Inside Cole Beasely

Dallas Cowboys.com interview with cole beasely, he's funny.  I'm so glad we kept him.  It reminds of how Wes Welker started with the Dolphins, but they were too stupid to see what they had, so he went to the divions rivals, Patriots, and shredded the dolphins twice a year.  I could see something like that happening previously before Garrett started, but he seems to like football guys like Beasely who came from a football coaching family.  So we kept him and now it's really paying off.  Personally, I think you're going to start seeing more and more of him in a slot receiver position just like Welker.  Three of Beasely's four catches Sunday came on 3rd and long and ended up as first downs.  QBs like Romo don't forget about stuff like that.  Now instead of just looking for Witten for those solid 1st downs, you've got Beasely and of course Terrance Williams, that's making it pretty hard for the defense to commit on any one person.  Then you pop a long one to Dez...... this year might get interesting.

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/article-1/STAR-Beasley-Has-Had-To-Work-Twice-As-Hard-To-Get-Noticed/2c24e346-17f6-4b26-adc3-faa695b7a43d

Taking the Romo out of Romo

After the loss to Kansas City I said that something looked "off" about the Cowboys offense and Tony Romo in particular.  But coming off the previous week where Romo had another bout of bruised ribs and being early in the season, I thought, "we'll just see how things go".

Then the Cowboys beat the Rams easily and scored 30 some odd points.  But then last week the Cowboys lost to the Chargers and once again looked off on offense, scoring 0 points in the 2nd half.

Now readers will immediately say, it's not the offense's fault or Tony Romo's fault they lost to San Diego, because the Cowboys defense totally sucked.  I agree completely.  I'm not going to talk about this one particular loss, but I am focusing on how Tony Romo looks, or more specifically how he looks different.

After the Chargers loss, my wife and I were discussing the Cowboys and their plethora of problems on both offense and defense, when we began to discuss how Romo and the Offense looks different.  That led us to discuss how what really looks different is how Romo plays much more conservatively compared to previous gunslinger years.  He collapses before even being sacked, let alone scrambling.  He throws balls away instead of trying to squeeze one in a tight spot.  In fact Romo's QB rating, percentage completions, TD/INT ratio is in the top 3 or 4 in every category as compared to all the other Quarterbacks in the league.  In fact one could say he looks as consistent as Alex Smith.

But there in lies the problem.  Do you want Tony Romo and all of his skills to play like Alex Smith?  Again, I'm not blaming Romo.  If you were Romo, wouldn't you do the same?  He gets criticized for throwing to many interceptions, all losses in the last 6 years have squarely been put on his shoulders.  He's had a broken collar bone, he's had broken ribs, he's had a punctured lung.  All of this and he gets blamed for the losses, but never really gets any of the praise for the wins.  Those of us who have watched the Cowboys consistently and don't listen to the "experts" on ESPN know that the only reason the Cowboys have been 8-8 the past few season is because for every game Romo loses, he also wins twice that many because the rest of the Cowboys defense, special teams, offensive line, etc. have all sucked ever since he became the starting QB.

But what's obvious now is that Romo has said "eff" it.  I'm not doing it any more.  I'm not going to take a beating to my body, I'm not going to throw the costly interception trying to make something happen late in the game, I'm not going to take all of the media and fan bashing that the loss is on my shoulders for nothing.  "Eff" it.  I'm going to go out there, put up a QB rating of well over 100, have a completion percentage rate among the highest in the league, I'm not going to throw any INTs (unless a stupid wide receiver runs the wrong route), I'm not going to get pounded and break more bones.  I'm not going to play like Romo.  And you can't blame him.  After the Chargers game he was able to say (without saying it verbally), loss wasn't my fault.  I didn't throw any INTs, I didn't try to squeeze one in and get picked off on the last drive to lose the game, I didn't get knocked out of the game with broken ribs.  Nope, the loss was the defenses fault, the loss was the Wide Receiver's fault for fumbling the ball, the loss was the play calling by the coaches.  It wasn't on Romo, the loss was on the rest of the team.  Of course he went to the podium and said all the politically correct things and didn't blame anyone.  But the one thing he didn't have to say, was answer to questions about his play.  Because his play wasn't questioned.  His stats were great.  At the post game press conference, the play calling was questioned, the running game was questioned, the defense was questioned, the decision to kick the 56 yard field goal was questioned, but Romo's play was not questioned.  So who can blame him for becoming Alex Smith, it's a much easier road to travel both mentally and physically.

Also, I think Jason Garret has preached to Romo to be more conservative.  All of this together, Romo is not Romo any longer.  And again who can blame him.
However, as always this poor excuse for a team needs the real "Romo" in order to win.  We have too many years of mismanagement by the GM, Jerruh Jones, to win with Romo being a bus driver.

Oddly enough, after my wife and I had this discussion, I found two articles basically demonstrating the same thing.  One is from Dallascowboys.com the other from my favorite blog by Bob Sturm.  Click on the links below to read their analysis which includes hard data to back up my hypothesis about Romo.

Bob Sturm decoding-callahan-week-4-san-diego.html

Dallascowboys.com Running-the-Numbers-Romo-Isnt-Throwing-Enough-Interceptions

Doug Free #1?

