One of the hot-button topics among many Cowboys fans these days is the center position. Today, we're bringing that discussion to the BTB front-page, but not in the form of a standard article. Instead, we've assigned two writers, CotySaxman and yours truly, the task of arguing the case for and against Phil Costa.
Both of us get three turns each to present arguments that support our positions. You, the BTB community can weigh in on the debate in the comments section and also vote for the winning position.
After the break, the two of us present our opposing views: Will Phil Costa be the Cowboys starting center in 2012?
It's Monday, which means it's back to work for the Dallas Cowboys down at Valley Ranch. The team has returned to its offseason program today and officially filled the last two remaining spots on the expanded 90-man roster that they are allowed to take to training camp. Back in April, the league announced that teams would be allowed to take 90 men through training camp, all the way until the third preseason game, when they would have to trim roster sizes down to to 80 players; before going down to the regular season limit of 53 following the final exhibition contest.
For the final two spots, Dallas nabbed fullback Jamize Olawale and defensive lineman Ben Bass as was widely expected last week after the rookie minicamp ended. In fact, Olawale tweeted that he anticipated the signing last week Monday. Both UDFA's are at The Ranch to take part in a full squad offseason conditioning program, side-by-side with the veterans. The draft picks are also there; all except for fourth-rounder Matt Johnson who still has school commitments at Eastern Washington. [Todd Archer, ESPN].
Of course, players at the bottom of the roster are always fighting for their professional lives and have to keep on eye an whom the Cowboys bring in for tryouts; regardless of position. You might be a defensive lineman, but a depleted receiving corps might make you the odd man out.
In an interesting note from that Archer article, it appears that Stephen Jones' influence (and/or maybe Jason Garrett's) may have won another battle with father Jerry. Dallas has, for some reason unbeknownst to outside observers, waited until the week before training camp opens to sign their draft picks. This will often lead to their top pick missing the first day of camp activities. Worry no more, as Dallas is focused on having all players signed by mid-June.
More...
As the dust settles on the 2012 draft, it won't be long before the first articles appear extolling the early 2012 playoff favorites. Along the way, some talking head will try to sell you on why this or that division may is the best division in the NFL because this or that player or coach is a sure-fire thing or because this or that free agent acquisition or draft pick will elevate some ho-hum team to championship status.
Don't be fooled by any of that. The NFC East is still the best division in football. Everybody knows it, not everybody likes to admit it. 20 Super Bowl appearances between the four NFC East teams and 12 Lombardi trophies between three of them speak a pretty clear language. The NFC East is the only division to have won a Super Bowl in each of the last five decades. Regardless of which teams win the remaining Super Bowls this decade, no other division will be able to match that feat.
What, you're getting a little tired of the Super Bowl arguments, and want some more recent data to support the East's primacy? Piece of cake.
Here's some more recent data to chew on: Since 2005, the NFC East has won more games than any other division in the NFL. The East has had more playoff teams, has scored more points, has had more yards on offense, more sacks and more 1,000+ yard receivers than any other division. And the East has had only six teams with a losing record in the last seven years. No other division can match any of that. Really, it's not even debatable.
Toughest? Most talented? Most successful? Find out after the break just how good the NFC East really is.
On day one of the 2012 NFL Draft the Dallas Cowboys made the surprise trade to nab Morris Clairborne. Projected as the best defensive player of this year's class, he has been the focus of a great deal of the talk and speculation about the coming season among Cowboys fans. His fellow draftees and the very intriguing group of UDFAs that the team had at the roookie minicamp have taken up most of the rest of our attention.
Lost in all this is the fact that by then the Cowboys had already acquired one of the best cornerbacks in the business in Brandon Carr, the biggest free agent signing for the team this offseason. The former Kansas City Chiefs player had already all but guaranteed that Dallas would see much better corner play. In the long run, Mo certainly has the potential to be an even better defender than Brandon. But that is in the long run. Right now, Pick 6 has yet to participate fully in an NFL practice as he recovers from some needed repair to some tendons, much less prove himself in a game. Carr has a full and very impressive resume. Claiborne's ceiling is sky high. Carr's floor may be better than anything we have seen on the Cowboys for some time.
That is what I call a win-win situation.
This really came home to me in a video Bryan Broaddus has up on the official Cowboys website. Bryan, who I happen to think is a really good hire by the mothership, goes over the expected top four cornerbacks for this season. It just illustrates that the Dallas secondary is going to be an entirely new kind of beast this year.
Some good stuff after the jump.
One of the constants that we keep hearing from Jason Garrett is how he wants competition on the roster. He's been very vocal about the need to bring in competition both after this year's draft and after last year's draft - and really, anywhere in between.
