C
Cr122
Guest
Posted Monday, Jul. 26, 2010
By Jennifer Floyd Engel
jenfloyd@ star-telegram.com
SAN ANTONIO -- Monday qualified as bizarre, even by Cowboys standards.
Dez Bryant refused to schlep Roy E. Williams' pads in a typical training-camp hazing ritual, and mass media chaos ensued. And MartyB found himself exposed on the interwebs.
Talk about your uncomfortable Cowboys news conferences. Can you imagine Jimmy Johnson's response to, "What will happen to Emmitt Smith for not carrying Tommie Agee's pads and, oh by the way, have you had a chance to see the naked pictures of Jay Novacek yet?"
There was really no good way to handle this, yet Coach Wade managed to find the absolute worst. In trying to explain why Dez did not have to be hazed, he said what we all feared.
"Any time you make someone feel uncomfortable, that is not right," he said in defense of Dez.
Actually, that is football. Or it used to be.
Because whatever else training camp is, it ought to be uncomfortable. It is why Jimmy Johnson had asthma fields and why Bill Parcells had them seemingly always in pads and why coach after coach talks about playing whoever is best. And that little tiny sentence encapsulates what has been a big problem with this Cowboys team under Coach Wade: a lack of uncomfortability.
This is not a plea for a bruising camp, or a quip about cupcakes, or another debate about various styles of training camps. This is about mindset, this is about how Owner Jones wants his team feeling going into a season he believes has Super Bowl potential and I am just not sure comfortable is the right answer.
Call this cynical, if necessary. I admit Coach Wade drew me offsides.
But to quote Pat Crayton: Do you want me to be pc? Or do you want me to be true?
And that is why news of Dez not carrying Roy E.'s pads initially elicited a three-word reaction from me: "We care, really?"
Two more: Team Dez.
In the pantheon of stupid things we have worried about at Cowboys camp, and I have been on the scene for hyperbaric chambers and Mike Zimmer confronting, then dog cussing, Bruce Coslet for running unscripted plays and Dave Campo in a wet suit at SeaWorld, this certainly qualifies as much ado about nothing.
Because make no mistake, this was not about carrying pads. This was about Dez sending a message to Roy E. and Miles Austin and Tony Romo that he's not your typical rookie. He has come to play ball, and kick butt. And I am pretty positive this is exactly what this Cowboy team needs.
This team needs Dez; his swagger, his cocky, his intense drive to show up and show up big, his burning passion to not just be great but do it right now, immediately. Because if this team is going to navigate the distance between good and great and from close to there, competition cannot just be a word Coach Wade uses at news conferences.
Every player has to feel a little uncomfortable, like his job is in danger of being usurped by a younger, faster and more talented player. Every player has to wonder what consequences come with lackluster. Every player has to be a little afraid of showing up at Valley Ranch on a Monday after a dog-butt performance.
Yet aside from David Buehler and possibly Roy E., who among this Cowboys team arrived at San Antonio with any sense of uncomfortability with his spot?
"You want me to be politically correct?" wide receiver Patrick Crayton said when asked about competition. "Or do you want me to be true?"
True, a little bit of truth always.
And why start with pc bs now, Pat?
"Not everyone has to worry about their job, you know like I know," Crayton said. "But a lot of people have to fight for their job, a lot of people have to prove themselves day in and day out, and I am one of those guys."
This obviously talented team has exactly a playoff victory to show for going on four seasons together and only a few guys feel uncomfortable. Why does nobody else see this as a problem? Why is everybody focused on who is or isn't carrying pads?
It was Jimmy who told his Cowboys teams not to spend too much time and energy on hazing rituals, not because he feared any players being "uncomfortable" but rather because he wanted all of them to feel exactly that emotion.
"Jimmy told us 'I don't care about that [bleep],'" former Cowboys offensive lineman Nate Newton recounted Monday. "He said, 'These guys are here to play football, and a few of them are going to take your jobs.'"
And Newton believed him.
He spent most of his NFL career uncomfortable, afraid that if he skipped a rep or missed a block or became comfortable that a young, brash kid like Dez might take his place.
