Star-Telegram.com: Randy Galloway

Randy Galloway: Forget Thursday night, let’s look ahead

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:18 CDT

RANDY GALLOWAY

IRVING — Here’s the good news for Texas Stadium:

By next August, a wrecking ball will have the place in shambles. Better that, of course, than another summer of this fake football stuff for a well-worn venue that over the course of 36 years has hosted more than its share of historic games and Canton-is-calling individual accomplishments.

Actually, this exhibition-season final farewell on Thursday night may have carved out its own slice of stadium history for the least number of starters — that number was one (Cowboys fullback Deon Anderson) — two NFL teams ever put on display when full-priced tickets, $30 parking and $7.50 a beer were being charged.

Not even Jerry Jones, I thought, would have large enough brass ones to show his face, because he was hosting this financial rip-off. But Jerry was here, front and center, knowing well that 31 other owners are also guilty of milking the suckers.

Apparently, some 30,000 people, or about half of capacity, had nothing better to do, so they showed up to watch mystery men dressed in purple or white jerseys provide plenty of sweat and energy in hopes of convincing coaches their names shouldn’t be on this weekend’s final list of roster cuts.

Side note to Richard Bartel, Cowboys quarterback:

Not bad, kid. You’ve come a long way from Tarleton State, and certainly from that day when struggling SM-who didn’t want you anymore. If Wade Phillips doesn’t go three deep at QB (Wade screwed up last August on Matt Moore in the same situation), then Thursday night might have been enough for another team to offer a roster job.

Before I forget:

Cowboys 16, Vikings 10.

That’s the final score but not near the number of starters both teams didn’t play.

Now, for other Cowboys news on Thursday, the kind of news that can impact what happens on Sept. 7 at Cleveland, and the 15 regular season games after that:

Attention, parents. Pacman Jones had a vital message for your kids about what happens when they hang around with "knuckleheads."

"You do so much for people and when you get your back against the wall, it’s ridiculous how quick they run out on you," said Pac-rat after receiving the joyous and expected news that commissioner Roger Goodell had reinstated him to play in the regular season.

Jones again blamed his repeated previous encounters with trouble on those "knuckleheads" he once considered pals. Apparently, they regularly forced him into topless lizard joints and then encouraged acts of rain.

Since his arrival in Dallas, among Pacman’s higher class of friends are bodyguards employed by Mr. Jones. I know personally that bodyguards have helped me turn my life around, so good luck on all this to Pac.

The cops in Nashville won’t believe it, and neither will Titans coach Jeff Fisher, but a clean-cut-looking Pacman showed up on a television commercial during Thursday night’s game selling cars with Deion Sanders. Call this number immediately and get the "Knucklehead Discount."

The last word on Pac would be that the real test has just begun. If Jones was trouble-free throughout training camp, Goodell had no reason not to lift the suspension that kept Pacman out last season.

Now that the Cowboys are counting on him as a regular contributor, it’s imperative Jones stay clean. One good rain from him and Goodell will pounce with another suspension.

And that’s what the Titans were saying when they dumped Pacman. They couldn’t trust him over the long haul. Then again, Fisher never thought of bodyguards as new best friends, and when was the last time you couldn’t trust a car salesman?

The Cowboys went into camp thin at receiver, and it’s a gamble that’s going to bite them, particularly if a Sam Hurd injury Thursday means he will be gone for a while.

Brandt’s Dallas Cowboys would have harnessed Lightnin’ Bolt

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:50 CDT

RANDY GALLOWAY

"Someone asked me the other day what I thought about making Olympic gold-medal sprinter Usain Bolt a football player. Let me put it this way: If Hall of Fame general manager Tex Schramm and I were still running the Cowboys, we’d be in Jamaica right now waiting on Bolt’s plane to land." — Gil Brandt in his NFL.com column this week.

Amen, brother.

And for a gambler like Jerry Jones, I’m a bit surprised he didn’t have son Stephen waiting at the airport in Kingston, or maybe he did, and we don’t know about it yet. On personality alone, Bolt is a perfect fit as a passenger on the Valley Ranch showboat.

But to watch 6-foot-5 of Lightnin’ Bolt rumbling down the Olympic straight-away, well, to put it in NFL gospel-like measureables, his 40-yard time during the 100 meters was supposedly calculated at 3.6, which seems impossible.

