Dallas Cowboys: Greg Hardy proving worthy of long term deal

This season, a giant bright spot for Dallas Cowboy Nation – besides seeing quarterback Kellen Moore light it up – would be the signing of defensive end Greg Hardy to a long term contract. To me, it’s more deserved than the premature 5 year, $45 million deal with $27 million in guarantees that was handed to defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford earlier this year.

More from The Landry Hat

The blessing and curse of writing is that my words last forever on the internet. The record will show that when Hardy was signed, I wasn’t high or low on it. Unless they make a tremendous fantasy league impact or play against the Cowboys, I don’t know much about players on other teams. Hardy was this pass rushing monster, but I thought we had that covered with our two young defensive ends: 2014 2^nd round pick DeMarcus Lawrence and 2015 2^nd round pick Randy Gregory.

I didn’t go to extremes and claim that I would leave Cowboy Nation if they signed Hardy. It really became clear to me, that Hardy really cares about playing football and winning. Contract negotiations will determine if he really loves being a player on the greatest team in the history of the universe.

Everyone is talking about Hardy’s interception but they play that opened my eyes to Hardy’s passion was the blocked field goal by David Irving. Next to Irving’s outstretched hand was Greg Hardy. Hardy was fighting through a block and reaching for the football. Look at the effort in this picture!!

Why did I find this impressive? As a premier pass rusher, it’s easy to take a play off when you come on the field with the special teams unit to block what is typically an “automatic” field goal. Instead of going through the motions, the effort captured in that photograph helped me see why the front office considers Hardy to be a leader.

Speaking of leaders – if you’ve followed me on Twitter, you might have noticed an interesting stat that I shared regarding Tony Romo. Can anyone guess which quarterback still leads the Dallas Cowboys in passing touchdowns?

2015 Dallas Cowboys’ Quarterback Stats
Player	Attempts	Yards	TD’s
Tony Romo	72	551	3
Brandon Weeden	98	738	2
Matt Cassel	52	324	1
Kellen Moore – *	135	1474	21

Kellen Moore’s stats are what I think he would have if he’d been given a chance

Dear Matt Cassel – The Cowboys don’t celebrate first downs. Once you start doing that, it won’t be long before you start giving high fives to center Travis Frederick for hiking the ball. Honestly, it’s a slippery slope. Cowboy Nation would appreciate it if you saved that energy to help the offense touchdowns from the opponent’s 16 yard line. Otherwise you only provide more fuel for my Kellen Moore bandwagon.

Dear Head Coach Jason Garrett – It would be nice if you played the game to win and sent a message in the process. Down three points in the first quarter, we settled for a 33 yard field goal but keeping the offense on the field would’ve stated: We are going to do whatever it takes to win this game. Don’t worry about making the right choice statistically – Let them know we won’t be denied. Send in the big guys on fourth and short and then go for two.

Finally, I have been accusing offensive coordinator Scott Linehan of making the offense – too vanilla. I wrote that the Cowboys could win with a vanilla offense, but you have to add sprinkles. After the bye week, we’ve gotten sprinkles. Last week’s sprinkle was the halfback toss by Darren McFadden.

Next: The top 30 moments in Dallas Cowboys history

I can’t wait to see what Linehan comes up with next week. Don’t make things too complicated in the red zone, have a few plays for Kellen Moore to toss it up for tight end Gavin Escobar. On the goal line, hand it off to Greg Hardy with David Irving and Tyler Clutts as fullbacks. I doubt Hardy would leave any meat on the bone.

#GoCowboys

#KellenMoorePlease

Find me at Facebook.com/CowboysRob

Home/Cowboys News