Category: Cowboys (Page 10 of 53)

The last of the original Dallas Cowboys triplets has passed from this life and, along with him, the last remaining tie the franchise has to any of its long-ago greatness. Gil Brandt, the longtime Director of Player Personnel, died yesterday at 91.

Brandt came to Dallas in 1960 with Tex Schramm and Tom Landry and together they built a football dynasty and forever changed the NFL. Brandt is the pioneer of computerized scouting systems and the first to use psychological tests to evaluate players. It was his idea to bring college players together in a scouting combine. During his 29 years  with the Cowboys, Brandt evaluated and the Cowboys drafted 41 Pro Bowlers, 9 Hall of Famers, and 15 members of the Cowboys hallowed Ring of Honor.

Sure, you and I would have drafted guys like Staubach, Dorsett, Lilly, and Aikman. No brainers. But Brandt evaluated and discovered the hidden gems who would become the cornerstone of championship teams, guys like Mel Renfro, Randy White, Cornell Green, Rayfield Wright, Drew Pearson, Cliff Harris, Bob Hayes, Michael Irvin and a long list of others. Brandt was an invaluable part of the brain trust that oversaw 20 straight winning seasons, five Super Bowl appearances, and two championships.

For a well done five-minute tribute video from the NFL, click here.

I met Gil Brandt between Christmas and New Year’s 1988, at a UCLA football practice at Texas Stadium. Troy Aikman’s Bruins were playing Arkansas in that year’s Cotton Bowl, UCLA was practicing that week at Texas Stadium, and a couple of the practices were open to the public. Well, everybody knew the Cowboys were going to draft Aikman with the number one pick, so my brother Keith and I took the opportunity to see the future up close. After practice, Brandt was hanging out on the field, just talking to random people, and I approached him for an autograph. I wasn’t prepared. He had to use his own pen to scribble his name on the back of a flyer/advertisement I picked up off the ground. But he was great. Very personable. Happy to talk to a fan.

I have no idea when or where I lost that piece of paper.

Less than two months after that chance encounter, Jerry Wayne bought the Cowboys and fired Brandt. A couple of months later, Jimmy and Jerry drafted Aikman to join Brandt’s last number one pick, Michael Irvin.

I talked to Gil Brandt several times during the course of my mediocre radio career. He would always appear at a few Cowboys training camps and in-season practices every year, and he was a constant during Cotton Bowl and Fort Worth Bowl weeks and Big 12 media days. He could give you a quote about any player you asked about and he was always available. The last time I talked to Brandt was when Tex Schramm died in 2003. I interviewed him via telephone for KRLD. He had given me both Danny White’s and Randy White’s home phone numbers the week before so I could call them with the news when it happened. Gil Brandt  was a hustler, an innovator, a people person, and he  went out of his way to help others. I always appreciated that about him.

They’re all gone now. The original architects of the Dallas Cowboys. Brandt was the last one.

Somehow it’s fitting that on the day Brandt died, Forbes released their list of the most valuable NFL franchises, and Jerry’s Cowboys are number one again, valued at over $9-billion. Brandt’s Cowboys never went more than six years without an NFC Championship Game appearance. Ever. Jerry’s Cowboys are working on 28 straight seasons without a single divisional playoff win. And counting. Rest in peace, Gil. You don’t have to watch this train wreck anymore.

Peace,

Allan

The Dallas Cowboys and Netflix have announced a partnership to produce a ten-part docuseries about Jerry. Netflix is in for a reported $50-million, outbidding ESPN and others for the rights to the series. There are no production or release dates, and they’re still working on a title. All we know is that this whole thing is going to be about Jerry.

Here’s a quote from the opening paragraph of the press release:

“The series will document the Dallas Cowboys and the journey of Jerry Jones, the club’s owner, president, and general manager, in saving and transforming the franchise, leading a historic set of players and coaches to three NFL titles in the 1990s, and searing his imprint into the global sports business landscape forever.”

I’ve got the name for the series. Look no further than the gag-inducing line above: “Transforming the Franchise.”

Oh, yes, he did. Jerry Wayne has certainly transformed the franchise. Under his watch the Cowboys have gone from perennial contenders and Super Bowl champs to irrelevant also-rans.

