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Dallas Cowboys draft challenge: Rayfield Wright & Quincy Carter
Note: This is part three in a five part series. Counting down to the draft on April 27, Blogging The Boys will be presenting profiles on the top 5 biggest steals and worst disappointments in Cowboys draft history.
Biggest steal nominee #3: Rayfield Wright, selected in the 7th round,1967
Rayfield Wright entered this world an underdog. Coming from a poor southern family, his mother and grandmother helped build the foundation for a life steeped in hard work and faith. Not falling prey to the traps of poverty and living in a bad neighborhood his ethics and budding athleticism bought him a ride to college, the small Fort Valley (GA) State College. While in school there, he lettered in football and basketball and at one time was offered the chance to leave school to play basketball professionally.
The Dallas Cowboys had a knack for scouting small schools for talent, particularly basketball players. During the 1967 draft, the Cowboys decided to take a chance with Wright and drafted him in the seventh round. The Cowboys drafted him knowing that if he did not pan out, not much was lost. Coming out of college in 1967, nobody expected much out of him. It was thought that it be a stretch for him to make the team. Yet at 6-7, 255 pounds, Wright's athletic ability and versatility bought him a roster spot when Tom Landry started using him a tight end, defensive lineman and utility offensive tackle. When the starting right tackle went down during the 1969 season, Landry decided that Wright was the new man for the job. He took over on the right side of the offensive lineman and never looked back.
Rayfield Wright epitomized everything that represented the Dallas Cowboys in the 1970s. He was tenacious, hard working and fiercely determined. He never hesitated to take on the league's premier defensive lineman while protecting Roger Staubach and opening up holes for Calvin Hill and Tony Dorsett. An immovable rock on the offensive line, it was his speed that truly gave defensive players fits. He had the ability to slide and protect the edge while having the strength to drive his man to the ground. His play would set a high standard for Cowboys offensive linemen for years to come.
While his athleticism and physical prowess made him a great tackle, it was his leadership and attitude that truly set him apart from players across the league. A team captain for seven years, he helped lead the team to five conference championships and two Super Bowl victories. Teammates loved to play for him and he had the ability to get the most out of those around him. On a team with Roger Staubach, Bob Hayes, Tony Dorsett, Ed Jones and Randy White it was Wright's leadership that helped steer the team to greatness. A six-time Pro Bowler, 1970s All-Decade player, a Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor inductee and Hall of Famer, Wright is one of the Dallas Cowboys best players of all time and one of the best offensive linemen to ever take the field. Not bad for a small risk seventh rounder.
Biggest disappointment nominee #3: Quincy Carter, selected #53 overall in the second round of the 2001 draft.
Entering the 2001 draft Jerry Jones was faced with a dilemma. The only starting quarterback he ever had as the Dallas Cowboys owner had retired following the 2000 season. The Cowboys had a slew of unproven and marginally talented quarterbacks on their roster and it was obvious the Cowboys needed to draft a quarterback to come in and take the reins. The problem was, Jerry had traded away his first round draft pick in order to get Joey Galloway. Faced with unenviable task of making a miracle happen, Jerry Jones panicked. The Cowboys made a slew of draft day trades, trading away the #37 pick to Indianapolis only to make a trade later in the round to move back up. The targeted player was Georgia quarterback Quincy Carter.
Carter was a player that many decided it might be best to stay away from. After a failed attempt at a professional baseball career, he goes to the University of Georgia and wins the starting quarterback job. Coming out of nowhere he has a tremendous season for the Bulldogs his sophomore year and it seems that his future in football is very bright. Unfortunately, during his junior year Carter's struggles with marijuana use begin. He has a very disappointing junior season that was marred with injury and inconsistent play. Despite the underwhelming season, he declares himself for the NFL draft and is picked by the Cowboys in perhaps the most surprising move of the 2001 draft.
Playing quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys is not an easy task. The pressure is intense to step in and make a difference immediately. It became quickly apparent though that Carter was nowhere near ready for the NFL. Thrust into the starting role his rookie season he was unable to suppress his gunslinging tendencies and started a trend of grossly inconsistent play.
Watching Quincy Carter play was a painful exercise in watching potential slowly go to waste. It was obvious that he had the athletic ability to excel in the NFL and lead the Cowboys to triumph. The problem was that Carter's focus and decision making left much to be desired. The bad plays far outnumbered the good and the frustrations mounted for both him and the Cowboys. His second year Carter lost the starting job to Chad Hutchinson halfway through the season.
The next season, Carter showed up to training camp with a renewed sense of purpose and proved himself capable of starting to new coach Bill Parcells. Under Parcells, he led the Cowboys to a surprising 10-6 record and a berth in the playoffs. It seemed as if Carter had turned a corner and was finally going to be able to realize the potential he had flashed his first two seasons. Then, inexplicably, Carter was cut by Parcells during training camp in 2004.
