October 2007 - Posts
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 Tony’s Romo’s contract can be looked as in two ways: A six-year, $67.5 million extension or a three-year, $30 million deal. That’s because over this season and the next two – 2007-09 – the Cowboys have guaranteed him $30 million. That would be the $1.5 million he is scheduled to make this season, plus the $4.5 million from the new deal the Cowboys were allowed to stuff into this season, too. He received an $11.5 million signing bonus, plus his 2008 base salary of $6 million is guaranteed and $6 million of his $7 million base in 2009 is guaranteed. That adds up to $30 million. If Romo should bottom out for some reason after three years, the Cowboys could then opt out of the deal, costing them a signing bonus escalation of $7.68 million against the salary cap for the final four years – far less than his scheduled $8.5 million base in 2010.
Money changes some people. Not Romo. Even though he knew he was about to put ink on this huge deal, Romo was complaining as recently as Monday night about the $5,000 fine he received from the NFL for what was said to have been a low block while trying to get out of the way from getting blasted by the Vikings on that fumble return. He ended up $5,000 lighter and a hamstring sorer on the play.
Leave it to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to crack everyone up when some news-side/entertainment-type reporter tried quizzing Romo about partying with Britney Spears over the weekend in L.A., even head coach Wade Phillips chiming in when the question was asked with a big smile on his face, “Now we’re getting to the real stuff.” Romo gave a diplomatic answer, basically sloughing off the question, but when the questioner persisted about Britney’s potential intent, Jones said off the cuff, “I can tell you sometimes they can just smell fresh cash.”
Two more cap-related points: The Cowboys have roughly $8.5 million of cap space remaining for this season, so potentially enough room to re-sign anyone else they see fit and push a little into 2007. If they don’t, there are ways to massage some of that extra cap space into 2008. The other point is this: Had the Cowboys not come to terms with Romo on a long-term deal by the start of free agency in March they would have simply franchised their starting quarterback. That would have cost them what they were estimating to be $10.4 to $10.5 million on a one-year deal for a non-exclusive franchise tag (one first) or $12 to $14 million on an exclusive tag (two firsts). Could have done so two more times by upping the qualifying offer 20 percent each time.
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Now predicting this injury stuff is not an exact science, but one thing I do know is that when rehabbing players start working with associate trainer Britt Brown on the practice field wearing their football cleats, their return is imminent. Cornerback Anthony Henry, after missing the past 3¾ games with the feared high ankle sprain, was out there in his spikes Thursday doing the bungee cords rehab work. Thinking he might get back for the Nov. 4 Philly game is not far-fetched.
Bill Parcells would use shame tactics to get his players to work hard. Wade Phillips employs guilt, leaving it up to the players to do what’s right. After leaving Wednesday’s practice totally unsatisfied with their work, the Cowboys acting as if they already had checked out for the bye, Phillips told his troops before Thursday’s second and final practice of the bye week, “I can’t make you practice. You have to do that yourself.” That would seemingly inspire any member of the conscience-carrying brotherhood, and according to Phillips the guys responded on Thursday.
This obscure but rather interesting note is making the rounds: If New England beats Washington and Indianapolis beats Carolina this weekend, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning will become the first two quarterbacks in NFL history to have recorded wins over every one of the other 31 teams.
And the score . . . ha, after getting off to a blistering 7-0 start here, some well-deserved rest comes during this bye. But I’m guessing you guys will turn into huge AFC fans in Week 8, what with Washington playing New England, the Giants playing Miami, Indianapolis playing Carolina and Green Bay taking on Denver. Let’s see if that purported AFC domination is for real, or if it just belongs to the Patriots and Colts.
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Much will be made about Tuesday, Oct. 23, being the one-year anniversary of Tony Romo taking over at quarterback for the Cowboys. It was on that date last year Romo replaced Drew Bledsoe to start the second half of that nationally-televised game from Texas Stadium. Since that moment, no other Cowboys quarterback has thrown a pass other than Romo. So after 17 regular-season starts, Romo is 12-5 as a starter. During that time, he has 35 touchdown passes and 22 interceptions and has thrown for 4,887 yards. And when asked about the significance of the day, Romo basically sloughed off the question, saying, “I don’t know it’s any different than I thought. It’s football. Just trying to get in the tournament.” And when asked how he’s changed in that year, Romo wasn’t revealing a thing, smiling and saying, “I listen to different music in the locker room . . . a little more cultured.”
