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Today, we have another match-up between a player and a key member of the front office. But its not just any front office guy, it's fifth-seeded Jerry Jones, the Cowboys polarizing owner, versus twelfth-seeded Bob Breunig, who manned the "mike" for the Cowboys in the late 70s and early 80s. This could be the closes 5-12 contest yet; does Breunig have what it takes to unseat Jerry? Read the bios and hit the poll, loyal readers!
Wanna keep tabs on the state of the bracket or look ahead to future contests? All the Midsummer Madness info you could ever want can be found right here.
Player: Jerry Jones
Position: owner, general manager
Seed: 5
Essentials:
| Name | Years | Career AV | Pro Bowls | All-Pro | RoH | HoF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jerral Wayne Jones |
1989-present |
-NA- |
-AN- |
-NA- |
no |
no |
Bio: Jones purchased the Cowboys in February, 1989 for a cool $140 million. He inherited a mess, and it soon got messier, as he fired Tom Landy and Tex Schramm and hired Jimmy Johnson. With Johnson, he retooled the entire organization, and the Cowboys enjoyed a meteoric rise, going from 1-15 in their first year to winning Super Bowls in 1993, '93, and '95 - becoming the first team in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in four seasons. In his first ten seasons owning the club, the Cowboys made eight playoff appearances, won six division titles, went to four conference championship games and were named the NFL's Team of the 1990s.
Over his tenure as owner, Jones has become very influential in league circles. He serves or has served on a wide range of league committees, including the Management Council Executive Committee (the entity that represented the owners in the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement), the Competition Committee, the Business Ventures Committee, the NFL Network Committee (which he chairs), the NFL Broadcasting Committee, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Committee and the NFL Player Dire-Need Committee.
As this list suggests, Jones has profoundly impacted the NFL landscape in terms of sports marketing, merchandising and promotion. If you watch highlights from the 70s and 80s that show the crowd, nobody in the stands is wearing jerseys or even team colors; now, every fan is sporting team colors or their favorite player's jersey. In 1989, many NFL owners were old-school football men who knew little about modern marketing techniques. You can thank Jerry for that; he was the first of a new wave of progressive owners who catapulted the league forward, helping it to become a savvy corporate entity.
As the team's General Manager, Jerry has received a great deal of criticism, much of it warranted. But much of what he has overseen has been successful. Since 1993, when Jimmy Johnson left, the Cowboys have drafted 22 Pro Bowlers and one Hall of Fame player. More recently, he has presided over the formation of an excellent upper management team, led by son Stephen, senior director of college and pro scouting Will McClay and head coach Jason Garrett. With this group as Jones's information filter, the Cowboys have become one of the league's model franchises.
Player: Bob Breunig
Position: outside linebacker, middle linebacker
Seed: 12
Essentials:
| Name | Years | Career AV | Pro Bowls | All-Pro | RoH | HoF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Paul Breunig |
1975-84 |
81 |
3 |
0 |
no |
no |
Bio: Breunig was selected in the third round of the 1975 Draft, as one of the famed "Dirty Dozen" draft picks to make the Cowboys roster that year. The following season, he became a starter at strongside linebacker for a year. In 1977, after the failed Randy-White-at-MLB experiment, Breunig became the retired Lee Roy Jordan's official replacement as the team's middle 'backer. From that point on, Breunig functioned as the defensive signal caller and tackling machine; he led the team in tackles six seasons, and broke the team's single-season tackling record in 1981.
During his ten-year career, Breunig started 117 straight games, until back problems derailed him midway through the 1984 campaign. He ended his career as the franchise's second-leading tackler (behind Jordan). Breunig appeared in 21 playoff games, six NFC Championship Games and three Super Bowls. And he did not skimp on individual accolades; Breunig was a three-time Pro Bowler, a second-team All-Pro in 1980 and a four-time All-NFC selection. In 2010, he was named to the Cowboys 50-Year Anniversary Team.
Alright, BTBers, which man advances to the next round?