Thanksgiving: The Perfect Time For Jason Garrett Heroics

Dateline Thanksgiving Day, 1994 – The Dallas Cowboys staggered into the holiday match-up with the Green Bay Packers—a team they had owned throughout the ’90s—battered and beaten.

A worried Cowboys nation nervously gnawed Turkey legs and anxiously awaited the afternoon kickoff, sure this would not go well. After all, Cowboys hall of fame-bound quarterback Troy Aikman was injured and would not play. To make matters worse, the more-than-capable backup QB Rodney Peete was hurt, as well.

The Cowboys were down to their third string quarterback, a redhead named Jason Garrett. Everyone knew Garrett had the grey matter to play the position. We also knew he lacked the natural physical gifts of a frontline quarterback. With Favre leading his Packers into Texas stadium, it figured to be a long day for the silver and blue.

What it figured to be and what it was turned out to be were two very different things.

The game started just as one would expect. The Cowboys stumbled out of the gate with Garrett at the helm. By halftime, the Packers had established a pretty comfortable 17-6 lead over a team that didn’t look like they were up for putting up much of a second half fight. Just get it over with and get to the turkey and dressing.

But Jason Garrett had other ideas.

Garrett connected on a 45-yard touchdown to Alvin Harper. Then, he threw a 36-yard TD to Michael Irvin. Later, he hit Emmitt Smith, who turned the pass into a 63 yard gain that led to another touchdown.

The Cowboys scored on their first five second half drives. Garrett out-dueled the great Brett Favre, passing for 311 yards and two TDs. And the Cowboys won what would become a classic Thanksgiving Day game, 42-31.

That game changed the perception of the ruddy redhead with the big brain and the somewhat slight frame. He became a folk hero, a fan favorite. Then, years later, as the Cowboys offensive coordinator, in the 2007 season, he became the hottest commodity in the NFL, after helping to guide the Cowboys to a 13-3 record with his high-powered offense.

My, how times have changed. The genius tag has been pulled and replaced by the “What the @#$%! is he thinking” tag.

Jason Garrett changed the perception of a team and their fan base once upon a Thanksgiving. Can he do it again? The table is set. The turkey has come all the way from the west coast, freshly plucked, gutted, ready to baste and bake.

Come on, Jason. Light that oven. Cook this turkey’s goose. Be our Thanksgiving hero again.

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Dallas Cowboys Versus Washington Redskins: A Rivalry For The Aged

There was a time when the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins comprised one of the NFL’s fiercest and most notable rivalries. All of the cliches about “throw the records out the window when these two hook up” really did apply.

There was no love lost between the teams. Cowboys players like Staubach and Lilly really did despise those Redskins. The coaches didn’t like them either. And the feeling was mutual. It was, most fans thought, a rivalry for the ages.

Great stories exist between the two franchises, stories that date back to the very birth of the Dallas Cowboys. While original Cowboys’ owner Clint Murchison was trying to bring the NFL to Dallas, he bought the rights to the Redskins’ anthem, “Hail to the Redskins.” Murchison threatened to prevent the Redskins from using the song unless Redskins’ owner, George Preston Marshall agreed to back Murchison’s bid to land an NFL franchise. Marshall agreed to back the bid and Murchison returned the rights to the song to Marshall.

Then there was the flap over the original NFL “spy gate.” Before George Allen became the head coach of the Redskins, he was with the Los Angeles Rams. Dallas Cowboys’ General manager Tex Schramm claimed that Allen had sent his head scout to spy on a Cowboys’ practice. Schramm even filed an official complaint with the league that never went anywhere.

The unflappable Allen countered by claiming they had spotted Cowboys’ scout Frank “Bucko” Kilroy spying on their practice from the limb of a Eucalyptus tree. Kilroy was a 300 pounder. It was a good joke on Schramm and his Cowboys and it would later serve to fuel the Cowboys-Redskins rivalry when Allen was named the ‘Skins head coach.

