Category: Cowboys (Page 19 of 54)

There are seven teams in the NFL that have gone more than two decades without winning a divisional playoff game. Twenty-four NFL franchises have played in a conference championship game in the past sixteen years, one win away from appearing in a Super Bowl; seven have not. These seven are in droughts that range from 23-years all the way to 30-years and counting. These seven are mired in more than two decades of mediocrity and irrelevance. These are the worst teams in the NFL.

They are incompetent in the front office. They have no real strategy or long-range plans. They act by whim and “gut.” They keep average-caliber players too long and sign over-hyped free agents too fast. They get out-picked in the draft and out-coached on the field. These seven teams are the only seven teams that haven’t won a divisional playoff game in more than two decades. They have not appeared in a conference championship game in more than 20-years. They don’t demonstrate that they have any idea how to get to a Super Bowl. These seven NFL teams are universally recognized as terrible messes. Laughingstocks. Pitiful. Sorry.

Cincinnati Bengals
Washington Redskins
Detroit Lions
Cleveland Browns
Miami Dolphins
Buffalo Bills
Dallas Cowboys

Three other teams are in 16-year droughts. You could add them to the list of sorry NFL franchises that have no clue how to win a championship — Tampa Bay, the Raiders, and the Titans — but does that make you feel any better? These are the sorry teams, the ones nobody takes seriously.

The Cowboys are not in the same class as the 49ers, Bears, Cardinals, or Eagles. They’re not in the same category as the Chargers, Ravens, or even the Jets! They’re with the Bengals, Browns, and Lions. They belong with the Redskins, Dolphins, and Bills.

Jerry Wayne has apparently written Jason Garrett into his family will; in a few days he’ll get a multi-year extension. Jerry will “Romo” Dak Prescott and start him at quarterback for eleven more years. The coaching staff is expected to remain fully intact; nobody’s getting fired or moved. They keep telling us it was a successful season. They keep telling us they see a lot of positives to build on. They keep telling us the team plays hard and never quits.

Well, if you’re in the same class as the Bengals and Browns, I guess that’s OK.

Peace,

Allan

On this day the Cowboys are certain to fall to 3-6; on this day that begins a stretch of games in Philadelphia, in Atlanta, against Washington, and against the Saints; on this day when Dallas is a full touchdown dog against the Eagles: I can’t say it any better than seven-year-old Rylan Wood of Mansfield.

Dear Mr. Jones,

My name is Rylan Wood. I am a 7 year old 2nd grade student in Mansfield, Texas. My family has been Dallas Cowboys fans since the team was started. I have a lot of Cowboy gear and I have met Zeke, Taco, Jason Witten, and two other players who play on other teams.

You have made my mom very mad because WE SUCK! Every game day she is yelling at the tv and turns off the game. We are wanting to believe in the boys but its hard. I hope “Coach Garrett” is clapping if this letter gets to you. See what happens when Dez X is gone??  The cheerleaders are better than the team this year. I do not want to hurt your feelings.

Thank you, Rylan

Peace,

Allan

I received an email last week that began “Dear Allan, my name is Stephen Spacek, I am the nephew of actor Sissy Spacek and live in Austin, Texas.” That’s a weird email, yes? Completely out of left field. I half expected the next line to mention that Stephen had been abducted in Columbia or Ghana and if I would send him $100 he would be released and then send me $10,000. Something like that. But, no, Stephen is asking me to sign and circulate a change.org petition to Jerry Wayne asking the Cowboys owner to induct Charlie Waters into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor.

Here’s a link to the petition:

Mr. Spacek is a longtime friend of Charlie’s and found a few things I’ve written about Charlie on my blog — that dude’s doing some deep diving on Google! I’ve signed the petition this morning. Jerry doesn’t deserve the respectful request that this petition represents, but if it’s for Charlie Waters, I’m all for it.

Charlie played safety for the Cowboys from 1970-1981, missing only the 1979 season, Roger Staubach’s last year, with a knee injury. It was during Staubach’s last regular season game, with Waters doing the radio analysis with Brad Sham, when the Cowboys made up TWO 17-point deficits to beat the Redskins 35-34 on a last second pass to Tony Hill, that Charlie kept saying over and over, “Ya gotta believe!”

During his eleven-year career, Waters and the Cowboys played in nine NFC Championship Games and five Super Bowls. His 50 career interceptions rank second all-time for Dallas, his 584 return yards are second most in Cowboys history, and his nine playoff picks are still an NFL record.

His running mate, strong safety Cliff Harris, was inducted into the Ring of Honor back in 2004. Why they were not inducted together, I’ll never know. The two are inseparable. Charlie played two more years than Cliff, providing veteran leadership and leading the transition to that next generation of Cowboys DBs — “Charlie’s Angels” — Everson Walls and Michael Downs and Dennis Thurman. Putting Charlie in now would right a horrible injustice.

Putting Charlie in now might also be a great way to kick start some kind of revolt or revolution. A Ring of Honor ceremony recognizing and celebrating an accomplished team-player like Charlie and the legacy of an organization that for 35-years dominated the win column and won the hearts of fans around the globe might embarrass Jerry Wayne enough to sell the team to somebody who might have a clue about running an NFL football club. Jerry is presiding over the longest drought — by far! — of divisional playoff wins and Super Bowl appearances in Cowboys history. And I’ve seen nothing since 1996 that makes me think it’s going to end. A ceremony recognizing the rightful place of Charlie Waters in Cowboys history seems to be the very least of what Jerry could do for Cowboys fans. History is all we’ve got. Let us remember together. It might momentarily relieve the taste of bile from the backs of our collective throats.

Darren Woodson is in the Ring of Honor. Charlie Waters meant every bit as much to those teams of the ’70s as Woodson did to Jimmy Johnson’s dynasty teams of the early ’90s. Charles Haley is in the Ring of Honor which, to me, is highly questionable. There are 21 Cowboys in the Ring of Honor, seven of whom won Super Bowls as teammates of Waters’. And I know you can’t put every Cowboy from the ’70s in the Ring, but I’ll never understand why Cliff Harris is in and Charlie is out.

So, please, click the link above and sign the petition. If you’re so inclined, you might also share it on Facebook or Instagram or email.

Either way, let’s all remember Charlie Waters together today: a hard-nosed, team-first, community-minded, play-making winner who represents what we all use to love about this terrible team.

Peace,

Allan