London, turning into a logistical nightmare for the Cowboys posted by Cowboys News

With the Cowboys set to face off against the Jags Sunday night in London, the only thing on Dallas’ mind should be winning, as they are coming off a two game losing streak, key injuries to Tony Romo and others. But this ‘gimmick’ game taking place across the Atlantic is proving to be more of a distraction than the Cowboys wished for.

Their normal routine is thrown off with time zone change, a 9 hour flight, and other logistical headaches of shuttling not only the team but the entire Dallas support staff through a small, condensed city like London.

Case and point it took over 3 hours to get the team from the airport to their hotel, once they arrived in London. And to make matters worse, they were kicked out of their hotel and forced to change lodging locations as the Jags, being the home team and decider of where lodging accommodations are, chose a hotel closer to the stadium.

All players know they are paid employees. They are at the whim of the league and their agenda to spread the brand of the NFL globally, but at what cost? Dallas needs to win on Sunday in order to stay pace with the Eagles and in order to win, they need Romo back and healthy.

And a 9 + hour plane ride does nothing but impede the healing process for the QB who suffered two fractured transverse processes in his back. He back remains sore, stiff and painful, but he, like all NFL players, know they have a job to do and will do what he can to get back on the field for Sunday’s contest.

Some of the players are taking this logistical nightmare well and try to get some sightseeing in and take in the pleasure of being able to travel to such a historic city, but they know that winning is first and foremost for them and for the team.

Can Tony Romo Take The Dallas Cowboys To The Superbowl This Year? posted by Cowboys News

The Dallas Cowboys finished last year’s campaign with a pedestrian 8-8 record. While many critics have blamed quarterback Tony Romo for the team’s shortcomings, the fact is that Romo is coming off a great season where he assisted in 31 touchdowns as compared to 10 interceptions. At 34, Romo’s game may see signs of decline this year especially that he had back surgery earlier this season.

Owner Jerry Jones is making sure that Romo will be good for a couple more seasons after he drafted lineman Zack Martin from Notre Dame. Martin is versatile enough to play every position up front and will be called upon to protect the team’s signal caller. He’ll be joined on the interior by center Travis Frederick and left guard Mackenzy Bernadeau.

Romo will continue to look for Jason Witten. The big tight end is now 32 and slowing down, as shown by his drop in receptions from 110 in 2012 to 73 in the past year. The Cowboys hope that rookie Gavin Escobar will replace Witten in the future but that won’t happen this season.

The Cowboys were pretty bad on the defensive end, surrendering 6,645 yards last season. It was the third most ever allowed in league history right behind the 6,973 of the 1981 Colts and the 7,042 of the 2012 Saints. The problem only worsened when the team allowed its best defensive player Jason Hatcher to walk away and sign with the Redskins. The team signed ex-Chicago Bear Henry Melton as replacement but it remains to be seen how he’ll help the stop unit of the Cowboys.  Another blow to the Cowboys defense was the injury to Sean Lee, arguably their second-best defensive player.

The Fix 10-12: QB Overdose posted by Amari Harris

The turning point.

Tough loss for the Dallas Cowboys last week.  And it wasn’t one of those 24 hour losses either.  It was one of those that you think about for the next few days, and depending on how things go as you get into the middle part of the schedule, one of those games you think about all year.  A “What if?”  game, if you will.  I predicted that the Cowboys would beat the Broncos because I knew they could match up and I knew they could step their game up to stiff competition.  Did I expect a 48-51 shootout?  Hecks naw, but in hindsight it should have been obvious.  I bet that the defense would step up rather than Tony Romo actually playing at a Peyton Manning-like level.   Instead Tony Romo played perfect for exactly 58 minutes of the football game.  Peyton Manning did the same, except his mistake came earlier in the game rather than in crunch time. 

It’s ironic because Peyton is also known for making those critical mistakes in the clutch, but Romo beat him to the punch last sunday.  I can imagine a scenario where the Cowboys punted the ball to the Broncos in the last couple minutes of the game and Manning actually threw the “ game losing interception” (hyperlink).  But Romo beat him to it.  The QB duel was worth the angst.  Porous defense for sure, but the QBs made the game.  And in case anyone didn’t know, Romo is an elite quarterback.  He is not a clutch quarterback, but then again neither is Peyton Manning. 