Then there was those classic games. From Clint Longley’s incredible comeback victory over the Redskins on Thanksgiving Day, 1974 to Staubach’s miraculous fourth quarter comeback victory in 1979 (final score: 35-34), Cowboys fans have many fond memories of this storied rivalry.

But so do Redskins’ fans. In the 1972 NFC Championship Game, the Redskins defeated the Cowboys, earning the right to play Miami in the Super Bowl. The Redskins would win their first Lombardi trophy that year.

The two teams have combined for 31 NFC East division titles and eight Super Bowl victories. Yes, it is a rivalry for the ages.

Or is it?

These days, it seems it is mostly just a rivalry for the aged. Only those fans with enough snow on the roof to remember the glories of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s can really appreciate the significance of Cowboys-Redskins.

For the Dallas Cowboys fan, the Redskins today are but a blip on the radar. Much more angst and ire are reserved for the hated Filthadelphia Eagles and the New York Giant-Pains-In-The-Arse. Those teams, year in and year out, represent a genuine threat to ruin any Cowboys’ hopes of winning the division.

The reason for the shift, one might think, is simple enough. The two teams just aren’t what they were. Neither the Cowboys nor the Redskins have fielded legitimate Super Bowl contending teams in a decade or more. When one has been decent, the other has been horrid. Just simple math.

Mere win-loss records, however, are not enough by themselves to shoot a good rivalry in the foot. It takes more. And we got it.

For the Cowboys fan, the trouble started when the Redskins hired Joe Gibbs. Here is the likable, upstanding, Christian coach who does everything the right way and never stirs the pot of controversy with ridiculous claims or incendiary remarks. Now, how is the Cowboy nation supposed to hate a man who reminds them so much of their beloved Tom Landry?

Then, there is that thing that has diluted all NFL rivalries: Namely, Free Agency. Gone are the days when players spent their entire careers with the same team and played twice per year against the same divisional rivals. The players and coaches could really build up some animosity.

Not now. It’s just laundry. You play against the same uniforms every year (well, sort of; they are subject to frequent changes, too), but not the same team.

It isn’t just a problem of player movement, though. It is also the coaching carousel. The Cowboys had one coach patrolling the sideline for 28 years. In the last 20 years, they have had six. Not even the coaches have enough time to get really tired of losing to the same team every year.

So, when the Cowboys and Redskins line up against each other today, it won’t be to renew a rivalry. They will just be getting acquainted.

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Is Wade Phillips the Dallas Cowboys Head Coach? Does it Matter?

“Everything rises and falls on leadership.”

I do not know who first said that. I first heard it from a preacher named Lee Roberson, back in the ’70s. Then, John Maxwell popularized it in more recent memory. Whoever said it, said it right.

All you can really add to it is, “Amen.”

The Dallas Cowboys are a team in desperate need of a leader. Plenty of players have emerged as positive locker room and field leaders, not the least of which is Keith Brooking. But the dearth of leadership on the sideline is ominous and distressing to the Cowboys faithful.

Last weekend, before the Green Bay game, my wife and I went to dinner with her parents. For my father-in-law and me, the subject turned, as it often does, to the Dallas Cowboys. We were talking about this very subject: the dreadful state of the head coaching position.

Coming off that huge win in Philly, my father-in-law was optimistic and hopeful.

“You know, Gene,” he said, “They don’t really have a head coach. They have an offensive and a defensive coordinator.”

I said that they do have a head coach. His name is Jerry.

He agreed.

He said he thought the team was mature enough and had enough team leaders to compensate for Wade Phillips’ lack of leadership. I said I hoped he was right, but I rather doubted it.

After Sunday’s debacle, he called and said, “I was wrong.”

Now, I do think he is right about being wrong. But I wish he wasn’t.

All of this got me thinking. I wondered who were the worst coaches ever to win a Super Bowl? I thought I would list the five worst Super Bowl winning coaches of all time.

That is a tough assignment. I only came up with two candidates I felt worthy to fill the five slots. But I will fill them anyway.

