While many of us have been discussing just how well the 2012 draft went, I would just like to applaud the work our new Head Coach and Staff have done in their first two official drafts as a unit. Leading up to the draft there was a lot of discussion on whether or not teams are better off drafting for need or BPA (best player available). While we all know it is too early to applaud Garrett, the Joneses, and the rest of the crew for trading up to select Pick Six, the staff not only filled a glaring need, but was able to select the best defensive player in the draft. I heard a lot of complaining from some fans that giving up a second round pick was too steep of a price, but you have to realize that Dallas was not only able to fill a glaring need, but also select the BPA by jumping up in the draft. The thing that has stood out to me the most is how much more conservative we have been in the last two years with regards to not only our selections but our lack of movement. In the past two drafts Jerry has only made the one move for Claiborne on draft day.

We have seen a lot of wheeling and dealing by Jerry in the past but I truly believe we have not seen a trade that will improve our team as much as this will. Recently, we have seen Jerry and the crew "overthink" their draft picks. Dare I mention the dreaded nightmare that was the 2009 draft....

This draft seemed to be based solely on a theory of Best Athlete available. Jason Williams the combine warrior, and the potential of Robert Brewter, the scrambling ability of Stephen McGee etc. Even our Kicker was a workout warrior that year. With Garrett at the helm we have seen a transition to an infusion of the two draft theories. The wheeling and dealing of Jerry was very prevalent in this draft, and might just show that moving up and down and all around might be the ideal draft strategy. However, if we look to our draft where the COwboys stood firm and let the players come to them, we see a much higher success rate. (Well as much of a success rate as one years work can tell).

Looking back to the 2011 draft the most glaring need of our beloved team was the offensive line. How does Jason Garrett fix this glaring need, he lets the best offensive lineman fall straight into his lap. Once again in the first round he gets THE BEST PLAYER AVAILABLE AT A POSITION OF NEED, with a safe pick, not overthinking the selection. While others might argue he was not rated the BPA, it is very rare that the best O-lineman in the draft drops all the way to 9. With the next pick we see Bruce Carter, a little more of that athlete pick we saw in years past that I am sure Jerry had a lot to do with. We still do not know what Carter has to offer, but it strays from that conservative approach I believe Garrett wishes to stick to. But then we see the DeMarco Murray pick. We always saw Garrett hesitant to allow Tashard Choice to take over the reigns at HB and I just know this was his pick. Another safe pick...a guy that beat Adrian Peterson's records in the THIRD. Everyone thought we were set at Rb but Garrett thought otherwise. Bringing an uproar to the Blogging the Boys site, but finding a true diamond in the rough. You see later in the draft the Boys selected two more O-lineman truly going after positions of need, addressing positions where we needed to become younger, and provide more depth. Not to mention, we still might see a lot more playing time from Dwayne Harris.

This year we saw a similar approach. While we certainly moved up for Claiborne, I am certain Garrett approved the pick, as he confirmed it in his press conference. What you have to note in this years draft is that there was not any other trades made. I am sure it was killing Jerry to stay away from that phone, but Garrett did it. You saw guys like Matt Johnson and Danny Coale in the fourth and fifth guys that have the numbers, are selected in the right rounds, and were both safe picks. While Johnson is a bit of a flier because he played in a lower division his numbers do not lie, 17 picks is something to notice and was drafted right where he should have been according to scouts. While the Crawford pick in my estimate seems to be one of those riskier picks like Bruce Carter (who was drafted with an injury) because he has so little football experience, the guy still fits into Garretts RKG mold, rather than just a workout warrior!! James Hannah also comes from a big program and probably slipped a little more than he should have. I am not completely sure if this was a Garrett selection, because his numbers are disappointing, but once again it was a selection in the correct round not trying to over think anything.

Overall, I am just starting to notice the more conservative draft approach under the Garrett reign. It worked out with a great draft class in 2011, here is hoping the same approach works in 2012!!!!