Checking around with football scouts, no one has ever heard of a clocking better than 4.1, and even that 4.1 is in doubt. (well, OK, also no starting blocks, no high-tech track shoes, slower surfaces, etc, factor into 40-yard football times.)

But Bolt did the seemingly impossible a couple of times in Beijing, putting on the greatest double display of golden speed and dominance in sprint history. Got to admit, even while wrapping myself in the flag, Michael Phelps finished second to Bolt on my personal Beijing wow-o-meter.

Plus, that comment from Brandt brought a chuckle, because after Bolt won the 100, I immediately thought of Schramm, up there in football heaven. Tex had to be asking God to give him one phone call home, a call to Brandt with this message:

"What the hell are you waiting on. Get on the next plane to Beijing."

Back in the day, the Tom Landry-Schramm-Brandt philosophy in building the Cowboys from scratch always had the speed element involved.

It didn’t matter where it came from, and even if it wasn’t necessarily football-related speed, the Cowboys never minded gambling, and this scouting philosophy was far advanced from other teams.

But today, some 40 years later, nothing would have changed for Brandt. I mentioned to him Tuesday I was surprised to hear no rumblings from around the NFL on possible Bolt interest, and his reply was, "the day he came home, I’d have been introducing myself to him at the airport."

Actually, maybe it’s Nolan Ryan who should have been at the airport. Having just-turned 22, Bolt’s other major sport growing up in Jamaica was cricket. But American football? It’s doubtful he’s played even a game of touch. For Brandt, however, that wouldn’t matter.

"What you would try to do first, in talking to him, is get a read on his mentality," Gil said. "You know he’s mentally tough and can handle pressure, but could that translate to football, and would he be interested in giving football a try?

"All the physical stuff, starting with his hands, because you’d want him as a receiver, would come later. There might not be anything there for us, but how much fun would you have in attempting to find out?"

Will an NFL team of today make that attempt?

The league office said Tuesday no team has called yet expressing an interest in Bolt.

Until then, or unless Bolt himself called to say he would like to explore joining the NFL, the league will not rule on whether Bolt would be an immediate free agent or have to go through the draft process.

And then there’s the economics. "This is why I doubt any team will come after [Bolt]," Brandt said. "In the track world today, the money is huge. On shoe contract money alone, based on what happened in Beijing, his income has to be immense, certainly more than a team would probably gamble on someone who hasn’t played football."

Actually, Brandt has experience in this area. In the 1984 draft, the Cowboys took a 12th (and final round) flyer by taking Carl Lewis, the Bolt of his time. The league was caught by surprise, and later voided the pick on the premise other teams in the league weren’t aware Lewis was interested in the NFL. Actually, Carl wasn’t, but considered being drafted by the Cowboys as a high compliment.

"We had already done our homework [before the NFL rejected the pick] and knew we couldn’t touch the money Carl was making worldwide as a star in that sport," said Brandt.

Dallas Cowboys have the talent, but what will they do with it?

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:14 CDT

RANDY GALLOWAY

With August almost gone, the Dallas Cowboys are now approaching weeks and months of football judgment with optimism legitimately high.

And no, that’s not a quote from Jerry Jones, although it could be.

But Jerry’s eternal giddiness aside, when in doubt, always ask. Or listen.

Ask and listen to the fraternity of former Cowboys still living locally, most of them wearing Super Bowl rings. And for a more remote opinion, also listen to the stable of ESPN analysts, both radio and television, who once played or coached the NFL game.

Plus, there are those now coaching elsewhere in the league, but guys who once passed this way as Valley Ranch players or coaches. Ask them, too. Believe me, they keep up.

"I don’t think anyone who has been a member of the Cowboys’ family, and particularly those who had success here like we once did, ever totally lose their ties to the organization," said one who should know, defensive secondary coach Dave Campo. "That’s just what the Dallas Cowboys represent."

But the key part of Campo’s comment would be "who had success like we once did." It’s been a long, long time since there was football success around here. Dave, of course, once experienced both good-bad extremes while working at Valley Ranch.

Anyway, with September and a new season on the horizon, and with the exhibition season giving us no major negatives, I’ve been asking and I’ve been listening. And no, my questions involved nothing related to a rather large game that will be played the first week of February in Tampa.