Don McCafferty won Super Bowl V with the Baltimore Colts. He only served as a head coach in the league for four years, posting a 28-17-2 record (a .600 winning percentage). Baltimore fired him five games into the 1972 season, just two years after he won his ring. His team was 1-4 at the time of his firing.

Barry Switzer is number two on my list, but could get serious consideration for number one. The legendary coach of the Oklahoma Sooners may have proved Jerry Jones right when Jones said, “Any of 500 coaches could have won a Super Bowl with this team.”

Jones said that as he was firing Jimmy Johnson. Barry won Super Bowl XXX with the Cowboys. He was fired by Jones two years later, after his team went 6-10. Switzer’s record as a head coach: 40-24 (a .630 winning percentage).

Brian Billick coached the Baltimore Ravens from 1999 – 2007. He posted four winning seasons and won Super Bowl XXXV. He also built one of the league’s all-time best defenses, with more than a little help from one Ray Lewis. He had a record of 80-64 (a .560 winning percentage).

Mike Ditka posted a winning record in seven of his 14 years as a head coach. His Chicago Bears destroyed New England in Super Bowl XX, 46-10 on the strength of one of the greatest defenses ever to take an NFL field. Ditka’s record as a head coach was 121-95 (a .560 winning percentage).

Jon Gruden won Super Bowl XXXVII with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 11 years coaching the Raiders and Bucs, he posted a 95-81 record.

As you can see, even a list of the “weakest” Super Bowl-winning coaches gets pretty strong after you get past those first two slots. I doubt many would call Billick, Ditka, or Gruden “bad” head coaches.

So how does Phillips measure up? Through the 2009 season, he had posted a 76-52 regular season record (a .594 winning percentage). The rub comes, however, in the post-season, where he is 0-4.

The problem with Wade Phillips is not his regular season coaching record. The problem is his laissez-faire approach to leadership. The problem is his penchant for over-celebrating minor victories and down-playing major losses. The problem is his tendency to become defensive, when he should become determined. The problem is that he is not now, nor has he ever been, the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

I just don’t see any way for that not to matter.

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Is Wade Phillips the Dallas Cowboys Head Coach? Does it Matter?

“Everything rises and falls on leadership.”

I do not know who first said that. I first heard it from a preacher named Lee Roberson, back in the ’70s. Then, John Maxwell popularized it in more recent memory. Whoever said it, said it right.

All you can really add to it is, “Amen.”

The Dallas Cowboys are a team in desperate need of a leader. Plenty of players have emerged as positive locker room and field leaders, not the least of which is Keith Brooking. But the dearth of leadership on the sideline is ominous and distressing to the Cowboys faithful.

Last weekend, before the Green Bay game, my wife and I went to dinner with her parents. For my father-in-law and me, the subject turned, as it often does, to the Dallas Cowboys. We were talking about this very subject: the dreadful state of the head coaching position.

Coming off that huge win in Philly, my father-in-law was optimistic and hopeful.

“You know, Gene,” he said, “They don’t really have a head coach. They have an offensive and a defensive coordinator.”

I said that they do have a head coach. His name is Jerry.

He agreed.

He said he thought the team was mature enough and had enough team leaders to compensate for Wade Phillips’ lack of leadership. I said I hoped he was right, but I rather doubted it.

After Sunday’s debacle, he called and said, “I was wrong.”

Now, I do think he is right about being wrong. But I wish he wasn’t.

All of this got me thinking. I wondered who were the worst coaches ever to win a Super Bowl? I thought I would list the five worst Super Bowl winning coaches of all time.

That is a tough assignment. I only came up with two candidates I felt worthy to fill the five slots. But I will fill them anyway.

Don McCafferty won Super Bowl V with the Baltimore Colts. He only served as a head coach in the league for four years, posting a 28-17-2 record (a .600 winning percentage). Baltimore fired him five games into the 1972 season, just two years after he won his ring. His team was 1-4 at the time of his firing.

Barry Switzer is number two on my list, but could get serious consideration for number one. The legendary coach of the Oklahoma Sooners may have proved Jerry Jones right when Jones said, “Any of 500 coaches could have won a Super Bowl with this team.”

