Dallas Cowboys: Sometimes it takes bad people to win

Since the day Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett was first handed the franchise reigns, he has spoken often about what the “right kind of guy” looks like. In the years since, Garrett’s team has consistently drafted college players who were considered leaders on their campuses – several have even noted that five of the nine draft picks in 2014 were team captains at the NCAA level.

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Of course, if you keep up with the national media, you’d probably never know how much Garrett values character. That’s because between news about a possible suspension for running back Joseph Randle, sideline controversy involving much maligned pass rusher Greg Hardy, and even the selection of defensive end Randy Gregory during the 2015 NFL Draft (a player with his own share of controversy), some of the less than polished have hoarded the headlines in Dallas this season.

Let’s look at the titles of a few editorials from this past week, shall we?

Dallas Cowboys: Everything Wrong With America

Brandon Marshall on Greg Hardy: ‘I don’t think that he gets it’

Jerry Jones needs to wake up and cut Greg Hardy

You get the idea. And many fans feel the same way; if we’re rooting for bad people on our team, doesn’t that somehow make us bad too?

Maybe, maybe not. But how many of these articles would be the perennial click bait they are now if the Dallas Cowboys were winning? As former Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens learned in 2008, the dirty laundry usually only makes the headlines when wins aren’t adding up. In other words, when it rains, it pours.

But there’s another side to it as well. Of course, the decent human being in us always wants our favorite players to be good people. But did anyone care to trade in their 90s Super Bowl memorabilia when Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin stabbed a teammate with a pair of scissors? Or maybe during one of his several drug and prostitute arrests? It seems bad people, bad teammates even, can be a recipe in the winning formula. As football fans it’s not ours to require our favorite sports teams to make statements of moral commentary. It’s our duty to cheer when they win, boo when they lose, and hope there are enough good guy personas like quarterbacks Troy Aikman and Tony Romo, to balance the villains like Irvin and Hardy.

The NFL landscape is full of mediocre players with great character (Houston Texans quarterback Brian Hoyer comes to mind), but it’s freak athletes like Hardy who earn the wins. Cowboys fans were spoiled for many years by having an All-American good guy rushing the quarterback in DeMarcus Ware – but to fill a roster with the talent it takes to win Super Bowls, a few bad apples will have to come through the door.

New England Patriots cornerback Alfonzo Dennard won a ring in 2014 after separate arrests for assault and DUI. Former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Percy Harvin gave his teammate and fellow wideout Golden Tate a black eye just before winning Super Bowl XLVIII. Do we want to get into accusations against Pittsburgh Steelers (and two-time Super Bowl winning) quarterback Ben Roethlisberger? There are bad people on every winning team.

But when they lose, the stories are a lot more juicy.

So should the Dallas Cowboys actually cut ties with their best pass rusher? Of course not.

Just start winning, and the public relations nightmare of the past weeks will eventually take care of itself.

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