Silver and BlueBlood

Deuce-Deuce is da One

Emmitt Smith was a no-brainer for the 2010 NFL Hall of Fame selection committee. One wonders whether his presenter had to do any more than stand and say, “Emmitt Smith: I rest my case.”

Despite his Hall of Fame credentials, Emmitt Smith is still a lightening rod. Most people outside Dallas do not think of him as the greatest running back in NFL history. Heck, most people in Dallas don’t either.

Most people I have talked to, read, or listened to have said he was not even the best running back of his own generation. That honor is usually bestowed on Barry Sanders, the Detroit Lions’ running back whose premature— and unexpected— retirement paved the way for Emmitt to be the first and (to this point) only runner to surpass the legendary Walter Payton on the NFL’s all-time leading rusher list.

Emmitt Smith was a triplet.

He was not born a triplet. Rather, he became one upon being drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. He, Quarterback Troy Aikman and Wide Receiver Michael Irvin would become the three-pronged offensive attack of the 1990s’ greatest NFL team. Together, they won three Super Bowls in four years. Together, the were shock and awe, slice and dice, score and strut all rolled into one dynamic silver and blue package.

Still, Emmitt is met with mixed reaction in the very city where he forever immortalized himself and forced his way into Canton. Some see him as the most self-absorbed of the Triplets. Emmitt often came across as being a team guy when being a team guy was best for Emmitt. While Michael Irvin might incur a fine for throwing a ball to some sick kid in the stands after he scored a touchdown, Emmitt meticulously had each touchdown ball marked and placed in a chest for safekeeping. Of course, that same Emmitt would famously play with a badly hurt shoulder when his team needed him most.

Some see Emmitt as selfish; others as singularly focused.

However you see him, it cannot be denied that the man squeezed every ounce of accomplishment out of his own talent. He was not the fastest running back in the NFL. Far from it. He was not the strongest. He was not the shiftiest. He was not the most fluid. He was, however, one of the best to ever carry a football.

Should you doubt his greatness, let me throw just a fistful of facts your way:

• Emmitt Smith is the NFL’s all-time leading rusher with 18,335 yards. Let that sink in a moment. Think of all the great backs that have graced the league. He stands alone and above them all in sheer number of yards gained.
• He was the first back in NFL history to rush for 1400 yards or more every season for five consecutive seasons.
• He rushed for 1000 yards or more 11 seasons in a row!
• He had 164 career rushing touchdowns.
• He had 19 rushing touchdowns and seven 100-yard rushing performances in postseason play.

Smoove Operator

These in no way represent all of his accomplishments, but if you aren’t convinced of his greatness by now, you don’t need more facts: you need a signed note from a doctor certifying your sanity.

Indomitable, irrepressible, incomparable, incoherent, illiterate…

These are just a few words used to describe the great Emmitt Smith. As great as his unlikely on-field accomplishments were, his off-field communications and antics have been equally great (or at least good for a laugh). From winning the Dancing with the Stars contest to stumbling over whether a team is “blown” or “blowed” out to predicting a 7-9 finish for the 2009 Cowboys, the off-the-field limelight has been more of a harsh glare than a warm glow for Smith.

Perhaps Emmitt’s greatest hall of fame moment as a world-class butcher of logic and language came in his infamous “We Had Some Diamonds” quote, which can be heard on the MP3 player at the end of this article.

The exact quote is as follows: “We had some diamonds, but we had a lotta cow poo poo around it, and the diamonds was mixed in with the poo poo…it just all look like poo poo.”

Try diagramming that sentence.

Another collection of Emmitt nuggets:

Is Emmitt a no-brainer for the NFL Hall of Fame? That question doesn’t even warrant an answer, because it shouldn’t be a question at all.

Moreover, if there were a Hall of Fame for professional athletes who lack communicative and cognitive skills (maybe we could call it the No Brain Hall of Fame), you would have to assume Emmitt Smith would be a first-ballot selection there, as well.

