-
-
-
2010-2011 Regular Season: Kicking Off First
Game With Last Minute Thoughts
-
- September 12,
2010
At 10:45 AM CST
By Eric M. Scharf
The 2010-2011 NFL regular season
got off to a pretty good start with a surprisingly close and
low-scoring game between the NFL Champion New Orleans Saints (whom
the Cowboys convincingly beat last year in the regular season) and
the Minnesota Vikings (against whom the Cowboys imploded last year
in the playoffs).
This titanic kickoff could have gone either way. While the Saints
were efficient, the Vikings were just sloppy enough to lose the
game. It was a game of errors more than anything else, and the team
with the fewest errors won.
It will be interesting – as it always is – to see if either of these
accomplished teams is capable of repeating or exceeding what they
accomplished during the previous season.
Their results will certainly have an effect on the course of the
good ship Cowboys as the 2010-2011 season unfolds. It will be up to
Dallas to determine if those results will be more in the Cowboys’
favor than in the previous year.
Waitin’ For 18
When – not if – the next collective bargaining agreement is
completed between the NFL owners and the NFL Players’ Association,
fans and prognosticators can expect new language supporting an 18
game regular season for the first time in the history of American
professional football.
Jimmy Johnson said it best when he suggested that the NFL go to an
18 game regular season format with no pre-season games. While he is
not the only established NFL mind trust to come up with this idea,
his voice certainly adds weight to the concept.
While the current training camp time allotment would be truncated by
a few weeks, there would undoubtedly be strong encouragement for
more cross-town scrimmages between teams practicing within close
proximity of each other.
This approach – which several teams have already been using for
years – would accomplish two goals at once: (1) give coaches a
legitimate opportunity to grade their draft picks and free agents,
and (2) give the fans more value for their money by not charging
them for bogus pre-season games.
While fans would expect coaches to play it safe with no or low
contact drills against other teams, it would still be at the coach’s
discretion. Whether in front of a stadium of screaming fans or at a
practice field with the sound of screaming fans piped in through
speakers, tackles can still be attempted, broken, and made.
A number of star players – on a related note – have bemoaned the
concept of 18 games, because it would potentially (or most likely)
shorten their careers. What none of them have said – and what they
may be privately thinking – is that they do not want to be faced
with a scenario where they are not playing the entire season and
having to share playing time with their understudies.
An 18 game regular season may finally be the element that takes away
the ironman mystique enjoyed by so many NFL tough guys. Two more
games may just push these guys beyond their limits. Two more games
may force these guys to become less of the centerpieces to the
success of their respective franchises.
No star NFL player wishes to see themselves on an “NFL Films” clip
entitled “When Warriors Became Weak.”
No star NFL player wishes to see the now-popular “running back by
committee” approach become the new standard for all starting roster
positions. The certain expansion of game day and practice squad
rosters – to offset the greater potential for injury – may give the
committee approach just the kick start that concerns established
star players.
-
- While a number of star players may
be concerned – first and foremost – with losing playing time, all
NFL players should be most concerned about the effect of limited
playing time on health benefits, particularly in retirement. Players
must meet a minimum of playing time – whatever that minimum may be –
in order to gain proper (or any) health benefits upon retirement
from the NFL.
-
- This can be a far scarier reality
than sharing playing time – for a player who receives a significant
injury earlier in his career. This detail is even more immediately
important than how much more money each player will make for two
additional regular season games.
-
- While fans can expect no collective
bargaining agreement until both valid and vital issues have been
hammered out, the NFL owners and NFLPA members will find a common
ground.
One way or another, 18 games are coming to an NFL stadium near you
and, most likely, by the 2012 regular season.
No More Hatin’ For Crayton
Patrick Crayton is no doubt “shocked” and extremely pleased at his
new west coast opportunity.
He has gone from potentially falling off the back end of the
Cowboys’ roster to being one step away from becoming the primary
receiver for the San Diego Chargers.