The Cowboys have to prove they can win a playoff game for the first time in 12 years. If such a thing actually happened in January, then a logical step will be to then assess any Super Bowl chances.

First things first. Talent-wise, will the Cowboys enter the ’08 season with the best collection of talent in the NFC? Not the NFL. The NFC.

By a wide margin of those asked, the answer was yes. I also think so, but I couldn’t trust my own opinion, which is why many others were consulted.

But with our "panel," and as with Joe Fan or anyone else who follows the NFL, memories were also fresh with thoughts of what the Giants pulled off last season in the playoffs. Talent is important, but no more so than a team peaking at the right time, including a step-by-step January confidence builder.

Mainly, the best talent should not be confused with the best team. And since you already knew that, let me add that the "expert" opinions really don’t differ much from what you hear on local talk radio. Scary, but true.

If the Cowboys don’t have the best talent in the conference, they are grouped at the top with the Giants, and maybe the Vikings, although count me out on the Vikings because of their quarterback thing.

But from there, what’s blurry on the Cowboys is the team concept. How strong will that be? Who are the locker-room leaders? How much impact will they have in tough times? Panel doubts were ample in this area.

As a side note, it’s amusing to hear at least some among the at-Valley-Ranch-every-day local media who declare, gulp, Tank Johnson has already emerged at the top, or near the top, of team leaders. If true, that’s either a commentary on Tank’s remarkable personal turnaround, or an indictment of just how weak the locker-room leadership really is. Maybe it’s some of both.

But a constant cloud appeared among those panelists who were asked about the locker-room leadership, and their emphasis on the importance of this area can’t be understated.

Then there’s Wade Phillips. Frankly, skepticism about the head coach wasn’t as strong as I figured, but the constant theme involving Wade centered on how the team will respond to him if and when trouble comes, particularly if September doesn’t go as well as expected.

And obvious questions were raised about how his soft approach will play out this season, particularly after it was considered a positive one-year reprieve from Big Bill’s iron rule. But this is year two of Wade’s regime, with the bitter memory of a December collapse and a January failure still strong.

OK, most of us also wonder about locker-room leadership, plus Wade’s leadership. But then there’s Tony Romo, and that’s where my doubts are really minimal.

For whatever it’s worth, Cowboys did 'turn it on’

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:17 CDT

IRVING — What the Cowboys provided Friday night at Texas Stadium was a little bit of something for everyone, or at least anyone who thinks fake football in August is an important barometer as September cometh quickly.

For those seeking instant optimism, a 23-22 victory over the Houston Texans was a welcome wake-up call, based on a performance upgrade from what had been a drowsy, and as of last week in Denver, even dismal exhibition-season display.

This time, however, Tony Romo and Co. were balanced and productive, rolling up 266 first-half yards (166 by air and 100 by mostly Marion Barber on foot), and more importantly, 20 points before intermission, which for those counting along at home was 20 more than the first unit managed a week ago.

"I feel good about where we are. It was one of those games where we really needed to turn it on," admitted coach Wade Phillips, who added that even the "novices who don’t know as much as coaches," sensed the urgency.

All of that first-half stuff should have been enough to hush the local concern that had been brewing. Then again, it’s a God-given right for Cowboys’ fandom, and also all accredited local media, to hiss and moan about the small stuff.

Romo, for one, also provided this opportunity for the novice contingent.

Overthrowing his deep ball last week in Denver might have cost a touchdown, or two. Romo playfully blamed those misses on "altitude." Texas Stadium, however, is located in the Irving river bottoms.

So there was Eldorado Owens, having a rather active evening for the first time in August, running free in the end zone late in the first quarter Friday night. Jacques Reeves had lost him.

Reeves, now a starting cornerback for the Texans, spent a lot of his brief Cowboys’ career losing receivers, although let’s not pick on Jacques, a local lad from Lancaster.

Anyway, Romo had a quick six waiting to happen. He’s known to be deadly on these kind of 40-yard heaves, except Tony again overthrew his target. Yipes. Too much altitude, which had nothing to do this time with mountain air.

It was a possession that ended up being salvaged by Nick Folk’s trusty foot (48 yards), yet the math says Romo was a minus four on the scoreboard.

