Top Ten NFC East Perfomers through Nine Weeks

Rivalries. Tradition. Hatred. (Expletive) you (expletive)-head.

These are words that most die hard NFL fans associate with one of the most historically intense and competitive divisions in the history of football: the NFC East.

The NFC East is so special because there really isn’t one standout marquee rivalry. Some could argue Cowboys-Redskins, but are those games really any more intense than Giants-Eagles, or Eagles-Cowboys?

In a division that frequently doesn’t have a losing team, a division that frequently sends three teams to the Super Bowl, there is absolutely no shortage of talent.

2009 is no different.

Without further ado, the top 10 performers in the NFC East through the first nine weeks of the 2009 season.

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Tony Romo Is All Grown Up

Wow.

What a win.

The collective breath let out in relief by thousands upon thousands of Cowboys faithful, after the Cowboys’ thrilling 20-16 win versus the hated Philadelphia Eagles Friday night, affected weather patterns as far east as Turkmenistan.

Sure, the Cowboys had been rolling.

Sure, the Cowboys had strung together three straight wins (albeit over only one impressive team).

Sure, the Cowboys seemed to have caught lightening in a bottle in Miles Austin, the un-drafted fourth year phenom out of Monmouth.

But this was the Eagles. This was a Sunday Night game. This was Philadelphia.

Enough had been written about the embarrassment the ‘Boys suffered there the previous season, to emblazon that horrific outing in the memory of Dallas fans forever.

I guarantee you no single Cowboys fan would have been shocked had the Eagles come out and blown the Cowboys off the field Sunday.  Not because we were disregarding the successes of previous weeks, but because we have seen Philadelphia do it to the ‘Boys time and time again, where and when it hurts most.

Tony Romo took it upon himself to make sure history didn’t repeat itself.

Now this isn’t taking anything away from a phenomenal defensive performance

In the battle of former high-round picks, the Cowboys came away on top.

Former first-rounder Mike Jenkins failed to bite on a double move by first round rookie Jeremy Maclin in the third quarter, that led to a single-coverage interception that would have made any Madden junkie proud.  On the other side, Terrence Newman completely shut down big play threat Desean Jackson.

Meanwhile, Jay Ratliff and Demarcus Ware sent Donovan McNabb running for his life so often that he looked like an extra in a Godzilla movie.

However, it was Romo’s 21-34 for 307 yards and a touchdown that solidified a Dallas victory that ended in the ‘Boys gleefully kneeling out the final two minutes of the clock in front of a bunch of inhumanly enraged Philadelphia fans (a beautiful site for the Cowboys’ faithful).

(Quick aside: Has nobody explained to Andy Reid how important time-outs are in a close game?  To run out of time-outs in a one score game with over 10 minutes remaining in the fourth is inexcusable.

My solution? Make him play 12 games of Madden a day until he learns the importance of clock management.  This strategy is fail safe. 

One can only take so much losing to a squealing 13-year-old on Xbox Live, as they run out the final four minutes of clock, before one starts questioning the decision to risk a time out on a third quarter challenge that would have resulted in a difference of seven total yards of field position.)

Aside from one interception (his first one in the last four games, and his second in his last six), Romo consistently put the ball on the money and put his team in the best position to win instead of being concerned with trying to make the 50 yard touchdown pass, every time he dropped back.

The play that embodied his overall effort perfectly was the game winner to Miles Austin. Romo set it up with a beautifully timed pump fake in conjunction with a crisp double-move from Austin, who proceeded to leave Sheldon Brown in the dust and catch a ball that Romo laid beautifully in his bread basket.

Romo also showed his new-found maturity by how calm and collected he was under the relentless pressure of the Eagles blitz schemes.

When the Eagles brought five or more defenders on Sunday, Romo was 15-22 for 256 yards, with 11.6 yards per completion and a 103.6 passer rating.

Romo also stepped up huge when it mattered most: third down.

On third down conversions Sunday night, Romo was a cool 9-11 with a 149.1 passer rating.  That, folks, is how big time quarterbacks win big time games.  And it appears more and more that Romo is morphing into a big time quarterback.

However, this crisp, efficient play has been emblematic of Romo for a vast majority of the 2009 season, and is a huge reason why the Cowboys now sit atop the NFC East at 6-2.

The biggest explanation?  Romo, in only his third full season as a starter, finally started to mature into the wildly skilled NFL quarterback that most Cowboys faithful knew he could be (and into the quarterback everybody in the world swore he would never be).

After a shaky start to the season, in which Romo looked far too reserved to take the stereotypical chances that led to his typical high-risk-high-reward style of play, Romo seemingly found a happy medium between the “gunslinger” and the “game manager.”

Through eight games, Tony Romo has thrown a total of five interceptions. 

To contrast, Romo had thrown seven picks through eight starts in 2008, and (gulp) 10 through eight starts in 2007, including the Monday Night game at Buffalo in which Romo threw five picks in one game.

Keep in mind that one of those five interceptions was the Looney-Toons-esque bounce off of Witten’s heel debacle against the Giants.

To put that number further in perspective, here are just a few of the quarterbacks in the league who have thrown more picks than Romo through week 9:

Jay Cutler (12), Matt Ryan (10), Kurt Warner (10), Eli Manning (8), Drew Brees (7), Carson Palmer (7), golden child Joe Flacco (7), Ben Roethlisberger (6), and Phillip Rivers (6).

Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are both tied with Romo with five interceptions.

Romo is finally showing the vastly improved decision making that Cowboys fans have been dying to see.  However, this has not come at the cost of Romo’s elite level of production.

He remains seventh overall in passing yardage, fourth overall in yards per attempt, 12th in passing touchdowns (mostly due to an overpowering run game in the redzone), and eighth in the league in quarterback rating at 95.8.

It should come as no surprise that with time comes experience.

However, maybe the biggest indicator of Romo’s new found maturity shown through in the days leading up to the game in Philadelphia.

The scene was one many Cowboys fan have become far too familiar with: Ed Werder standing smugly outside of Valley Ranch claiming the sky is falling in Dallas due to an upset receiver. 

The media’s treatment of the situation was hilarious.  Here is the quote that was played on ESPN 1000 times.

“I’m not a T.O. or I’m not trying to be a T.O. I don’t know why people are trying to put me in that category, because I’m happy to win. I’ve said that 100 times. I don’t understand why people won’t just say Ok and leave it alone.”

However, IMMEDIATELY after the clip concluded, the analyst would always qualify the quote with things like, “But, remember he still thinks he’s the number one receiver!?!?!”

I guess it comes with the territory when one dons a Dallas uniform, but regardless of what Roy actually said, I don’t believe we got an objective portrayal of the issue from the media in the days leading up to the game.

Nobody recognized that more than Tony Romo.”We’ve been through this before with people trying to divide a football team, ” Romo said.

Romo stated mass media outlets tried desperately to keep this non-story alive. “We’re too strong for that. I know the media is going to try to make certain things appear what they may not have actually been, things of that nature.”

“This team is too committed to win and too committed to improve to let anything divide this team.”

Re-read that last sentence. 

That doesn’t much sound like the happy-go-lucky kid from Wisconsin who was able to shrug off the 44-6 whupping in Philadelphia last year with an “ah shucks, well life goes on” attitude.

That sounds a lot more like the face of one of the marquee franchises in the NFL finally stepping out into the spot light, and declaring that he is the face of a unified locker room with a common goal and a sense of solidarity not found in Dallas last year, where numerous “sources” couldn’t wait to feed Ed Werder any piece of gossip about the alleged Romo-T.O. feud.

This team feels like a team. 

And recognize that Romo wasn’t simply coming to the defense of an embattled receiver, something he did for T.O. regularly. 

He is now demonstrating an unyielding “it’s this locker room against the world” approach that have been forged in Romo through the years of turmoil and scrutiny he has endured as quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys

Believe me, a lot of the old Romo is there.

The smirks and good natured sarcastic comments during press conferences.

The Brett Favre-esque touchdown celebrations.

The wide and seemingly carefree grin that seems to appear once every 5-10 minutes, regardless of the circumstances.

However, these symbolic Romo-isms, while I assume are just as frequent behind closed doors, are much less frequently caught in front of the eyes of the public or the cameras.

More often than not, reporters are greeted with a far more stoic, far more guarded Tony Romo than the one they met in season’s past.

This is Tony Romo’s team now, and he is stepping up and owning it. Declaring and driving a sense of unity that has been lacking in Dallas since the days of Aikman, Emmitt, and Irvin.

Now December and January will be the true test of Romo’s grit and merit, but since I can’t write about what happens in December and January without the use of an ’85 Delorean, all I can view is what he has done through the season’s first half.

That being said, one thing is for sure: if the second half of the season is anywhere near as great as the first, I doubt the “Dallas Cowboys Playoff Victory Drought” will be a story in 2010.

One other thing is for sure.

That will come as no surprise to Tony Romo.

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Democratic Cowboys Offense Realizing Potential Of “No T.O. Show”

The surging Dallas Cowboys present an intriguing enigma for any writer wishing to chronicle their exploits during the month of November.

Any article tinged with optimism will be berated by a chorus of “Let’s wait and see until December because Romo automatically implodes every year,” which I think is a ridiculously premature statement to make given how early it is in Romo’s career. But that’s a conversation for another time.

Conversely, how can you not write an optimistic article about the Dallas Cowboys given their sterling, top-to-bottom breakout performances against the Falcons and the Seahawks?

Stumbling into a bye week a penalty-infused and undisciplined mess, Miles Austin, Tony Romo, and Wade Phillips have seemed to place this season firmly back on the tracks again. That’s something I was sure would never happen as the overtime coin toss was going up four weeks ago in Kansas City.

There are many things to note over the last few games.

The defense is finally living up to the billing, giving up only 19 points per game over the last three and generating the sacks and turnovers most were expecting right out of the gate.

Patrick Crayton has just become the first Cowboy to return punts for touchdowns in back-to-back games since the Jurassic Period.

Flozell Adams has cut down on his penalties by 600 percent (leaving him at only 20 flags per game), and his increased focus is absolutely indicative of the overall increased sense of discipline that this team has shown since coming off its bye week.

However, one of the most notable stats that I’m sure anybody who has been within 30 miles of a T.V. showing NFL Live has heard is that Tony Romo, over the past three games, has thrown eight touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Not only is this three game stretch the longest Romo has gone in his career without throwing a pick, he’s only thrown one interception in the last five games.

