Dallas Cowboys Cut CB Terence Newman
The Dallas Cowboys have cut veteran cornerback Terence Newman along with Kicker David Buehler. The move saves the Cowboys either $4 million or $6 million against the salary cap. Newman was drafted 5th overall in the 2003 draft and ends his Cowboy career with 32 interceptions and seven forced fumbles. The interceptions rank him 8th in Cowboys history.
Don Meredith Dies at 72
Don Meredith passed away late last night at the age of 72. Meredith was quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys in the franchise’s early days and was also on the original “Monday Night Football” broadcast team. Meredith played for the Cowboys from 1960-1968 and was considered one of the first stars of many for the Cowboys. Meredith threw for 17,199 yards and 111 touchdowns in his career and retired unexpectedly in 1969 and go on to broadcasting just 2 years later. A private graveside service is being planned to be in Santa Fe.
Cowboys Fire Wade Phillips
According to various sources, the Dallas Cowboys have fired Wade Phillips and promoted Jason Garrett to interim head coach.
Phillips went 34-22 in more than three seasons as Cowboys coach. And despite receiving a contract extension last winter, he could not survive a dismal campaign this year, when the Cowboys had hoped to become the first team to host and play in the Super Bowl.
Cowboys mistakes and penalties kill winning bid against Redskins
Although Mike Shanahan and Donovan McNabb received their first win with their new team, the Wasington Redskins, that wasn’t the biggest name that stuck out at FedEx field and across the nation on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Alex Barron was that name. Doesn’t ring a bell? The Cowboys acquired him from the St. Louis Rams in a trade this offseason hoping to improve their offensive line. Playing for a losing Rams team the past few years might have been the first hint of Barron possibly having some problems. He committed the holding penalty in the final seconds of Sunday nights game to void the Cowboys touchdown to Roy Williams and give the Redskins the win. A bitter taste was left in the mouth of all Cowboys fans after the five seconds of celebrating subsided and the holding penalty was discovered.
A huge win for the Redskins, this 13-7 fluke win was done without an offensive touchdown. Their one TD came from Tashard Choice fumbling seconds before the second quarter ending and DeAngelo Hall taking it in for the score. While many people will form their own opinions on the game, this one was more of a Cowboys loss than a Redskins win. Opportunity after opportunity was given to the Redskins by the Cowboys; gift wrapped. Tag, bow and all. All the Skins had to do was open it up.
McNabb finished with 171 yards on 15 of 32 attempts with Portis running the ball 18 times for 36 yards. Not quite an overpowering offense shown by the Redskins. Tony Romo’s stats looked quite good with 282 yards on 31 of 47 passing while Marion Barber and Felix Jones had 39 and 38 yards rushing on the night. Miles Austin had 10 receptions for 146 yards and looked to be in mid-season form. Rookie Dez Bryant had 8 catches for 56 yards. The penalties and mistakes overcame Romo and Austin trying the two man team approach and this game literally came down to the last play to see who would start the season 0-1 or 1-0. This was a promising start to the season for the Redskins who finished 4-12 last season and a wake up call to the Cowboys that the road to Arlington will not come easy.
Dez Bryant’s Minicamp a Success
Dez Bryant, a top 10 talent in the 2010 NFL Draft managed to fall all the way to the 24th pick in the first round. Jerry Jones and the Cowboys took full advantage and made a trade with the New England Patriots to move up 3 spots to grab the “Playmaker 2.” Is it too early to talk Bryant up to the level of one of the greatest receivers to ever play the game? I mean he missed nearly his entire senior season at Oklahoma State because he lied to the NCAA about his involvement with former Cowboy and NFL Network personality, Deion Sanders.
Say what you want about Bryant, but the kid is a stud and has the potential to be one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. Jerry Jones was not about to pass up on another potential Randy Moss type impact player and have that haunt him for years to come.
Bryant showed up to Cowboy’s rookie minicamp and was a little out of shape. Taking knees, breathing hard and rolling his ankle had him limping around the last hour of practice. The injury is not serious but did keep Bryant out of sprints after practice. The most impressive part of this was that even though he was not in the best shape, he still pushed through every drill and gave it 100 percent. That shows a lot of grit and shows that he can be a leader.
Many people have given Bryant a bad wrap and say that he can slack and be complacent. But that was not evident what so ever during the 3 days of practice last weekend. Coach Wade Phillips was even quoted as saying, “In 33 years there’s not very many that I can say look that talented at their position for a three-day period.” Strong statement coming from a guy like Phillips who has seen a lot of ball in his day.
There has been talk of Bryant returning punts and kick-offs on special teams. It sure would be exciting to see him and Kevin Ogletree back deep. Expect big things out of Bryant in his rookie season and for him to have an immediate impact. It will also be interesting to see how Jason Garrett fits Bryant into the Cowboys scheme with Miles Austin, Jason Witten, and Roy Williams.
Guest writer Andy Burrell is an up and coming sports personality that played football for TCU and will be covering football at both the college and NFL level for us here at studyofsports.com. Check out his site below.
www.andyburrell.com
Where do the Cowboys go with Miles Austin?
The question that all Dallas Cowboys fans are asking as of late. Where do the Cowboys go with Miles Austin? Or is that Austin Miles? Two first names and two last names? I’m confused. There is one thing known for sure. The franchise tag deadline has come and gone; and Miles Austin was nowhere in sight.
Teams around the NFL had until midday Thursday to tag their players with a franchise or transition designation. A few last minute additions to the lists around the NFL did not include 2009 Pro Bowler Miles Austin. That tag would have cost the Cowboys $9.5 million for 2010. After overpaying for another guy named Roy Williams, I really can’t blame the Cowboys for not wanting to pay that much for another wideout. Two wide receivers getting paid an average of $9 million a year? That hurts. So when Jerry and Stephen Jones get together and say they want to sign Austin for the long haul, I believe them. I just believe, along with them, that they can do much better than $9 million a year.
The next question. What do they do if they can’t sign him long-term? They would have to place a tender offer on Austin. That would allow Austin to make $3.168 million in 2010 while allowing other NFL teams to make Austin an offer. That offer would then have to be met by the Cowboys or that other team would then be signing Austin to that contract. The Cowboys would receive a first and third round pick from that team if that scenario came about. So what are the Cowboys and Austin saying about negotiations? Nothing. That’s right. Nothing at all. Austin says he’s not worried about it and that his agent will take care of it. The Cowboys front office says that something will happen, they just can’t give you a time frame of when that may be. So when do you start to worry Cowboys fans? They need to get the ball rolling on a deal with Miles Austin.