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Random Things About The Dallas Cowboys

A very non-comprehensive look at some things that caught my eye when looking for news about the Dallas Cowboys.

DeMarco Murray describes his ankle rehab as "ahead of schedule" in an article from the Dallas Morning News. That is something that's good to see. He also goes on to talk a little bit about what the team needs to do to improve in 2012.

"Just finishing," Murray said. "We were a young team this year. We had a lot of young guys, offensively and defensively. Just missing OTAs and all that extra stuff with a new coaching staff. We're looking forward to this training camp, having a full season under our belt. Like I said, there's a lot of great things in the near future for the Dallas Cowboys. We're excited about the team we have."

The part about finishing is pretty insightful. Which is another way of saying I agree with him. Everyone knows about the lost leads throughout the season. I wonder about how much those first three losses got inside the team's collective head and affected things the rest of the way, above and beyond the missed opportunities that turned out to be so crucial at the end.

And I really hope his attitude is shared. While some areas are going to have to have some new blood to improve (like the secondary), I think there is also a lot of undeveloped talent on the team. Not necessarily superstars, but players that can bring a much improved game to the field after the off season. Frankly, there is not enough cap space or draft choices to take care of every problem that the team had last year, so some of the solution has to come from within.

More . . .

Star-divide

Another really good piece in the DMN talked about how the team has used the draft to acquire most of the current defensive line players. This list of the players acquired since the team went to a 3-4 set is interesting.

2010; Sean Lissemore; NT/DE; 7; In 2011, Lissemore was incredibly productive in a limited number of snaps and could become a more regular contributor next season
2010; Josh Brent; NT; 7*; Has the prototypical build of a nose tackle and played well in 137 snaps last season
2006; Montavious Stanley; NT; 6; Never played in a regular-season game for the Cowboys
2006; Jason Hatcher; DE; 3; Developed slowly before becoming a starter in 2011, when he recorded a career-high 4.5 sacks
2005; Marcus Spears; DE; 1; A good run defender and solid contributor who hasn't made many impact plays in his career
2005; Chris Canty; DE; 4; After starting 50 games and recording 10 sacks in Dallas, Canty signed a six-year, $42 million contract with the Giants in March 2009
2005; Jay Ratliff; NT; 7; Far exceeded expectations and has been invited to the Pro Bowl each of the last four seasons
*Supplemental Draft Pick

There is one sixth round whiff. One first round choice that may have been overvalued. And five really good picks. Most of the readers here are familiar with the story of Jay Ratliff and how he has been an incredible value as a seventh round pick, but Lissy and Brent both have an opportunity to at least partially duplicate that. They are certainly two players that the team can expect to improve this year. Spears may be on the decline, mostly because he is a run stuffer in a pass dominated league, but he will still have value as a role player. And Hatcher looks solid, which gives five pretty effective pieces for the D line rotation, all from the draft. As the article says, this is one area where the drafting has gone pretty well, perhaps better than any other unit on the team.

The next thing is a bit indirectly related to the Cowboys. But since we still have to put up with some snarky comments about events in Cabo years ago involving a, shall we say, notorious liaison involving a prominent Dallas player, and that enormous reality-show-diva bullet a teammate of his dodged (imagine if a Dallas Cowboy had been in the Fake Wedding of the Century), it is nice to see someone else catching a little flak over their significant other. Gisele Bundchen was just sticking up for her husband, after all, but Tom Brady now has some damage control ahead of himself.

"You've got to catch the ball when you're supposed to catch the ball," the Brazilian beauty said. "My husband cannot [expletive] throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. I can't believe they dropped the ball so many times."

Woah! Back up the truck. Brady wasn't his stunningly accurate self at times Sunday night, most notably on the throw to Welker. Yes, some of the drops were bad ones, but Gisele seems to think no one was trying except for her beloved Tom Terrific.

The real reason I mention this: Just imagine if these kinds of comments had come from Mrs. Tony Romo. NBC would have given Bob Costas an hour in prime time to cover it, probably with Brian Williams as co-anchor.

On a more positive note, 2011's most talked about player in the NFL would not have minded playing for the Cowboys. At least according to his answer when he was asked about his favorite team.