In a follow up to the previous post, click HERE to read some of the details of Doug Free's rise to #1 in grades of Offensive Tackles from the first 3 weeks of the regular season.  Unbelievable.

Cowboy Player Grades Through Week 3

John Machota at Dallas Morning News did a nice summary from Pro Football Focus which grades all NFL players... click HERE for Machota's article.

Here's the notable highlights from Cowboys Players doing well so far through Week 3.
I think Doug Free listed as the number one right tackle in the entire league is probably the most notable and unexpected.  Nice to see Barry Church getting good grades after his battle with the achilles injury last year.  Looks like he has come back strong.

OFFENSE
– Of DeMarco Murray’s 175 rushing yards on Sunday, 148 of them came on runs to the left of center Travis Frederick.
– Murray is ranked the No. 2 running back in the league through three games. However, there’s a considerable gap between his 5.7 grade and Eagles running back LeSean McCoy’s 11.1 total. New Orleans’ Darren Sproles is third at 5.2.
– Murray’s grade in just the running game is 23rd best in the NFL, but his blocking grade and passing game grade are both among the league leaders.
– Murray is third in the league in yards after contact at 167, trailing only Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson (213) and Tampa Bay’s Doug Martin (170).
– Doug Free was the top-ranked offensive tackle for Week 3 and is the No. 1 tackle in the league through three weeks. PFF has Free graded as the No.1 run-blocking tackle in the NFL.
– Tony Romo had the highest QB rating for Week 3 at 137.2. He has the fifth-highest rating on the season at 103.9.
– Dez Bryant is ranked 18th among all receivers.
– Frederick had the second-highest grade of any center in Week 3.
– Against the Rams, Mackenzy Bernadeau graded out 13th among all guards, the highest of any Cowboy.
DEFENSE
– DeMarcus Ware is the third-highest graded defensive end. St. Louis’ Robert Quinn and Cincinnati’s Michael Johnson are the only two ahead of Ware.
– George Selvie is tied for fourth in the NFL with 11 QB hurries. Ware has 10.
– Sean Lee ranks 19th among middle linebackers and Bruce Carter is 21st among outside backers.
– Detroit’s Ndamukong Suh and Tennessee’s Jurrell Casey are the only defensive tackles with higher grades than Jason Hatcher.
– Barry Church is the highest graded safety in the league. His pass-coverage grade is the highest among NFL safeties. Church’s run-coverage grade is second only to Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu.
– Brandon Carr is the sixth-highest rated cornerback and Orlando Scandrick is seventh. Morris Claiborne is 88th.
– The longest pass play allowed into Scandrick’s coverage is 11 yards in 184 snaps, third-lowest in the league for a player taking at least 25 percent of his team’s snaps. There have been eight receptions made in Scandrick’s coverage area.
– J.J. Wilcox had the seventh-highest grade among safeties in Week 3, the rookie’s first game as a starter.

Team Chemistry

Funny how the "experts" always talk about great team chemistry when a team is doing really well and winning, then casually forget about such labels when things go awry.  

Case in point, I remember many times how the media talked about what great Chemistry the NY Giants had and how Tom Coughlin was tough, but the players respected him.  Over the last two years, they couldn't stop talking about how great the team chemistry was on the SF 49ers.  

The way to tell if a team REALLY has good chemistry and support the Head Coach is to see how they act during diversity.

Check out the links regarding lack of team chemistry on the current Giants and 49ers.....

frustrated-49ers-running-back-frank-gore-has-choice-words-for-coach-jim-harbaugh 

hakeem-nicks-i-cant-throw-it-to-myself 

tom_coughlin_to_speak_with_hakeem_nicks_about_post-game_comment.html

Same Ole Same Ole for Cowboys

The Cowboys come off a big win in an opening season game against the division rival NY Giants.  The next week they play on the road against a team with a new QB in a known hostile stadium environment.  Then on this road game in Week 2 the Cowboys lose.  The offense sputters and the defense fails to stop the ground game of the opposition. And so begins the 50:50 season with 1 win and 1 loss.  What could've been the first Cowboys 2-0 start to a season in 15 years, ends up in the mediocrity of 1-1.  

Is the description above from the 2012 season or the 2013?  If you answered "C" "both", you would be correct.  It's like "Groundhog Day" here in the Cowboys fandom.  Last year 2012, the Cowboys beat the Giants opening week only to lose to Seattle on the road the following week.
This year 2013, the Cowboys beat the Giants opening week only to go on the road in Kansas City and lose to the Chiefs.

There will be finger pointing at the coaches, play calling, lack of running game, Romo's mistakes, Wide Receiver mistakes/drops, running back fumbles, inability of defense to stop the offense when it mattered, lack of turnovers by the offense, etc, etc, etc.  Does this sound familiar?

That of course is a rhetorical question, of course it sounds familiar.  It is the same set of problems we, the fans, have heard every year for what seems like an eternity.  If you go to Dallas Morning News, Fort-Worth Star Telegram, ESPNdallas.com or any other Cowboys based blog or sporting news site you will hear many opinions and ideas on the problems and what to do to fix them.  

