Promoted from FanPosts by Grizz (with a few minor edits).

Bravo, Mickey! Bravo! Your article on Roy Williams is brilliant in the way that you directly address the relationship between the player and the fans. Even with the Romo/Simpson saga, and the Pac-Man trade concerns, and the fear of a disgruntled Greg Ellis, and the Felix vs. Rashard disagreements, and the December/Playoffs slumps, the most passionate topic in Dallas Cowboys fandom continues to accelerate around the what-to-do-with-Roy-Williams debate. Move him to linebacker. No! Take him off 3rd downs. You gotta! Trade him. Not likely! Cut him. Cap $pace! Let him resurrect with Campo. Maybe! Let him change numbers. Sure!

Cowboys fans are having a hard time swallowing the fact that what happened here with Julius Jones seems to be happening with Roy, just on the other side of the ball. Instincts, aggressiveness, passion--all the characteristics that made Cowboys fans "ooh" and "ahh" over their team's former #1 pick--have diminished.

Where is he? Why is he a shell of his former self? Do Tai Streets and Todd Pinkston have to be on the Cowboys schedule for Roy to "show up"? Was he offended the league ruled against his "horse collaring"?

I don't know! I don't know! I don't know! Nobody does! It's frustrating, so I'm sure that's why you (and Roy) hear so much from the fans about his play. We simply don't know what to expect from him. And that's scary.

Do you remember that Monday Night game a couple years back when Dallas was up 13 to 0, and the 'Skins came back with a coupla deep balls to Santana Moss in the 4th quarter to win 14 to 13? That's when it all began for me. That's when my confidence in my favorite Dallas Cowboy began to die. Maybe, his did too.

Anyways, Mickey, thanks for the article. It would be great if Roy can be pumped up by the fans the same way Hulk Hogan was by his Hulkamaniacs. But after hearing Roy's comments about the fans, and just reading the distaste for his play from the various Cowboys' bloggers, I doubt there's anything else the fans can do, but cringe when that deep ball is in the air on his side of the field.

Let's turn our attention to the defensive line, more specifically, the Nose Tackle position. If you look at that position on teams that play the 3-4 defense well, they all feature massive, space-eating, double-team-occupying, 6-trips-through-the-buffet-line mountains of men like Casey Hampton, Vince Wilfork and Jamal Williams. Each of these men is over 340 pounds and, while they don't get a bunch of praise for their stat lines, they do the most important thing that an NT can do in the 3-4; clog the middle.

One thing that concerns me is how the rotation of Ratliff, and whoever serves as the #2 at this slot, will hold up in the very physical, run-first NFC East over a 16 game season. Are we undersized (albeit more active) than other teams who deploy a 3-4 base defense? Will there be a June 1st free agent castoff out there that could serve as a veteran plugger for us? And would we even want to go that route?

I remember reading somewhere that the Cowboys had interest trading up to draft Hardy in the 2nd round.  Perhaps it's a good thing we didn't....

Foxsports.com Story

A woman called police saying Buffalo Bills rookie wide receiver James Hardy was beating up his father and had pulled a gun when she yelled for him to stop.

 

Fort Wayne police spokesman Michael Joyner said Tuesday no charges were filed because Hardy was gone when officers arrived and Hardy's father did not want to press charges.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3394121

He was dealing crack?? Hilarious. I hadn't even realized that he had fallen out of the league. He was on the team only three years ago, and he was definitely productive (almost 1000 yards rushing!)

I always thought he was underrated when he played for the 'Boys.

Still - 50 grams of crack! That's major drug dealing! I wonder what happened to all his NFL money

I've been stewing all off-season about how Dallas needs to think differently about the Safety position. It seems that ever since Roy Williams arrived in Big D, no one's been really sure how to use him. First there was the 'let Darren Woodson and him split the field in two' notion, then there was the 'let him play in the box and make plays' idea. Now it seems we're minimizing his deficiencies by taking him off of the field in certain downs and distances.  

Time for you all to weigh in...

In the off season we upgraded the CB position.  Big time.  We lost Nate Jone and Reeves.  In their place we got Mike Jenkins and a potentially starting caliber and athletic player in Orlando Scandrick.  But that is not all.  More than likely we will have one of the top 10 corners in the league, Pac Man, added to our team by training camp.  And lets also remember our coaches started to become really high on last year's 7th round pick Alan Ball.  Add this to Newman, one of the top 3 cover corners in the league, and Henry, who when healthy is one of the better corners in the league, we have on our hands a wonderful problem at CB.

If everything goes as planned, we may be able to work out a block buster deal involving Newman given our flexibility at the corner position.  He may be leaving us after this season for greener($) pastures, and during TC would be the perfect time to get something out of him before he leaves us. 