"Well one the Florida Gators , but in the NFL actually it was the Dallas Cowboys," Tim Tebow responded, according to SportsRadioInterviews.com . "Emmitt Smith was my favorite player and he was a Gator and maybe the best running back of all-time."

I don't think anyone would argue in favor of him being a good addition to the team as a quarterback. But can you imagine him as a tight end? Anybody good at delivering divine revelations?

"Thou shalt goeth to the plains of northern Texas, and thou shalt forsake throwing the football, but shall have the ball delivereth to you by one with a legitimate NFL caliber throwing motion, and at all times thou shalt smite thine opponents with vigor, but not in such a way as to draweth a flag."

Just an idea.

And finally, sometimes you run across something, and realize there is absolutely nothing at all you can add.

Jerry Jones Says He's Had "50 Concussions".

0 recs  |  98 comments

Comments

DL development

Be nice if the young guys could develop to where the starting DL is either Lissemore/Ratliff/Hatcher or Ratliff/Brent/Hatcher. Either lineup would give a better chance for more play-making out of the DL. Third year for those guys—let’s hope they can take it up a notch or three.

our problem is that when we finally develop the guy to be good enough to be impactful

some team in the East steals them away from us

Canty had two injury plaugued seasons in NY

Out of the 3 seasons he’s been there. They offered a ridiculous contract to a rotation DL.

Stephen Bowen was a bigger loss in my view

he got a normal contract for a good 3-4DE and we could really use him

Bowen Was Huge Loss

. . . I loved that guy; he was always making plays. Why we let him go is beyond me. Maybe he is only a situational player incapable of staying on the field for extended periods, but, my gosh, he was always in the backfield disrupting stuff.

off topic

sorry TP…..

Thanks

Oh well. Just another HEART BREAKING loss.

UNC will beat Duke in March and win the National Title
the heels may beat duke but they're not winning the title

that game was crazy i laughed when rivers sank that shot.

Yeah that was a total choke job by UNC. Talent doesn't always come out on top.

Up by 13, you have to finish that.

Up by 10 with 2 minutes left

Unbelievable.

I think Tebow would make a decent ILB
Tebow can actually catch really good so why would you want him at Linebacker?

its obvious Tebow wont be a NFL QB very long & if Dallas could scoop him up with the understanding he could run a couple wildcat plays but his main job would FB/TE that would work perfect.
i’d say FB would be more natural since he’s run from the backfield his entire career but he certainly could line up anywhere in a TE role

I should have used to sarcasm font
While I think the idea of Tebow at ILB is neither impossible or likely,

Why would you not want an ILB that catches?

+1

Was thinking the same thing. The thing I love most about Lee is that he can catch the ball. Now stop and think back arent there ILB/TE who have done both successly, to include in a SB.

Optimissum Prime, huh?

I like it.

LOL Yup!

I call my son Grant “Granticus Prime” cuz he’s 4 and loves the Transformers movies esp. Optimus. So now I have all kinds of various Optimus Prime word changes haha.

Nice. I used to call my sis' stud Maine Coon Optimus.

I guess Prime was a family name anyway. Not a bad choice for the next OchoCinco…

Main Coon's are great cats!
Thanks. I love that little booger.
Tebow sucks the big one.
50 concussions!?!

That would go a long way toward explaining Roy Williams, Quincy Carter, Joey Galloway, etc.. Everyone so often, a random neuron misfire costs Dallas. All kidding aside, he seems fairly astute for someone who’d been shell shocked so often at a younger age.

Jerry has a flair for the dramatic....
Jerry has a flair for stupid.
Jerry is synonym for retard
seriously

Why give people more fire to play with? He can’t seriously enjoy getting made fun of in public every time he opens is mouth.

bad attention is still attention
That's a hollywood saying.

Cuzin Jerruh thinks he is a celebrity. He’s just a moron. 50 concussions and he’s 69 years old? He’d be on a feeding tube if true.

Jerruh, shut your damn mouth!

I don't doubt he's had 50 concussions.