• You will read about the lack of defensive line depth which made the defense look tired in the 4th quarter when they needed to stop the Chief's time eating running attack.  That would be correct.
• You will undoubtedly read about Dez Bryants dropped pass in the 2nd half which would've been a big gainer, and maybe even a TD.  That would be correct.
• You will read about the Cowboys inability to run the ball.  That would be correct.
  
• You will read about how the coaches and offensive play calling abandoned the run in the 2nd half and went to the pass too often.  That would be correct.
• You will read how the Cowboys lost the turn over battle -2, by the offense not protecting the ball (2 fumbles) and the defense not creating any turnovers.  That would be correct.
• You will read how the Cowboys were ineffective in the red zone.  That would be correct.

 All of these items are correct, but they are not the real issue. 

Lack of dept at defensive line - Every team in the parity led NFL has some areas where they are a little thin.

Dez's dropped pass - As frustrating as it can be for a person to have only one job in life, and that one job is to catch footballs, to then watch this person drop a ball placed perfectly in his hands.  This happens every week on every team.  Wide Receivers drop balls (ask Tom Brady).  One dropped ball by Dez is not what lost the game.

Cowboys inability to run the ball and abandoning the run play calling - frustrating, but can be overcome with a good passing game in today's NFL.  (once again ask Tom Brady).

Losing the turnover battle - this will happen in the NFL, some weeks you will win the turnover differential, some weeks you won't.  But when you lose the turn over battle and are only 4 points behind in the 4th quarter, this no longer becomes the reason why you lost.

This brings us to the last point, inability to score Touchdowns, particularly when the Cowboys are in the Red Zone.  After watching the game, this particular point and the disjointed appearance of the Cowboys offense is what stands out.  In today's NFL, you have to score points and lots of them to win.  And when your defense holds the opposing team to less than 20 points, you have to win the game.  With Dez Bryant, Miles Austin, Jason Witten, Terrance Williams, DeMarco Murray and Tony Romo you should score more than 16 points against any defense in the NFL.  This premise however is based on the assumption that each of these players are as good as they are paid accordingly.  I'm afraid after watching this game and the other 64 games in the previous 4 years, there is a flaw in one of these basic assumptions.

The flawed assumption is that of Tony Romo.  I know when everyone reads this line, the Romo lovers and maybe even Romo haters will say, yeah, Romo is part of the problem but he's not all of the problem.  And this argument would be correct.  As with all teams in this age of parity, everyone has multiple problems.  But let me ask one simple question.......

If the Cowboys would've had Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, even the great Joe Flacco at the helm as QB, would the Cowboys have overcome the 2 turnover differential and the 1 point deficit and won the game? 

My answer is Yes.  

Of course the argument would be, well yeah of course you could win the game with future Hall of Famers Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.  And that's my point exactly.  Everyone wants to believe that Romo is somehow one of these elite Quarterbacks and the only reason he hasn't won was because of the coaches, the play calling, the offensive line, etc. etc. etc.  But the simple and obvious fact is that he is just not that great.  Is he a good quarterback?  Sure.  Compared to Quincy Carter he looks like the 2nd coming of Roger Staubach.  But he's just not great, and not even that good.  He's mediocre to good.  Which sometimes is OK.  There have been teams like the Baltimore Ravens led by Trent Dilfer and Tampa Bay Buccaneers led by Brad Johnson who have won Superbowls, but they won them with mediocre QBs accompanied by great defenses and great running games.  But the assumption based theory that the Cowboys organization is working off of, and thereby putting the salary cap money into, is that they have a Great/Elite Quarterback in Tony Romo, and thereby by can skimp on things like Offensive and Defensive line.  Yes, Green Bay with Aaron Rodgers and Patriots with Tom Brady can do that.  But the Cowboys can not because they are working on a faulty assumption that Romo is that type of elite QB, and unfortunately he's not.  He's is more like his pedigree suggests, a free agent from Northeastern Illinois University.

So I'm not blaming everything on Romo.  I blame the faulty assumption that he is great/elite by the Cowboys front office.  A lot of teams would love to have Romo, and he would probably do well with a lot of those teams because without a great Quarterback they have out of necessity built strengths in other parts of their team.  Romo could move into another team with better parts and look really good, because he would be more of a compliment to the system rather than being the focal point of the entire team and expected to lead every victory.

Now on top of this faulty assumption by the Cowboys organization, they have doubled down by giving Romo a $100 Million Dollar contract, included him in the game planning as well as increasing his play calling responsibility at the line of scrimmage.  So how has that worked out so far?  About as good as you would expect a free agent from Northeaster Illinois to perform.  Not well enough to carry the team.  I don't want to sound like a defeatist, but with the money invested in Romo which destroys salary cap space and the continued faulty assumption by the Cowboys front office, the incredible "Groundhog Day" like re-runs will continue.  The Cowboys will end up around 8-8, 9-7 if they are lucky or 7-9 if they are unlucky.  It's not Romo's fault that he's not great, but it's the organizations fault in treating him like he is great.  So for now it will continue to be the same ole Cowboys.

