What Gives: Cowboys' false start has elementary solution

Texans beat the Niners. Or maybe the Falcons. Could be the Dirty Birds from Philly, but, nah, it's definitely either the Niners or the Falcons. Unless the Cowboys get it going. (Please pass me some more hash.) And, you know, the Cardinals could get in there, too! Maybe Seattle? But it's not the Pack again this season. The replacement refs will see to that. The Texans win it all this year. For sure.

Probably.

Now that we've got that all figured out and out of the way, let's venture a gander about our heroes. You know, those Cowboys.

Football 101 sez the real studs of the game are the hosses up front. You control the line of scrimmage, you usually win the game. "Usually" as in about 95 percent of the time. Your big, bad dudes whup their big, bad dudes and you are the baddest.

The Boys ain't the baddest, you've noticed. Unless you're counting false-start or offsides penalties. Then Doug Free and Jason Witten would be 1-2 in the running. Or unless you mean "baddest" as in the most inept. For that, they are close.

Let's consider the evidence: The Cowboys have scored one (1) touchdown in each of the last two games. They have 12 (twelve) false-start penalties in their three games. Demarco Murray was unable to get back to the line of scrimmage on seven (7) of his 18 carries in the game against Tampa Bay. Tony Romo was hammered four (4) times on sacks against the Buccaneers. The 'Boys are the most penalized team in the NFL with 31 (thirty one), including 13 each against the Giants and the Bucs. Free has six (6) false-start penalties on his own - the most in the NFL. (Since misery loves company, Free enjoyed having 10 (ten) of his teammates also being whistled for infractions during the game against Tampa.) And the Cowboys have six (6) plenty good teams still to play (Ravens, Bears, Bengals, Saints, Steelers, Falcons) - not counting division rivals. Those games amount to five (5) more sure-to-be knock-down, drag-out affairs. That's 11 (eleven) games. They only have 13 remaining. (And the one at Carolina is no gimme. As for the other, thank God for the Browns ... we hope!)

It's tough enough to win in the NFL. With the Cowboys showing a tendency to give teams free yardage and extra downs, the dozen decent teams they still have left on their schedule will make them pay.

As long as they don't get hurt, the players our heroes have up front on the defensive side of the ball are playing sufficiently enough to at least win a playoff game. But you don't sniff the playoffs unless you can score. More than 10 penalties a game combined with one touchdown per contest is not a recipe for scoring a lot of points. So, they either have to be supremely talented, or disciplined. The Cowboys are neither. Control, we have a problem.

Control would be one Jason Garrett, head coach of our heroes. A head coach is essentially responsible for three things: motivation, preparation and ... discipline. Surprising as it may seem, Garrett's teams have no discipline. The problem with penalties isn't something new to Garrett's charges. The Cowboys had more than 100 penalties last season. In fact, they've had more than 100 penalties every season since Jimmy Johnson left, save three.

"We need to stop beating ourselves," Garrett is on record as stating following the Tampa game. "We have to eliminate the penalties to give ourselves a chance to be good. We just have to correct it."

So how does Garrett pull it off? Scream, threaten, rant, rave, fire players, throw things, torture 'em in practice? That's what Jimmy Johnson did. And it sure worked. Doesn't seem to be the modus operandi of Garrett. But it could be. All he has to do is dwell on his team's lack of concentration and it ought to make him steam. Or, if he prefers, he can imagine being an assistant coach somewhere else next season. Because that's what his future will be if he doesn't figure out a way to get his team to start playing professionally.

It's as simple as that. NFL 101, Baby.

J. David Barron is a staff columnist for Star Newspapers. Reach him at dbarron@starlocalnews.com.

Current Rating: 0 of 0 votes!

Rate File: Select Rating: * ** *** ****

 Plano Apartments
 Plano Attorneys
 Plano Auto Dealers
 Plano Auto Parts
 Plano Auto Repair
 Plano Beauty Salons
 Plano Car Rental
 Plano Dentists
 Plano Doctors
 Plano Flowers
 Plano Hotels
 Plano Insurance
 Plano Loans
 Plano Mortgages
 Plano Movers
 Plano Pizza
 Plano Realtors
 Plano Restaurants
 Plano Storage
 Plano Tax Preparation
 Plano Travel
 Featured
 More...