■
How do the Dallas Cowboys break the 8-8 trend of the last few years?
“They need to win nine. That’d break the 8-8 streak. I honestly believe what they need to do is run the football. They need to be balanced. The Cowboys have not shown a balanced attack in terms of running the football since Julius Jones left. Ever since that time, they have left the running game alone. They probably don’t run the football more than 20 times, maybe, a game. And that’s going to be dispersed amongst various people. That’s not the number that they need to be targeting. They need to go back and look at what we used to do in the ’90s, what they did in the late ’70s and early ’80s and find that balance. They need to look at teams that have won a lot of championships, like the Pittsburgh Steelers for example. Consistently they run the football and they are very balanced. The Baltimore Ravens, very balanced. The Seattle Seahawks, very, very balanced. The 49ers are a very balanced football team. If the Cowboys truly want to turn this ship around, that’s what they need to do. If they don’t do that, I don’t know if we can expect anything any greater than what we’ve seen in the past five years.”
■
There are fewer marquee running backs in the NFL than in the past. Why do you think that is?
“The thought process is utilizing your marquee guys, or throwing the football because the league has set up some rules that would afford the offense to take advantage of pass interference situations. Just because the rules are set up that way, doesn’t mean you need to do that. Teams like Seattle ain’t thinking about that, they just take advantage of what they do best. They run the football well, they throw the football effectively, and if they get a pass interference they do what they do best. They stick to their gameplan. They don’t flop, they take advantage of what they do best.
Some might say the Cowboys throw the football best. I beg to differ. Until you show that you can run the football, which comes with a commitment from the offensive coordinators, and there are plenty of them on the staff. The linemen themselves are looking for that commitment. If you tell the offensive line and running back corps that you are going to run the football and are committed to running the football, and you abandon it when something goes wrong, you’ve just lost the confidence of the whole offensive line. Offensive linemen, in my opinion, are tired of catching. Pass blocking is fun for somebody, and it’s not the offensive line. It’s fun for the defensive linemen because they get the chance to tee off on every offensive linemen on every play. Offensive linemen want a chance to tee off on the defense, and the only way you do that is by running at them. You take that out of their hand then you neutralize their power. You neutralize the ability to wear and tear on somebody for three quarters, then in the fourth quarter really steam roll them. That’s the philosophy I grew up in, that’s the philosophy I’ve seen a lot of success in and that’s the one that I believe has a proven track record for success.”
■ Are the Cowboys making an attempt to commit to the run with so many offensive line picks in the last few years?
“I think they are trying to get to that place. Now they just need to have that commitment to the guys up front and allow the running backs to do what they do naturally. If they do that, play action will open up, down the field passes will open up. You will keep the defense offbalance. Tony Romo will probably stand upright a lot more. You’d probably reduce a lot of the turnover situations. I think the defensive linemen would get better. Physically in practice you get to work against each other. Physical toughness develops in that way. I must say this though: The league itself has changed. Practice schedules have changed. The way they prepare themselves is different than what it was in the ’80s and ’90s. Intensity and games and intensity in practices are two different things.
