If you're a Dallas Cowboys fan, you're about to be hit by a blinding flash of the obvious: According to an ESPN Sports Poll, 8.8% of those polled listed the Cowboys as the team they root for each week, good for No. 1 among the 32 NFL teams. The ESPN Poll conducts 1,500 monthly telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of Americans age 12 and older to arrive at the rankings.

Dallas is ranked ahead of a bunch of recent Super Bowl winners, including the Packers at No. 2 (7.2), the Giants and Steelers tied at No. 3 (7.1) and the Patriots at No. 5 (6.8).

The poll results are a powerful reminder of the allure of the Dallas Cowboys' Star: The Cowboys are the most popular team despite not having won a Super Bowl since 1995, the longest such drought among the top ten most popular teams outside of the Bears (1985) and the Super-Bowl-Disabled Eagles.

Just two weeks ago I wrote a post titled NFC East: Why My Division Is Better Than Your Puny Divisions, which showcased some of the reasons why the NFC East remains the best division in the NFL. Dan Graziano, ESPN's man for the NFC East, observes that the poll results show that three out of the top nine most popular teams hail from the NFC East, making it easily the most popular division in professional football with a cumulative 22.2 percent of the total vote.

More details after the break.

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Its time once again for our bi-weekly edition of the highly anticipated BTB FanPost of the Week recognition extravaganza. This week, I'd like to concentrate on two themes: competition and community. What do I mean by this? Well, you'll have to read to the end to find out. I think it'll be worth the wait.

Okay, let's get going, shall we? In the fifteen months that Jason Garrett has been head coach, we have become accustomed to his various mantras - process, be great every day, right kind of guys, and make-up - and have seen these all implemented at some point during his tenure. Another of his favorite terms, competition throughout the roster, hasn't received quite as much play, largely (I believe) because the roster hasn't had enough good players for legitimate competition to take place. After an offseason in which the organization has brought in a slew of good, solid players, I'd expect this expression to start receiving heavier rotational play.

Let's take a look at the inside linebacker position for a moment. After struggling (and failing) for years to upgrade the depth at the position - which is the key to creating competition - the Dallas braintrust has suddenly done exactly that. Consider: in Sean Lee, Bruce Carter and Dan Connor, they have three legit starting candidates competing for two positions. In Carter, Connor, Orie Lemon and Caleb McSurdy, they have four players competing for the three remaining ILB positions after Lee, who is certain to make the roster. In Lemon (who is reportedly much-improved) and McSurdy, they have two young, hungry guys - both of whom promise to be good-to-great special teams players - battling for the final spot.

In this example, we can see that competition at each layer of the roster creates constant upward pressure. Lemon and McSurdy will push Carter, who will push Connor, who will push Lee, who will push the rest of the defense. When a team can create a similar level of competition across the roster, it makes everybody - and every position group - better. And, although some soft spots can still be found on the Cowboys' depth chart, the 2012 edition appears to have more roster competition than the team has been able to boast since 2007 (or perhaps even since 1993).

Consider what our community of card-carrying Cowboys converts collectively communicates concerning competition... after the jump.

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The Dallas Cowboys caused quite a stir in the first round of the 2012 NFL draft when they traded up from the 14th pick all the way to the sixth pick to claim Morris Claiborne.

The move left many Cowboys fans giddy with excitement. After all, that move allowed the Cowboys to pick the consensus best defensive player in the draft; the reigning Jim Thorpe Award winner, awarded annually to the best defensive back in the country; a corner the Cowboys, in their own words, had rated higher than any CB since Deion Sanders. Add $50 million free agent acquisition CB Brandon Carr to the mix, and expectations for Claiborne - and with him the whole secondary - are beginning to cross over into irrational exuberance.

Claiborne will be an immediate starter for the Cowboys, Claiborne will shut down the elite NFC East receivers, the ball-hawking Claiborne will collect at least 5 interceptions, heck, there's even talk that Claiborne will miraculously increase Anthony Spencer's sack total.

