Draft!!

Holy Cow, a lot has happened since I last posted on here, including but not limited to Dallas releasing Terence Newman, Bradie James and a few others, and also losing (to free agency) such players as Laurent Robinson and a couple other guys. They did acquire some help though, picking up the outstanding cornerback, Brandon Carr, from Kansas City, and also grabbing a few other players in free agency.

Yesterday was the start of the NFL Draft, and to everyone's surprise, Dallas traded up with St. Louis and went from the 14th overall pick to the 6th overall pick (giving up only a 2nd round pick.) It was a power move to grab the best cornerback in the 2012 draft, Morris Claiborne, which suddenly turns our mediocre (at best) secondary to one of the most dangerous secondaries in the league. Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne will be led by Rob Ryan and should provide a terrorizing threat to anyone trying to pass the ball. Although this means Mike Jenkins and Orlando Scandrick have become expendable all of a sudden, they will still work nicely in certain packages.

The offense doesn't need much improvement, but I imagine they will try to grab at least a center, and maybe a fullback in the remainder of the draft... they will more than likely get a couple more defensive players, like a safety, possibly an ILB. Tonight will be rounds 2 and 3 of the draft, and Dallas won't be picking until somewhere around pick 86 since they gave up their 2nd rounder for Claiborne.

On a personal level, I am ecstatic about the acquisition of Morris Claiborne, and I am extremely happy for him because he was blindsided by this decision (in a good way.) Apparently his family is filled with Cowboys fans, and they never thought he would be picked up by Dallas. The main shocker in this choice was mostly because Claiborne was not approached at all by The Cowboys pre-draft, not even a phone call, and to suddenly be hunted by one of the greatest and most amazing franchises in the league, well, that would be enough to humble anyone.

I will do my best to update this post with the remaining draft picks and my thoughts about them... Go Cowboys!!

**FRIDAY UPDATE**

With the 81st overall pick (3rd round,) The Dallas Cowboys chose...  DE Tyrone Crawford from BSU, who will add another element for Rob Ryan to toy with as more depth is added to the defense.

Well that's it for tonight, tomorrow is the remainder of the draft and I will be back to keep you updated on all of the new Cowboys.

**SATURDAY UPDATE**

To quickly recap the remainder of draft picks (rounds 4-7)

Round 4 - 113th overall pick - LB Kyle Wilbur from Wake Forrest
Round 4 - 135th overall pick - SS Matt Johnson from Eastern Washington University
Round 5 - 152nd overall pick - WR Danny Coale from Virginia Tech
Round 6 - 186th overall pick - TE James Hanna from Oklahoma
Round 7 - 222nd overall pick - LB Caleb McSurdy from Montana
 

Peyton Manning

Not too much news in the NFL in this off-season thus far, oh except a little thing about this Peyton Manning guy who just got cut from The Colts yesterday... say What!?

Yep, looks like Jim Irsay decided they wanted to head in another direction in regards to Peyton and they cut him, which will be an interesting thing to watch to see where he ends up.

That's about it.


***UPDATE***

After a brief period considering many options, Peyton Manning has chosen to go to The Denver Broncos, who then released Jesus' superstar, Tim Tebow who was then picked up by The Jets in a pretty shocking announcement.

Go Ahead and Crown Their Asses...

Well, looks like MVP Eli Manning and the New York Giants did it again and upset The Patriots in the last few minutes of the game... leaving Brady with only a hail mary attempt to win the game... which failed...

Ugh.... Whatever...

Giants win Super Bowl XLVI and will get to boast all year.

Final score was 21 to 17.

Time to move on to the Combine (later this month) and the Draft (April)... 2011 Football Season is officially Dead!

Super Day XLVI

T-Minus 8.5 hours and counting until Super Bowl XLVI (that's 46, I think)... The battle between Eli Manning and his New York Giants taking on Tom Brady and his New England Patriots... Boston vs. New York and just like Palestine and Isreal, these two areas never stop bickering, which means we are in for a good match-up.

I am in a tough position because I hate both of these teams and don't want either to win, but I suppose that's not really an option so I am putting my support behind those dreaded New England Patriots... I really, really, really, really don't want The Giants to succeed tonight... that would be horrible just from an NFC East perspective.

I think I'm mainly watching for the commercials this year :P

2012 Schedule

I didn't post on here yet, but for 2012 here are Dallas' opponents. (AFC North and NFC South)

Home> New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Chicago... (and of course NFC East rivals)

Away> Atlanta, Carolina, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Seattle... (and of course NFC East rivals)

That is all for now...

This weekend is the Pro Bowl but there's only two Dallas Players, DeMarcus Ware and I think Jay Ratliff... so I'll watch but, eh...

R.I.P. Joe Paterno

I felt it was only right to pay a little respect to Joe Paterno, 85, former Penn State head coach, who passed away on Sunday, January 22nd due to complications with lung cancer.

Paterno had a storied 46 year career with Penn State and a record 409 wins as head coach. His legacy will live on despite the Sandusky scandal which brought about his dismissal and slightly tarnished his name.

With the scandal, Paterno's firing, and the announcement of his lung cancer, it created a whirlwind of news these past few months, and it is no doubt that all of this stress highly contributed to his downturn in health.

R.I.P. Joe Paterno, you will not be forgotten.