For the season, Romo has now thrown for 12 touchdowns vs. a paltry four interceptions. 

I’d also like to remind the audience that one of those interceptions was the off-Witten’s-hand-and-heel-right-into-the-defender’s-arms interception against the Giants in Week 2.  Take out that Ringling Brother’s interception, and Romo has thrown four touchdowns for every one interception at the halfway point of the year.

Chalk a lot of that up to Romo’s continued maturity, as his decision making and ball control have improved remarkably this year.

However, there is another, far more important factor that has the Cowboys offense finally humming like most thought it could.

Terrell Owens is no longer in a Cowboys uniform.

I was a huge T.O. fan in Dallas to the bitter end, but even I eventually came around to seeing the potential this offense could have without his pervasive bitterness constantly surrounding every aspect of the team.

Regardless of how talented T.O. is, he has by his own past behavior become a self-perpetuating media you-know-what-storm.

What I mean by that is that what T.O. actually says or does no longer matters to the mainstream media or the public due to all the negative karma he has built up for himself in the past.

Due to all that negative karma, the public will initially believe anything that ESPN or whoever chooses to report on him regardless of the actual truth.

Given the persistent and unrelenting demands of the 24/7 news media cycle, a story that will create a flurry of activity during a slow afternoon is all a major news website needs to bridge the gap between last night’s events and the following night’s competitions.

The fact that the public will initially believe any headline they read about T.O. has turned Owens into the ultimate media scapegoat (entirely his fault of course) that any reporter can take any fact or anonymous tip and twist it into a sensationalist story that may or may not be “cleared up” two to three hours later.

In the eyes of the media and public, T.O. is generally guilty until proven innocent, which will make any headline, no matter how far-fetched, eye-catching and interesting.

Does anybody know whether T.O. really spearheaded a secret meeting with Jason Garrett behind Romo and Witten’s backs? No. Did everybody (including myself) blindly believe that was exactly what happened for two or three hours after the story broke? Absolutely. 

Did the veracity of the story have any bearing on the 3,000 questions per day every single member of the Cowboys had to answer on a daily basis regarding that “secret meeting?”  Absolutely not.

T.O., whether he does anything or not, will always create groundbreaking news because he has completely lost the benefit of the doubt in the eyes of the media and the public.

How does this rather obvious character flaw of Terrell Owens affect MacGyver Romo in 2009?  Because whether T.O. was actually demanding the ball behind the scenes or not, the only thing any Dallas Cowboy would be asked about in any game where T.O. didn’t score six touchdowns was be “What do you need to do to get T.O. the ball more?”

This leads to one of two scenarios (or a combination of the two is more likely).

1.) Romo felt compelled to force the ball to T.O. for an inappropriate majority of the game so that he didn’t have to deal with T.O. blowing up on the sidelines

or

2.) Romo felt compelled to force the ball to T.O. for an inappropriate majority of the game so that he could avoid the maelstrom of questions about T.O.’s attitude, T.O.’s productivity, and how they plan to get T.O. more involved in the next week.

These guys are all professionals who have worked mercilessly their entire lives to perfect their athletic craft and rise to become part of the top 0.5 percent of football players in the world. You can’t tell me spending an entire season answering questions about a teammate won’t eventually get grating.

For example, how did Pro Bowler Bradie James feel when he went out there, recorded 12 tackles and a sack, and the first (and maybe only) thing he would get asked about after the game would be the T.O. debacle?  Your telling me that lack of recognition on behalf of the media wouldn’t eventually drive a pro mad, regardless of how T.O. was actually behaving?

With T.O. in Buffalo, where they have reverted to physically handing him the ball in order to get him in the end zone, this is the first season Romo has had to (gasp) take his drop and take what the defense gives him, and that fact alone has the Dallas offense humming.

Last week against Seattle, he completed a pass to 10 different receivers, and all three of his touchdown tosses were to different people.

The previous week against a tough Atlanta team, he completed a pass to eight different receivers.

Since the bye week, Romo and the Cowboys’ offense have adopted a new, democratic style of play that was frankly impossible to implement with Terrell Owens hanging around. And the proof in how well that is working can be witnessed on the field the past two weeks.

Romo has no problem hitting the checkdowns if the defense is playing deep.  He has no problem taking a shot down field if the safeties are going to crowd the line against the run.

He has no reservations checking to a run play if that’s what the defensive front dictates.

Why?

Because now, the only concern on Romo’s mind is the quickest, most efficient way to get the ball from point A to point B, instead of worrying about the exact method with which the ball travelled there.

Football is truly like a game of chess, in that the only truly successful strategy is one that is tailored specifically to that of your opponents and specifically, your opponent’s weaknesses.

The best strategy to accomplish that is one that is truly fluid, and not bound by any constraints like “Ok, we will take what the defense gives us, but only as long as the ball goes to Player X 45-50 percent of the time.” 

Strategies that have aspects that coaches are unwilling to change will be figured out and stopped in a league like the NFL 10 times out of 10, which is why recognizing and making in-game adjustments are a trademark of the NFL’s most prolific offenses and defenses.

Remember when Randy Moss was in his super-human Minnesota Viking days, and Mike Tice (I think it was Tice but feel free to correct me) implemented the “Randy Ratio,” which was some ridiculous statement that at a minimum Randy Moss would touch the ball on 45  percent of the team’s plays.

Randy Moss was literally unstoppable as a Viking (not saying he isn’t now still, but a young Randy Moss was ridiculous).  If the talent of an individual player was more important than the strength and flexibility of a given game plan, then a strategy as gimmicky as “regardless of the circumstances we are forcing the ball to Randy Moss one-out-of-two plays” would have resulted in a 3,000 yard, 37 touchdown season from Moss.

Guess what?  It didn’t.

The emergence of Miles Austin, the return of an entirely healthy backfield, and Demarcus Ware returning from his vacation the first four weeks of this season have helped return the Cowboys to form immensely as well.

But the fact remains that Tony Romo (and Jason Garrett) are now free to do what Romo has never been able to do before this season: take what the defense gives them.

I will absolutely admit that I am awaiting December with as much anticipation as any avid Cowboy hater, because, founded or not, the “Chokes in December” tag is one Romo needs to shake off with his play before it will ever go away.

However, one cannot ignore the radical efficiency that this offensive group (and frankly, the entire team) has been executing with since the bye week.

Now the Cowboys could all collectively lose their focus for a game or two again, which has been the Achilles Heel of the team for the past few years. And by no means am I eliminating that possibility.

But with a huge redemption match coming up against the Eagles on Sunday Night Football, it will quickly become apparent if the Cowboys have just had a nice little stretch of games, or if they are actually a contender that is here to stay.

My personal opinion?  Romo finally feels comfortable as the unquestioned head honcho of the offense and his new found ability to simply take what the defense gives him will allow him to ultimately demonstrate that he belongs as an elite quarterback in this league. 

But, hey, I’ll absolutely wait and see.

Don’t want to force it, ya know?

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Jason Garrett Still Looks Like Dallas Cowboys’ One-Trick Pony

I never thought I would say this, but it would have been interesting to see the Cowboys lose on Monday night.

True, the devastating explosion of rage that would have emanated from my apartment with more force than the atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki might have obstructed any sick sense of interest I might have had in watching Jerry Jones behead his coaching staff like a French Revolution-era executioner.  Literally.  While broadcasting it live on the jumbo-est of Jumbotrons.  While wearing cowboy boots.

But after THE most discouraging and uninspired half of football (out of the eight) ever played in Cowboys Stadium (take that corporate sponsorship), all it took was a reportedly legendary halftime diatribe by Wade Phillips to lead the Cowboys to 21 unanswered second half points and an apparently easy victory over the Panthers on Monday Night Football.

It was relieving to finally see the Cowboys’ defense step up, start executing, and force some takeaways and (gasp) even sacks!

(Playing 2009 Jake Delhomme never hurts.)

Wade took a lot of heat off himself rallying the team and the defense to a win Monday night.

Conversely, I have yet to meet a single individual who was happy with the way Jason Garrett called that game.

True the offense did post its second consecutive 200-yard game, an accomplishment that is absolutely nothing to sneeze at since it hasn’t been done by a Cowboys team since the days of Tony Dorsett. 

However, I would present the argument that this phenomenal occurrence happened despite Jason Garrett’s best efforts.

Two instances stand out like scarlet letters on the lapel of an unholy and unnatural offensive game plan that seemed to fly in the face of the most logical ways to attack the Panthers’ defense.

The first occurred on the first drive of the game, in which, if you recall, the Cowboys were ripping off first downs and seamlessly slicing through Carolina’s defense after a long catch-and-run and long run by Felix Jones. 

After a short gain up the middle on first down, Romo dropped back to pass on 2nd-and-9, held the ball, looked like he was waiting for something, and then simply dropped to the ground and took a sack for a 10-yard loss, something you rarely see from the slippery and determined signal caller.

The sack in itself was disheartening, but became exceedingly so when Ron Jaworski calmly explained that this was a play action trick-play intended for Martellus Bennett, in which Bennett goes in motion, pretends to fall down so his defender leaves him, only to hop up real quick to scoot out the backside as the only receiver on the play. 

It is one of the most commonly used tight end trick plays in the game. You know, as an FYI for all those avid fans of tight end trick plays and all.

However, Martellus either failed to get up or was held up trying to get out of the amalgamation of offensive and defensive linemen furiously beating the living sense out of each other. 

The bottom line is Martellus Bennett, the only receiver running a route on the play, was unable to get out on said aforementioned route.

Since Bennett got knocked down/held up, Romo had nobody to throw to, and next thing you know its 3rd-and-19 and your kicker is missing a 40-yard field goal on a drive that three plays earlier seemed destined to end up in the end zone.

Trick plays are supposed to take the defense by surprise, and, to give Garrett’s credit, this was certainly a surprising time to run this play.  The Cowboys were having no problem whatsoever moving the ball up the field using a conventional offense.

There is absolutely no need to run a trick play in which Romo has no option should the first one not be open, which, believe it or not, happens quite frequently in the National Football League.  A play like that, like most trick plays, results in either a big play or a big loss.

Why Garrett felt the need to run such a high-risk-high-reward play on a drive that had tons of momentum is absolutely mind boggling. 

