Sure, Thursday's loss to New Orleans was enough to put a damper on Cowboys fans' Thanksgiving cheer; perhaps more depressing, however, was the absence of the much-anticipated FanPost of the week from last Wednesday's cornucopia of pre-game BTB posts. Apologies to all; I came down with a nasty case of food poisoning on Tuesday night and my intention--to reward a member of our community for his or her inimitable contributions with a deserved level of fanfare and hoopla--went, with my dinner, into the great good night. Worry not, faithful followers, I recovered in time to gorge myself on Thursday after the game and, with this here post, to resume our dearly-held FPOTW tradition. So get out your streamers and noisemakers, ladies and germs, we've got ourselves a winner.
But first, I would be remiss if I failed to mention the post I had earmarked for last week's coveted prize: Fan in Thick and Thin's WMQB follow-up to the Lions game. In it, Thick wonders what happened to the explosive plays in the Dallas passing game (Thick claims that Garrett didn't fear Detroit enough to risk the big play, a conclusion supported by the return of the big play against the far more potent Saints), lauds Patrick Crayton's work in San Diego, and pooh-poohs the notion of Kitna's superior "leadership." As always, I suggest you call in sick on Wednesday's, sleep in, then sit down with a bagel, a steaming cup of joe, and Thick's superb musings; there's no better way to get over the midweek hump.
This week's winner after the jump...
Now, on to this week's winner: 5Blings. Blings is another frequent inductee to the Hall of FanPost Excellence. This time around, he offers up a carefully considered meditation on Jason Garrett, in which he inveighs against the media's perception that Garrett is "too green" or that his success as a coordinator "won't translate" to the big headset. Blings compares the Media to detectives who "will find reasons for people not to believe that the new guy is much different than the old guy." Its precisely when he hears such sentiments that Blings pricks up his ears; he gets "an eerie feeling when I hear those things," he writes, "because I know I’ve heard them before."
Indeed, he reminds those readers who are perhaps a bit shorter in the tooth that both Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson were considered out of their element when they assumed their respective positions as head coach of the Cowboys. These relative greenhorns became heroes, the stuff of Cowboys legend. So, he asks, why not Garrett? Blings is certainly rooting for the RHG, if for no other reason than he's an underdog and always has been:
When you strip away all of the media hype and tackle this from a purely human interest perspective, Jason Garrett is a guy you can root for. He’s the kind of story that you want to have a happy ending not just because he is YOUR team's head coach, but because he is a guy who, you have to believe, doesn’t take his opportunities lightly. And if that kind of verve and enthusiasm and commitment and focus can lead to the shift in culture that all Dallas fans have been clamoring for since Jimmy Johnson left town, then yes, consider the job opening for hero, filled.
I'm not sure how the Cowboys HC position is going to play itself out--but I, like Blings, am rooting for Garrett who, unlike the other retreads that the media continues to place atop the list of prospective candidates, might just be new enough at this to find a way to succeed at it. Whether or not you are rooting for Garrett to be The Man in 2011, you should read Blings' take. As always, its good stuff.