Dallas Cowboys News & Notes: If Cowboys Want To Win, "Everybody Has To Compromise."

Dallas Cowboys hoping potential free agents Dez Bryant, DeMarco Murray will take less to win | Jon Machota, DMN
The Cowboys have a number of key players who will be unrestricted free agents after the season, including Bryant and Murray, and the team is hoping some of them are willing to accept team-friendly deals.

"If we’re digging in, what we’re really trying to do is maybe not give everybody what they should deserve, whether it’s Tony Romo, whether it’s Doug Free, whether it’s Dez Bryant, whether it’s DeMarco Murray, because if we want to have the type of team we want to have, everybody has to compromise," Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones said Friday on 105.3 The Fan [KRLD-FM].

"It’s our job to try to get people to understand that it can be better for them to maybe take a little bit less and win, and that can pay off for them in the long haul. It’s certainly not easy, but it’s certainly something we’re accustomed to, and we’ll get through this."

3 NFC Teams Who Are Ready to Make a Playoff Push - Numberfire
The guys at Numberfire are regulars in our Power Rankings roundups, but they offer more than just team rankings. Here, Keith Black explains why the Cowboys, Packers, and 49ers (huh?) are poised to make a serious push into the playoffs.

A lot of the Cowboys' ability to win a few games down the stretch will come down to whether Tony Romo can keep up his exceptional play. I mentioned earlier that Rodgers has been the second-best passer on a per drop back basis this year, but Romo isn't too far behind, finishing fifth among that same group, behind, in addition to Rodgers and Manning, Philip Rivers and Andrew Luck. In other words, Rodgers is the only NFC quarterback who's been better than Romo on per drop back basis this season. For as much flak as Romo gets publicly, he's played extremely well.

Twitter mailbag: Who'll be next year's starting linebackers? - Todd Archer, ESPN Dallas
Despite Anthony Hitchens' recent emergence, Archer does not yet see him as a starter.

I'd go with Sean Lee at weak side, Rolando McClain in the middle and Justin Durant on the strong side provided the Cowboys are able to re-sign McClain and Durant. That might prove difficult but we'll see. Now, what about Anthony Hitchens? I like what he has done a lot, but I view him more as a super sub. He can play all three spots and do well. Would I like him as a 60-play-a-game guy for 16 weeks? I don't know. Sorry if I'm slow to the Hitchens party, but it's just my feeling right now in the middle of November.

Jerry Jones on when Tony Romo Will Win His Super Bowl - Scout.com
Mike Fisher and mark Lane provide a transcript what Jerry Jones had to say in his weekly radio show on 105.3 FM on Friday. One highlight: a question about when Tony Romo will win his Super Bowl. Jerry Jones:

"Well, I'll tell you this. We didn't really think that possibly this year might be the year, but you sure can't dismiss it at this particular point. It is great to be 7-3. We'd love to have been 8-2 or better, but we're not. But we've got him healthy. We've got a pretty healthy team on the field. And everybody would like to have more, more of their players. Everybody would like to have gone back and got all their injuries and had them really ready to go here in these last six games, but you can't do that. That's just not the way the NFL works. But having said that, I think we're going to have some fun here in these last six ballgames."

Cowboys 10-game review: Dez Bryant is keeping it real | Rainer Sabin, DMN
When your team is 7-3, microphone-loving front office folk are quick to talk about the playoffs and even Super Bowls. Not Dez Bryant.

"We all know we have done nothing," receiver Dez Bryant said. "Seven-and-three is cool, but it doesn’t win you no championship. So it’s nothing to be excited about."

Jason Witten: Before he ever became a starter, this is when I knew Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was special | DMN
The DMN has a partial transcript of an interview Jason Witten did on Friday with the Talk of Fame Show. Here's an excerpt on when Witten realized the Cowboys had something special in Tony Romo.

"I think in the second year when he was running scout team against our defense, Mike Zimmer was the defensive coordinator, he just would give him fits, and he would do it over and over and over again. You guys know that over the course of the week the scout team is literally supposed to give a look, not to go complete 85 percent of his passes. That’s what Tony did every time. He was always eager to learn and get better."

"I think the final moment was going into that fourth year — people don’t remember this — Tony started the first preseason game because we wanted to rest Drew Bledsoe and I believe Tony was like 19 of 22 on the road in Seattle. They weren’t the same Seattle team they are now but it was a tough place to play. I think all of us thought, ‘Man, not only can he wow you but he can also go down and make the right decisions and keep drives alive and lead his team."

Why the Cowboys get preferential TV treament - LA Times
In response to a Twitter question, Sam Farmer asked NBC play-by-play man Al Michaels why the networks can't seem to get enough of "America's Team."

"It's pretty simple," he said. "When you break down ratings by teams, they are always at or near the top. Very rarely does it depend on the competition. Even if they're playing a mediocre team, they're at or near the top. Also, because of their great lineage with Tom Landry, Roger Staubach, Don Meredith, and you go down the line, a lot of people love the Cowboys, and then there are a ton of people who love to hate the Cowboys. They're one of those teams where you'll get both sides of the spectrum. You run the gamut of emotions."

"For the Cowboys to get off the Sunday night schedule, they would have to go 3-13 for five consecutive years, and then they would have to move to Albuquerque," Michaels said. "That would get them off."

2015 NFL Draft: Q & A with Dane Brugler of CBS Sports – CowboysBlog.Net
Joe Rodriquez had a chance for an interview with Dane Brugler, and used that opportunity to run down an early list of draft suspects for the Cowboys, including options at pass rusher:

Rodriquez: Who in your opinion could come in and be a nice fit [as a pass rusher] under the watchful eye of Rod Marinelli?

Brugler: With Demarcus Lawrence developing well, the Cowboys pass rush should continue to improve and adding another young edge threat would help. Michigan State’s Shilique Calhoun is a junior who checks a lot of boxes and is still figuring out how good he can be. He will likely be around in the late first round and a possible option for Dallas there.

Dallas Cowboys and the Screen Pass - The Landry Hat
Barbara Morgan writes that the Cowboys are utilizing the screen pass more effectively this year (all seven times they ran it) and credits Scott Linehan with bringing the screen back to Big D.

Linehan has the ability to make the best use of what he has so the use of the screen has not been prolific to this point in the season. But, while the number of attempts is fewer than in the past, the effectiveness has increased dramatically. My count through the first 10 games (according the ESPN’s play-by-play accounting) shows a total of only 7 attempts, but with 99 yards gained for an average of 14.1 yards per attempt.

9 things to know about Dallas Cowboys’ future home, The Star in Frisco | DMN
The new Dallas Cowboys headquarters will be one humongous development, and Valerie Wigglesworth offers nine things to know about the development, and in keeping with the overall theme of the extravaganza, one of the nine points is actually about football.

The fields are top-notch. The complex will have two outdoor practice fields – one grass, one turf – that will be exclusively for the Dallas Cowboys’ use. Their placement below ground level and with strategic screening will allow the team to practice without prying eyes from the competition. The indoor practice field with artificial turf will have to meet the standards of not only the University Interscholastic League but also the NFL. Owner Jerry Jones envisions the day when a Frisco high school quarterback is "getting ready to start taking snaps at a Frisco high school football game on exactly the same place that Tony Romo just came from" during a Cowboys practice at the multi-use event center.