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Thu Jun. 16, 2016
The Difference in Dallas
by Albert Breer
By the time it was over, Greg Hardy had come to define all that went awry during the Cowboys’ lost 2015 season.
Stephen Jones gets how that looks to the general public. The Cowboys chief operating officer understands things didn’t work out with Hardy, who was involved in a domestic violence case before Dallas signed him in 2015. But as Jones sees it, the chicken here was the losing, the egg was the chaos that Hardy helped fuel, and the optics of the result won’t change much in the way the team does business.
“We’ve taken risks,” Jones said Wednesday. “It was a huge risk to take (Charles) Haley back (in the ’90s). Haley was a cancer on the Niners, and that’s why they gave him to us for next to nothing. Dez (Bryant) was a risk. Dez was a Top 5 pick that fell because he was a risk. And in the end, you win on some, you lose on some. That’s a little piece of how you succeed in business. You have to take chances.”
In this week’s Inside The NFL Notebook, we’ll check in with Blake Bortles; the next (potential) playmaker in Pittsburgh; where the head-trauma subject is going next; and how the Eagles have locked up their core.
We start back at Valley Ranch, where the Cowboys now look to better capitalize on another season on the back nine of Tony Romo’s prime—one year after 4-12, two after 12-4, and three removed from three straight 8-8s.
Hardy’s gone now. According to those inside the building, there’s been a sense of renewal. New leadership has emerged. Talent is still there in key places.
But Jones has been around long enough to know the fragility of these things, which is why he’s not overcome with regret. If you win, the good feelings of an undefeated spring stick. If you lose, good luck.
“If when Haley was here, we didn’t do as well, he’d have been a distraction,” Jones said. “When the season withers away like last year did, things start to show up that otherwise might not if things are positive.”
Tony Romo is healthy after missing all but four games for Dallas in 2015. The Cowboys went 3-1 in games Romo started last season.
Accordingly, Jones won’t buy the notion that simply cutting Hardy out of the picture makes it 2014 again.
In fact, he doesn’t see Hardy as the bellwether for last year at all, the way some (even in his building) do. Dallas knew the decision to sign Hardy could go either way from the start—evidenced by the team protecting itself six ways from Sunday on Hardy’s one-year deal. The way everything else crumbled, to Jones, was worse.
“To me, the most disappointing thing was when Tony was out (collarbone) for seven games, we couldn’t find a way to win two or three of them,” he said. “Jason (Garrett) has focused on it, (offensive coordinator) Scott Linehan focused on it. If Tony misses six or seven games again, how do we win two or three football games? Were we competitive? Yes, but we didn’t finish those games.
“So if Tony were to go down for two or three weeks, we hope now we can salvage some games.”
Which is where prized rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott comes into the picture.
“It’s one reason why we invested in Ezekiel,” Jones concedes about the No. 4 overall pick out of Ohio State. “You look at it, and if you can help with your run game, you can do some things offensively that take pressure off the quarterback. That can help. We won without Tony before. (Jon) Kitna and (Kyle) Orton won games. It’s not like it’s something we haven’t done. Can you win them all? No. Can you win a championship without Tony? Probably not.
“But Zeke gives us a much better chance.”
If it seems like we’re all over the place here, that works to explain how all over the place the Cowboys’ problems were last season. Romo’s injury was compounded by Dez Bryant’s injury (foot), which made it easier for opponents to gang up on the running game, and negate the strength of the team—its offensive line. Then, the losses started piling up.
Hardy got off to a solid start, but according to those in the building, the Deadspin story that included graphic photos of his former girlfriend’s bruises sent the already less-then-stable star into a tailspin. He was drinking a lot. His behavior became more erratic. And with the team losing, the atmosphere at work wasn’t getting better, which only worsened the problem.
Now, if the Cowboys accomplish the objective here—as Jones says, “We’ve got to find a way play better without Tony”—what will it mean?
A few things. One, it’ll mean the team is asking less of Romo as he gets older, the way, say, Denver asked less of Peyton Manning as his skills started to wane. Two, it could mean keeping alive one of the seasons Romo does have left if he were to miss a month or two. Three, it keeps with the vision of maximizing the window of opportunity that Romo gives the Cowboys.
“We did it with Troy (Aikman), when we traded big picks for (Joey) Galloway,” Jones said. “You put things in place around the quarterback when he’s in his prime. Ezekiel is a lot of that. He helps long-term, but he has a chance to help us right away. You do look for opportunities, it’s no different than last year, when we took a chance on Hardy. If you don’t have a quarterback in his prime, it’s a question if you’d do that.”
So once again, even with some on-field question to answer (yes, pass rush is one), the Cowboys are all-in.
But that changes nothing. When asked about the good feeling around the team this spring, Jones responds quickly. “I think we had the same healthy atmosphere at this time last year.”