It was later revealed that Carter had failed a drug test and was cut when the team felt they could no longer put their trust in the quarterback. Over the past few years it has come clear that Carter struggled with marijuana use throughout his career. After failing another drug test while playing with the New York Jets, Carter left the league for good. He attempted to play in the CFL and when that failed tried his hand in Arena Football. His drug problems never left him, however, and he was arrested for felony possession in October, 2007. It was a tough task to ask Quincy Carter to step into Troy Aikman's shoes and become the savior. But he threw away any chances he might have had to be extraordinary and became just another failure in the hands of an addiction.
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The Phillips 34 philosophy
It's a fortuitous day here at BTB. I managed to get my hands on a Wade Phillips defensive playbook of recent vintage. I can't post it, and I'm not going to post any of the specific plays or diagrams, that would be wrong. But I can quote from it and analyze the different formations and blitzes he uses. It's long and detailed so it's going to take me a while to get all the way through it, but it should give me some significant insight into the Phillips 34.
It won't tell me anything that the rest of the NFL coaching staffs don't know, they've been watching film on the Phillips 34 for years, make that decades. They know all about his defenses. San Diego players mentioned some of the philosophy in quotes when he was hired in Dallas. They all talked about his attacking style. But it's interesting to see it defined.
Over the next week or so I'll be posting my observations after reading through it. But let me give you some of the meta-details about the Phillips 34, straight from the playbook.
The opening line states that the defense is an attacking defense. Music to your ears? I thought so. It further states we will play zone, man-to-man and blitz in any situation. In all situations we will defend the inside or middle of the field first - defend inside to outside. We will not allow the ball to be run inside, we want to force the ball outside. We will not allow the ball to be thrown deep down the middle or inside. We want to force the ball to be thrown short and/or outside.
It also talks about eliminating mental mistakes, using different personnel packages in different situations, the importance of communication between the players, and being a physical defense. The final section of the philosophy chapter ends with this - Finally, our job is to take the ball away from the opponents offense and score or set up good field position for the offense. We must knock the ball loose, force mistakes, and cause turnovers. Turnovers win games!
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One more to go in Cowboys coaching search
The Cowboys coaching search is drawing to a close. Today, Jerry Jones should be interviewing what is widely assumed to be the last candidate for the job, Jim Caldwell from the Super Bowl champs Indianapolis Colts. It's curious as to how or why this happens, but Caldwell seems to be somewhat of an afterthought in the process, with no one really giving him much of a chance. Maybe it has to do with this rumor:
Interesting, but probably not exactly true. I find it hard to believe that if Jerry Jones offered the job to Caldwell, that he would turn it down because of Garrett's presence. Then again, we have a similar rumor concerning Norv Turner and how much authority he would be willing to give Garrett. Supposedly, Turner wants Tony Sparano to have the offensive coordinator title and he wants Garrett to work in unknown capacity. Jones supposedly wants Garrett to be the offensive coordinator and call the plays. So could it be that Garrett's presence is causing problems with hiring an offensive-minded coach?
If so, I say good. Let's get Wade Phillips, Mike Singletary or Ron Rivera in here to coach up this team, and let Garrett and Sparano run the offense. And for those like me who still have hope that Phillips might be hired, I finally found a scrap of information that gives me a little bit of hope.
That's nice to hear, I was wondering if Jones had forgot all about Phillips.
If they do go the Norv Turner route, will Rivera be the defensive coordinator? Yesterday, Rivera wouldn't discuss that possibility, saying he was here to talk about the head coach position. Smart play by any potential candidate, shoot for the top. But, if they do want him as a DC, is that going to be a problem with the Bears? Apparently not, says Mac Engel.
If Rivera does become head coach, he outlined his vision in broad strokes yesterday to the press. He believes in running the football, and not just causally, but as a philosophy to be adhered to, because he believes it protects a young QB. That issue must've come up often for the Bears with Rex Grossman at the helm. He also said he's flexible on defense, and wouldn't necessarily scrap the 3-4, but would adapt his defensive schemes to the talent on the football. He won't try to hammer a square peg into a round hole. He is open to running a combination of 3-4 and 4-3 schemes, and intimated that the Cover-2 they ran at Chicago is more Lovie Smith's scheme than his own. He described his defensive philosophy as aggressive and attacking, a mixture of what he learned from Buddy Ryan and Jim Johnson.
After hearing all that, I'm more inclined to want him as head coach.

Here's an article from a paper in Hawaii covering the Pro Bowl and Tony Romo. Poor Romo, he gets to go to the all-star game, but he has to re-visit his most painful memory.
Sean Payton is making him hold on the kicks!
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Cowboys to open 2006 season in Jax
Rick Gosselin at the DMN reveals the Cowboys season opening opponent and the T-day opponent.
Yikes, I don't relish the thought of travelling to Jax to play a tough opponent on opening day.
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