I made this article in response to ScarletO's excellent post on the need for cornerbacks in a good defense. To preface, I agree with Scarlet in premise, but I disagree with his conclusions that Pass rushers play less of a role in a defense than we generally think. I'm generally taken aback by this comment:

With the Giants winning the Super Bowl a few months ago, it is easy to assume that a powerful pass rush is the key to victory in the NFL. Improving the pass defense to make it difficult on opposing quarterbacks, however, seems to be closely linked to the quality of the secondary.

Once again, I think that Scarlet makes a great point, but he is giving pass rushers a short shrift, and inflating the importance of the Secondary slightly.

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A Man Among.... Well, Men.

Welcome to my second post of ITAR. Although it may seem that this series is devoted to Jason Garret, and although I certainly am a fan of continued faith in Mr. Garrett, this will not be an article series devoted specifically to our dear Red Headed Leader.

Well, debunking seems to be the new "in" thing around BTB. Sort of like making fun of the Cowboys to every other NFL Team's fans. Or more like no fashion sense in the 80s. Still when I saw 5Blings excellent post on myth debunking, OCC's excellent thievery, and then debunkings of OCC's debunkings, I decided it was only right for me to throw my hat into the ring.

There seems to be some resentment out there towards Garrett and the way his coaching staff handled this year. Specifically, Garrett seems to be being compared to Jim Harbaugh. Didn't Harbaugh get more out of his talent than Garrett. Shouldn't we expect more out of Garrett than what we got this season. After the jump I'll express my thoughts on this. Obviously there are various levels of intensity to this argument. There is one vein that sees Garrett as a failure because Harbaugh did more with worse/"comparable" talent. There is another group who thinks that although the 49ers might have been in a better position, e.g. division, schedule, players, Harbaugh probably could have done more with this Cowboys unit than Garrett.

I'm here to debunk the first and doubt the second.

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When first logging on to my computer in the morning, I tend to try to figure out what has gone on in the X number of hours I haven't been with the program. Usually this first involves stumbling to a computer and going to BTB to read the latest 8 Am posting of news. However, sometimes I want opinions that I do not agree with, and so I begin searching the "common" Sports sites on the internet. Well in my search this morning I stumbled upon a Tim MacMahon article that really surprised me.

"Jason Garrett is Making Excuses" Excuse me? Of all the people to make excuses in the world -I'm looking at you, Jerry and Rob- the first person you attack is the RHPF, Red Headed Poker-Face? After the jump I'll examine just what it is that MacMahon is calling out Garrett for.

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Greetings my friends, I bring news of the future. It turns out that the winner of the Superbowl will be one of 12 previously selected football teams. And there's a good chance it won't be the Broncos. Aren't I amazing?

Unimpressed huh? Well, I admit that I'm not from the future. Rather, I am just a humble fan watching other teams yet again have a chance for the title, while my team watches on its collective couch cushion. It is what it is. What is interesting to me, however is suggestions for how management should fix this team, as if there were an easy way of doing that. One of the most peculiar suggestions, and one that should be taken quite seriously, is that we focus solely on offense yet again and try to build an elite team like Green Bay and New Orleans.

I am quite unconvinced by this line of argument, not because it would not be nice to have an elite offensive team, but because the data doesn't support that this is a good idea. The Dallas Cowboys did not make the playoffs this year because of their lackluster defense, it had very little to do with the offense.

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Well that was depressing. There will be ample time to discuss the loss to the Giants last night and the 7 others. Rather than do this, I wanted to share my feelings on a couple of things after the season was over and relate some final thoughts.would

On this week of Catharsis is Short Lived we will discuss the Dallas Cowboys.

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Ok, I kid. I, like many people on here, am annoyed with the lack of adequate Pass Defense on our team, and while I don't think it was the biggest reason we lost, it seems that we always let bad teams have great passing yardage against us.

Next week we face the Giants and we'll see just how well our defense holds up. That's not what this post is about. This post is my grievances with the game. So join me after the jump on this week's edition of Overreacting is my Day Job.

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Well, Demarco Murray certainly has been an interesting emergence. A 3rd Round Running back is one of the best rushers in the NFL, at this point, only having started really rushing in the St. Louis game. I think we can all agree, in some form or fashion, the emergence of Demarco Murray has helped this team. However, I have a strong sense of consternation about a couple of things surrounding DeMarco Murray, as well as the role of Felix Jones on this team.

In this week's post of What to Do with Felix Jones, we need to have a serious discussion about Murray, Jones, and the running game situation in general.

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Well this certainly has been a fun week. We beat the Seahawks; the Eagles lost; The Giants proved once again to be the luckiest team on the face of the planet. Personally I was expecting a slightly more elated reaction from Cowboys Nation- the fans not Raf's site- this week.

