Cowboys QB coach Chris Palmer gets a long write-up by a local paper. He returned to his high school roots to raise money for a new football facility they are building.
It hasn't been talked about much, but reuniting Palmer with his former pupil Drew Bledsoe might be a big boost for this year's offense. When Palmer was at New England with Parcells and Bledsoe, they had one of the best years ever by an NFL passing offense. Many of Bledsoe's passing stats from 1996 are still NFL records. It was the one period in Parcells' coaching career that was a wide-open offense, far removed from the conservative offense we usually associate with a Parcells' team. With the talent we have at the receiving position, if we can get decent protection from the o-line, this could be an interesting passing offense. In fact, we may end up being shocked by Parcells, as the Cowboys use the pass to effectively set-up the run.
Palmer had this to say about getting the band back together.
"It's good to be back with (quarterback Drew) Bledsoe. He's a more mature quarterback than when we first had him in New England."
It turns out the Cowboys have a few coaches that hail from the same area.
Sparano, who coached under Palmer at New Haven, also served as head coach of the Chargers from 1994-98.
Pasqualoni grew up in Cheshire and coached at Western Connecticut and Syracuse before joining the Cowboys in 2005 as the tight ends coach.
"When I was the head coach at New Haven (1986-87) and Paul was the head coach at Western Connecticut, we would meet at the Catholic church in Cheshire and talk about our games," Palmer said. "Afterward, he'd hop on I-84 and go to Danbury and I'd hop on I-91 and go to New Haven."
But when they asked Palmer about Terrell Owens, he showed he is part of the Parcells conspiracy to keep a lid on the Owens affair.
"This day is about Immaculate," Palmer said politely, but firmly.
Nice try Palmer, but when you've already answered plenty of Cowboys' questions in the same interview, no one's buying that excuse. Just admit it, Parcells put you under the Owens Cone of Silence.
These guys rank all 32 NFL teams after they've made their offseason moves. Here's the take on Dallas:
Lazy reporting. Just throwing out that "it doesn't make sense" doesn't make for good analysis. Continuing down the lazy path, just because you say T.O. is a major distraction doesn't make it so. He may end up being one, but so far he's been a model citizen, and his past shows that he will be for a while. Meanwhile, they make no mention of what he can do for us on-the-field.
You can argue the Drew Bledsoe/Donovan McNabb angle; I won't bother to do that here. Feel free to compare the two in the comments section below. But if you wanted to really analyze the Cowboys, you need to discuss the offensive line and the rising defense which looks poised to wreak havoc this year.
Let me tell them what also makes sense, we have a kicker this year. Last year, we're a playoff team if we have a kicker. The Cowboys are a much improved team from last year, by all accounts they had a fantastic offseason.
The only people that would be shocked by Dallas improving on their 9-7 record from last year, would be the two guys who wrote this article.