Well, we all know how that one turned out. Crosby is a world champion while Nick Folked up more than a few kicks for Dallas in 2009 to salvage his career with the Jets. Dallas kicked off 2010 with Dave Buehler only for the project to doink off the crossbar. Der Buehler went 24/32 and 42/44 on extra points. Yes, Dave Buehler missed two extra points. I mean, who does that?

Not Dan Bailey – that’s for dang sure.

In only two seasons, this undrafted free agent from Oklahoma State has already tied the franchise record for game-winning field goals with seven set by Rafael Septien. It’s undoubted that Bailey has already surpassed Septien in being a human being. Since Monday’s tornadoes ravaged Moore, Oklahoma, Bailey has donated what little time he has during OTA’s to raise relief funds for a community near to his Mustang, Oklahoma stomping grounds. In the near future, he plans to “spearhead” more relief efforts. For now, the accomplished kicker, along with past and present Cowboys, has raised over $45,000 for Moore, Oklahoma.

For Cowboys fans, this salvation performance from Bailey shouldn’t surprise us, since he’s done it seven times since Week 2 of 2011. In his rookie season, Bailey set the franchise record for most game-winning field goals at 4. I know I gave the 2011-12 Cowboys defenses a lot of grief for blowing Romo’s fourth quarter heroics, but the flip side is nearly 90% of those comebacks wouldn’t have been possible without Dan Bailey’s clutch kicks. Except for last season’s home contest against Philadelphia, 8/9 of the Cowboys’ comebacks since 2011 have hinged on Dan Bailey’s boot.

Nov 24, 2011; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey (5) celebrates after kicking the game winning field goal against the Miami Dolphins on Thanksgiving day at Cowboys Stadium. The Cowboys beat the Dolphins 20-19. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

It makes you wonder about the games Bailey missed game-winning field goals. Thankfully, it’s only been once a season, and it’s chiefly been due to the head coach’s faulty game management.

Bailey is so consistent even in his misses. From 49 yards and further, he’s 5/10 compared to his 56/58 from 49 yards on in. If you have a timeout and 20 seconds while hovering at about the 49-55 range, better to risk getting more yards for Bailey than have him try to win the game from that range. Hopefully, Garrett learns the third time after failing to learn this lesson in Arizona in 2011 and Baltimore in 2012.

Kickers are fragile players. In recent times, we saw Nick Folk turn to garbage in his third season, but that was somewhat attributed to a groin injury. At this stage of their careers, Dan Bailey is already three percentage points ahead of Folk: 89.7% to 86.8%. He’s even better than his kicking coach, Chris Boniol, who set the franchise record for highest field goal percentage at 96.4% in 1995.

With a team like Dallas, who leads the league in 32 close games since 2010, they need Dan Bailey to stay consistent. They need Dan Bailey to keep being a hero

For us fans, we can be heroes for Bailey’s nearby community of Moore, Oklahoma through the Salvation Army. Text “STORM” to 80888 to donate $10 through your mobile phone; respond with the word “Yes” to confirm donation. For more information, call 1-800-SAL-ARMY or visit www.SalvationArmyUSA.org

Romo will have the extra time to sit down and evaluate film a lot more closely and also do any type of studying he will need to do to prepare the upcoming 2013-14 National Football League season.  It’s been reported that team owner/general manager Jerry Jones wants his quarterback to put in Peyton Manning type of time into preparing.  This is one way to accomplish that.

During the time that Romo is sitting out, the Cowboys will get a better picture of their backup quarterback situation.  At the moment, the Dallas Cowboys have three other signal callers’ on the roster: Kyle Orton, Nick Stephens, and Dalton Williams.

Kyle Orton is a nine year veteran who has been with the Cowboys since 2012.  He played one game and went for 9-10 for 89 yards with one touchdown.  His previous experience included stints at Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, and Chicago Bears.  He made his mark with the Bears, playing for them for four seasons and then made his move to the Denver in 2009.  From there he played two seasons then went to the Chiefs for a brief time before signing a 3-year contract, $10.5 million contract with the Cowboys.

Nick Stephens is signed a 2-year, $900,000 contract in 2013.  Stephens previously played with the Tennessee Titans but he didn’t make it past training camp so his rookie status is still intact.  He played collegiately at Tarleton State.  He originally attended Tennessee before transferring in 2009, after losing his starting job.  His scouting report from 2012 states that he has good arm strength but needs to work on his accuracy and decision making.  From what it says, he seems to be injury prone as well, having broken his right wrist in 2010 while at Tennessee, then had a separated shoulder in 2011 while at Tarleton State.

May 10, 2013; Irving, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett watches quarterback Dalton Williams (7) perform a drill during the rookie minicamp at Dallas Cowboys Headquarters in Irving, TX. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Dalton Williams is a rookie free agent from Akron State where started one season.  He previously attended Stephen F. Austin and attended Coppell High School, where he was hoping to keep his football dreams in the state of Texas.  Those dreams stayed alive but he had to travel to Ohio to complete his collegiate football career.  Now that he is back in Texas, it appears he is hoping to start a pro career in his home state.  Williams will have to overcome his accuracy issues, learn his footwork from taking a snap from the center, and find some consistency with his throwing motion.

Kyle Orton will dust the rust off with getting a majority of the snaps during the OTA’s while the other two quarterbacks, Stephens and Williams, will not only fight for the third quarterback spot but a roster spot as well.  From the judging of things, it probably wouldn’t hurt to bring in another veteran quarterback just in case either of the rookies doesn’t meet expectations.  After reviewing their scouting reports, they have a lot of work to do and at the professional level, there isn’t much time to get them where they should be before they get released.  Bringing in an experienced veteran to fill that third quarterback spot is probably the best thing the Cowboys could do at this point.