That is a play that should be run on first down, on the first play of a drive.  At least if you have to take the sack because the tight end can’t get out on the route you have two more downs to make up the vast distance that now separates you from the first down marker.

Instead, Romo had to take the sack, putting him in the, ahem, unfavorable position of 3rd-and-19, which he understandably didn’t convert.  One Nick Folk shank later, and goodbye momentum, crowd enthusiasm, and first half energy.

The second instance needs nowhere near as much explanation.  It’s 2nd-and-goal, on a yard line so close to the goal line you would have to use an electron microscope to discern where the field ends and the end zone begins.  Felix Jones and Tashard Choice have been thrashing the Panthers behind the Cowboys’ massive offensive line.

The next two play calls?  Fade to Roy Williams that was dropped (wasn’t an easy play but its one’s you expect elite NFL wideouts to make), and a disastrous fade to Martellus Bennett (which spun him around like a ceiling fan and inspired no less than 700 “wtf” texts from friends and family) and fell incomplete 10 yards away.

I would like to introduce Mr. Garrett, a fellow Ivy Leaguer (albeit for the despicable Princeton Tigers), to the time-honored, philosophical principle of Occam’s Razor, which, quite simply, states that the simplest explanation is always the correct one as long as it doesn’t contradict the observed facts.

It is a principle we use unknowingly every day in the sports world when navigating through the vast labyrinth of misinformation and flat out B.S. extruded from struggling/meddling athletes as they try to justify some misstep or criminal offense.

Barry Bonds is a great example.

Did Barry Bonds expand in size and see his season home run totals triple unexpectedly in his early 30s because of some unnatural and previously undiscovered training routine of which he and only he was the sole proprietor/practitioner of?  Or was it because he was doing steroids like 90 percent of the rest of the league?

Which explanation is simpler?

Well here are the observed facts in this situation: The Dallas Cowboys had two chances to gain a literal inch to go up 17-7 and ignite a crowd which had seen the Cowboys settle for a field goal on a previous possession after a ridiculous “4th-and-goal-on-the-inch-line” false start penalty by a third-string tight end.

They have two extremely capable running backs who were rarely stopped for anything less than a gain of three or four yards all night behind the third largest offensive line in the entire league.

Should you:

A. Throw a pump-fake fade route to a covered Roy Williams in expectations that he will make an elite NFL wideout play when he has yet to make a single one of those in a Dallas Cowboys uniform?  Followed by motioning our second-year, second-string tight end (who has been little more than a decoy in the passing game this year) out wide against a decent NFL corner and throw a fade up to him?

or

B.  Run the ball behind your mammoth offensive line (twice if need be) with one of your two backs who have hardly had a negative run all night?

In Garrett’s defense I do not know if a run play or option play was called, and Romo made the decision at the line to throw back-to-back fades, which is not entirely implausible.

Then again, why the explicit instructions from the sideline would be anything but “Tony, turn around and hand the (expletive) ball off or we are putting in Kitna” is equally as confounding as the mid-fade pinwheel Martellus Bennet executed so deftly.

My underlying point is this: Jason Garrett became the highest paid assistant in the league after a record setting 2007 in which he had a healthy Tony Romo for 16 games and T.O. in the last year of his prime (think it’s getting pretty safe to say that).

He shattered passing and scoring records left and right, but not that dreaded playoff winless streak.  Still, he seemed like the hottest commodity in all of football and most Cowboys fans were by and large pleased with keeping him in-house.

However, Jason Garrett played quarterback at Princeton and backed up Troy Aikman for years.  Quarterbacks love Fun-and-Gun offenses where you get to chuck the ball down field and put up eye-popping stats.

So, too, do quarterbacks who become offensive coordinators.

In 2007, Garrett had the perfect set of both players and circumstances to run that down field Fun-and-Gun style of football, and it got him paid.

Then T.O. lost a step in 2008, Garrett seriously misjudged (no, excuse me, SERIOUSLY misjudged) Brad Johnson’s viability as a starting NFL quarterback, (the need arose, and they paid for it with two embarrassing losses), and all of a sudden the Cowboys’ offense was anemic and predictable.

On top of that, the Cowboys didn’t find out they had three viable NFL starting running backs until the first two got hurt 12 games into the season, Romo was up-and-down coming off a pinky injury, and the Cowboys’ season ended on what I like to call “The Bleakest Day in Cowboys History” coming in the form of a 44-6 drubbing at the hands of a hated division rival.

Now, in second game of 2009, an over-reliance on Tony Romo despite a largely dominant run game led to a crucial and awful interception that led to a last-second victory at home to a division rival.

This was followed by a victory over a winless Panthers team in which the offense posted a mere 13 points after kicking two field goals despite having the ball an inch away from the endzone—twice.

Now with Felix and potentially Barber out next Sunday Tony Romo should obviously get a higher number of throws.  But with all three backs healthy, Tony Romo should not throw the ball more than 20-25 times all game this year.

Not because Tony Romo can’t be successful throwing that many passes a game, but because our offense needs consistency, a much easier thing to establish with a great ground game than a great passing attack (especially given Romo’s occasional brain fart games).

A friend of mine, who’s a Giants fan, made a great point to me: it doesn’t matter how prolific your offense is if it isn’t consistent.  If you want to win a Super Bowl, you need to string together three or four straight wins.  In a Super Bowl run, there is no room for a brain fart game, from Romo or anybody (see: 2007 playoffs, offensive line).

It seems like Garrett is gradually, but extremely reluctantly, adjusting the “I need to chuck the ball downfield 40 times a game” gene ingrained into him from his days as a  quarterback to a more reasonable “hey maybe we do have something going in this run game” strategy.

However, he has shown over the past two games that he lets his passing jones get the best of him in crucial situations, which have led to less-than-optimal offensive performances in two of the first three games of 2009.

Jason Garrett can put together one hell of a passing attack.

However, football is a game of adjustments.  From play to play, quarter to quarter, game to game, and season to season, the most successful coaches and coordinators constantly adjust their strategies to fit the fluid dynamic of ever changing rosters, and the fluctuating sets of strengths and weaknesses those changing rosters entail.

Great coordinators don’t force players to fit into their scheme if they don’t fit naturally.  They shape their scheme around their existing roster to maximize their players’ strengths and minimize players’ weaknesses.

I’m not saying Garrett can’t or won’t ever reach that level, but he needs to prove that he is willing to split 45-50 carries between his three healthy backs in one game until a team shows it can stop it.

He needs to prove he is willing to run the ball on three straight downs instead of freaking out and calling a triple reverse flea flicker fumbleroosky after every first down run that is stopped for no gain.

He needs to show he can adapt his schemes to fit his roster, and not the other way around.

Jason Garrett is still young as a coach, so I’m not saying he can’t or won’t ever reach that level.

However, empirical evidence over the last two games would seem to suggest that he still has a ways to go to get there.  Let’s hope he covers that gap as quickly as possible.

You know, like, say, Felix Jones or Marion Barber sprinting through a cavernous opening in the offensive line….

(Hint. Hint.)

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Dallas Cowboys’ Defense, Not Tony Romo, Should Worry Fans

Allow me to preface this article by saying that I am a staunch Tony Romo backer.

His rags-to-riches emergence on the heels of a half-dozen years of horrendous quarterback play in Dallas ranks as one of the top three or four sports stories of my lifetime.

That loss to the Giants was one of the hardest I’ve ever had to stomach as a Cowboys fan. The amount of points and plays left on the field boggles the mind, let alone the two or three plays that appeared to be touched by the hand of the Almighty Himself.

As brutal as last week’s loss was, I can’t understand the level of backlash Romo has experienced leading up to this week’s game. 

Did he play awful against the Giants? Absolutely.

Has any other quarterback gotten such a ridiculously negative reaction after a single bad game? Not in my recent memory.

(Side note: Romo only threw 2 interceptions in my book. I cannot consider that “Off Of Witten’s Heel” play more than an incompletion, which is all he should have gotten for throwing that ball behind Witten. It doesn’t seem so bad if he only threw two picks, am I right?)

To see Cowboys fans turn on Romo so quickly indicates how easily it is to forget to past. It also provides poignant social commentary on how big of a “what have you done for me lately” culture we have become in today’s society of instantaneous availability of information.

While I eagerly anticipate reading through all the tired points to be made against Romo in the comments section (most notably, his late season struggles), I needed to remind the people (specifically, Cowboys fans) who forgot both just how young and just how talented Tony Romo is.

The fact that questions arose this week regarding Romo’s talent and ability are simply absurd. Say what you want to about his record in December, but the fact remains that  Romo’s 94.2 career quarterback rating is the second-highest among active quarterbacks—and the third-highest of all time. 

The fact that he has broken every single-season Cowboys passing record and holds the record for the most 300-yard games thrown by a Cowboy (despite playing in all 16 games only once in his career) should serve as a neat exclamation point to the fact that Romo can and will get it done.

I don’t want to hear the “He’s only good against the Bucs” arguments either. That 94.2 number spans over four seasons playing in the toughest division in football.

Bad quarterbacks play bad teams, too. Nobody would expect JaMarcus Russell to throw for 350 yards against Tampa just because they’re the Bucs.

And now on to the ridiculous (yes, ridiculous) argument citing Romo’s horrible record in December and lack of a playoff win—assuming you haven’t yet thrown your laptop in anger.

It’s true that Romo doesn’t have a playoff win. How people can comfortably throw that stat around like its some deus ex machina that solidifies Romo as a bum is mind boggling. 

He’s 0-2. 

Just like Peyton was. Just like Eli was. 

Now, the Mannings are considered two of the best clutch quarterbacks in the league despite equally dismal starting playoff numbers. 

Theirs is somehow an unattainable future for Romo? This season is only his third full year as a starter.

And since when did playoff records and Super Bowl wins become the last and greatest measure of a quarterback? I suppose the only things that made John Elway good were those last two Super Bowls.

Jim Kelly, Dan Marino and Frank Tarkenton must then be chopped liver.

I’m not naive enough to think that playoff records should not warrant any consideration when analyzing the merit of a quarterback. Believe me, I will be the first one leading this train if we are sitting here eight years from now and Romo still doesn’t have a playoff win.

