Dallas Cowboys Offensive Line Not Getting Respect?

I think it's prime time to honor the Dallas Cowboys offensive line.

Left Tackle Flozell Adams, Left Guard Kyle Kosier, Center Andre Gurode, Right Guard Leonard Davis and Right Tackle Marc Colombo probably had their best game Thursday against the packers, who have the NFL's sack leader Aaron Kampman. Tony Romo was barely touched.

In fact, Romo has been sacked just 16 times this year. The offensive line held the Eagles and Packers sackless in two very key matchups. Other than Flozell's common false start penalties, this offensive line is producing at a much higher level than last year.

I guess we will find out when the Pro Bowlers are named, but there isn't an offensive line in the NFL right now that is better than the Dallas Cowboys front five. They've protected a mobile Tony Romo, and have opened up holes for the dynamic rushing duo of Julius Jones and Marion Barber.

So who leads this squad? Certainly one could say that the addition of Leonard Davis thrusted this offensive line to elite status. Marc Colombo has been stellar. I believe both will be chosen fro the Pro Bowl and it will be well deserved.

Major Announcement For Dallas Cowboys 24/7 Blog Readers

When I started this blog in June, one of the reasons I did it was to have some fun with my favorite football team. I love the Dallas Cowboys. I have been watching them since I was 5 years old and I grew up in the late 70s and 80s during the Tom Landry era. I loved Tom Landry and the teams he created.

I was recently approached by the owners of this blog who told me they really liked my blog and its edginess. They asked me if I would be interested in partnering with them, and in exchange, they would help me become the best Dallas Cowboys blog on the planet.

With all of the Cowboys blogs out there, I thought mine was one of the more edgier ones, with stinging criticism, realistic commentary and even some funny information about the NFL. I also wrote about some very serious topics, such as the Sean Taylor murder, and recently my readership numbers have surged.

I didn't have to think very hard about this partnership with fansided.com. I think this will be good for my readers, and good for this blog. I will team up with some of the best NFL bloggers on the Internet. Together, we will create an NFL blogging network, and together we will become the largest NFL blogging network in the world.

With that said, the new name of this blog will honor the best Cowboys coach ever: Tom Landry.

This site will be retired, and I will redirect readers to the new site soon. In the coming days, I will announce the name of this new Web site.

The content and mission of this blog will not change. In fact, it should all improve. I will have a graphic artist team and guest bloggers, who have great knowledge about the Dallas Cowboys. You will see at least five posts a week, and probably much more.

This will be the premier spot to go for Dallas Cowboys chatter. I hope you continue to visit the new site, and bring a horde of new followers. There's a lot of fun ahead of us, and more Super Bowls to win.

Go Dallas!

Sincerely,
DallasCowboys24/7

Terrell Owens' Popcorn Got Too Much Butter?

7 Catches. 156 Yards. 1 touchdown.

Great game, right? Not so fast. After Terrell Owens caught that single touchdown in the Dallas Cowboys dominating 37-27 win against the Green Bay Packers, he grabbed the fan's popcorn container and pretended he was eating some of that famed popcorn he likes to talk about so much. Apparently, he got some butter on his hands because later in the game, when it really counted, he flopped.

That was not an innocuous drop in the fourth quarter. Not only was that fourth-quarter drop pathetic (we were up by just 3 points), it almost cost the Dallas Cowboys the game.

Up by just 3 points and driving, Tony Romo (19/30, 309 yards, 4 touchdowns, 1 INT) threw a hard pass into the chest of Owens, who appeared to make one of the easiest catches all year. But somehow, someway, he juggled the ball and it flew up in the air, and into the hands of Al Harris for an interception. It was Owens' second drop of the game, and although I was away from my favorite Cowboys forum to see the fans' reactions, I heard the din of a collective jaw drop.

How can such a star receiver drop so many passes, especially ones that seem so easy to catch? Owens seems to make the catches we don't expect receivers to make. But when it's thrown perfectly to him, he drops or juggles it. That's why it's hard to attack him so much, because he does make those great catches. And he also gets 156 yards on 7 catches.

