Your thoughts after being here the last few days.
There is no question that if you put the 1 to 53 roster of this team up against the 1st or 2nd Superbowl Cowboy teams of the 90’s, it might be comparable. It might be deeper. Look at the RB position … Curvin Richards vs. Tashard Choice? Look at the depth at TE … the catch John Phillips made yesterday was totally absurd. A Jerry Rice in his prime catch .. and he’s your 3rd TE. I feel sorry that they talked Sicko out of class to try to make this team, because he’s not making this team. It might come down to Doug Free vs. Alex Barron. The word on Barron coming out of St. Louis is he’s not a guy who likes playing football. Maybe that’s changed here in Dallas. Maybe with his football mortality staring him in the face he’s woken up. Jason Garrett told me he’s seen none of that reputation. He said he’s a hard worker with the kind of knee bend that you never got Flozell Adams. Free is going to give you everything he has to prove he’s an every down left tackle in this league. Those are the only questions on offense I have.
Cowboys might have the toughest schedule in the NFL? Do you think that will factor into this?
Schedules morph. The way the schedule looks on August 1st is never what it looks like on October 1st. We’ll see, but I don’t think it’s much different from the other schedules in the division. Last year Tom Brady played one of the toughest pass rush schedules anyone ever played with a broken finger and 3 broken ribs coming off knee surgery and put up good numbers. Sometimes in December, you are what you are.
Romo’s standing in the league among QB. How much did he move up after last year?
People who have read me know I was an unabashed Romo supporter even when there were questions about him winning the big game. He had to come a lot farther in a shorter amount of time given the small college he came from, and didn’t get the same advantages a lot of QBs who come from big colleges do. So I think his maturation is right where it needs to be. I would put Manning, Brady, Brees, Roethlesberger, Rivers and maybe Rodgers right now ahead of him … .but I would probably put him in the 7 to 10 range.
You picked the Packers to win the NFC. What do you think the Packers have that gives them an advantage over the Cowboys?
I tell people who ask me this that I don’t think the Packers are a better team than the Cowboys today, but I pick playoff teams and Superbowl possibilities more on the history books than what I see right now. In the last 3 years, the team that won the Superbowl won 8, 10 and 8 wins the previous years. I can’t tell you why that is. The only thing I go on is I picked two QBs who I really like and two defenses that maybe be good enough, even if they’re not the best … like New Orleans last year. The Giants won because of a hot QB and a pass rush. The Steelers won with a hot QB and an opportunistic defense. I pick GB because I like Cullen Jenkins, the CBs to make big plays. Atari Bigby has to come come back from injury ….. they have more questions than the Cowboys, but I find rarely does the Superbowl winner in January the consensus best team in August. I tell everyone I just really like the type of numbers Aaron Rodgers can put up, and Dallas the potential to put up those numbers too . There’s just something about the Packers and Rodgers that really appeals to me.
What do you think about training camp in a dome?
I don’t like being on turf for two weeks to start camp. I guess the question is do you want to be outside on grass in the heat? Maybe if I were a player I would rather be indoors, but if I were a player I would rather just play in Oxnard for 3 weeks. It’s cool weather, it’s outdoors and you still get a ton of fans. It’s perfect. I asked Jerry why he splits camp, and the obvious reason is he makes a ton of money having training camp in San Antonio, but the reason he goes to Oxnard is he keeps the LA market as a Cowboys market. That was established back in the Thousand Oaks days. I was talking to Romo last training camp in Oxnard and he says “Can you believe this many fans show up?” There were like 7 to 8 thousand people there. I told him “Tony, there are more people today watching the Cowboys in California than there are today in Green Bay watching the Packers practice”. Romo makes a good point … he says that it’s fun to be here for 2 weeks because you don’t get sick of camp. Then you get two check in home for a few days and then you get to go on a trip to California. Sot it keeps training camp fun.
There is no question that if you put the 1 to 53 roster of this team up against the 1st or 2nd Superbowl Cowboy teams of the 90’s, it might be comparable. It might be deeper. Look at the RB position … Curvin Richards vs. Tashard Choice? Look at the depth at TE … the catch John Phillips made yesterday was totally absurd. A Jerry Rice in his prime catch .. and he’s your 3rd TE. I feel sorry that they talked Sicko out of class to try to make this team, because he’s not making this team. It might come down to Doug Free vs. Alex Barron. The word on Barron coming out of St. Louis is he’s not a guy who likes playing football. Maybe that’s changed here in Dallas. Maybe with his football mortality staring him in the face he’s woken up. Jason Garrett told me he’s seen none of that reputation. He said he’s a hard worker with the kind of knee bend that you never got Flozell Adams. Free is going to give you everything he has to prove he’s an every down left tackle in this league. Those are the only questions on offense I have.
Cowboys might have the toughest schedule in the NFL? Do you think that will factor into this?
Schedules morph. The way the schedule looks on August 1st is never what it looks like on October 1st. We’ll see, but I don’t think it’s much different from the other schedules in the division. Last year Tom Brady played one of the toughest pass rush schedules anyone ever played with a broken finger and 3 broken ribs coming off knee surgery and put up good numbers. Sometimes in December, you are what you are.
Romo’s standing in the league among QB. How much did he move up after last year?
People who have read me know I was an unabashed Romo supporter even when there were questions about him winning the big game. He had to come a lot farther in a shorter amount of time given the small college he came from, and didn’t get the same advantages a lot of QBs who come from big colleges do. So I think his maturation is right where it needs to be. I would put Manning, Brady, Brees, Roethlesberger, Rivers and maybe Rodgers right now ahead of him … .but I would probably put him in the 7 to 10 range.
You picked the Packers to win the NFC. What do you think the Packers have that gives them an advantage over the Cowboys?
I tell people who ask me this that I don’t think the Packers are a better team than the Cowboys today, but I pick playoff teams and Superbowl possibilities more on the history books than what I see right now. In the last 3 years, the team that won the Superbowl won 8, 10 and 8 wins the previous years. I can’t tell you why that is. The only thing I go on is I picked two QBs who I really like and two defenses that maybe be good enough, even if they’re not the best … like New Orleans last year. The Giants won because of a hot QB and a pass rush. The Steelers won with a hot QB and an opportunistic defense. I pick GB because I like Cullen Jenkins, the CBs to make big plays. Atari Bigby has to come come back from injury ….. they have more questions than the Cowboys, but I find rarely does the Superbowl winner in January the consensus best team in August. I tell everyone I just really like the type of numbers Aaron Rodgers can put up, and Dallas the potential to put up those numbers too . There’s just something about the Packers and Rodgers that really appeals to me.
What do you think about training camp in a dome?
I don’t like being on turf for two weeks to start camp. I guess the question is do you want to be outside on grass in the heat? Maybe if I were a player I would rather be indoors, but if I were a player I would rather just play in Oxnard for 3 weeks. It’s cool weather, it’s outdoors and you still get a ton of fans. It’s perfect. I asked Jerry why he splits camp, and the obvious reason is he makes a ton of money having training camp in San Antonio, but the reason he goes to Oxnard is he keeps the LA market as a Cowboys market. That was established back in the Thousand Oaks days. I was talking to Romo last training camp in Oxnard and he says “Can you believe this many fans show up?” There were like 7 to 8 thousand people there. I told him “Tony, there are more people today watching the Cowboys in California than there are today in Green Bay watching the Packers practice”. Romo makes a good point … he says that it’s fun to be here for 2 weeks because you don’t get sick of camp. Then you get two check in home for a few days and then you get to go on a trip to California. Sot it keeps training camp fun.