What I take issue with is people using this early-career playoff record as a guaranteed predictor of Romo’s future postseason failures—and how many Cowboys fans seem to be jumping on that bandwagon.

Did you all forget Romo’s 35-yard scramble for a third-and-1 conversion against the Rams in 2007? 

What about the ridiculous mid-sack, left-handed shovel pass against the Giants that somehow travelled 20 yards to find Tony Curtis sitting unguarded in the end zone? 

The fact that he has shown unreal mental toughness time and time again should also be a reason to love Romo if you are a Cowboys fan. (He was actually able to have a career after the “Bobbled-Snap Game” and once led a last-second, game-winning drive against Buffalo after throwing five interceptions.) 

You can’t succeed with a talented head-case at quarterback. (Ryan Leaf once started for the Cowboys, remember?)

I challenge you to find a single Cowboys fan that, instead of Romo, would prefer Quincy Carter. Or Clint Stoerner. Or Chad Hutchinson. Or Drew Henson. Or Vinny Testaverde. Or Drew Bledsoe. (I have to stop or my head is going to explode from so much long-buried rage being conjured up at the same time.)

My point stands: Romo had an awful game and it is disturbing that he hasn’t developed better ball security in more than two seasons as a starter. However, the level of ridiculously and unjustifiably negative hyperbole that permeated every Tony Romo-related story this week was patently absurd.

Cowboys haters will always find something wrong with Romo. 

The level of unrest I felt from fellow Cowboys fans surrounding Romo was the real surprise. 

Turnovers and all, the Cowboys offense still put up 31 points. That is a better-than-decent day of production, even if that number could have easily been in the 50’s. 

To call for Romo’s head after arguably the worst game he’s ever played as a starter is absurd. It’s reacting to a statistical outlier instead of taking his whole body of work into account. (94.2, remember?)

What most worries me is that head coach Wade Philips’ complete control of the Cowboys defense is supposed to do for Dallas what Rex Ryan is doing for the Jets.

The Cowboys must have been extremely confident in Philips’ defensive prowess, because they felt fine letting go of five defensive starters from 2008, four of which had made Pro Bowls in the past (Greg Ellis, Chris Canty, Roy Williams, Zach Thomas).

Despite leading the league in sacks, the Cowboys defense in 2008 only had eight interceptions. By all accounts, Philips’ largest point of emphasis in the offseason was the creation of turnovers.

Through two games (including one against a team that might not win a game this year), the Cowboys defense has yet to force a single turnover or sack. They have been less bothersome to receivers than a minor case of jock itch and gave Eli Manning and Byron Leftwich enough time in the pocket to compose Italian concertos.

They were absolutely gashed for over 200 yards on the ground by Tampa’s Cadillac Williams and Derrick Ward. 

They were destroyed for over 200 yards in the air by the Giants’ Steve Smith and Mario Manningham (who made Terence Newman look like 2005 Jacque Reeves on that long fade).

This is the same defense that lost the last game in Texas Stadium by giving up the two longest plays in the 40-plus-year history of the building to the Ravens. 

How did they respond to that embarrassment in the final week? By giving up 44 points to the Eagles in the biggest no-show game in NFL history. 

This is the same defense, minus four Pro Bowlers.

Romo has led an offense that has put up 65 points in two games. Say what you want about the turnovers, but I find that pill a lot easier to swallow than the “All Wade Philips did was focus on defense this offseason but the defense hasn’t yet made a single big play” pill.

The level of underachievement by the Cowboys’ defense to this point is so far above unacceptable I don’t even know where to begin. But for some reason all I hear about is the travesty of Tony Romo and predictions of his guaranteed failure.

Feel free to get nitpicky with Romo tonight. He won’t have a game as bad as he did last Sunday. You don’t set a career passing mark of 94.2 by playing that badly consistency.

Jake Delhomme and the Panthers’ offense should be the sack-and-turnover equivalent of taking candy from Jay Cut—I mean—a baby. Another complete no-show by Dallas’ defense tonight should have Philips’ head on the chopping block. 

Not at the end of the season. Tomorrow.

The job of any defensive coordinator/head coach is to create a terrifying defense. Hats off to Philips for doing that. He forgot that your defense is supposed to terrify the other team, not your own fans.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

10 Best Cowboys-Giants Games of the Last 12 Seasons

Sunday Night Football looks to present us with yet another installment of one of the most bitter rivalries in the NFL between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, a series so storied and so intense, that it literally needs no introduction.

It has been an extremely captivating match up since the game was first played between the two in 1960. However, the last 12 years has had no shortage of notable and amazing games. Without further ado, the 10 Greatest Cowboys-Giants game of the last 12 years.

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No-T.O. Show Silences Host Of Preseason Doubts About Dallas Passing Game

Due to the departure of, as Bill Parcells would say, “The Player,” this offseason, the passing game has unequivocally been the most intriguing question mark out of the many that surrounded this new-look, new-attitude Dallas Cowboys squad coming into the 2009 season.

However, even my ever present optimism couldn’t have seen a performance like Tony Romo and crew put on this past Sunday.

Before I get into the analysis, I would like to provide a little “this is only week one” disclaimer.

While a team’s performance in week one serves to answer a whole host of questions, by no means does it provide any 100 percent, Miss-Cleo-level guarantees about how a team will perform for the entire season.

Week one can provides answers like, “Wow, Carolina should have invested in a viable backup QB,” “Looks like Brad Childress can have the discipline to give AP the carries he needs despite Brett Favre’s presence,” and “10 out of 10 people wish HBO was running a few extra weeks of Hard Knocks to cover the practices after the Broncos game.”

Week one cannot give definitive answers like, “The Eagles have the most dominant defense in the league because they forced seven turnovers,” or “Drew Brees and Tony Romo will each throw for 5,000 yards this season.”

You see, with such a small sample size of work from each team, one cannot tell the flukes from the real deals, the impressive wins from the non-impressive ones, the “upsets” from the “that team actually was that much better than the other team” judgements we can make after, say, week 12.

That is my feeble attempt to address the elephant in the room surrounding the Cowboys’ week one domination: that this offensive explosion was against the “powerhouse” that is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

While the Bucs do have a very strong cornerback tandem in Ronde Barber and Aqib Talib, common sense would seem to suggest that this was a superior team playing against an inferior team (albeit on the road).

I will therefore try to avoid focusing on the simple eye-popping aggregate stats (353 yards passing for Romo, 135 receiving for Crayton, etc.) and try more to focus on the effectiveness of the strategy behind the passing attack game plan, which should be a topic far less skewed by talent differentials between teams than would a simple comparison of aggregate stats.

 

Three Things to Love About Week One in the Passing Game

Obviously, one would be hard pressed to write a negative article about a game in which Tony Romo sets a career high in single-game passing yardage (353), completes the longest pass of his career (80 yards to Patrick Crayton), extends his career 300 yard passing games to a franchise-record 17, and completes three touchdown passes over 40 yards in one game (hasn’t been done by a Cowboys’ signal caller since 1962).

For the sake of brevity, here are the three most exciting aspects of the passing that manifested themselves on the field in Tampa on Sunday:

1. “Favoritism” on Romo’s Part? Non-Existent

Many critics wondered how Tony Romo would respond without T.O.’s game breaking ability. 

Would T.O.’s departure free Romo up to read the field objectively and allow him to more fully utilize the weapons he had at his disposal, or would it lead to Romo developing Witten Tunnel Vision on every play, thereby exposing him as a product of T.O.’s ability?

Thankfully for Cowboys fans everywhere, the answer after week one overwhelmingly seems to be the former.

Romo was extremely democratic with his 16 completions, completing a pass to six different receivers at all three positions on the field (wide outs, tight ends, and running backs). 

On top of that, no single player had more than five receptions, and the top three receivers on Sunday were only separated by a single reception (Witten with five, Crayton with four, and Roy Williams with three).

One of the largest things I was looking for on Sunday was Romo’s pass distribution among the many weapons he has at his disposal. My biggest fear going into this game was a box score where Witten had 10 catches to Williams’ and Crayton’s three apiece.

Romo ended up spreading the ball effectively and simply taking what the Bucs gave him on defense. That is something something Romo arguably was not able to do every play in 2008, where, in order to keep the mercurial receiver happy, Romo often felt compelled to force the ball to T.O. regardless of if he was covered or not.

While Romo won’t throw for 353 yards every week, as long as he remains willing to take what the defense gives him like he did on Sunday instead of forcing balls into coverage, look for many more huge performances out of the Cowboys passing attack.

2. Jason Garrett’s Successful, and, More Importantly, Adaptable Game Plan

Anybody who was reading my work after the 2008 season knew I was more than underwhelmed with the performance of the Cowboys’ offense last year.

A lot of that blame I put on Jason Garrett’s shoulders for being too proud and inflexible to adapt his game plan to opposing defenses due to the overwhelming success he had in 2007.

If week one is any indication, that was soooo 2008.

By all accounts Tampa Bay’s game plan was to bring extra men into the box to prevent the Cowboys from running the ball, forcing the Cowboys to beat them with their passing attack. 

In conjunction with the departure of T.O., after an entire off season of “the Cowboys need to run the ball more” stories coming out of Valley Ranch, that would seem like the most obvious strategy.

For much of the first half, the Cowboys tried to run out of a non-shotgun, multiple running back and tight end formation while passing out of the spread shotgun offense.  Many of the run plays were stuffed when Tampa brought an extra man into the box when the Cowboys weren’t in the spread.

However, towards the end of the second half, the Cowboys realized that Tampa was going to keep stacking against the run, and ran a majority of their second half plays, regardless of whether they were running or passing, out of the spread shotgun formation.

This forced Tampa to do one of two things: 1) keep stacking the box against the run and opening it up to the big play through the air, or 2) play a pass defense and leave itself vulnerable to the draw up the middle. 

As the box score shows (353 yards passing, 118 yards rushing), Tampa wasn’t able to figure out when to do what and consequently was blown off the field in the second half.

The Cowboys went from using the run to set up the pass to doing the exact opposite based on what the defense was giving them, something I was dying to see out of Jason Garrett’s offense last year. 

If Garrett can become more and more effective at these in game adjustments, expect many more huge passing days out of the offense this year.

3. I Thought T.O. Was The Only Game Breaker in Dallas

While it is still hard to tell whether the plethora of big plays was due to Dallas’ talent or Tampa Bay’s lack thereof, it is safe to conclude that the Cowboys have a lot more people capable of breaking open a game that do not have their own reality show on VH-1.