So to say having Romo out for such a long period of time isn’t going to be that bad, he will have time to study up and put in the time Jones wants him to plus we can evaluate the talent or lack of talent we have at the quarterback positions.  If neither of the rookies pans out, let’s hope Jones wises up and gets a quality third stringer.  Orton is the undisputed number 2 and that will not change.

Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Fans this off season had been calling loudly for the Cowboys to part ways with troubled offensive tackle Doug Free – me included.  Instead, Dallas was able to get Free to agree to take a pay cut to stay with the team – for now.

He was set to be the highest paid right tackle in the game in 2013 with a base salary of $7 million followed by an increase to $8 million in 2014.  His level of play however made him easily the most overpaid right tackle in the league.  Instead of becoming a likely June 1 cut, Free agreed to a base salary of $3.5 million in each of the next two years.  But, is that still too much?  Tyson Clabo – courted by the Cowboys as a potential free agent replacement for Free – signed recently with the Dolphins for the same $3.5 million.  Who got a better value for the money?

To try and answer that question, it’s helpful at this point to review the history of Doug Free.

He played college football at Northern Illinois University, a Division 1 school in the MAC.  He was drafted by the Cowboys in the 4th round in 2007 (He and Anthony Spencer are the only players still on the team of the 8 draft picks the Cowboys had that year).  But, he played in only one game that year – a late season appearance against the Redskins where he surrendered one sack but was considered to have played well enough.  He suffered a back injury during the off season that kept him on IR for the entire 2008 season.

In 2009, Free started 7 games at right tackle after Marc Columbo broke his leg and ended his season on November 15th against the Green Bay Packers.  Free finished the season as the starting right tackle.  He played well enough that season to give the Cowboys the confidence to cut starting left tackle Flozell Adams in the off season and install Free as their new left tackle for the 2010 season – switching him from the right side of the line.

In 2010, he played well enough (on a team that finished 6-10) to earn, at least in the eyes of Jerry Jones and his son “Tommy Boy”, a lucrative, 4-year $32 million contract extension with $17 million guaranteed.  One decent season and he was rewarded like a top-tier left tackle.  According to Pro Football Focus, Free was ranked as the 9th best tackle in the NFL in 2010.

Two things happened in 2011 that were significant for Free.  First, the Cowboys drafted tackle Tyron Smith with the 9th overall pick in the draft.  With Free’s big contract signed in the off season, Smith was installed at the right tackle position.  Secondly, the Cowboys chose to cut most of their veteran starters – Andre Gurode, Leonard Davis, and Marc Columbo – in an effort to get younger (and cheaper).  Free’s level of play with this ragtag group of new players dropped off precipitously – he dropped to the 39th best tackle in the league per PFF but was still being paid like an elite tackle.  He gave up 10 sacks – 6 alone in the critical December stretch – and it would have been more if Tony Romo were not so adept at escaping the rush at times.  It set off alarm bells for all Cowboys fans.

In 2012, the Cowboys did more tinkering.  They signed Mackenzy Bernadeau and Nate Livings as free agent guards.  Due to injury, they traded for Ryan Cook for depth at center and he ended up being the starter one series into the season when Phil Costa reinjured his back.  At one point, Bernadeau had to play center because no one else was available that could.  In an effort to figure out what happened to Doug Free, the team also decided to switch Free and Tyron Smith from right to left tackle.  Although his best season to date in the NFL had been at left tackle, it was thought that Smith was a more natural left tackle and that Free would face fewer premier pass rushers on the right side.

The other thing the Cowboys did prior to the 2012 season was replace offensive line coach Hudson Houck with Bill Callahan – former head coach of the Oakland Raiders and the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  Callahan, from everything I’ve read and heard, is supposed to be an excellent coach.  The only way to truly judge that in my opinion is results.  The results after one season don’t indicate much excellence.  The offensive line as a group struggled mightily to pick up Callahan’s different approach to line play.  To be fair, his group was hit with a lot of injuries and some of the talent he was given is suspect, but isn’t that what makes a good coach?  Making the best of what he has to play with and overcoming all the adversity?  So far, Callahan has not impressed me and the assertion that him calling plays or taking more of the OC role is the cure all for the Cowboys in 2013 is a reach I think.  I’ve talked to some people that know a lot about college football and were familiar with Callahan’s time at Nebraska who felt his hiring by the Cowboys was a huge mistake.  Time will tell.

Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Doug Free, now a veteran player, struggled as much as any player in 2012 under Callahan’s new system.  Late in the season, the general consensus was that his play improved noticeably once he shared snaps with backup tackle Jermey Parnell.  A “tackle by committee” approach can work I guess – although I don’t see many other teams doing that with success – but you can’t pay one of those players like a premier starting tackle and get a part-time player.  Over the last three games of the 2012 season, Free was in the game for only a little over 60% of the offensive snaps.  Overall, he actually got worse than the bad 2011 season surrendering 6 sacks and dropping to the 40th best tackle in the league.

Now that Free has agreed to a pay cut and will be on the team for 2013, Cowboy fans have to hope that another year under Callahan and with potentially better talent surrounding him – assuming rookie center Travis Frederick can come in and play like a starting center – Free will bounce back.  No doubt the entire line has to play better as a unit – that “rising tide will lift all boats”, including Doug Free’s life raft.  Developing a running game will help as well.  In many ways, Doug Free’s future is in the hands of Bill Callahan.  Will he prove to be the amazing coach everyone says he is?  Only time will tell.  Go Cowboys!