Silver and BlueBlood

If you have ever watched MartyB TV on YouTube, or if you are a follower of Jupiter’s Crunch on Twitter, then you know what a Devil-may-care, fun guy Martellus Bennett is.

From his rap about having “Jerry Jone (sic) money, iPhone money” his rookie year to hosting the controversial “Black Olympics” thing with his cousin, Marty B is a prime product of the irreverent-but-always-connected Generation Y. (Or is it  Generation Z? I don’t know. I can never keep up.) Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 36% [?]

High Noon. Be there!

Everyone knows that long before he packed his bags and took that boyish grin to Dallas, Tony Romo was a Wisconsin boy, a cheese head. Everyone knows he idolized the Green Bay Packers great, Brett Favre. Everyone knows that, in today’s NFL, there is no other quarterback whose game more closely resembles Favre’s than Tony Romo’s.

Everyone knows that Favre is the master and Romo is the pupil.

Now, in the divisional round of the 2010 NFL playoffs, generations clash. The old gunslinger comes face to face with the young gun. One has more than a few notches in his gun belt; the other is gunnin’ for him. The two meet at high noon (Central time) to settle once and for all (or at least for now) who gets to wear the stetson to the NFC championship. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 20% [?]

A Father-Son Moment

Raise your hand if you have ever dog-cussed Jason Garrett or said Wade Phillips should be fired (or worse).

God bless you. I see that hand. Yes, and yours too. Oh, and yours, way back in the corner. And yes…my hand is raised, as well. Guilty. All over the vast expanse of Jerry’s magnificent, shiny football Mecca, hands are raised.

Four weeks ago, when the Cowboys were fresh off stumbling into December with back-to-back losses to the San Diego Chargers and the New York Giants, most who bleed silver and blue were sighing, cussing, cramping, complaining, puking, bleeding out the ears…and convinced this team was going nowhere as long as Jerry Jones was the General Manager, Wade Phillips was the head coach, and Jason Garrett was the offensive coordinator.

My, how our tune has changed. Now, we have this 11-5 team that has, for the first time in the illustrious history of the franchise, shut out opponents in back-to-back games. Division opponents, no less. We have this team that is roaring into the playoffs by winning the final three games of the season, clinching a division title, and serving notice to the rest of the NFC that the Dallas Cowboys are a team you just don’t want any part of, thank you very much.

We know the what. But do we know why? Why did this team do what last year’s team could not? Why is the feeling around this team even better than in 2007, when they were 13-3? We always know who to blame for the failures around here. But whom do we credit for the success?

Glad you asked. I have some candidates. In fact, I have the top twelve people most responsible for this team’s turn-around. We could call them the Twelve Apostles of the About Face, or the Not-So-Dirty Dozen.

Here they are…

Number Twelve: Jason Witten

It isn’t that Witten wasn’t great last year. He was. He always is. But never has he been more clutch than this year. Whenever you absolutely, positively must have a first down, throw it to Witten. It usually works out. Just ask Tony Romo. When has a receiver only scored two touchdowns in a season and had a more positive impact on his team?

Number Eleven: Mike Jenkins

By the first week in the regular season, Wade Phillips had not been able to decide between Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick as to which one would start opposite Terrence Newman. Newman, it was assumed, was the best corner on the team, and one of these young guys would have to step up and claim that second spot. By season’s end, Jenkins had asserted himself as a Pro Bowl-caliber corner, the best on the team, and one of the better corners in the league.

Number Ten: DeMarcus Ware

Sure, Ware was phenomenal a year ago and probably should have been named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year. But what about this year? What about being carted off the field one week on a stretcher and coming back the next to get two sacks, force two turnovers, and seal the victory over the previously undefeated Saints? DeMarcus on the field makes every other Cowboys defender’s job easier.

Number Nine: Jay Ratliff

He is too small to be a nose tackle. He is also too quick, too tenacious, and too talented to be handled by most centers or guards or centers plus guards. The Ratliff motor is always humming. He creates havoc and helps set a tone for Phillips’ aggressive 3-4 defense.

Number Eight: The Offensive Line

They play so well as a unit, may as well treat them as one. From tackle to tackle, the Cowboys’ line has done a superb job of protecting the quarterback and gashing defenses for one of the league’s most potent ground attacks. Even when Marc Colombo, who was playing lights out, went down, the line never missed a beat. They plugged in Doug Free, and he has been more than serviceable as a replacement. (Witness the block Free threw forty yards downfield on Felix Jones’ 49-yard scamper last Sunday.)

