MVN - Most Valuable Network

Wrapping Up The Offseason

     Now that the Cowboys have finished all the minicamps and OTAs, the players have a month to get in some vacations and tee times before training camp opens.

     The team starts camp July 25.

     While the players are resting up for a probable Super Bowl berth, the coaching staff and Jerry have a few items left on their off-season “to do” list before hoisting that record sixth Lombardi Trophy in eight months.

     Having added Adam “NOT Pacman” Jones and first round pick Mike Jenkins at corner to an already-elite tandem of Terrence Newman and Anthony Henry, Dallas appears to have created perhaps the most talented corps of defensive backs ever assembled to play organized football.  Between those players, franchised safety Ken Hamlin, and the benching of Roy “I Don’t Even Like It When My Family Passes Something to Me at the Dinner Table” Williams on alleged passing downs, the Cowboys should have a secondary that will give any quarterback in the National Football League pause before chucking it downfield.

     Next, the Cowboys conducted a “skills reorganization” at running back, jettisoning one disgruntled, mildly productive runner (Julius Jones) and replacing him with No. 1 pick Felix Jones.  Although Marion Barber is the unquestioned starter (and deservedly so, especially with his new $45 million deal), Jones will see plenty of playing time and should be in the hunt for Rookie of the Year. 

     The team is set at linebacker and along both lines, which leaves just two little holes to address: quarterback and wide receiver.  Now, of course Tony Romo is here to stay, and Brad Johnson is a fine backup.  But, just imagining, what if Romo goes down?  What if Romo goes down for, say, 10-12 weeks?  Sure, Old Man River can step in for a start or three, but can you trust a man who will be 40 before Dallas hosts Philadelphia in Week 2 to run a Super Bowl team for that long?  Probably not; you just can’t count on a QB who has been hit as many times as Johnson has to last as a starter for three months.  Because of this, Dallas needs to invest in a “proven” third stringer—just in case.  The Cowboys wanted an “insurance policy” on Terry Glenn with that injury waiver; why not spend some of the money he would have been owed (since it looks like he’ll eventually be released) on a quarterback who has played a few dozen games in the league—just in case.  Hopefully, and odds are, he’ll never see the field and just shows up to grab his paycheck.  But Jerry’s rich; he’ll get by. 

     Kelly Holcomb and Byron Leftwich need jobs.  Not interested?  Try Tim Hasselback or Super Bowl champion Trent Dilfer (now there’s a difficult phrase to write).  The Cowboys could throw a million bucks out there and grab any of them.  Each, while not ideal, would provide better protection to both Romo and Johnson than current third-stringer Richard Bartel.

     Lastly, Dallas has still failed to address its (glaring) need at wide receiver.  Terrell Owens, of course, is the star.  Once Glenn is gone, Patrick Crayton moves up to No. 2, and young players Sam Hurd and Miles Austin move up on the depth chart.  Crayton’s true value to the team is as a No. 3 receiver.  Sure, he’s good for one or two 100-yard games per season, but he ranked 62^nd in the league last year with 67 catches, 51^st in yards (697), and 55^th in yards per game (46.5).  Just to be clear, that’s worse than illustrious players such as Justin Gage, Roydell Williams, and Owen Daniels. 

     The Cowboys need a real No. 2 receiver, and the stats show Crayton simply isn’t that guy.  The others—Hurd, Austin, and, maybe, Isaiah Stanback—are intriguing talents who should be challenging Crayton for the No. 3 position.  None of those three is ready to start in the NFL.  Although the team tried hard throughout the draft to acquire Roy Williams and Larry Fitzgerald/Anquan Boldin, the failure to do so has left Romo with a far less than stellar cast.  More than ever, he’s going to need Jason Witten, Barber, and Jones to step up. 

     And every Cowboy fan better pray on all things holy that nothing happens to Owens or Romo.

 

     Brian Smith can be reached at BLSmith@mail.utexas.edu

 

Cowboys Need to Resolve Glenn Situation

Running a professional sport franchise is a business. Often, any business—especially sport franchises—have to make difficult calls for the (perceived) greater good.

The Cowboys’ handling of Terry Glenn and his injured knee is not one of these times. Jerry Jones has no need to worry about paying Glenn $1.74 million this season regardless of how much Glenn plays, if at all.

Earlier this week, Todd Archer wrote about Dallas’ great salary cap situation, saying the team should be set for many years to come. Also, many of you may have heard about the new $1 billion stadium Jerry is building. Remember, though, that the city of Arlington (suckers) is covering $325 million, and the new naming rights, when they’re sold, should more than cover the leftover cost. Bottom line: Jerry’s got the cash; paying Glenn $1.74 million over the team-offered $500,000 isn’t a big deal.

More than anything, though, this is about being honorable. The team signed Glenn to his original deal hoping, as with all players, that he would remain healthy and productive for the duration. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. Last year, Glenn played only a few snaps in the final regular season game, but he now claims to be nearly completely healthy.

Without argument, a healthy Terry Glenn has the talent to be one of the top five receivers in football. He’s a game-changing presence on the field, and he makes the team more dangerous. Without him, the team’s receiving corps becomes Terrell Owens, a worthless Patrick Crayton, and some young guys—Miles Austin, Sam Hurd—that hopefully, maybe, just might develop into decent No. 3 wide outs. For a completely healthy Glenn, $1.74 million would be a bargain for the team. (Yes, $500,000 is a bargain for playing a game, too, but that’s not the point right now).

