Tag: Dallas Cowboys (Page 35 of 62)

Terrell Owens not expected to be a Cowboy in 2009

Peter King of SI.com and Michael Lombardi of the National Football Post both believe that wideout Terrell Owens will not be a Cowboy next season.

Terrell OwensNow, for the real news out of Dallas regarding Terrell Owens. Peter King wrote this yesterday in his Monday Morning QB, and I believe he is dead-on accurate. When, not if, is the real question everyone is asking about T.O. He will not be back, but the team is still deciding when to make the announcement of his termination or trade.

Maybe Jones can work a trade out to send Owens to the Raiders since they have a huge need at wideout and have never been afraid to take on a big challenge. This will be interesting to follow as it develops.

One can’t help but wonder if the Cowboys aren’t making moves for 2009, but perhaps 2010 when Jerry Jones hopes to land Bill Cowher or Mike Shanahan. Neither of those coaches would likely sign a contract with the ‘Boys knowing they would have to put up with T.O., so the team parts with him this year and fumigates the place for a season until one of those two are ready to coach again.

Regardless of what Jerry Jones and the Cowboys’ future plans are at head coach, it appears that Owens’ days in Dallas are numbered. And if they are, his situation in Dallas proves that having dysfunctional players on your roster will more than likely lead to destruction and desertion.

Top 10 active NFL passing leaders

The 2008 NFL season is now in the books. Well, unless you love football so much that you actually watch and care about the Pro Bowl tomorrow. You know how I would care about it? If I was in Hawaii. But that’s just me. Anyway, as some of the game’s great quarterbacks padded their career stats, let’s take a look at the active Top 10 in passing yards:

1. Brett Favre, New York Jets (65,127)—Sure, he led the NFL in interceptions this past season with 22, but Favre threw for 3472 yards and 22 touchdowns. Will this number stand, or will Favre add to it? I think I speak for every sportswriter out there when I say I’m tired of reading about and writing about Favre’s impending retirement.

2. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts (45,628)—With 20,000 yards to catch Favre, it will take Manning, who has averaged over 4000 yards per season for 11 years, another five seasons to get there. Manning is only 32, so I’d bet on that. Well, unless Favre retires and unretires a few more times.

3. Kerry Collins, Tennessee Titans (37,393)—It’s hard to believe Collins is only 36 years old, and leading the Titans to the best record in the NFL in 2008 sparked a fire under him. And that fire will continue to burn in Nashville despite how Vince Young feels about it.

4. Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles (29,320)—McNabb is 82-45-1 as a starter over 10 seasons in Philly. Wait, can NFL games end in ties? Anyway, McNabb has thrown 194 touchdowns with just 90 interceptions. But the guy has no rings, and was so nervous in his lone Super Bowl appearance that he vomited in the huddle. I don’t get it.

5. Brad Johnson, Dallas Cowboys (29,054)—Johnson stopped putting up meaningful numbers a few seasons ago, and he looked awful for those three games he started in place of Tony Romo this year. Let’s just say we shouldn’t expect ol’ Brad to reach 30,000 passing yards for his career.

6. Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals (28,591)—Okay, so he didn’t win his second Super Bowl ring, but Warner still has an amazingly accurate arm at 37. He said he won’t tease us all with retirement talk ala Favre, but my feeling is he’s not anywhere close to being done.

7. Trent Green, St. Louis Rams (28,475)—Green has started the equivalent of one season’s games over the past three, and he’s taken some brutal hits that have left given him multiple concussions. If I was Green, and I know I’m not, I would hang it up now.

8. Jon Kitna, Detroit Lions (27,293)—Kitna has had some bad luck. He played on some bad Bengals teams and then signed with the Lions in 2006. And though Kitna went down with an injury after four games this past season, he still was part of the first 0-16 team in NFL history.

9. Tom Brady, New England Patriots (26,446)—Here’s the irony. Brady had 76 passing yards before a brutal knee injury ended his season in Week 1. If he had played 16 games, there’s a very good chance he’d be as high as fourth on this list today.

10. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints (26,258)—Brees came within 15 yards of Dan Marino’s single season record of 5084 passing yards, but he still made fantasy owners happy, and still climbed onto this list as a result.

Source: Pro Football Reference

Dan Reeves: There is a tug of war in Dallas over Terrell Owens

Dan Reeves took a consulting job with the Dallas Cowboys but it lasted less than 48 hours. After his departure, Reeves told several media outlets that there is an internal tug of war going on at Valley Ranch regarding whether or not the Cowboys should part with wideout Terrell Owens.

Terrell OwensFrom David Smoak’s show on KTBB-AM in Tyler: “I don’t think you ever talk to the Cowboys without Terrell Owens coming up. I can say there are definitely some mixed feelings about T.O. Most everybody you talk to has a different opinion of him. They definitely have a decision to make as far as to what they will do about T.O., and I really don’t know what that will be.”

From Galloway and Co. on ESPN 103.3 FM: “I did find out while I was down there that there are a lot of mixed feelings about T.O. within the organization. They’ve got to sit down and make a decision.”
From BaD Radio on 1310 The Ticket: “There are certainly some differences of opinion within the people within that organization. So that’s gotta be something that people that are there, that work with him everyday, they’ve gotta make those decisions. From an outsider, I certainly have an opinion. I think the more distractions that you can eliminate and get the team focused on the team and not themselves, then you’ve got a better chance.”