One has to question the draft wisdom of GM Jerry with the selection of Martellus Bennett.

Given that it's not a lock that we will re-sign T.O. (he turns 35 in December) and that Glenn is iffy with his injury status, I am still scratching my head over who would be our 2009 Starting wideouts. Right now, it could be Crayton and Miles Austin. My friend says, "you'll see, Stanback is the answer". I keep telling him that being drunk while analyzing the Cowboys depth chart is a bad combo, but obviously, he isn't listening.

Three big contracts are coming up with Ware, MB3 and Newman (not including T.O.) and it makes me wonder if we think that a double TE offense is what we were missing last year when T.O. went down and we suddenly lost our aerial attack.

I just don't know that using the draft for immediate impact is ever a good strategy. Anyone remember the drafting of 3 consecutive CB's several years ago when we had issues at that spot? We know how that worked out. And how about trading two #1's for Joey Galloway? Another winner.

2009 is a capped year, and with all this money we are about to spend to retain our core group, where are we going to find new, top-flight WR talent? I hope I'm not left screaming in anger about Manningham, Andre Caldwell and Early Doucet torching teams in the coming years.

HI guys, long time no post.  Hope all is well. Work has bee busy and other than watching the draft (and I give it a B minus) I haven't been that active. 

Still a coworker sent me this link on Friday and I howled.  Pretty funny stuff.

Can't wait for pre-season.

By the way, the great thing about having two first round picks is it feel near as bad when we read that Jenkins looks bad in minicap.

Anyway, enjoy this link:

http://www.bangcartoon.com/2007/pacmandallas.htm

there is some strong language (before you play it at work)

here is another (albeit less relevant)

http://www.bangcartoon.com/2007/pacman2.htm

I read earlier that he was released by the Packers. That was a head-scratcher, because I was under the impression that he did pretty well when he returned upon the end of his suspension. Or at least that's what other people were saying.

Continue reading this post »

Felix Jones:

I love this kids attitude. He seems to be very humble almost to the point of quietness. You want him to talk? He'll explain everything you want to know on the field. I really do like the kids game but I have to admit it took me some time to settle into this pick @22. Reggie Bush keeps crossing my mind when talking about Felix.. I'll let you decide if that's a good or bad thing.

Mike Jenkins:

Before the draft he was one of the top CB's on my list (#2) and to see him fall all the way to #25 was just awesome. In my mind I was comparing him to TNEW with his speed and ability to leech onto his opponent. Rookie camp kinda jaded that comparison a little for me, but I really do think with some coaching that comparison will stick. I loved this pick.

Martellus Bennett:

I was a little confused at this pick at first. Tight end?? I know we just traded Fasano but I'm pretty sure we have a guy named Jason Witten who as I recall was, uhhhh, prettyy good. Then we have that other guy (Tony Curtis) who refuses to do anything but catch TD's. It didn't take me long after learning this guys size and athletic ability to really like this pick. Him having super powers is definitely a plus too. I am quite excited to see him play.

Tashard Choice:

What's not to like about a natural leader who can inspire and be productive in the running and passing game? This kid WILL produce, bet on it.

Orlando Scandrick:

This kid is slowly becoming one of my favorite picks in the draft. He's extremely fast and apparently can cover like my favorite Cowboys blanket. Granted all the hype on him comes from covering young, unestablished receivers. Still this kid has mad potential and I'll be pulling for him in a major way. On top of being able to cover well, I fully expect to see this kid get a few sacks this year rushing off the edge. Hopefully he'll block some kicks too.

Erik Walden:

I haven't a clue.. Has anyone watched him play? Someone enlighten me on this guy.

_________________________________________________________________

As for the undrafted guys we've snagged..

Danny Amendola:

I can certainly see why this kid gets the Wes Welker  comparisons. They both come from the same school (Texas Tech), have similar size and speed. Both are extremely quick and tough to cover. I'm pretty excited to see what he can do in training camp. Can he separate from the likes of TNEW, Ant Henry, and the PAC? We shall see, we shall see.

I have to go to work so I'll cut this a bit short by saying I'm not mad at all about not drafting a receiver. There were a couple in this draft that I really did like and am confident  will become good players in the NFL, but I agree with the decision to not take one with one our top picks. We had much greater needs and I think  we took care of those needs quite well. With that being said, I am extremely anxious to see a few of the rookies as well as a couple of last years rookies battle it out at training camp. Daniel Polk, Danny Amendola, Mark Bradford, Joe West, Isaiah Stanback, and Mike Jefferson. I'm pretty sure Sam Hurd is a lock to make the team but Miles Austin better bring his A-game or he may find himself in Miami swimming with the Tuna.

May an epic training camp battle be had, and here's to finding one or more diamonds in the rough!