Number Seven: Anthony Spencer

Did anyone else notice that Peter King selected both Spencer and DeMarcus Ware for his All-Pro team? And why not? Spencer has been a force, a monster, a whirling dervish, disrupting plays, harassing passers, corralling runners, and complementing Ware so well that no one misses Greg Ellis for a minute. Spencer had 50 tackles, 17 assists, six sacks, two forced fumbles, and an interception during the 2009 regular season.

But numbers only tell part of the story. Anyone watching the Cowboys this year saw how Spencer influenced plays on almost every series.

Number Six: Keith Brooking

Brooking did not crack the Pro Bowl lineup in 2009, but he became the heart and soul of the Dallas Cowboys defense. He was the spiritual leader. His on-field play was as effective and impressive as the leadership he provided. Without Brooking, the Cowboys defense is a very different unit altogether.

Number Five: Miles Austin

Roy Williams was supposed to be the guy here. He got the fat contract. He cost the team all those draft picks. He was going to pick up the slack for the departed Terrell Owens. Right?

Wrong.

Miles Austin began the season as the number three receiver. But in Kansas City, with Williams hurt, he asserted himself, had one of the best days ever for a Cowboys receiver and began his dash to the Pro Bowl. He has been the big-time receiver, making the big plays at crunch time, torching defenses, snatching balls from the grasp of defensive backs, shaking off would-be tacklers, running past people, running over people.

Austin has done everything Owens did and managed to remain a team player. Imagine that.

Number Four: Jason Garrett

Granted, third down or fourth down and a yard to go has been a bit of a sticky wicket. Sure, the point production (ranked 14th in the league)  isn’t on par with the yardage this team racks up (second most in the NFL). But have you not seen steady—and marked—improvement in this offense over the course of the year?

No longer saddled with the burden of getting the ball to T.O., whether it makes sense to do so or not, Garrett has devised a sophisticated offense that features a dynamite running game and a lethal passing attack. If he could just make those catches for Roy Williams and Martellus Bennett, he would be the genius he was touted to be a couple years ago.

Number Three: Wade Phillips

Yes. You read that right. I said Wade Phillips. I know I have been a rather vocal critic of the man. I dislike plenty of things about his leadership style. But you cannot argue with the results. The man has won 68% of the games he has coached in Dallas (record: 33-15). He has now won two division titles in three years. He has put together a defense that is on the best roll of any team going into the postseason.

And his players believe in him. They genuinely like him. They want to win for him. (Of course, if they really like him and want to keep him around, they might try winning at least one more game, just to be safe.)

Number Two: Tony Romo

From the first time he stepped on the field as the team’s starter, Romo has shown flashes of utter brilliance. He has made plays few others could have made. Unfortunately, he was also prone to making the worst possible mistakes at the worst possible times, costing his team scoring chances, giving up points to opposing defenses, and contributing to the team’s failure to achieve postseason success.

But Tony has turned a corner. He has gotten his gun-slinger propensity under control, and he has done so without diminishing his play-making prowess. Consider that in 2009, he threw for more yards—4,483—than ever before. He threw just nine interceptions, after having thrown 13, 19, and 14 the previous three seasons.  He threw 26 touchdown passes this year and finished with a quarterback rating of 97.6, his highest ever.

More importantly, he has asserted himself as the undisputed leader of the offense.

Number one: Jerry and Stephen Jones

I picked Jerry Jones number one because this season’s success was predicated on his off-season moves. It was, far and away, Jerry’s best off-season for signing the right players and cutting the right ones loose.

I include Stephen because word has it that it was Stephen Jones who convinced daddy to cut ties with T.O. It was not an easy decision for Jerry Jones to make, not an easy thing to do. Not just because of his own ego, but because, I believe, he genuinely had a warm feeling for the receiver.

Jones did it. he pulled the trigger and Terrell Owens, PacMan Jones, and Tank Johnson were— *poof* —gone. Equally important, he let Greg  Ellis, the so-called team leader who had become a broken record for whining about his contract and generally sowing discord on the team, go.

Then, Jones set about signing key people. He got Igor Olshansky to replace Christ Canty, the departed defensive end overpaid by the Giants. He signed Gerald Sensabaugh to shore up the defensive backfield, which had long been vulnerable due to the diminishing skills of safety Roy Williams. Best of all, he signed Keith Brooking, the five-time Pro Bowler who still had plenty in his tank…and the kind of salt and savvy this team so desperately needed in a locker room leader.

Sure, there is the whole Roy Williams (the receiver) debacle. But wasn’t it Jones who first told us that Miles Austin would be the deep threat the team needed in Terrell Owens’ absence? Didn’t we giggle…or snicker…or roll our collective eyes?

Wasn’t he right?