T.O. didn’t come up during Reeves’ interview on 105.3 The Fan’s Ben & Skin Show.

Here’s a question Jerry Jones ought to ask himself: Can T.O. be a productive member of the Cowboys now that there’s on-the-record confirmation that there are people in the organization who want to get rid of him?

The mess in Dallas is probably bigger than anyone could imagine. The Cowboys seem to be at a turning point as a franchise and it all starts with Jerry Jones. Read between the lines and it’s pretty clear that he stands on one side of the fence regarding a lot of issues, while several members of his front office (whoever they may be) stand on the other.

It’ll be interesting to hear what Owens has to say about all this. We all know he won’t let anything like this slide without making his opinion be known.

Patriots favored to win Super Bowl XLIV

Despite becoming Super Bowl champs less than 72 hours ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t even favored to win next year’s Lombardi Trophy. According to odds makers, that honor belongs to the New England Patriots, who are 8/1 favorites to win Super Bowl XLIV.

Bill BelichickIronically, the Steelers aren’t even oddsmakers second choice to win Super Bowl 44, as the Dallas Cowboys are listed right behind the Patriots at 9/1 despite not making the playoffs themselves. Clearly oddsmakers think the public will hop back on the Cowboys’ bandwagon considering the immense talent they have and the opening of a brand new stadium.

After Dallas, then comes Pittsburgh at 10/1, but they share those odds with the New York Giants, who won Super Bowl XLII. The Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers round out the top six teams at 12/1, while the Baltimore Ravens (14/1), Tennessee Titans (16/1), Carolina Panthers (18/1) and Philadelphia Eagles (18/1) complete the top 10.

Granted these odds will change every week throughout the offseason, but it’s a bit surprising to see odds makers favor the Patriots despite their pending decision about what to do with Tom Brady and Matt Cassel. Apparently the online sports books feel that the public will still favor the Pats again next year, as well as the Cowboys, despite Dallas’s continued troubles in making the playoffs and getting past the first round.

The NFC Champion Cardinals have opened as 30/1 long shots to win Super Bowl XLIV.

Super Bowl standings: top 10 teams

The Super Bowl has been played since the 1966 season, so while NFL championships before that are not irrelevant, many records are based on the “Super Bowl era.” And while some teams have a great track record in Super Bowls (49ers), there are others that have awful records (Vikings, Bills). Here is a list of the Top 10 teams record-wise (based primarily on wins) in the Super Bowl era…..

1. San Francisco 49ers (5-0)—The 49ers are undefeated in Super Bowl history, and when you have guys like Joe Montana and Jerry Rice and Steve Young leading the way, it’s easy to see how that happens. But these teams were deep on both offense and defense, and were coached by Bill Walsh and George Seifert. What might be even more remarkable is that the Niners have scored 188 points while giving up 89 in those five games, a 99-point differential. Truly, ahem, super.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers (5-1)—The Steelers are looking to become the first team to win six Super Bowls this Sunday in Tampa against the Cardinals and the second one in the Ben Roethlisberger era. They are already one of the NFL’s premier franchises, but more is always better when it comes to championships.

3. Dallas Cowboys (5-3)—The Cowboys have a rich history of winning, but in today’s what-have-you-done-for-me-lately NFL, all anyone remembers is that they haven’t won a playoff game since 1996, and that dysfunction follows them around like tabloids following QB Tony Romo.

4. Green Bay Packers (3-1)—You might immediately think of Brett Favre, but he is only 1-1 in Super Bowls. The other two were Super Bowls I and II, when Bart Starr was the Packers’ QB and the coach was the legendary Vince Lombardi.

5. New York Giants (3-1)—The Giants climbed up a few notches with that improbable upset of the Patriots last season. Bill Parcells has two of the wins, one with Phil Simms at the helm and the other with Jeff Hostetler—and both with one of the greatest defensive players in history, Lawrence Taylor, terrorizing the other teams’ quarterbacks.

6. Oakland/LA Raiders (3-2)—It’s been about a quarter century since the Raiders won a Super Bowl, or around the same time Al Davis started to lose his marbles.

7. Washington Redskins (3-2)—The Redskins lost to Miami in Super Bowl 7, 14-7, to cap Miami’s (and the NFL’s only) perfect season, and have had mixed results since then, last appearing in 1991 when they beat Buffalo. Hard to believe it’s been almost 20 years since their last Super Bowl, but Dan Snyder makes Al Davis type decisions at times, so the drought could be long.

8. New England Patriots (3-3)—Have the Patriots have lost as many Super Bowls as they’ve won? Yes, when you realize the first two losses were to the mighty ’85 Bears, and to the unstoppable Favre/Holmgren Packers in ’96.

9. Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts (2-1)—You would think Peyton Manning should have more than one Super Bowl appearance, but that very fact was the big knock on him until he got his ring two years ago.

10. Miami Dolphins (2-3)—It’s been 25 years since the D-men have been in the big game, but mark my words…with Bill Parcells at the helm, this team will get back there within a few years, maybe even next year.

Source: Pro Football Reference

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