20 years ago today, the Dallas Cowboys were GM'd to a Super Bowl under Jerry Jones

If the 2012 Dallas Cowboys' season wasn't enough to make you depressed this should help: 20 years ago today the Cowboys defeated the Buffalo Bills 52-17 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. to officially start the '90s dynasty.

The Bills took a 7-0 lead on a Thurman Thomas run before all hell broke loose. The Cowboys scored 14 points in each of the first two quarters to take a 28-10 lead at the half.

Troy Aikman finished 22 of 30 passing for 273 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions.
Emmitt Smith ran 22 times for 108 yards with one touchdown.
Michael Irvin caught six passes for 114 yards with two touchdowns.

One of the more amazing stats: Thurman Thomas ran 11 times for 19 yards. One of those carries went for nine yards.  

It was the first of three Super Bowl titles in four seasons for the Cowboys, and was just enough proof that Jerry Jones knew what he was doing. 

 

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Two Dallas Cowboys nose tackles, two similar blood alcohol levels

Not sure this is going to help Jay Ratliff's cause for returning to the Dallas Cowboys.

About a week after the Cowboys nose tackle was arrested for drunk driving, the Grapevine police department said his blood alcohol level was .16, or twice the legal limit.

When Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent was arrested for drunk driving after crashing his car that resulted in the death of teammate Jerry Brown, in early December of '12, the police said Brent's blood alochol level was .18.

The legal limit is 0.08.

This is the amazing part:
Brent is listed as 6-foot-2, 320 pounds.
Ratliff is listed as 6-foot-4, 303 pounds.

Exactly just how much alcohol is required to get a body this big to blow a .16 and .18? 

 

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Bill Callahan did a terrible job of throwing that Super Bowl

Retired Oakland Raiders WR Tim Brown whining and complaining about his team's head coach in the 48-21 loss in Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is not new. He has been doing this for years.

(BTW - Tim, you are up for the Pro Football Hall of Fame voting next weekend; this recent rant that implies then head coach Bill Callahan threw this game is not going to help your cause. It will probably kill it.)

Now former teammate Jerry Rice, who currently works next to 83,323 former NFL players as an analyst for ESPN, is agreeing with Brown that Callahan sabotaged the Raiders' chances of winning that game; some stupid BS that Callahan didn't like the Raiders and he wanted to see Bucs' coach Jon Gruden win a title.

The Cowboys offensive assistant was not thrilled with the accusations. In a statement released by the team, Callahan said: "To leave no doubt, I categorically and unequivocally deny the sum and substance of their allegations. Like every game I ever coached on the professional or collegiate level, I endeavor to the best of my professional ability to position my team to win. To suggest otherwise, especially at this time when it involves the Super Bowl, is ludicrous and defamatory. I have always honored the spirit of competition that drives us to sport as children and, for the lucky few, sustains us in adulthood.

"Any suggestion that I would undermine the integrity of the sport that I love and dedicated my life to, or dishonor the commitment I made to our players, coaches and fans, is flat-out wrong. I think it would be in the best interests of all, including the game America loves, that these allegations be retracted immediately."

If Callahan was trying to throw that game he would have tried to make it look close. The score was 20-3 at the half. The Raiders had 11 first downs in the game and a total of 269 yards.

This may be the worst ever example of throwing a game - the score has to be close to throw off the dogs. Not only did Callahan's Raiders fail to win that Super Bowl, or make it close, they couldn't even make it compelling entertainment for the gamblers. Hell, after Shania Twain was done mailing in her halftime performance I was done with that game.

(Full disclosure - I never knew Twain was a singer before that game. I just thought she was some hot Canadian who ran around on stages.)

This is the problem: Rice caught five passes for 77 yards and Brown caught one pass for nine yards.

These two boobs ranting about a coach tossing a game is another example of two diva wide receivers who are convinced that if every ball went their way the game's outcome would have been different. Tim Brown, bless his heart, always had a big mouth. Jerry Rice is pretty convinced he invented football.

This may be the dumbest accusation in the history of stupid. This is no different than some of the crazy conspiracies that had Oakland A's manager Tony LaRussa throwing the 1990 World Series against the underdog Cincinnati Reds.

Sometimes the other team just kicks your ass. 

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The reason Jerry Jones hired Jason Garrett is no more

News out of Mobile, Alabama is that Dallas Cowboys head football coach Jason Garrett is no longer the team's play caller.

BACK PAT ALERT: Two months ago I - and a few others - predicted that if the Cowboys' missed the playoffs their primary "big" offseason changes would be to fire defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and to strip Jason Garrett of play calling duties and hand those to offensive assistant Bill Callahan.

Time to go to Vegas and put some of this genius to work.

As expected, Jerry Jones and Coach Process have "agreed" to let Callahan call the plays.

This is how the conversation went down:
Jerry Jones: "Jason, we're going to have Bill Callahan call the plays next season."
Jason Garrett: "Excellent decision, sir."

