Dallas Cowboys parade chat No. 1: Riding The Dez

Thanks for checking in for this Dallas Cowboys Parade chat to cover their 19-14 win against the Carolina Panthers. Post your comment underneath and we can begin a discourse.

THERE IS NO MORE INTOXICATING RIDE THAN THE DEZ BRYANT: As frustrating as it is to watch Dez Bryant, no one can ever claim this man does not care, he isn’t passionate, and that he does not want it bad.  

One week after playing the best game of his career in Baltimore, Bryant caught two passes for 14 yards in Carolina.

Few Cowboys in recent memory appear to compete as hard as this man. Does he compete wisely? Well … cough-cough … no.

On the first punt return of the game, Dez broke a tackle and after the play was dead was penalized for a late hit. Replays show he was pretty mad about what looked like a helmet-to-helmet hit.

In the second half, he fielded a punt from inside the 10-yard line and in his zeal to make a play he held the ball out so far it was just begging to be knocked out of his hands.

Then there was his drop in the end zone.

Just another day’s work for Dez. At a minimum, he is very entertaining. You never know what the hell this guy is going to do.

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Quote of the day

Seth Meyers: A plan has been proposed for a new bridge across the Seine River in Paris that would be made out of trampolines. And the only way that could go wrong is immediately.

 

 

 

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Free, astute observations from the Dallas Cowboys season-saving win in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina – Even in victory Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett put himself into a position to be second-guessed.

After the Cowboys’ 19-14 win against the Panthers on Sunday, Coach Process said that his curious decision to run a draw on 3^rd-and-9 deep in Carolina territory was because he thought the play could hit.

Then he said he also wanted to leave open the possibility to kick a field goal.

Yeeeaaahhh … those two statements are not exactly Bert and Ernie. Or Justin and Selena for the younger crowd.

Translation – Maybe we get lucky and run for a first down, but would you trust this offense not to screw it up?

These and other astute observations from the Cowboys’ win: 

1. Tony The Boring > Tony The Daring. Not sure the head coach completely trusts his quarterback but at the very least against the Panthers Tony Romo did not beat himself, or make a single play that cost his team anything. He was not sacked and threw no interceptions. He did that three times last season.

Against the Panthers, Romo made the plays that were there, was not always helped by his receivers, but generally kept the team out of harm’s way.

Alas, the Cowboys are not going to be able to win big if Romo is not allowed to, or does not, make plays.

2. DeMarco Murray, needle it up. The normal starting running back was out with a bum foot against the Panthers and in his place was Felix Jones, who started for the first time in forever.

Felix was not privy to the world’s best blocking, but the gap between he and Murray is canyon-ish. Jones carried the ball 15 times for 44 yards against the Panthers. Backup Phillip Tanner rushed 13 times for 30 yards. Yaaaaaaaaaaaawn.

Not that Murray was on pace for a 2,000 yard season before his injury, but he is simply that much better. He can create yards when there should be zero, which this offensive line needs. 

3. Kevin Ogletree may be out of lives. This season is an “It” year for the No. 3 receiver, and right now it looks like he may be about done.

The more pressing issue is that the Cowboys really only have two wide receivers.

After providing so much hope with his 100-yard, two-TD catch performance against the Giants in Week 1, he has officially returned to where he was last season. Against the Panthers, Ogletree caught four passes for 27 yards. In the fourth quarter he was benched in certain situations.

Ogletree will likely receive a few more chances in the coming weeks because the alternatives are limited, but it is hard to envision him being with the team next year. 

4. Cowboys 2013 offseason to do list: Safety. The corner combination of Brandon Carr, Morris Claiborne, Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick is solid enough but the Cowboys have not received quality and meaningful plays from their safety position in years.
Neither Gerald Sensabaugh nor Danny McCray is awful, but they are just guys. Neither makes plays, has shown anything near the line of scrimmage or much in the way of ball skills. 

