Cowboys News

Yesterday was a very eventful day for America's team. I realize that since I'm a day behind on this post, everybody and their grandparents know, but:

Adam Jones has been suspended

and

Roy Williams was acquired at the trade deadline

First Pacman:

Yes, it's a big blow. A secondary that is already missing Terence Newman and [the other] Roy Williams certainly needs someone to step up. My guess was that it would be Pacman...which HE DID step up, but not in the direction I had in mind.

Personally, as much of a Cowboys fan as I am, I'm kind of glad that this happened. Jerry Jones needed to be humbled. I don't like his strategy of collecting thugs. I figured something like this needed to happen for Jerry to start looking at character. We'll see what happens.

As far as punishment, I tend to want to be harsher on punisments than most people, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I don't really consider myself hard-nosed, but I believe discipline should not be taken lightly, regardless of what your job or position is.

I'm probably going to be shunned for saying this, yes, I'm a Dallas fan, but I'd be fine if Jones was suspended the rest of the season. Does that seem harsh? Possibly, but how many more "second chances" are you going to give Pacman? Has the guy truly repented of his ways? Apparently not. Didn't he write a letter to the Titans organization saying how sorry he was? What happened to that Pacman? If Goodell wants to clean up the image of the NFL and make a statement, this is his chance. What kind of statement will he be making if he lets Pacman back in after a month?

The Pacman gamble did not pay off, we lost a draft pick on this guy. If I was Jerry, I'd just accept the loss and move on.

The secondary continues to be a problem, even after being addressed in the draft. Until Newman returns, Anthony Henry and Mike Jenkins will man the perimeter. Jenkins, the first round draft pick in April has a good balance of speed, smarts, and agility but is only 5'10'' and will have to prove he is tough enough to play every down. If I was an offensive coordinator, I would point most of my running plays in his direction. I'd also spend about 1/3 of my passing plays testing Jenkins, mixing up the routes and receivers and see if Jenkins can respond. But I'd also throw to my #1 receiver often, because Henry is no #1 corner. This is going to be an interesting defense to watch. Jenkins is going to have to step up.

This really limits our flexibility because we can no longer use our single safety, 3 cornerback package that we often use against a 2 tight end set, or a 3rd and short. Honestly, the best thing I see happening that would help this defense is to step up the pass rush. If guys like Tank Johnson, Marcus Spears, and Greg Ellis were to get to the QB more, it would take a lot of pressure off of this undermanned, unproven secondary that we'll see until Roy and Newman return.

Now, onto Roy Williams (uh..the NEW one. Man this is gonna get confusing):

No doubt he was expensive. He costs a 1st, 3rd and 6th pick in the 2009 draft, and a seventh in 2010. But at the same time, we were able to extend his contract and he is going to be a Cowboy for the next 5 years.

One of those picks that we traded away, was no doubt going to be used to get a WR. It was though that we would get one in the mid-late rounds of the previous draft, but that never happened. Instead, we continued to address the secondary (with good reason). And the odds are that we would not have drafted a WR that was as good or proven as Roy Williams 11 (is that the best way to differentiate between the two?). But yes, he was indeed expensive. Lions fans everywhere are thanking the Cowboys for so many extra picks to rebuild. Too bad the Lions canned Millen or I'd say the Cowboys traded one WR for 4 WRs. But since Millen is no longer employed by the Lions I'm going to assume they'll draft a different position occasionally. I suppose I should actually talk about the Roy Williams trade and discontinue making fun of the Lions.
------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: I just learned that Roy Williams will be wearing #83 as a Cowboy. So apparently the Roy Williams 11 thing won't work. Of course, giving him jersey #83 only makes perfect sense because Roy Williams the safety wears jersey #38. Sheesh. You'd think they'd at least try and make this easy for me.
------------------------------------------------
The biggest impact that the trade had was this - "The Player" will not be double teamed as much. That alone helps this team out greater than having one extra body. Roy Williams will move to the 2 slot slipping Crayton to the slot, where he is much better suited. I've always though Crayton was a bit overrated and I like him much better as a #3 receiver. He doesn't match up well against a lot of cornerbacks, I've never seen Crayton dominate a corner the way I see many top receivers dominate. Crayton's numbers have very visibly dropped since moving to #2 and I think a move back to the slot will help him.

All in all, I think this trade was necessary, although expensive. It is clear that we are going to have to rely more on our offense this year, due to an injured and underperforming defense. This trade will also make Brad Johnson's time behind center a bit more bearable, since he has so many weapons to help him while we wait on Romo's pinkie to heal. (There are talks about Romo taking the advice of Favre and playing though it, I hope that is just speculation. Romo is being paid a lot of money for a lot of years, I wouldn't risk permanently messing with his throwing hand over 4 games.)

In one day our team strategy completely changed and we're going to have to take the "just try and stop our offense" approach. Roy Williams was expensive, but necessary. Sometimes when you need it bad enough, the price is justifiable.

HELP NEEDED! I'm trying to look at the overall picture of the Pacman trade. If I remember correctly (which it's quite possible that I don't) when we acquired Pacman from the Titans there were other stipulations such as (a) if he gets significant playing time the Cowboys give another pick to the Titans and (b) if he gets suspended and/or doesn't get reinstated the Titans give a pick back to the Cowboys. Can somebody help me/update me on how the Pacman suspension impacts that trade?