NFL Refs Cheat for the NY Giants

Everyone wonders why the Cowboys have so much "talent" yet are always around 8-8.  Well look no further than the Cowboy hating NFL referees.  As demonstrated in many posts here, there's lots of data to show how the northeast media hates the Cowboys as well as the NY based NFL offices, but this bias continues onto the field with the referees.  Look at my previous blog posts detailing the penalties against the Cowboys and "no call" penalties against the Cowboy opponents.

http://kandkops.blogspot.com/2012/12/stop-bias-of-nfl-officiating-crews.html 

http://kandkops.blogspot.com/2012/12/nfl-officiating-bias.html 



But it's a new season, and every year we Cowboy fans think.... they can't continue to cheat like this.  So we go into each new season with new hope that games will be called fairly and unbiased.  Well if the first game is any indication of the remaining 2013 season, then our hopes have been destroyed once again.  

In the first game of the year at AT&T stadium against the NY Giants.  The Giants improbably came back against a 17 point lead late in the game.  However, as detailed by other people (people who are less Cowboys biased as me) demonstrate that at least two of the Giants' TDs should not have been TDs.  As usual, it's as much about the "no calls" against the Cowboys opponents as it is the calls against the Cowboys.  With the help of the referees, the Giants got a little 14 point boost.  Take a look at the analysis from two different people on two different plays below which details how the referees tried to help the Giants.

1.  Bob Sturm did a break down with pics from the play where NY giants had a big 70 yard TD where they got up to the line quickly before our defense was ready.  So as he explains, part of the problem was that our defense was not set and bit confused, but he also showed in the pics, that we were bringing a corner blitz (in this case Orlando Scandrick was blitzing ELI).  In the pics he shows that the Left Tackle was "MAJOR HOLDING" against the blitzing CB, Scandrick.  
Click http://sturminator.blogspot.com/ to read Sturm's blog.... 
BTW Bob Sturms Blog is excellent and provides incredible weekly analysis.

2.  And the second little help to the Giants provided by the Refs ...... This tweet provided by Mike Pereira, former VP of NFL officiating and posted as a story by Dallas Morning News........ Click Here   mike-pereira-former-vp-of-nfl-officiating-tweets-that-giants-wr-victor-cruz-s-second-td-should-not-have-been
The Victor Cruz should not have even been a catch, let alone a TD.  Incredible!

14 extra points the NFL refs gave to the Giants.  And we wonder why the Giants had won 4 in a row previously and made this one close even though it shouldn't have.  
The answer of course is because the Cowboys hating bias flows all the way down to the field in the form of NFL referees, who each week do everything they can to help the Cowboys opponents.  It's time for the most popular NFL franchise's owner, Jerry Jones, to step in and do something to try and stop this fraud.

You Make the Call

Let's play a little game, where I detail two different NFL teams' performance from this past week.  And I include their previous Pre-Season Power Ranking and then their Week 1 Power Ranking and you tell me which team I am describing.   Here we go........

Team A

• Division  Rivalry Game

• National "Night" Game

• Team A obtained several turnovers in the first half but did not capitalize by scoring TDs

• However, Team A did begin scoring and by the middle of 3rd Quarter had a greater than 16 point lead.

• Team A lost their lead by their offense slowing down and their defense allowing multiple passing TD's until the lead was cut to less than a TD.  

• With ~ 1 minute left in the game, Team A's opponent had no time outs, kicked an on-side kick.  Team A recovered the onside kick to end the game by "kneeling" out.

TEAM A's Power Ranking Change          Pre-Week 1     Post Week 1      Differential
ESPN Power Rankings                                        18                     13                      +5
CNN Sports Illustrated                                        16                     10                      +6
CBS Sportsline                                                    14                     10                      +4
NFL (New York Offices)                                      15                     12                      +3
profootball talk/NBC (PFT)                             14                     14                      +0


Team B

• Division Rivalry Game

• National "Night" Game

• Team A obtained several turnovers in the first half but did not capitalize by scoring TDs

• However, Team A did begin scoring and by the middle of 3rd Quarter had a greater than 16 point lead.

• Team A lost their lead by their offense slowing down and their defense allowing multiple passing TD's until the lead was cut to less than a TD.  

• With ~ 1 minute left in the game, Team A's opponent had no time outs, kicked an on-side kick.  Team A recovered the onside kick to end the game by "kneeling" out.

TEAM B's Power Ranking Change          Pre-Week 1     Post Week 1      Differential
ESPN Power Rankings                                        25                     14                     +10
CNN Sports Illustrated                                        29                     15                     +14
CBS Sportsline                                                    25                     15                     +10
NFL (New York Offices)                                      26                     15                     +11
profootball talk/NBC (PFT)                             26                      5                      +21
So now armed with all of the information above to play our game......... 
I can also tell you that the two teams are:  The Dallas Cowboys and philadelphia eagles

Which Team is A and B???

So with both teams having almost exactly the same type of game, but with one team being from the Northeast and the other being from the media hating Dallas, TX........and all of the national polls originating from the Northeast media..............

You would be correct if you guessed TEAM A with the lesser jump in the polls is
the Dallas Cowboys = Team A

While the team with the largest jump, especially PFT, is
philadelphia eagles = Team B

And if this data doesn't continue to prove the Northeast biased sports media that runs all of sports and hates the Dallas Cowboys, then maybe further investigation into the game might help support this theory.