But tonight really upset a lot of Cowboys fans. Once up by 17 points, the Cowboys floundered the lead, and by the fourth quarter the team was only up by a field goal. Thank you Nick Folk.

DeMarcus Ware really came through with a key sack in the fourth quarter after the Owens' error, which gave the ball back to the Cowboys. The game was over after that, despite the good play from back-up quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

I go to bed tonight very happy, despite the Owens bull shit. We beat a good team tonight, although I expect and am fully prepared for Packers fans and anti-Cowboy fans to talk crap about how we played a team with Brett Favre injured before half time and their second-best corner out with an injury. Whatever. In one ear and out the other. We would have won if Tom Brady was guiding that team. It was domination from the get-go in my opinion.

That game was telling for me. And I am now going to say on the record that the cheating New England Patriots better watch out. The Dallas Cowboys are looking for you. They are seeking revenge, a rematch, an all-out war. If the Pats think they've got this Super Bowl wrapped up, think again.

We're not playing around anymore, New England. We have our eyes set on you guys. We are bleeding blue and silver. We haven't forgotten. We're coming for you!

Down With Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers! Chant it!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: If you don't have the NFL Network, try this to watch the game. Good luck. I hope it works for all of you screwed over by the NFL and the cable companies.

OK Dallas Cowboys fans, here we go. We are less than 90 minutes away from kick off for what is the biggest game for the NFC so far this year.

Both teams are 10-1, a match-up made in heaven. The aging Brett Favre is having one of his best seasons, while Tony Romo is devouring the Cowboys record book.

How do I see this game playing out? I won't sway from my last post: I do think Dallas will win tonight, and I also think they can dominate this Packers team. Will they? I won't be surprised if they do, but I see the game close until the middle of the fourth quarter, when Dallas pulls away with a touchdown and wins by 10 points. I think rookie kicker Nick Folk will be faced with at least one 50-plus yard kick, which he will make to put the Cowboys ahead at half time.

As I said before, Favre will lose this game for the Packers. He will try too hard and turn over the ball at a key moment in this game. Not to mention, Dallas has a superior running game, and I expect the coaches will use the Julius Jones-Marion Barber duo possibly more than they have all season. Thirty carries total? Maybe.

Let's look at some statistics:
1. Green Bay has allowed a lot less points, nearly a touchdown a game less. But they have also played far worse offensive teams like Minnesota and Chicago, their only loss of the season.
2. Favre has a better completion rate, 300 more yards and five less interceptions than Romo, who threw five in one game. But Romo has a whopping seven more touchdowns than Favre, and he has already broken the single-season TD record for the Cowboys.
3. The Packer rushing game has nothing on Dallas.

Green Bay Rushing
	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD
Grant	107	494	4.6	2
Wynn	50	203	4.1	4

Dallas Rushing
	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD
Barber	145	715	4.9	7
Jones	124	495	4.0	2

4. Jason Witten has almost as many catches and yards as Donald Driver, the top receiver for the packers. Get real. Witten is going to have a huge game. Terrell Owens is blowing them all out of the water, with already over 1000 yards and 13 touchdowns, tying what he had last year.

Green Bay Receiving
	REC	YDS	AVG	TD
Driver	63	832	13.2	2
Jennin...	39	625	16.0	9

Dallas Receiving
	REC	YDS	AVG	TD
Owens	64	1093	17.1	13
Witten	59	750	12.7	6

Offensively, statistics show we are very close outside of rushing the ball, where the Cowboys hold a distinct edge. Again, I think we will run the ball very well today and more than 30 times. No reason to get into a passing battle with Favre. On defense, Dallas has given up slightly less yards per game. In fact, the defenses, statistically, are nearly identical until you get to one category: rushing. Dallas has shut down the running game for opposing teams, giving up less than 100 yards per game. Green Bay, however, is right at the century mark for opposing teams' rushing. That's good news for Dallas.