So good for Dez for making everybody a little uncomfortable. This team needs it.
By Jennifer Floyd Engel
jenfloyd@ star-telegram.com
SAN ANTONIO -- Monday qualified as bizarre, even by Cowboys standards.
Dez Bryant refused to schlep Roy E. Williams' pads in a typical training-camp hazing ritual, and mass media chaos ensued. And MartyB found himself exposed on the interwebs.
Talk about your uncomfortable Cowboys news conferences. Can you imagine Jimmy Johnson's response to, "What will happen to Emmitt Smith for not carrying Tommie Agee's pads and, oh by the way, have you had a chance to see the naked pictures of Jay Novacek yet?"
There was really no good way to handle this, yet Coach Wade managed to find the absolute worst. In trying to explain why Dez did not have to be hazed, he said what we all feared.
"Any time you make someone feel uncomfortable, that is not right," he said in defense of Dez.
Actually, that is football. Or it used to be.
Because whatever else training camp is, it ought to be uncomfortable. It is why Jimmy Johnson had asthma fields and why Bill Parcells had them seemingly always in pads and why coach after coach talks about playing whoever is best. And that little tiny sentence encapsulates what has been a big problem with this Cowboys team under Coach Wade: a lack of uncomfortability.
This is not a plea for a bruising camp, or a quip about cupcakes, or another debate about various styles of training camps. This is about mindset, this is about how Owner Jones wants his team feeling going into a season he believes has Super Bowl potential and I am just not sure comfortable is the right answer.
Call this cynical, if necessary. I admit Coach Wade drew me offsides.
But to quote Pat Crayton: Do you want me to be pc? Or do you want me to be true?
And that is why news of Dez not carrying Roy E.'s pads initially elicited a three-word reaction from me: "We care, really?"
Two more: Team Dez.
In the pantheon of stupid things we have worried about at Cowboys camp, and I have been on the scene for hyperbaric chambers and Mike Zimmer confronting, then dog cussing, Bruce Coslet for running unscripted plays and Dave Campo in a wet suit at SeaWorld, this certainly qualifies as much ado about nothing.
Because make no mistake, this was not about carrying pads. This was about Dez sending a message to Roy E. and Miles Austin and Tony Romo that he's not your typical rookie. He has come to play ball, and kick butt. And I am pretty positive this is exactly what this Cowboy team needs.
This team needs Dez; his swagger, his cocky, his intense drive to show up and show up big, his burning passion to not just be great but do it right now, immediately. Because if this team is going to navigate the distance between good and great and from close to there, competition cannot just be a word Coach Wade uses at news conferences.
Every player has to feel a little uncomfortable, like his job is in danger of being usurped by a younger, faster and more talented player. Every player has to wonder what consequences come with lackluster. Every player has to be a little afraid of showing up at Valley Ranch on a Monday after a dog-butt performance.
Yet aside from David Buehler and possibly Roy E., who among this Cowboys team arrived at San Antonio with any sense of uncomfortability with his spot?
"You want me to be politically correct?" wide receiver Patrick Crayton said when asked about competition. "Or do you want me to be true?"
True, a little bit of truth always.
And why start with pc bs now, Pat?
"Not everyone has to worry about their job, you know like I know," Crayton said. "But a lot of people have to fight for their job, a lot of people have to prove themselves day in and day out, and I am one of those guys."
This obviously talented team has exactly a playoff victory to show for going on four seasons together and only a few guys feel uncomfortable. Why does nobody else see this as a problem? Why is everybody focused on who is or isn't carrying pads?
It was Jimmy who told his Cowboys teams not to spend too much time and energy on hazing rituals, not because he feared any players being "uncomfortable" but rather because he wanted all of them to feel exactly that emotion.
"Jimmy told us 'I don't care about that [bleep],'" former Cowboys offensive lineman Nate Newton recounted Monday. "He said, 'These guys are here to play football, and a few of them are going to take your jobs.'"
And Newton believed him.
He spent most of his NFL career uncomfortable, afraid that if he skipped a rep or missed a block or became comfortable that a young, brash kid like Dez might take his place.
So good for Dez for making everybody a little uncomfortable. This team needs it.