Man, the Cowboys are only a plus-1 when it comes to turnover differential, now ranking tied for 15th in the NFL. That’s what a five-interception, six-turnover game will do for the league’s erstwhile No. 1 team. While the Cowboys are tied for the league lead with 10 interceptions, only five teams have been intercepted more times than the Cowboys’ nine. Those five teams have combined for just eight wins.
So Bradie James, what will you do over your bye weekend? “I’ll be in Monroe (La.),” James said of heading back to his hometown, “and eat as much as possible.” Not a bad place to go eat, that Louisiana.
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Who would have guessed it – the Cowboys’ offense nearly outrushing the Vikings’ previously No. 1-ranked running attack, and doing so on the previously No. 2-ranked Vikings run defense. The Vikings only outrushed the Cowboys by three yards, 131 to 128, and the Cowboys only had two more carries. And even though he had more carries, maybe the Vikings should have been worried more about Marion Barber, who finished with 96 yards rushing to Adrian Peterson’s season-low 63. OK, Barber had seven more carries, but still . . .
How good is New England? The Pats going into the Monday night game are ranked No. 1 in offense and No. 3 in defense. That’s stout, and they now have gone seven consecutive games scoring at least 34 points and beating every opponent by at least 17 points.
My guess is Tony Romo will spend the majority of his bye week getting treatment on his strained right hamstring, which definitely gave him problems the second half of the Vikings game and left his limping some in the locker room on Monday. Now he says any injury not a broken bone given two weeks to heal should be fine. We’ll see, but count on him being limited in this week’s two practices.
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This was incredible, really. The Cowboys outgained the Vikings, 250 yards to 78 in the first half. Their time of possession was 20:40, to the Vikings’ 9:20. Romo completed 28 passes for 231 yards to Tarvaris Jackson’s two completions for 15 yards. And Romo’s QB rating was 107.2 to Jackson’s 47.9. And the Vikings were LEADING 14-7?
Do not take for granted Marion Barber’s 1-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter to tie this game at 14-14. That was the first rushing touchdown allowed by the Vikings in six games this season.
OK, Adrian Peterson did shake loose for that 20-yard touchdown run, only the third touchdown run against the Cowboys this season and the longest. But for the most part, the Cowboys kept close tabs on Peterson, who believe me, after seeing him play an entire game, is the real deal. Thank goodness he only ran the ball 12 times.
And I’ll say this one more time: If someone told you the Cowboys could be guaranteed a 6-1 record heading into the bye, you darn well would have taken it. So enjoy 6-1 for two weeks, because things are about to get mighty serious with those three consecutive NFC East games up next.
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Was joking the other day about there no longer being any such thing as a force-out in the NFL, especially after two consecutive games with Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens being pushed out of bounds when it seemed he would have been able to get his second foot down. Well, NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira addressed the force-out on his weekly NFL.com rules segment, saying the officials have been instructed to look for three things on the force out: First, would the receiver have come down in bounds with both feet; second, is the shove overt enough to force him out while not part of trying to break up the pass; and third, did the receiver hold onto the ball. Well, Pereira, in the video segment, actually showed one force-out being called this past Sunday, and the receiver’s demonstrated ability to get that second foot down in bounds was far less obvious than Owens’ play against New England – and Buffalo. And when he got to Owens’ play against the Patriots, while seemingly implying it was a force-out, he said the problem was the official ruled it a catch, and when the play is reviewed, the head referee does not have the ability to rule a force-out, but simply judge if both feet were in bounds. Judging a force-out is a non-reviewable play. Pereira further said the officials first are told to rule if it was a force-out, and then worry about if the second foot came down in bounds. So technically on Owens’ play against the Pats, the official should have worried more about the force-out and less about a legal catch. OK, we’ll see how this all works out down the line.
That NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has allowed Tank Johnson to begin practicing with the Cowboys while still serving the final two games of his suspension actually saves the Cowboys money – and against the cap. Because had he not been allowed to return to practice until after his eight-game suspension was up, chances are the Cowboys would have received a two-week roster exemption to get him ready. And for the player, that comes with pay. This, in essence a roster exemption, is without pay, so Goodell actually does the Cowboys a favor while enabling the player to get back on the field sooner than originally thought.
