- Messages
- 5,432
- Reaction score
- 0
Cowboys' No. 1 problem is that they're mis-general-managed
Posted Monday, Sep. 20, 2010
By Jennifer Floyd Engel
jenfloyd@ star-telegram.com
IRVING -- Forget overhyped, or undercoached.
Both apply at Valley Ranch. Have for a long time.
What this 0-2 start suggests is The Cowboys are in danger of venturing into total disarray, a dysfunctional mess of an organization in September.
And that, my friends, is a sign of being mis-general-managed.
I have covered the Cowboys for years, operating under the assumption that Jerry Jones is a great owner who periodically makes dumb football decisions. What I am starting to believe is Jerry's problem is not that he does not know what to do. Jerry's problem is he is unwilling to do it.
The Cowboys have big-time issues, all hanging out for everybody to see in a 27-20 loss to Chicago. And whatever your particular problem is with this team -- play calling by The Redheaded Genius, Coach Wade on general principle, boneheaded penalties, lack of accountability by the highest-paid players, et al. -- I promise you, Jerry has the ability to solve it. Too bad he seems more interested in two things and two things only: Hyping it and selling you tickets to it.
Nothing wrong with making money. I also like money.
But there is a right way to do things in the NFL, and the Cowboys are doing it wrong. The evidence is plastered all over Sundays and playoff games and going on years of a whole lot of talent producing a whole lot of nothing.
I had an argument with Mr. Randy about this Monday. His point: That is just part of the deal when you come to Dallas. Get ready for the circus, with Jerry as ring leader.
OK, if that is the case, then we all need to stop acting so surprised when the team looks like clowns on Sunday. What you allow becomes who you are.
And what the Cowboys are is a team lacking focus on what matters, a fact a couple of players hinted about Monday.
"I don't know. Nah. I don't even want to speak on it. I don't want to speak on what I see," Cowboys safety Gerald Sensabaugh said. "Like I said, we have a good team. We should be winning. There's no excuse for this. We need to be focused as a team and organization on winning football games. Put it on that. Write that."
Two words should stick out: And organization.
The tendency will be to get mad at Sensabaugh. That is what we do here; kill the messenger, especially if he speaks the truth. I almost guarantee somebody will say "He needs to shut his mouth and make plays" and ignore the fact that it would have been easier for him to hide in the training room like a lot of his teammates.
But it is about winning for him, and so he delicately -- and only after being pestered for 20 minutes -- tried to say what he thinks might help this team.
This is not a guy making excuses, or ducking (and you have a lot of both in this Cowboys locker room). He put this square on players. Make plays. Quit waiting for a speech or a team meeting to get you to do what you should be doing anyway.
Be better. Be accountable.
And if you had 53 Sensabaughs, you could survive the circus. If you had a real coach, you might be able to survive the circus. What you have is Coach Wade, who -- two games into this train wreck -- still refuses to hold any players accountable, and fake leaders like Marion Barber, who take Wade's timidity as proof that everything is all good. And there are a lot of Marion Barbers in that locker room who actually believe this will be good enough to have them playing in Arlington in February
And I am guilty, too, hyping Super Bowl.
"I think it's too much hype around here, you know what I mean?" Sensabaugh said. "The Super Bowl is here. Everybody's talking about the Cowboys in the Super Bowl. We ain't won a damn game yet....I'm tired of hearing about the damn Super Bowl. I don't care where it's at."
Uh-oh, don't let Jerry hear you say that.
He apparently got all cranky in Sunday's postgame locker room when told that Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman had questioned player intensity in practices. Coach Wade, of course, answered that practices are good except for Friday, which was, well, awful.
The Cowboys had four practices last week. Where were the Cowboys for two of them? At JerryWorld where anybody willing to pay $27.50 had access.
This is not why they lost to the Bears. This is merely a symptom.
If you had a coach with a spine, he would tell Jerry where he could stick his pay-for-view practices. But we have Coach Wade who finally got angry Monday, not at Jerry, not at his players, but at a reporter who had the temerity to ask how he could say his team was disciplined in light of all the stupid penalties.
"I don't like your line of questioning," he barked.
Of all the things not to like about the previous 24 hours, the pooch kick, the coverage breakdown on Greg Olsen's touchdown, Tony Romo's lackluster day and on and on and he is mad about the line of questioning. So very typical.
All that said, I have a bold prediction for you.
Mark it down: The Cowboys will win Sunday.
It is going to be just like a year ago against New Orleans, when everybody had left them for dead. My guess is Romo leads them again. And therein lies the biggest problem with this team: The Cowboys are good enough.
To win in Houston.
To win in the playoffs.
To reach a Super Bowl.
Why they do not or have not is not because they are overhyped, or undercoached, but rather because they are mis-general-managed. And I promise you, if Jerry Jones wanted to, he could solve it.
