Dallas Cowboys News & Notes: Sapp Endorses DeMarcus Ware, Red Zone Woes, More

Deacon Jones Award: Who will lead NFL in sacks this season? - NFL.com
Beginning in 2013, the NFL's leader in sacks will receive the Deacon Jones Award. The NFL analysts debate which player might walk away with the award in 2013, and the names they suggest, Jared Allen, Aldon Smith, Chris Long, and J.J. Watt are all good choices, but Warren Sapp's choice tops them all:

"Give me DeMarcus Ware. He is the second-fastest player to 100 sacks in the NFL, behind only Reggie White. (And at one point, White had more sacks than games played, just to show you what Ware's up against.) I look at the past five years of Ware's career, and he has 77.5 sacks. That's half a sack more than I had in nine years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- and I consider myself a pretty good pass rusher."

"The one unfortunate thing about Ware is he can't do it all by himself in Dallas. The guy's so dominant he could get to the quarterback four times in a game, but his team still could get beat 34-7."

2012 Red Zone Performance: Quarterbacks - ColtsAuthority.com
If you woke up today with a bounce in your step; if you've stopped to smell the flowers today; if you've patted a dog, helped a grandma across the street or if you are so happy you just started clapping your hands or stomping your feet, then read this article. You'll be your old grumpy self again in no time once you've seen the numbers about the Cowboys' red zone troubles. And there are many ...

Coaches’ Faith In D-Line Even More Evident Now - Rowan Kavner, DallasCowboys.com
After the Cowboys passed on Floyd in the draft and now passed on signing Israel Idonije (signed by the Lions), Kavner deduces that the coaches have a lot of faith in the current defensive line personnel. And Monte Kiffin seems to agree:

“There’s a lot of competition, no doubt about it there is, and there’s no doubt that’s probably where our depth is right now, is with our defensive line,” Kiffin said.

Safety Will Allen wants to be a hit in Dallas - Carlos Mendez, Star-Telegram
Will Allen looks to take the lessons he learned in Pittsburgh and reapply them in Dallas: "If you aren’t trying to hit, you can forget about it.”

Jon Machota: Tony Romo's exclusion from NFL Network's top 100 list 'an absolute joke' - DMN
Machota does a KD Drummond and takes to video to express his moral outrage and righteous indignation at the injustice that has been heaped on Tony Romo.

What recent history says about Cowboys' 11-win optimism - Mike Fisher, FoxsportsSouthwest.com
Fisher looks at Bryan Broaddus' prediction of an 11-win season and argues that the 11-win mark may be particularly hard to reach in the NFC East, where not a single team has achieved that feat in the last three years. But he offers some hope as well:

"Cowboys fans, you want some optimism to buoy you, to allow you to join Witten and Broaddus in their feel-good outlooks? Four years ago, an NFC East team actually won the division with those almost-impossible-to-get 11 wins. That team? Your Dallas Cowboys."

Updated NFL betting lines from LVH - National Football Post
Super Bowl, conference and divisional odds along with regular season win totals.

The Football Lifecycle of an NFL Draft Pick - Over the Cap
OTC writes about the short life cycle of NFL draft picks and how little they may actually earn of the millions listed in their contract.

Fact: People have wanted to punch Jim Harbaugh for nearly five decades - Sacramento Bee
So it's not just me ... but this quote by John Harbaugh is a little disturbing:

"He would alienate the other kids, so I was really the only friend he had," his brother, John, said in 2011. "We joke that dad's profession was the perfect profession for Jim, because after two years, he'd be like, `It's time to move, dad. I've lost all my friends.' We were in Iowa one time and dad felt bad because we were leaving for Michigan. He tried to break it to us, and Jim goes, `Just in time, dad. I just ran out of my last friend.'"

More Recommended Reading:

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• Building The Cowboys Roster: 2014 Quarterback Prospects
• The Cowboys Make The Playoffs If The Offensive Line Stays Intact