(By all accounts Brett Michaels is an awesome punt returner…his limbo game needs work though).

While it will be hard to imagine all three wide outs having long touchdown catches in the same game again, I guarantee you Patrick Crayton, Roy Williams, and Miles Austin had defensive coordinators across the league that ended up in neck braces from the strength of the double-take the Cowboys’ box score induced this Sunday.

The timing displayed between Romo’s back-shoulder throw to Miles Austin, and Austin’s subsequent electrifying run after the catch was a sight Cowboys fans have been waiting to see from the promising burner for the last two-plus seasons.

Patrick Crayton serves to benefit from the departure of T.O. more than any receiver on the roster, as the move meant Crayton was starting back at the second WR position instead of being relegated to the slot.

Crayton needed to demonstrate he was able to put up numbers worthy of a No. 2 wide receiver in the National Football League. One 80-yard touchdown and another 44-yard reception later, Crayton showed what he can do to defenses that don’t give him the respect a No. 2 wide receiver deserves.

And suffice it to say, despite all the ridiculous critics who tried to postulate otherwise, 27-year-old Roy Williams can still play wide receiver in the NFL. 

I don’t care who you are playing against, complete slouches don’t catch 66-yard touchdowns in the NFL unless the pass ricochets off a member of the Cincinnatti Bengals first.

 

Three Things That Need To Change After Week 1

Nobody plays a perfect game, no matter what the final score is.  Here are three things the Dallas Cowboys can look to improve upon despite their dominant performance:

1. Roy Williams-Tony Romo Timing

One of the biggest reasons I was excited to see what Roy E. could do this season was because he and Romo had an entire summer to work together and work out the timing so vital to creating a successful QB-WR duo.

While Romo and Williams did connect on some nice plays and a long touchdown, there was a near interception on a third-and-long and a dropped slant on third-and-short that suggests the tandem still has a little work to do.

In the second quarter, Romo launched a pass to the right towards Williams, who was running a comeback route, a route that is often thrown before the receiver has made his break.

In the pairs’ defense, pressure could have forced Romo to throw the ball earlier than Williams expected, but the defender had turned and seen the ball before Williams and almost made a pick on the sideline because the ball arrived just as Roy was turning around.

On the dropped slant, the ball was thrown high and seemed to ricochet off of Williams’ hands and then helmet before bouncing to the ground. That was either a ball thrown in a place Williams didn’t like/didn’t see in time, or a flat out drop by Williams. 

Either way, neither is a possibility you want to consider with your No. 1 wide receiver.

I still look for Romo and Williams to put up impressive numbers this season. However these two plays suggest the pair is still feeling each other out in their first full season on the field together.

2. Lack of Sustained Drives

This might not be something the Cowboys need to improve upon from last week and more something that will need to happen in the coming weeks, but there is another side to the “all three Cowboys’ touchdowns were over 40 yards” coin.

Whether Tampa Bay turns out to be a contender or not this season (all signs point to the latter), one thing is certain: the New York Giants are better, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

One can’t expect a veteran and disciplined defense coming off a dominant performance against Washington to surrender three scoring plays over 40 yards in a single game to ANY opponent. 

I’m not saying the Cowboys shouldn’t keep taking shots down field.

However, much like a basketball team who’s first offensive option is the three-point shot every time down the court (I’m talking to you, Duke fan), a football team that relies exclusively on the big play to score will be more feast-or-famine than Nicole Ritchie.

Against the disciplined and talented defenses of the NFC East, the Cowboys will have to augment their big plays with sustained and well-balanced drives that synergistically combine the short passing and running game to actually set up big plays that might arise organically against less talented teams.

3. Marty B Quiet for the First Time Since Camp Started

I have been predicting great things for Martellus Bennett, easily the most colorful Cowboy and my favorite newcomer to the squad, since the beginning of training camp. Many Twitter updates and YouTube rap video releases later, Bennett finally got to take the field opposite Jason Witten, or, “Rice,” for the first time in a meaningful game.

However, outside of a very nice 13-yard first down grab on an out to the left side of the field, Martellus Bennett was largely absent from the passing game, and seemed to be lost and/or confused in the three-play debacle that stalled the Cowboys’ first drive of the game.

One thing to note is that big plays eliminate red zone possessions, which is the section of the field Martellus Bennett will be most valuable this year.  After all, he did catch four touchdowns in only 20 receptions last year.

However, he was only targeted twice all game (the other being on the only Cowboys’ red zone possession of the game). Bennett has game breaking ability for a tight end, and should be an integral part of the passing game from here on out.

If the Cowboys have any hope in creating the aforementioned sustained drives that will be so integral when playing playoff teams, Martellus Bennett will need to play a much larger role in the passing attack as a whole.

 

FINAL GRADE: A-

The Cowboys shattered personal records and put on an offensive performance only outdone by Drew Brees’ performance against The University of Michigan’s JV Women’s Field Hockey Team that for some reason took the field in Lions jerseys on Sunday.

However, as impressive as the big plays are, long, sustainable drives are what wins tough close games, which the Cowboys will have a lot of playing in the NFC East. 

Big plays lead to highlights. Consistency leads to playoff victories. 

The Cowboys will face a true litmus test in the New York Giants next week during Sunday Night Football.

Let’s hope Tony Romo and Jason Garrett can keep the “No-T.O. Show” going against a bitter division rival.  All signs seem to be pointing in the right direction.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Things I Could Have Been Doing Waiting For A Cowboy’s Playoff Win

It is the Friday before the first Sunday of the NFL Season. 

It’s hands down one of the most exciting times of the year, and for the NFL fan the countdown to another 17-plus weeks of excitement now stands at a tantalizing two days.

Fantasy football teams are drafted.

Suicide/Survivor pools are finalized.

The Week One lines are set in Vegas.

Most importantly, the ‘Boys in Dallas are getting set to strap on their star-studded headgear in yet another attempt to further the legacy and storied history of America’s Team.

It’s not hard to justify the use of such rosy and reverent vernacular when describing a franchise that has won more Super Bowls than any other not named the Pittsburgh Steelers.

But personally, I’m over it.

I am the biggest Cowboys fan you could ever imagine, and I am in no way ashamed to admit that. But no longer will I feel comfortable citing aggregate Super Bowl wins to quell the ever-present antagonizing Eagles fan.

No longer can I cite the glory days of Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman, and Michael Irvin when asked to justify why the Dallas Cowboys are, for lack of a better term, “the dopeness.” To do so would be just as silly as pinning the 2009 season’s hopes on the influences Tom Landry left behind.

No longer do I believe the Dallas Cowboys deserve the attention that has been alotted to them by both fans and media alike, since the Trinity walked the field in the ’90s.

This realization came on the heels of me finally coming to grips with one of the most head-scratchingly embarrassing number I have ever had to endure as a sports fan: 13.

It has been 13 years since the Cowboys last won the Super Bowl. Thirteen years!

I had heard that number thrown at me in the past months and just shrugged it off, chalking it up to the same typical Cowboys-hate that comes with the territory of being a fan of the blue and silver.

However, last week I sat down and actually pondered just how long a time 13 years is, and the realizations were staggering.

To put this number in perspective, I compiled a list of the things I could have been doing (hypothetically) while waiting for the Cowboys to win a single playoff game:

 

Fight In The First Three Crusades

Say I was a super soldier with a time machine (I’ve already piqued Nicolas Cage’s interest), and was hired mercenary-style to fight in the Battle for the Holy Land.

I would be able to participate in the first three medieval wars (1095-1099, 1147-1159, and 1187-1192) in the time that has elapsed since the Cowboys’ last playoff victory.

The Europeans and Saracens were able to go to war three different times in 13 years (and keep in mind this is an era where you had to walk to get from London to Jerusalem), and Dallas can’t even scrounge up a playoff win in the same time period.

I will now go fall on the nearest scimitar.

 

Write the Entire Four Book Lord Of The Rings Books From Scratch

By all accounts, it took Peter Jackson like 200 years to write the Lord of the Rings books.

All joking aside, anybody who has ever picked up one of these books (I mean that literally…you don’t even have to read them, they are each like 500 pages and 20 lbs) can recognize what a hefty undertaking it was to craft the deep and beautifully thought out universe that is J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth.

He invented his own races. 

He invented his own geography.

He even invented his own language (Elvish), complete with its own unique alphabet and grammatical rules.

Glancing over such amazing accomplishments, one wonders if he ever had time to invent a girlfriend (heyo!).

Regardless, it took Tolkien 12 years (1937-1949) to write this wonderfully imaganitive series, one less year than it has taken the Cowboys to win a playoff game.

I will now walk up to the first Ent I see and ask him to body-slam me.

 

Live Through The Reign of Julius Caesar—Three Times

Julius Caesar remains as one of history’s most compelling, interesting, and terrifying figures. 

Through brilliant military strategy and general bad-assery, Julius Caesar transformed Rome from a Republic weighed down by more bureaucratic red tape than your local DMV to the Roman Empire, one of the most impressive and sprawling empires the world has ever known.

Through his rule, he created the title of “Roman Emperor,” a position that lasted for, oh, the next 1,480 years. Suffice it to say, this was a pretty significant period in the history of the world.

However, as influential as Caesar’s reign was, it only lasted four years (48-44 BCE).

I could hop in my time machine and go through that period three separate times in the same time frame that I have instead been using to watch every single Cowboys game since 1996 without a playoff win.

 

Fight In World War I And World War II

Say I was such an effective Timecop-style mercenary during the Crusades that word spread throughout time and my services were needed to defeat the Germans in either World War I or World War II.

Would I have to delay my services out of fear of missing a Cowboys playoff win?

What’s worth noting is that they both changed the geo-political landscape of the entire world, and both of them took less than 13 years to complete (WWI:1914-1918, WWII: 1939-1945).

I could have literally attempted to take over the world in the time since I’ve last seen a victorious Dallas Cowboys playoff game. 

Anybody got an extra tank of mustard gas?

 

Sail Around the World in a Wind-Powered Wooden Ship Using Only The Stars To Navigate….Twice

Ask any elementary school child or creepy-friend-who-is-way-too-good-at-Jeopardy! (we all have one) about the exploits of Ferdinand Magellan, and they will joyously recount his heroic exploits as the first sailor to circumnavigate the globe.

