Cowboys Corner

Hatcher: We don't have a Ray Lewis-type leader

Cowboys defensive end Jason Hatcher said the team's defense has everything it needs except one: There is no one to lead them. NFL Network analyst Warren Sapp had criticized DeMarcus Ware, the Cowboys' best player, for his lack of leadership before the 2011 season.

Hatcher made his comments about a lack of team leaders during a Friday interview with special guest Deion Sanders on the Ben & Skin Show on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM.

“Dude, I've got to be honest with you: That’s a good question,” Hatcher said. “I really don’t know. It’s just another thing we really need…. We don’t have that. We’ve got the talent. We’ve got everything we need [except] a Ray Lewis. When Ray Lewis speaks, everybody listens to him. A guy like that, we really don’t got that. I think we definitely need somebody like that.

“You’ve got to have somebody hold you accountable. With a leader like [Lewis], everybody is accountable and guys aren’t doing their own thing. [Lewis] is in there. Everybody’s going in one direction. So once you have that, you’ll be good. We’re still looking for it.”

-- Charean Williams

If Jason Garrett sounds robotic in his press conferences, there's a reason

Jason Garrett has a reputation for sounding deliberate and robotic in his press conferences.

Not because he’s holding back information. Rather, because he’s thinking about how to provide the information and how it affects the Cowboys.

That’s what he told Dale Hansen in an interview on WFAA Channel 8 broadcast Thursday night when Hansen asked him, “What happened to the real Jason Garrett?”

Garrett said, “When you’re in the position that I’m in, the most important responsibility I have is to the Dallas Cowboys. And oftentimes, you get in situations like this, or in the daily press conferences that I do, whenever I’m asked a question about anything, what goes through my mind first and foremost: how can my answer impact the Dallas Cowboys? And that’s the thing that is most important to me.

“So oftentimes, there’s questions I won’t answer or I avoid answering if I feel there’s a competitive disadvantage to answering that question in a certain way. My obligation is to our team, to our coaches, to our players and everyone in our organization first and foremost.”

Hansen promised more of the interview on Sunday night.

CBS 11's Babe Laufenberg also broadcast an interview with Garrett on Thursday night, with more of the interview on Sunday night.

-- Carlos Mendez

Thanks to Stephen Jones, the Cowboys have flexibility under salary cap to be players in free agency

When the Cowboys started whacking high-priced veterans before last season, it was thought that they would pay a significant price in 2012 because of the negative salary-cap impact.

The releases of Roy Williams, Marion Barber, Marc Colombo, Leonard Davis and Andre Gurode had put roughly $24 million in dead money in the 2012 cap, which is expected to be $120.375 million.

But the Cowboys will head into free agency March 13 with $12.6 million in cap room and thus are in much better shape than anticipated.

The Cowboys can gain even more room by releasing cornerback Terence Newman as expected and restructuring a few deals.

It all means that the Cowboys will be active players in free agency and owner Jerry Jones credits son and vice president Stephen Jones for their increased flexibility.

“I give Stephen a lot of credit for taking a year we thought would be Armageddon for us, and we were able to do some things last year with the cap that puts us and gives us some viability,” Jones said. “Stephen and a lot of the crew he works with regarding the caps, regarding the contracts, all of that has given us a chance to have some room to improve this team this year.

“And we will use it.”

Clarence Hill

Cowboys make Joe Baker assistant secondary coach

The Cowboys announced the hiring of an assistant secondary coach, Joe Baker, who spent the previous three seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has been an NFL coach for 16 years and is a former college teammate of Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett.

Baker will work under Jerome Henderson, who was hired last month to be the Cowboys’ new secondary coach, replacing Dave Campo.

Before coaching in Tampa Bay, Baker spent two seasons with the Denver Broncos, as a linebackers coach and an offensive assistant.

Baker has also been with the St. Louis Rams (in 2006), with the Green Bay Packers (2005), New Orleans Saints (2000 to ’04) and Jacksonville Jaguars, where he began his career in 1994.

 Baker was a wide receiver at Princeton from 1987 to 1990, catching passes from Garrett in 1987 and 1988, and helped Princeton win an Ivy League co-championship in 1989.

After coaching defensive backs at East Stroudsburg University in 1991, Baker spent one year as player personnel coordinator for the Birmingham Fire of the WLAF. He was an assistant at Samford in 1993. He also coached at the University of Wisconsin in 1999.

With the Jaguars, he began as the manager of football operations in the team’s first year, 1994. He became an assistant special teams coach the following year.

-- Carlos Mendez

Twitter @calexmendez

Cowboys hire Joe Baker as assistant secondary coach

The Cowboys made official the hiring of Joe Baker on Monday. He will be the assistant secondary coach, helping newly hired Jerome Henderson.