The Fix- 10/4 posted by Amari Harris

Friday Football Fix: A Rare Guarantee!

I apologize for not posting before the games this weekend.  I visited my mom’s house for the weekend which meant no computer and no internet and I forgot to post before leaving for the weekend.  I’ll post what I had written to prove to you all that I knew that Antonio Gates and Danny Woodhead would destroy the Dallas Cowboys, as I knew they, along with Eddie Royal, were the only real offensive threats they may not be able to handle.

Despite the sheer inability to cover those two individuals the Cowboys looked like they were well on their way to victory, after a Sean Lee interception return for a touchdown toward the end of the first half that put them up 21-10.  I think every Cowboys fan let out a collective sigh of relief, and felt that we pretty much had this one in the bag (I’ll include myself, as I ominously used the words “Victory Cigar” after that play *slap*).  They proceeded to allow 20 unanswered points, 400+ yards and 3 touchdowns from Phillip Rivers, and breakout performances by Woodhead and Gates.  Yes, it was a disappointing day.  Even with the Giants and Eagles losing once again, and the Cowboys remaining as the sole leader of the NFC division, they really could have gotten off to an encouraging start. 

Nonetheless, the past is the past, and this is a new week; a very big week indeed.  The juggernaut Denver Broncos come to town with the most unstoppable offensive machine since the Greatest Show On Turf.  The Broncos have not just beaten, but dominated every team they’ve faced this year.  They have one 14 regular season games in a row and all of them by more than a touchdown.  Suffice to say, the Cowboys will be heavy underdogs this week.  And I love it…

What Lies Ahead for the Dallas Cowboys in 2013? posted by Cowboys News

The Dallas Cowboys last played in the NFL playoffs three seasons ago. Last year, the team ended the regular season with a lackadaisical 8-8 record, marking the second straight season that they ended with a .500 winning percentage. Is the team bound to make a strong run to the playoffs, or will it continue to be stuck in mediocrity? Fans of the Dallas Cowboys are hoping that the team will get more wins this year to propel it into the playoffs.

Cowboys fans who are pessimistic about their team’s chances cannot be blamed. After all, the team has had painfully close and disappointing seasons the past few years. And even during seasons when the Cowboys won a lot of games like in 2007 and 2009, the team still ended up without a title.

This year, the Cowboys will return basically the same team from last season although there is optimism that they offense will improve. The defense may be adjusted but with the team employing the same personnel, look for it to stay pedestrian.

Cowboys fans can still count on the odds that their team will post a stronger record this year. In the NFL, many teams that were not predicted in the summer to make it big in the season have made liars out of analysts and bookmakers. In the 2012-13 season, for instance, five of the 12 playoff teams were not projected to make it past the regular season. There were also several teams that were picked to make it to the playoffs that eventually faltered and disappointed the bookmakers.

That’s the beauty of the NFL- it is hard to predict winners and losers. Perhaps a sports betting professor can help sports bettors have a better chance of winning in sports betting games.

The Fix- 9/21 posted by Amari Harris

My name is Amari.  And I’m a football addict.

Cowboys vs. Rams

Let’s be Frank (yes, I capitalized), last week the Cowboys let down in a major way.  They had a chance to go 2-0 and be discussed as one of the best teams in the league, but instead they flubbed against a good, but not great Kansas City Chiefs team and they left waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy too many plays on the field.  Why not challenge the Dunbar fumble?  Why didn’t Dez make that easy catch despite all the amazing ones he did make? Why did Tony Romo revert back to Tony O’No in a critical moment in the game?  Despite all of this, the Cowboys still had a chance to stop the Chiefs on 3rd down and get the ball back for what was sure to be another one of Romo’s patented 4th quarter comebacks.  Then Morris Claiborne made a rookie mistake, despite the fact that it’s his second year.  He committed pass interference on a completion that would have been at least 2 yards shy of a first down.  Sigh.  That’s all I could do, as I have to come to expect, and sadly accept this from this Cowboys team on a regular basis.  If the game is tight, the Cowboys find a way to make it tighter, and often find a way to flub.  There would be no Miles Austin Kansas City magic on this day [sn: Did Austin even play in the game?].  So all I could do was hope that every other team in the NFC East would lose, so that the Cowboys wouldn’t lose ground in the division.  And by my luck, that was my only NFL wish of the day that was granted (see, both of my fantasy teams lost). 