Did I mention that the combo of Romo’s arm and Barber’s churning feet provided plenty of first-half highlights? Phillips was so pleased over the workload of 35 snaps that he ditched any plan to let the offensive skill-position starters come back for the third quarter.

Romo, however, also gave the hiss-and-moan crowd more weekend ammo with a rather strange goal-line decision early in the second quarter. On second-and-goal from the one, he play-faked to Barber, rolled right, and was looking for tight end Tony Curtis in the end zone, although Curtis was well covered.

Easy decision here for a veteran QB. Run it or dump it.

Romo, however, threw it anyway. Because of a lack of room at the side of the end zone, it seemed he could survive the gamble with at least an incompletion. But Texans linebacker Zac Diles made an exceptional play to get the pick.

Nice drive to the 1. No points. Oh, well. It’s still August, right, Tony?

Defensively, the Cowboys were also attempting to rebound from Denver misery, and were tested right away when the kickoff coverage team gave up a long one on the opening boot of the game. Although quarterback Matt Schaub has had a good month, he got nothing but a field goal out of that field position.

To open the second half, the defense was again tested after Isaiah Stanback fumbled on the return. Same story on excellent field position for Schaub. Only a field goal.

Mainly, the defensive pressure on Schaub was more consistent than what the Cowboys had applied to other QBs of August, and while Schaub had good overall passing stats, it was still a fix-it kind of performance for that side of the ball.

In what was billed as a dress rehearsal for September, Phillips and staff had a lot to cleanup, including a reduction of penalties and turnovers. The sloppy second half can be overlooked, but with the starters in the first half, there was one minor penalty and the one don’t-do-that-again Romo pick.

Dallas Cowboys lose their race for TV viewers — to a swimmer

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:44 CDT

RANDY GALLOWAY

Just so you know:

I’m shocked — no, really. I am actually shocked — to learn the Cowboys have been KO’d this month in local TV ratings. We were all aware it was a team with a glass chin in January, but to be HDed floored in August by swimmers and teenage pixie gymnasts, well …

Jerry Jones might want to demand a recount, but the Olympic telecast Saturday night doubled the Cows-Denver game in local viewership, and when Mr. Phelps was going for No. 8 just past 10 o’clock, it more than tripled the football game.

This came after the Cowboys had finished a close second to the Olympics in viewers the previous Saturday while playing in San Diego. That was considered an upset, but nothing compared with what would come next.

A friend from a foreign country (New York City) responded with a "duh" to that information, as in: It’s the Olympics; it’s exhibition football. What’d you expect?

How do you explain to these outsiders that the power grip of the Cowboys on local precincts has forever been partly defined by the TV audience for meaningless games in August. But Saturday night may have been the lowest rating in 30 years, if not 40.

In touting its Olympic ratings bonanza, NBC can start right here, the fourth largest market in the land.

Oh, no, not Ian Kinsler.

But also:

No, it’s not an excuse.

When a hernia injury took down the Rangers second baseman this week, it cost us about more six weeks of watching (yes, I still watch. What’s the problem with that?) the continued emergence of a major league star.

The same thing happened when outfielder David Murphy wrecked his knee in early August. That cost us seeing the emergence of a good everyday player.

And even as Milton Bradley has disappeared from the batting order since the All-Star break with his ailments (that’s Bradley’s unfortunate track record. Can’t stay healthy.), this season won’t be defined by injuries.

For butt-coverage purposes, you will hear that spin, but anyone with an IQ higher than a resin bag knows where this organization has failed and why all of this run production of ’08 has been wasted.

One more time, here’s why Armando Galarraga was pitching for the Tigers at the ballpark Tuesday night, bringing with him an 11-4 record with a 3.11 ERA:

Go back to February in Surprise, Ariz., and the general manager needed to open a 40-man roster spot for the newly signed Jason Jennings. OK, so far, that makes sense, even if Jennings didn’t last a month into the regular season due to an injury.

There were three options, all pitchers — Galarraga, Robby Tejeda and Scott (10-run First Inning) Feldman. One would have to go, and that meant gone for good.

The recommendation from the clubhouse was to designate Tejeda for assignment. Jon Daniels mulled it over, and choose Galarraga instead. He was then dealt to Detroit for a player the Rangers would quickly release.