Jones said that as he was firing Jimmy Johnson. Barry won Super Bowl XXX with the Cowboys. He was fired by Jones two years later, after his team went 6-10. Switzer’s record as a head coach: 40-24 (a .630 winning percentage).

Brian Billick coached the Baltimore Ravens from 1999 – 2007. He posted four winning seasons and won Super Bowl XXXV. He also built one of the league’s all-time best defenses, with more than a little help from one Ray Lewis. He had a record of 80-64 (a .560 winning percentage).

Mike Ditka posted a winning record in seven of his 14 years as a head coach. His Chicago Bears destroyed New England in Super Bowl XX, 46-10 on the strength of one of the greatest defenses ever to take an NFL field. Ditka’s record as a head coach was 121-95 (a .560 winning percentage).

Jon Gruden won Super Bowl XXXVII with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 11 years coaching the Raiders and Bucs, he posted a 95-81 record.

As you can see, even a list of the “weakest” Super Bowl-winning coaches gets pretty strong after you get past those first two slots. I doubt many would call Billick, Ditka, or Gruden “bad” head coaches.

So how does Phillips measure up? Through the 2009 season, he had posted a 76-52 regular season record (a .594 winning percentage). The rub comes, however, in the post-season, where he is 0-4.

The problem with Wade Phillips is not his regular season coaching record. The problem is his laissez-faire approach to leadership. The problem is his penchant for over-celebrating minor victories and down-playing major losses. The problem is his tendency to become defensive, when he should become determined. The problem is that he is not now, nor has he ever been, the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

I just don’t see any way for that not to matter.

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Twenty Years Of Jerry Jones and His Dallas Cowboys, A Retrospective

Jerry Jones and the Way We Were

Can it already be 20 years? Is it really possible that it was two whole decades ago that Jerry Jones informed the disbelieving Dallas Cowboys nation that he would be involved in (and in charge of) everything regarding the team, right down to the “socks and jocks?”

It has not been easy for old school Cowboys fans to accept the brash, swashbuckling, micro-managing owner’s ways. This isn’t the way we were taught a successful team was built and managed.

Clint Murchison, the beloved and long-since passed original owner of the Cowboys, the man who gave the team life and then entrusted it to the tender loving care of Tex Schramm and Tom Landry, was the antithesis of Jerry Jones. Murchison loved football, obviously, but never fancied himself a football man. Instead, he identified a man with a personality as big as the state after which he was named and a reputation for knowing the game, hired him and gave him the reins.

Schramm immediately went after the young defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, a man known for his steady ways and extraordinary football acumen, a man destined to become one of the NFL’s most recognized and recognizable figures, the Fedora-wearing, sharp-dressing, seldom-smiling, franchise cornerstone, Tom Landry.

Together, Murchison, Shcramm, and Landry carved out a legacy. They built what would become one of the NFL’s flagship franchises, a team that NFL films would one day dub “America’s Team;” and then along came Jones (Of course, there was the Bum Bright interlude, but it is hardly worth remembering, so we will just pretend it wasn’t there, for argument’s sake).

Jerry Jones and His Coaching Carousel Versus Clint Murchison, Tex Schramm, and Tom Landry

Twenty years is long enough for Jones to have established a legacy. Since Murchison only owned the team four years longer than Jones has at this point, it is not too early or unreasonable to compare eras and try to answer the nagging question: which was better?

Old timers will answer without reading another word, “Of course the Murchison years were better! Jones is a total idiot. He couldn’t carry Murchison’s jock strap.”

The kids will say, “Who the heck is Murchison? When were the Cowboys great? They haven’t won a playoff game since I was like five or six, they suck, man.”

The thirty-something crowd will say, “Three Super Bowl Rings, homes! Jones wins, hands down, even if he is an idiot.”

Inside the Numbers

But what do the facts say? If we compare the two eras side by side, how does one measure up against the other.

Glad you asked.

