Posted on Fri, Aug. 29, 2008

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

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Randy Galloway

• Brandt’s Dallas Cowboys would have harnessed Lightnin’ Bolt
• Dallas Cowboys have the talent, but what will they do with it?
• For whatever it’s worth, Cowboys did 'turn it on’
• Dallas Cowboys lose their race for TV viewers — to a swimmer
• Forget the Cowboys and tune into the Olympics
• Will Nolan Ryan shake up the Texas Rangers in 2009?
• Dallas Cowboys need Joe Avezzano
• Backups come up with case of the shorts for openers
• Cowboys need health and heads for a successful season
• Dallas Cowboys training camp observations
• Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys matter again
• Dallas Cowboys still in search of receiver to complement Terrell Owens
• It’s all cool now for the Dallas Cowboys, but wait until January
• Texas Rangers’ front office still a puzzling group
• Nolan, start the No-nonsense express
• Half the job's done for the Rangers
• 'Shut up' is hard lesson Mavs’ Howard has to learn
• Texas Rangers weigh their options for the July trade deadline
• Dallas Cowboys begin vacation with optimism toward ’08

» More

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S-T/SHARON M. STEINMAN

Ex-Tarleton State quarterback Richard Bartel played well enough Thursday to warrant a look from NFL teams. S-T/SHARON M. STEINMAN

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• Cowboys vs. Vikings Preseason
• 'Pacman’ Jones reinstated, but now Hurd hurt
• Pacman Jones talks about his reinstatement
• Cowboys' receiving corps takes another hit
• Cowboys acquire guard who could fill Kosier's spot
• Randy Galloway: Forget Thursday night, let’s look ahead

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.

Offensive line depth was considered a weakness, but when did it get bad enough to force a Thursday trade?

The way I heard it in Oxnard, the Cowboys could adjust for the injury loss of guard Kyle Kosier, but absolutely no other starter up front.

So, Kosier went down last week with a damaged foot, and might miss a month. The Cowboys plugged in for two days of practice, then wasted no time in sending a fifth-round pick in 2010 to Denver for guard Montrae Holland, who had lost his starting job, apparently over weight issues.

When "in shape" Holland distributes 325 pounds over a 6-foot-2 frame, a ratio not recommended by the surgeon general. In Denver, he was said to be up around 340.

Montrae has been a proven player, and between the Broncos and his former team, the Saints, he’s started plenty of games. Plus, new-old offensive line coach Hudson Houck loves guys with a bubble butt. Hud found himself the backend of an 18-wheeler here.

Now, I’m attempting to find that knucklehead who told me in Oxnard there would be no sweat if Kosier went out. Sorry, Kyle, for the misinformation.

Day two of Keith Davis being on the NFL street, and the Cowboys still haven’t re-signed the special teams’ coverage ace. Sources say the club is "gathering all the facts" on why Big Bill wanted Davis gone in Miami.

But it wasn’t for murder and it wasn’t for drugs (I watch The First 48 and have seen nothing from Miami involving Davis), so who the heck cares what Bill was thinking? What’s this, the Cowboys, of all teams, suddenly being picky?

Come on home, Keith. They need you at Valley Ranch.

Randy Galloway can be heard 3-6 p.m. weekdays on Galloway & Co. on ESPN/103.3 FM.