Tejeda would later end up in Kansas City, where he’s pitching OK out of the bullpen. Feldman has been as solid a starter as the Rangers have had. Galarraga, however, has been a stud for the Tigers.

Meanwhile, the coaches in Surprise who wanted to keep Galarraga were both fired this month for the team’s pitching failures.

Forget the Cowboys and tune into the Olympics

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 23:20 CDT

RANDY GALLOWAY

A Saturday evening of attempting to decipher the difference between the breaststroke and the butterfly (memo to Brother LeBreton in Beijing: You are right, I’m confused on that issue.) was interrupted by exhibition game No. 2 for the local football team.

In Denver, the Cowboys, of course, weren’t exactly Phelps-like. Actually, the Beijing ping-pong finals offered more passion and entertainment.

Based on Sunday morning’s e-mail overload, local fandom was also not amused by this latest Cowboys effort, and even hints of panic seemed to have surfaced. My suggestion is to wrap yourself in the flag and concentrate more on beach volleyball. Forget this fake football.

An uninspired effort in a mid-August stopover city while on the way home from three weeks of training camp in California is NOT worth your angst. What we appeared to have in Denver was a good football team that simply didn’t give a damn. Watching it, I had the same feeling.

If Tony Romo connects on two long bombs — one to Sam Hurd, the other to Eldorado Owens — then we’d all be calling it an "explosive offense" instead of an imploding offense.

And on the dismal defensive effort, I assume Wade Phillips is fixin’ to fix it, because he told us he would, didn’t he?

I’ll just take Romo’s word for it — his explanation to Channel 11’s Steve Dennis in a second-half sideline interview was that the offensive game plan was so limited, it prevented a deluge of points against an awful Broncos defense.

This sort of honesty was pretty brazen for a quarterback who had put up exactly zero points during his first half of action, but so it goes in an exhibition snoozer. But believing Romo is acceptable, at least until September, when the games actually count.

Media and fans, we all know none of this matters, and no, not even Friday night at Texas Stadium, when Houston will be the opponent in what is normally August’s real football dress rehearsal. That’s when a team is supposed to care a little bit.

But a year ago, the Cowboys were stinko in Houston under dress-rehearsal conditions, and then had the best first three months of the regular season in franchise history.

Players, like the rest of us, also know none of this matters in August, except to the owners who charge full ticket prices while not having to pay player salaries until September.

But ...

Before someone accuses me of being rational and soft, there are a couple of points of concern when it comes to what’s been seen from the Cowboys thus far.

It’s the same core group of players who have sermonized the past two seasons on the topic of "everything will be OK." And that was certainly the postgame theme from Denver.

The problem is, we know everything has not been OK.

It’s the same group of players and the same head coach who after the January loss to the Giants gave us more excuses and butt-coverage than rampant disgust and anger over being one-and-done in the playoffs. There were exceptions, including Andre Gurode and Jason Witten, but to me, a surprisingly small number of players actually took the L personally, or at least few were quoted openly about their disgust.

Wade, meanwhile, made a fool out of himself with his weak alibis for that playoff ouster. But while most head coaches would privately welcome a rotten August performance, such as the Cowboys in Denver, because it allows for screaming and whip-cracking in the next week’s practice, well ...

That’s not exactly Wade’s M. O.

Nice guys can’t change who they are. If so, a fraud cloud hovers over him. Hard guys, who coach with the whip, can back off, and that’s acceptable, plus, also successful at times. (See Tom Coughlin.)

The theory goes that Wade’s soft touch helped to propel the Cowboys through the first three months of last season because it was such a change-of-pace from Big Bill’s style.

Will Nolan Ryan shake up the Texas Rangers in 2009?

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:41 CDT

RANDY GALLOWAY

Forty games to go, and as a long homestand opens tonight in Arlington, the fun-and-gun offensive fiesta that has been the Texas Rangers’ season is give-give-giving way to frustration.

"I know this much," team president Nolan Ryan said Thursday, "there’s no way we can go though another year like this, having these kind of pitching problems."

With Ryan a relative newcomer on the job, the message to Nolan would be this:

Welcome, my man, to our baseball world, where we’ve been saying "no way" on pitching for years.

Hired in February as the Hall of Famer in charge of organizational everything, Ryan has constantly preached patience while he observes the work of the employees he inherited.