And the score . . . maybe the Cowboys can score enough against a Minnesota defense which gives up a lot of passing yards (288.4 a game) but not a lot of points (15 points a game) to take Adrian Peterson out of the game so that they can win their sixth in seven games, 30-13, and their first over Minnesota at Texas Stadium in a regular-season game.
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NFL commissioner Roger Goodell compromised somewhat on Tank Johnson’s eight-game suspension on Thursday, announcing the eight-game suspension still stands for now but that the defensive tackle can begin practicing with the Cowboys on Friday. This means Johnson will be able to get in one practice this week and three full weeks of work before being eligible to play in his first game, Nov, 11 against the New York Giants.
Johnson, suspended by the commissioner after serving 60 days in Cook County (Ill.) Jail for violation of his parole on multiple illegal gun charges, has been working out on his own at The Ranch for the past several weeks. He had been prohibited from participating in any team-oriented activity, such as practices and meetings.
Essentially the commissioner has issued the Cowboys a two-week roster exemption prior to completion of the suspension so that Johnson can be ready to play at the conclusion of the eight games. Otherwise, the Cowboys would have been forced to apply for a two-week roster exemption, pay him his prorated portion of his base salary but possibly not use him in one to two games after the suspension expired.
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This is one of the saddest things I’ve seen in a while: Former Cowboys running back Ron Springs, after all he’s gone through, lapsing into a coma some seven months since receiving the kidney donated by former Cowboys teammate Everson Walls. Some things in life just aren’t right.
Amazing how much attention the Cowboys games draw on TV. What with the 18.5 rating from Sunday’s game against the Patriots, which, by the way, is the highest-rated game for CBS since it reacquired game rights in 1998, they now have earned the highest ratings for games this season on CBS, any program on ESPN (including the final episode of the Sopranos) and NBC.
You see where Jason Witten is tied for fourth in NFC receptions with his 32? That is second among tight ends to only Tony Gonzalez’ 38, but puts him on pace for an 85-catch season. Now of course that pace might slow down once Terry Glenn returns, but again, that’s not likely to be sooner than Nov. 4, and quite possibly not until around Thanksgiving.
Weird stat of the week: Minnesota has the league’s 25th ranked defense. The Vikings are No. 2 against the run and 32nd against the pass. So that means one of two things. The Vikings are either so good against the run, teams simply don’t even try and pass all the time. Or they are so bad against the pass, teams don’t even bother running.
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Upon further review, and after chastising the Patriots for scoring that final touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the one with 19 seconds remaining, now I can see what New England head coach Bill Belichick was thinking. Remember, after the first play following the two-minute warning, the Cowboys called a timeout with 1:48 remaining. That meant the Cowboys were still trying to win, and now, the Patriots couldn’t kneel out the clock. Had they not spent their final timeout, the Patriots could have kneeled the clock out. So as it was, had the Patriots took a knee with 23 seconds left on fourth down, the ball would have gone over to the Cowboys. Even though it’s at the 2 or 3, no coach wants to give the ball back with only a two-score lead.
The Cowboys just have to get better on kickoff returns. They currently rank 24th in the NFL and 13th in the NFC, with an average start of the 24.8-yard line. Either Tyson Thompson has lost the touch, or the Cowboys just aren’t doing a consistently good job of creating running lanes on the returns. Sometimes when a returner looks slow he is forced to look around too much for somewhere to run. Same with kickoff coverage. The Cowboys opponents’ 28.5-yard starting point ranks 12th in the NFC and 25th in the NFL.
Would everyone just stop with all this running silliness? Sure the Cowboys would like to get started sooner, but if you can’t run early, why keep trying? And also, a bunch of you want to blame that on Julius Jones starting instead of Marion Barber. Well, I see where Barber came in on the third possession and had one carry for four yards, and then on the next possession had one more carry for two yards before he finally busted the 13-yarder and got the Cowboys their first first down with 33 seconds left in the first quarter. Hey, they ran for 97 yards on 15 carries.
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Two plays caused the separation in this game, and both were penalties . . . on the Cowboys.
