Want to know how much a 4-0 start to a season can change the perspective of a franchise? Look no further than Jerry Jones getting respect as a "football guy" and a GM who knows what he’s doing. Maybe we’re all just a little giddy over the recent turn of events. I know that I’ve taken my shots at Jerry the GM while praising Jerry the Owner. It’s been my feeling for a while that Jerry was among the best owners in the league because he never stops trying to improve the Cowboys and he does everything he can to promote the club to the public at large. Money has never been an issue in getting players as Jerry has always signed the checks as needed. But yes, I often complained about the personnel decisions and what I considered meddling in an area he was unqualified for. While I have not totally abandoned that line of thought, I will admit that I think he’s gotten much better recently and I do attribute some of that to the influence of Bill Parcells when he was here. But some of it should be attributed to Jerry just getting better at his job. Todd Archer chronicles some of his recent moves that have turned out well and the respect that the players have for him.
He hired Jason Garrett as offensive coordinator before he hired Wade Phillips as coach. He paid Terrell Owens a $3 million roster bonus in March. He re-signed two-fifths of the offensive line, Andre Gurode and Marc Colombo, and added a third in Leonard Davis with a franchise-record $16 million signing bonus. He added free safety Ken Hamlin to shore up the secondary.
In the draft, he bypassed the chance to take quarterback Brady Quinn, trading the Cowboys' 22nd overall pick to the Browns for a first-round pick in 2008. He traded back into the first round to take linebacker Anthony Spencer as insurance in case Greg Ellis' comeback from a torn Achilles' tendon was delayed, which it was.
Hats off to Jerry for getting it right – so far. If these Cowboys tank, we reserve the right as fans to change our mind and blast the team brass with both barrels.
Even the great one, Roger Staubach, is amazed by Tony Romo’s ability to move in the pocket and to make plays when it seems a play is truly dead. Here he is on the Romo Run.
"I've seen a lot of great plays, but people don't realize how great of a play that was," [Roger] Staubach said.
"He bobbled it, kicked it, and your first instinct is to make sure [the defense] doesn't recover it. He knew it was way back there, but for him to have that feeling he could make something out of that was amazing. I think I would have fallen on it."
Yeah, the Cowboys offense is rocking right now. Still, thinking about breaking the all-time point record in a season is a little premature. But that doesn’t stop JJT.
Mickey Spags is happy with the 4-0 record. In other news, the sky is blue.