Once you’ve had a concussion it easy to have another. In my playing days it was simply getting your bell rung. You might come out for a play, pop a smelling sauce capsule, hit it hard a few times and go back for more. If the smelling sauce didn’t effect you, then you knew it was bad. I’ve had I don’t know how many concussions, but a lot.

wasn't the test also

1) How many fingers am I holding up?
2) What day is it?
3) Can you name the current President?

That's about right.

One of my team mates staggered off to the wrong sidelines after he got his bell rung. The trainers helped him get back to our sidelines. He sat out until the second half, played the rest of the game and didn’t remember any of it. Back then getting a concussion “aka getting your bell rung” was a laughing matter.

When I played the test was

1. Am holding up any fingers
2. Is it a day of the week
3. Do we have a President

and if you got 1 of the 3 right you were cleared to play.
I got my first concussion when i was like 12

I got pissed off at my horse cause he bit me so I jumped on his back and road the crap out of him but he didn’t like it and dumped me over the fence. Many more followed but to be honest those weren’t even closely comparable to the concussive blast concussions I got in Iraq and afgan. I’d take 50 regular concussions over 3 from a concussive blast anyday of the week.

Let's not mention horses and concussions, please. I will get a headache, again.....
Did you fall off a merry-go-round?
No, I had a horse flip over on top of me after he failed to buck me off. On rocks.

That was over 20 years ago and still the last thing I remember about it was thinking, “Oh hell, he is going over, get my feet clear”, until I woke up.

Thanks for your service Sado.
He played a long time ago, leather helmet days?
Ha Ha, not leather, but not near as good as today's helmets.
I thing someone needs to write a song

500 coaches and 50 concussions :-)

Lissemore looks promising but i've yet to really notice Brent & he's seen more snaps.

i just dont see the type of motor it takes to play DL/NT in Brent like i see in Lissemore. Lissemore knows only 1 speed & thats something positive for the future of this DL.
with teams going with more athletic nimble OL it changes the type of DL needed to win the battle in the trenches.
i’d love to see Dallas find a better suited NT to create that push needed in the middle of the 34

Tom's pass to Welker was much like Romo's easy missed pass to Felix in AZ game.

Might have been first Giants’ game. Either way.
Easy pass blown, drive and hard-fought game killed. The difference is, I was lambasted for saying the throw had real implications and calling out our BA QB who had played a solid game, otherwise.

“Thou shalt goeth to the plains of northern Texas, and thou shalt forsake throwing the football, but shall have the ball delivereth to you by one with a legitimate NFL caliber throwing motion, and at all times thou shalt smite thine opponents with vigor, but not in such a way as to draweth a flag.”
That was really good, Tom! He would not have to completely forsake throwing the FB, would he?

Meaningless statement
The part about finishing is pretty insightful.

It is just as meaningless as “we’ve got to make more plays,” “we have to maintain ball security,” “we need to make better decisions,” “we need to tackle better,” blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Players (on all teams) have been saying those things for years and years and years.

Murray is right

The team was extremely competitive in almost every game they played this year and just failed to finish games that could have easily went our way with a break here and there.

If they can upgrade the talent at certain positions this season, I think the Cowboys are capable of having a special season in 2012.

MURRAY'S COMMENTS ABOUT "JUST FINISHING" IS YEARS AHEAD OF HIS TIME......

When’s the LAST TIME that a current Dallas Cowboy player(s) spoke about finishing games the right way!!! Probably not since the Triplets played for us!!!! Damn, that kid makes me excited for his future and our Cowboy future. To keep this kid healthy enough to finish the entire season, Jerrah needs to draft RB Terrance Ganaway from Baylor.

Terrance Ganaway was RG3’s (Heisman QB) sidekick and gained OVER 1,500 yds and scored 21 TDs this past season!!!!!! Some analysts think that without Terrance Ganaway, RG3 would NOT have had such a great year nor the opportunity to even win the Heisman Trophy. With Demarco and Terrance, we’d have our own Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs for years to come!!!!!

