There was a good article on the main page about what might have been. I believe trading up for Claiborne was absolutely the right move. After that, I think it is interesting to look at who we could have picked. That was where I thought we reached for players we could have had 2-3 rounds later.

Some may say that we should trust our scouts to find the best players. But these guys have no credibility when picking unknown players - like the 3rd round flyer on the Div IAA ILB who hadn't been invited to the combine. When our draft room gets cute, we reach for players who neither fit a need nor are the best player available. Two points to consider: 1. Since 1994, we have only taken 7 solid starters in rounds 3-7 of the draft. 2. Aside from Sean Lee, can you think of any backup who unseated a healthy starter? This happens every year on much more talented teams than the Cowboys.

Here is a list of major players we passed on by round.:
Round 3, Passed on:
Mike Martin, DT, Michigan
Mohamed Sanu, WR Rutgers
Sean Spence, LB Miami
Brandon Thompson, DT Clemson
Jayron Hosley, CB Va Tech.
Chris Givens, WR Wake
Ben Jones, C UGA
Bobby Massie, OT Miss.
Ta'amu Alameda, DT, Washington


Round 4, Passed on:
Keenan Robinson, OLB Texas
Orson Charles, TE UGA
Joe Looney, G Wake
Ronnell Lewis, OLB Oklahoma
Jared Crick, DT Nebraska
Brandon Boykin, CB UGA
Josh Chapman, DT Alabama
Zebrie Sanders OT Florida St.

Round 5, Passed on:
Terrell Manning, DE NC St.
Jonathan Massaquoi, DE Troy
George Iloka, FS Boise St.
Juron Criner, WR Arizona
Marvin Jones, WR Cal.
BJ Cunningham, WR Mich. St.

Round 6 Passed on:
Billy Winn, DT, Boise St. - 6th Rounder rated higher than teammate Crawford
Danny Trevathan, OLB, Kentucky - 6th Rounder graded higher than Kyle Wilber.
Marvin McNutt, WR, Iowa
Tom Crompton, T, S. Dakota
Tommy Streeter, WR, Miami
Brandon Washington, G, Miami
Audie Cole, ILB, NC State

While we wait for football to come back, I find myself pondering lots of Cowboys history - related questions.  The one I was thinking of today was who was the best #3 Wide Receiver in the history of the Franchise?  Some names come to mind immediately:

1.  Butch Johnson - Speedy #3 behind Drew Pearson and Tony Hill

2. K-Mart - The small receiver who would go over the middle to create room for Irvin and Harper to run

3. Patrick Crayton - Dependable #3 behind several sets of #1s and 2s while here in Dallas.  Always put up 500 yards and had a huge breakthrough year in 2007.

I don't count players drafted past the 4th round since they are by definition longshots to make a team and Dallas, in particular, has a terrible track record in these rounds (Rat was a long time ago). We did not address our needs even when arguably the BPA fit one of this team's needs perfectly. That's ok if you take BPA's. But despite all the arguments to the contrary, it is hard to argue that any of our early picks were top values that were mysteriously falling down the board (Nobody was asking "Why hasn't anybody drafted Carter yet?"). Most were picked a round early, not a round late.

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There are some people on this team who should not be here.  Idiots like Olshansky doing his throat slash dance and saying he plays for himself and his family (not mentioning his teammates) is the kind of trash we need to throw out.  Sensabaugh, who passed on a shot at Eli and made a business decision on Nicks and Jacobs and went on to say "I ain't getting fined", fits into the "too dumb to be a Cowboy" category.  Some guys have lost their physical skills - Brooking, Davis, Colombo, and (I'm afraid) Witten and Barber come to mind.  Then there are some guys who are good but are mysteriously having terrible seasons: Jenkins, Spencer and Ratliff fall into this category.  Then we have guys who just don't have the skills to play competently at their position in the NFL - like Buehler, Ball and Scandrick.

