and receive a Papa John’s pizza can be called a scamper) on a simple swing pass. Special teams were special except for that one little breakdown on the 78-yard punt return for a TD. You know, the one where every Cowboy on the field and half the ones on the sideline had their hands on him, but couldn’t get him to the ground.

Being a Dallas Cowboys fan these days can create enough mixed emotions to cause internal bleeding. On the one hand, of course, you want your team to succeed. You want them to bury the Ghost of Christmases Past and finally show up for December football.

On the other hand, however, you are desperate – desperate - to be rid of a head coach that just doesn’t get it…and never will. Wade Phillips will always have an excuse. He will always take consolation in statistics. He will always defend himself. He will never accept responsibility. He will never demand excellence of his players. He will never command respect.

He will, however, remain the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys if Jerry Jones can find the least excuse to keep him around.

So, as a Cowboys fan, you want success in December, sure. You want your team to finally get a playoff win after thirteen embarrassing years of mediocrity, underachievement, excuses, and disappointment.

But is it worth it?

A conundrum is what it is. Does any football fan want to hear the coach of his favorite team whine like a middle school girl to a room full of media types?

“I coach them the way I want to coach them,” Phillips said in response to a question about whether he ever gets as angry with his players as he does reporters, “And you can report the way you want to report.”

We will, Wade. We will call it like we see it. And what we see is a team that lost an important divisional game because of mental breakdowns and give-ups on four huge plays Sunday. What we see is a team that went into the game against the Giants with sole possession of first place in the NFC East, and came out tied with the Eagles. What we see is the Giants nipping at your heels, a season sweep of your Cowboys in their hip pockets.

What we see is the calendar, Wade. It reads, “December.” What we see is another late-season loss. What we see is you down-playing the loss, defending your team and demanding nothing (well, nothing except the respect you so desperately want from the media).

What we see is a light at the end of a thirteen-year long tunnel and we hope it is an oncoming train…and that it carries you away…far, far away, to a place where Decembers don’t matter, where early season wins are just as important as playoff victories, where stat sheets are equal to scoreboards, where reporters never badger beleaguered coaches, and where “ifs and buts” really are candy and nuts.

It is a wonderful place where all of your dreams can come true, Wade. It is just too bad that Dallas Cowboys fans will be forced to endure one more nightmare just so you can dream.

Popularity: 6% [?]