Including Kevin Ogletree, the Cowboys signed eight free agents at the beginning of free agency. Since then, they also brought in CB Taplin-Ross, S Owusu-Ansah, P Rogers, QB Carpenter and FB Greenhouse, upping their free agent total to 13. Add seven draft picks and a small army of college free agents and the Cowboys should have lots of competition at every position.
But do they really?
Obviously, not every college free agent or rookie brought in will compete for a starting job right away. And just as obviously, not every returning starter will compete for his starting job. But Garrett's emphasis on competition got me thinking: Are there positions or position groups where the Cowboys don't currently have serious competition?
No name exemplifies the RKG motto more than Jason Witten. When Witten retires, it will be a sad day in Dallas. Hopefully that is a day that doesn't come for a very long time. Having a tight end of his caliber does so much more for the offense. It gives the quarterback a safety blanket and is a good form of a blitz buster. Witten's versatility is also beneficial to Jason Garrett and how he can call a football game.
The tight end position is starting to become the "new" trend in the NFL. Teams are looking for athletic tight ends who can stretch the field and become a nightmare of a match up for opposing defenses. Witten doesn't have the athleticism or speed of the new breed of tight ends headlining the league right now, but he gets it done week in, week out. That doesn't mean he isn't athletic, because Witten is a great athlete, but he is an even better football player.
Jason Witten is becoming the Cowboys' "elder statesman", the Senator. His nine years of experience make him the most tenured player on the roster and the lone remaining player from the 2003 Cowboys draft class. He is a great teammate and leader. Witten is one of the few players on the team who is very vocal, and when he speaks, people listen to what he has to say.
What is starting to become concerning is the lack of playoff success the core group of this football team has had. During his entire nine-year career with the Cowboys, Witten has experienced just one playoff win. When I actually think about it deeper, it makes me sad. This man deserves some playoff success with his team. He has earned tremendous success as an individual player, but this is a team game. Jason Witten wants to win a Super Bowl, but for how much longer can he produce at the level we have become accustomed to?
Take the jump for more...
I am going to start this with a disclaimer: Daryl "Moose" Johnston is my favorite Dallas Cowboys player of all time. There was something about the way he excelled in the blue collar job of fullback, and the dignity and class he always showed, that just reached out to me.
He has gone on to become one of my favorite broadcasters as well. I frankly prefer it when he is doing a Cowboys game rather than Troy Aikman, another Cowboy I am moderately fond of. But that may have something to do with the fact that Troy always shows up with Joe Buck.
Regardless of my personal prejudices, I do think that Moose is a man with a better than average insight into the NFL. He seems very thoughtful and actually tries to base his opinion on facts and data. He was in town this week to attend Emmitt Smith's reunion of some of the players from the dynasty-starting 1992 Cowboys team. He talked about several things of interest to Dallas fans, and there are several interviews you might want to read, including one about the concussion lawsuits and another where he stresses that better medical care should be the focus for the players, not cash awards.
But with the excitement that is being felt about the new talent that was at the rookie minicamp, and the fact that this is really the first complete offseason for Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett, I was most intrigued by an article where the subject was what Daryl sees when he looks at the Cowboys.
What he said about that after the jump.
It's no secret that the Cowboys were hit by injuries at some key spots last year. The most publicized injuries were probably Tony Romo's injuries, a cracked rib coupled with a punctured lung as well as a severely bruised hand. Surprisingly though, Romo didn't miss any starts because of those injuries.
Others did. Eight Cowboys ended up on injured reserve at various points in the season: Mat McBriar (left foot), Montrae Holland (torn bicep), Barry Church (shoulder), DeMarco Murray (fractured right ankle), Phillip Tanner (hamstring), David Buehler (right groin), Bill Nagy (broken ankle), Raymond Radway (fractured tibia, fibula).
Others again missed game time, but weren't put on IR. Miles Austin missed six games with two separate hamstring injuries, Felix Jones missed four games, Tony Fiammetta missed six games with different ailments and Jay Ratliff saw limited snaps with a cracked rib. But as a unit, no other unit was hit as hard as the Cowboys cornerbacks.
The combination of Newman, Jenkins and Scandrick played together in only seven games last season: For a two-game stretch in weeks seven and eight and then again from week 13 onwards, when both Jenkins and Newman were noticeably banged up. No wonder the corners received a lot of the blame for the 2011 defense - they simply weren't healthy.
Like every year, Football Outsiders yesterday published their statistical study of team health from the 2011 NFL season, and we'll take a look at where the Cowboys rank on their list.