Now, on the flipside, we have a few guys who are putting in a Yeoman's effort even in our losses.  Of course, Ware is always great.    I agree with Steve Young when he said "Dez should be the leader of this team.  I want to follow him".  But there are other players putting in the kind of effort we need.  Here is what I think of the players putting in effort (instead of riding on talent):

1.  Dez Bryant

2.  D. Ware

3.  Sam Hurd - Did you see the way he blocked on Dez's punt return?  That was 110% effort.

4.  T. New - Our one DB who can actually cover this season.  Despite injury, he has been having his best year.

5.  McCray

These are the only 5 I can think of that are putting in an extraodinary effort and producing results on the field.  When we rebuild, this team needs more effort guys - more Danny McCray / Danny Woodhead / Danny Amendola-types.  Who else is putting out a top-tier effort on this team?    

Here is a list of 40 absolute locks to make the roster.  While it is very possible to argue that there are additional locks, I think it will be hard to argue that any of these guys won't be on the final 53:

WR (4)

Roy Williams

Miles Austin

Patrick Crayton

Dez Bryant

T (3)

Doug Free

Marc Colombo

Alex Barron

G (3)

Leonard Davis

Kyle Kosier

Montrae Holland

C (2)

Andre Gurode

Phil Costa

TE (2)

Jason Witten

Martellus Bennett

QB (2)

Tony Romo

Jon Kitna

FB (0)

RB (3)

Marion Barber

Tashard Choice

Felix Jones

DE (4)

Olshansky

Spears

Hatcher

Bowen

NT (1)

Ratliff

OLB (4)

Demarcus Ware

Anthony Spencer

Victor Butler

Brandon Williams

ILB (3)

Bradie James

Keith Brooking

Sean Lee

S (3)

Alan Ball

Gerald Sensabaugh

AOA

CB (3)

Terrance Newman

Mike Jenkins

Orlando Scandrick

ST (3)

Matt McBriar

David Buehler

LP Ladouceur

So there you have it.  19 Offensive Players, 18 Defensive Players and 3 Special Teamers.  That leaves 13 slots to be filled with the following 27 players: (listed in the order I would rate them - with those who make the team in bold)

Cletis Gordon

Ogletree

Mike Hamlin

Danny McCray

Josh Brent

Deon Anderson

Barry Church

Robert Brewster

Hurd

Leon Williams

Jason Williams

Sam Young

Bryan McCann

Travis Bright

Chris Gronkowski

Steven McGee

Junior Siavii

Martin Rucker

Pat Watkins

Pat McQuistan

Holley

Steve Octavien

Curtis Johnson

Sean Lissemore

Marcus Dixon

Scott Sicko

Jamar Wall

I can see how this list could be ordered completely differently for other people.  But I think these are the 27 players vying for the 13 remaining slots.  With a few exceptions, I wouldn't be shocked if any of them are cut.  And I definitely won't be shocked if any of these make the team.  

What do you think?

Archer asked whether we should bring in Todd Brandstater to challenge McGee.  I wonder why we need a 3rd QB at all. When we are trading off between the possibility of needing a 2nd kicker, an extra D-Lineman, a Fullback, 4th TE, 6th WR, or an extra O-Lineman, Linebacker or DB.  Any of these players could help the team more than McGee.

1.  McGee isn't worth a roster spot

McGee is not going to be the next Favre/Romo/What have you.  There is no buzz about how great he looks.  If he were special, somebody would be saying something about it by now.

2.  We don't have the staff to develop young QB's

I remember when we drafted McGee, people pointed to Green Bay's example of drafting young QB's every year, developing them, and trading them for higher picks.  The problem is we don't have a David Lee or an Andy Reid to develop young QB's.  Wade Wilson coached the worst QB tandem in the league in Chicago and has never brought a young QB along.  There is no reason to believe he can turn McGee into anything.

3.  If (God Forbid!) Romo and Kitna go down, McGee would still probably not play.  We would go out and get the best veteran QB on the street.  

Again, I see no reason to keep McGee (or anybody else) around as a 3rd QB.

Here he is on the FAN saying he had final say on who does and does not start - and that he exercises that power regularly.  He also claims personal responsibility for our superbowls.  I love the idea of giving Ogletree a shot.  But it should be the football guys' call, not the owner.  He just doesn't understand that he may not know as much about football as his coaches.  I wonder what got into him today to make him so Boss Hogg-ish.