So, congratulations to hall of famer Emmitt Smith. He made our jaws drop and our ears bleed. He made us hit the rewind button and question our own sanity. He made us proud. He made us cheer. He made us laugh.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Sometimes we forget. We analyze, criticize, immortalize, and demonize professional athletes every day. We worship them. We love them. We follow t

hem. We hate them. We berate them. We toss them aside.

Then tragedy strikes and we are reminded that these men and women gifted with such extraordinary skills, living their lives on such an open stage, beneath the white hot lamp of public criticism are, in fact, human. They live and breathe. They hope and dream. They laugh. They cry. They even die.

Jay Novacek was a Dallas Cowboy from 1990—1995. Before coming to the Cowboys, he was a St. Louis/Arizona Cardinal. Before turning pro, he was a standout tight end for the University of Wyoming Cowboys. During his six years with the Dallas Cowboys, he earned five Pro Bowl trips and was named All-Pro once. He was a favorite target for quarterback Troy Aikman.

He was also a fan favorite.

Jay and LeAnne Novacek

Today, he is a widower. His wife LeAnne, for reasons unknown at this point, while visiting her mother in Burleson, Texas, elected to end her own life. Details are still sketchy. The Dallas Morning News is reporting that she died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She was only 45 years old.

By all accounts, LeAnne was a beautiful woman. She seemed happy and well-adjusted. She and Jay were involved in the community in meaningful ways. Jay and LeAnne were honorary co-chairmen of the Careity Foundation event called “Branded.” According to their website, the Careity Foundation “exists to provide personal, holistic, on-site care and counseling for economically challenged cancer patients in the Tarrant, Parker and Johnson County areas.”

A year ago, Jay was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. His honors have been many. His accomplishments even more. But his loss is beyond comprehension to those of us who have never gotten that phone call.

Today, Jay Novacek is not a College Hall of Fame Tight End. Today, he is not a highly-decorated receiver on a three-time Super Bowl Championship team. Today, he is not anyone’s spokesman or honorary chairman.

Today, Jay Novacek is a husband whose wife has tragically died way too soon. Today, he is a man dealing with a mortal loss. Today, he is a human, grieving, questioning, struggling.

Today, we are reminded that these men and women whose athletic prowess creates for us an escape from the bitter trials of everyday life, whose accomplishments on the field of athletic endeavor provide for us a sense of identity and community pride, actually live and die in the same hard world we do.

Today, we don’t cheer or boo the athlete. Today, we pray for the man and his family. Today, perhaps more than any day before this, we are the same as he: mortal, vulnerable, and in need of the support of those who love us…and sometimes even those who do not.

Tomorrow, we can choose sides and cheer for our own. We can deify some and villify others. We can argue, criticize, excoriate…tomorrow.

But not today. Let’s pray instead.

Popularity: 40% [?]

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?”

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He was a world famous athlete before he joined the Dallas Cowboys. Already a world record holder in the 100 meter dash and the owner of an Olympic gold medal, “Bullet” Bob Hayes was known as the the fastest man in the world. In 2009, he remains the only man to ever earn an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring.

The Bullet!

Bob Hayes changed the game of football. He was fast, sure, but as former Cowboys master scout Gil Brandt pointed out, he was not a track man who tried his hand at football; he was a football player who excelled on the track field.

Bob Hayes impacted the game of football immensely. In a day when the run was dominant in the NFL, Hayes averaged twenty yards per reception. He scored a touchdown every five times he touched the football. Eighteen times, Bob Hayes scored touchdowns of fifty yards or more. And even though he retired in 1974, and has been succeeded by wide receiver greats like Drew Pearson and Michael Irvin, Hayes still holds the Dallas Cowboys’ record with 71 career touchdown receptions.

