Required Reading

I don’t think we need to rebuild systematically per se, but I think we need some additions:

-40% turnover on Oline. In the last two playoff losses, our guys were abused by a good D line.
-2 DEs that can rush the passer. This will come to haunt our D if we can’t pressure from the line but by one person. (Rat)
-1 Safety that can make something out of nothing. Hamlin doesn’t give up big plays, but doesn’t do much else either.
-A kicker.

We have some major pieces that other teams would kill for:
-an incredible QB. Romo is the man. When he’s playing, I feel our team will beat the teams we should beat and have a better than average chance of beating good teams
-DWare and Spence
-great run D. what our DE’s lack in pass rush, give them credit. They stop the run.
-Good corner play. I thought Newman had one of his best years. Scandrick looks like he will be a good player, as well.
-2 1/2 good running backs. Felix and Choice are money. MBIII is fading.
-Good coaches. Wade, Garrett, and DeCamillis are fantastic. Almost all position coaches are back, as well.
-The best punter in the biz.

You can’t blow it up, but we aren’t “1 player away” either.

I meant for people to take the different points that apply to where we are at as a organization. Develope your youth, dont bring jerks into your locker room. Get rid of jerks as quick as you can. The veterans you bring in compliment your young guys and provide leadership.(Brooking anyone)
To many people seem to have a fantasy football mentality. You dont get to pick a whole new team every year. Your locker room is important. Your teams attitude matters. The characters of your team matters for long term success.

It just seems that some of the things that get said on here are pretty crazy. There are lots of new guys and young guys always joining with “Madden ideas”. I was hoping it would open some eyes and open up the bigger picture.

I also wanted to let people know whats behind some of my thinking. 4, 5, 7, and 8 seem like sound advice.

And I think Jerry does as well. Jerry is on the record as saying one of his biggest regrets was not giving Chan Gailey more time. I think he said that because he appreciates that teams need continuity to develop players. That’s why I would have wanted Dallas to keep Wade even if Dallas had finished 9-7. I’m on board with that part.

It’s also supported by this Football Outsiders article which is one of my favorite about the draft. Y’all might enjoy it.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/walkthrough/2009/walkthrough-made-not-born

“Great players are made, not born.

If there’s anything that eight years of draft analysis has taught me, that’s it. Great players become great when they reach the NFL. They don’t become Pro Bowlers or Hall of Famers in college, at the Combine or at the draft. They enter the NFL as raw material. They become players — good, great, exceptional, legendary — later in their lives.

Each draft class contains dozens of “potentially great” players, but each Michelangelo is still hidden in the hunk of marble. There’s no secret method to reveal the masterpiece, because the master still hasn’t carved it. The differences between the productive player and the bust, the good player and the all-time great, usually don’t even exist yet on Draft Day.

Over the years, I’ve often been asked how so many teams could overlook Tom Brady. The answer is that he wasn’t Tom Brady yet. He was just a second-tier Big-10 prospect with a decent arm and a good head on his shoulders. The Patriots coaches made him Tom Brady, and he made himself Tom Brady. To a degree, fate made him Tom Brady. A dozen other guys might have become Tom Brady, but instead became David Greene or Tim Rattay. Brady wasn’t so much a draft-day steal but a triumph of postdraft management and development.

How did so many teams overlook James Harrison, an undrafted rookie in 2002? That’s easy: Harrison wasn’t Harrison. He was a raw, small-school athlete who wasn’t even all that athletic. Justin Tuck wasn’t Justin Tuck. Jeff Saturday wasn’t Jeff Saturday. They were just athletes: very good ones, not exceptional ones. They became great in the NFL."

You know, it’s encouraging to see that, lately, the Cowboys have had some sort of plan that they are actually implementing to build a perennial contender. That plus good drafting leads to sustainable success.

Upfront I will stipulate that you can’t have an entire locker room of headcases. I agree that the Oakland Raiders model doesn’t work.

However, provided a team avoids a critical mass of headcases, I am very skeptical about the importance of ‘character’ to the success of sports teams.

Let’s first acknowledge the recent research on ‘talent’ and the conclusion there is little ‘natural talent’.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/21/magazines/fortune/talent_colvin.fortune/

"A number of researchers now argue that talent means nothing like what we think it means, if indeed it means anything at all. A few contend that the very existence of talent is not, as they carefully put it, supported by evidence. In studies of accomplished individuals, researchers have found few signs of precocious achievement before the individuals started intensive training. Similar findings have turned up in studies of musicians, tennis players, artists, swimmers, mathematicians, and others."

The implication is that there is no such thing as a player coasting on talent. For a player to make it to the NFL they have to put in an incredible amount of hard work and practice. So if they all are hard working (which they have to be to make it to the NFL) then what are the ‘character’ traits that are critical?

Look, it’s great when our sports heros are admirable people as well but for the most part they aren’t. Michael Jordan was a major jerk … beating up teammates, staying out, gambling. Look no further than Dallas itself. Michael Irvin, who I love, loved coke and orgies with prostitutes. Charles Haley was a terrible teammate. Bayless thinks Haley personally destroyed Shante Carver’s confidence and career. Nate Newton got caught with 213lbs of weed.

I get it. I’m a Cowboy’s fan because of Roger Staubach. I’d prefer that every player on Dallas was as much of a role model as Roger. However, I don’t let what I want, lead me into holding false beliefs. I just haven’t seen much evidence that character issues are correlated to winning championships. Everyone thought Marvin Harrison was a great guy and character guy. Well, there are allegations that he murdered a man in Philly and is lying to the police. Ray Lewis was accused of obstructing justice in a stabbing murder. Randy Moss, no comment required. Lorenzo Neal broke his teammates jaw in a fight. These All-Decade team players.

Look at past Super Bowl winners. New Orleans had Shockey and reformed drug abuser Anthony Hargrove. New York had Plaxico Buress. Indy had Marvin Harrison. New England had Corey Dillon (a malcontent in Cincy for those who forget). Baltimore had Ray Lewis. If I was to say there’s a pattern, it might be that you need at least one head–case to win a Super Bowl.

I wasn’t aware of that. I think it’s fair to say it didn’t work.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/19640/marshalls-visit-shows-how-times-change

“I found the video more compelling when imagining what former general manager Tim Ruskell might have said if asked to provide running commentary. Ruskell built his Seahawks philosophy around the idea that the team would seek high-character players while avoiding those who had demonstrated patterns of off-field issues.”

The obvious hole in my theory that you need at least one headcase to win the Super Bowl of course was …. Pittsburgh. And then lo and behold Big Ben gets accused of his 2nd sexual assualt. Thanks Ben for plugging the hole.

Which of course reminded me that somehow I left out Kobe Bryant who was also accused of sexual assault and how Kobe threw Shaq under the bus for cheating on his wife when he got interogated by the police.

BTW, who do you think the biggest headcase/jerk left on the Cowboys is? My vote is for Spencer for getting arrested for public intoxication and disorderly conduct (and fighting with the bouncer) and my general impression that every time he makes a tackle it looks like he wants to kill the guy. Can you imagine running into a drunk, hostile Anthony Spencer at a bar. Yikes!

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/20363/pacman-to-jags-bet-against-it

“Jags GM Gene Smith has been nicknamed “Clean Gene” by Pete Prisco on the radio in Jacksonville … A GM who leans toward drafting college captains who can lead and fall in line with the program"