Here are the full statistics:

TEAM AVERAGES & NFL RANKS
TEAM OFFENSE	TEAM	PER GAME AVERAGE
Total Yards	GNB	380.0
	DAL	389.0
Yards Passing	GNB	298.5
	DAL	265.9
Yards Rushing	GNB	81.8
	DAL	122.9
TEAM DEFENSE	TEAM	PER GAME AVERAGE
Yards Allowed	GNB	315.4
	DAL	299.1
Pass Yds Allowed	GNB	215.3
	DAL	217.0
Rush Yds Allowed	GNB	100.1
	DAL	82.1

The only concern I have is the secondary, and namely Roy Williams. Favre is doing a lot of dump passes and slants for 10-yard gains. This is where Roy has trouble. I think all Cowboys fans are concerned about this and the big pass play. However, Williams has to show up sooner or later, and this is the game to do it. I expect him to play well, possibly even intercept one of those slants if he watched the film this week.

I am so pumped up for this game I can barely breathe. I had to skip the gym today because I didn't eat anything and I was too overwhelmed. I finally ate, and now it's time to drink some beer.

For the first time this year, sadly, I won't be able to live blog. I have to watch this game at a friend's house because I don't get the NFL Network since Comcast took it off the basic cable lineup. I don't even want to get into it, but hey, I cannot complain too much: My friend has a big-screen HD television. Plus, he apparently bought the beer!!!

A Curse in Dallas? Please hurt this guy

First off, anyone who starts a blog or a post with "Okay" needs to be beaten. But I think once you all read this guy's blog post, he'll learn quickly that dumb people should not be blogging, especially about the Cowboys.

Some no-name Bryan Milward writes this ridiculous post that says the Dallas-area teams are cursed and he compares it to the curse of Bambino. He begins with Dallas, however. And as he tries to validate his blog, he makes himself look even more like a goofball. Is Bryan not aware that Dallas has won 5 super bowls? Probably not. He seems to think because we haven't had much success since the Smith-Aikman-Irvin era that we're under some kind of Dallas Curse. AHHHH! Lake of Fire!!!!

Here is one snip of his dumb post:

I'll begin with the Cowboys, who after reeling off three Lombardi Trophies in four years have been plagued by lame-duck-QBitis. Yeah, we had Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin for four years after those Super Bowl triumphs, but Troy had so many concussions and Mike did so much blow that the team was never a threat in the NFC. Since their departures, we've trotted out a laundry list of no-name QBs, including baseball veterans Quincy "Not the Hurricane" Carter, Chad "See I told you I was a pro football player" Hutchinson, and Drew "practice squad" Henson.

That's what he said. So, let me help the guy by inserting some brains into what he really means to say. A team that dominated the '90s can't be cursed. A team that has improved quite a bit over the past four years can't be cursed. The Romo Incident was not a curse. It was nerves and immaturity.

There is no curse on the Cowboys. Doofy continues:

In fairness, the immediate future does look somewhat bright for the Cowboys with Romo at the helm—but only if Tony can prove himself over a whole season.

That's great. I appreciate your throw of support and conclusion that the immediate future looks bright. But you aren't too bright, yourself, "Bryan." You want to know who is cursed? Just look to your neighbor: Arizona. The Cardinals are cursed. The Chicago Cubs are cursed. With your reasoning, the BEARS should be cursed. The 49ers should be cursed. The Broncos should be cursed.

I think Bryan is cursed...with lack of insight.

Nick Eatman read my mind....

Nick Eatman of dallascowboys.com writes a great article on the Cowboys' secondary and how it all hinges on the free safety once again. Read it here.

I have written several posts about this very subject. For years, the secondary has baffled me. Last year, and especially the last five games, was down right pitiful. Here is a snippet of what Eatman says:

"The Cowboys not only were giving up points (30.4 per game in that stretch), but yards as well. Five of their six highest opponent yard totals last season occurred in the final five games. And most of the blame went to the Cowboys' secondary, which had trouble defending the big plays down the stretch."