Let me first start off by summarizing last weeks NFC and AFC Championships with a few photos...

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Besides the fact that we actually used more first round picks on Roy.....Have you noticed how much we have been spending on Wrs lately.  I love Dez Bryant to death, and I am sure the Lions love Megatron, but it seems to me the more money you put into your Wr corp the worse your team becomes.  If you look at the Chargers this year, although they did not start strong and always dont, they refused to pay their Wrs and Phillip Rivers is coming close to breaking single season records.  My point is Wr is the most overrated position in the league and is just used to sell jerseys.  Look at when the Raiders signing of Javon Walker, the Bills signing Terell not any improvement. 

A good Wr can not turn a game around they are usually only involved in six plays.  Stay away from the first round pick Wrs and start drafting in the trenches.  The Lions finally did that this year and look at their improvement.  Simply put, Jerry stop selling Jerseys, and start winning games!!!!

Editor's Note:

I meant to say that Wrs simply do not improve teams that much, not that they are the reason they are bad.  I did not write that correctly. It seems to me that good teams do not reach at the Wr position that often. 
 I just look at teams where you can plug in anyone like the Pats and the Chargers, and it makes no sense to me why we keep drafting WRs and Rbs in the first round.  We already had Roy and Austin this year and the year before we already had Marion a proven Rb and still drafted at a skill position with our first pick.
It just seems eerily similiar to the Lions who drafted Wr forever in the first round.

1.) Protecting Tony Romo  With Kosier out we will once again call upon Holland.  I truly believe this factor alone will put a W in the win column.  The Giant's defense has been a beast as of late, and we can not have any mental lapses like Free letting Allen come through untouched.  That interception, although it could have been avoided if Tony would have taken a sack, was a big reason we lost that game.  Holland has played extremely well and I think he will do just fine, but who is coming in if Davis is slacking again?

2.) Leading the League in Defense Not Because we are giving our Opponent's Short Fields Two weeks in a row our special teams has not been special.  I truly wish we would have just gone out and signed another Kicker so we would not have lost Buehler's ability to boom it in the end zone.  I think that has been a huge mistake that I have not seen a lot of people point out.  We need to limit our turnovers and special teams field positions.  We only are atop of the league right now in defense because we have given the other team great field position and (going on to my next key point) penalties are not counted in defensive ranks.

3. Last but Definitely Not Least (Probably did not Even have to be Pointed out) Penalties Penalties Penalties No analysis here just need some discipline

I truly believe if we would focus on these three areas a W is in our future.  These are the problems that brought us to our 1-4 record and if we look to imporve on these areas I truly believe the playoffs are not that far fetched.

via www.dallassportsfans.com

I just wanted to spark a debate...I truly believe not having a kicker this year has cost us a few games.  We need to make a move...so why not just go to Green Bay give them Choice who is not used at all and get a young and proven kicker in Crosby.  Choice is not being used at all and we would get an immediate return.  Our kicking game has really limited us and Choice is useless. I just wanted to see how people felt about this idea.  The deadline is today so lets see if Choice is moved.

As I sat on my couch throughout the game my phone continued to buzz.  It was another text message I did not want to read.  I always have had a strong group of friends who hate the Cowboys, but today was interesting.  I still had my true and blue texting (Cowboys fans) as well, but it came to a certain point in the fourth where we ran our 100th screen play of the season where it became comical and both sides realized it.  I got 12 text messages (not over exaggerating that number) saying something to the effect of a screen play that is when I realized how over a million people must have been thinking the exact same thing.  Our O.C. is the highest paid in the league if screen plays are all he can come up with then put a log on the fire and let it (not) burn (Eagle Eye Cherry).  Sorry I just heard the song so it got me pumped  Garrett is terrible our d has been incredible this year besides mike jenkins aka "P.I." himself.  We can score a lot more with this talent. If someone is getting paid millions of dollars to call plays and our economy is how it is hold someone accountable.  Make a stand Jerry get that fire crotch out of here

Why in the world would you trade for a guy that the other team simply wants a first round bust for in return?