This is not the world's worst decision, but it is rather ironic.

Shortly after Bill Parcells resigned as this team's head coach in January of 2007 the first person Jerry sought was Miami Dolphins' quarterbacks coach Jason Garrett. Then Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga did not want to just let Garrett go. In fact, he didn't have to let him out of his contract.

"It was under the caveat that he’d call the plays," Jerry Jones told me at Cowboys' training camp in 2007. "Wayne said, ‘I really want him to be the coordinator. I really want him to be the play-caller. If so, I’ll let him come down there.’"

Jerry specifically hired Garrett away from the Dolphins to be his team's offensive coordinator and to call the plays. Today, he wants someone other than Jason Garrett to call the plays.

 

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What Monte Kiffin needs

So the Dallas Cowboys are hiring loooooooooooooong time, veteran, grizzled Monte Kiffin to be their next defensive coordinator.

It is ironic that the reason Jerry Jones specifically hired Wade Phillips to be his head coach in 2007 was to run an execute a 3-4 defense. Now? That same 3-4 apparently sucks - Kiffin is going to the 4-3.

This is the same scheme Mike Zimmer ran for the Cowboys for forever, until Bill Parcells told him to adopt the 3-4 back in 2004.

Monte Kiffin, Wade Phillips, Mike Zimmer, Dave Wanstedt, Rob Ryan ... the names all change but the basic premise and rules apply - these guys need players to make a 4-3, 3-4, Tampa 2, 4-6 or whatever other scheme look good.

By season's end, the Dallas Cowboys didn't have enough good players who could generate enough negative plays to make a difference on defense. This is why Rob Ryan got canned. It's all about players, people.

If the Cowboys do not solve their problems up the middle, they're screwed. 

Jay Ratliff has to be healthy, that's assuming he returns. Josh Brent was developing into a major log-jam in the middle, but that's done. Jason Hatcher is built more like an end, but he would be a tackle in this scheme. Sean Lissemore looks like he may be a decent tackle, and Tyrone Crawford could have a future as a 4-3 end.

Sean Lee and Bruce Carter have to be healthy for all 16 games. The Cowboys have not received any significant plays from either safety position since Roy Williams was a rookie. 

DeMarcus Ware is not going to be a pass rusher almost exclusively. He was a defensive end in college, which was a long time ago. We may be witnessing the end of his prime years regardless of scheme.

The team has not made a decision on Anthony Spencer; he also was a defensive end in college. 

Kiffin is a good coach, but he is no different than any other coordinator - if he doesn't have players, it doesn't matter.

 

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Score! A.J. McCarron's girlfriend says her boyfriend wants to play for the Cowboys

A.J. McCarron is a quarterback for Alabama. He just won a national title. Blah blah blah, something something, sports sports. 

The good great news as it relates to the greater Fort Worth-dallas area is that his girlfriend said he wants to play for the Dallas Cowboys, which is the ideal excuse reason to put up a picture of Katherine Webb. 

Webb, who is the new love interest of Brent Musberger, Darnell Dockett and roughly 85 trillion men who watched the BcS title game on Monday night, said in a recent interview with Esquire that McCarron has his eyes set on the Cowboys.

Webb said: "I’m working with his publicist trying to handle all of this media madness right now. And A.J. really wants to play for the Dallas Cowboys, so we’ll see what happens."

Click here for the rest of this amazing interview with Esquire.

This is potentially a massive win-win for the Cowboys. McCarron skips his senior year to make himself eligible for the draft. Then Jerry Jones drafts McCarron, under the guise of "developing" a passer to eventually replace Tony Romo; McCarron arrives with Webb for the first ever introductory press conference for a fifth round draft pick, which Brent Musberger emcees.

McCarron rides the bench, while Webb becomes the NFL's first official team Victoria's secret model; this assuming she is comfortable wearing next to nothing in full view of millions of people. She may not be cool with that. 

 

 

 

 

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Jason Garrett, you're next

Down goes running backs coach Skip Peete. Now gone is defensive coordinator Rob Ryan.

It may not actually yield the desired results, but this is the Dallas Cowboys doing uncomfortable.

Despite his colorful personality and fantastic interviews, Ryan's defense never matched his mouth. The Cowboys' defense under Ryan seldom won games, and struggled to make impact plays to change direction games.

This all but guarantees that if the Cowboys do not have a good season in 2013, the next man down will be head coach Jason Garrett. Once of the top coordinators is canned, the next man up is the head coach.

Ryan is now 0-for-8 in his attempt to have a winning record as a defensive coordinator.

Head coach Jason Garrett said in a statement: "I want to express my appreciation to Rob for all of his efforts and contributions to the Cowboys over the past two years. At this time, the decision has been made to move forward in a different direction philosophically on defense. I have an immense amount of respect for Rob as a person and as a football coach and I wish him and his family the very best."

