Dallas Cowboys News And Stuff - Bye Week Gameday Edition

The Dallas Cowboys are resting and healing this week. While you wait for the next game against the New England Patriots, here are some articles you might want to look over.

Overshadowing everything in the NFL is the death of Raiders icon Al Davis. Although he became a bit of a running joke in his latter years, the man was one of the giants of the game and had a tremendous influence on the shape of the league as the old AFL merged with the NFL. Jerry Jones released a statement on the mothership, in which he calls Davis a trusted friend, praises his contributions to the game and highlights the special bond Davis had with his players. BTB's own Kegbearer will have a more detailed post on the passing of Al Davis at 9:00 am ET.

Others also had their memories of Davis. One thing in his long career that deserves some special mention is the role he played in opening up front office opportunities.

Elected in 1992 to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Davis also was a trailblazer. He hired the first black head coach of the modern era — Art Shell in 1988. He hired the first Latino coach, Tom Flores; and the first woman CEO, Amy Trask.

Just win, baby.

On the mothership, Mickey Spagnola has a very good article about the effect the running game, or the lack of it, is having on Tony Romo.

But even going back as far as last year, the Cowboys' ability to score touchdowns has come down to this: Either the quarterback throws a touchdown pass or the Cowboys rarely, if ever, get into the end zone. That's a lot of pressure on the dude, or dudes if you want to factor in Jon Kitna, too.

Mickey feels that the Cowboys need to get a more effective running game or quit blaming Romo. He is pretty detailed and the analysis is quite convincing. His summation at the end is particularly pithy.

The Cowboys need to give the guy a hand - stop being so Romo-dependent - or settle for the hand that's dealt them. Because unlike poker, they don't allow you to discard bad plays in football.

However, it would not be normal if somebody wasn't taking a shot at Tony, as NBC DFW does in Fans Weary from Riding Romo's Rollercoaster. They go over all the numbers and recent history, including of course the Detroit Lions disaster, although they do cut him a teeny bit of slack.

Garrett could have helped Romo nurse that lead into a victory by calling for more runs, or demanding safe passes. As Jones said, "if you run the ball a few times and punt it, run the ball a few times and punt it, the stats show that you can't lose it."

But former Dallas quarterback Danny White came to his defense. It's already been noted in yesterday's link article, but I wanted to mention it again, because he talks about how much more intense the scrutiny has become since his day.

"I can only imagine ... actually, I can't even imagine. I kind of know what I went through, and that was the worst part of it for me was dealing with the criticism."

Danny never won the big one. But he has a lot of class.

Meanwhile, Chris Cooley is still getting press over his comments about wanting to fight a cage match with Tony. And apparently has no regrets over his comments.

"I will never make an apology to any offended Dallas fans, and I expect every Redskin fan to cheer at the folly of a Cowboy," he wrote on his blog, "The Cooley Zone," calling his comments "rivalry igniting."

Funny, didn't the Cowboys win the game with the Redskins?

It's not directly a Cowboys article, but I was a bit amused by this preview of a 60 Minutes interview with agent Drew Rosenhaus. 

Rosenhaus admits it may sound arrogant, but says "I really believe that the NFL would fall apart without me."

Might have to catch that episode.

Have a good Sunday. Just seven more days.