Dallas Cowboys Lose to Phoenix Cardinals in Desert Debacle

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Gene Strother

Sunday was a familiar sight for beleaguered fans of America’s erstwhile Team.

Phoenix, Arizona is not known as a tough place to win a football game. Unless, of course you are the Phoenix Cardinals or the Dallas Cowboys. Historically, the Cardinals have struggled to win football games anywhere (with one brief Kurt Warner-induced respite) unless they are playing the Cowboys.

This Cowboys 19–13 overtime loss to the Cards had no business going to overtime and no business being a loss. Because it was both, it proved to be business as usual.

This loss also proved a few other things…

It proved Jerry Jones, the World’s Dumbest Billionaire (not an official title, but I am working on it), is wrong again. When he derisively called Jimmy Johnson a “walk-around coach” and intimated that it is better to have your head coach serve as his own offensive coordinator, he was dead stinking wrong.

At the end of regulation, Garrett apparently got lost on the sideline. He had two timeouts in his pocket and failed to use either of them when he should have. The Cowboys were driving for the winning score. A timeout would have bought them the opportunity to claim more of the Cardinals’ real estate and get rookie kicker Dan Bailey an easier shot at kicking a game-winning field goal.

Garrett eschewed using a timeout until his kicker was lining up and making a game-winning field goal. Then, at the last second, the Cowboys’ coach became the first in NFL history to ice his own kicker. As the ball sailed between the uprights, the referee was blowing the whistle and awarding the head coach/offensive coordinator his timeout.

Saying a head coach is better off serving as his own coordinator is almost as stupid as saying a team owner should serve as his own General Manager. Sunday was Exhibit A for Jimmy Johnson’s argument against a head coach bogging himself down in the minutia of coordinator duties. It is almost impossible to consider the big picture and control all the dirty details simultaneously.

Garrett’s inability to manage the clock and game strategy at the most crucial time in the contest is beyond inexplicable. it is inexcusable.

So, shut up, Jerry. Go peddle stupid somewhere else. We’ve had our fill.

Another thing the loss in the desert proved is that the Cowboys remain a middle-of-the-pack kind of team.

Good teams take care of business against bad teams. Middle-of-the-pack teams almost beat good teams (see the Jets and Patriots games) and then lose a game or three to bad teams. Good teams play disciplined football. So-so teams have players like Orlando Scandrick nullifying big plays by committing braindead penalties at inopportune times.

Green Bay is a good team. New Orleans. Good team. Dallas…you know. So-so.

NFL.com features a headline today that reads, “Cardinals Shock Cowboys in Overtime.” Only someone that has not paid attention to the Cowboys for the past decade and a half would be shocked by that debacle in the desert.

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Dallas Cowboys and Tony Romo Singing, “I Feel Good!”

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Gene Strother

All Smiles

In the past five games, Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo has thrown nine touchdowns and only one interception. His quarterback rating during that span is an eye-popping 109.7.

In related news, the Cowboys are sporting a handsome 4–1 record during the same five-game stretch.

In a league that often gives too much credit to the quarterback for his team’s victories and too much blame for losses, it is still safe to say, “As goes Tony Romo, so go the Dallas Cowboys.”

A couple of games ago, after posting a near-perfect 148.4 rating by completing 23 of 26 passes for 270 yards and two touchdowns, Romo boiled his recent resurgence down to one pretty simple factor: Good health.

According to Todd Archer of ESPN.com, Romo repeated that sentiment last week as he prepared for Sunday’s game with the Washington Redskins:

“I don’t have a broken rib now, so that’s a positive,” Romo said Thursday, three days before the Dallas Cowboys‘ rematch with the Redskins. “It just feels good. I don’t know. You get used to playing hurt, but it’s just a little different kind of thing.”

Some in the league, in the media and in the stands have questioned just how much Romo’s injury was affecting his play. Suggestions were offered that maybe he was playing up the whole fighting through the pain thing. Maybe it was just a convenient excuse.

Apparently, these yardbirds think being kicked in the ribs by a mule is no big deal.

I, on the other hand, can identify with Tony. Just recently, I had a terrible head cold that I could not shake. Despite going for a steroid shot and an antibiotic, the nasty malady worked its way into my chest and there it stayed for a solid week.

I can tell you, my enthusiasm for work waned. I found it difficult to concentrate. My production slipped. This is all true and I must also confess that I have the kind of job that almost never involves angry, amped-up, 300-pound men using every means at their disposal to grind me into so much powder.

So, here’s to Tony Romo’s health and the continued success of the Dallas Cowboys that, like it or not, have their very fortunes tied to just how well Tony Romo feels.

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Jerry Jones Belittles Jimmy Johnson in Defense of Jason Garrett

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Gene Strother

Jerry Jones ought to have the world by the tail. If you are a sports fan and a fan of financial security, notoriety and power, you would likely trade places with him in a heartbeat.

But Jones’ thirst for recognition is beyond insatiable: it is irrational. Despite being the owner of three Lombardi trophies and the owner of a franchise that has won five of them, despite having built his dream stadium to the accolades of the world, despite owning one of the signature franchises in the world’s greatest sports league, Jones still smarts over not getting credit for the success of the early ’90s Cowboys.