The fact that Magellan himself got butchered by natives in the Philippines halfway through the journey and still gets credit for it remains up there with the blown fumble call in the Broncos-Chargers game last year as one of history’s biggest injustices.

However, despite the fact many people thought the world was flat, one could only navigate using a compass and the stars, and people were dying because they hadn’t eaten fresh fruit in fave years, “Magellan” was able to complete this journey in 6 years (1519-1525).

I could have participated in that fiasco of a journey two times over in the same time period I have been waiting to see the Cowboys win a playoff game.

Unless the injury report reads “Jason Witten—Out—Scurvy,” or Jason Garrett gets ambushed by a group of heathen tribesmen from the Philippines during his morning jog, I don’t want to hear it. 

 

Win a playoff game. Please.

Don’t get me wrong, I will be a loyal and dedicated Cowboys fan if this playoff drought lasts for another 50 years.

But 13 years ago, I would have balked at the notion that it was more difficult to assemble a 53-man roster capable of winning a playoff game than it would be to, say, fight in the French Revolution (10 years long), but empirical evidence seems to point to the contrary.

The Dallas Cowboys need to win a playoff game in 2009 to preserve the legacy that is threatening to slip away forever after over a decade of ignominy.

Until they do, I guess I’ll take up my time trying to conquer South America with an army of hamsters or something.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Dallas Cowboys Sport Best Group Of Pass Catchers in The NFC East

“Nobody is afraid of those receivers in Dallas.”

“With T.O. gone, who is Romo going to throw to?”

“If Romo couldn’t win with T.O., how’s he going to win now?”

I have had these fallacies spat at me with equal vitriol and incredulity everytime I try to explain what to me is overwhelmingly obvious fact regarding the upcoming 2009 NFL Season.

I realize I might be in the minority of most NFL fans and experts, but after close examination I cannot understand how, when asked to point out the best group of receivers in the NFC East, one could choose any other team but the legendary Dallas Cowboys.

Before I begin, let me point out the fact that I am rating “groups of receivers,” not “groups of wide receivers” specifically, and the reason for this is simple.

It’s 2009, and over the last two to three decades, formerly hyper-specialized positions such as running back and tight end have increasingly diversified their capabilities, making them much more essential to the strength of the passing game than they were 30 years ago.

Therefore, judging the strength of a given team’s passing attack based on the strength of the wide receiver corp alone seems ridiculous.

That being said, onto the team-by-team breakdowns, after which it should be readily apparent why the Cowboys will have the strongest passing attack in the division, with or without T.O.

New York Giants

On defense, the Giants are scary, and are only getting better with the return of Osi Umenyiora. Even though all of the NFC East contenders boast extremely strong defenses, this group probably heads up the pack.

However, jumping from this fact alone to the conclusion that the Giants are going to repeat as NFC East champions is almost as ridiculous as watching Stephon Marbury weep and eat vaseline like it’s ice cream from Cold Stone.

Contrary to popular belief, the Giants lost a lot more than one crucial passing option this offseason.

Unfortunately, only one decided to go N.W.A. on his own thigh while showing off a gun in a night club, thus learning the hard way that there are better ways an All Pro wide receiver can spend his time than drunkenly displaying his gun to a bunch of club chicks like an overzealous fifth grader showing his collection of South Park pogs to a group of third graders behind the monkey bars.

The importance of the loss of a game changer like Burress is obvious to even the most rudimentary NFL fanatic. 

However, Derrick Ward also took his services (and his 44 receptions in ’08) elsewhere. That loss, when combined with the retirement of 600-year veteran Amani Toomer, leaves the G-Men’s passing game in the hands of a group of youngsters that seem more comfortable in the slot than as starting WR’s.

In 2008, Burress, Ward, and Toomer caught 124 passes (and that was with Burress only playing in part the of the season that preceded the whole shooting himself in the leg like Yosemite Sam thing.)

If the Cowboys are in trouble because they lost T.O.’s 69 receptions in 2008, what does it mean if the Giants have to replace almost twice that in lost production?

The best-option replacements for those three play makers aren’t promising either.

Derrick Ward had 44 receptions in 2008. The two backs that still remain on the team, Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw, had 11 receptions combined in 2006.

To replace Burress and Toomer, the Giants will look to the young duo of Domenik Hixon and Steve Smith.

Hixon, standing at an “imposing” 6’2″, 185 lbs., recorded 43 receptions for 596 yards and two touchdowns last year, making him slightly less effective than the Cowboys’ third option Patrick Crayton, who recored 39 receptions for 550 yards and four touchdowns in 2008.

Super Bowl heroics aside, Steve Smith is also undersized at 5’11”, 195 lbs, and has yet to prove he can be a reliable option outside of the slot. Ironically, his 2008 numbers closely resemble that of Crayton’s as well (55 catches, 576 yards, one touchdown).

At tight end, the Giants will turn to Kevin Boss, whose 384 receiving yards (despite starting 16 of 16 games) are much more indicative of his talent than his eyebrow- raising six receiving touchdowns in 2008.

The rest of NY’s receivers are composed of potential busts (Mario Manningham and Sinorice Moss) and a rookie (Ramses Barden). Granted that rookie wide receiver might have had the most terrifying highlight reel in the entire 2009 draft, he is still a rookie wide receiver in the NFL. Anybody who has even sniffed a fantasy football league can recall the abysmal success rate among rookie wide receivers.

To summarize, the Giants are replacing their two most productive and experienced wide receivers with two young, undersized Patrick Craytons and a rookie. The back that bolted during free agency had four times more receptions last year than the two backs they kept. They sport a middle-of-the-pack tight end that won’t even get drafted in most fantasy leagues.

The G-Men have a stellar defense, but I cannot sit here and watch people hand them the NFC East againt his year as they conveniently gloss over the fact that Eli Manning has nobody to throw to this year.

NFC EAST RANK: 4th

Washington Redskins

Just so you know, I can’t think of the Washington Redskins without envisioning Santana Moss, and I can’t think of Santana Moss without envisioning him sprinting by Roy Williams the safety for twoo touchdowns in the last two minutes of Monday Night Football in 2006.

I can’t picture that MNF game in 2006 without having a completely mental breakdown in which I forget things pretty crucial to living like my middle name, how to breathe, or even where I am at the time, so if this analysis becomes a little less than coherent, I apologize.

That being said, most people would rate the Redskins’ group of receivers as the most recognizable in the division, with T.O. and “Wyatt Earp” Burress gone.

I mean, the Redskins have Santana Moss and Chris Cooley, two of the more productive players in the division at their respective positions.

Yes they do, but that’s all they have, and upon closer inspection, that still might not be all that much.

For starters, I have nothing but respect for Chris Cooley. He can be counted on for around 75 catches, 800 yards and five or six scores per year.

However, if Jason Campbell throws for 75 completions, 800 yards, and five or six touchdowns next year, I don’t think he will be coming back in 2010.

Translation: There needs to be plenty more production alongside Cooley in order for the Redskins’ passing attack to get off the ground in 2009.

But wait, what about Santana Moss, one of the most potent deep threats in the entire game? True, he did record an impressive 79 catches for 1,044 yards and six touchdowns.

A closer look at his numbers, and an intimate knowledge of what he did to my fantasy team last year, will reveal that Santana Moss is nowhere near the reliable No. 1 his numbers suggest him to be.

1,044 yards and six touchdowns is by all accounts a respectable year. However, it’s the distribution of these yards and touchdowns that cast a far more dubious pall over the otherwise-positive outlook these numbers suggest.

In reality, as anybody who had Santana on their fantasy team last year can testify, Santana Moss is streakier than the soiled undergarments bin at your local mental institution.

Out of those 1,044 yards and six TD’s Moss racked up in 2008, he accumulated a whopping 72.7 percent of those yards and five of his six touchdowns…in only 7 games.

He had eight games under 70 receiving yards and zero touchdowns (with the remaining ninth game being a smashing five reception, 35 yards, one TD effort).

Santana Moss is literally a flip-of-the-coin player. One out of every two games, he is stellar; the other is deplorable.

Despite his feast or famine nature, Moss and Cooley still accounted for more than 58 percent of all the Redskins’ receiving yards.

Behind Moss and Cooley sits the consistently mediocre Antwaan Randle El, who has only eclipsed 600 yards receiving twice in his eight-year career.

We also can’t forget about the accumulation of 2009 second round draft picks: Devin Thomas, Fred Davis, and Malcolm Kelly.

Those three rookies had 21 receptions for 165 yards in 2008…combined.

Clinton Portis is an absolutely dynamic threat on the ground, but coming out of the backfield as a receiver he only recorded 28 catches for 218 yards and no touchdowns in 16 games, and only has four total receiving touchdowns in his eight-year career.

The Redskins’ passing attack is, for all intents and purposes, a two-man attack, and, considering one of those options only shows up one out of every two games, it’s more like a 1.5 man attack that accounts for almost 60 percent of Washington’s offense through the air.

A passing game with no depth is defendable with the right schemes, especially against the the talented defenses in the NFC East. 

The attack becomes even more managable when the No. 1 receiver doesn’t show up every other game.  Chris Cooley is a pillar of consistency, but outside of Cooley the Redskins’ passing game is hit or miss at best.

NFC EAST RANK: 3rd

Philadelphia Eagles

I need to qualify the following paragraphs with this admission: even as a lifelong Cowboys fan, I will gladly admit that, over the past decade, Donovan McNabb has been the most impressive quarterback in the league not named Tom or Peyton, and that isn’t even a debate.

Nobody has ever been a more productive quarterback with less talented receivers. 

Nobody. 

And you can’t truly appreciate McNabb until you have seen him destroy your favorite team twice in one year throwing to Freddie Mitchell and Greg “I Must Have A Parasite Inside Me Because That’s The Only Explanation For How Skinny I Am” Lewis.

However, even with that in mind, I simply can’t buy into all the hype surrounding this “exciting” Eagles passing attack.

Believe me, I more than recognize the potential the Eagles have to be exciting.

However, it’s ridiculous hearing people talking about this group like they are the Greatest Show on Turf when in actuality it is a group of receivers surrounded by more questions than that little kid from Jerry MacGuire fighting the Riddler.

Brian Westbrook is one of the best players in the entire league, and I will even assume for the purposes of this article that he will be healthy come Week 1. 