 

Baker spent the past three seasons as an assistant with the Buccaneers. He has 16 years of NFL coaching experience and three years at the collegiate level.

 

He and Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett go back to their playing days at Princeton. Baker was a receiver at Princeton from 1987-1990, catching passes from Garrett in 1987-88.

 

Baker and Henderson replace Dave Campo and Brett Maxie as the team's secondary coaches. Both Campo and Maxie's contracts expired after the 2011 season. The Cowboys chose not to offer Campo an extension, and he took a job as the defensive coordinator at Kansas. Maxie left to become secondary coach with the Tennessee Titans.

 

Baker was the Bucs defensive backs coach in 2009 before coaching the team's linebackers the past two seasons.

Tampa Bay finished 10th in the league in pass defense, with the secondary accounting for 15 of the team’s 19 interceptions. Safety Tanard Jackson and cornerback Aqib Talib tied for the team lead with five interceptions each.

 

Baker spent two seasons (2007-08) with the Broncos, first as an offensive assistant, then as the club’s linebackers coach. He was with the St. Louis Rams in 2006 (defensive quality control/linebackers), where he helped guide St. Louis to 32 takeaways - seventh in the league - with a league-best nine red zone takeaways. Baker spent 2005 with the Green Bay Packers (secondary/safeties) and worked with a defensive backfield that led the league in pass defense, allowing 165.7 yards-per-game - the club’s lowest total in 27 seasons. 

Baker spent five seasons (2000-04) coaching various defensive positions with the New Orleans Saints. He made his NFL coaching debut in 1995 as the assistant special teams coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, a position he held through the 1998 season. He first landed with the Jaguars in 1994 as the club’s manager of football operations leading into its inaugural season.

-- Charean Williams

What is the Cowboys' first priority this off-season?

If you are the Cowboys' general manager --  yeah, right, like they would ever have a general manager -- what would be your first priority this off-season?

Cast your vote, or post in the comments below.

Clarence E. Hill Jr., beat writer: The first priority of the off-season is to hire a new general manager, but absent that pipe dream, then the Cowboys need to try to sign Saints guard Carl Nicks in free agency to upgrade the O-line, so they can focus on signing a cornerback with the 14th pick in the draft.

Charean Williams, beat writer: This game has become about two things -- the quarterback and pass rushers. If you don't have both, you don't have a chance. The Packers didn't win the Super Bowl this year because of their pass rush. The Patriots, when they absolutely needed to pressure Eli Manning, couldn't. That's why they didn't lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and the Giants did. The Ravens, Texans and 49ers didn't make the Super Bowl because of their quarterbacks. The Cowboys have the quarterback. They have a pass-rusher. They need more than one pass-rusher, as the Giants showed in their postseason run. Free agency doesn't offer many choices, so the Cowboys should draft the best one there for them at No. 14, and then keep drafting them. Amazing how much the rest of the defense, including the secondary, will be helped by more than one consistent pass-rusher.

Carlos Mendez, beat writer: Offensive line. It's not strong enough up the middle. There's a running back in town who might be pretty good if he can get some reliable blocks between the guard spots. What the Cowboys had there last year, a couple of fair pros in Montrae Holland and Kyle Kosier, got the job done for a while. But the season took a toll on them, and now they're a year older. The center, Phil Costa, was clearly overpowered in some games. Behind them right now, the Cowboys have youngsters David Arkin (never active in his rookie year), Kevin Kowalski (promising) and Bill Nagy (hurt early), along with 12-year vet Derrick Dockery. But more than run blocking, the interior OL needs to protect. Jerry Jones is clear about that -- the No. 1 thing on his mind is protecting Tony Romo so Romo's prime years aren't wasted. Costa and his mates didn't seem to get the hang of handling twists and stunts, even the basic ones. If I'm the Cowboys general manager, I'm bringing in another veteran guard and drafting the Stanford kid.

David Humphrey, editor: My first priority would be a lock-down cornerback who has size. I emphasize size. The big receivers around the league are winning the majority of the battles on the outside. Being in position to make a play and making a play are two different things. 

 

 

 

Linebacker Anthony Spencer not gone yet, could be franchised by Cowboys

The Cowboys may not be done with free agent linebacker Anthony Spencer just yet.

According to a team source, Spencer is a candidate for the franchise tag, giving him a one-year deal of about $8.8 million.

Never mind that he has largely been a disappointment since joining the Cowboys as a first round pick in 2007. Never mind that has never had more than six sacks in the season and has yet to provide a consistent force opposite All-Pro DeMarcus Ware.

He is solid against against the run as he was fourth on the Cowboys with 74 tackles in 2011. He also led in forced fumbles with four and tied for the team lead in tackles for losses with eight.