He’s been right about a good many things lately. And that is a good thing for a team that has been all wrong for way too long.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Cards for EVERY Cowboys Occasion

On this glorious Monday morning in Dallas, the morning after the biggest Cowboys win in two years, this enterprising entrepreneur is busy designing Thank You cards for the Cowboys fan too busy to write his own. The window for such a venture is very, very small, so I am wasting no time.

Here are a few of the offerings from the newly-formed Silver and Blue Blood Hallmark Moment Press.

To Andy Reid:

Dear Coach Reid,

Thank you for angering the football gods, annoying the officials, and poking Philadelphia fans in their bloodshot eyes, waving red flags like a demented matador with a death wish, and kicking a useless field goal with precious little time left and no timeouts in your pocket.

PS- My brother suggested you have David Akers on your fantasy team. Is this true?

To Victor Butler:

Dear Vic,

Thank you for making a play every single time you get an opportunity to do so (which is not very often, for some reason known only to Wade Phillips.) Your shoestring tackle of Donovan McNabb was a game-saver. We owe you. More importantly, Wade owes you a closer look.

To Tony Romo:

Dear Tony,

Thank you for growing up before our eyes. You turned your cap around, protected the football, withstood the blitz storm, made just enough positive plays, took sacks rather than throwing the ball up for grabs, and didn’t once use the word “fun” in your post-game interview.

To Miles Austin:

Dear Mr. Awesome,

Thank you for being the anti-T.O.

To Roy Williams:

Dear (the current) Roy Williams,

Thank you for navigating your way through all the “baiting” by local media types without going all T.O. on everybody.

To DeMarcus Ware:

Dear D Ware,

Thank you. Just…thank you.

To Greg Ellis:

Dear Fussy Pants,

Thank you for taking your bitching to Oakland. You would not believe the difference in attitude now that you are not a “team leader” …and Keith Brooking is.

To the Month of November:

Dear Mother of All Cowboy Months,

Thank you for being so kind to Romo and his Cowboys. Thirteen straight wins under your umbrella. No one has done that since 1950. Oh, and thank you for Thanksgiving and turkey and football (and family that helps eat the turkey and doesn’t interfere with the football.)

To Santa:

Dear SC,

All I want for Christmas is a December to remember for something besides late-season collapses.

These are just a few of the cards we are rolling out for the elated fan. Get yours now! Supplies are limited.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Give Yourself a Hand

This space has often been used to take Jerry Jones to task for his meddling ways. The Cowboys’ lightening rod owner does and says more than enough to earn it. However, not every move the hands-on owner/general manager of America’s team is bad.

In, fact, this past off-season is proving to be one of his better ones. While a couple of key injuries mandate that we table any real analysis of the Cowboys’ ‘09 draft (besides, you never really know about drafts until two to four years later), the free agent signings are looking like strokes of pure football genius.

For me, it begins with Keith Brooking. Jerry and so-called head coach Wade Phillips were right in their belief that the veteran linebacker has more than a little gas in his tank. He has turned in close to Pro Bowl caliber play through the first seven games of the season.

But Brooking is even more important to the team because he is a leader. He is passionate, committed, and team oriented. He has a vibrant personality, and it is infectious. He has already asserted himself as a team leader.

Brooking is just the beginning. Gerald Sensabaugh, wounded hand and all, is helping to turn a suspect secondary into a stellar one. He can cover. He delivers big hits. He plays smart. And he takes pressure off the cornerbacks, enabling them to play their positions with more confidence and daring.

Then there is Igor the Terrible. Olshansky, the choice to replace the departed Chris Canty is a run-stopping, gap-filling, brute on the defensive line. He has surpassed the “serviceable” tag some wanted to place on him.

Finally, we have to mention the trade that brought Jon Kitna to the Cowboys. No intelligent fan of the team wants to find out just how much of an addition Kitna is to the team, since that would mean Romo is somehow incapacitated, but last year taught Mr. Jones the value of having a quality player holding that clipboard.

With these key additions and Wade’s attention to the defense (no one ever accused the man of not being a great defensive coordinator), and with time to gel, the defensive unit is looking like one of the team’s greatest strengths.

So, Mr. Jones, you may be your own worst enemy when it comes to building and sustaining a championship caliber team, but you are not as inept a “football” man as your harshest critics would like to make us all believe. You do get it right at least as often as you get it wrong.

Locking up Demarcus Ware. Backing Tony Romo when he was under intense fire. Building the great Football Cathedral. Cutting Terrell Owens. Getting way more than a little bang for your bucks this off-season. Good moves, all of them.

Good job, Jerry.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Some things are personal opinions. These are just plain facts.

