If 2010 was the season of expectations for Jerry Jones’ Dallas Cowboys, then 2011 was the season of hope. Put another way, the fans of the Dallas Cowboys have been subjected to two consecutive disappointing seasons: a year of unfulfilled expectations and a season of dashed hopes. This season was particularly painful for the Cowboys’ faithful because they started out the season playing with such promise; the close and late losses to the Jets, Lions, and Patriots left most fans with the impression that the Cowboys could, and should, have won those games. As a result, most concluded that the Boys were capable of beating even the strongest teams in the NFL. The 4 game winning streak in the middle of the season allowed many Cowboy fans to view the one-sided loss to the Eagles as an anomaly. Going into December, the team was 7-4 with the Cowboy Nation believing that they really could have been 10-1. As everyone knows now, the wheels fell off in December, the Boys lost 4 of their last 5 games to finish with a humbling 8-8 record.

A quick perusal of the sports blogs and survey of the news agencies will reveal that the public wants to put the blame on very specific people and/or units. As per usual, the vast majority of those assigning blame do so in a way that provides an overly simplistic view of the real problems with this franchise. The real problems are deeper and much more complex than people want to believe (or are capable of seeing).

Click on the link to see who is getting blamed and whether it is justified. (more…)

A classic rivalry.

As the Dallas Cowboys offense gets ready to play the Washington Redskins this Sunday, you would expect that they are feeling better about themselves than they have in a long time.  They scored TD’s on their first 4 possessions last week against Buffalo.  The OL was excellent in pass protection and effective in run blocking.  Tony Romo completed an astounding 23 of 26 attempts; Laurent Robinson caught 2 TD’s, including a 50 yard bomb; Bryant made plays in the 2nd half; Murray continued his assault on the Cowboy rushing records, and Witten, well, Witten always plays like a Hall of Famer.  It must send Defensive Coordinators into paroxysms of anxiety when they are trying to stop all these weapons.

The Cowboys get Felix Jones back healthy this week.  Austin will be sidelined again, and so will new fan favorite Tony Fiammetta, who is not playing as a result of an undisclosed illness.

Click on the link to read about what I will be watching for this week.

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Elam was the Cowboys' biggest addition.

For all intents and purposes, the Cowboys are done with free agency.  Due to a difficult cap situation, the team wasn’t particularly active.  The Nnamdi situation aside, the ‘Boys took a cautious approach that has many questioning the owner’s fiscal health.  However, they did quietly address their needs.  In the end, they added or kept three defensive ends, two safeties, a guard, and a tackle, among others.  While it would’ve been nice to see them make some impact additions, there weren’t a lot of smart moves to be made.

As a general rule, free agents were grossly overpaid during this free agency period.  Roman Harper and Stephen Bowen each received $30 million dollar contracts.  Not that there is anything wrong with either Harper or Bowen, but they aren’t $30 million dollar players.  And, the fact that they did get those deals, indicates an overvalued market.  Hell, the Bucs gave $19 million to a punter.  That is not a wise use of money.

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