I have compiled some data for your consideration. We will look at winning percentages, playoff appearances, Conference championship appearances, Super Bowl appearances, and Super Bowl wins.

1. Winning Percentages: Each regime got off to a slow start. The Murchison era because it was an expansion franchise with little on-field talent and the Jones era because it was an aging team in decline when he bought it and subsequently blew it up to essentially start from scratch.
   
   • The Murchison Record: 223-126-6. That is a winning percentage of 64 percent.
   • The Jones Record: 179-149-0. Winning percentage of 55 percent
   • Edge: Murchison by a healthy nine percentage points.
2. Playoff Appearances: 
   
   • Murchison, Schramm, and Landry: 17 playoff appearances in 25 years (68 percent of the time), including one streak of eight consecutive years (1966-1973) and another of nine straight years (1975-1983). Those streaks were only separated by one aberrant season, meaning they made the post-season 17 times in 18 years.
   • Jones and Company: Eleven playoff appearances in 21 seasons (53%), including a streak of six consecutive years (1991-1996) and eight times in nine years.
   • Edge: Murchison, Schramm and Landry (and not even close.)
3. Conference Championships:
   • Murchison (Old School): Landry’s teams appeared in a whopping 12 conference championship games in those first 25 years, winning five of them (42%).
   • Jones (Old Fool): Jones’ teams (most would correct this to Jimmy Johnson’s teams) made four consecutive conference title games, from 1992 to 1995. They won three of the four (75%).
   • Edge: Murchison for the sheer numbers, but Jones’ teams had an incredible success rate in the big games, so that narrows the gap some, but not enough to give Jones the nod.
4. Super Bowl appearances:
   • M-L-S: Five Super Bowl appearances in the 1970s.
   • JJ: Three Super Bowl trips in the 1990s.
   • Edge: Murchison, et al.
5. Super Bowl wins:
   • Murchison, Schramm, and Landry won three of their five Super Bowls (40%)
   • Jones, Johnson, and Switzer won all three of theirs. (That is 100%, if you are keeping score.)
   • Edge: Jones and Company.

So, out of five major categories, Murchison and the dream management team he assembled win four of them. Jones, many might argue, more than redeems himself with three Lombardi Trophies in four years and that is a valid consideration. However, the current 12 year drought without a playoff victory would seem to dilute that argument just a little.

Outside the Numbers

When you consider intangibles, such as structure and stability, the scale tilts even more in favor of the Murchison team. For its first 28 years, the Dallas Cowboys had one coach and that coach led them to 12 conference title games and five Super Bowl appearances. In Jones’ first 21 seasons, the team has plowed through five head coaches and is now on its sixth.

On the business side, Jones may be peerless in the NFL. He took one of the great sports brands and built it into a franchise which Forbes Magazine has valued at somewhere around 1.5 billion and rates them the number one professional sports franchise in the world.

Confusion of Biblical Proportions

When I think of Jerry Jones and how confusing it can be to determine whether he is one of the best or one of the worst owners in the NFL, I am reminded of a story in the Old Testament, in the book of Ezra. Zerubbabel led a group to rebuild the temple, which had lain in ruins for many years. When it was done, there was a celebration.

Ezra 3:11-13 describes the scene. It tells us that the young men were shouting for joy while the old men, the ones who remembered the glory of Solomon’s temple, wept. The shouting and the weeping mingled together, so that you could not distinguish one from the other.

That is kind of how it feels to be a Cowboys’ fan. You shout for the joy of those unforgettable, magnificent teams of the 90s, but you weep for the glory of the past, a glory that may never be duplicated or restored.

Twenty years of Jerry Jones and I still don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

 

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For the Dallas Cowboys and the NFC East, the Road Ahead Is All Uphill

The NFC East is boiling down to the Big Three and the Big Mess. Dallas, Philadelphia, and New York will duke it out for the Division Title, while the Redskins just duke it out. (Of course, this assumes the Giants will right their listing ship soon.)

All Dallas Cowboys fans get nervous as the holidays approach and the dreaded month of December looms like a team of deranged reindeer with bloody eyes, furiously driven by a band of renegade elves.