How else do you explain Jones’ response to the suggestion that Jason Garrett consider hiring an offensive coordinator?

Last week, Jones made the following statement during an interview on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas:

“Jimmy was what I call a walk-around coach. [Bill] Parcells was a walk-around coach. Joe Gibbs is a guy who believes that the head coach needs to be in charge of either the offense or the defense and needs to be the coordinator. It brings you stature, it involves you in the game and gives you more respect with the players.

“It’s different schools of thought. I’ve always thought that Jason Garrett could handle coordinating as well as being the head coach.”

So, Jones, in defense of Garrett acting as his own coordinator elects to denigrate the achievement of two of his former coaches— two coaches that just happen to have among the most impressive resumès in NFL history?

Granted, Jerry was responding to Jimmy Johnson’s insistance that Garrett should hire an offensive coordinator, an opinion the former Cowboys’ coach shared during the Fox pregame show a week ago Sunday.

So, you might say that Jimmy fired the first shot.

Still, Jones’ return volley was an overreach of gargantuan proportions.

This past weekend, Johnson fired back at Jones by naming several “walk-around” coaches, including Tom Landry and Don Shula and reminded Jones that between them they have won 20 Super Bowls. He wondered aloud whether Jones thought such men had the respect of his players.

We are closing in on being 20 years removed from the glory of the ’90s Cowboys. Almost universally, Jimmy Johnson has been seen as the architect and driving force behind the three championships won by that team, though he was not even present for the third one.

The fact that Johnson is given so much credit has been the driving force behind most every decision Jerry Jones has made since.

Everything Jerry Jones does as the owner of the Dallas Cowboys appears to be for the purpose of building a successful team in such a way that he will get the credit. I am convinced he would rather not win another Super Bowl than win one and have to defer credit to someone else. Thus, he does things like bringing in Bill Parcells just long enough to rescue the franchise from the quagmire of mediocrity a decade of his insane selfishness placed it in.

All of this rancor and recriminations notwithstanding, Jason Garrett may be the perfect answer for both Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys fan. Garrett is, I believe, destined to greatness as an NFL head coach. He is also Jerry Jones’ very own, homegrown, hand-picked prodigy.

If Garrett wins it all, it may finally be a win-win for all.

Unless, of course, the world fails to give Jones credit for it.

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Tony Romo, DeMarco Murray Buddy Up To Give Dallas Cowboys Hope

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Gene Strother

Tony Romo has a new best friend. Or, he should have, anyway.

DeMarco Murray, rookie running back out of Oklahoma, has given the Dallas Cowboys’ offense what it has lacked since Emmitt Smith left for the Arizona desert: A legitimate threat at the halfback position. And that has made Tony Romo a more effective quarterback.

Romo completed 23 of 26 passes on Sunday for 270 yards, including three touchdowns and excluding any and all interceptions. It was one of his most dominating and impressive performances.

After the game, Romo reminded everyone that it helped that he was actually healthy. He wore no flak jacket on Sunday. He felt good throwing the ball.

Good health was probably key to Romo’s success. So was DeMarco Murray’s 135 rushing yards on 20 carries. When the opponent’s safeties and linebackers have to respect the threat of a break-away run, it makes stretching the field with the downfield pass more doable.

It is no accident that since Murray has taken over running duties for the injured Felix Jones, the Cowboys are 3—1. During this stretch, Murray has run for 601 yards on 75 carries. That is a whopping 8.01 yards per carry.

DeMarco Murray may be the team’s most valuable player right now. The rookie running back has made Romo a better quarterback, Jason Garrett a smarter coach and Rob Ryan’s defense a more effective unit. He takes pressure off Romo, gives Garrett options and gives the Dallas D a chance to catch its collective breath between battles.

Mark it down. Right now, DeMarco is the man…and Tony Romo’s new best friend.

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How Jerry Jones and His Dallas Cowboys Shut Up Silver and Blue Blood Criticism

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Gene Strother

And that's all I have to say...

You may have noticed a lack of activity around here recently. In addition to my current deployment (now in its sixth month), I confess I have just grown weary of pointing out everything that is wrong with this thing we can scarcely remember as the Dallas Cowboys, America’s Team.

My Mom, like a million other moms, said, “If you cannot say something nice about someone, don’t say anything at all.”

Clairee, the delightfully ornery character in the movie Steel Magnolias said, “If you can’t say something nice, come sit by me.”

Forrest Gump talked on a park bench for what appeared to be hours and concluded each subject with the words, “And that’s all I have to say about that.”

My wife thinks I should focus on being more positive. Since I have to consider that she may be right, I just don’t want to look too closely at the mess Jerry Jones— the ONE NFL GM that can never be fired no matter how utterly clueless he proves himself to be— has made of the team I am still trying very hard to love.

See? I cannot do it. I cannot say anything nice.

I tried, baby. I’m sorry.

And that is all I have to say about that.

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