What Happened To My Dallas Cowboys?

I was born in the year of 1984. So by the time I was old enough to appreciate the Dallas Cowboys, guys like Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin were roaming the field of Texas Stadium. But I remember as a kid I loved reading about the Cowboys of old like Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Randy White, etc. I use to listen to my parents and other elderly members of my family talk about the good ole' days of the Dallas Cowboys when Coach Tom Landry roamed the sideline and ruled the team with that menacing stare of his. I'd watch on ESPN Classic old Cowboy games against the Pittsburgh Steelers when they would beat up on Terry Bradshaw. I couldn't get enough. Then come Sundays (and occasionally on Mondays) I'd sit and watch my team, America's Team, play football. It was a great time as a kid to be a fan of the Dallas Cowboys. I even would wear my Emmitt Smith #22 jersey to church. Man I loved those days. But now the question I can't help but ask...What happened to my Dallas Cowboys? What happened to a team everyone wanted to play for? Why is it that now the star on the side of the helmet doesn't portray honor and dignity? Because today's Dallas Cowboys are not my Dallas Cowboys and certainly not my parents' Dallas Cowboys.


The Cowboys have fallen mightly since the days of old. It wasn't an overnight destruction like the Titanic. It was a slow, agonizing fall from grace...like watching an old prize boxer who just doesn't know when it's time  to hang 'em up. My Cowboys...America's Team...is long gone and have been replaced with a bunch of no names who pretend to be a football team. There are two instances that you can say are the main causes of the Cowboys fall from the top of the mountaintop. The first can be even pinpointed to a very specific day...February 25, 1989. That was the day that Jerry Jones purchased the team for $140 million. Jerry Jones thinks he is God's gift to football...and in reality he is more like the court jester of the NFL. He thinks he knows football, but the team's water boy knows more about football than Jerry Jones does. Now I know you are going to say "But we've won three Super Bowls since he bought the team" and that's very true. We have. But that's something you can thank Jimmy Johnson for. Johnson is one of the best football minds that's ever been in the league. He led the Cowboys to those three Super Bowls. (Don't try and tell me that Barry Switzer had anything to do with the Cowboys winning Super Bowl 30. He inherited Johnson's team and just rode their coat tails. He is the coach version of Jerry Jones...a moron.) Johnson was the reason that the Cowboys were so good in the early and mid 1990s. Now this leads me to the second cause of the Cowboys' demise...Jerry Jones letting Jimmy Johnson go as head coach. It's been sited that the two agreed to a mutual separation because their inability to work together. Jones is a dictator who thinks everything has to be his way or the highway. Why do you think Jason Garrett is the head coach? He kisses Jones' butt more than anyone I've ever seen. And it shows. Look at Jones' draft record (and we all know it's Jones drafting these players because his coaches don't have a say in anything.) I admit that every now and then, a blind squirrel finds a nut. Same is true for Jerry Jones.

I know he drafted the likes of DeMarcus Ware, Sean Lee, Tyrone Smith, Jason Whitten. But other than that...Jones hasn't done much to improve this team when it comes to the NFL Draft. I can't speak for this year's draft because these kids deserve a shot. I'm not going to bad mouth the new kids because they haven't had a chance to prove themselves. But take a look at some of Jones' draft bust...Quincy Carter, Felix Jones, Martellus Bennett, Doug Free. Then look at the players that Jones has given big time contracts to that don't deserve it. Miles Austin...7 years $54.1 million; Doug Free...4 years $32 million (yes I know he has taken a pay cut but look at how he has played. He is lucky he is getting paid anything.); Tony Romo 6 years $108 million. None of those guys deserve what Jones has given them. By giving these guys the ridiculous contracts, he makes it hard to actually sign good players. Since Super Bowl 30, where Barry Switzer took credit for Jimmy Johnson's team winning the Super Bowl, the Cowboys haven't been back to the promised land. 17 straight seasons have gone by since the Cowboys were in the Super Bowl and in that time they've only won one playoff game...one stinkin' playoff game.

I know people are going to say Tony Romo is a really good quarterback who just hasn't had any good talent around him. But I beg to differ. Tony Romo is a really good quarterback...really good backup quarterback. He has no business being a starter. Look at the last two seasons. He has choked when his team needed him the most...the last game of the season when a win puts them in the playoffs. You won't win with a backup quarterback as your starter. The bottom line with the Cowboys is that over the last 17 years the Dallas Cowboys have become content with being the Dallas Cowboys. They are more concerned with selling merchandise and calling themselves "America's Team" than they are winning football games. Get a real general manager, get a real head coach, and get a real quarterback and then maybe...just maybe...the Cowboys will return to the glory days when losing wasn't an option.


If you want to truly see who the Cowboys should be instead of what they have become, watch the following video. "America's Team" doesn't reside in Dallas anymore. Those days are gone. This video will remind you of the days when the Cowboys were truly "America's Team."