When healthy, Westbrook is unstoppable, and will get his 80 receptions for 800+ receiving yards again in 2009. He is by far the best receiving option out of the backfield in the NFC East, if not the entire league.

The keywords there are “when healthy.” If you have played fantasy football and/or have been a fan of the NFC East, then you are familiar with Westbrook’s injury history, which can be summarized as follows: “Westbrook has never had a year in which he started all 16 games of the season.”

By all accounts, LeSean McCoy is just as dynamic and explosive of a receiver, and if that serves to be true, then the Eagles hit a homerun with the young rookie from Pittsburg.  However, we have yet to see him take an NFL snap yet.

If McCoy isn’t as physically or mentally able to handle the NFL game as most experts predict him to be, then the Eagles will find themselves in dire straights if/when Westbrook goes down.

DeSean Jackson had a nice rookie year, a rookie year that is completely atypical for most rookie receivers (even those drafted as high as Jackson). In 2008, Jackson had 62 catches for 912 yards and two touchdowns in which he thankfully remembered to take the ball with him into the endzone.

However, DeSean Jackson is only 5’10”, 175 lbs.

There is a reason most No. 1 wide receivers are closer to 6’2″ than they are 5’10”.

Speedy as he is, DeSean Jackson will have to prove to me he can make it through the beating of another NFL season unscathed before I will truly buy into him being a viable long term No. 1 for the Eagles at that small a size.

The remainders of the Eagles’ passing attack absolutely has promise, but could just as easily flop as fly.

Jeremey Maclin was an exciting college wide receiver. I understand that. DeSean Jackson had an amazing year by rookie wide receiver standards. I understand that, as well. Jeremey Maclin is now playing for the Eagles, the same team DeSean Jackson had such a successful rookie season with.

Any student of logic will gladly point out that the conclusion that so many of you want to make doesn’t at all follow from the premises above given the past evidence.

The OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of rookie wide receivers have little-to-no impact on their teams during their rookie years. Just ask the Redskins and their trio of second rounders.

Just because Jeremey Maclin is a speedy wide receiver going to the Eagles doesn’t mean he will have the success of DeSean Jackson, and if Maclin has anywhere near as average a year as most rookies do, he will be a slot receiver at best.

The remaining receivers that will have to step up if Maclin is unable to do so don’t inspire any more confidence than the promising-yet-unproven rookie from Missouri.

Kevin Curtis has as many size and injury concerns as anybody on the Eagles roster, while last year Jason Avant and Hank Baskett didn’t have as many receiving yards combined as did rookie DeSean Jackson.

Oh, yeah—and they have Brent Celek at tight end replacing “fan favorite” LJ Smith.  I think that statement alone is sufficient.

So to summarize, IF Westbrook stays healthy, IF DeSean Jackson’s rookie season wasn’t a fluke/he is able to stay healthy, IF LeSean McCoy and Jeremey Maclin are as preternaturally amazing as advertised, and IF the gaggle of third-and-fourth tier receivers on that team don’t need to be anything more than third and fourth receivers, then the Eagles will have an awesome passing game.

See my point?

NFC EAST RANK: 2nd

Dallas Cowboys

Arguably the biggest subplot coming into the Dallas Cowboys’ training camp this year is how the Cowboys are going to replace the lost production of T.O., who amounted to around 80 catches a season in his three seasons as a Cowboy.

Some people are so concerned about the Cowboys’ inability to replace this production that they have already written off the Cowbooys’ chances to win the NFC East.

A closer look at the Cowboys’ roster will demonstrate that the Cowboys possess more than enough talent on offense to replace the production T.O. took with him to Buffalo.

2007 was Romo’s first full year as a starter, and was also the year in which he broke virtually every Cowboys’ single season passing record. That season, he recorded 335 completions.

To be reasonable, let’s assume that Romo needs 320 completions in 2009 to be successful.

The reason I felt the need to evaluate receiver groups instead of groups of wide receivers was, I admit, to make my own argument slightly easier…because the No. 1 receiver on the Cowboys isn’t a receiver at all.

With the departure of T.O., Pro Bowl tight end Jason Witten is unquestionably the No. 1 option in this passing attack. 

Witten and his roommate Tony Romo have established quite the rapport over Romo’s first two full seasons as a starter, in which the yeomen-like tight end has averaged 89 catches, 1,049 yards and five touchdowns.

Let’s chalk up another 90 catch season in 2009 for Witten, who remains in the prime of his career.

For a second option in a passing attack, Roy Williams isn’t half bad.

I have no problem disregarding the fact that Williams was completely ineffective in the second half of 2008 upon his arrival from Detroit. The NFL playbook is far too complicated and dynamic, and the speed of the NFL game far too fast for any quarterback and wide receiver to get on the same page mid-season.

An entire offseason of learning the playbook combined with a multitude of throwing time with his new, recently single quarterback should work wonders for Williams’ comfort level in 2009.

The propensity for pundits to write off Roy Williams after one half season has been equally amazing to me. The laws of fantasy football state that most young wide receivers don’t fully come into their own until their third year in the league.

During Williams’ third year in the league he caught 82 passes for 1,310 yards and seven scores.

The following year Williams only played in 12 games due to injury, yet still recorded 64 catches for 838 yards and five scores. If he had played all 16 games, he may have recorded 85 receptions, 1,117 yards, and about seven touchdowns that season.

All this was with absolutely no defense to keep games balanced (so defenses were always expecting pass), with absolutely no line, starting opposite two first round busts (Mike Williams and Charles Rogers) with Jon Kitna, and his current team’s backup quarterback throwing to him.

Why people can’t see a tenured and immensely talented veteran like Roy Williams being able to respond to a full offseason of learning a new system, but are willing to anoint sophomore DeSean Jackson and rookie Jeremy Maclin as the next Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald is beyond me.

I’ll be conservative, and predict 65 catches for Roy Williams in 2009.

Marion Barber has consistently been an awesome receiving option out of the backfield, second in the division only to Brian Westbrook in Philadelphia.

Barber recorded 44 receptions in 2007, and 52 receptions in 2008, a year in which he missed a few games due to injury. Clearly, a much more effective option than Portis’ 28 catches, or Bradshaw and Jacobs’ 11.

Tashard Choice is also a reliable option out of the backfield.  Starting the 2008 season as the third string back, the rookie tallied 21 receptions in the seven games he played a significant role in.

Felix Jones will catch a few balls, but for the purposes of this argument he isn’t considered a top weapon in the passing game.

Choice should be playing a more significant role in both the passing and running games, and might take a few catches away from Marion Barber. Between Barber and Choice, I believe it’s safe to chalk up about 60 receptions out of the backfield in 2009.

Say what you want about Patrick Crayton, but he is an established veteran who is capable of making a difference on the football field. As the No. 2 option starting opposite T.O. in 2007, Crayton had 50 catches for 697 yards and seven touchdowns. In 2008, behind T.O. and Roy Williams for a majority of the season, Crayton recorded 39 receptions for 550 yards and four touchdowns.

At the very least, he can be counted on for 40 receptions this year.

My favorite newcomer of the year, Martellus Bennett, rounds out the last pass catcher in this potent group of receivers.

At 6’6″, 265, this former Texas A&M hoops player has great hands, phenomenal body control, and great hops. As a rookie second string tight end in 2008, Martellus Bennett caught 20 passes, four of which went for scores.

With promises from the coaching staff to run many more two tight end formations, as well as plans to split Martellus out in the slot more often, Bennett will have a breakout year in 2009, hauling in 40 receptions.

To recap, the Cowboys have two of the best three tight ends in the division, two more-than-viable receiving options out of the backfield, and two productive veteran wideouts (one of whom has game breaking ability).

The Cowboys receivers’ possess more consistency and depth than the Redskins, more experience than the Eagles, and more talent than the Giants.

For the upcoming season, I predicted Witten would have 90 receptions, Williams with 65, 60 catches coming out of the backfield from Barber/Choice, and 40 catches from Crayton and Bennett each, for a grand total of 295 receptions. 

None of those assumptions are unreasonable I believe, yet if the 2010 season plays out as above, Romo will only need 25 more completion among the likes of Miles Austin, Sam Hurd, and Felix Jones to reach 320 completions on the year.

The Cowboys will be more than fine without T.O., which is a point that has pretty much permeated every single Cowboys article I have written since Owens left for Buffalo.

The Cowboys will succeed not because Owens wasn’t talented, or because Roy Williams himself is equally as good as T.O., but because Owens’ absence will allow Romo and Jason Garrett to utilize the plethora of talent that was by all accounts underutilized last year in far more creative and innovative ways.

The Giants weren’t able to make the trade they needed to replace the receiving talent they lost in the offseason.

The Redskins have a few marquee talents who don’t always necessarily show up every week.

The Eagles have outstanding potential that remains to be realized.

Even without Owens, the Dallas Cowboys have a far deeper, more talented and more experienced group of receivers than any of their NFC East counterparts.

All we are waiting for now is for Martellus Bennet to come after Chris Cooley’s King of the Internet title. Unlike Cooley, let’s just hope Bennett remembers to put pants on before he does so.

NFC EAST RANK: 1st

Martellus Bennett: Dallas Cowboys’ Offensive Breakout Player Of The Year

For those of you who don’t know, one can’t simply introduce a personality or life force as vibrant and unique as Martellus Bennett with just any type of vanilla introduction.

That is why, after cogitating on the subject much longer than I probably should have, I decided the most fitting way to introduce the wider Bleacher Report community to the phenomenon known as Marty B. would be with the lyrics of one of the greatest musical groups of the past few decades.

A group that has released no less than 10 albums, has worked on countless television and movie projects, and has even taken home an Oscar.

Yes folks, I can think of no better way to eulogize the up-and-coming talent that is Martellus Bennett than with an album title of a group containing wordsmiths the likes of which have not graced the face of the planet since The Bard himself.

I am, of course, referring to the pride of Memphis, TN, Three 6 Mafia, who titled their acclaimed 2005 release The Most Known Unknown.

While the import of such a poignant title is knee-weakening for most, thankfully Juicy J felt the need to elaborate further on the album’s intro by explaining:

A lotta people question the title they wanna know what it means. The Most Known Unknowns means that Three 6 Mafia is known, but at the same time they unknown know what I’m sayin?

