It's a Super team, except for ...
01:45 PM CDT on Friday, September 8, 2006
by Frank Luksa
Two NFL experts with national platforms have picked the Cowboys to win the Super Bowl, a jolt to local railbirds since none has expressed such supreme confidence in the team’s future. Nevertheless, both chaps are highly respected, or at least they were before making that prediction.
Chris Mortensen, NFL snoop for ESPN, and Sports Illustrated guru Peter King hatched their forecasts independent of each other, through sober reflection and without the aid of stimulants. Or so they say. Other than beloved owner Jerry Jones during private meditation, no one else in the land has arrived at this welcome but shocking conclusion to the 2006 season.
This doesn’t make them wrong, just nervy, and protected by the fact that if it doesn’t happen, no one will remember five months hence. The writer’s code is to never remind of predictions unless to crow about being right and smarter than those other dolts. I was able to do this infrequently since I once placed the Cowboys third in a four-team division before they advanced to the Super Bowl.
Mort and Pete are usually wired to inside sources as the basis for their reports. Yet like all of us, they can hallucinate if prompted by hints. Thus the head spin and blurred vision when both speculated last month that Tony Romo might replace Drew Bledsoe as starting quarterback on opening day. The thought made less sense than none at all – entrusting a playoff-caliber team to a fellow who hasn’t played a lick in three years. And as we see prior to Sunday’s season debut in Jacksonville, it didn’t happen.
Here I insert a conspiracy theory to account for a ludicrous idea gaining currency. The source for the Romo rooters was coach Bill Parcells, who is tight with certain national writers and a selected few from his days in New York with the Giants and Jets. Parcells surely didn’t say that Romo was a lock to unseat Bledsoe. But he might have said something on the order of, I like this kid, he’s a comer, and if we can’t protect Bledsoe, you wouldn’t be off base to speculate that I might go with Romo because he’s more mobile.
After which, Parcells denies any such intention as a fabrication. So goes the theory.
That’s enough about Mort and Pete, and already more than enough about Terrell Owens. I am pleased to report than since Owens hasn’t slept through more meetings and rehab sessions, Valley Ranch is no longer known as the Land of Nod. Owens is all go for the Jaguars.
The major issues as I see them:
Kicker: Parcells said he would keep only one active, and it may not be expensive free agent Mike Vanderjagt, the NFL’s most accurate field goal kicker until he came to Dallas. There were late-week signs that Shaun Suisham, he of the long kickoffs, might be the one and only. Either way, Parcells didn’t sound confident in either. “I’m concerned about the field goal situation as it stands. I have to tell you that,’’ he said.
Wide receiver: Can Owens go full speed without aggravating his tender hamstring? No one has mentioned that as a potential factor, so I thought I would. Because if he does go lame again, the offense returns to 2005 form.
Offensive line: Until results indicate otherwise, this remains the suspect area even in a two-tight end formation designed to maximum protect. Name a Pro Bowl-caliber starter. The Jaguars offer an early test of strength since one NFL scout had this to say about them: “I wouldn’t trade this defensive line for any other in football. No other team has this combination of rush ends and run-stuffing tackles.’’ The depth here is worrisome.
Defense: The Cowboys may not resemble the Doomsday unit of old but they appear on the verge of elite status. Exhibition feedback was somewhat misleading in that Seattle was a goat rope of reserves, New Orleans and San Francisco among the NFL’s most feeble offenses, and Minnesota limited competition between No. 1 units. But the snuff-out trend was positive. If a trip to the Promised Land lies ahead, defense will be the Cowboys transportation.
Schedule: I don’t like it, but then, I don’t have to play it. The third week bye comes too early and leaves no break to heal injuries over the next 14 weeks. Six of the first nine games are on the road. There’s the gamut of three consecutive road games in Carolina, Washington and Arizona to run in October.
But never mind. If Mort and Pete are right, there’s nothing to worry about
by Frank Luksa
Two NFL experts with national platforms have picked the Cowboys to win the Super Bowl, a jolt to local railbirds since none has expressed such supreme confidence in the team’s future. Nevertheless, both chaps are highly respected, or at least they were before making that prediction.
Chris Mortensen, NFL snoop for ESPN, and Sports Illustrated guru Peter King hatched their forecasts independent of each other, through sober reflection and without the aid of stimulants. Or so they say. Other than beloved owner Jerry Jones during private meditation, no one else in the land has arrived at this welcome but shocking conclusion to the 2006 season.
This doesn’t make them wrong, just nervy, and protected by the fact that if it doesn’t happen, no one will remember five months hence. The writer’s code is to never remind of predictions unless to crow about being right and smarter than those other dolts. I was able to do this infrequently since I once placed the Cowboys third in a four-team division before they advanced to the Super Bowl.
Mort and Pete are usually wired to inside sources as the basis for their reports. Yet like all of us, they can hallucinate if prompted by hints. Thus the head spin and blurred vision when both speculated last month that Tony Romo might replace Drew Bledsoe as starting quarterback on opening day. The thought made less sense than none at all – entrusting a playoff-caliber team to a fellow who hasn’t played a lick in three years. And as we see prior to Sunday’s season debut in Jacksonville, it didn’t happen.
Here I insert a conspiracy theory to account for a ludicrous idea gaining currency. The source for the Romo rooters was coach Bill Parcells, who is tight with certain national writers and a selected few from his days in New York with the Giants and Jets. Parcells surely didn’t say that Romo was a lock to unseat Bledsoe. But he might have said something on the order of, I like this kid, he’s a comer, and if we can’t protect Bledsoe, you wouldn’t be off base to speculate that I might go with Romo because he’s more mobile.
After which, Parcells denies any such intention as a fabrication. So goes the theory.
That’s enough about Mort and Pete, and already more than enough about Terrell Owens. I am pleased to report than since Owens hasn’t slept through more meetings and rehab sessions, Valley Ranch is no longer known as the Land of Nod. Owens is all go for the Jaguars.
The major issues as I see them:
Kicker: Parcells said he would keep only one active, and it may not be expensive free agent Mike Vanderjagt, the NFL’s most accurate field goal kicker until he came to Dallas. There were late-week signs that Shaun Suisham, he of the long kickoffs, might be the one and only. Either way, Parcells didn’t sound confident in either. “I’m concerned about the field goal situation as it stands. I have to tell you that,’’ he said.
Wide receiver: Can Owens go full speed without aggravating his tender hamstring? No one has mentioned that as a potential factor, so I thought I would. Because if he does go lame again, the offense returns to 2005 form.
Offensive line: Until results indicate otherwise, this remains the suspect area even in a two-tight end formation designed to maximum protect. Name a Pro Bowl-caliber starter. The Jaguars offer an early test of strength since one NFL scout had this to say about them: “I wouldn’t trade this defensive line for any other in football. No other team has this combination of rush ends and run-stuffing tackles.’’ The depth here is worrisome.
Defense: The Cowboys may not resemble the Doomsday unit of old but they appear on the verge of elite status. Exhibition feedback was somewhat misleading in that Seattle was a goat rope of reserves, New Orleans and San Francisco among the NFL’s most feeble offenses, and Minnesota limited competition between No. 1 units. But the snuff-out trend was positive. If a trip to the Promised Land lies ahead, defense will be the Cowboys transportation.
Schedule: I don’t like it, but then, I don’t have to play it. The third week bye comes too early and leaves no break to heal injuries over the next 14 weeks. Six of the first nine games are on the road. There’s the gamut of three consecutive road games in Carolina, Washington and Arizona to run in October.
But never mind. If Mort and Pete are right, there’s nothing to worry about
posted by The Gryphon at 6:52 PM
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