The way the ‘Pokes have played in December and January in recent years makes it hard to enjoy Santa’s bounty, even if it does include a wall-covering flat screen HD television.

Who wants to see Wade Phillips and Jerry Jones explain and excuse all over themselves in such vivid detail, anyway?

But I digress.

The thing to do here is look at the schedule of the three legitimate contenders, compare them, and ask yourself, “Does my team have a snowball’s chance in the hot place of getting to 10 or 11 wins and either winning the division or securing a wild card spot?”

So, here goes…

For the New York Football Giants, the remaining schedule looks like this:

11/8, SAN DIEGO, 4:15 PM

11/15, BYE
11/22, ATLANTA, 1 PM
11/26 (Thu), @Denver, 8:20 PM
12/6, DALLAS, 4:15 PM
12/13, PHILADELPHIA, 8:20 PM
12/21 (Mon), @Washington, 8:30 PM
12/27, CAROLINA, 1 PM

1/3, @Minnesota, 1PM

 

No cakewalk there, with six, maybe seven legitimate playoff contending teams on the docket. The remaining opponents have a .630 winning percentage to date.

The Giants are currently 5-3, with a bye week yet to come.

Next, the Philadelphia Eagles.

11/8, DALLAS, 8:20 PM

11/15,@San Diego, 4:15 PM
11/22, @Chicago, 8:20 PM
11/29, WASHINGTON, 1 PM
12/6, @Atlanta, 1 PM
12/13, @New York Giants, 8:20 PM
12/20, SAN FRANCISCO, 1 PM
12/27, DENVER, 1 PM

1/3, @Dallas, 1 PM

 

The Eagles’ homestretch run is brutal. Nine games left and eight of them against teams expecting to make a playoff run.

Five of the nine games are on the road, and that last one, in Dallas, could conceivably be for all the NFC East marbles. Their upcoming foes have combined for a .600 winning percentage.

The Iggles are currently 5-2, tied with the ‘Pokes atop the East.

The Dallas Cowboys fare no better in the stretch run. They have posted a 5-2 record to date, having played one of the NFL’s most favorable schedules through seven games.

But business picks up in town this Sunday, and the breaks are few and far between from there on.

Here’s how the Cowboys’ remaining schedule looks:

11/8, @Philadelphia, 8:20 PM

11/15, @Green Bay, 4:15 PM
11/22, WASHINGTON, 1 PM
11/26 (Thu), OAKLAND, 4:15 PM
12/6, @New York Giants, 4:15 PM
12/13, SAN DIEGO, 4:15 PM
12/19 (Sat), @New Orleans, 8:20 PM
12/27, @Washington, 8:20 PM

1/3, PHILADELPHIA, 1 PM

 

Oakland and Washington represent the only patsies on the remainder of the ‘Pokes’ schedule, and Washington is a division rival, and that always means something . The Cowboys’ remaining opponents have posted a .560 winning percentage to date.

December is the deal. That’s the month that haunts the Dallas Cowboys. They need to put to rest the Ghosts of Christmases Past and close strong.

Easy for me to say. It won’t be easy for them to do. Three of the five games in December are on the road, including tough trips to New Orleans (currently undefeated) and New York.

The two weeks they do get to stay home, Norv Turner bring his Chargers, always a bit desperate themselves come the holidays, to town. Then, the Eagles will plan to ruin yet another new year in Big D.

The task begins Sunday in Philly, the scene of the Merciless Massacre of 2008, the game that should have cost Wade Phillips his job and did cost Pacman Jones and Terrell Owens theirs. A win Sunday puts Dallas in the driver’s seat on an NFC East bus headed downhill with no brakes.

Better to be steering than steered on such trips.

 

Follow Gene’s Dallas Cowboys and NFL musings at silverandblueblood.com  

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The Latest Word From Jones Town

What He Said

“Let’s just say this, the decision is made a lot of times … the agreements call for the GM ultimately to make decisions. If not, the only one that can overrule the GM is the owner. Period. And that’s always been the way it’s been for 20 years.” (Jerry’s answer  to Richie Whitt’s question of whether it was ultimately the head coach’s call to demote a player.)