Let’s look at how Jerry “saved and transformed” the Cowboys. In the team’s first 29 years of existence, under Tex Schramm and Tom Landry, they played in twelve conference championship games and five Super Bowls. They never went more than six years without appearing in the NFC Championship Game and that only happened twice, from 1960-1965 when they began as an expansion team without a draft, and from 1983-1988 following three straight championship game appearances. In between those two six-year droughts, Dallas went to the conference title game seven times in ten years from 1966-1975 and five more times in six years from 1977-1982.

And then Jerry Wayne rode into town and bought the team. Jimmy Johnson drafted and traded and coached his way to two of those three Super Bowls in the early ’90s. And the Cowboys haven’t won as much as a divisional playoff game since — 27 years now and counting. Before Jerry came along, the Cowboys didn’t know what it was like to go seven years without a conference championship game appearance. They’ve quadrupled that drought under Jerry Wayne.

The Green Bay Packers have been to the conference championship game eight times since the Cowboys last appeared. The 49ers have made it to seven. The Philadelphia Eagles have played in six NFC Championship Games since 1995 and the Giants have been there three times. The Cowboys: zero.

There are only five teams that haven’t won a divisional playoff game in the past 27 years: Lions, Browns, Dolphins, Deadskins, and Cowboys. Transforming the franchise, indeed. Thank you, Jerry. Great job. They should do a documentary. True crime.

According to the NFL’s accompanying press release, this will be a “defining docuseries.” In other words, 80-year-old Jerry is attempting to create a legacy with a “The Last Dance” type of memorial. Some of the stories I’ve read about this project report that it’ll detail “how Jerry built the Cowboys roster.” I suppose in this Day of Orwell when there is no truth anymore, Netflix can pay Jerry $50-million to lie and gaslight his “truth.” Keep lying until people start buying, I guess.

They already are. Randy Galloway used to call  ’em “Cowsheep.” He had no idea. It’s stupefying.

Another line in the NFL release refers to Jerry’s success in the ’90s as “one of the most memorable and high-powered turnarounds in football history.” If the Cowboys ever get back to winning multiple Super Bowls, if they ever get back to winning divisional playoff games, it’ll be a much bigger accomplishment than anything Jerry ever did.

Peace,

Allan

The Cowboys “mutually” parting ways with offensive coordinator Kellen Moore tells me Jerry Wayne has given Mike McCarthy one more year to get Dallas over the divisional playoff hump and if McCarthy is going down, he’s going to go down swinging and calling his own plays. McCarthy’s oversized play sheet isn’t just a coaching prop anymore, he’s actually going to be calling each play for the Cowboys offense starting this next season. Which means… what?

Nothing.

I can’t imagine Moore was doing anything the past three seasons that McCarthy didn’t ultimately approve. If anything, not having Moore on the sidelines might mean more double reverses and more going for it on 4th and two from their own 30-yard line and more two-point attempts to tie a game in the second quarter.

At the very least, it’ll be the same.

The change that needs to take place is with the coach in the owner’s box. I haven’t seen this addressed anywhere since it happened, but immediately following the Wild Card win in Tampa Bay,  Jerry Wayne told reporters in the locker room that he and Mike McCarthy were in agreement all week that Dak needed to win the game for the Cowboys. Dak had to have a great game. He and Mike agreed on that. Then Jerry said he had a talk with Dak right before the game. He told Dak he had to be aggressive on every play. “Don’t be anything less than aggressive.”

That’s a problem.

Aggressive means zipping the ball into double-coverage over the middle or forcing an out route off your back foot when you’re under pressure. It means interceptions. Aggressive doesn’t work with Dak. Did Jerry’s advice go against what McCarthy and Moore were telling him? I don’t know! We’ll never know! But Jerry personally coaching the quarterback on the field minutes before kickoff is a problem that’s not going away.

McCarthy won a Super Bowl a long time ago with Aaron Rodgers in his prime. Dak is not Aaron Rodgers. And McCarthy is not Tom Landry as Jerry called him after the Tampa Bay win. And Jerry is not Clint Murchison. If Jerry were more like the other 31 NFL owners, things might be a little less interesting off the field, but a lot more interesting on it.

Kellen Moore has bolted for the Bolts in San Diego and an owner you can’t name and a generational talent at QB in Justin Herbert. McCarthy stays in Dallas. And so does Jerry. Which means nothing changes.

Peace,

Allan