Cowboys Corner

Gregg Williams to the Jags

Gregg Williams is no longer available to become an assitant on the Cowboys' defensive staff.
The former Redskins defensive coordinator and Bills head coach has accepted a position to become the new defensive coordinator/assistant head coach of the Jaguars, which is being reported by a Jacksonsville sports radio station and ESPN's Chris Mortensen.
Williams spoke with the Cowboys last week, not long after he was fired by the Redskins and eliminated as a choice to replace Joe Gibbs as that team's next head coach.
But his coming to the Cowboys never made much sense. For one, his first interview was with the Jags, and if he couldn't be a head coach he wanted at least to be the defensive coordinator.
And Williams, though long considered a top defensive coordinator, is a 4-3 guy. The Cowboys, and specifically head coach Wade Wade Phillips, are a 3-4 defense.
That leaves former Texans and Panthers head coach Dom Capers as candidate to join the staff as a linebackers coach. It does, however, appear that Capers will not accept the position that has been offered.
The more likely candidate to be the Cowboys next linebackers coach is Ricky Hunley, who was fired for the same job by the Bengals after the 2007 season. He spent the past five seasons with the Bengals as a linebackers coach. He played for Phillips when he was the defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos the 1980s.

- Mac Engel

A record, then again, it isn't

There were past Super Bowl games with higher ratings, topped by the 1982 game between San Francisco and Cincinnati (49.1 rating, 73 share). That indicates that a larger percentage of homes with televisions were watching the game. But since the American population has increased, along with the number of people with TVs, the actual number of people watching this year was higher.

The Giants-Patriots game's actual rating (43.3 rating, 65 share) was the highest for any Super Bowl since 1997. That means 43 percent of the nation's TV sets were tuned in to the game, and 65 percent of the TV sets that were turned on were watching football.

The "M*A*S*H" farewell episode had a rating of 60.2

Cowboys-Steelers '96 record toppled

The New York Giants' thrilling win over the New England Patriots was the most-watched Super Bowl ever, with 97.5 million viewers, Nielsen Media Research said Monday.

The game eclipsed the previous Super Bowl record of 94.08 million, set when Dallas defeated Pittsburgh in 1996. More people watched Sunday's game than all but one American television broadcast ever, the "M-A-S-H" finale in 1983, which was seen by 106 million viewers.

-- The Associated Press

Jason Taylor NFL Man of the Year

Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor won the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award, announced just before the Super Bowl kickoff. Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, Chiefs offensive lineman and former North Texas player Brian Waters and Steelers receiver Hines Ward were the other finalists.

It was another postseason loss for the Cowboys.

Witten cheated out of winner's share?

Cowboys tight end Jason Witten learned something from Broncos safety John Lynch in a Fox pregame segment.

In a discussion of the Patriots' Spygate scandal, Lynch said at last year's Pro Bowl that Patriots coach Bill Belichick had assistant coaches watch the NFC practice. "We were getting the plays. [I asked] how do you know that?"

Witten was asked if he knew that was going on. "No," he said to much laughter, "it cost me 40 grand."

Witten is one of the finalists for the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. The winner will be announced right before Super Bowl kickoff, Fox says.

T.O. talks to CNN

Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens says he doesn't understand why the media and his critics lump him in with the NFL's bad boys, but "one thing they can't control is when I score touchdowns on Sunday and make them eat their words."

Owens talked with CNN news anchor Don Lemon in an interview from Miami that aired Friday. Lemon asked Owens if he intended to take his life in an episode in September 2006 when he was hospitalized after taking medication and legal supplements for a hand injury.

"No, not at all," Owens said. "I love me." He said "anybody that knows me knows" he loves himself too much to do anything like that.

As for crying at a postgame news conference following the Cowboys' playoff loss to the Giants, Owens said, "That's not the first time that I've cried, and pretty sure it won't be the last time."

He did allow that over the last year he has learned to shut up. However, as for his style, he makes no apologies. "They say I'm arrogant and too flamboyant. All it is to me is my passion for the game."

CNN interview with T.O.

CNN is promising "an interview you won't want to miss" with Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens in CNN's 2 p.m. CST news hour Friday