The Cowboys' opposition, which made a great comeback, was the NY Giants led by Eli Manning.  The Giants/Eli Manning are two time superbowl champions who are known for their come from behind victories (ask the Patriots).

While the eagles' opposition was the Washing Redskins led by a sophomore quarterback, RG3, with a knee so badly injured last year that he did not participate in training camp nor played in any pre-season games, so he was a little rusty when the game started.

When you add these two bits of information, it even further points to the northeast sports media bias.  The Cowboys played a much tougher opponent, yet the northeast team, eagles, get the accolades for a win while the Cowboys win is explained away by a "bad day" by the Giants.

Northeast Biased Media Continues

The typical Northeast Biased, Cowboy hating media at it again.
Cowboys defeating NY giants is like Darth Vader killing Luke Skywalker......

I can't even make this S*%@t up.  They (northeast biased, cowboy media) have really lost it this time.  

See this link to a sports illustrated article. 
 cowboys-hold-off-giants-comeback-attempt/?xid=nl_siextra

And my comment to the story:

So the Cowboys winning is like Darth Vader defeating Luke Skywalker or Andy getting caught and put back in prison???
No comparison to Rudy?? (Romo the undrafted free agent from Northeastern Ilinois) versus
Goliath (privileged football Manning family, cry baby, who refused to go to San Diego during the draft.  Would only go to NY. 2 time superbowl champion, and lives in evil NY, where the NFL home office does everything to protect northeast teams - see protection of belichick cheating) throws 3 interceptions and is defeated by the unlikely, hardworking Rudy/Romo.

No instead we get a typical northeast, biased, Cowboy hating media story that compares the winner to Darth Vader.  Ridiculous, you crybaby losers!

Cowboys Continue to Churn the Bottom of the Roster

Leading up to the first regular season game, the Dallas Cowboys continue to churn the bottom of the roster by adding another defensive player.  This time it is Defense End/Line Backer Rookie, Caesar Rayford from the Colts for an undisclosed draft pick.  Rayford had actually made the Colts 53 man roster before being traded to the Cowboys.

See link from Dallas Cowboys.com for the detes.....

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/article-NickEatman/Cowboys-Acquire-DE-Rayford-From-Colts-For-Late-Round-Pick/5f25801a-a27e-4303-b561-ac7c4c7a73c8

Fantasy Football Rosters

OK, Fantasy Football Drafts are completed for me.  I have two teams.  One in what I call my "Money League", high stakes, 12 team, big $ league which I have accumulated some wealth over the past 3 years.  The other team is my "Work League" which doesn't involve money but does involve bragging rights and a trophy for the winner to keep at his/her desk for the year.  Take a look at both below and let me know what you think......

Money League Roster
Position	Active Offense	Opp
QB	Rodgers, Aaron(QB) GB	@SF
RB	Murray, DeMarco(RB) DAL	NYG
RB	Wilson, David(RB) NYG	@DAL
WR	Garcon, Pierre(WR) WAS	PHI
WR	Marshall, Brandon(WR) CHI	CIN
WR	Moore, Denarius(WR) OAK	@IND
TE	Daniels, Owen(TE) HOU	@SD
DST	Broncos(DST) DEN	BAL
K	Bailey, Dan(K) DAL	NYG
Bench (QB)	Cutler, Jay(QB) CHI	CIN
Bench (RB)	Ball, Montee(RB) DEN	BAL
Bench (RB)	Ballard, Vick(RB) IND	OAK
Bench (RB)	Ingram, Mark(RB) NO	ATL
Bench (WR)	Jones, Jacoby(WR) BAL	@DEN

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Work League Roster
Position
QB	Drew Brees
RB	Stevan Ridley
RB	Steven Jackson
WR	AJ Green
WR	Roddy White
WR/RB Flex	Lamar Miller
TE	Jordon Cameron
DST	Baltimore
K	Garrett Hartley
Bench (QB)	Josh Freeman
Bench (RB)	David Wilson
Bench (WR)	TY Hilton
Bench (WR)	Brandon LaFell
Bench (WR)	Sidney Rice
Bench (WR)	Terrance Williams

Jerry Jones Not Talking

Jerry Jones not saying anything, by saying that he's not saying anything, is as close as we will ever get to Jerry Jones keeping his mouth shut.  But alas it is only Tuesday.  In 4 - 5 more days, I'm sure his mouth will get ahead of his brain on some radio station, print interview or TV interview.  He just can't help it.  Much to Jason Garrett's chagrin, Jerry always has to let the cat out of the bag.  But according to the Cowboys Blog at Dallas Morning News, Jerry is keeping his mouth shut about the Cowboy's game plan versus the Giants on Sunday Night of the opening weekend of the NFL regular season.  However, the week is young, the Over/Under on when Jerry starts giving away the Cowboys Game plan is Friday.  Place your bets........

http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/2013/09/what-is-the-dallas-cowboys-identity-jerry-jones-gives-his-answer.html/

Media Continue to Protect Patriots & Belicheat

So there's this "bad guy" who is a very productive player for an NFL team.  The head coach of this NFL team knew he was a bad guy, and told the player how to "lay low".  This head coach said he threatened to cut this bad guy AFTER the 2013 season.  Not before the season, because it would be the right thing to do, but after the season and assumed production on the field was used.  

