Deion Sanders

Another example of the Cowboys mortgaging themselves over their heads was Deion Sanders.  When he retired in 2002, seven years after he signed a 7 year, $35 million contract with a $12.9 million signing bonus; he was still being paid not only by Dallas but Washington as well.  Dallas had to restructure contracts during those years and Sanders was still being “shown the money”, borrowing a term from the movie, “Jerry McGuire”.  In 2002, Sanders wasn’t even playing in the NFL, he was a guest commentator on Monday Night Football.  And that wasn’t his first seven year contract either, he signed a 7 year contract for $56 million dollars with the equally salary cap malicious, Dan Snyder and the Washington Redskins.

The Cowboys also had salary cap issues in 2001 when Troy Aikman retired the year before, they may have dodged giving Aikman a 7 year, $70 million contract extension but he still accounted for $10 million against the cap for 2001.  Dallas had to release Erik Williams and Dan Hennings that year to get under the cap for that season. 

Free agency hurt the great Cowboy teams of the 1990’s but the finger pointing couldn’t be pointed there solely.  Jerry Jones and the front offices’ poor management of the salary cap hurt the team as well.

Going back to the problem with Doug Free, one way or the other the Cowboys are going to have to pay Doug Free his money whether they release him or renegotiate his contract.  At this point, Free has the Cowboys just about where he wants them.  Despite his poor play in 2012, Dallas has no replacement in mind at the moment and they aren’t very excited about free agent Eric Winston at this time.  After reading Travis Frederick’s scouting report, I’m still convinced the Cowboys blew it on draft day on not getting a worthy, starting offensive lineman that could have replaced Free immediately.  Dallas has gotten themselves in a real mess with Doug Free.  You would think they would learn from their past mistakes of overspending and promising money that they can’t afford in the future.  Jones may be a successful oilman but he has a lot to learn in the department of football management.  Of course, the Cowboy fans are used to it, he has been spending like crazy for years now.  To even suggest a new GM is like telling a kid “you better not eat that candy” then to only put it right in front of their face and leave them alone with it.   Jerry Jones will eat his candy and drive this team to near broke, only to have to ask players to restructure their contract for years to come.  Look what he did with Tony Romo’s contract, we will be paying on that contract until Romo’s kid reaches college.

He has a ton of great moments wearing the blue star but I kept it down to the top 5.

5.  Smith’s 1993 season was simply the best you could ask out of a running back so much so, Smith was not only the Super Bowl MVP, not only did he earn his third rushing title, but was also named the NFL’s MVP.

4.  I remember watching the Cowboys play the Atlanta Falcons in 1992, Smith ran to the right and looked like he was going to go down in a pile of Falcon defenders then out of the pile, and Smith bounces it outside and scoring all the while stiff arming Deion Sanders.

3.  The Halloween game against the Philadelphia Eagles in 1993.  Smith literally ran over the Eagles for 237 yards.  Smith outran the Eagles by 98 yards and what I mean the Eagles, not one running back but all of the Eagles that ran the ball that game.  Smith had just sat out the first two games of the season and still managed to win his third rushing title that year with over 1400 yards.

2.  Getting in the “I” formation as Chad Hutchinson lined up, everyone in Texas Stadium knew that Smith was going to get the ball.  The task for the Seattle Seahawks was to try to stop Emmitt Smith from becoming the NFL’s leading rusher overtaking the late Walter Payton.  That didn’t happen and Smith became the NFL’s leading rusher in 2002.

1.  The game that defines Emmitt Smith to many Dallas Cowboy fans, the game that Smith ran with one arm leading the Cowboys to victory over the New York Giants.  When he went down, I will be honest; my first thoughts were “There goes the game!”  I am sure that many felt the same way until Smith waltzed back onto that field and showed football fans everywhere some true grit, running with a separated shoulder and getting the Cowboys into field goal range to win it.

One game that I remember not as a great moment for Smith but one that I thought would have been a turning point for Smith, was opening day in 1996 and Smith was injured during the game, as dove towards the end zone he was hit hard and fell to the ground.  He carted off as he landed on his shoulder and neck.  Many wondered if Smith could have recovered from such a scare, he showed that same gutsy grit he showed in 1993.  Smith continued to set records including the career rushing touchdown record, career 100-yard games, and of course the rushing record as well.

Emmitt Smith played professional football despite being told he would be to slow and too short to play, Smith showed everyone that many didn’t take into account for the biggest intangible the Cowboys were able to see…that was heart.

It was a great night last night and I will remember it for many years.  To be in the same building as a legend, it’s something you don’t just forget.

The Dallas Cowboys have seem to go out of their way to make sure that Tony Romo is happy even to the point of allowing him to evaluate draft talent.  As reported by the Dallas Cowboys team website, the website stated that “that Romo himself came to Valley Ranch to evaluate 

As much as the team needs the offense to be “Romo-friendly”, I wonder how much the team is overemphasizing the need of the quarterback over the needs of the team.  If Romo did have some input on the draft, why didn’t Demarcus Ware have the same type of input?  The last time I checked there were three phases of the game: offense, defense, special teams.  I also seem to remember that the offense is not the only phase that needed attention.

The jokes for many years have been about how Jerry Jones seems to pull the strings of the head coaches much like a puppet master.  I am now curious if Tony Romo is now not the puppet master pulling at Jones.

Looking at the draft, the Cowboys didn’t draft a defensive player until after the 4^th pick when they selected S J.J. Wilcox out of Georgia Southern University.

November 17, 2012; Gainesville FL, USA; Florida Gators defensive back Matt Elam (22) gets pumped up against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks during the second half at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Florida Gators defeated the Jacksonville State Gamecocks 23-0. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

To remind our fans, the Cowboys selected C Travis Frederick, TE Gavin Escobar, and WR Terrance Williams in basically a reloading of the offense.  The Cowboys passed on many defensive players that could have helped the team immediately as far as our big need for a safety.  I still cannot believe that Matt Elam was there at the 31^st pick and the Cowboys passed.  I am sure that the Baltimore Ravens camp were doing cart wheels when they saw Elam was there and selected him the very next pick.

Ensuring that the offense will be Romo-friendly may cost this team in the long run.  Wilcox was a good pick for the Cowboys but reading his scouting report, I don’t believe he would be a season opening game day starter.  The same goes for Escobar as well, he may get the 2^nd tight end spot but our needs at the tight end position were not so desperate that we needed to select one with our second pick of the draft.

The biggest surprise of course was the selection of Frederick as the Cowboys number one pick.  Many of the analysts from the various media outlets had him pegged as a low 2^nd round pick to a high 3^rd round pick, certainly not the first round.  When we had the 18^th pick, we lost out on Eric Reid who went with the 18^th pick to the San Francisco 49ers while Shariff Floyd went to the Vikings at number 23.  Those were two defensive players the Cowboys could have really utilized and instead we went on the offensive.

And now the big news out of Dallas is how much say Romo is going to have in the offensive game planning and play calling, wanting to mirror what Peyton Manning does.  The one thing about Peyton Manning is that he has been doing it his way for a long time and has been successful over a long period time.  I am hoping that the Cowboys don’t expect a one season miracle turnaround and expect Manning type numbers from Romo.  My opinion is that they should have let him do this year ago when he was younger.  Getting the experience of a Peyton Manning isn’t going to happen in one season.

It is one thing to be Romo-friendly but it shouldn’t be at the cost of the rest of team.  And knowing that Romo has 6 more years on his contract, how much longer will he be pulling the strings around Valley Ranch?