Again, this is about being honorable. The Cowboys made the deal, and they should maintain the original terms. Injuries are a normal risk of sports; Glenn is far from the first Cowboy to ever get hurt. Did Jerry ever try to make Joey Galloway accept a split-salary? Did he treat Troy Aikman the same way? How about Moose Johnston? Glenn was injured during normal football activities for the Cowboys; he was hurt on their time, so he should be paid on their (full) dime.

Now, this would be different if Glenn had gotten hurt through his own negligence or recklessness. But, he wasn’t out riding a motorcycle, skydiving, being drunk at a party, or wearing too much bling in Vegas. He was playing football, just what Dallas pays him to do.

If Jerry doesn’t want to pay, then he should just release Glenn and allow the man to try and find an honest team. Running this team is a business. Part of being a businessman is being honest, because if you screw one man, it makes everybody else leery of dealing with you. Right now, Dallas is screwing Terry Glenn. The choice is simple: pay him or cut him. Jerry Jones, being a crook, though, doesn’t see it this way.

Jerry, make a decision: honor the contract, or honor the man and let him go; do the right thing.

For once.

Brian Smith can be reached at BLSmith@mail.utexas.edu

Romo’s the Key

It’s been a good offseason. Lots of ups and downs, and maybe I’m an optimist but I feel like things are looking up for the Dallas Cowboys heading into the 08′ - 09′ season. Let’s break down what has happened thus far:

1. We drafted two quality defensive backs: 1)Mike Jenkins and 2) Orlando Scandrick
2. Pacman was picked up for a mere 4th round draft pick for little to no cost to the Cowboys.
3. Multiple “core” players were signed to long term extensions or new deals (Flozell Adams, Marion Barber, Terence Newman, T.O.
4. Two running backs were brought in to give Dallas a definite upgrade for the loss of Julius Jones. (Felix Jones, Tashard Choice)
5. Homegrown talent and tackling machine, Zach Thomas was brought in to bring some smarts and leadership to a talented Dallas defense.
6. And my favorite news of all…there are rumors circulating about the possibility of Anthony Henry making the move to strong safety! Can you imagine the effect this would cause?

So what could possibly give me cause for concern with a new revamped defense that will be much better than last year and another year under the belt of Jason Garrett to focus the potent offensive attack we know the Cowboys have???

Our kryptonite and our greatest strength is Tony Romo. The quarterback is normally the most vital player on a team and Dallas is no exception. I’d venture to say that T.O. is a close second because of the lack of a second receiver, but without Romo this team could suffer a downward spiral of a season. Backing up Romo currently is Brad Johnson, who will be 40 this September. I know the quarterbacking pool is shallow these days, but you kind of think the Cowboys would have a little better insurance policy at the position that matters most. Brad Johnson is about as mobile as Drew Bledsoe, but with a weaker arm. (We all know how Bledsoe worked out. Five years with him under center and we would know what it was like to be a Houston Texans fan during the David Carr era.) I’m glad we have him on the team to impart wisdom from days gone by, but he can’t be the serious back up for a team built to win the Super Bowl. But there have been cases in the past where the old, washed-up QB comes in as the sub and wins the game or saves the season.

My hope is that we don’t have to see it this year.

Is Terrell Owens worth it?

Maybe I’m a bit too cautious. It’s like watching a Jack-In-The-Box toy and your waiting for that very second it pops out. I think the jury is still out on Terrell Owens, there’s still a chance he might pop out at us and screw this teams Superbowl aspirations. The fact that Jerry Jones just gave Owens a four-year, $34 million deal is why I’m harping on this subject. With money comes power (and “mo problems”), if TO has more power then he will realize that he can start saying the slightest of things and get away with them because the Cowboys have invested so much money in him. In his old $25-million contract he was in a probation of sorts and every word had to be carefully scrutinized before it was said. Yet he still managed to yell out the receiver’s coach two years ago and get away with it. Jones might have a made a good-looking move on the outside but this could be devastating when the Cowboys are battling for a playoff spot.

The images still scare me – TO in his camouflage tee doing sit-ups in the driveway and crashing any Superbowl dreams the Eagles had that season. I won’t be surprised if this happens again. I can’t see why Jones couldn’t wait until halfway thru the season to work on a contract. The Cowboys could have waited to see if TO could hold on for another season; especially with new additions such as Pacman to the locker-room the temptation to act free-willingly is even stronger. Don’t get me wrong, TO is a gifted athlete with a sculpted body but he still has a major problem with dropping the ball. He was quiet during the playoff game versus the Giants, can he really step up when it matters? So it’s not only a question about his personality but about his ability to play receiver. He really needs to prove some sort of consistency with catching the ball, I mean that’s what a receiver does. It’s like paying an offensive lineman who can’t pass or run block. Even with all those drops, TO put up amazing statistics last year, any receiver with those numbers should be paid the same amount as the top tier of receivers in the game.

TO’s issues with the Eagles arrived when he was entering the second year of his seven-year contract. A few days ago he stated his current contract was not even an issue with the Cowboys, he even stated that he was happy his teammates Marion Barber and Terence Newman got new deals. That’s odd, the TO we’re used to would be complaining at this point. Maybe he has changed; maybe he has finally bought into a system and understands that the Jones is trying to build something here. Maybe for the first time he has found a quarterback that he is willing to cooperate with, sounds too good to be true to me. Old habits are hard to break, time will only tell if this ticking bomb sounds off.