The 2011 NFL season is over and it is time to turn our attention to the 2012 Draft.
ESPN’s Todd McShay has just released his first, of what will be many, mock drafts and he has the Cowboys taking troubled cornerback Janoris Jenkins from North Alabama in the first round. Jenkins was kicked off the team at Florida for various offenses.
Jenkins performed well during Senior Bowl practices but his off-the-field issues make him a risk, but McShay said this about him:
Check out this quote from Tiger Woods about Tony Romo’s golf game:
“He’s just so fired up about playing. He’s a hell of a golfer to begin with. He’s a scratch golfer. To him, this is like a dream come true for him to come out and play in this type of event.”
“He wants to not just make the cut. He wants to win the tournament, so he’s trying to figure out, ‘How many birdies I need to make and blah blah blah.’ And I said, ‘OK, well, why don’t we just both play well at the same time.’”
The NFC East has won the Super Bowl again! I know, it’s not the Cowboys, but there is something to be said for divisional pride. I have a friend who is a lifelong Redskins fan, and he posted on Facebook, “Hail to the Redskins. We beat the Super Bowl champions twice this season.” He’s right, and I think he’s got a point about divisional pride. The NFC East is pretty stinking good.
Retired star running back Tony Dorsett is one of more than 300 former players suing the National Football League. Dorsett is one of more than a dozen plaintiffs in concussion-related lawsuits with the NFL.
Dorsett says that the league pressured injured players to “get back out” on the field, causing long-term brain damage.
Dorsett recalls a helmet-to-helmet shot that knocked him out cold in the second quarter of a 1984 Cowboys-Eagles game, the hardest hit he ever took during his career.
“Did they know it was a concussion?” he asked rhetorically. “They thought I was half-dead.”
DeMarcus Ware was heavily involved with the Cowboys defense last season which struggled a lot throughout the year. The ‘Boys conceded an average of just over 21 points a game last season, a number that Rob Ryan would have wanted lower.
When Rob Ryan joined the Cowboys as defensive coordinator from the Cleveland Browns, Cowboys fans were optimistic that he could turn the defense into a very strong unit. Over the course of the season, Ryan showed glimpses of what he was about as he held the Patriots to 20 points at Gillette stadium, and contained the Bills at Cowboys Stadium, conceding just 7 points.
Ok, the Giants are in the Super Bowl, and though it is hard to watch a team from your division go to the Super Bowl, there is a little bit of pride in the fact that your division has such good teams. It begs the question:
Is the NFC East as good as we all pretend that it is?
Well, let’s forgive the Cowboys their faults for a minute and realize that they are relevant and they do not suck. They have good players, and people know they are dangerous.
A big deal in Dallas was that the Cowboys hired an OC who wasn’t going to call plays. Remember that? Bill Callahan comes to town, he’s had better offenses (and better quarterbacks) than Jason Garrett, but somehow Garrett thinks he needs to call the plays. I don’t quite get it, but now he says he might give up the play-calling duties someday, just not right now. However, his explanation is a little bit odd:
“Absolutely, absolutely. I think you just get to a point where, ‘Hey, I’m going to turn that over to somebody else,’ and you’ve seen that around the league at different times and that’s just part of the process that we’ll go through.”
Jon Kitna, the Cowboys back-up quarterback for 3 years, said that the 2011-12 season would be his last in the NFL. A back injury meant he missed the last 7 games of the recent campaign and now he has told the Cowboys that he will not be playing next season for definite. Being 39 years of age and the oldest quarterback in the league last season, Kitna’s retirement was around the corner.
The Dallas Cowboys got off to a slow start in the 2011-12 season, going 2-3 in their first 5 games. However, in game 6, the introduction of a rookie was potentially going to get the ball rolling for the Cowboys and push them towards a playoff spot.
The youngster out of Oklahoma burst onto the scene against the St Louis Rams in week 6. He recorded a massive 91 yard touchdown run which made up a large part of his 253 yards in 25 carries, setting a record for the franchise in running yards a game. His sublime performance showed agility, instinct and a good football brain.
It’s good when the Cowboys make moves to improve the team, especially on offense, but this is a slightly confusing move. Bill Callahan was to replace Hudson Houck, and now he is going to be offensive coordinator. However, he won’t be calling plays. If Garrett is still calling the plays, what changes? What is going to be the difference this time around? I don’t get it.