Deja Vu

Championship weekend is over and the winners are very familiar...

Baltimore was playing against New England, and played a great game, keeping it very close. It all ended, however, with a missed Billy Cundiff 31 yard field goal that would have sent the game into overtime, and The Patriots end up going to yet another Super Bowl.

San Francisco was hosting The Giants and they also played pretty well, although they made just enough mistakes to fail in overtime and the New York football Giants are once again sailing to the Bowl.

So there you have it... Giants vs Patriots, a rematch 5 years in the making... Will the underdog Giants once again rise against all challenges and claim victory or will The Patriots enact their revenge for their spoiled perfect 2007 season?

2011 AJay Awards

It's not that it hasn't been done in a hundred different places by many people, but I wanted to do my own little bit of recognition for who I believe were the top performers for the Dallas Cowboys in the 2011 season.

- Tony Romo - There isn't enough that can be said for Romo. He may have a couple games in him where he makes mistakes that cause a loss, but overall, he gives Dallas the best chance at winning and he puts his heart into his play. Many will criticize different aspects of Romo, but he's absolutely been the best option Dallas has had at quarterback since Aikman.

- DeMarcus Ware - I don't think anyone questions how good Ware is... this was a productive year for him, which was a nice surprise because he was getting double teamed almost every down. He still battled all season long with Jarred Allen for the league lead in sacks, and if it weren't for injuries, he may have topped Allen and won NFC Defensive Player of the Year himself.

- Laurent Robinson - Speaking of surprise, this guy was one of the biggest surprises of the season. Signed midway through the first half of the year, Robinson quickly became a reliable and valuable asset, making clutch catches and clutch touchdowns. He was pretty consistent all year as well, while Miles Austin and Dez Bryant both flip flopped injuries throughout.

- Sean Lee - This was practically Sean Lee's first season, since

he was injured all of last year, and it has been quite a year for the Penn State alum. Lee's performance was exceptional, and when he got injured and missed a game, it was evident how valuable he was... there is a huge drop off between him and the next guy (Keith Brooking.)

- DeMarco Murray - Another shock which nobody saw coming was the emergence of Murray, who took over when Felix Jones and Tashard Choice got hurt and cut, respectively. His first major game was against St. Louis, in that game he not only took his first carry for a 90-some yard touchdown, but he ended up with 250 rushing yards and broke a Cowboys record in the process. If it weren't for injury, he was on pace to break single season records as well, and he didn't even play much for the first 5 games.

Those players are tops on my list... there were certainly other players who I thought had a great year, but these five stuck out enough to stay in my memory.

Dez Nuts

I wanted to editorialize a bit about talented, second year wideout, Dez Bryant and his off-field troubles.

When he was chosen by Dallas in the draft two years ago there were already many who worried about his attitude off-field. He was reported to have a problem with practices and some of the other basic things about getting ready for games.

The talent was not a question, which was proven when he returned a punt for a touchdown in one of his first games as a Cowboy. He just seemed a little lazy and a little cocky.

In his two years, there have been a number of off-field incidents which are starting to put him in the 'Pacman' Jones category. There are issues of citations for wearing his pants too low at a mall and a couple reports about him not paying for jewelry. Most recently, he has apparently been involved in an altercation of some kind at a Miami club which may or may not have involved the rapper, Lil' Wayne. No police report has been revealed however.

Regardless, these problems keep adding up and what that means is trouble for The Dallas Cowboys.

I want nothing more than Dez to become one of the most elite wide receivers in the league, he has the potential. I can't even put him in the same category as T.O. because T.O. does put a lot of time into working out and preparing, he just has a monsterous ego. Dez doesn't put in the work he should and he's causing incidents off-field, which like I said earlier, puts him moreso in the 'Pacman' Jones category.

He is young, I will give him that, and I can only hope that he sees the light sooner rather than later, because right now, Dallas needs him.

40th Anniversary

I almost let the day pass without realizing that today, January 16 2012, is the 40th anniversary of The Dallas Cowboys first Super Bowl Victory! Super Bowl VI to be exact.

It was their second appearance in the Big Game,

the first appearance was the year prior, in Super Bowl V in 1971 (the 1970 season,) and they lost 16-13 to the (then) Baltimore Colts.

In 1972 (1971 season) after a fairly successful run, Roger Staubach took Dallas into Super Bowl VI and convincingly won against the Miami Dolphins, 24-3.

While I have your attention, I figured I would continue looking back to the 'Good Times' and list all 8 of Dallas' Super Bowl appearances and the results. They have a 5-3 record... not bad, but now that Pittsburgh has 6 rings, it's about due time that Dallas reclaimed their throne.

- 1970 - Super Bowl V - Lost 16-13 (Baltimore Colts)

- 1971 - Super Bowl VI - Won 24-3 (Miami Dolphins)

- 1975 - Super Bowl X - Lost 21-17 (Pittsburgh Steelers)

- 1977 - Super Bowl XII - Won 27-10 (Denver Broncos)

- 1978 - Super Bowl XIII - Lost 35-31 (Pittsburgh Steelers)

- 1992 - Super Bowl XXVII - Won 52-17 (Buffalo Bills)

- 1993 - Super Bowl XXVIII - Won 30-13 (Buffalo Bills)

- 1995 - Super Bowl XXX - Won 27-17 (Pittsburgh Steelers)