It is a shame of monstrous proportions that Bob Hayes was posthumously enshrined in pro football’s greatest fraternity. Hall of Fame voters, though they may never admit it aloud, held his post-career legal problems against him. He did some hard time for drug trafficking and that was all the excuse the anti-Cowboys faction in the northeast needed to rob him of the honor he has long deserved. The NFL Hall of Fame is supposed to consider the on-the-field contributions of players – that and nothing else. If they had done that with Bob Hayes, he would have been in Canton to personally accept the honor and see his bust where it belonged.

Of course, the same Hall of Fame voters ignored the drug problems of New York Giants’ great, Lawrence Taylor, and enshrined him as quickly as possible. He deserved the honor. So did Hayes. Both men changed the way the game was played. Taylor redefined the position of linebacker, especially as it related to rushing the quarterback, and Hayes is credited with prompting the implementation of the bump-and-run defense because of his blazing speed.

While Cowboys fans everywhere understand that this is a time for celebration, we are also reminded of the backlash from being fans of a team that plays in Dallas and counts three major east coast media markets as its chief rivals. The evidence is too great to ignore the bias that kept players like Hayes and Rayfield Wright out of the Hall of Fame for so long…and continues to deny players like Cliff Harris and Drew Pearson their place among the all-time greats of the NFL. It is telling that Bob Hayes is only the eleventh Dallas Cowboy to be enshrined in Canton…especially when you consider the great teams the Cowboys fielded in the late ’60s, the ’70s, the early ’80s, and the early to mid ’90s.

Bob Hayes’ biography on the official site of the NFL Hall of Fame includes the following paragraph:

Hayes demonstrated time and again that he possessed tremendous football skills and instincts that helped him to develop into a terrific NFL wide receiver. Still, his world class speed was a major factor in his and the Cowboys offensive successes. “Bullet Bob” terrorized defensive backs and demanded the kind of deep double coverage rarely seen in the NFL at that time. It is often said that the bump and run defense was developed in an attempt to slow down the former Florida A&M running back.

Kind of makes you want to ask the voters, “Did you just now figure that out? Or did you know it all along and vote him down anyway? Why did it take the old-timer’s voters to finally get “Bullet” Bob the recognition he deserves?”

They were only about thirty years late. Better late than never just doesn’t seem quite good enough.

Popularity: 2% [?]

…to replace the Village Idiot.

I Love Buffalo!

Terrell Owens is gone and it says here that that’s a good thing. It is good for the cohesiveness and unity of the team. It is good for the effectiveness of the team leadership. It is good for the morale (and the sanity) of Tony Romo. And it is good for the development of the Austin Miles and Sam Hurds of the world.

Now, T.O. and his dwindling fan base would argue that a T.O.-less team is never going to be as good as a team with T.O. on it. So far, however, three out of three teams for which he has played have been more than willing to make that sacrifice just to be rid of the nut case egomaniac. T.O. likes to tout himself as a good teammate. If only he could find a team that, after a year or two of his antics, would agree with him.

Terrell thinks himself good for a team because he reasons – and has stated as much – that whatever is good for T.O. is good for the team. It makes perfect sense in his mind. Get the ball in his hands and good things are going to happen. Those good things are good for him, sure, but they are also good for the team. Touchdowns are good things for players and teams.

But Terrell misses the subtle point at work here. His philosophy is one of selfishness and self-promotion, not that of a team guy. The selfish player insists, “What is good for me is good for the team.” The team player, however, says, “I will gladly do whatever is best for the team, even if it means I have to do less so the team can succeed.”

Think Terrell ever had that thought run through that thick noggin of his? Think he ever ran a decoy route he liked? Think he ever participated in a big win for his team that included little attention paid to him and genuinely celebrated the victory?

But enough about that. Terrell Owens has been banished to the wastelands of the NFL, otherwise known as Buffalo. What remains in Dallas is a receiving corps that must produce without him. Plenty of attention is being paid to Roy Williams in training camp. People are wondering if he will be able to step up his game and assume the role vacated by T.O.

