Things Cowboys Fans Fear for 2014/15
By Kim Dunning
Dec 9, 2012; Cincinnati, USA; Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (9) talks to players on the bench during the first half at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports
So we are into the 3rd week of the off-season. Surprisingly enough, it seems that whatever went well for Dallas this season, the coaches are leaving, and what went really bad isn’t changing. However, this is neither the time nor blog to discuss that. As most of you know I utilize social media to get the fans perspective of things. This week there was a lot of discussing and a lot of unhappiness. Cowboy’s fans have a right to be concerned after another 8-8 season and very minimal changes, so far.
One of the biggest concerns of Cowboys fans and rightly so is the salary cap situation. The continuation of mortgaging the future of the Cowboys franchise to save a few million here and a few million there is beginning to catch up to owner and general manager, Jerry Jones. Jerry has a real problem of over-paying mediocre talent because they have one good year or Jerry has the problem of retaining mediocre players for too long both results in hitting the salary cap. Fans are expressing their concerns and fears over another season of overpaying this player and cutting this player and continuing to play Russian roulette with the salary cap numbers. There comes a point in time where Jerry just needs to let go of players, cut his losses and begin to rebuild the team from the draft.
The number two fear of Cowboys fans is drafting. The Cowboys have made strides to improve this with the change in the draft room, this upcoming year but fans are still skeptical because over-all our drafts have not necessarily done us well because we either cannot retain the players or they become injury prone. Incorporated in this, is the flip side and that’s hanging onto the same group of core players who haven’t been able to get the team over that hump.
Third topic was a fear for the same exact coaching staff with the same exact results. Since no major coaching changes have been made to date, Dallas fans can pretty much assume we are going to be stuck with defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin and offensive coordinator, Bill Callahan. Even though Kiffin’s defense did not produce results this year, the firing of Rob Ryan is set deep into Jerry’s bones and he fears making another rash decision. Perhaps with a second year and a strong defensive draft, Kiffin’s 4-3 will take off. It’s a huge chance that Kiffin’s defense takes off because as we know most people tend to lose a step or two when they are older. Bill Callahan is an interesting topic because he did get his play calling duties revoked last season and now has been announced as the play caller for the 2014 season? I’m still scratching my head on this! With no results last year and the same two main coaches along with Garrett, this poses and big concern to almost every fan I’ve encountered.
Finally the biggest fear I’ve heard is the health of the team overall. Now to be fair I am not one of those fans who use the injuries as an excuse as to why a team doesn’t win. Football is a team sport and its next man up if you get injured. There are some key injuries that really are cause for concern. No one knows exactly what quarterback Tony Romo’s latest back injury is or even if it’s one that may require him to take a season off to recover. This poses a great problem, if for some unforeseen reason Romo isn’t ready for the 2014/2015 season where does that leave Dallas? With their backup Kyle Orton, who didn’t do so badly in the last game of the season this past year. But we have only carried two quarterbacks the last few seasons and this is definitely something that has been playing on the mind of Dallas fans. Then you have the usual suspects like Sean Lee and his injury prone seasons with the Cowboys, same goes for Morris Claiborne and even Dez Bryant’s back. A good start would be to have a season that is roughly injury free and see where that takes us, as we can evaluate talent just a wee bit better if we know we can depend on our stars to be on the field.
I’m sure there are other concerns and fears I missed but these four seemed to pretty much be the consensus around fans I talked too. I would like to thank those select few who let me poll them for this blog.