ON A SIDE NOTE: Jerrah can save millions in FA salary on the Defense by simply signing 1 key FA…..Miami’s NT named Paul Soliai or drafting a stud NT (i.e. D. Poe) in the DRAFT (which is always a crap-shoot in my opinion)!!!!! By having a big-boy NT that can push the pocket and simply moving RAT to DE, we’d have 3 above-average elite pass rushers (Ware, RAT, Spencer) and 1 elite NT to push the pocket and plug-up the middle runs that have plaqued us for years!!!! We’ve ALL seen for the past 3 years how elite QBs like Eli, Brees, Rogers, Vick, Brady, Peyton, etc. etc. just simply step up into the pocket to avoid Ware or Spencer’s outside speed rush. If we had a stud NT to push the pocket, the QB would be stepping up into one of two DE’s or NT for an easy sack OR they’d be sacked or stripped of the football by Ware or Spencer.

That would be a god-send for our average secondary and two inside LBers who’d be running around trying to man-up on elite WRs and TEs. The opposing Team’s OC would have to ensure the ball comes out real quick which would make interceptions by Sean Lee or Bruce Carter or our secondary MORE LIKELY than years past. We’ve all seen how PICKS happen when Rob Ryan’s defense can pre-diagnose the probable offensive play call!!!!

Yes, we still need another CB to replace Newman but Janoris Jenkins or Dre Kilpatrick or other draftable CB should be available in the 1st and 2nd RDs. If not, our stashed CB Mario Butler (6’1" 195lbs) may be ready to assume a starting or nickel role after one year on the practice squad and a full off-season with our elite Strength Coach.

And, yes, we still need an elite OG to replace Kosier. Therefore, if we don’t have the cap money to sign both FA Paul Soliai and FA Carl Nicks or similar FA’s, either sign Paul Soliai and draft OG DeCosta or sign OG Carl Nicks and draft NT D. Poe. Looking at these two options, signing Paul Soliai and drafting OG DeCosta (rookie Wage Scale) appears to be the better choice!!!And, then draft another CB in the 2nd RD to compete with Mario Butler

Soliai played under the franchise tag to the tune of $12.5M last year.
Jerrah can save millions in FA salary on the Defense by simply signing 1 key FA…..Miami’s NT named Paul Soliai

He was the Fins highest paid player.

Ok man i cant believe im the one saying this

But truth is truth Spencer is not above average elite pass rusher. He is above average solb but pass rusher he is not. He does his job better than most at his position but pass rusher he is not. Chia its all you now bud lol.

Murray's the baddest man in the whole damn town.
Tisk Tisk DMN

They forgot about Stephen Bowen!

whoa

site hiccup, they forgot about Stephen Bowen!

Tsk-Tsk, Rat-Pack

you forgot that Stephen Bowen was undrafted :-)

oooh

well played. can you fix my double postage? :)

can’t fix that, as deleting a comment in a thread automatically deletes every comment below it.

Mark Barron has a sports hernia injury: could be our 2nd rd pick

He’s potentially out til late July, early August.

http://mobile.bloggingtheboys.com/2012/2/9/2786501/mark-barron-suffers-a-double-sports-hernia

Looking like a done deal.
Barron might even slip to the third round since his rookie season looks shot
If this story holds up

Mark Barron will miss out on the combine and his pro day.

And most of TC.
MURRAY'S COMMENTS ABOUT "JUST FINISHING" IS YEARS AHEAD OF HIS TIME......

When’s the LAST TIME that a current Dallas Cowboy player(s) spoke about finishing games the right way!!! Probably not since the Triplets played for us!!!! Damn, that kid makes me excited for his future and our Cowboy future. To keep this kid healthy enough to finish the entire season, Jerrah needs to draft RB Terrance Ganaway from Baylor.

Terrance Ganaway was RG3’s (Heisman QB) sidekick and gained OVER 1,500 yds and scored 21 TDs this past season!!!!!! Some analysts think that without Terrance Ganaway, RG3 would NOT have had such a great year nor the opportunity to even win the Heisman Trophy. With Demarco and Terrance, we’d have our own Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs for years to come!!!!!