Crayton will be inserted into the original version of the offense
Jason Garrett picked up from Chargers head coach Norv Turner – with
minimal to no downtime.
Crayton deserved the chance to latch on with another team rather
than potentially collecting dust at the bottom of the Cowboys’
receiver depth chart. While anyone in his position would have
preferred being released – giving the player more control of his
future destination – there was simply no way the Cowboys were going
to risk exposing a talented and upset player to a division or
conference rival.
Crayton is reborn into a situation that suits his needs rather well,
and the Cowboys dodge an unsavory release-and-regret scenario.
Will the Cowboys ultimately miss Crayton’s sure (but not perfect)
hands? While fans loath not knowing how well the Cowboys will
perform without a presumed crate of catches, only time will tell.
The Uh-Oh Line?
Now that the Cowboys appear all but certain to be playing their
first regular season game against the Washington Redskins without
Kyle Kosier and Marc Colombo, fans everywhere are hoping and praying
that Tony “The Escapist” Romo will be able to tiptoe away from
Albert Haynesworth and company as often as necessary.
Maybe all is not lost. Maybe Romo will receive enough protection to
avoid having to become
Tarkenway. Maybe Alex Barron and the other backups will put
together an effort that will make the Cowboys’ O-line look less like
an Uh-Oh-line. Maybe the Cowboys have, indeed, just been showing
plain vanilla up until this point. Maybe Cowboys fan everywhere will
be enjoying sundaes with sprinkles on Sunday.
Nonetheless, there is nothing wrong with a back-up earning his money
every now and again. Besides, back-up players get too many splinters
from riding the pine too long.
Cornered?
Much has also been made of the fact that the Cowboys decided to
begin the regular season with only three legitimate cornerbacks
(Terence Newman, Mike Jenkins, and Orlando Scandrick).
The Cowboys seemed to have a glut of hybrid players (with skill at
cornerback, safety, and on special teams) on the bubble towards the
end of training camp. The Cowboys used a couple of those players to
replace borderline veterans, such as Pat Watkins – who, while more
valuable on special teams, really needed to show more upside at
safety to maintain his roster spot.
Are the Cowboys taking a risk with only three true cornerbacks?
Sure. Are the additional safeties more capable than fans can guess –
safety, corner, gunner, kick returns?
Anything is possible – with training camp results indicating the
Cowboys’ new additions may have a chance to be something special.
Anything is possible – and fans will learn the truth by the end of
the evening.
Skin Job
While the Snyderskins have two new and very capable front men – in
head coach Mike Shanahan and QB Donavon McNabb – it really makes no
difference who they have running the D.C. circus.
Washington – like other hated NFC East division rivals – plays on
pure adrenaline and hate when it comes to facing the Dallas Cowboys.
Washington – even in the years when they were one of the best, most
talented teams in the NFL – still would have gladly thrown out all
of that superiority and been just as happy to show up for the game
with a stadium-sized jar of piss and vinegar.
Shanahan and McNabb should certainly help bring a better product to
the D.C. area, but that has yet to be seen with the first real game
of the season in sight.
It is up to America’s Team – once again – to determine if D.C.
stands for District of Columbia or Dallas Cowboys. There is nothing
wrong with wanting to own the Snyderskins, errr, a little extra
property, especially if it has your initials branded on its
backside.
Will the Cowboys prevail in the nation’s capitol tonight? Will the
Cowboys’ offense claim some scalps from the Washington defense? Will
Romo rip the Redskins? Will Austin be awesome? Will Dez dazzle? Will
Roy receive receptions reliably? Will Ogletree branch out?
-
- Will Martellus be a monster over the
middle or the same old bogus Bennett? Will Felix fly? Will Marion
maul? Will
McNabb be made to feel like he never left last year’s playoff loss
at Cowboys Stadium? Is Marcus Spears ready to be thrown into the
mix? Will DeMarcus Ware out McNabb's protection? Will Haynesworth be more than an amusing training camp turkey?
We shall see. We always do.
|