Owens found the end zone 38 times in 3 seaons with the Cowboys

I can end the suspense right here and now. No! He will not. Roy may prove to be a nice player for the Cowboys. He may turn in some stellar performances in the upcoming season. But he will not replace the on-field production of Terrell Owens. He won’t because he can’t. He is not the same creature. Whatever T.O. was negatively off the field, he was often an overachieving, field-stretching, touchdown-scoring machine on it.

Williams cannot replace Terrell Owens. Neither can Miles Austin or Sam Hurd or Patrick Crayton. Not even the great Jason Witten can do that. Individually, every one of these players will fall short of  replacing the dynamic presence of one of the most dominating receivers in league history. Alone, none of them can do it.

Let’s do a little comparison shopping, shall we?

• Miles Austin’s best season (out of only three) was 2008: 13 catches for 278 yards and 3 touchdowns.
• Patrick Crayton’s best year to date was 2007, when he had 50 catches for 697 yards and 7 touchdowns.
• Sam Hurd’s best season was also 2007 when he gained 314 yards on 19 catches and scored one TD.
• Roy Williams, in 2006, had 83 receptions for 1310 yards and 7 TDs. It was his only 1,000+ yard season.
• Owens’ best season was 2000 in San Francisco, when he posted 1451 yards on 97 receptions and scored 13 touchdowns.
• Owens’ best season as a Cowboy was 2007: 1355 yards on 81 catches and 15 touchdowns.
• Owens, in 2000 vs the Bears, had a 20-reception, 283 yard game (the best in the history of the sport.)
• Owens has caught 139 touchdowns in his career, including 38 in three seasons with the Cowboys.

So, how do the Cowboys replace T.O.? With Roy Williams? Miles Austin? Sam Hurd?

No. No. And no.

Team!

They do it with Williams, Austin, Hurd, Jason Witten, Martellus Bennett, Marion Barber, Felix Jones, and Tashard Choice. They prove that having a great team trumps having one of the greatest ever to play a particular position. They prove that selfless participation in a team goal beats selfish promotion masquerading as a team player.

They do that, or…they prove T.O right. If they fail, they will load the gun and he will fire the “look, they were better with me than without me” bullet right at Jerry’s head.

Popularity: 2% [?]

“Football incorporates the two worst elements of American society: violence punctuated by committee meetings.”

~ George Will, author, commentator, humorist

The game of American football – especially at the professional level – lends itself to copious and memorable quotes, like the one above. The Dallas Cowboys organization has been home to great leaders, singular players, and colorful characters throughout its noble history. Many of them have, with their words, weaved a colorful and rich tapestry, a verbal masterpiece draped on the walls of our memories.

Meredith: Always Quotable

If you are old enough to have been there, and if you can quiet your spirit enough, you can almost hear the even, measured words of  Tom Landry, uttered in that south Texas drawl, words of wisdom, words to play – and to live – by. You can hear the even more Texas twang of the witty Walt Garrison deadpanning about his coach. You can hear the almost musical quality of Meredith’s smooth delivery of yet another masterful bonmot.

It is not easy to sift through these treasures and find the ten most memorable, or ten most representative of the franchise’s history. I doubt I have succeeded in doing so. I am sure you will correct me…and add your own sweet memory to this tapestry.

Number Ten: “That was the triumph of an uncluttered mind.” ~ Blaine Nye on Clint Longley’s Thanksgiving Day performance

Number Nine: “If ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts, wouldn’t it be a merry Christmas?” ~ Don Meredith

Number Eight: “He couldn’t spell ‘cat’ if you spotted him the ‘c’ and the ‘a.’” ~ Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson on Terry Bradshaw

Number Seven: “There are no traffic jams along the extra mile.” ~ Roger Staubach

Number Six: “Leadership is getting someone to do what they don’t want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.” ~ Tom Landry

Number Five: “He’s a perfectionist. If he was married to Raquel Welch, he’d expect her to cook.” ~ Don Meredith on Coach Landry

Number Four: “If the Super Bowl is the Ultimate Game, why are they playing it again next year?” ~ Duane Thomas

Number Three: “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.” ~ Don Meredith on Walt Garrison

Number Two: “Nope. But I have only been here nine years.” ~ Walt Garrison, when asked if he had ever seen Tom Landry smile.