What would really make a difference? A few more wins.
The Difference in Dallas
by Albert Breer
By the time it was over, Greg Hardy had come to define all that went awry during the Cowboys’ lost 2015 season.
Stephen Jones gets how that looks to the general public. The Cowboys chief operating officer understands things didn’t work out with Hardy, who was involved in a domestic violence case before Dallas signed him in 2015. But as Jones sees it, the chicken here was the losing, the egg was the chaos that Hardy helped fuel, and the optics of the result won’t change much in the way the team does business.
“We’ve taken risks,” Jones said Wednesday. “It was a huge risk to take (Charles) Haley back (in the ’90s). Haley was a cancer on the Niners, and that’s why they gave him to us for next to nothing. Dez (Bryant) was a risk. Dez was a Top 5 pick that fell because he was a risk. And in the end, you win on some, you lose on some. That’s a little piece of how you succeed in business. You have to take chances.”
In this week’s Inside The NFL Notebook, we’ll check in with Blake Bortles; the next (potential) playmaker in Pittsburgh; where the head-trauma subject is going next; and how the Eagles have locked up their core.
We start back at Valley Ranch, where the Cowboys now look to better capitalize on another season on the back nine of Tony Romo’s prime—one year after 4-12, two after 12-4, and three removed from three straight 8-8s.
Hardy’s gone now. According to those inside the building, there’s been a sense of renewal. New leadership has emerged. Talent is still there in key places.
But Jones has been around long enough to know the fragility of these things, which is why he’s not overcome with regret. If you win, the good feelings of an undefeated spring stick. If you lose, good luck.
“If when Haley was here, we didn’t do as well, he’d have been a distraction,” Jones said. “When the season withers away like last year did, things start to show up that otherwise might not if things are positive.”
Tony Romo is healthy after missing all but four games for Dallas in 2015. The Cowboys went 3-1 in games Romo started last season.
Accordingly, Jones won’t buy the notion that simply cutting Hardy out of the picture makes it 2014 again.
In fact, he doesn’t see Hardy as the bellwether for last year at all, the way some (even in his building) do. Dallas knew the decision to sign Hardy could go either way from the start—evidenced by the team protecting itself six ways from Sunday on Hardy’s one-year deal. The way everything else crumbled, to Jones, was worse.
“To me, the most disappointing thing was when Tony was out (collarbone) for seven games, we couldn’t find a way to win two or three of them,” he said. “Jason (Garrett) has focused on it, (offensive coordinator) Scott Linehan focused on it. If Tony misses six or seven games again, how do we win two or three football games? Were we competitive? Yes, but we didn’t finish those games.
“So if Tony were to go down for two or three weeks, we hope now we can salvage some games.”
Which is where prized rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott comes into the picture.
“It’s one reason why we invested in Ezekiel,” Jones concedes about the No. 4 overall pick out of Ohio State. “You look at it, and if you can help with your run game, you can do some things offensively that take pressure off the quarterback. That can help. We won without Tony before. (Jon) Kitna and (Kyle) Orton won games. It’s not like it’s something we haven’t done. Can you win them all? No. Can you win a championship without Tony? Probably not.
“But Zeke gives us a much better chance.”
If it seems like we’re all over the place here, that works to explain how all over the place the Cowboys’ problems were last season. Romo’s injury was compounded by Dez Bryant’s injury (foot), which made it easier for opponents to gang up on the running game, and negate the strength of the team—its offensive line. Then, the losses started piling up.
Hardy got off to a solid start, but according to those in the building, the Deadspin story that included graphic photos of his former girlfriend’s bruises sent the already less-then-stable star into a tailspin. He was drinking a lot. His behavior became more erratic. And with the team losing, the atmosphere at work wasn’t getting better, which only worsened the problem.
Now, if the Cowboys accomplish the objective here—as Jones says, “We’ve got to find a way play better without Tony”—what will it mean?
A few things. One, it’ll mean the team is asking less of Romo as he gets older, the way, say, Denver asked less of Peyton Manning as his skills started to wane. Two, it could mean keeping alive one of the seasons Romo does have left if he were to miss a month or two. Three, it keeps with the vision of maximizing the window of opportunity that Romo gives the Cowboys.
“We did it with Troy (Aikman), when we traded big picks for (Joey) Galloway,” Jones said. “You put things in place around the quarterback when he’s in his prime. Ezekiel is a lot of that. He helps long-term, but he has a chance to help us right away. You do look for opportunities, it’s no different than last year, when we took a chance on Hardy. If you don’t have a quarterback in his prime, it’s a question if you’d do that.”
So once again, even with some on-field question to answer (yes, pass rush is one), the Cowboys are all-in.
But that changes nothing. When asked about the good feeling around the team this spring, Jones responds quickly. “I think we had the same healthy atmosphere at this time last year.”
What would really make a difference? A few more wins.