Radical suggestion for new Dallas coach

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, February 06, 2007  |  Comments( 25 )

Dallas Cowboys
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Ah, now that the little distraction known as the Super Bowl is over, we can discuss the true issue of importance in today's NFL: Terrell Owens.

In fact, here's a radical concept for Norv Turner, Wade Phillips, Gary Gibbs, Jason Garrett, Mike Singletary, Ron Rivera, Jim Caldwell and every other Jerry Jones interviewee for the Dallas Cowboys' head coaching vacancy: T.O. is simply not the problem.

Following, then, a quick review of major miscues in the Cowboys' bummer of a 2006 season, along with a reminiscence of which way the prevailing wind blew. (Apologies, 'Pokes fans, but it has to be done.)

Week 1: The Cowboys drop the Opening-Day game to the Jacksonville Jaguars, after a crushing first half in which they hold the tenacious Jags to 16 total yards while taking a 10-0, turnover-free lead. T.O. and Terry Glenn each rack up 80 yards, and Owens had a pair of long grabs called back on penalties. A startling lack of team cohesion is cited as the reason for the loss by more than merely yours truly, and the wait for the yanking of Drew Bledsoe was on.

Week 4: The Cowboys are pounded by the early-season juggernauts known as the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-24. Bledsoe is just one facet of the loss, but he earns a spot in ignominy with a brutal fourth quarter that demonstrates his lack of mobility and generally poor decision making.

Week 6:. After the bizarre accidental overdose incident - which, incidentally, was met with a stunning dearth of sympathy that would tick you off had it been someone you knew personally - Owens comes back to nab three TD passes while the Cowboys immolate the Houston Texans, 34-6.

Week 7: In the Cowboys' loss to the New York Giants on Monday night, head coach Bill Parcells finally pulls the inevitable trigger and replaces Bledsoe with Tony Romo. Because Romo throws a pick on his very first attempt, morning-after quarterbacks immediately begin questioning Parcells' wisdom in waiting so long to put Romo in the starter spot.

Week 9: Thanks to a bizarre sequence of plays involving a blocked field goal and a questionable 15-yard face mask penalty in the game's final minute, Dallas loses to Washington, 22-19. Parcells admits in the post-game interviews that his clock management was, well, not the best. And there was that idiosyncratic decision to go for the two-point conversion in the second quarter...

Week 14: Oh, how things change. The Cowboys are suddenly flying high, their behinds crowned as NFC champions by some sportswriters, and why not? Everything is working for Dallas at this point in the season, and the defense has gained a reputation as one of the league's strongest, particularly against the run. And shorter after a Pro Bowl nod that the Tuna calls ridiculous, media darling Romo and the Lone Stars get smoked by the New Orleans Saints, 42-17. An about-face by the public at-large proclaims that the Cowboys have been unmasked as a charlatan by a true playoff team.

Wild-card round: The once-vaunted Dallas 'D' allows a weakened and hurting Seattle Seahawks team one golden opportunity after another. Romo can't find Owens or Glenn or daylight, really. The entire season culminates in a blown field goal hold by Romo, followed by Shaun Alexander breaking the 'Boys' backs with an up-the-middle run that would have been stopped in Week 10.

Now, note the targets of blame here. Held responsible for losses are Parcells, Bledsoe, Parcells, Parcells, the referees (on the facemask call), Parcells, Romo, the defense...one particularly creative sportswriter theorized the Cowboys would have been better off with jettisoned kicker Mike Vanderjagt over Martin Gramatica in the wild-card game, for the former might have - unlike Gramatica - thrown a proper block to allow Romo the TD on the blown hold.

Here at RealFootball365, Andy Targnovik's report card for the Jonesers has the tight ends and safeties getting below-average marks, while the receivers (T.O.'s included there, right?) were noted as one of the best corps on the 2006 Cowboys.

Yet, after the glow of applying self-righteous blame on this or that Cowboy on Monday, for some reason, Owens is repeatedly made out as the bad guy.

We're told that T.O. was a prime reason for Parcells' retirement, but isn't this the coach who oh-so-hastily departed the New England Patriots and New York Jets?

We're told that T.O. wasn't worth the money, but Owens registered three 100-yard games (all with Romo), might had have a fourth in the opener, added a 98-yard performance in the loss to the Giants, caught the three TDs against Houston, and for the season scored 13 TDs. By the way, he had a broken finger through much of the year.

We're told that T.O. is a cancer, that he destroys teams wherever he goes, but weren't the 2005 Philadelphia Eagles decimated by a dozen or so key injuries? (And didn't Owens end up leading the team in receiving despite sitting out half the season?)

Weren't the 2003 San Francisco 49ers a pathetic team on 'D', allowing over 24 points per game in the second half of the season and 28.5 in a 2-4 run to close out the year? Sure, Owens had it out with his coach - surely the first NFLer to ever have done so - in 2002 - but by 2003 the hatchet between he and Steve Mariucci was buried. In '03, Mariucci himself was buried and the 49ers made overtures to keep Owens on the team on the eve of his free agency.

We're told that Owens "threw Parcells under the bus." Hmmm, exactly how? Media poked and prodded T.O. just that little bit necessary to get him to echo the sentiments sportswriters themselves had been perpetuating since the Washington loss; heck, Owens even put it more diplomatically than most. While Bill Simmons over at ESPN is praised for his compelling notion that (gasp) older coaches are less successful than younger ones, T.O. is chastised for suggesting -- after Parcells' emailed retirement announcement, mind you -- that perhaps Parcells wasn't quite the right fit and that the team could be competitive in 2007.

The truth is that - drummed-up controversy or no - Owens in fact makes these Cowboys a better team. Often used as a decoy, T.O.'s presence allowed Glenn to net 70 receptions, the most he's totaled since 2000. Sure, he drops a pass once in a while (OK, last season, often, but Dallas enthusiasts hope the repaired finger will reduce that tendency in '07), but no one - that's right, no one - can do what Owens does post-reception. T.O. ran up exactly 400 yards after the catch; that's nearly 10 percent of all Cowboys passing yardage in '06. Oh, and those 13 TDs? Measure that against 15 for all other members of the Dallas offense put together.

Norv Turner is reportedly the favorite for the Dallas hot seat, and naturally the media needed to know about his opinion vis-à-vis you-know-you. Turner was quoted in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Star-Telegram as stating, "I want to coach good players ... I like the players that are here and T.O. is one of them."

Good first move, Coach Turner. Keep T.O. around.

RealFootball365.com: Another applicant for the Dallas Cowboys' head coaching job.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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CommentsComments: 25  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
fr8ttrain		10:14 AM
02/06/2007
T.O. will always get ten td's a season. For two reasons, his incredible physical gifts enable him to make plays and he won't stop...
No.2
bruce		10:43 AM
02/06/2007
unless we can sign a free agent that will put up 1000 plus yards,10 plus tds,and 80 plus catches then we need to keep to!i do not...
No.3
socal4life		01:16 PM
02/06/2007
HEY BRUCE, the other day you posted "for my job,you could not handle it and dont have the integrity to be personal security to...
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