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I just landed in Dallas, for the game on Sunday, and boy am I excited!  In order to to help bring down my anticipation I needed your guys help. I wanted to know of some fun stuff to do while I was here.  Any cool bars, things to do during the day, and restaraunts.  Any information would help me out a ton. I am going to be in town till monday so let me know if you could.

Thank You Guys,

rioplayer7

I am going to the Cowboys and Chargers game on the 13th of December, and I was wondering if somebody had any idea on a good place to stay that is close to the stadium.  I would prefer to be able to walk and was wondering if there were any cheaper hotels in that area or even if there are hotels anyone know of that are not real close but have shuttles to the game.  If any one has any advice it would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks

This is going to be a short post, but it does not need a lot of insight.....Plain and simple Barber is not full speed.  He does have all the heart in the world, but why do you put Barber back in after Choice scores a 36 yard td?  I am not gonna be irrational like most people and say we need to start Choice, but he was rolling this game let him play.  Come on now 8 rushes for over 90 yards...Barber is a good back but let him rest or else he will be playing 80% all year.  I am not dismissing Barber I am simply saying let a healthy back play and let him roll!!!!!

I hate to do it, because I knew every fanpost would somehow mention Tony today, but I really need to get this off my chest.  Tony Romo is and will be our qb for at least another four years so stop all the comments that we need a new qb. 

Tony is the best qb I have seen in Dallas for a very long time, and I think it is almost selfish for people to even call him out.  I know fans always expect the best, but Tony Romo is definitely a top Qb in the league.  I know that our Rbs had 251 rushing yards, so you are not gonna agree with me when I say that we could not have put up that many points without out him, but do you realize that teams are worried about him beating them through the air, so it did not allow them to stack defenders to stop the run?  For the Giants it was almost the opposite last night.  We schemed to shut down the run, so Eli (who is nowhere near Tony's caliber) was able to light it up last night.  Without Tony our team is very mediocre.  We saw this when we had to bring in Brad Johnson last year.  The one thing I have come to expect with Wades supposedly genius defensive scheme is that the other team is going to put up a lot of points against us, so Tony has to counter if we are going to win. 

I know that his three turnovers created 21 points, but seriously where the heck was the pressure on the defensive side of the ball.  Why give Ware 100 million dollars if he is not gonna even touch Eli?  It seems like a waste of money to me.  I am tired of people calling for Tony's job, and we would be much much worse without him.  If anything it is time to get that Marshmellow off our sidelines he is definitely outstayed his welcome.  If we can not touch Byron Leftwich and then we do this against the Giants this is the head we need to be calling for!!!!!!

For some positives, we created three turnovers and still were in the game against a team that created none.  What this tells me is we are the better team... Tony just had a bad game, like all qbs do.  Did anyone see Brady's performance yesterday?  We are the better team, and I fully expect to return the favor to the Giants when we play them again.  Yes we lost last night, but am I sad or upset????No way I really like our team this year and we have only played 2 games.  I am excited for this season and am very confident we will finally win a playoff game (That is of course if we actually can pressure the qb.....It might have been a bad idea to let Ellis go).

For the past two years, everyone had such high expectations of our beloved Cowboys, and what happened?  Last year we finished exactly the same as the Detroit Lions (Out of the Playoffs), and the same the year before empty handed.  I was very curious to see exactly where previous preseason polls ranked the Giants after they lost their most prolific player in Tiki Barber.  I used google to search for the 2007 preseason rankings and read something that seemed very familiar to the analysis for the Cowboys this year.

I found USA Today's preseason NFL power rankings which had the Giants listed in the 20th spot stating:

The Giants enter the season as the '06 playoff squad least likely to make it back to the postseason. Tiki Barber left a giant void in the backfield for Brandon Jacobs and Reuben Droughns. And Eli Manning faces vociferous critics if he falters.