At times, it's good to keep in mind that Claiborne will be a rookie corner in the NFL. Every week in the NFL, he'll play against receivers the likes of which he may have played only once or twice per season in college. He'll face faster, more physical offenses and will have to learn a more complex defensive scheme. He'll play more games during the season, he'll have to study harder and he'll play under a much brighter spotlight as a Cowboy than he ever did as a Tiger. And it doesn't help one little bit that his wrist surgery is keeping him out of all OTAs.

For a corner, a high draft spot is not a guarantee for a breakout performance in his rookie season as well see after the break, when we review how the rookie season went for the eight corners selected in the first round in 2010 & 2011.

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In a development that can only be considered ironic, the NFLPA has confirmed that the Dallas Cowboys are included as defendants in their collusion lawsuit against the NFL.

Union officials confirmed Thursday that all 32 NFL teams, including the Redskins and Cowboys, are defendants in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Minnesota.

Although this may strike many here as downright ungrateful, it really is something that should be expected. The lawsuit is filed against the league, and Washington and Dallas are still part of the NFL, despite any desires to the contrary that may be held by John Mara.

The irony, of course, is that it was the punishment levied against the Cowboys and Redskins for refusing to participate in what the NFLPA is claiming (with considerable justification and near unassailable logic) to have been illegal collusion that created this whole scenario. However, dollars is dollars, and the Dallas and Washington franchises represent a disproportionately large chunk of the total value and revenue stream of the NFL. If the lawsuit should proceed and a verdict or finding be rendered in the union's favor, they are going to want to get paid. The matter of how unfair it might be to force the teams that resisted the collusion to pony up is going to be secondary to getting those bucks.

More details, including the possibility of an out, after the jump.

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Adam Schefter at ESPN has reported that the Indianapolis Colts have offered to trade for Mike Jenkins.

The Indianapolis Colts have made multiple trade offers to the Dallas Cowboys in an effort to acquire disgruntled cornerback Mike Jenkins, and the last one remains on the table, according to a league source.

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said this week that Dallas would not trade Jenkins. But another NFL source familiar with the situation said he believed a trade could be worked out for the right price.

This would seem to be a solution that would work out for both parties. The only argument that can be made against the trade is to make a stand on principle, that the team will not let an unhappy player manipulate them into trading him. However, that seems a lot less valuable than a draft pick. Indy seems to think they have made a good offer.

A Colts official declined comment, yet a person connected to the team said Indianapolis has been trying to pry loose Jenkins with an offer that one source said "many teams would think is compelling."

To hazard a fairly obvious guess, I think Dallas is trying to see just how much they can sqeeze out of the Colts, or to see if someone comes along with a better offer. The Cowboys would be well advised to wait for an offer their own front office finds compelling, and not just some anonymous league source, but if the offer is to their liking, it is difficult to see how the Cowboys could come out ahead by keeping Jenkins, who likely would only have more resentment over the knowledge the team refused to trade him.

If you had to take a guess, how many NFL teams do you think had three receivers with more than 850 receiving yards last season? Would you be surprised to find that only three teams did, and that those three teams were the Patriots, Falcons and Cowboys?

Of course you're not surprised. After all, the simple fact that you're on this site in the doldrums of the offseason qualifies you as a hardcore football fan, and is proof that you are able to recite football stats like other people are able to recite lyrics from 80's hair metal bands, quote scripture or describe in detail every play from all Eagles Super Bowl victories.

So it also won't come as a surprise for you to find that the Cowboys are also one of only five teams with three receivers who notched at least seven TD catches each last year (ATL, GB, NE, NO are the others). You'll probably reply with a bored "So what ese is new," when I tell you that the Cowboys' 850+ yard receivers (Witten, Bryant, Robinson) are not the same as the 7+ TD receivers (Robinson, Bryant, Austin).