5. The special teams did their job. One week after stinking up Baltimore, Joe DeCamillis’ crew was very good from kick coverage to punting to field goals.
Dan Bailey was 4-for-4 on field goals, punter Brian Moorman averaged 49.3 yards per punt, the coverage teams were solid.
About the only thing that went wrong was Dez Bryant picked up a stupid penalty after his first punt return; on a late punt return he caught the ball too deep in his own end and then held the ball so far away from his body, one-handed, it was begging to be knocked out.
But nothing happened so due credit where credit is due – the special teams played well.

 

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The Carolina Panthers president who made a large difference for TCU

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina - Danny Morrison is 58, looks like he's about 28, and the man still ooozes charm. Seriously, the man doesn't age.

The former TCU director of athletics and current team president of the Carolina Panthers stopped by before the Cowboys played the Panthers on Sunday morning. Morrison was the TCU AD when the school began the process to remaking its football stadium, and made its biggest steps up the nationall college football ladder.

He does not receive enough credit for TCU's success.

"I remember that first meeting we had in January of 2007 about the staidum - we wanted to make it the Camden Yards of football," said Morrison, who said he was able to tour Amon G. Carter Stadium in the spring. "I am really excited for TCU. The thing they have done is it's not just athletics - every area on campus has risen. It's not been just a one dimensional elevation."

Morrison was a career college guy, but it does sound as if he is quite comfortable in the pros.

My worry was, 'What would the pros be like on a daily basis?'" he said. "My experience has been I have really enjoyed the pro athlete. ... I loved TCU and I loved Fort Worth; it was a great job and I really did think it was going to be my last job. This just fell into my lap."

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Looks like Texas Tech & Tommy Tuberville made the right call, & TCU is just too young

After having just so much fun with Texas Tech and football coach Tommy Tuberville's wise decision to back out of the 2011 game at TCU, a serious tip of the cap to the entire program for said decision, and their Game of the Century win in Fort Worth on Saturday.

Tech's 6-1 record is the type of proof this administration desperately needed to justify dumping Mike Leach a few years ago. Tech may still be a house divided as a result of that decision, but wins such as the one against West Virginia and TCU can make people heal quickly.

Tuberville has been around college football long enough to know that it's not about who you beat but how many wins you have. He realized last season he didn't have a team so he lined up his non-conference schedule with dogs in an effort to become bowl eligible.

Since TCU joined the Big 12, TT had no choice but to play TCU in Fort Worth but he obviously has a team that can play - the Red Raiders' 56-53 3OT win makes them bowl eligible in the giant scam that is the FBS level.

As for TCU, this was part of the deal when it signed on to be in the Big 12. No more 30-point blowouts against New Mexico, UNLV, etc. This is just bigger, and harder. Saturday was a wonderful scene and atmosphere, but losses like this are far more likely than in the Mountain West.

Gary Patterson wasn't kidding on Tuesday when he said his team could win every game remaining on its schedule, or lose them all. GP may have as much talent as he has ever had in his tenure at TCU, but they are just so young. This team never stopped, obviously, but it never looked like it knew how to close this out.

GP has played a nation-leading 16 true freshmen this season, and that much inexperience is going to cost TCU games. It will payoff huge next season, but in the meantime both he and his team are going to lose in a way this program was no longer accustomed.

Either way, a great day for college football in Fort Worth.

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Fearle$$ football predictions: LSU (-3.5) vs. Aggies is a winner

The Big Mac Blog returns with more football predictions. When we last left this segment I was bathing in imaginary riches. I began the 2011 season with $50 of Monopoly money, and by season's end I was plus $100. Cash.

Last week I started out 2-0 only to be done in by Norv Turner to finish 2-3. I am now plus $40 for the season.
The results:
1. Oklahoma (-3.5) v. Texas in Dallas. SOONERS. WIN
2. Alabama (-21) at Missouri. TIDE. WIN
3. West Virginia (-4) at Texas Tech. WVA. LOSS
4. Buffalo Bills at Arizona Cardinals (-4.5). CARDS. LOSS
5. Denver Broncos at SD Chargers (-1.5) CHARGERS. LOSS   

This week's picks:
1. Stanford (-3) at California. TREE. Big come back after a kick-in-the-teeth loss at Notre Dame.
2. Purdue at Ohio State (-19). BUCKEYES. Los Boilermakers es mas terrible.
3. LSU (-3.5) at Texas A&M. TIGERS. Johnny Ball, meet LSU's defense.
4. Cleveland Browns at Indianapolis Colts (-2.5). COLTS. Bounce back week for Luck.
5. Baltimore Ravens at Houston Texans (-6.5). TEXANS. The Cowboys pumped the prime on a large Ravens' loss.