2103 NFL Draft: Round One Recap posted by Joe Anello

The first round of the 2013 NFL was as unpredictable as it was billed to be, with trades and surprise picks all along the way. Here are the stories that came out of Thursday night!

-The run on offensive linemen started early and continued throughout the early portion of the round. Offensive tackle Eric Fisher came off the board at number one to the Chiefs; with fellow tackle Luke Joeckel coming right after to the Jaguars at number two. In total, eight offensive linemen went in the first 20 picks of the draft, highlighting the lack of skill position players to be found.

-In the first trade of the night, Miami up from their pick at twelve to Oakland’s number three for…LANE JO-. Wait, nevermind. It was for defensive end Dion Jordan. Miami shipped their 12th overall pick and the 10th pick in the second round (42) to the Oakland for number three. This oddly leaves Miami with the 22nd pick in the second round (54), which is precisely the pick that Kansas City doesn’t want as compensation for left tackle Brandon Albert. So… Miami still doesn’t have a legitimate left tackle. Cool…

-The St. Louis Rams, with picks to spare apparently, traded their first, second, third, and seventh rounders to move up to 8 from 16 so they could take receiver Tavon Austin. Austin was the clear play-maker at wide-out in this draft, so for a team desperate to get Sam Bradford a weapon.

-Instead of drafting Ryan Nassib, the quarterback that was so familiar to head coach Doug Marrone, with the newly acquired 16th pick, the Buffalo Bills went off the reservation and reached on QB E.J. Manuel. Yeah, Manuel probably would have been there in round two. Sorry Bills fans.

2013 NFL Offseason: Quarterback Craze! posted by Joe Anello

Aside from a few relatively noteworthy transactions in NFL free agency, the past few days have been all about the quarterbacks. There’s been news aplenty regarding some premiere and not-so-premiere signal-callers across the league and the ramifications of their movements. Let’s get through all the news!

Dallas Cowboys extend QB Tony Romo with a six-year, $108 million deal ($55M gtd.)

So we’ve all heard about the basic numbers here, but there’s definitely some “fine print” to this contract. The extension does give Romo $55 million in guaranteed money, but that includes the $11.5M he was scheduled to make next season. He did get a $25M signing bonus, which is pro-rated over the life of the deal (which technically ends after the 2019 season).

This is the contract the Cowboys needed to get done. Through an odd contract loophole, Romo could have become a free agent after the 2013 season… but also after the franchising period ended. So he would have been able to simply walk out on Dallas and get into the free agent market directly, without fear of being franchised. So without a better plan in place or being in any sort of position to draft a quarterback, Dallas made the right, sensible move here. They locked up their franchise quarterback for the long-term.

QB Kevin Kolb signs a 2-year, $13 million deal with the Buffalo Bills

WHOAH. Did NOT see this coming. Can I still get partial credit for saying he’d land in the AFC East? Kolb somehow skirts the sideshow that is the Jets quarterback competition and lands in Buffalo, where he currently only has to beat out Tarvaris Jackson, who isn’t exactly Jim Kelly. Don’t expect this move to stop the Bills from taking a quarterback somewhere in the first two rounds. Kolb might be better than Ryan Fitzpatrick. But at least he’s not making a ludicrous amount of cash.

Joe's 2012 Gameday Review: Bears 34, Cowboys 18 posted by Joe Anello

Monday Night Football has ended and the Chicago Bears are 3-1. Lovie Smith’s squad traveled to Dallas and picked apart Tony Romo on their way to the decisive victory. I couldn’t be more excited, but I have to try and be objective for you as I break this one down. So let’s get to it!

(3-1) Chicago Bears 34
(2-2) Dallas Cowboys 18 

Tonight was all about Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall offensively for the Chicago Bears. Cutler was an efficient 18 of 24 for 275 yards, 138 of which went to Marshall on his seven receptions. On defense, it was all about turnovers. Chicago generated some pressure early, but for the most part they baited Tony Romo into poor decisions and capitalized with interceptions returned for touchdowns, putting this game out of reach.