Yeah, Eatman hits the nail on the coffin. But the Cowboys really didn't address this problem. Instead, they went and grabbed Ken Hamlin from the Seahawks, another hard-hitting safety who can't cover the deep ball. If my Seattle buddy was online right now, I'd ask him about Hamlin. But I know the answer: He's not exactly what we needed back there.

Eatman said the Cowboys coaching staff is hoping that a change of philosophy helps the secondary. Some of this new philosophy includes bringing Roy Williams closer to the line of scrimmage. I don't have a real problem with this, but I am concerned this hurts us even more when trying to cover the deep pass. The idea is Williams will use his power to slow down receivers. Henry and Newman are our corners and Glenn would be in for the nickel defense. Hamlin is the free safety, and would be the most responsible for the deep ball protection under this scheme.

I would love everyone to comment on this because I am not sure this scheme and philosophy are really what is needed. I was hoping we'd snag a great cover safety who is fast and agile. Ken Hamlin is neither in my opinion. He wasn't even a star in Seattle.

I don't want to watch a repeat of last season, or the past five years, either. I am going to throw support behind what Coach Phillips is doing, but if it doesn't work, I may be the first one to start blogging about Cowher.

Shit, I said his name.

Terence Newman again

Dallas Cowboys Sports blog has a good post about an ESPN column and Terrance Newman here.

I am in a hurry so I can't go in depth about this, but I did leave him a comment. I refuse to sign up to ESPN's inside information section because of its stupid "WHO's NOW" segment. But, I do have a few things I could say about Terence Newman, but I'd be repeating myself.

Terence Newman has disappointed me. The entire Dallas secondary has been a weakness for years. Yes, they hit hard. Yes, they are intimidating. But how many big-play deep passes will that secondary give up this season.

I have to go. But I will debate this.

To hell with Bill Cowher. Let's stop saying his name

I won't come out and say something stupid such as "Bill Cowher is a bad coach," but I wish Cowboys fans would stop bringing his name up in connection with coaching the team.

I would love to have Bill Cowher as a coach. But we hired someone else and the worst thing we could do is start talking about how awesome it would be to have a different coach.

I wasn't happy when Dallas hired Wade Phillips. I just didn't have a whole lot of faith in the guy. But, then again, I didn't look at his record as a head coach before I started pouting. He did well with a Buffalo team that wasn't amazing. In fact, Dallas may be just slightly better than his Buffalo teams, which is good news for us.

What am I trying to say? Let's give Wade a chance. We have a strong team and if we can fill the holes in our pass defense and get more of a pass rush, I strongly believe we have one of the best NFC teams.

But as long as we continue this chatter about Cowher, the deeper we dig the hole that very well could drop us to the bottom.

It's getting closer to the season and now is prime time to throw our support behind our new head coach. Rarely do new head coaches come right in and win, let alone win the Super Bowl. But just as rare is a head coach inheriting a team as good as our Cowboys.

Did this draft pick surprise you?

Am I the only Cowboys fan who was surprised Dallas chose Isaiah Stanback as their third overall pick in the NFL draft? He played QB but rumors are we plan to use him as a receiver.

He is coming off a season-ending foot injury that required surgery. He's about 6 feet 2 inches and 215 pounds. He can run a 4.4.

In 37 games (23 starts) at Washington, Stanback completed 269 of 523 (51.4%) passes for 3,868 yards with 22 TD passes and 12 interceptions, which ranks him 11th all time for Washington. He really only has about two years of experience as a QB and has a very raw arm. His health and durability are concerns and we're asking him to be a receiver or punt returner? I was stumped with this selection. We picked Stanback up in the 4th round, it should be noted. We just missed running back Michael Bush (also coming off injury) from Louisville, not that he was on our radar, but I'd take him over Stanback.

Our receiving corps is aging, but I don't see Stanback as the answer.

During an interview, Stanback was asked if he anticipates being a receiver or kick returner.