FACT ONE: Tony Romo does NOT suck.

It is a favorite pastime of Cowboys’ haters everywhere to play fast and loose with Romo’s name. The usual choice is “Tony Homo,” and the old, tired, standard assertion is simply, “Tony Homo sucks.”

That is just not true, people.

Consider his record. He has now started a total of 44 regular season games in the NFL. His record? 30-14. That is a 69% winning percentage. It is also better than all but four quarterbacks in the history of the league. Does that suck?

Consider that he already has nineteen 300-yard passing games and has become, in less than four full seasons as the starter, the all-time team leader in that category. (Remember, this is a team with eight Super Bowl appearances, five Lombardi trophies, and former QBs named Meredith, Staubach, White, and Aikman.)

We could go on spouting facts, but all it really takes is the eye ball test. Watch the man play the position. Sure, he makes mistakes. The position he is playing is the most challenging, difficult position in all of team sports. Every man who has ever played it made mistakes. That five yard touchdown pass to Patrick Crayton last Sunday, however, was a play not two or three other quarterbacks in the league could have made.

The biggest argument against Romo is that he has not won a playoff game. But when people say that, they tend to leave off the most important word in the sentence, the qualifier:

“Yet.”

FACT TWO: DeMarcus Ware is still a steal, even with his new deal.

Jerry Jones opened the coffers and lavished his riches on his best defensive player – and it was absolutely the right thing to do.

Paying Ware is not the same thing as Danny Snyder handing Albert Haynesworth the reins to a Wells Fargo stagecoach full of cash. Overpaying high priced free agents often comes back to bite teams. The player was great, sure…for someone else. Now, he is on a new team with new coaches and new teammates. He has to learn a new scheme. He is sleeping in a different bed and waking up in a different town. And, he has just hit the lottery, so motivation may become an issue.

Some can handle such challenges. Many cannot.

DeMarcus Ware is a proven commodity for the Dallas Cowboys. He has made his mark with that star on his helmet. He has done the right things the right way…and done the things he does on the field better than just about anyone else in the league.

The return on Jerry’s money will be more immediate and appreciable where Ware is concerned than the money spent on that shiny new stadium.

FACT THREE: Miles Austin is more than a speedster.

When Terrell “The Mouth” Owens was kicked to the curb and then banished to the football wasteland known as Buffalo, there was wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth in Big D.

Who will replace all those yards and touchdowns? Who will stretch the field?

Most, including Jerry and Co., pointed to Miles Austin. The rationale was simply that he was the only receiver left on the team with the speed to present a deep threat.

But Miles Austin is more than a speed receiver. He is big – 6’3”. He is strong. He is intelligent. He is a precise route runner. He has excellent hands. And, perhaps most importantly, he is a team player, not a prima donna.

Get used to seeing those bright eyes and big smile on camera. Tony has a new toy, and there will likely be miles and miles of passes to Miles in the Cowboys’ future.

FACT FOUR: Felix Jones is more than a speed back.

Here is a dude that averaged nearly nine yards per carry in a Division One, Southeast Conference football program. That was a bit of a disappointment, really. In high school, his yards per carry was eleven plus.

So, what has he done so far in the NFL? A measly 8.5 yards per rush.

I know. He has been hurt and hasn’t carried the ball an inordinate amount. BUT…he has run far enough, fast enough, and well enough to put the NFL on notice.

This guy can get it.

It isn’t just his speed either. It is his burst. It is his vision. It is his surprising power. He is a threat to go all the way from anywhere, anytime.

He isn’t Adrian Peterson, but he will do until one comes along.

FACT FIVE: Bobby Carpenter still sucks.

I noticed Carpenter three times in the game against the Falcons. Each time, he either made the tackle, or assisted…after the runner or ball catcher had made a first down.

Jerry Jones once called Carpenter a finesse player. That is as close as he could come to calling the linebacker a sissy without just out and out doing so.

A finesse linebacker?

Carpenter appears to detest contact. This is tantamount to a pilot that fears heights, or a surgeon that faints at the sight of blood, or a hydrophobic Navy Seal.

The New Jersey Football Genius Bill Parcells picked Carpenter in the first round in 2006. Why??? Because his daddy was a former Parcells lackey? Because he played at Ohio State? Or was it something more sinister. Was the Carpenter pick part of an elaborate scheme to sabotage his former nemesis and saddle them with the kind of salary cap hell a first round bust puts on a team?

Or was he thinking that the blonde bombshell could make the cheerleading squad if he didn’t work out on the field?

Never trust a Tuna with bigger breasts than your wife.

These are the facts, and they are indisputable. But…dispute if you must.

Popularity: 34% [?]