What He Meant

“I am the chief cook and bottle washer around here. This is my team. I am the owner, the GM, and the de facto coach. Wade understands this. Why can’t you?”

What I Think About What He Said

Scary for all Cowboys’ fans.

What I Think About What He Meant

Makes me feel a bit…hopeless.

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Keith Brooking: A Leader Emerges

A leaderless locker room is a rudderless ship.

The Dallas Cowboys are a team needing compensation. The absence of sideline leadership under Wade Phillips has led to frequent chaos. The Patrick Clayton flap is just the most recent evidence that there is poor communication between the coaching staff and the men in the trenches. Crayton said he did not even know he had been demoted. No one told him.

I believe him.

A weak head coach heightens the need for players to step forward and become the vocal and spiritual leaders of the team. What exists in the Cowboys’ organization today is not unlike the Barry Switzer era. That team managed to overcome the absence of a strong head coach, primarily because there were established leaders on both sides of the ball.

Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman, and Darren Woodson did what Switzer could not—would not—do: They inspired their teammates to rise to every challenge, to meet adversity with single-minded determination, to excel, to exceed expectations.

It didn’t hurt that they happened to be stacked with talented players at practically every position. But history has proved that the most talented team is not always the last team standing. Winning a Super Bowl takes more than talent.

It takes a team.

And a team needs leadership. It needs people confident and strong enough to stand up and say, “Follow me. I know the way.”

It is a mistake to assume that a great soldier will automatically make a great General. The current crop of Cowboys have some great performers. DeMarcus Ware, Jason Witten, Jay Ratliff and others have proved they have the talent to do their jobs at the highest level. They have yet to prove they can inspire their teammates to do the same.

Enter Keith Brooking.

Brooking is proving himself to be the best offseason move the Cowboys have made in some time…and it isn’t just the quality of his play on the field. Watch him in the defensive huddle. Keep an eye on him when he is on the sideline. Listen to him in interviews. The man has assumed a leadership role on a team in desperate need of a natural born leader.

Brooking hasn’t bullied his way into his newfound role. Nor has he been officially appointed to be the leader of the Dallas defense. He has just been himself. Leaders lead. It is inherent in their nature. Born leaders are the most effective kind.

The idea that a professional football team doesn’t require on-field leaders is just wrong. It is more important at that level than any other. In college, high school, or Pop Warner, the leadership is almost always provided by the coaching staff. But these are grown men, playing their game at the highest level in the world.

The rah-rah coach may inspire them, sure. The intellectual football genius coach may instruct them. But it takes a peer with skins on the wall, with a proven track record of his own, and with the innate ability to lead men to truly galvanize them on the field.

Otherwise, you have fifty-four individuals performing. One team will always trump fifty-four individuals.

The Cowboys are just another Brooking or two away from finding themselves in spite of their milk toast head coach.

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Keith Brooking: A Leader Emerges

A leaderless locker room is a rudderless ship.

The Dallas Cowboys are a team needing compensation. The absence of sideline leadership under Wade Phillips has led to frequent chaos. The Patrick Clayton flap is just the most recent evidence that there is poor communication between the coaching staff and the men in the trenches. Crayton said he did not even know he had been demoted. No one told him.

I believe him.

A weak head coach heightens the need for players to step forward and become the vocal and spiritual leaders of the team. What exists in the Cowboys’ organization today is not unlike the Barry Switzer era. That team managed to overcome the absence of a strong head coach, primarily because there were established leaders on both sides of the ball.

Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman, and Darren Woodson did what Switzer could not—would not—do: They inspired their teammates to rise to every challenge, to meet adversity with single-minded determination, to excel, to exceed expectations.

It didn’t hurt that they happened to be stacked with talented players at practically every position. But history has proved that the most talented team is not always the last team standing. Winning a Super Bowl takes more than talent.

It takes a team.