Do not be surprised if the Cowboys finally go away from the 3-4 defense that Bill Parcells installed in 2004 and adopt the 4-3.

Was it Ryan, or the players? Go with the latter. 

Ryan's defense lost Jay Ratliff, Sean Lee, Bruce Carter, Orlando Scandrick, Barry Church, Kenyon Coleman, Josh Brent to season ending injuries. Had those players - specifically Brent, Lee and Carter - remained healthy the results would have been different.

The Cowboys defense finished ranked 19th in the NFL. There were some massive holes that Ryan had to try to mask, namely a weak defensive line and zero plays from either safety position.

Reasons, excuses ... who cares? Coaches and coordinators get fired after 8-8 seasons in the NFL. 

The results weren't good enough, leaving Ryan without a job.

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FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Cowboys continue spree of "uncomfortable" by going after local ice hockey team

Less than 24 hours after the Dallas Cowboys began this offseason of "uncomfortability" by finally firing reason No. 1 the team finished 8-8 - canning running backs coach Skip Peete - the team went after the Dallas Stars professional hockey club.

A Twitter message from the Dallas Cowboys this morning read, "Similarly in the category of nobody-cares…the NHL is back!"

YEAH! We may suck, but you suck worse.

Me thinks the Dallas Cowboys read my column this morning about the state of the NHL, which has just this perception - that nobody cares (No, I don't think they read it).

The Stars responded in turn by tweeting, "At least our #9 got the job done". Attached to said Tweet was a picture of Mike Modano holding the Stanley Cup, back in 1999.

Well played. Well played. A 10-year-old fondly remembers that moment.

The Cowboys realized the boo-boo and issued an apology that read, "our sincere apologies for the inappropriate tweet posted accidentally to our account. Good luck this season".

The Stars in turn accepted said apology.

Also of note from the Twitter world - Channel 8 veteran sports reporter George Riba Tweeted this this morning: ""Stars room is where u find players who want to talk. Cowboys open room - players go eat & lift weights"

What do both have in common? Neither team makes the playoffs.

Nothing the Dallas Cowboys Tweeted was incorrect.
Nothing the Dallas Stars Tweeted in turn was incorrect.

Just Truth Tweets.

 

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Alabama at Texas A&M on Sept. 14 & other games we want to see

The 2012 college football season is over and the amateur Alabama Crimson Tide are yet again national champions with a win so boring over "No. 1" Notre Dame that most of us turned it off by the third quarter.

Cut to it - here are a a few of the area related games we can't wait to see in 2013: 

8/31 - TCU v. LSU, Cowboys Stadium. Whether this game is close depends if Casey Pachall is TCU's starting QB, and he has some line protection. If he's good, and TCU somehow wins, his draft stock should take off.

9/14 - Alabama at Texas A&M. Aggies handed Tide only loss in '12. The Aggies will be 2-0 and hosting the No. 1 Tide in what will be the biggest game in College Station in ... decades? This could be a No. 1 vs. No. 3.

9/28 - Oklahoma at Notre Dame. The Sooners lost at home against the Irish in '12 and with so much of ND returning another loss is likely for Stoops.

10/12 - Oklahoma v. Texas. This one Mack Brown can't afford to lose.

10/26 - Texas at TCU. Frogs won in Austin last year and Fort Worth will be primed for UT's first visit since the SWC days.

11/23 - Texas A&M at LSU. The Tigers play Alabama on Nov. 9 then have a bye before hosting the Aggies.

 

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Jerry Jones' definition of "uncomfortable" could determine much this offseason

On his weekly radio show with the flagship radio station of the Dallas Cowboys, 105.3 FM The Fan, Cowboys owner/gm/president Jerry Jones sounded hacked and said changes are coming.

Jones said: "I can assure our fans this, that it's going to be very uncomfortable from my standpoint, it's going to be very uncomfortable for the next few weeks and months at Valley Ranch."

Jerry offered his support of both head coach Jason Garrett and quarterback, but the rest he would not touch. Nothing regarding play calling, or the status of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan.

The only thing he would say is they will make changes.

"I can tell you change is necessary at 8-8," Jones said.

He also said: "Change is in order when you spend the two seasons in a row down to the last two games and lose them, so we're going to have to have changes."

What does Jerry mean by "uncomfortable"? Good question.

The last time the Cowboys were really uncomfortable was when Bill Parcells patrolled Valley Ranch and had everyone feeling as if they were on egg-shells. Players feared for their jobs, their positions, and other coaches feared his nasty tongue and temper.

One of the primary reasons Jerry bought the Cowboys was to have fun running a football team, and uncomfortable usually doesn't equate fun.

Jerry wants people to feel uncomfortable at Valley Ranch? How that looks and feels could determine ultimately what changes are going to be made for the Cowboys in 2013.

Saying this sounds good, but unless Jerry is ready to make good on it and do something about it will these words matter.

 

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