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Gosselin: Two words noticeably absent from Jerry Jones' opening address in Oxnard
Rick Gosselin
rgosselin@dallasnews.com
Published: 23 July 2014 10:08 PM
Updated: 24 July 2014 09:07 AM
OXNARD, Calif. — The Cowboys have had this annoying habit in recent summers of putting talk ahead of action.
All that ended Wednesday with a low-key, training camp-opening news conference with owner Jerry Jones and coach Jason Garrett.
The session lasted 46 minutes, 45 seconds, and there wasn’t a single mention of the term “Super Bowl.”
“There are three or four things that we talked about last year that we’re not going to talk about,” Jones said at one point.
Frankly, it was refreshing.
Maybe it was because of the task facing the Cowboys this fall — a young team, a daunting schedule and a $100 million quarterback with suspect health. But the news conference lacked the usual summer braggadocio. Swagger seems to have been supplanted by humility.
Garrett and Jones didn’t speak of contending for Lombardi Trophies. They talked about competing. Period. Competing in training camp. Competing in practice. Competing amongst themselves. Competing against others. Competing in games. Competing in every aspect of football.
Action now supplants talk. This franchise has something to prove, and it’s time the Cowboys got started. Competing daily is the first step toward accomplishing any goal of any team in any sport.
The Cowboys should go to camp this summer with a healthy dose of humility. They haven’t managed a winning season since 2009. Every NFC team has posted a winning season since then except the Cowboys and Rams. Buffalo, Cleveland, Jacksonville and Oakland also have gone since 2009 without a winning season.
If you’re the Dallas Cowboys, that’s not the company you want to keep.
So it’s time to stop talking and start doing. And there were indications this offseason that the Cowboys may finally have a plan in place for a franchise resurrection.
The Cowboys cleaned up their salary cap. That was long overdue. Tough decisions had to be made and the Cowboys made them, parting ways with defensive standouts DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher. Those were difficult and emotional goodbyes.
But there’s no future in the salary-cap era in paying age, and the Cowboys now seem to realize that. Bravo.
The Cowboys have also gotten younger. Considerably younger. And newer. Jones said he counted 47 players in the opening team meeting earlier in the day who were attending their first camp with the Cowboys. A couple of them were fairly recent first-round picks by other clubs — Rolando McClain, Amobi Okoye and Brandon Weeden.
“We’ve gone from being one of the older teams to being one of the younger teams,” Jones said. “I’m very optimistic that we have a team that can come together. I’m optimistic about our chances to compete and compete right now.”
That’s about as bold as Jones, the eternal optimist, would get in speaking of his 2014 Cowboys. He usually can’t sit through dinner without talking about the Super Bowl, much less a news conference.
Jones knows his audience — there were 90,000 fans at the last four home games, all hoping 2013 would be the year the Cowboys could reclaim postseason glory. They need their passion fueled annually.
The Cowboys are the fifth most valuable sports franchise in the world. That spells fan expectations. Those diehards want to be told the Cowboys are on the right track and drawing closer to that elusive sixth Lombardi Trophy.
That’s not what Jones was telling them Wednesday. But when you have one playoff victory in 17 seasons, you shouldn’t be talking Super Bowls. And Jones wasn’t.
He talked of competing.
Competing with the mighty San Francisco 49ers in the season opener. Competing with the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks in October. Competing with the Saints, Colts, Cardinals and Bears. Competing with the Eagles, Giants and Redskins in the NFC East. Competing at home, on the road and in Europe.
But it all starts with competing in training camp.
Championships are what you talk about in February, not July. The ability to compete is what gets you there. That’s the goal for the 2014 Cowboys — to compete. And that gives them a chance going forward.
Rick Gosselin
rgosselin@dallasnews.com
Published: 23 July 2014 10:08 PM
Updated: 24 July 2014 09:07 AM
OXNARD, Calif. — The Cowboys have had this annoying habit in recent summers of putting talk ahead of action.
All that ended Wednesday with a low-key, training camp-opening news conference with owner Jerry Jones and coach Jason Garrett.
The session lasted 46 minutes, 45 seconds, and there wasn’t a single mention of the term “Super Bowl.”
“There are three or four things that we talked about last year that we’re not going to talk about,” Jones said at one point.
Frankly, it was refreshing.
Maybe it was because of the task facing the Cowboys this fall — a young team, a daunting schedule and a $100 million quarterback with suspect health. But the news conference lacked the usual summer braggadocio. Swagger seems to have been supplanted by humility.
Garrett and Jones didn’t speak of contending for Lombardi Trophies. They talked about competing. Period. Competing in training camp. Competing in practice. Competing amongst themselves. Competing against others. Competing in games. Competing in every aspect of football.
Action now supplants talk. This franchise has something to prove, and it’s time the Cowboys got started. Competing daily is the first step toward accomplishing any goal of any team in any sport.
The Cowboys should go to camp this summer with a healthy dose of humility. They haven’t managed a winning season since 2009. Every NFC team has posted a winning season since then except the Cowboys and Rams. Buffalo, Cleveland, Jacksonville and Oakland also have gone since 2009 without a winning season.
If you’re the Dallas Cowboys, that’s not the company you want to keep.
So it’s time to stop talking and start doing. And there were indications this offseason that the Cowboys may finally have a plan in place for a franchise resurrection.
The Cowboys cleaned up their salary cap. That was long overdue. Tough decisions had to be made and the Cowboys made them, parting ways with defensive standouts DeMarcus Ware and Jason Hatcher. Those were difficult and emotional goodbyes.
But there’s no future in the salary-cap era in paying age, and the Cowboys now seem to realize that. Bravo.
The Cowboys have also gotten younger. Considerably younger. And newer. Jones said he counted 47 players in the opening team meeting earlier in the day who were attending their first camp with the Cowboys. A couple of them were fairly recent first-round picks by other clubs — Rolando McClain, Amobi Okoye and Brandon Weeden.
“We’ve gone from being one of the older teams to being one of the younger teams,” Jones said. “I’m very optimistic that we have a team that can come together. I’m optimistic about our chances to compete and compete right now.”
That’s about as bold as Jones, the eternal optimist, would get in speaking of his 2014 Cowboys. He usually can’t sit through dinner without talking about the Super Bowl, much less a news conference.
Jones knows his audience — there were 90,000 fans at the last four home games, all hoping 2013 would be the year the Cowboys could reclaim postseason glory. They need their passion fueled annually.
The Cowboys are the fifth most valuable sports franchise in the world. That spells fan expectations. Those diehards want to be told the Cowboys are on the right track and drawing closer to that elusive sixth Lombardi Trophy.
That’s not what Jones was telling them Wednesday. But when you have one playoff victory in 17 seasons, you shouldn’t be talking Super Bowls. And Jones wasn’t.
He talked of competing.
Competing with the mighty San Francisco 49ers in the season opener. Competing with the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks in October. Competing with the Saints, Colts, Cardinals and Bears. Competing with the Eagles, Giants and Redskins in the NFC East. Competing at home, on the road and in Europe.
But it all starts with competing in training camp.
Championships are what you talk about in February, not July. The ability to compete is what gets you there. That’s the goal for the 2014 Cowboys — to compete. And that gives them a chance going forward.