Indeed.

That, my friends, is the best way I can think to describe second year Dallas Cowboys Tight End Martellus Bennett: The Most Known Unknown.

Despite what he produced on the field as a rookie, Martellus Bennett, if known by fellow NFC East or NFL fans at all, is probably best recognized for his various off-season You Tube hi-jinxes, which include regrettable forays into both rap and “athletic” event coordination for lack of a better term.

Martellus Bennett’s name might not be as unfamiliar as other young Cowboys jockeying for a spot on the roster, however I believe does in fact he falls firmly into the aforementioned Most Known Unknown category, in that, despite his You Tube fame, most non-Cowboys fans can’t even mentally summon a reception Martellus Bennett made last year.

That factor alone will be the most crucial in Bennett’s breakout season, because a closer look at both his physical skills and his 2008 production will demonstrate that Martellus Bennett is on the fast track to resounding success with the Dallas Cowboys.

Standing at an impressive 6’6″, 265 lbs., Martellus Bennett strikes an imposing and intimidating figure no matter where he lines up on the field.

In fact, he used that frame to play 2 full seasons of basketball at Texas A&M before quitting to focus solely on the gridiron.

As any football scout will concede, basketball and football surprisingly have a lot of transferable skills (for tight ends especially) because both sports demand high levels of hand-eye coordination and complicated footwork, exhibit A of course being Antonio Gates, a Pro Bowl tight end who didn’t play a single down of NCAA football but rather devoted his entire career at Kent State to playing basketball.

The scouting report on Bennett composed by Scouts, Inc. before Bennett’s rookie year points out how the athleticism he gained on the court has carried over onto the football field, where Bennett has already learned to use his size and athleticism to his advantage.

As a blocker, Martellus Bennett could be classified as above average. 

There is obviously much the tight end, being so young, still has to learn about the run game in the NFL. However, scouts praise his ability to get under the pads opposing linebackers and defensive ends despite being so tall, which is probably the hardest part about run blocking for tall, lanky tight ends such as Bennett.

Scouts are also extremely impressed with Bennett’s motor in the run game, praising his ability to sustain blocks and keep his feet running until he hears the whistle.

The above positives are definitely steps in the right direction in the run game, but it is in the pass game where Martellus Bennett will make the largest impact in 2009.

Scouts classify his speed as “above average,” but fast enough to stretch the seams in the defense and put pressure on linebackers and safeties in the middle of the field. He combines this speed with great body control and the ability to catch the ball with his hands away from his body when balls are thrown outside his frame.

Whether or not a receiver catches the ball away from his body or not is a small yet very crucial distinction. When a receiver doesn’t have confidence in their hands, they often try to let the ball come to them and “trap” it against their chest pads.

This is problematic for two reasons. 

Primarily, most NFL quarterbacks have arms like Howitzer cannons, and there is no guarantee that even the savviest NFL wide receiver will be able to control a ball thrown with that force as it is ricocheting between his sternum and forearms at 6,000 repetitions a second. 

Anybody who has watched T.O. play for any extended period of time will gladly point out that this is the main driver behind the large number of balls T.O. drops each season.  He too often lets balls he cannot control get into his chestpad and ends up putting on the ground.

Also, even if the receiver has become fairly skilled at wrangling in balls by trapping them against his breastplate, it takes longer to secure a ball trying to trap it than if the ball was caught with the receiver’s hands extended away from his body.

In other words, if a receiver (or tight end in this case) is crushed immediately after they catch the ball, they will have a much greater chance at holding onto the ball if they have the ball secured the second it hits their hands rather than having the ball bouncing between their chest plate and forearms.

Martellus Bennett is confident in his hands, and catches the ball away from his body whenever possible, which led Scouts Inc. to extol his ability to catch the ball in traffic by using his huge frame to shield impinging defenders.

These skills, combined with Bennett’s leaping ability, make him a phenomenal red zone option on jump balls against small and undersized defensive backs when he lines up in the slot, a place where Bennett lined up frequently in college and already feels comfortable.

Even at this young age, the most impressive thing about Martellus Bennett is how much further he is along mentally than most rookie receivers.

Scouts, Inc. goes out of its way to laud Bennett’s ability to release against NFL linebackers trying to jam him at the line, as well as his uncanny ability to read defenses on the run and find the seams to get open.

Pad level in the passing game is just as crucial as it is in the run game, and, more often than not, young, lanky tight ends often struggle keeping their pads low when they release from the line against NFL linebackers.

Since all contact on receivers is allowed within the first 5 yards, if a tall and lanky young tight end like Bennett doesn’t stay low enough on his release, he ends up getting knocked on his tail by the likes of 6’1″ Ray Lewis or 6’1″ Patrick Willis as they put their helmets into his armpit as he tries to run around them.

Bennett has already learned this necessity, and the significance of mastering the ability to release against must stronger and faster NFL linebackers at this young of an age cannot be overstated.

As I have mentioned in previous articles, oftentimes an NFL receiver is given multiple routes on the same play, and doesn’t decide on which of the routes he is running until halfway through the play, when he is able to read and react to the rotations of the defense.

This can often be the toughest part for young wide receivers for a few reasons.

NFL defenses don’t stop moving and shifting until literally right before the snap, making pre-snap diagnoses of defensive locations fairly daunting.

Also, NFL defenders are so much faster than defenders in college that route running decisions have to be made in a much more contracted time frame than they had to in college.

The fact that Bennett, according to Scout’s Inc., already has a great feel for reading NFL defenses and finding seams to get open means he can spend a lot more time focusing on the physical minutiae of the NFL game earlier than most young players because of his inherent feel for reading defenses.

Clearly, Bennett has the physical tools to succeed in the NFL, and Bennett’s body of work during his rookie season is indicative of the promise demonstrated in his scouting report.

In 2008, Bennett recorded 20 catches for 283 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Those numbers are not significant on an aggregate basis, but a deeper dive elucidates the true significance of those numbers.

In 2008, Martellus Bennett caught a touchdown on 20% of his passes, speaking to his value in the red zone. 

To put that in perspective, Jason Witten caught 4 touchdowns in 81 reception, while Bennett caught 4 touchdowns in a mere 20.

Bennett also averaged 14.2 yards per reception in 2008, a number that ranked third among all tight ends in the NFL.

All of these numbers were put up in a year where Tony Romo missed three games, and Bennett was probably anywhere from the 3rd to 5th option on every single pass play, and not even the starter at his position.

On any given pass play in 2008, chances are Bennett was behind T.O., Jason Witten, Roy Williams, and any running back that happened to be in the play as a check down option.

That fact alone, perhaps, is the most intriguing when trying to prognosticate Bennett’s 2009 performance, because while not being a starter would seem to be a detrimental factor to Bennett, it will in fact be the single most important determinant of his breakout 2009 campaign.

Even with T.O. gone, Tony Romo still has a plethora of options in the passing game. 

From Roy Williams to Jason Witten to Patrick Crayton to whatever young wide receiver prevails in the Hurd-Austin-Stanback wide receiver battle, on most plays Martellus will be at best a tertiary concern for most opposing defenses.

And as has been demonstrated above, Martellus Bennett has the size and skills that are by no means indicative of a tertiary option on any pass play on any team in this league.

Not only will defenses be concerned with the other options in the passing game before they even think of dealing with Bennett, the affluence of talent the Cowboys have in the backfield should serve to further exacerbate the amount of pressure Bennett is able to put on opposing defenses in 2009.

Bennett’s ability to release against NFL linebackers on passing plays has already been illustrated. However, if Jason Garrett is worth the money he is being paid, he will find an intuitive and effective method of deployment for the three talented running backs he has at his disposal.

If used effectively, the punishing triumvirate of running backs in Dallas should serve to gain some yards early against opposing defenses, which will make the defense that much more vulnerable to play action as the game progresses.

Since linebackers must guard against the run before they worry about the pass, more often than not a linebacker’s first step will be towards the line of scrimmage, giving the linebacker momentum to keep running towards the line if the ball is handed to the running back.

It is this first step that often gets linebackers in trouble when play action is run, for if the backers do not recognize the play action fast enough they could easily loose a step or two on whatever back or tight end they are responsible for covering.

Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be a big deal, as most linebackers are saved by a safety hanging over the top when they are burned by tight ends on play action.

Again, I must draw attention to the fact that Martellus is the second tight end in the Cowboys offense while possessing the receiving capabilities of a primary receiving option. 

An opposing defense, if they do have safety help on play action, will most likely be directing their deep attention to either Roy Williams or Jason Witten, preferring to deal with the lesser of three evils in Martellus Bennett.

Therefore, if Jason Garrett can establish the running game early and set up the play action pass, Martellus’ speed up the seams and his ability to effectively release against jamming NFL linebackers should leave him wide open in the soft spot the defense inadvertently leaves open as they try to take away Roy Williams and Jason Witten.

If Jason Garrett can put this amalgamation of talent together in a productive way, we could see the birth of the first permanent two-tight end system that the NFL has ever seen.

Imagine the competitive advantage this could provide, an advantage that could absolutely be leveraged in conjunction with the run game in a way equally as revolutionary as the Wild Cat offense popularized by Miami this year.

(A quick side note: Bennett has already coined a nickname for himself and Witten: “Beans and Rice,” a moniker referring both to the tight ends’ skin color, as well as to the relative “spice” of their opposing personalities.)

At the end of the day, Martellus Bennett, off season ridiculousness aside, has enough natural talent and size to become an extremely successful NFL tight end, one that can succeed and be productive in a second string role that compliments Jason Witten in two tight end formations in a way most NFL defenses have never experienced before.

Bennett’s 2008 numbers absolutely foreshadow the unique threat he can pose to defenses that come to Dallas for seasons to come.  Hopefully this article will now lend you some football perspective with which to judge Marty B’s You Tube clips with.

However if there is one thought I can leave you with regarding Martellus Bennett it would be this: whether before this season he was known or unknown to you, I guarantee the production he puts up in the first half of the 2009 season will far outpace the You Tube attention he received this offseason.

If Martellus was the most Known Unknown before the season, I’m not quite sure what crunk nickname I could possibly create that would be simultaneously as telling and fitting.

However, I think I’ll concern myself more to tracking Bennett’s successes on the field in 2009.

I have Juicy J on retainer until Friday if I need a better nickname before then.

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