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Cowboys decide this year is the year

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By Dave Halprin
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Arash Markazi writes for SI.com and has this article up which looks at the Cowboys from the "win now" perspective. If you've been reading the blog lately you know I fall into the "win now" camp for a variety of reasons including the impending departure of Parcells and because of the age of our QB.  Also, because of free agency and the propensity of players to move on you never know how next season will shape up. BigBlueShoe, our friend and Colts blogger, will probably excoriate me for wrongful thinking but that's OK, I wouldn't write this blog if I didn't expect to take some shots along the way. I believe the Cowboys are making the right decision by going for it now. The NFC is wide-open and Dallas was very competitive last year, mainly failing because of a suspect offensive line and woeful kicking. Here's how Markazi sums it up in his article.

Five of Dallas' seven losses last season were decided by a total of 20 points, including three by three points or fewer. The consensus among those within the organization was that if the team had a steady kicker rather than a revolving door of three journeymen, it would have probably gone 12-4 and had a first-round playoff bye rather than finishing 9-7 and out of the playoffs.

When you believe your team is in that position, the only thing to do is sign some players to immediately fill the holes. Dallas did just that in the offseason, bringing in Vanderjagt, two new offensive linemen, and of course Terrell Owens to bolster an offense that was inconsistent last year.

As it is, they ended up signing arguably the two best players at their respective positions [Owens and Vanderjagt] to three-year contracts, not to mention other free agents such as offensive linemen Jason Fabini and Kyle Kosier, linebackers Akin Ayodele and Rocky Boiman and tight end Ryan Hannam. In the process they have positioned themselves for their first legitimate Super Bowl run in a decade.

Over that decade Dallas has ranged anywhere from mediocre to awful. That's a position this franchise can't accept, because if we do, we might as well be the Arizona Cardinals. I say good for Dallas, shoot for the whole ball of wax this year. Even though they are doing just that, the free agency signings were remarkably economical, this wasn't a "Redskins spending spree", this wasn't mortgaging the future for the present. The Cowboys  managed to stock up for this year while keeping open space under the salary cap for re-signing our own young stars.

So I'll give the last word to a cartoon that used to occupy space in Jerry Jones' office. I think it says it all.

It was a cartoon of two buzzards sitting on a fence in the hot, dry desert and underneath was the caption of one buzzard telling the other, "Patience my ass; I'm gonna go kill something."

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