Play I: With the Cowboys leading, 24-21, and less than six minutes left in the third quarter, safety Pat Watkins appeared to break up a second-and-7 pass from the Dallas 16 in the end zone. But here came the flag, and preposterously, Watkins was called for interference when he had beaten Randy Moss to the spot, and actually was run over himself. The Patriots, now first-and-goal at the one instead of third-and-7, scored on the next play to take a 28-24 lead.
Play II: The Cowboys scored a mini-victory, holding the Patriots to a mere field goal on the next possession, trailing just 31-24 with 2:09 left in the third quarter. They had driven to their 47, and on the first play of the fourth quarter, gambling on fourth-and-1, Marion Barber knifed his way for eight yards and the first down. But flag: Holding, Kyle Kosier. They could have called tackling on the Cowboys left guard, the hold so obvious. And now fourth-and-11, the Cowboys had to punt. Four plays later, Tom Brady to Donte’ Stallworth 69 yards for a touchdown, 38-24, Patriots. Ball game.
Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips gambled on the aforementioned fourth-down play, just as he had aggressively gambled on fourth downs over the first five games of the season. But on fourth-and-goal at the Patriots 5, and trailing, 38-24, with just more than 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Phillips didn’t gamble. He settled for the field goal, pulling within 11, while betting his defense, which just couldn’t stop the Patriots, would now stop them on back-to-back possessions. The Cowboys never stopped them again the rest of the game.
When your head coach cuts the sleeves of his sweatshirt and the collar, too, don’t expect his defense to conform to traditional NFL alignments. So there were the Patriots on third down, going with a three-man line, and at times a one-man line, just filling the front with linebackers so the Cowboys couldn’t be sure who was rushing and who was covering. “They make it hard on you,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett said. Hard on tight end Jason Witten, who had just three catches for 47 yards – which was the idea, said Pats linebacker Junior Seau.
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Boy, Greg Ellis was in the best mood I’ve seen him in months, and we’re talking going all the way back to mini-camps and OTA’s. When asked if he could handle more snaps if the Patriots go a lot of three-receiver, he said, and with a big smile on his face, “I don’t see any problem with me playing the majority of the football game.”
OK, this is a different team, and a different time, but do you remember the last time Terrell Owens played against the Patriots? That would have been Feb. 6, 2005, in Super Bowl XXXIX, when Owens caught nine passes for 122 yards with the Philadelphia Eagles after missing the final two regular-season games, the first-round bye week and the next two playoff games with the broken ankle he suffered against the Cowboys on Dec. 19. Yep, getcha popcorn ready.
And the score . . . with the help of 63,000 people, Tony Romo playing with amnesia and this defense teeing off on Tom Brady, I can be proved wrong, but until then, Patriots 27, Cowboys 23 in one that goes down to the wire.
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Mama said there would be days like this. Or was that Bill Parcells when talking about the other side of the Tony Romo pancake. “I learned a long time ago if you think it’s going to go good every day, you’re drunk,” Romo said of his five-interception performance that helped stake the Bills to a 24-13 lead midway through the third quarter. On those five picks, Romo said he made some bad reads on what his receivers were going to do, let a couple of passes get away from him and then didn’t pick up the linebacker quickly enough at the goal-line throw to Jason Witten. But bless his heart, he never became tentative, just kept firing, and as he said, likening this to golf, “You just keep trying to make pars, and hope you have a chance to birdie the 18th for the win.”
Buffalo finally accomplished what other teams had been trying to, and maybe the percentages finally caught up with the Cowboys. The Bills got the Cowboys into six third-and-longs (eight yards or more), which are the precursors of trouble, and on this night they were.
So Brad Johnson, you the 14-year veteran who probably has seen everything in your day, what would be your advice to the struggling Romo? “It’s a blink in your career,” Johnson said. “Every quarterback’s been through that. It happens, and you have to fight and grind through it.”
By the way, did you realize the Bills were drawn off-sides on Nick Folk’s second attempt at the game-winner, and had he missed, the would have gotten a third shot at it, but this time from 48 yards? But what, worry about that timeout *** Jauron called just before he made the first 53-yard? Folk said the same thing happened to him in the opener his senior year against BYU, and he made both from 48 yards.