And a team needs leadership. It needs people confident and strong enough to stand up and say, “Follow me. I know the way.”

It is a mistake to assume that a great soldier will automatically make a great General. The current crop of Cowboys have some great performers. DeMarcus Ware, Jason Witten, Jay Ratliff and others have proved they have the talent to do their jobs at the highest level. They have yet to prove they can inspire their teammates to do the same.

Enter Keith Brooking.

Brooking is proving himself to be the best offseason move the Cowboys have made in some time…and it isn’t just the quality of his play on the field. Watch him in the defensive huddle. Keep an eye on him when he is on the sideline. Listen to him in interviews. The man has assumed a leadership role on a team in desperate need of a natural born leader.

Brooking hasn’t bullied his way into his newfound role. Nor has he been officially appointed to be the leader of the Dallas defense. He has just been himself. Leaders lead. It is inherent in their nature. Born leaders are the most effective kind.

The idea that a professional football team doesn’t require on-field leaders is just wrong. It is more important at that level than any other. In college, high school, or Pop Warner, the leadership is almost always provided by the coaching staff. But these are grown men, playing their game at the highest level in the world.

The rah-rah coach may inspire them, sure. The intellectual football genius coach may instruct them. But it takes a peer with skins on the wall, with a proven track record of his own, and with the innate ability to lead men to truly galvanize them on the field.

Otherwise, you have fifty-four individuals performing. One team will always trump fifty-four individuals.

The Cowboys are just another Brooking or two away from finding themselves in spite of their milk toast head coach.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Keith Brooking: A Leader Emerges

A leaderless locker room is a rudderless ship.

The Dallas Cowboys are a team needing compensation. The absence of sideline leadership under Wade Phillips has led to frequent chaos. The Patrick Clayton flap is just the most recent evidence that there is poor communication between the coaching staff and the men in the trenches. Crayton said he did not even know he had been demoted. No one told him.

I believe him.

A weak head coach heightens the need for players to step forward and become the vocal and spiritual leaders of the team. What exists in the Cowboys’ organization today is not unlike the Barry Switzer era. That team managed to overcome the absence of a strong head coach, primarily because there were established leaders on both sides of the ball.

Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman, and Darren Woodson did what Switzer could not—would not—do: They inspired their teammates to rise to every challenge, to meet adversity with single-minded determination, to excel, to exceed expectations.

It didn’t hurt that they happened to be stacked with talented players at practically every position. But history has proved that the most talented team is not always the last team standing. Winning a Super Bowl takes more than talent.

It takes a team.

And a team needs leadership. It needs people confident and strong enough to stand up and say, “Follow me. I know the way.”

It is a mistake to assume that a great soldier will automatically make a great General. The current crop of Cowboys have some great performers. DeMarcus Ware, Jason Witten, Jay Ratliff and others have proved they have the talent to do their jobs at the highest level. They have yet to prove they can inspire their teammates to do the same.

Enter Keith Brooking.

Brooking is proving himself to be the best offseason move the Cowboys have made in some time…and it isn’t just the quality of his play on the field. Watch him in the defensive huddle. Keep an eye on him when he is on the sideline. Listen to him in interviews. The man has assumed a leadership role on a team in desperate need of a natural born leader.

Brooking hasn’t bullied his way into his newfound role. Nor has he been officially appointed to be the leader of the Dallas defense. He has just been himself. Leaders lead. It is inherent in their nature. Born leaders are the most effective kind.

The idea that a professional football team doesn’t require on-field leaders is just wrong. It is more important at that level than any other. In college, high school, or Pop Warner, the leadership is almost always provided by the coaching staff. But these are grown men, playing their game at the highest level in the world.

The rah-rah coach may inspire them, sure. The intellectual football genius coach may instruct them. But it takes a peer with skins on the wall, with a proven track record of his own, and with the innate ability to lead men to truly galvanize them on the field.

Otherwise, you have fifty-four individuals performing. One team will always trump fifty-four individuals.

The Cowboys are just another Brooking or two away from finding themselves in spite of their milk toast head coach.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

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