Nolan said Thursday he’s made no decision on the next-season job status of those at the top of the baseball chain, meaning general manager and manager.

"It’s a case of continuing to evaluate everything and everybody," Ryan added.

Nolan has wisely made a habit thus far of ignoring my suggestions, but I’d bring back Ron Washington, simply because he has not lost a clubhouse in two years, despite many opportunities for the players to go south on him.

In a major league environment, clubhouse stability is huge, while others (I read your e-mails) will debate endlessly on Washington’s use of pitchers and various managerial perceived sins.

On general manager, I won’t go there today since many think I’ve already committed overkill on this topic.

But I will repeat, and this also involves the status of Washington, since it’s Nolan Ryan’s butt and reputation on the line, how could he not be bringing in his own baseball people, top to bottom? Nolan got a free ride this season, but as he knows, come next year, it’s going to be a case of "what has Mr. Ryan done for us lately?"

Plus, when it comes to the pitching pits (tell me again how you score 17 runs in a game and lose?), Ryan obviously understands he’s not just dealing with a frustrated fandom. As big a headache is knowing the boiling point has been reached with key players in the clubhouse.

Hot-hitting outfielder Marlon Byrd went public after Wednesday’s game in Boston, opening up to our man Jeff Wilson about the pitching problems. Marlon is obviously not alone in his anger. The Tuesday loss at Fenway (19-17) pushed everyone over the edge.

"We’ve been seeing the frustration of our everyday players," Ryan said, which was partly the reason he OK’d the firing of pitching coach Mark Connor and bullpen coach Dom Chiti two weeks ago. "We were hoping a change might make some kind of difference, but as much as anything it was also a message to our hitters that we were trying to do something."

Connor, of course, wasn’t the culprit. And neither is the guy who replaced him, Andy Hawkins.

Despite an almost historic run-production season, and a current record that is better than many of us thought we’d be seeing in mid-August, this is a month that has turned into pitching hell. There’s now nothing to suggest the final 40 games won’t be a bottoming-out process.

There isn’t one member of the rotation, young or old, who at the moment makes anyone think positive for next season. And on this staff, there are also about 10 rotation candidates. Despite the 10-run first inning in Boston, give some credit to Scott Feldman for his overall efforts this season. Eric Hurley also showed a little something before going on the disabled list, one of many to land there on what is the most gimpy staff in baseball.

Again, however, these young pitchers, including Matt Harrison and Tommy Hunter, have simply been rushed into the majors. Harrison has had some decent moments, but the expected inconsistencies have also surfaced.

Hark back to spring training, without anyone knowing at that time the bats would be this ballistic, and the No. 1 objective for 2008 was the development of young pitching and the revival of high-priced veterans Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla.

Is there any disagreement that it’s a grade of "F" on all counts? "F" for failure. "F" for frustration. And yes, that includes Padilla, who is missing yet another start this week due to yet another ailment.

Dallas Cowboys need Joe Avezzano

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:03 CDT

RANDY GALLOWAY

Nothing that happened last week in San Diego is worth a Dallas Cowboys overreaction, and Lord knows, I wouldn’t want to be a accused of such a thing. Not in early August. Not in this heat.

Overreacting is hard work. It causes sweat. If I want to sweat, I’ll tar and gravel a roof.

But since Jerry Jones brought it up ...

The most obvious yelp factor from exhibition game No. 1 came on special teams, as in coverage of punts and kickoffs, particularly punts. It was awful.

And as Mr. Jones pointed out in pointed postgame remarks, lack of adequate coverage last season was a negative for the Cowboys, and, in Jerry’s belief, it might have been the biggest factor in the playoff loss to the Giants.

"We have too many good athletes not to be good in this area," he added.

And for anyone who thinks special teams are merely a secondary component in a successful season, then you obviously skipped vital chapters when reading the Jimster football bible, and if you are guilty of that, then you are doomed to both hell and 12 years without winning a playoff game.

My ongoing reply to Jerry’s’ disappointment with STs continues to be this:

"OK. So where is Joe?"

That would be, of course, Joe Avezzano. Why is one of the best special teams coaches the NFL has had over the last two decades, and a guy who once spent 13 seasons coaching for the Cowboys, sitting on his butt locally?