I read this and kind of laughed.  I mean seriously sub in T.O. for Tiki, replace the receiver position for backfield, Roy Williams and a group of young receivers for Jacobs and Droughns and you have just about every columnists prediction for the Cowboys.  And of course the most obvious replace Eli for Romo and his December critics.  I guess the point I am trying to make is I am tired of hearing all over the place about how Emiitt picked Dallas to go 7-9, or this person or that person picked the Cowboys to do this.

I have heard all about how without T.O. the Cowboys will struggle, but the beauty about he game of football is that you actually have to play the games, and nobody can ever predict who is truly going to win week in and week out.  Last night for instance, I saw the almighty Patriots who were supposed to raise the Lombardi once again look very mediocre and if it was not for an extremely bone-head move they should have lost.

Do not get me wrong, I was and still am one of T.O.'s biggest fans, and watching him last night, noticing how open the middle of the field was for the Bills because of the threats of lining Lee Evans and T.O. outside presented, made me wonder if only the Bills had a legitimate TE like Witten the damage they could do. I really wish their offensive coordinator could have also seen this.  Then I started hearing all the T.O. talk from Mike and Mike (Do not get me started about how much I hate they are broadcasters), and I realized I had finally come to terms with his release.

I realized that I love how less dramatic this year has been so far, and am actually finally glad to see him go.  I love his production and I truly believe he is one of the best wrs of all time, but this offseason was a thing of beauty.  I did not have to see T.O.'s face on DallasCowboys.com everytime I checked the site, and although everyone around here still loved to bring his name up I did not receive all the annoying texts from friends and family asking me when he Team Obliterator is going to blow up this season.

To get back on track with my point about the Giants two years ago, is everyone including myself thought placing a workload on a fat player like Jacobs, on a team so dependant on their running game , would kill them.  It was very funny because everyone was calling for Coughlin's head and there were reports that all the players just did not like him, but what do they do?Tthey go out and not only win the Super Bowl, but beat the best team of all time.  I have seen us all over the place and right now according to nfl.com we are ranked 13th in their power rankings, but this is exaclty where I would rather be. The more hyped up a team is; the more another team wants to come in and beat you.  (See our vicotry against a much better Colts team a few years back when they were undefeated).

It is a brand new season ladies and gentlemen, and as far as I am concerned our Boys are undefeated.  I have been holding onto the grudge and dissapointment of the releasing of T.O., but hopefully this so called addition by subtraction truly does work, and I will be able to finally watch a playoff victory this year.  I do not care where everyone has my Cowboys ranked, and I am finally willing to say it GOOD BYE T.O.  I loved your production but Good Riddance to your drama it is TONY TIME GET YOUR POPCORN READY CAREER HIGH IN HIS FIRST GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you think it would be possible to open up an in game discussion for tonights Titans and Bills game.  I have been waiting for football for a very ong time and I would love to start an in game discussion for tonight on everybody's favorite wide receiver.   I am hoping we can get this done.....Boy am I excited and it is only a preseason game and it is not even the Cowboys playing!!!!!!

I have heard way too much talk about the wide receiver position and I am ready to bring light to the true position that may break or make our season.  It might live or die by the left tackle position.  Flozell Adams is getting up there in age, and it is this position I believe we have absolutely no depth at.  I have heard the idea of moving Leonard Davis to the position if there was a problem, but does anyone remember his days in Arizona at that position? 

I think the main concern, after teams make their cuts, is to try and find a veteran that might be able to fill in.  I am very concerned about this position and it will not matter who are Wrs are or even our Qb if his blindside is left to a sub par fill in.  We already saw what the mess did at LG, but what happens if Flozell goes down or if his age really starts to set in? 