Number One: “Texas Stadium has a hole in its roof so God can watch his favorite team play.” ~ D.D. Lewis

Like I said, it was quite difficult to narrow them down to just ten. These are my ten. It is entirely possible that the reader remembers ten others that were just as memorable, witty, or astounding. If so, feel free to reply and add your own list…or at least your own favorite quote.

As for me, I will let the most quotable Cowboy of them all get the final word…

“Turn out the lights: the party’s over.”

Popularity: 100% [?]

In this third installment of the SilverandBlueBlood Top Ten Top Ten, I turn my attention to the top ten plays in team history. In selecting the plays, I considered several factors:

1. How memorable was it?
2. What impact did it have on a game, a championship, or a career?
3. Was it extraordinary?

As you might imagine, a franchise of this caliber, with nearly fifty years of history, has provided more than its share of memorable plays and water-shed moments. I have dutifully sorted through every play in team history (anyone who believes that stand on your head) to compile my list of top ten plays in Dallas Cowboys’ history.

Romoriffic

Number 10: Greatest four-yard run in Team History. On September 30, 2007, Tony Romo chases down a snap that sails way over his head versus the Rams. He scoops up the ball, avoids chasing defenders, and gains four yards and a first down on what should have been a 30-yard loss.

Number 9: Larry Allen, the sprinter? On Monday Night Football versus the New Orleans Saints in 1994, Aikman throws a pass that is tipped into the arms of Saints’ linebacker Darion Conner. Conner streaks down the sideline on what appears inevitably to become a seventy-one yard touchdown interception return. Instead the 315-pound offensive lineman caught him at the sixteen yard line, and a legend was born.

Number 8: Emmitt gets the record. By 2002, the glory was fading. The team of the 90’s was floundering. Smith, however, had one more milestone – the biggest of his career – to pass. On October 27th, in a 17-14 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Smith broke through in the fourth quarter with an eleven-yard gain. With that run, he surpassed Walter Payton, becoming the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.

Number 7: Butch Johnson’s circus catch in Super Bowl XII. Dallas dominated Denver and it was the defense that shined that day. But the number three receiver on the roster, Butch Johnson laid out in the end zone to haul in a spectacular 50-yard touchdown pass from Staubach.

Number 6: Meredith to Hayes. Cowboys 31, Redskins 30. November 13th, 1966, Don Meredith hooked up with the receiver who at one time had been recognized as the fastest man in the world, Bob Hayes, for a 95-yard touchdown pass. Hayes had 246 receiving yards that day, a Cowboys record that has yet to be seriously threatened.

Number 5: Aikman to Harper: A Dynasty is Born. With a tenuous four-point lead in the 1992 NFC championship game and just 4:14 left in the game, everyone expected Jimmy Johnson to give the Niners a heavy dose of Emmitt. What he gave them was a 15-yard Alvin harper slant that went for seventy-one yards, putting the Cowboy on the opponent’s nine-yard line and setting up the game-sealing score.

Number 4: Clint Longley, the Mad Bomber. On Thanksgiving Day, 1974, rookie QB Clint Longley came off the bench to replace an injured Staubach. He rallied the Cowboys from a 23-3 third-quarter deficit to a 24-23 victory. His 50-yard TD pass to Drew Pearson in the final seconds remains one of the most memorable plays in Cowboys lore. Offensive Guard Blaine Nye called Longley’s unbelievable performance “the triumph of an uncluttered mind.”

Number 3: Bob Lilly’s Super Sack. In Super Bowl VI, the incredibly tenacious and gifted defensive tackle known as Mr. Cowboy chased the weaving and bobbing Miami quarterback, Bob Griese, finally corralling him for a 29-yard loss. It was the signature moment in the Cowboys’ breakthrough game. For the first time in team history, they were Super Bowl champions…and no longer the bridesmaid.

