An open letter response to Jason Hatcher (and other underachieving *&^%$# players on the Dallas Cowboys)

My attitude is, we’re one Corner Back away from not having to answer questions about leadership. Leadership is a phantom you chase in lieu of winning

I wonder if there’s more to this, otherwise he’s just being a pinhead.

bunch of fans and media will make this about Romo (because when don’t they?), but. more to the point, how is he going to look DWare and Ratliff in the face? What about the guys who are probably done, but who many have long considered leaders: Bradie James, Keith Brooking, Newman? He threw the entire team under the bus, but it’s got to be way rougher for the defensive leaders. As you point out, he doesn’t even seem to perceive his own role in it.

Here’s the thing; if I go out and publicly dis the company I work for, what happens? What does my boss do to me? How does the team respond? I think this is really bad.

stupid stupid stupid

Yes I know it creates another hole but it would be far better than letting a cavity like him ruin the core of this team! Negativity breads like a fire in dry grass! Cut Hatch and don’t look back; he doesn’t deserve to ware the Star!!!!!

Strong leaders do not publicly dole out blame, but rather fight to offer solutions and achieve positive results. Obviously, Mr. Hatcher, you lack the ability to be a true leader, further illuminating the true problem with this edition of the Dallas Cowboys: players such as yourself that consider themselves separate from the problem.

AMEN BROTHER!

Network, ESPN, and of course every Dallas beat writer will have so much “input” on this now. Ware, Witten, Romo, Lee, and Ratliff all lead by example. Even Dez screams and motivates players on the bench. Remember when the Giants were getting stomped by the Saints and Tuck and everyone else were moping on the bench doing their own thing? They still won a SuperBowl. Having a team leader is a myth.

I had no problem with what Hatcher said

this is my take

I am sure Hatcher has tried to talk the players behind the scenes about this issue, but nobody responded

I agree with Hatcher to a certain degree, the defense (notice I said defense here) doesn’t have a vocal leader of any sorts besides Sean Lee who I think will grow into the role now that Brooking and James will be gone
he probably felt out of line trying to lead veterans, now he will be the veteran and more comfortable as a leader
he did it at Penn State and I see him doing it in the NFL for a long time

as for Ware, amazing player, hall of famer, i think to some degree Ware is a great teammate and all the side coaching he does is awesome, but what Hatcher is getting at is leadership during games and on the field
it just isn’t there, Ware isn’t a very vocal guy, never has been

Ratliff is probably the most vocal guy along with Spears

So I believe Hatcher tried to keep this in house, but nobody stepped up and the reason he is saying it in public is for people to truly listen to him now

just my theory, have at it!

his leadership really shouldn’t be questioned anymore
I think he has grown so much in that department in the last 3 years
the offense have their leaders

I think the defense needs someone to step up and I nominate Sean Lee, Jay Ratliff and DeMarcus Ware to be those guys

I am not worried about this at all

now obviously I am not in the locker room or on the sideline, but there needs to be more interaction with the players, too many times during games where we are losing or facing adversity, the camera shows guys moping around and silent, there needs to be more interaction

for the most part, Romo interacts with the entire offense
he is constantly talking to the OL, WR’s and RB’s on the sideline

but on the defensive side of the ball, I see Spears and Ratliff doing a lot of talking while everyone else is just sort of chilling out

I could be 100 percent wrong here, its just my theory, but I believe in it

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/36355/hatcher-wishes-ray-lewis-was-a-cowboy

We have Romo and Witten on offense, but we really don’t have a key leader on defense. This is a failure on the part of the veterans on defense to provide leadership.

It doesn’t excuse Hatcher from saying it on national radio. Damn, what a moron. Cut his ass on principle alone.

One more thing. The best leader in the world will be ineffective if he doesn’t have enough talent on his squad to succeed. This defense is deficient on talent. George S. Patton couldn’t get this defense going. Get some better players and I’m confident Sean Lee will lead them to victory. He’s a defensive quarterback if I’ve ever seen one.

Thanks for bringing this up, Scarlet. Rec’d.

JG has really tried to push unity and keeping problems in house in his brief time as HC….if Hatcher really feels that way then maybe he should go see Ratliff and ask him his opinion…I’m sure that Rat would be more than happy to school Hatcher in the error of his ways….Ratliff has on more than one occasion got on Romo about tossing an int (against NE) and even when Wade was here took personal accoutability for the lack of run defense (can’t remember the game but the story about his telling Wade that it wouldn’t happen anymore was funny)…

At any rate, maybe its not a problem with a lack of leaders, it could very well mean that Hatcher just didn’t care to listen. If thats the case then rewarding him with a ride on the backs of the performers as they push for a trophy is too much of a price to pay. I say let him go.

WIth a guy like Sean Lee, who puts the time he puts in to get better, and plays every down like it his last. He may not be a rah rah guy, but he leads with his work ethic. Best type of leadership is leading be example.

but they don’t want to cut Spencer for doing the same and admitting to quitting

you cut Hatcher, this defensive line gets awful, he is our best five tech

Ryan needs to sort this out.

So Hatcher shoots his mouth off .. good. Don’t blame the whistleblower.

Do you think the Cowboys have the leadership or even playing-as-a-team issue under control already? Not me.

Before he was cut?

But all of this is part of the territory. The players have the skill (and body). Us fans are better workers and probably have watched football longer than most players have been alive. We are just different kinds of people.

It has to be what Jerry Jones brings to the franchise, right? Certainly there has been enough variety of coaches. But its different now. JG was groomed for this situation and JJ will take great, personal pride to ensure his legacy in this process is a success.

At the risk of sounding soft, I have faith for now and look eagerly towrard this off season to evaluate the JG, SJ and JJ braintrust.

We never thought last year would be great anyway, did we?. The only bad things that surprised me were:

1. JG clutch moments game mismanagement (hands down wtf is he doing!?)
2. Costa not improving (clay shiver all over again; but we tried)
3. Free dropoff (he’ll bounce back)
4. Committing to Sensabaugh and Scandrick (i guess they just need to be average in the new grand scheme?)

I think we just need to help Romo more (OL) and fix the obvious secondary weakness (CB). I know it’s more complicated (DE, S, Spencer, Robinson), but I’d be happy with that.

What kind of elite competition have you participated in? I’m not trying to rip you or anything, just interested. Great article, by the way.

I’d like to know where our military members are to comment on this.
I’d think some of them would contradict the "no such thing as leadership’ argument.

I just want to see some Cowboys play some effin ball when its on the line. Is that asking too much?

its a lot easier to be a follower then a leader & some people just dont care to be the best at whatever they do.
i wouldn’t even let my youngest beat me in Wii bowling just to make her feel better but instead i taught her to work for success. a year later i couldn’t even come close to beating her & she was only 10 yrs old then.
to many kids grow up never earning anything & then they think success is suspose to given to them.