Admittedly, this amazes me, and probably amazes Avezzano, although when I talked to him Wednesday, he certainly didn’t push the point, I assume out of respect for Bruce Read, a member of his special teams’ coaching fraternity.

Read kept his Cowboys’ job after last season. I was not alone in asking why that happened, and the topic came up again after Saturday night in San Diego, since the same problems surfaced from ’07. But after further research on the topic, this will not be a "fire Bruce Read now" rant.

In this league, you normally don’t win with subpar special teams, and while Jerry knows this, he allowed Phillips to retain Read in an off-season when there were massive staff changes mostly involving the exodus to Miami.

Just out of curiosity, calls were made this week to NFL people, asking about Read’s reputation. I didn’t hear a negative, outside of "low-key personality in a job where guys usually have a lot of fire in their tails."

If anything, the finger-pointing was aimed more at Phillips’ track record in his previous stops as a head coach. One guy bluntly said, "The longer Wade coaches there, the worse his teams [special teams] will be. I think you will see that."

OK, I can’t give you the numbers from Buffalo and Denver (didn’t do the research) to validate that statement, but the opinion came from an ST coach with outstanding credentials.

And as Avezzano always said, and did again Wednesday, his success with the Cowboys was in many ways a product of how much emphasis and practice field time his head coach gave him, starting with Jimmy Johnson. Certainly Jimmy was almost fanatical in this area, elevating Joe’s status to that of Norv Turner and Dave Wannstedt, his offensive and defensive coordinators.

Avezzano departed here when Bill Parcells arrived, and served two years on Turner’s staff at Oakland. He’s had the opportunity to return to the NFL, but is now trying to balance that kind of move with his business interests here, which includes two restaurant-bars, and regular appearances on local TV and radio during the football season.

When Phillips took over, it made sense that Wade would hire Joe, particularly since there was a history of friendship. Actually, I thought Jerry would order Joe’s hiring. But the "Coach Joe" persona, with Avezzano enjoying local celebrity status, apparently works against him these days, at least at Valley Ranch.

"Coach Joe" was merely a combined creation of the Monday Night Football cameras showing him on the sidelines, plus his outgoing personality on radio, TV and the sidelines, plus the Cowboys’ immense success in the early ’90s, plus the success of the area he coached.

Backups come up with case of the shorts for openers

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:48 CDT

RANDY GALLOWAY

SAN DIEGO — If nothing else, the Cowboys will at least put their pants on this week.

Going into full football uniform by Wednesday won’t be prompted by a dismal start to the exhibition season here Saturday night, and let it be stressed that the dismal description did not apply to most of the players who really matter.

In a brief appearance, Tony Romo and the offensive regulars were in snap, crackle and pop mode. Very sharp. But for Romo, it was only one series of action, resulting in a touchdown drive.

Otherwise, the Chargers hung up 24 first-half points on the way to a 31-17 victory, signifying nothing in the long run, but at the very least, Wade Phillips couldn’t have been pleased with many of the backups, young and old, that he and his staff wanted to see against a hostile opposition.

Norv Turner, the San Diego head coach, had vowed to have a tougher camp, and he said Friday "we’ve hammered on our guys pretty hard" the last couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, up north in Oxnard, the Cowboys spent most every practice in half uniform, going with shorts instead of football pants. But the team leaves California on Tuesday, and will be in Denver the next day to start three days of head-to-head workouts against the Broncos. In other words, real football, and football uniforms, are supposed to be in style again.

After what was observed Saturday night, let’s hold off on "roster depth" being a team strength, waiting on future preseason samples.

And without rushing to judgment, stop it for now with any Pacman Jones coronation theories. Good grief, Pac was awful, or maybe we can be kind and say Pac looked like a guy who hasn’t played competitive football in a long time.

In other words, Pacman Jones performed like a nobody named Adam Jones, beaten in coverage, juked on run stoppage, flagged for pass interference, and all this came against backups because defensive coordinator Brian Stewart kept him off the field against most of the San Diego starters.

Other negatives included rookie free agent Danny Amendola, who had caused a bit of a stir in camp, losing a fumble on a punt return. He won’t be making the team that way.

Plus, second-round pick Martellus Bennett looked timid while dropping a pass, and — honk if you’ve seen this before — the Cowboys still can’t cover punts, a joke holding over from a season ago.