Number 2: Tony Dorsett 99-yard scamper. On January 3rd, 1983, before a Monday Night Football national audience, Tony Dorsett broke off a 99-1/2 yard run from scrimmage. It remains the longest run from scrimmage in NFL history, and is a record that may someday be tied, but can never be broken. “Dandy” Don Meredith’s commentary during the run is classic. To further the legend, due to a sideline mixup, the Cowboys only had ten men on the field for the play.

Number 1: The Hail Mary. Oddly enough, the top two plays in team history came against the same team. No play in team history is more famous than the Hail Mary pass from Roger Staubach to Drew Pearson with just 24 seconds left in the 1975 wildcard playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings. On the verge of losing the game, Staubach heaved a last-second bomb, which Pearson caught by trapping it with one hand on his hip. He danced into the end zone to seal the 17-14 victory.

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Poor Baby!

During the 2008 off-season, I began to call for Greg Ellis to be cut. I contended that, rather than being the leader he was purported to be, he had become a locker room cancer. In a recent radio interview – while on his way out of town to play for the NFL joke known as the Oakland Raiders – Ellis confirmed that he is more than just a selfish whine-bag: he is a moron, as well.

Here’s what the Dallas Morning News reports Ellis as saying:

“It’s a disgrace when DeMarcus Ware comes off the field just so I can get in the game and when the coaches tell him to come on the field, he tries to hide so I can play,” Ellis said during an appearance on ESPN 103.3’s Michael Irvin Show. “And you’re telling me we’re trying to win the Super Bowl?”

“On his own,” Ellis said. “He would say, ‘G, come on.’ And I would tell him, ‘No, DeMarcus, go ahead, man. You’re coming up on your contract year. Don’t mess that stuff up. Go ahead and do you, and we’re just going to do what the coaches, or whoever the powers that be, what they want to do.’”

This is wrong on so many levels.

First, I want you to notice that subtle nuance in paragraph two: the intimation that the only thing this is ever about is your own contract. I know this is professional sports and the man’s livelihood, but for four years, Ellis has made it crystal clear that he puts his own concerns above the team’s one hundred percent of the time. The guy was never underpaid. In fact, his compensation (that commisserate with a first-rounder) was more than adequate to reflect his performance and value to the team.

Second, a few days later on Sports Radio 1310 (the Ticket), I listened to an interview with DeMarcus Ware. He did not out-and-out call Ellis a liar, but he didn’t get his back either. He said, “I think I was in there like 95% of the time.” He said every time he happened to be on the sideline for a play, it was for a valid reason. Ware was certainly in there enough to record twenty sacks on the season!

Third, Ware being off the field has no bearing on Ellis being on the field. They do not play the same position. Ellis doesn’t back up Ware or vice versa. One is strong-side; the other weak-side. Ware won’t say it, so I will: Ellis is either twisting the truth, misinformed, or making up stories.

Fourth, Greg Ellis has to be a moron to think that the media would just bob their heads and accept whatever he said at face value, as though they don’t watch the games themselves, as though they don’t have access to the other player in question. And even if the media let it pass, knowledgeable fans will not.

For years, every time a Cowboy fan saw Ellis on the field, he was reminded of the player the Cowboys bypassed in order to draft him. That would be Randy Moss. While Ellis has enjoyed a career as a serviceable – but never a standout – player, Moss has stretched defenses, caused offensive coordinators nightmares, and established himself as a top five player at his position.

For four seasons, Ellis has spent every off-season bitching and posturing. If it wasn’t money, it was the team switching to the 3-4 (the move that helped finally make him a Pro Bowler for at least one season). Or, it was team management. It was always something. Then, the season would begin and he would be hailed as a team leader. No wonder they have gone nowhere in a dozen years. Leaders like that never take an organization to the pinnacle of success.

So, good riddance to poor, mistreated Greg and good luck to the Raiders.

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