OK, Blue Bloods. Nobody likes to lose…not even in the preseason. But if you are going to lose, that is a better time than any to do it. Games that don’t count don’t count.

Losing 31-10, you might think would indicate that there were few positives to be taken from the game. That just isn’t so. I saw plenty to smile about last night. Here are some things that come immediately to mind:

Martellus Bennett and Felix Jones

The Cat!

Marty B and Felix are not your typical back ups. They are frontline talents whose skills will – or should – be prominently displayed all season long. If The sight of Martellus catching a short pass in the flat, scooting past one defender, and bowling over another for a first down doesn’t get you stoked, then your stoker is broken.

And Felix…wow!

In the 1970s the Cowboys were the best team in the NFL at running the screen pass. Why? Because of Tony Dorsett. His vision, burst, patience, and speed made him a threat to score at any time. The screen pass got him outside the tackles, on the corner, where it often became mano y mano, catch me if you can.

They frequently could not.

Say hello to Felix Jones. The Cowboys haven’t had the combination of burst, vision and break away speed that he brings to the team since the great Dorsett. He showed again last night that if he can stay healthy, he is a weapon every opposing defensive coordinator will have to account for…and the screen pass will live again in Big D.

David Beuhler

After getting the jitters out, the linebacker-size kickoff specialist sent a kick eight yards deep into the end zone. Touchback! Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Especially since the Cowboys were the NFL’s only team not to record a single touchback in 2008.

He also pegged a 35-yard field goal, which is just icing really.

Tony Romo

For all the haters out there (and there are plenty of them), Romo remains one of the league’s top playmakers at the most important position (by far) on the field. Witness the touchdown pass to Jason Witten. Pump, move those feet, dip that shoulder, he’s open..fire!

Quickest release in the league? If not, it’s within milliseconds of whomever is faster.

Jason Garrett

That TD drive was a nice display of mixing things up, spreading the ball around, and using all of his weapons. And did anyone besides me notice how much more “presidential” on the sideline Garrett looks than the Pillsbury Doughboy, aw shucks, so-called head coach?

Keith Brooking

Yes, it was only one sack, but…nice!

Jon Kitna

He’ll do, won’t he? Nice to have a backup QB who could probably start for about half of the league.

Concerns? Sure! Plenty of them, but most of them have to do with reserves rather than starters. I would say the biggest concern at the moment is the injury bug. If the wrong people go down, it could be a long season. If the Cowboys stay relatively healthy, they won’t be losing to the Raiders 31-10 come Thanksgiving.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Double Trouble

Word out of Cowboys camp is that 2009 will see the ‘Boys’ offense lining up the 12 personnel package a good deal more than in years past – and with good reason.

Confusingly enough, reporter Tom Orsborne (yes there is that weird “r” between the “O” and “s”), of the San Antonio Express-News registers the following report on the Houston Chronicle’s site:

With second-year tight end Martellus Bennett emerging as a strong option in the passing game, it’s becoming increasingly evident the Dallas Cowboys’ primary offensive personnel grouping this season will likely be a two-tight end set.

“We ran a lot of two-tight end sets last year,” quarterback Tony Romo said. “I just think we’re trying to do different things out of it.”

In their playbook, the Cowboys call the grouping “12 personnel” because the formation calls for one running back and two tight ends.

Both Coach Wade Phillips and quarterback Tony Romo are gushing about the way Marty B is playing. Phillips says, “We have one certainly outstanding (tight end) in Witten. Maybe the top one in the league in Witten, and Martellus shows up every day. Every day you see him make a play.” Romo adds, “Martellus has really turned it up a notch this offseason, and he’s going to put himself in the position to have a pretty good season.”

The eyeball test alone tells even the most casual football fan that Martellus is potentially a very special player. At 6′7, 248, Bennett is big and strong. But he’s quick, too. He has cat-like reflexes. He is big enough to outfight linebackers and quick enough to outmaneuver safeties. He and Witten in the same formation will certainly put pressure on the defense.

Usually, a two tight end formation is used for pounding the ball. With Marion Barber, Felix Jones, or Tashard Choice in the backfield, the Cowboys can certainly use theirs to do just that. But it is just as likely that they will pass out of it. The versatility of the package may cause a quandary for the opposing defensive coordinator. Does he go big and put eight men in the box to stop the run? Or does he slap a nickel package out there and gear up to stop the pass?

Look for offensive coordinator Jason Garrett to make the 12 personnel package a prime feature of his game plan this year. If it lives up to its potential, it ought to provide real versatility to the Cowboys’ assault on the NFL – and, specifically, the NFC East – in 2009.

Popularity: 1% [?]