6 games into the season is way too early to start thinking playoffs.  And you can never count on any team to beat any other team in this league (See Philly vs. Oakland).  But, I was giving some thought to how we can reach the magic number of 10 wins.  To me, the key will be beating the bad teams on our schedule.  We've done a good job of that so far this season (though the KC game was too close for comfort).  So, here is my scenario:

Assuming we beat Seattle, the Raiders, and Washington twice, that gets us to 8 wins.  We need to win 2 of the remaining games to make the playoffs: Philly - twice Green Bay
Giants
San Diego
New Orleans

I think any of those 6 games are winnable (New Orleans is poised for a late-season fall).  All we have to do is go 2-4 in those games.  That makes beating the bad teams like Seattle an absolute must.
Thoughts?

"Good enough is the enemy of great"

After a game like that, you want to just throw the whole team under the bus.  Our O-Line and Running Backs get A+'s for the game.  The rest of the team gets an A-.  This loss was a bad one - both in terms of our performance and what it means for our long-term prospects.  You CANNOT lose a home game in the hyper-competitive NFC East.  But, if I dig down deep and search for one saving grace from this game, it is this:

We played better than early last season, but we know we suck.

Last year, we were stinking it up in similar games early in the season.  But everybody wanted to point to our winning score and to tell the naysayers to back off.  And that a W is a W.  Players continued to prepare (or not prepare) in the same cocky manner as if they were bored waiting for the Superbowl. 

This team can't do that now.  They have to take a long, hard look at themselves and how they played.  And it is only game 2.  I think that may be a healthy thing.  It is clear that no coach on this staff can ever get inside Romo's head and make him accountable.  The only solution is for him to feel the full weight of costing the team a big game - and not having a full offseason to forget about it.  My pet cat, Scandrick, may have thought he could do no wrong coming into this game.  But he's learned what it is to be abused by opposing receivers, and what happens when you fail to wrap-up when you go for a knockout hit.  The same goes for T-New, who I doubt we'll hear whining about probowl snubs again anytime soon.  With his job on the line, Garrett may need to look back on his 2nd half mistakes - including eliminating our TE's from the gameplan and going back to his pattern of out-routes with receivers built for slants and posts.  If this game did that, we will look back on it as a positive.

I'm a little surprised we didn't go out and sign a veteran CB or O-lineman after week 1.  The Giants just cut Tutan Reyes whom Big Blue View thought was their top backup.  That would make him a certain upgrade over any of our bottom 5 linemen.  Evan Oglesby is also still available.  Most considered him a lock to come back to Dallas.  Anybody else the Cowboys should be looking at now that contracts are no longer guaranteed?

I was just watching the 1980 Divisional Playoff with the Falcons.  I had forgotten the quality and depth of runners we had that year.  We wonder how to split carries between MBIII, Felix, and Choice today.  But the Cowboys of 1980 had:

Tony Dorsett (A top 5 all-time rusher)

Preston Pearson (The Man who defined the position of 3rd down back)

Robert Newhouse (A power runner who struck fear into opposing tacklers)

Ron Springs AND Timmy Newsome (Great runners in their own right who could have started for almost any other team).

If the 1980 cowboys could find a way to get all 5 of these guys on the field (and still maintain a record-setting passing game), there has to be a way to use all 3 of our talented backs.

Sometimes you can excuse the poor play of your backups because they are developmental guys.  You expect them to improve over time.  That is the case with Doug Free.  We aren't expecting him to set the world on fire at LT.  We are expecting him to hit the weightroom hard and eat his Wheaties for the next year.  On the other hand, does anybody honestly expect Proctor, Holland, or McQuistan to improve significantly at this point in their careers?  Given that they are not developmental players, we can look to the waiver wire and unsigned free agents as replacements.  Here is Scout.com's list of top free agent O-linemen.  I think we should go get the 3 guys who will be an improvement over our underachieving three. 