And getting back to the pass rush, Spencer did have 31 quarterback pressures, second behind Ware's 40. What doesn't translate is the six sacks to 19.5 for Ware. That number needs in improvement. The Cowboys know as much. 

But the bottom line with a potential franchise decision on Spencer is finding a potential replacement for him. 

There are few options on the free-agent market _ unless you consider Houston's Mario Williams. He is likely the top free agent the market and will command a hefty price. He would be a huge financial risk for Cowboys considering his limited experience in the 3-4 _ especially at strongside outside linebacker which is Spencer's spot.

Another option is Indianapolis defensive end Robert Mathis, who could potentially make the move to outside linebacker in a 3-4. But again he has never played the position and he is 31 years old compared to Spencer who just turned 28.

And if the Cowboys don't find a replacement in free agency and don't sign Spencer, they box themselves into the possibly making a bad decision in the draft by forcing them to pick for need.

The Cowboys have made no final decisions. But franchising Spencer is being discussed.

-- Clarence E. Hill Jr.

 

McBriar expects full recovery after surgery to remove cyst

Cowboys punter Mat McBriar said he should make a full recovery and be ready to play again in the fall after having surgery this week to remove a cyst in his left knee, which apparently led to the “drop foot” that caused him to end the season on injured reserve.

McBriar underwent the surgery on Tuesday at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Dr. Robert Spinner, who performed the surgery, said it was a rare condition.

“He’s lucky, and I’m lucky because this is what I’ve been interested in,” Spinner said. “There are lots of reasons why people have drop foot. Most are not related to tumors or this type of cyst.”

McBriar, who is a free agent, said in a radio interview Thursday that he’ll need to rest about a month but could be working out in two months. Free agency in the NFL begins March 13.

“I know it’ll be a full recovery,” McBriar said on KESN 103.3 FM. Asked about his chances to return to Dallas after one of his worst statistical seasons, McBriar said his preference is to remain with the Cowboys.

“I don’t know how it’s going to end up,” he said. “I really do hope that I stay in Dallas, but I guess for the time being, just getting healthy is my main focus. I’ve been given no reason not to believe that it would come back to where it was.”

-- Carlos Mendez

Twitter @calexmendez

 

Terrell Owens says he’s changed, matured but still blames the media for not letting go of his past

Terrell Owens said he his tried to be better person and teammate since being cut by the Cowboys in 2008. He said he has matured and stayed out of controversy in stints with the Bills and Bengals in 2009 and 2010.

Yet he said he is still dogged by his past controversies primarily in Dallas and Philadelphia because the media won’t let it go.

He said that is one of the reasons he went unsigned in 2011 after recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. 

“The past two years the teams I have been on… I tried to dispel any of those things by going out and doing what I was supposed to do on the football field and leaving the distractions where they were,” Owens said of concerns about his character. “But again the media wouldn’t allow things that happened five or six years ago to stay in the past. They kept bringing those issues up. The media wouldn’t allow me to turn over a new leaf. I have done things to try to better myself and show people I have changed. Nobody can ever just forget things that happened five or seven years ago. Why don’t I get a free pass? Why don’t I get that same fair treatment like everybody else? I have never been in any off the field problems. Listen to the media anything criminal has gone on they bring my name in the mix and I have never had those problems.”

Clarence Hill

 

 

In saying he can still play in the league, Terrell Owens cites supbar play of 49ers, Ravens receivers

At 38, receiver Terrell Owens believes he can still play in the NFL.

Never mind that no team signed him in 2011 after he recovered from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He said teams stayed away from him for other reasons and paid for it.

Owens pointed out the 49ers and Ravens who lost in the NFC and AFC championship games respectively as teams who could have used his services.

He hopes his presence with the Allen Wranglers of the indoor football league shows general managers around the league how bad he wants to play and that he is a changed man.

“I’m not using it as a route to get back in the NFL,” Owens said. “I know I can play. That’s not even a question that I can play. You look at the NFC Championship and the AFC Championship. You look at those games, especially the NFC championship. Their starting receiving corps had one catch for three yards. You look at the AFC championship. The Baltimore Ravens the past two years brought in two guys they thought could get the job done. It comes down to crucial catches and they didn’t make those catches. So I am definitely aware of my talents. I have never been shy of confidence. For whatever reason, I didn’t play this year. That doesn’t mean I can’t play the game. Everybody knows I’m in great shape. It’s just a matter of getting the opportunity.”

The Ravens receivers Owens is talking about are Lee Evans and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who both had huge drops in playoff losses in 2011 and 2010 respectively.

And yes the 49ers had only one catch for three yards from receiver Michael Crabtree. He also had several drops in the playoffs.

 Clarence Hill Jr.