The appropriately-maligned offensive line brought their best to Big D, keeping Cutler upright and out of harm’s way most of the night. Cutler responded by playing his best game of the season (I liked the Colts win, but this defense was supposed to be good) and finding his open receivers. When Cutler has time, he can be as good as anybody. He proved that Monday night. But he also got some major help… from the Dallas Cowboys’ star QB.

Tony Romo and Dez Bryant did their best to hand this game to the Bears on silver platter. When Romo wasn’t overthrowing receivers, he was making poor decisions in the pocket that led to five interceptions (three of which were inexcusable). Bryant was all over the place, running incorrect routes, dropping passes, and committing idiotic penalties. Give a ton of credit to Charles Tillman, who after a slow start, blanketed Bryant most of the night. Tillman had back-to-back awesome-sauce tonight on two plays early in the game. The first was just an aggressive show of ball-punching as Tillman leapt into a pile on top of the Dallas ball carrier, punching as he flew. (No, it doesn’t matter that he didn’t succeed. It looked fantastic.) On the very next play, Tillman was the recipient of a Romo/Bryant gift in the flat, running it back 25 yards to paydirt. Romo pointed out the hot read to Bryant, who obviously didn’t get it. He was nowhere near the ball. Major Wright then pulled in two Romo interceptions of his own. The first came off tight Tim Jennings coverage (BALLIN), while the second came late in the fourth quarter just to rub some lemon juice in Tony’s weepy wounds.

Joe's 2012 Gameday Preview: Chicago Bears at Dallas Cowboys posted by Joe Anello

Week four in the NFL season wraps up with the Bears heading into Big D to take on Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys. Each team is looking to keep up with the leaders in their division, trying not to fall behind early in the year. Let’s get into the Gameday Preview!

(2-1) Chicago Bears at
(2-1) Dallas Cowboys 

The Offense:

Mike Tice is still trying to find the right recipe on offense three games into the season, and tonight he faces the top yardage defense in the NFL. Despite missing nose tackle Jay Ratliff, the Cowboys have been stout as can be, only giving up 250 yards of offense a game. And in case you weren’t aware, DeMarcus Ware is going to be rushing off the edge. Either of them. Chicago can’t get stubborn and overconfident in their tackles’ ability and not send help their way like they did against Clay Matthews. If they can chip and help out against Ware, they can keep Jay upright and looking down the field. Cutler’s receivers Marshall and Jeffery are going to be pressed at the line by Rob Ryan’s cover corners Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne. If Cutler tries to go down the middle, he’ll have to deal with linebacker Sean Lee, who excels at snagging interceptions. In the passing game, Devin Hester could be of particular use out of the slot if he can beat Mike Jenkins or Orlando Scandrick regularly.

If Chicago is going to dominate the Cowboys, they desperately need to establish the ground game. Dallas has been excellent against the pass, but they’re giving up over 110 yards rushing per game. Matt Forte, though expected to play, will be a game-time decision. If he can go, and is close to his level of play, Chicago will have its options open. Between Forte and back-up Michael Bush, there should be 30 carries. If not, that means Cutler is being forced to do everything on his own.

Van in wreck with Dallas Cowboys staff bus was turning left (Yahoo Sports)

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NFL to review domestic violence allegations against Elliott (Yahoo Sports)

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LB Justin Durant returning to Cowboys team needing depth (Yahoo Sports)

The Dallas Cowboys signed linebacker Justin Durant to a one-year deal Monday, adding a familiar face to provide some needed depth on defense. Durant played two seasons for the Cowboys before having 82 tackles in 13 games for Atlanta last year. The nine-year NFL veteran started 12 of his 16 games for Dallas in 2013 and 2014, with 73 tackles and an interception. [read full article]

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Romo, Flacco, Suggs, Nelson key returning players (Yahoo Sports)

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NFL's Dallas Cowboys top Forbes' most valuable teams list (Reuters)

July 13 (Reuters) - The Dallas Cowboys unseated Spanish soccer club Real Madrid for top spot on a list of the world's 50 most valuable sports teams, according to a Forbes poll released on Wednesday that was dominated by NFL franchises. The value of the National Football League's Cowboys rose 25 percent to $4 billion compared to last year, while the value of 10-time European champions Real Madrid rose 12 percent to $3.65 billion over the same period, Forbes said in a statement. It marks the first time since the list's inception in 2011 that a non-soccer club has taken the top spot on the list. ... [read full article]

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