All of this occurred without any media attention.  From this article it states that media people knew about this but "didn't have a second source so they didn't report it".  Uuuuuhhhh OK, I understand not reporting it, but how 'bout INVESTIGATING IT AND FIND ANOTHER SOURCE!

Not to mention this is the same team and head coach that just a few years removed were found guilty of cheating by filming other teams' practices.  Nothing to see here folks, just keep on walking......

Once again the might Northeast Media either doesn't investigate, or do investigate and choose not to report certain teams and certain coaches and certain players.  In this case the continued cover up of the great New England Patriots and their spotless owner, Bob Kraft and their future Hall of Fame Coach, Bill Belichick.

I wonder how this story would've played out if this would've happened to the Dallas Cowboys or New Orleans Saints franchices??

Read the article here from CBS Sports and decide for  yourself.

cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/23363898/report-bill-belichick-knew-aaron-hernandez-felt-his-life-was-in-danger

By the way, where is the illustrious Patriots apologist and MMQB creator, Peter King, on all of this.  I thought he knew everything about the NFL.  Did he know and not report it to protect Belicheat, or just doesn't do any investigating?

Continued Hypocrisy by the NFL/Goodell

Not that it is a surprise, but the NFL New York Offices have decided that DeMarcus Ware will not be allowed to wear his new facemask, click on the link below to read the article from ESPN.....

demarcus-ware-dallas-cowboys-wear-eight-bar-face-mask


Here is a pic of the face mask he wanted to wear in order to reduce the amount of hands to face from the offensive lineman who block him.






 In contrast, here is the mask that Ray Lewis wore....



AND here is the face mask that NY Giants players Justin Tuck and Chris Canty (Chris Canty now with the Baltimore Ravens) have been and will continue to be allowed to wear due to a "medical condition"......

Chris Canty
 

Justin Tuck
 
So I don't think any further discussion of the hypocrisy and bias against the Dallas Cowboys by the NFL Offices in the Northeast is necessary.  As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Vick Named Starter for Eagles

Not that this comes as any kind of a surprise, even though the new head coach for the Eagles Chip Kelly kept saying there was a Quarterback competition, but the Eagles named Michael Vick as the starting Quarterback for 2013 Vick Named Starter.  

This of course means that Michael Vick will lead the much talked about up tempo offense of the Oregon Ducks until he gets hurt and backup Nick Foles takes his place.  Just a word of caution for all of you fantasy football fans out there, if you pick Vick as your QB, only do so with another good QB as a back up.  Vick will not last 16 games.

ESPN Starts Individual Blog for Each NFL Team

While in general I am not a fan of the sports media coverage, particularly ESPN (could the Sunday NFL ESPN show be any more boring??...Berman, Ditka, Keyshon, Carter and the other guy....yawn..yawn..yawn), however, ESPN is stepping up to the plate with this one.  They are creating an individual blog for each of the NFL's 32 teams.  Sounds good to me.  Todd Archer will be the dedicated writer for the Dallas Cowboys blog.  Let's check it out and see if it is good.

http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2013/08/espn-com-expands-nfl-nation-network-with-sites-for-all-32-nfl-teams/

America's Team

While the moniker, "America's Team" to this day gets under the skin of every other NFL team, players, fans, etc... and each year a new team self proclaims themselves as America's Team, when anyone hears this term, they immediately think (even if they won't admit it)....... Dallas Cowboys.  

Well now Emory Professors have put together a very detailed study to show, that yes, in fact the Dallas Cowboys are America's Team.  And as noted in the article, the two professors who did the study were Redskins and Steelers fans, and were not happy with the results.  But like good scientists, they published their results unbiased and the data speaks for itself.  Take a look at the link below.....

https://blogs.emory.edu/sportsmarketing/2013/08/15/nfl-fan-equity-maybe-the-cowboys-are-america%E2%80%99s-team/

Media Stretches Their Statements to Make Points

OK, so I know it's just a little thing, but I was reading a question and answer thing on Dallas Morning News with Rick Gosselin.  The question he was posed to comment on was the following:

On the Cowboys’ running game (or lack thereof):

Gosselin's Response:

 Gosselin: "I wish they spent more time working on the run. They couldn’t run it last year. Show me you can run the ball. If you can run the ball, you’ll hold onto the ball and four of the turnovers last week came on pass play."

While I completely agree with Gosselin that the Cowboys need to run the ball better this year or they will end the year again around 8-8 and no playoff spot, his statement is obviously strangely skewed to make his point...... 

"you'll hold onto the ball and four of the turnovers last week came on a pass play"...... 

while technically correct, four of the turnovers did occur on passing plays, two of these four turnovers, which Gosselin fails to mention, were fumbles which occurred well after the catch was made and had nothing to do with it being a passing play.  In fact one of these "passing turnovers" occurred by the running back, Lance Dunbar, 40 yards down the field after he had caught a little 2 yard pass.  So again, I know it's just a little thing, but I get so tired of media people really stretching the facts to make their point.  Especially in this case when there are many arguments to be made about how important it is that the Cowboys run the ball better, without stooping to using skewed data.