Even looking at the opposit side, what happens if Columbo goes down.  Wrs do not win Super Bowls, and it will be an extremely sub par season if one of these positions goes down.  I only hope we can find some sort of depth at that position if not we might be in for a world of hurt!!!!!

I have been pondering the coaching situation and team identities recently, and I think our problem is our conflict between our defensive coordinator (Wade) and Offensive coordinator (Jason).  I feel as if our defense is meant to pressure the qb and create long passing situations.  On the other end our team needs to stray away from our passing attack.  I believe Wades defense needs to be complimented by a ball control hard nose running game in order to truly compliment our type of defense.  I saw too many shootouts last year, and I do not believe this compliments Wade's defensive strategy.  We need to be holding on to the ball and limit turnovers.  Jason looks for the big play too often, and hopefully he will look to settle down.  Jason is a very young and creative coordinator, but I do not believe he is right for our team.  We need to allow our defense to pin the opposing team in their side of the field and play field position, but turnovers are costly and ruin that aspect of the game.  Tony Romo is a great qb and I am very grateful to have him but he and Jason must learn to limit fumbles and interceptions.  Our defense is going to take us places and that is why Wade is still the coach.  I am tired of the WR talk it will be our run game and defense that takes us somewhere this year and those stupid shotgun run plays need to be taken out of our play book.  We do not need to trick the opposing team we need to rely on our defense to do their job and then just line up and run it down the opposing teams throats.  Something has to give and our identity needs to be declared this year.  The passing game has obviously not been working and it is time for us to compliment our strength in a very strong defense.  It is Wades turn to finally step up, and if he has to take over the offense as well.  It was a mistake to give Jason that much money and basically tell Wade to back off the head coach needs to have a say in the offense.  Run the ball already i do not care who our WRs are.

One of the best articles I have read from Eatman by far and definitely deserves some credit if you have some time read it, it is well worth your time and really good to know that we drafted some guys that know how to react.  I was really shocked when he said the photographers fell 40 feet from the air and how well the training staff did along with the players so definitely take your time and read this article from a gu who was actually there.

http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/news.cfm?id=1D36BDB3-B949-DE68-E16D4E0F3B6D0DEB

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft09/news/story?id=4087941

According to Espn Percy Harvin failed his drug test.  This could mean he could slip out of the first round.  I am asking is it worth it to take him if he does slip because he has so much potential both as a returner and a speed wr.  I want to be rid of these character guys, but a guy like Harvin dropping around us or near us would have to spark that little kid in Jerry looking for a new toy.  I did not fanpost it because it seems like a legitimate topic to discuss.

My friend came up to me today asking me if he thought the Cowboys could possibly use the play of Tashard Choice's December to dangle in front of the Cardinals and a second and some later picks for Anquan.  My initial thoughts on the matter were wow Anquan and Roy Williams with Austin going deep not too shaby! 

Yet I sat on the matter and realized that Choice, is a very valuable player on our team and I am very impressed with Choice's work ethic and skill set.  Not to mention he is the only running back on our team that I think can carry a full workload.  Felix and Marion have not shown they can play the entire game yet, so the importance of Choice is that he might be the only player on our team that eventually turns out to fill that top spot on the depth chart in the end. 

Your starting running back, in my opinion, needs to be a work horse and find some rhythm.  Felix and Marion both have their roles to play, but should not be starting.  Barber is a Closer and Felix is more of a third down back or explosive sweep player.  Barber is so physical he needs to run the defenses into the dirt when they are a tired, he is not as effective when the defense is rested. Choice needs to be our starter and is more valuable to our offense than a Wr in my opinion. 

Choice could end up giving us 12-15 touches a game if not more this next year, and this will always be more than a wr even if it is Anquan. Choice is the Choice for starter in my opinion and nobody should be surprised if he ends up on top of the depth chart this upcoming year!!!!