Offensive Tackle
Levi Jones (LT) - Talented, long-time starter for the Bengals, but has suffered through various injuries over the past few years which have limited his play.
Mark Tauscher (RT) - May not be ready to play until after the regular season starts.
Jon Runyan (RT) - He still wants to play one to two years and should be ready to go by some time in August.
Jonas Jennings (LT/RT) - Oft-injured since he signed a big free-agent contract with the 49ers and probably is better off at right tackle because of his short arms.
Charles Spencer (LT/RT/G) - Very talented and versatile, but hasn't been the same after suffering a horrific leg/knee injury during his rookie season with the Texans. Recently signed with the UFL.
Kwame Harris (LT) - Marginal starter, but could be a solid backup for a team in need of a LT.
Jason Fabini (RT/G) - Can play probably at least three spots on the offensive line. Serviceable backup at this point in his career.
Wayne Gandy (LT) - Last word we had was that he still wanted to play.
Junius Coston (RT) - Fits in as a fourth tackle.
Rob Petitti (RT) - He was recently selected in the UFL draft.
Fred Miller (RT) - 36-year old tackle who probably will retire.
Kevin Sampson (RT) - Started his career off with the Kansas City Chiefs and has bounced around of late.


Guard
Kendall Simmons - 30-year old interior lineman who started 80 games in seven years for the Steelers. Could find a starting job if a team loses a guard during training camp.
Pete Kendall - He turns 36 early next month, but probably still has two good years left in him.
Terrence Metcalf - Had started 25 games in seven years with the Chicago Bears.
Edwin Mulitalo - Oft-injured interior lineman who could be a pretty solid backup at this point of his career.
Chris Naeole - Turns 35 at the end of the regular season and probably will retire.
Scott Peters - Basically a fourth guard.
Barry Stokes (RT/LT) - The 35-year old journeyman lineman has spent time with 10 teams in his career, but could find a new home before the regular season starts because of his versatility.
Lennie Friedman (C) - Basically a fourth interior lineman.

Center
Jason Whittle (G) - The 33-year old lineman is capable of playing four positions on the offensive line.
Steve McKinney (G) - He's pretty much at the end of the line, but could have one more season left. His versatility could get him a job.
Matt Lehr (G) - Versatile veteran backup.

One of the great things about my new smartphone is the ability to listen to Dallas Sports Radio for updates on the Cowboys and for insights from Michael Irvin and Nate Newton.  I usually jump between ESPN, The Ticket and the FAN.  But one thing really irritates me.  On every show (including Irvin), they seem to feel obliged to dedicate equal time to every other sport - especially the Mavericks and Rangers.  I notice they do the same thing in North Carolina with Hockey or women's basketball during ACC basketball season.  The other day, Nate started to share something really insightful when the hosts cut him of and said "Sorry big fella, next segment is the Rangers". 

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As a huge Ellis supporter, I found this comment really interesting.  Maybe I'm not interpreting it correctly.  But it sounds like a subtle slam on Spencer / Carpenter.  I hope it is but maybe it's just my own slant on things.

Ware was asked about Ellis, who once again appears may be one his way out of town with another round of linebackers being drafted.
"When I first came in he was a mentor to me and all the rookies. I’ve learned a lot from Greg," Ware said. "He’s a guy people leaned on. He’s also a guy that shows and leads by example. And then they brought - I’m not going to call any names - they brought a lot of guys in to take his position and you see how hard he works and nobody has been able to beat him out yet. He’s out there working hard and playing hard. I think he fits in our defense. I hope he’s here to stay."

I'm surprised there isn't discussion of this already. He was excused from Thursday's practice for "personal reasons" (after missing part of Wednesday's practice with "sore feet").  We've seen his lackadaisical attitude on Hard Knocks but unless a parent died or something, there is no excuse for a rookie to miss the tuneup for his first preseason game. I just hope his problems aren't of the Quincy Carter variety. I thought it was a mistake in April when we passed up several potential #2 receivers for a #3 tight end (and then traded our reliable #2 TE for nothing). But this is bigger than a draft mistake. I don't want his attitude affecting the rest of the team. Maybe we should use him as this year's Curvin Richards.