Cowboys Offensive Line Shuffle

I started this post before reading the story linked below to Dallas Morning News Cowboys Blog.  I had only read the headline of the story "More moves on the way at guard for Cowboys after Arizona Game".  By the title, I thought there was going to be some "real" information about the offensive line.  However, after reading the story, I realize there was actually no information at all.  It was Callahan saying that they are continuing to evaluate the offensive line....... uh yeah, kinda already knew that.  So as we all know, headlines can be deceiving.  Nothing to see here folks, keep on walking......

dallasnews.com/2013/08/more-moves-on-the-way-at-guard-for-cowboys-after-arizona-game.html/

Bryan Broaddus on Lance Dunbar Injury

Here's what Bryan Broaddus of DallasCowboys.com has to say about Dunbars injury and loss for the Cowboys offense.

• Lance Dunbar suffered a left foot sprain in the game against Arizona this past Saturday and will be out of the lineup for the next three to four weeks which means his availability for the opening game against the New York Giants is questionable. For Dunbar, it’s a major setback to an off season where he has done nothing but shine in every opportunity he has been given. He came into the OTA and minicamp practices in outstanding physical condition and was ready to compete. Through his work in those practices and training camp, I did not get the impression that he could not handle more of a physical work load. He might lack height but that’s the only trait that would handicap him. He showed the ability to run with explosive quickness off the edge, but he also showed the ability to take the ball, cut it back inside and deal with linebackers and safeties.
  We have seen him break down the linebackers in space consistently with the ball in his hands. His ability to catch and get up the field is a feature that Bill Callahan and this offensive staff are going to take advantage of. Where Dunbar will also be missed is on special teams. When you study him on tape, he is one of the most productive cover men that Rich Bisaccia has on the squad. Usually the first man down, and secure in his ability to bring the ball carrier down.
  Injury to a player is never a good thing but when it affects a player that the club is counting on to play a major role in the offense and special teams, it can be even more painful and to lose this player, it is.
  

Lance Dunbar out with Sprained Foot

As with a lot of the teams in the NFL, the Cowboys suffered another key injury during the preseason game against the Cardinals Saturday.  Lance Dunbar sprained his foot and will be out 3 - 4 weeks.  This is the same type of injury that DeMarco Murray had last year which cost him 6 games/weeks.  Hopefully Dunbar's injury is not as bad and he can get back quickly.  Unfortunately, if it's 3 - 4 week, probably no way he can make it for the Giants opening week game.  This is very disappointing, Dunbar had looked great with break away speed all through camp and the first 3 preseason games.
Click link below for a summary of Garrett's press conference from DallasCowboys.com

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/article-DavidHelman/Mon-Presser-Garrett-Hopes-Dunbars-Foot-Is-Only-Mild-Setback

Size Matters

In a state where everything is always bigger, it's no surprise that the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans are competing for who has the biggest video screen.  Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made headlines over the worlds largest HD video back when AT&T stadium (formerly known as Cowboys Stadium) opened it's doors in the not so distant past.  But now, just a few years removed, and not to be outdown, the Houston Texans now have the largest HD Video.  Of course the Houston videos aren't hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the field like the Cowboys, they're just located at each end of the stadium, but for the moment, they do hold the distinction as the biggest.  But since size does matter, and everything is bigger in Texas, I can't wait to see what Jerry does next to one up the intrastate rivalry.  Click links below for details of the story from Dallas Morning News and Yahoo....

new-reliant-stadium-video-screens-surpass-cowboys-for-nfl-s-biggest.ece

texans-reveal-cowboy-topping-giant-hd-video-screen-160624609.html

Galloway on the Dez No Speak List

My favorite Cowboy player, Dez Bryant, and favorite Sports Writer, Randy Galloway apparently don't speak to each other.  The No Speak List is Bryant's desire NOT to speak to Galloway due to some of the criticism spoken and written by Galloway in the past.  Which is fair, I would probably do the same.  Nonetheless, Galloway wrote a good article today about the new Dez and how great he is doing both on and off the field.  Article also touches on the Johnny Manziel/Dez Bryant/NCAA hypocrisy issue which continues to be a big story with the investigation into Johnny Football's signing escapades.  Click here to read another great story from Randy Galloway and Fort Worth Star Telegram:  http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/08/14/5081368/this-dez-bryant-has-left-troubled.html

Getting a Little Chippy

It appears 3 weeks of training camp with guys banging against each other twice a day is beginning to wear thin.  Cowboys Training Camp got a little chippy Tuesday between the offense and defense with a lot of pushing and shoving after the plays and one big dust up between rookie WR Terrance Williams and LB Sean Lee.  See link to Forth Worth Star Telegram Blog for a summary of all of the action.

sean-lee-yells-at-rookie-receiver-demarco-murray-baits-jason-hatcher-allen-floors-witten-all-this-an.html 