An exciting new addition to this post has thus far been a work in progress. A long time bookie, "Zliff", rebounded last week with a 3-1 performance. He is so far is 6-5 in his lock picks.

1. LSU at Texas A&M over/under 52 points: OVER 
2. South Carolina at Florida (-3.5). GATORS
3. Texas Tech (-1.5) at TCU. HORNED FROGS

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A look at the future: Mavs to be without Dirk for a while

The Dallas Mavericks offseason of fun runneth over into the preseason.

Forward Dirk Nowitzki had minor surgery on his right knee. The team said in a release that Dirk can resume to on-court activities in about six weeks. Dirk has played in one preseason game - in Berlin on Oct. 6 - before the knee started to cause him some real trouble and forced him to sit out.

The Mavs have four more fake NBA games before the regular season begins on Tuesday, Oct. 30 against the Lakers in Los Angeles.

According to the calendar, Dirk could resume to basketball around the end of November and the first of December. The return from this surgery, the first of his NBA career, is between three to six weeks. 

Just assume he is going to miss the first month of the regular season, and about 16 games, before he returns.

It's amazing Dirk, 34, lasted this long without a surgery before this. 

Now, as to who scores for this team in his absence ... O.J. Mayo, Chris Kaman, Elton Brand and maybe even Rodrigue Beaubois.

 

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Big Tex - R.I.P.

Apparently the State Fair needed to make some hard choices, but rather than just give Big Tex the pink slip they set him on fire.

A fire broke out at the State Fair of Texas this morning in Dallas and ... well, this picture pretty much says it all.

 

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Quote of the day

Bruce Dickinson: Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription ... is more cowbell!

 

 

 

 

 

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Cam Newton played at Blinn College & never visited the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory

Whatever perceived troubles Cam Newton is having now as the starting QB for the Carolina Panthers, all he has to do is remember when he was playing at Blinn College to know what difficult really looks like.

After his wildly successful run as the starting QB at Auburn, it is easy to forget about Newton's time as a junior college QB at Blinn. I am sure he would like to.

If you don't remember, Newton was at Florida in 2007 and '08 before coach Urban Meyer gave him the boot for stealing a computer (apparently, that is against some draconian and antiquated law).

If he was embarrassing the nation's top defenders at Auburn, imagine what he did while he played at Blinn College? Newton went from playing in front of 90,000 fans in SEC ball to 900 in junior college.

Blinn College coach Brad Franchione, son of Dennis, met with Newton's dad, who was trying to find a good place for his son to go before he returned to the D-1 level. Hmm ... Cam Newton's dad arranged where his son would play college football, I mean attend college to take courses, ... this sounds so familiar.

Cam wound up at Blinn in 2009, where he was treated like anybody else. He was part of the team that re-painted the seats at the quaint football stadium on its campus. Newton said, however, he never did visit the Blue Bell ice cream factory in Brenham. In his one season at Blinn, he led the team to a JUCO national title.

Here is the funny part - Newton wasn't even first or second team all NJCAA QB. Some dudes named Randall Mackey of East Mississippi CC and Tirrell Rennie of Ellsworth Community College were the first and second NJCAA All-Americans. Newton was honorable mention.

According to one of his former Blinn teammates, Newton basically played football, stayed in shape, got his grades, and got the hell out of Brenham as soon as his dad sold his playing rights to Auburn.

In a very short time, Newton won a JUCO title, a BCS title, was the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft, and the NFL Rookie of the Year. His current 1-4 record as the Panthers' starting QB in 2012 is no fun, but it probably beats Blinn.

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