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It’s Time to Name These ‘Boys Sue

October 20, 2008

“And he said: ‘Son, this world is rough,
And if a man’s gonna make it, he’s got to be tough,
And I knew I wouldn’t be there to help you along.
So I give you that name and I said goodbye,
I knew you’d have to get tough or die…”

– Johnny Cash, A Boy Named Sue

Rams 34, Cowboys 14.

We’re angry.  We’re indignant.  We’re embarrassed. But we’re Cowboys’ fans.  Let’s not pretend we’ve never seen this before:

  • 1970, week 9 — Cardinals 38, Cowboys 0.  A second consecutive loss that drops the ‘Pokes to 5-4;
  • 1971, week 7 — Bears 23, Cowboys 19.  A loss to a weak Bears team in the infamous QB rotation game leaves Dallas 4-3.
  • 1978, week 10 — Dolphins 23, Cowboys 16.  A second consecutive loss, this one in dreaded Miami, where Tom Landry always lost, drops the Cowboys to 6-4.
  • 1981, week 6 — 49ers 45, Cowboys 14.  A second consecutive loss drops Dallas to 4-2 after a 4-0 start.
  • 1992, week 5 — Eagles 31, Cowboys 7.  Dallas comes out of its bye week and gets thrashed on a Monday Night in Philly.
  • 1995, week 15 — Eagles 20, Cowboys 17.  Dallas loses its second in a row and third in five weeks in the infamous 4th-and-1-x-2 game.  Their record is 10-4 but they’re being written off as yesterday’s champs, done in by Jerry’s meddling and Barry’s ineptitude.

Every one of these teams made it to the conference championship game.  Five of them made it to the Super Bowl.  Three of them won it.

I’m sure most of the Max Mercys in the press corps are writing about a coaching change today.  I’m sure if they were around in ‘70 they would have been calling for Tom’s head too.  Some of them were around in ‘95 and I know they wanted Barry axed immediately.   Don’t be led along.  You might want Wade Phillips and a couple of assistants fired too.  He might deserve to be fired.  But it’s not going to happen now.  When did a mid-season firing ever send a team on a tear?

This year’s team will have to look within itself, as these other Cowboys teams did.  It will have to draw on the devotion and camaraderie voiced by Nate Newton in the Philly locker room after that embarrassing ‘95 loss, when he said, “there’s too much love in this locker room for us to turn on each other.”

We’re going to learn how much these guys love each other, and how much they really trust each other.  Because today, each other is all they got.

So in the spirit of helping, and because I need to laugh to keep from grinding my teeth to the gums, I’m going to do my small part.  I will henceforth refer to the ‘08 team as “the ‘Boys Named Sue.”

They’ll either get tough or die.

Written by Rafael Vela · Filed Under Games | 128 Comments 

Trading Black Hats for White Ones — Or Not?

July 24, 2008

Duane Thomas once commented that the Dallas Cowboys have never won anything without controversy. Thomas of course generated his fair share of it, but he has a point. Let’s look at some of the Cowboys’ championship seasons and consider the distractions that accompanied each one:

1971 — 1970 Rookie of the Year Thomas is traded during the preseason, has his trade to New England reversed after a bustup with Pats’ coach John Mazur, returns and then plays the season without speaking to his teammates. Meanwhile, Tom Landry employs a quarterback rotation system, which craters in week seven when he alternates Roger Staubach and Craig Morton on each offensive play in an embarrassing loss to a bad Chicago Bears team.

The offense settles down after Staubach is named the starter and the Cowboys run the table.

1993 — The Cowboys have little time to celebrate their third title before Emmitt Smith and Jerry Jones stage a contract showdown. Smith holds out and Dallas stumbes into the season with two losses. The team settles down and swaggers through the playoffs, though it has to overcome several key injuries, namely Mark Stepnoski’s ACL tear, Smith’s separated shoulder and Troy Aikman’s concussion, which wipes out his memory of the Super Bowl.

Simmering beneath the surface is the rift between Jones and Jimmy Johnson, which erupts almost immediately after they accept their second Lombardi trophy. Jimmy clumsily dodges a question in the locker room about his readiness to pursue a third consecutive title and days later mocks Jones on The Tonight Show. The J.J.s part shortly thereafter.

1995 — Dallas pursues it’s third title of the Jones era with the widely-despised Barry Switzer at the helm. Jones picks a fight with the league over sponsorship deals and is served with a lawsuit during a league meeting. The Cowboys are ripped for “buying a title” after they outbid San Francisco for Deion Sanders’ services. The cries for Switzer’s dismissal peak after his two 4th-and-1 gambles fail in Philadelphia. When Dallas beats the Steelers in the Super Bowl the sighs of relief are as loud as the cheers.

It seems the Cowboys require discord to fuel their title runs. Perhaps that’s why the Terry Glenn tiff feels like home; I’d be far more worried if everything were hunky dory.

I think many Cowboys fans feel the same way. One character trait I’ve noticed in the three plus years of running this site is that the Cowboys nation cannot exist without creating villains on their own team.

Look at the Parcells years. Drew Bledsoe was always the instant scapegoat, even when losses were not directly his fault. More recently, Julius Jones served as a whipping boy for the fans.

Even today, with the Cowboys coming off a 13-3 season, there are several black hats riding in the posse. I give you the Cowboys you love to hate, ‘08 edition:

  • Roy Williams
  • Terry Glenn
  • Marcus Spears
  • Bobby Carpenter

and give you these potential baddies:

  • Wade Phillips
  • Tony Romo
  • Anthony Henry
  • Adam Jones
  • Tank Johnson

a former black hat gone straight:

  • Flozell Adams

and these wild cards:

  • Greg Ellis
  • Terrell Owens

Too much controversy? Too many loose cannons? From my perspective, the blend looks great. The Cowboys thrive on crazy and Jerry has done his best the past two years to raise the instability quotient. Outsiders may deride his gambles on T.O. and the former Pacman Jones but team history suggests he’s right where he needs to be.

Written by Rafael Vela · Filed Under General, Previews | 47 Comments 

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