RG3 Says McNabb Not an Idiot

This story is great.  It made me laugh out loud (there ya go, I did it. I typed out Laugh out Loud instead of LOL).....
Apparently McNabb reached out to RG3 to offer him fatherly Quarterback advice.  RG3 responded with....thanks but no thanks.....and on top of that, without any prompting said "I don't think McNabb is an IDIOT".... Good ta know...... now if that doesn't make you laugh out loud, then you're way to serious.  Give the link from PFT a read and Laugh Out Loud with me, it's hilarious.

rg3-i-dont-think-mcnabb-is-an-idiot-but-its-best-we-dont-talk/related/

DWare Too Scary

As a follow up to the previous post, I guess the reason the NFL won't let DeMarcus Ware have his new custom face mask is because it would make him too scary.  Click on link from Dallas Morning News to see how RGIII named DWare as the scariest.....

robert-griffin-iii-says-scariest-defensive-player-in-the-nfl-is-dallas-cowboys-de-demarcus-ware.html/

NFL Northeast Bias In Full Bloom for 2013

The NFL announced that custom face masks will not be permitted, see link from Bleacher Report.

the-nfl-bans-customized-facemasks-because-football-isnt-supposed-to-be-fun

Now let me take you a little further down the rabbit hole.  I'm just going to present the facts, then let you make your own conclusion.

The NFL league offices which reside in New York, favor the northeast teams.... especially the Giants/Mara family, Patriots/Kraft Family, Steelers/Rooney Family.

A little history of the NFL "new rules":

1.  Emmit Smith taking off his helmet after scoring TDs in the '90s which at the time broke the record of most Rushing TDs in a regular season at 25.  Next year, NFL bans players from removing helmets..... became known as the "Emmit Rule".

2.  Eric Williams, Cowboys Offensive Lineman, who dominated all opposing Defensive Lineman, and as described by Michael Strahan...."Eric makes you have a real bad day".  So the NFL put in the "Eric Williams Rule", No Hands to the Face.

3.  Patriots/Billicheat - film opposing teams' practices and use the tape to prepare.  During that period the Patriots won 3 Superbowls.  Since being found out, the Partriots have won ZERO Superbowls.  For punishment, Patriots lose no draft picks, no suspensions and all of the recorded evidence is BURNED by Goodell and the NFL NY offices.  Move forward a few years, the Saints have a little internal bounty pool, where if defensive players knock an opposing player out of the game they win some money.  NFL suspends the head coach for one year, several players are suspended for multiple games (after which this was overturned by a judge in a court ruling), defensive coordinator banned indefinitely..... which by all accounts destroys and negates the Saints season in 2012.  So to Summarize - the NFL Northeast biased offices found that cheating to win a game is OK by the Patriots, but an internal pool with some defensive players' money, deserves a full year knocked from the Saints....... uh yeah, like I said, I will let you make your own conclusions......

But now we get to the new rule..... No Custom Face Masks.  I find it amazingly coincidental that this becomes an issue, 2 weeks after DeMarcus Ware, Cowboys DE, announces he is going to use a new facemask (aka grill) to keep defenders hands and fingers out of his face (which is odd, because I thought there was a "no hands to the face" rule, see #2 above..... I guess this only applies to teams not playing the Cowboys, because apparently Ware has been having problems with people getting their hands under his grill and in his face, but with "no calls" by the refs.... but I digress)......So DeMarcus Ware shows up in training camp with a new grill and the NFL/NY Offices, 2 weeks later announce "NO CUSTOM FACEMASKS"..... yet if you read the article, they conveniently have already excluded players Chris Canty/Ravens Lineman and Jason Tuck/Giants Lineman.  How convenient.  So The Giants and Ravens Lineman are allowed to keep their custom facemasks, but not DeMarcus Ware.  It's so sad and biased, it's almost laughable.  Yet this northeast bias continues, year after year.  The other owners not in this special little North East Bubble need to stand up to Goodell and demand it stop.

Again, I'll let you draw you're own conclusions, but I call NFL NY NorthEast Office B@#$&*$T.

Jason Hatcher Will Do Well in the 4-3

Well, much to the chagrin of the media "experts" it appears Jason Hatcher will have no problem switching to the 4-3 defense.  See this article from Fort Worth Star-Telegram's, Carlos Mendez, the defensive staff is excited about Hatcher's prospects this year.

jason-hatcher-showing-cowboys.html

Cowboys Camp Day 15 Observations

Check out this link to Dallas Morning News, has a summary of events from Day 15 Cowboys Training Camp......

day-15-observations-from-dallas-cowboys-training-camp-practice-dt-jason-hatcher-has-two-sacks-rookie-te-gavin-escobar-has-day-to-forget.html/

Offensive Line, No Longer Offensive

I never thought I would say this about the Cowboys Offensive line, but they continue to look pretty good.  It's only preseason, but they look good so far.  Couple of comments by Tony Romo and Lance Dunbar is all you need to know that this is not just my opinion:

“I don’t want to get away from here without talking about the offensive line,” Romo said. “There were a couple of times I had all day and we had a sack, an incompletion on those two plays, so that’s going to help us a lot if we’re able to do that.
“That’s different. I know what it’s like to play behind that, and having that ability like they did tonight would be a huge bonus for us.”

Lance Dunbar -- “It’s probably the biggest the holes have ever been,” Dunbar said.