Jerry, Goodell and the CBA; doesn't have the same ring as The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, but vastly more entertaining to grown ups! Here's a quick recap of some Cowboys and league-related news that you might have missed, but still want a bite of.
--- Here's Captain Comeback Roger Staubach with a very brief show of support for commissioner Roger Goodell. [dallasnews.com]. Not much there, but for what it's worth, Staubach believes the players can trust Goodell. Not so sure about that. Every time I think of Goodell now I remember this exchange from his training camp tour last year, as relayed by yahoo.com's Michael Silver way back in September 2010:
At one point in the commissioner’s visit with the Cleveland Browns, linebacker Scott Fujita, a member of the NFL Players Association’s executive committee, asked: "What do the owners want? What’s it going to take to get a deal done?"
"I can’t answer that," Goodell replied.
"You’re the NFL commissioner," Fujita shot back. "You’re here as the mouthpiece for the owners, and you can’t even tell us what they want? The CBA [collective bargaining agreement] is up in March. Don’t you think you need to start giving us some answers?"
By the end of his visit with the Browns, players were referring to the league’s chief executive as "Roger the Dodger." It got worse for Goodell during the final visit of his tour, this stop coming at the Indianapolis Colts’ training camp. According to two sources familiar with the meeting, some Colts players admonished Goodell with swear words, to the point where star quarterback Peyton Manning was embarrassed by their behavior. Veteran center Jeff Saturday, another executive committee member, cut the meeting short to keep the situation from escalating further.
Yeah, good luck in repairing that relationship Captain.
Continue for more...
--- Carolina Panthers owner and former player Jerry Richardson may take the national ire away from Jerry Jones. I'm connecting the dots, but it appears that the sticking point of revenue sharing wasn't the only thing that caused both sides to walk away from last week's talks. From USAToday's Sean Lahey:
There contentious negotiations for a new NFL collective bargaining agreement may have boiled over into name-calling from Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson toward two of the league's most prominent players at a negotiating sessions this month.
Arizona Cardinals kicker Jay Feely told ESPN Radio recently that Richardson -- considered a hawk among owners for having a hard-line in the CBA talks -- criticized Manning, Brees "and their intelligence" at a negotiating session.
Yahoo Sports then reported that Richardson blasted players at the meeting so much so that commissioner Roger Goodell and fellow owners cringed. Some later apologized for Richardson, Yahoo reported.
So what else did Richardson say? Let's check the videotape, errr, the links. [yahoo.com]
Among other things, Richardson became so angry at Sean Morey after the recently retired player cited a slew of statistics on player safety and average career length that the Panthers’ owner snapped, “You guys made so much [expletive] money – if you played three years in the NFL, you should own your own [expletive] team.”
At that point, as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and several of Richardson’s fellow owners cringed, league representatives suggested that the two sides take a break.
“It was bad from the start,” said one player who attended the session. “[Richardson] opened the meeting by describing how he was almost annoyed how we would ask for that meeting on their busiest weekend of the year. And I’m thinking, ‘Your team finished 2-14. You shouldn’t be that busy. Why are you worrying about how busy you are during Super Bowl weekend?’ ”
Ha! That sounds like something I'd have said.
Drew Brees was asked about Richardson's behavior toward him at the meeting, and gave pretty much a non-answer.
--- Foxsportssouthwest.com writer Mike Fisher has a great read up on Jerry Jones. I had no idea that Jerry tried to purchase the AFL San Diego Chargers all the way back in 1965. It appears his father talked him out of it (purchase price was $5.8 million) and then they watched someone else come in and pay $11 million for the same stake. Jerry has transformed his investment in the Cowboys to a $1.2 billion franchise. You don't get many articles that paint Jerry in a good light, nice to see one.
--- Big Nate Newton. Well, we can't call him that anymore. Newton is being profiled on an upcoming episode of HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. It seems Nate has lost over 175 pounds from his playing days, in an attempt to serve as a better example for his children. [nbcdfw.com]
--- In other Cowboys on mainstream television news, 13 year NFL veteran and former Cowboy Steve Wright will be taking part in the next season of Survivor, the popular reality television show. Last year, our former coach Jimmy Johnson participated. [dallasnews,com]
--- The NFL has increased their offer to the Famous 400 Fans as I like to call them. The folks that did not receive a seat at Cowboys Stadium for the Super Bowl even though they had valid tickets are now being offered $5,000 or the documented expenses from their trip, whichever is higher. [nfl.com]. I hope those people were planning on writing off the trip as a business expense and kept every receipt!
--- Links to position evaluations from the Mothership. Quarterback, Running Back, Wide Receivers, Tight Ends.