As far as Brad Johnson is concerned, there will probably be renewed fan yelps for the Cowboys to upgrade at backup quarterback after what was observed Saturday night, but Johnson was mostly a victim of what he had for teammates.

Speaking of depth questions, that backup offensive line was a bit shaky for Brad, and this is an area that has caused some concern in camp. But Johnson and receiver Patrick Crayton, who had several nice catches, were also involved in a route mix-up in the second quarter, resulting in an easy pick and an eventual Chargers TD.

Looking for any positives from Saturday night?

Start with rookie Felix Jones, who was used as a hammer-time back once Marion Barber departed, and the kid held up fairly well. Felix provided some excitement with a 19-yard run, and then took a short pass and went 28 yards with it, and that is expected to be his specialty.

There are some in Cow camp who are privately predicting speedy Miles Austin will be the young receiver who becomes a playmaker. If so, Austin had a good start, albeit against backups.

But he made tough catches, beat coverage, and showed run-after-reception ability. Austin demonstrated why he has caught the attention of veteran players during the Oxnard workouts.

And while it’s early, don’t overlook April’s fourth-round pick, running back Tashard Choice. A glimpse of his ability came in the third quarter, particularly on a 19-yard run.

When it came to team depth, there was plenty of bad, and some good, in the exhibition opener. But all was right with Romo and Co., so hold the panic.

Cowboys need health and heads for a successful season

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:43 CDT

RANDY GALLOWAY

SAN DIEGO — It begins here tonight, a mere exhibition football game that kicks off the Cowboys’ most anticipated season in years. What separates 2008 from so many past failures will be legitimate anticipation.

This is a franchise, because of its high profile, because of an immense national love-hate dividing line, that traditionally becomes the most overrated team of summer.

But this time? The overall talent level is not about hype and hope. It’s about reality.

Not that what happens against the Chargers in exhibition contest No. 1 really matters, but as dependable center Andre Gurode pointed out this week in Oxnard, "It’s a game, the first game since the last game, and because of what happened in the last game, we need to take this one seriously. We need to take everything seriously."

Oh, yeah. That loss to the Giants in January; the sting lingers.

Beginning tonight and stretching into the winter months, two factors will decide the fate of these Cowboys:

Health and heads.

Gurode is one of those players who provides the proper mental perspective, and Joe Juraszek, the strength and conditioning coach, is one of those credited with a long run of, well, "luck" when it comes to a lack of serious injuries over the last few years.

In fact, the Cowboys wasted good fortune with injuries last season, and certainly the year before. Meanwhile, it’s a team that will be constantly reminded throughout the season about that nasty playoff record — no postseason wins in 12 years.

Health and heads. Can those two items mesh in a positive way?

Gurode: "There are two words that I don’t mention [Super Bowl]. We are not a team that needs to be pulled into that trap. Think instead about this trip to San Diego. Think about Cleveland [the regular-season opener in September.] There is no need to go beyond that."

Gurode spent many months "full of disgust" after the loss to the Giants. "There wasn’t a day you couldn’t think about it," he said.

But when training camp opened two weeks ago in Oxnard, "that was the time to get over it, let it go, and learn from it. We’re a good team. We know that. But we are also a team with so much to prove."

For the record, offensive line is considered a team strength, except in the second half against the Giants it was a group overwhelmed by the New York front seven.

Some have blamed the game plan of heavy running in the first half, which was successful. But down the stretch, with the game on the line, the run wasn’t there, and the pass protection also broke down.

"That’s a loaded question," said Gurode, laughing, when asked about the game plan. "But in the end, it comes down to us. If we want to establish the run, do it. If we want to establish the pass, do it. And our job is to do it throughout the game.

"The mental attitude, and the mental toughness, is what we’ve got to display this season. That, and physical toughness. But we’ve got to keep our heads right."

And then comes the health factor.

When a key element like cornerback Terence Newman went down early in training camp with a groin injury, it wasn’t a good sign.

"But it was also something that could have kept Newman out for a long time, maybe even for the season," said Juraszek. "Except Newman is one of the most dedicated workout guys we have. Because of his commitment to the program year-round, and because our trainers [led by Jim Maurer and Britt Brown] are so good at rehab, we’ll get Terence back quickly."