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/0...ped-undercoached-how-about.html#ixzz10A3vCPRD
Posted Monday, Sep. 20, 2010
By Jennifer Floyd Engel
jenfloyd@ star-telegram.com
IRVING -- Forget overhyped, or undercoached.
Both apply at Valley Ranch. Have for a long time.
What this 0-2 start suggests is The Cowboys are in danger of venturing into total disarray, a dysfunctional mess of an organization in September.
And that, my friends, is a sign of being mis-general-managed.
I have covered the Cowboys for years, operating under the assumption that Jerry Jones is a great owner who periodically makes dumb football decisions. What I am starting to believe is Jerry's problem is not that he does not know what to do. Jerry's problem is he is unwilling to do it.
The Cowboys have big-time issues, all hanging out for everybody to see in a 27-20 loss to Chicago. And whatever your particular problem is with this team -- play calling by The Redheaded Genius, Coach Wade on general principle, boneheaded penalties, lack of accountability by the highest-paid players, et al. -- I promise you, Jerry has the ability to solve it. Too bad he seems more interested in two things and two things only: Hyping it and selling you tickets to it.
Nothing wrong with making money. I also like money.
But there is a right way to do things in the NFL, and the Cowboys are doing it wrong. The evidence is plastered all over Sundays and playoff games and going on years of a whole lot of talent producing a whole lot of nothing.
I had an argument with Mr. Randy about this Monday. His point: That is just part of the deal when you come to Dallas. Get ready for the circus, with Jerry as ring leader.
OK, if that is the case, then we all need to stop acting so surprised when the team looks like clowns on Sunday. What you allow becomes who you are.
And what the Cowboys are is a team lacking focus on what matters, a fact a couple of players hinted about Monday.
"I don't know. Nah. I don't even want to speak on it. I don't want to speak on what I see," Cowboys safety Gerald Sensabaugh said. "Like I said, we have a good team. We should be winning. There's no excuse for this. We need to be focused as a team and organization on winning football games. Put it on that. Write that."
Two words should stick out: And organization.
The tendency will be to get mad at Sensabaugh. That is what we do here; kill the messenger, especially if he speaks the truth. I almost guarantee somebody will say "He needs to shut his mouth and make plays" and ignore the fact that it would have been easier for him to hide in the training room like a lot of his teammates.
But it is about winning for him, and so he delicately -- and only after being pestered for 20 minutes -- tried to say what he thinks might help this team.
This is not a guy making excuses, or ducking (and you have a lot of both in this Cowboys locker room). He put this square on players. Make plays. Quit waiting for a speech or a team meeting to get you to do what you should be doing anyway.
Be better. Be accountable.
And if you had 53 Sensabaughs, you could survive the circus. If you had a real coach, you might be able to survive the circus. What you have is Coach Wade, who -- two games into this train wreck -- still refuses to hold any players accountable, and fake leaders like Marion Barber, who take Wade's timidity as proof that everything is all good. And there are a lot of Marion Barbers in that locker room who actually believe this will be good enough to have them playing in Arlington in February
And I am guilty, too, hyping Super Bowl.
"I think it's too much hype around here, you know what I mean?" Sensabaugh said. "The Super Bowl is here. Everybody's talking about the Cowboys in the Super Bowl. We ain't won a damn game yet....I'm tired of hearing about the damn Super Bowl. I don't care where it's at."
Uh-oh, don't let Jerry hear you say that.
He apparently got all cranky in Sunday's postgame locker room when told that Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman had questioned player intensity in practices. Coach Wade, of course, answered that practices are good except for Friday, which was, well, awful.
The Cowboys had four practices last week. Where were the Cowboys for two of them? At JerryWorld where anybody willing to pay $27.50 had access.
This is not why they lost to the Bears. This is merely a symptom.
If you had a coach with a spine, he would tell Jerry where he could stick his pay-for-view practices. But we have Coach Wade who finally got angry Monday, not at Jerry, not at his players, but at a reporter who had the temerity to ask how he could say his team was disciplined in light of all the stupid penalties.
"I don't like your line of questioning," he barked.
Of all the things not to like about the previous 24 hours, the pooch kick, the coverage breakdown on Greg Olsen's touchdown, Tony Romo's lackluster day and on and on and he is mad about the line of questioning. So very typical.
All that said, I have a bold prediction for you.
Mark it down: The Cowboys will win Sunday.
It is going to be just like a year ago against New Orleans, when everybody had left them for dead. My guess is Romo leads them again. And therein lies the biggest problem with this team: The Cowboys are good enough.
To win in Houston.
To win in the playoffs.
To reach a Super Bowl.
Why they do not or have not is not because they are overhyped, or undercoached, but rather because they are mis-general-managed. And I promise you, if Jerry Jones wanted to, he could solve it.
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/0...ped-undercoached-how-about.html#ixzz10A3vCPRD
. He was that sure there spies for other teams watching them. 