But what may surprise you is to find that despite all the receiving prowess of the Cowboys' top three receivers, those top three guys have been targeted successively less in Jason Garrett's offense over the last five years.

That is quite a big drop from 69% to 53% over five years, and after the break we'll try to figure out what, if anything, this means.

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The Dallas Cowboys completed Day Three of their first set of Offseason Training Activities yesterday, and will take the weekend off before returning to Valley Ranch next Tuesday to go at it again. Unfortunately for fans, we won't get much of the evaluation from those able to watch as the next three-day session will be closed to the media. We should continue to get injury reports following the conclusion of practice each day, and hopefully the news will remain on the up and up.

We've finally heard of all of the offseason surgeries various players have undergone and, knock on wood, no new injury seems to be looked at as a serious setback in the vein of New York Giants' star receiver Hakeem Nicks' broken foot. He might be out three months and may not make it back in time for the season opener against Dallas due to his rehab schedule. A week ago I said temper your enthusiasm over what you hear coming out of OTA's and camp; well temper your misery. Playoff contenders are seeing stars and starters go down; sometimes for the whole year. See, Johnny Knox, Chicago.

As far as Cowboys injuries you may not have been aware of, ESPN's Todd Archer has the scoop.

Nose tackle Jay Ratliff is not taking part in the OTAs yet because of a foot injury, while guard/center Kevin Kowalski and offensive tackle Jermey Parnell are slowed by ankle and hamstring injuries, respectively.

You could use a bit of good news right about now, huh? Well how about the fact that the Cowboys scintillating rookie runner from '11,DeMarco Murray, is back to 100% and showed it in drills this week? Ian Rappaport of NFL.com reports:

"It felt great just to get back on the field," Murray said. "I have been working out for a long time, rehabbing. And I’m finally done with all of that. It felt good to get back in the huddle with the guys and play some football. I have been doing everything in the past month-and-a-half, 100-percent-wise. No limitations. I’m feeling good out there."

Running Backs Coach Skip Peete is excited to see what the combination of Murray and newly signed fullback Lawrence Vickers can do together; but that won't really happen until players can hit, which means training camp.

"The majority of the running game comes from your feel with that person in a live setting, so we’ve got to wait and see what it’s like in training camp when we get in our inside run period, where we’re actually full speed against our defense and see how they both respond and react to whatever the defense presents to us," Peete said after an OTA practice this week at Valley Ranch. - Star Telegram

Follow the jump for more...

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And the list keeps growing. Today, the Dallas Cowboys Ministry of Information Withholding (MIW) revealed that Dan Connor is the fifth Cowboys player to have undergone shoulder surgery in the offseason. According to the report from the official team website:

Newly-signed linebacker Dan Connor is not practicing this week because of shoulder surgery he had before signing with the Cowboys in free agency in early March. Connor has not been cleared to practice for this week's OTAs and it's likely he could be held out until the start of training camp on July 30 in Oxnard, Calif.

The article goes on to say he joins Felix Jones, Barry Church, Alex Albright and OTA holdout Mike Jenkins . . .

Alex Albright? Wait a minute, when did he have surgery? I checked the Google and also did a search of our stuff here at BTB, and I can't find any mention of him going under the knife before today. Man, the guys at the MIW are good at how they sneak that stuff in.

But this is not really about the way the Jason Garrett-led Cowboys let us know about things when they think we need to know, and not a minute before. I was just looking at the fact that all of these players except Barry Church are unavailable or limited in practice because of the shoulder operations. Church has been cleared and participated fully in the OTAs this week.

They join the four draftees (Morris Claiborne, Tyrone Crawford, Kyle Wilber, and Danny Coale) who have all gotten hurt and/or had surgery so far this year. While this list can look a bit depressing, I think there is another way to look at things.

Find out what I mean after the jump. Sorry, I'm all out of clever pop culture references at the moment.

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