I think last year was probably our best draft in easily a decade, if not two, and the way we drafted, specifically in the second round with the acquisition of Martellus Bennett, is the way we should go about this year's draft.  We took a TE when we had arguably the best TE in the league.  Looking at Tellus' potential though I think we took the best player available.  I think this draft needs to model our second round pick.  I know a lot of people on this site would love to draft a safety, but I just am not sold on anybody who is going to drop to us that is that ball hawk safety we have been looking for since Woodson. It is important therefore that we take the best player available.

Our first couple picks were of course positions of need at RB and CB, but I think we need to look past this notion that we must pick a safety.  I have seen so many picks out there with different safeties as our pick but the one common thread is that there is not a sure fire pick at that position.  I do not want to see us move up for a player either.  I think with all the picks we have this year we should look at either trading for more picks in 2010 or just simply taking the highest player on our draft board no matter what our teams needs are.  Rookies need some time to develop, and by drafting a player with the most potential it could actually fill a need for us later on.  I am not sold on any of the safety's besides Sean Smith, but he will be a late first to early second outside of our reach.  I have loved the way Jerry has been trading his picks in recent years and hopefully this is how he goes about this year's draft as well.  I do not want to see a wasted draft pick, so I am hoping we just take the best available player or trade down.  I think having a lot of potential players is the way to go, and I want to see how you guys feel.  I am not sold on any safety around us so I want to hear your guys opinion.

I do not know a lot about the fbs in the draft so I was hoping someone could do some research.  I know we like to run a two tight end set most of the time, but I really do believe it makes it a lot easier to run down the middle with a big fullback leading the way.  Do we possibly lineup Witten in the backfield to lead the way, or are there any fbs in this years draft that can give our running backs some more room. 

I have even wondered if Marion could fill in this roll.  I think if we lined Marion barber and Felix up Marion could act as a fullback with his strength.  I think cricket needs to go and we need a bigger fb.  I do not think it is really in our game plan but I was wondering about what you guys think?  I really believe having a Lorenzo Neal helped LT a lot in his career and we could really use someone like him.  Do you think it is something we will possibly look into or do you guys think we will stick with the two tight end sets.  I like it when we are running to the outside with felix but our inside running game needs to be improved is this the way to do it?

I have finally come the the point where I am fed up with hearing people on Espn, this site, and other sources constantly claim Tony Romo does not want to win and his mind is on other things. So I decided to write this fanpost to argue how much you can tell he does in fact want to win.  I guess my greatest point to this debate is simply how Romo plays the game. 

I believe his mistakes come out of the fact that he wants to win too badly and trys to do a little too much with the ball.  His fumbles often happen when he is trying to do a little too much scrambling and trying to make one of those tremendous plays that we have grown to love.  Yet lately he has found you can not watch the ball sail over your head scramble for a thousand seconds and then make a play out of nothing.  Often the negative result comes out of those type of plays and simply throwing the ball out of bounds might just be the best option.  I believe Romo's greatest weakness is actually wanting to win too much.  He constantly tries to do too much with the ball and often he needs just emulate Big Ben and be the ball control guy.  I believe a lot of it also comes out of our gunslinging system which needs to be changed, and the fact that our defense can not stop anybody from scoring.  But to say Tony Romo does not want to win is ridiculous. 

If Tony did not want to win I think his turnovers would be cut in half to tell you the truth, but I knew this was the guy I want as my qb the moment he sent off the punter during that Eagles beating.  He wants to win and I believe winning will eventually come to him as soon as he realizes he does not always have to make that big play to win.  Tony Romo is a winner and has already sketched his name in many of the Qb records for one of the greatest teams on this Earth. 

The boy can play, and the boy can win as we can see in his regular season record.  Translatiing this into the playoffs is the next step, and already hearing he is working with Roy throwing the ball is showing me I do not want Cutler, I do not want Peyton Manning , I may want Tom Brady (but who wouldnt), but our boy is right here, and he will eventually take us through this playoff drought.  I am just as eager this year as last year and can not wait to see if our Defense will finally step up.