Think of it this way guys: Let's say it actually was mistake-prone. Were still 4-4, we could be in the Eagles shoes today, 3-5 and barely any chance of making the playoffs barring a very fortunate Giants collapse, which usually occurs in December right around when we play them... But I digress

I wanted to share some positives I took away from the game today. That's why in this week's version of Demarco Murray is a Boss: I appropriately titled my article: Murray Film Analysis.

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In this version of Why Do You Only Post After Losses You Horrible Person, I'll be examining my views of subjective analysis on Football, as well as other things that irk me make me a pleasant and wonderful fan to be around.

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Theme Music: Fire Your Guns by AC/DC. Got this idea from 2 other SB nation sites.

In this weeks edition of Do You Really Care (How many words my title is so long as I can make it four initials), I want to examine the legitimacy of a fanatic position that's sweeping the nation: Clutchness. 

Ah, we all know the word. It's a part of the trinity of "intangibles" that supposedly measure a players worth beyond statistics. Leadership, Ability to win, and Clutchness and the greatest of these is Clutchness... or something.  We'll also have a Week 6 edition of Which Way the Wind blows, and finally address play calling, execution, O-line readiness, and contemplating my navel; I swear it's not as bad as it sounds.

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Welcome to a new Fanpost idea of mine now formally known as: The Title isn't four words long or INFW for short. The title is a homage to two of the great Fan Post writers on this site: IAMIRONMAN and his WWGD and FiTaT and his TMQB. (This is of course not an attempt to drum up ratings or procure favorable comments from those two, although those would be helpful. Thanks guys!).

The intent of this series is to bring up a few of the thoughts that I've had for this week that I couldn't express adequately in a comment, and then see whether the Cowboys fan base thinks I'm a complete loon or agrees with me and thinks I'm a complete loon. I can't lose either way!

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A standard result for 6-10 teams in the next year is an 8-8 record. The reason for this is that since 2004 teams that have gone 6-10 the year before have had a winning record 42.9% of the time, a losing record 35.7% of the time, and a dead even record 21.4% of the time.

Teams that hold a 6-10 record the year before average 7.64 wins the next season or, as FiTaT says, about 8 wins the next season. However this does not factor in the whole story.

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Well Pounders, it's that time of year again. The time of year where the Spurs get ready for a nice bonding fishing trip. The time of year where the media pundits rejoice that the boring small-market team doesn't bog down the NBA Finals ratings again. And, more recently, the time of year when the pundits call us too old and transform to kids at Christmas finally speculating about the end of the Spurs Dynasty and the retirement of Tim Duncan.

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I'll be honest, I've always been an offensively-minded observer. It's not about following the ball for me, but more about what happens to move that ball from point A to point B. Why do we credit our offense for big passing plays on one down and then yell at our defense for giving up a big play on another? Since taking over the reins as Head Coach, JG's play calling has been one of the most fun to watch around the league. That's why this session I want to talk about his first half coaching against the Indians. 

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When I first became a member of this blog, one of the best things I found were Raf's Play-by-Play reviews. After his departure there has been a dearth of posts on the subject. In an attempt to rectify this situation, I shall now present to you the first (in what I hope to be) a long series of posts on "Explosive Plays" in Cowboys games. Where better to start than Cowboys vs. Indians?

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Ask any NFL fan what a great Quarterback is. You are certain to get a smattering of results.

The list will probably consist of perennial favorites Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Brett Favre. But it might carry another few names like Brees, Romo, and Rivers. Critics will tell us that there is a multi-tiered system to Quarterbacks in the NFL and that the first three are better than the second three will ever be. Why is that? What makes a Quarterback great?

Consider the process of determining what a great Quarterback is. Obviously the most important thing is winning, but there are three subheadings under this: Statistics, Playoffs, and Intangibles.

Statistics are probably the easiest way to determine a player's performance. How many Touchdowns does he throw? How many interceptions? What is his completion percentage? How many yards has he thrown? Take all of the answers you get to these questions throw them into a formula:

Via upload.wikimedia.org

Multiply and subsequently divide by Pi and you'll come out with the Quarterback rating. (Last step not necessary)

This complicated formula really tells you nothing if you have no basis for reference, but the best way to put it is that the better you are at passing and not throwing Touchdowns, the better you are as a Passer. But do numbers really make you a better Quarterback? As pointed out to me by SaintsfainIraq prettier statistics do not make you win any better. In 2008 Drew Brees passed for 5,069 yard in the regular season with 635 attempts. The Saints went 8-8 that year. In 2009, Brees passed for 4,388 times with 514 attempts and the Saints went 13-3 and won a Super Bowl.