By halftime, Romo had been intercepted four times, and you had to go back to Oct. 13, 2002, to find the last time a Cowboys quarterback had been intercepted four times in the first half. In fact, those were the final four interceptions Quincy Carter threw that year, getting yanked for Chad Hutchinson, who finished up the game and the rest of the season as the starter.
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Want to know the best way to expose rookie quarterback Trent Edwards’ inexperience? Keep scoring points. Make the Bills understand scoring an unprecedented 34 points in five consecutive weeks is not out of the question, because if that’s happening then the Bills coaching staff can not afford to play it safe with the rookie quarterback. The offense will have to be opened up just to keep up, which might be asking a lot of a third-round draft choice in just his second start to handle.
Here are my lasting impressions of watching the Buffalo Bills practice at Southern Cal during Super Bowl XXVII when I was serving as the Pro Football Writers Association pool reporter for the AFC team: Their staff seemed more concerned with security at practice than the Cowboys, actually having Southern Cal officials close the high dive at the swimming pool next to the practice field and then become overly paranoid of some students on their balconies of their high-rise dorms next door. They would have been better served worrying about stopping Emmitt Smith than any high-altitude spies. That and veteran linebacker Shane Conlan wearing his watch during practice – seriously – and making a point of looking at it toward the end of a workout so head coach Marv Levy knew he might be keeping the Bills a tad long. You kidding me?
And the score . . . Cowboys 31, Bills 10, this offense proving it really is for real and actually giving the Patriots something to think about for next Sunday’s match-up at Texas Stadium.
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Here is a good one, at least on the surface, unearthed by the Buffalo media: When Bills rookie quarterback Trent Edwards recorded a 17-14 victory over the Jets last Sunday in his first NFL start, he became the first of the past 13 NFL rookie quarterbacks to win their debut. The last one to do so? Why that would be former Cowboys quarterback Drew Henson in 2004, though somewhat of a hollow distinction since former head coach Bill Parcells yanked Henson at halftime of a 7-7 game the Cowboys eventually won, 21-7. Vinny Testaverde finished off the victory.
So this one still bugs me. I see where Buffalo defensive end Anthony Hargrove is returning this week from his four-game suspension for violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy and where New England safety Rodney Harrison is returning from his four-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs. But there’s Cowboys quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson still serving one more game to complete his five-game suspension for using a banned drug to help his quality of life. Go figure. Still.
Did you hear Wade Phillips earlier this week discussing the method offensive line coach Tony Sparano employed to remind his troops holding is illegal? Sparano had his guys practicing with socks on their hands. Hey, whatever works - the Cowboys cut down their team penalties from 12 against Chicago to just two against St. Louis.
Hey, Grammy-Award winner Kelly Clarkson shot to the top of my charts here Thursday during her introduction as the halftime entertainer for this year’s Thanksgiving Day Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign kickoff celebration. During the Q&A at the news conference, someone asked the Burleson, Texas, native if she had ever met Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, and without missing a beat, she deadpanned, “That’s the other one, isn’t it? That’s Underwood.” Pretty Texas cute.
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So Monday morning when driving into The Ranch, who should be arriving about the same time but Terry Johnson, the Cowboys’ newly-signed defensive tackle who is serving out his eight-game suspension. I’m told he’s been a daily visitor to The Ranch working out in the weight room like six days a week. That’s a good start. He’ll petition the commissioner to shorten his eight-game suspension to as few as six, but would make sense if Roger Goodell was in the shortening mood to reduce to seven, which because of the Cowboys’ bye the next week would mean he’d still serve an eight-week suspension. As it stands, if the suspension remains eight games, he’ll actually miss nine weeks.
Cowboys quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson has one more week to serve on his five-game suspension, and is chomping at the bit to get back to work. And he hasn’t been just wasting away the time the past four weeks, saying he’s been volunteering his time to help coach the junior high team his son plays on in Dallas.
If the Cowboys do have a concern after finishing the first four games with a clean slate, that would be holding down the middle of the defensive line against a team which decides to load up and run. While Jay Ratliff has been doing a nice job in the middle, and Johnson’s return is impending, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said on his weekly radio show they are a little concerned about beefing up that spot. That’s probably why they worked out 330-pound defensive tackle Junior Siavii, who participated in 26 games with Kansas City from 2004-05.
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