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Improving D-line Dallas Cowboys' top offseason priority - Tim MacMahon, ESPN Dallas
Yes, yes, yes.
"I think our biggest challenge is to get a better roster – get us to where we can compete better," Stephen Jones said Monday on 105.3 The Fan. "I think it will start with our defensive front there."
"Obviously we’ll turn our attention to the front seven. With the injuries and the cap situation that we have, we’ll certainly have to take a long, hard look at it. My number one goal in the offseason is to improve our roster, especially in the front seven."
Cowboys coordinators on shaky ground - Mike Fisher, FSSouthwest
Fisher suggests that both coordinators could get the boot, with the most likely replacements being Rod Marinelli on defense and Norv Turner on offense.
Sources say last year, when the Cowboys eventually settled on the Callahan in-house promotion, the only outside name considered was ex-Cowboys staffer Norv Turner – who declined the invitation to entertain the idea because A) Turner didn't want the job if he wasn't going to call plays, and B) was concerned that him calling plays would create the appearance of him undercutting the authority of former pupil Garrett.
In Garrett's final contractual year? Maybe "appearance" doesn't matter anymore.
Ware on enduring yet another 8-8 season: ‘You get tired of it’ - Tom Orsborn, Express-News
Ware wonders what the plan is to get out of the 8-8 doldrums.
"After a while, each year, you feel like you lose something. So it’s like, how do you come back from that. It’s been three times (in a row they have lost the de facto NFC East title game), and not being able to follow through with it. So, it’s like now what do you do in the offseason to make sure that doesn’t happen (again).
"I know that we are going to do everything we can to do that. But are you for sure that you are doing the right things."
"I don’t think there is always for sure a roadmap, but you got to have a roadmap early," Ware said. "You can’t have it late. You got to start that roadmap right now. You have to start all the way from watching games to getting ready for getting surgeries or whatever you need to get, getting healthy, all the way to OTAs, knowing what’s going on. It goes all the way through the offseason to make sure that once training camp hits you know everything is right."
Team leaders applaud Jones’ decision not to give up on Garrett - Tom Orsborn, Express-News
DeMarcus Ware and Jason Witten both applauded the Cowboys' decision to retain Jason Garrett as head coach.
"He’s a great leader, motivating us each and every week no matter what the circumstance is. He has three seasons where, yeah, he’s been 8-8 and not (won) the NFC East championship, but that let’s you know he is there. We do have opportunities and we can’t forget that. He’s a great coach. I’m behind him 100 percent."
Stephen Jones: Tony Romo should be 'ready to roll' for mini camps - DMN
Jones said Romo's surgery was successful, and that barring setbacks, Romo "should be ready to roll when mini camps and everything starting back."
Tony Romo attends exit meetings - Calvin Watkins, ESPN Dallas
Just three days after back surgery to repair a herniated disk, Tony Romo was spotted gingerly walking the halls of Valley Ranch.
"That just speaks to what he is, you know," tight end Jason Witten said of Romo, his best friend on the team. "He's gonna find a way to come in and see the guys and it's an obvious emotional time. No team stays the same. It's just what he's all about. I thought it was great of him to come and be here and just share in this time. It's tough and he's a big part of this team and I think that was very stand up of him to be here, I'm sure with the pain he's in."
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett says LB Sean Lee ‘needs time,’ not surgery, for sprained neck ligament to heal - Rainer Sabin, DMN
Jason Garrett said Monday he doesn’t believe Lee will require surgery to repair a sprained neck ligament.
Bailey sees no negatives to re-signing with Cowboys, but 'we'll just kind of see what happens' - Carlos Mendez, Star-Telegram
Dan Bailey became a restricted free agent at season’s end. Mendez writes that Bailey is the most accurate kicker in team history, with a field goal percentage of 90.8 (89-for-98) in three seasons, and also holds the team record with eight game-winning kicks. Bailey appears to be very open to re-signing with Dallas.