He said he believes he will be used as a receiver but he will play whatever they want him to play because he is a team player. He could mix in as a back up quarterback, but that stumps me even more and reminds me of the Quincy Carter fluke.

Is Terence Newman the best Cowboy let alone top in the NFL?

Peter Prisco of CBS believes he is. But Peter Prisco is also a dingleberry. The guy's list is laughable, at best. But, I won't argue that Newman is one of the best cornerbacks in the league.

Prisco's piece does bring up an interesting debate: Is Newman the best Cowboy? I personally think, if one just looks at stats, T.O. may be the best Cowboy, and that's not easy for me to say. But it's true.

Is Newman the second-best Cowboy? Demarcus Ware and Roy Williams may want to chime in here. Julius Jones, too. There's a good debate going on at Cowboys-forum.com, and of course Newman is winning it. But some are shocked that Ware, who is #49, isn't higher and Williams doesn't even make the list. Who does make the list? Well, here are a few questionable, if not downright comedic, choices:

1. #36. Lee Evans, WR, Buffalo Bills: He flashed star potential last season and should be even better in 2007. He's one of the rising players on this list.

Analysis: come on folks. Lee Evans had one decent year in the NFL and even doofy Prisco says he flashed star potential. If you are going to name the top 50 players, though, I want to see top 50 players. Not those who flash potential. Pleassssssssssssssssssse.

2. #37. Nnamdi Asomugha, CB, Oakland Raiders: The Raiders have great history with corners and this is the next star. He showed shutdown ability last season.

Analysis: Prisco gets two in a row here. What the hell is he thinking? This guy is a top 50 player in the NFL? I honestly don't even know who the heck he is. Rightly so, I didn't watch one Raider game on the Ticket last year because it was like watching a Division 2 game, but I would think I'd remember some ESPN highlights of this guy if he is a top 50 player. Prisco, you are a dolt.

3. #43. Ty Warren, DE, New England Patriots: He's the most underrated player in the league. He could be on his way to his first Pro Bowl this season.

Analysis: Maybe Prisco meant the top 50 players in 2011? Who knows. But Ty Warren is not better than Demarcus Ware. That's ridiculous. Ty Warren is not a Pro Bowl defensive end. And Prisco's crystal ball is as fuzzy as a cotton ball.

I won't go any further.

Len Pasquarelli makes some good Points

ESPN's Len Pasquarelli goes on a rambling diatribe about why he thinks the Cowboys should sign Romo now to an extension. You can read the lengthy post here.

If you can get through it, he makes some solid points on why we should probably just sign Romo. Maybe a 3 year contract?

We really don't have any other choice. I go back and forth on whether Jerry Jones should sign Romo now instead of until the end of the season. I wrote a post not too long ago stating Jones should probably wait. But Lenny may have convinced me.

However, this is what scares many of us.

Len says:

Romo owns just 10 regular-season starts and has launched only 337 pass attempts. Although his record as a starter is an estimable 6-4, Romo's performance in his final five starts wasn't nearly as good as the numbers he amassed in the first five. He was 4-1 in his opening five-week stretch as a starter, completing 71.2 percent of his passes, recording a 115.6 quarterback rating, and throwing 10 touchdown passes as opposed to only two interceptions. But over the second half of his 10-game stretch as a starter, Romo's passer rating plummeted nearly 40 points, to 77.4, for an overall 95.1. He had six touchdown passes and eight interceptions and the Cowboys won just two of those five starts.

This is why we're a little concerned about giving Romo a new handsome contract. I am not saying Drew Bledsoe would have won us those four games or that he wouldn't have taken us to the playoffs. I know he wouldn't have because he just looked horrible on the field. Romo had glimpses of a Superstar. He just couldn't stay consistent.

The signing of Matt Schwab certainly doesn't help. What the heck has this guy done in the NFL?

So, I guess I will continue to be indecisive on the entire Romo contract debacle of 2007. This is why Jerry owns the team, I guess.