ON A SIDE NOTE: Jerrah can save millions in FA salary on the Defense by simply signing 1 key FA…..Miami’s NT named Paul Soliai or drafting a stud NT (i.e. D. Poe) in the DRAFT (which is always a crap-shoot in my opinion)!!!!! By having a big-boy NT that can push the pocket and simply moving RAT to DE, we’d have 3 above-average elite pass rushers (Ware, RAT, Spencer) and 1 elite NT to push the pocket and plug-up the middle runs that have plaqued us for years!!!! We’ve ALL seen for the past 3 years how elite QBs like Eli, Brees, Rogers, Vick, Brady, Peyton, etc. etc. just simply step up into the pocket to avoid Ware or Spencer’s outside speed rush. If we had a stud NT to push the pocket, the QB would be stepping up into one of two DE’s or NT for an easy sack OR they’d be sacked or stripped of the football by Ware or Spencer.

That would be a god-send for our average secondary and two inside LBers who’d be running around trying to man-up on elite WRs and TEs. The opposing Team’s OC would have to ensure the ball comes out real quick which would make interceptions by Sean Lee or Bruce Carter or our secondary MORE LIKELY than years past. We’ve all seen how PICKS happen when Rob Ryan’s defense can pre-diagnose the probable offensive play call!!!!

Yes, we still need another CB to replace Newman but Janoris Jenkins or Dre Kilpatrick or other draftable CB should be available in the 1st and 2nd RDs. If not, our stashed CB Mario Butler (6’1" 195lbs) may be ready to assume a starting or nickel role after one year on the practice squad and a full off-season with our elite Strength Coach.

And, yes, we still need an elite OG to replace Kosier. Therefore, if we don’t have the cap money to sign both FA Paul Soliai and FA Carl Nicks or similar FA’s, either sign Paul Soliai and draft OG DeCosta or sign OG Carl Nicks and draft NT D. Poe. Looking at these two options, signing Paul Soliai and drafting OG DeCosta (rookie Wage Scale) appears to be the better choice!!!And, then draft another CB in the 2nd RD to compete with Mario Butler

SIGNING QB MATT FLYNN WOULD SAVE US YEARS AND YEARS OF TRYING TO FIND ROMO'S REPLACEMENT

I forgot to ADD this comment to my last post…..

Last but NOT least, Jerrah should try his damnest to pry away and sign QB MATT FLYNN from Green Bay. This kid is the real deal and we’d SAVE years and years of trying to find another QB to replace Romo someday due to always drafting late in the FIRST ROUND!!!!

OUR NEW TRIPLETS (and SIDEKICKS) WOULD BE:

MATT FLYNN QB
DEMARCO MURRAY (AND TERRANCE GANAWAY) RBs
MILES AUSTIN (WITH DEZ BRYANT & L. ROBINSON) WRs

no.
Flynn=Kolb

Plus Flynn will want to start right away, ain’t happening in Dallas

Flynn is far superior to Kolb.. That's like comparing Ray Rice to Felix Jones.
A 1st, 3rd, and a 4th. All the rest are 6th and 7th rounders

Time to draft a pass rusher in the 1st or 2nd! The Dline needs some upgraded talent. Come on JJ, break your wallet or draft Ingram!

whoa whoa calm down and look who we got int he first...

maybe we should wait til the 4th or later as that seems to be the only place we can find good ones.

Matt Flynn

Why would Flynn want to sit on the bench when chances are he will go and be a starter this year like Miami or at another team.

Hmm.

If Miami signs Matt Flynn, I wonder what it would cost to get Matt Moore from them?

(Not my own idea, but an intriguing one.)

I would be okay with MM

as a backup. If he had to play a few, I think he has shown enough to get it done.

Frankly at this time the DL picks suck

ONE real good player. Frankly the rest are JAGS or not even that good. We have a couple of guys that MIGHT be good. But to say the drafting has been anything but putrid is to put a true homer spin on it all

Here's another interesting name to throw out there.....

Chad Henne? He does have a strong arm and can make all the throws. He’s definitely better than McGee-just a thought

We haven't had much luck with Chad's
How do you know he's better than McGee?

McGee hasn’t had to play at all. He’s had some outstanding pre-season games.

that was pre-season against a lot of guys that arent even on rosters now........

He’s skiddish and he’s too slow with his reads.

Chad's

Speaking of Chad’s …..how about Pennington?

His hair's too curly.

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