Every year, one, or two, other player always enters into the discussion for what makes a great Quarterback. These players have gained notoriety and are on a national scene so that no fan of any of the 32 teams can claim to have missed them. This usually occurs after the regular season, when a fan's favorite team probably isn't playing anymore. 32->12 leave the majority of teams out of the Playoffs. Like Clockwork some no-nothing team claws out of the depths of mediocrity and into a Super Bowl spot. (Before Accusations of Homerism, I'd consider the Cowboys to be doing the same thing right now. YMMV)

When they manage to, their quarterbacks are usually heralded as great by the common fan. For a great example look at NY Jets #6 Mark Sanchez. Mark Sanchez is not a great  NFL Quarterback, at least not yet. And we have no guarantees that he will ever be a great Quarterback. 20 Interceptions to 12 Touchdowns and a completion percentage of 53.8% put him at a solid Quarterback average of 63 and putting him in the enviable position of 5th Worst Quarterback in the NFL.

However when he made it to the Postseason he managed to really turn up his game. In 3 full games he had 68 attempts 4 Td passes and 2 Interceptions putting him at a 92.7 QB rating. For those of you wondering that puts him almost even with Romo's playoff performance of 70 attempts 2 TDS and 1 Interception, in 2 games, one of those being the Minnesota loss. Compare that to Brees' 102 attempts, 732 Yards and rating of 117 or Manning's 128 attempts 956 yards and 99 Rating and you'll see the stark contrast. The fact is that in the Postseason, some Quarterbacks are expected to throw and do so very well, and some Quarterbacks are expected to hand the ball off and move on. That was Sanchez' role.

And yet for some reason, everyone thinks that Mark Sanchez is the second coming of Joe Namath, which I suppose is fairly accurate and yet grossly misinterpreted.

Make it to the Super Bowl and your Quarterback is the most famous man alive. Second if he's facing Manning, Favre or Brady. This is the Super Bowl effect, and most of the time it's fairly stupid and inaccurate. Some Quarterbacks just have great years and fade out. Jake Delhomme and Matt Hasselbeck are two great examples of this.

If you win a Super Bowl you are automatically considered better than someone who didn't. This is the Postseason/Super Bowl effect, and why some Quarterbacks are rated so highly.

The third and final thing we use to determine Quarterback greatness is the "it" or winning factor. What did we hear about Tim Tebow all the way through the NFL Draft? "He's a winner; he'll do fine in the NFL." There is an idea that somehow there are people who are just built to be winners. They will win you games by their actions. Everyone always points to Joe Montana as one of the greatest Quarterbacks who ever lived, because he might not have had the Manning physicals, but he most certainly had the intangibles and the will to win.

One of the worst things that you can say about a Quarterback is that he doesn't lose you games, but he most certainly doesn't win you games. Talk about damning with faint praise.

These are the three things that we use to judge the abilities of a Quarterback. And in a perfect you want to see all three out of your starting Quarterback. Manning only has 1 ring and Marino and Kelly have no rings. Yet we consider all three great Quarterbacks. At the same time many accuse Brady of being only a cog in Belichick's scheme and yet no one accuses him of being mediocre or only good.

I'd say to be good, you need to have at least 2 of the categories fulfilled and three if you are underrated. So sorry to all you Saints Haters Brees is a Great Quarterback. Romo and Rivers float on the edge of it, but they need to complete their careers before we can say for certain.

All the same it's fun to talk and debate about. And I encourage that below.

Until next time this is NYHorn signing out,

Hook'Em and Ride'Em

This is the first entry in a series of posts on why your favorite players will not win the Heisman Trophy.  Given that only one player wins the Heisman every year I have a high probability of being right.

Ever since January 7th I've done very little but think about Football. I admit it it's an obsession. On Saturdays I watch UT, on Sundays I watch Dallas, and weekends in the off-season MAKE ME NUTS!

In an attempt to pass the time, my fellow fans have tried to compile a list of preseason picks to be Heisman finalists. These picks are silly. I'm aware of their purpose; hell, that's why I read these lists. However it is way too early to predict a Heisman winner, or even a list of finalists. I'm not going to show you which players will be finalists, but instead show you why it's too soon to call the front runners out.

Look at any sort of list and the names start appearing. Terrelle Pryor, Noel Devine, Jake Locker, Case Keenum, Kellen Moore, Mark Ingram, Ryan Mallet, even Landry Jones is mentioned as a possible Heisman contender. What do we have to base any of these claims on? How Jones, Locker, Mallet, and Ingram did last season is no indication of future success. What's even worse is basing all of Pryor's ability upon his Rose Bowl MVP performance. That is the subject of today's piece.

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