Dallas Cowboys head into training camp hoping to minimize drama
11:05 PM CDT on Saturday, July 25, 2009
We have a saying here in Texas for those who are a little too full of themselves, a folksy bit of insight designed to pierce the pretense and cut a person or institution down to size.
Big hat, no cattle.
Few would apply that aphorism to a franchise that owns five Super Bowl trophies. But if you inspect the record of the Cowboys over the last 13 years, if you list all of the NFL teams that have won a playoff game since this team last enjoyed a postseason victory ...
Well, if the helmet fits ...
Training camp opens in San Antonio this week for a Cowboys team driven to distance itself from past disappointments. The idea is to minimize drama, maximize production and prove its worth.
That's not to say there won't be the occasional high-profile breakup – did Tony and Jessica really call it quits? – or dysfunctional moment along the way. Interest in the Cowboys extends beyond what happens on the field of the club's lavish new stadium. This team pops up on TMZ almost as much as it does on Fox and ESPN.
People will talk, tweet, blog and obsess about the Cowboys, win or lose. But the sad competitive fact is that this franchise has more in common with Detroit than any other team in the NFC these days.
The Cowboys are famous for being famous. They have become the Paris Hilton of a league that rewards talent and commitment.
Does anyone other than Paris Hilton really want that?
"We have to be a better team," tight end Jason Witten said of the upcoming season. "I've been excited to see guys come in and work every day to try to get better."
Here are the cold, hard facts.
The Cowboys last won a playoff game on Dec. 28, 1996, when they beat Minnesota in a wild-card game.
Twenty-five teams have tasted postseason success since that day. Every team in the NFC, with the exception of the Cowboys and Lions, has won at least two playoff games in that span.
So how does a franchise in a drought that rivals the Gobi Desert carry such high expectations? The incessant optimism and marketing acumen of owner Jerry Jones supplies just part of the answer.
Past glories have blurred where the Cowboys actually rank in the competitive scheme of things in today's NFL. Fond memories die hard, especially when reality is so mediocre.
Ask Boston Celtics fans what they remember about that 22-year gap between titles.
The Cowboys entered last season as a Super Bowl favorite based on their 13-3 record the previous season. But here's the rub: How many teams go on to win a Super Bowl with a nucleus that hasn't even won a playoff game?
Not many.
The Cowboys were stripped of that sense of entitlement last season. A 44-6 loss to Philadelphia in the final game of the regular season with a playoff spot on the line stripped this team of even more.
"You go 13-3, you're the favorite, you're Dallas, you get upset [by New York Giants] and that team goes on to win the Super Bowl, and everybody thinks, 'Oh, they'll be back,' " Witten said of last year's mind-set.
"I think everybody was humbled by that last game of the season and not making the playoffs to the point where the expectations [now] are on other people. In a good way our approach has been, 'We have to get better, not just building from where we left off.' "
Coach Wade Phillips stressed during the off-season that the players had to be accountable to themselves and their teammates. Quarterback Tony Romo and others have spoken about how the events of 2008 forced them to take a more critical look at themselves.
"I think you always look at what you need to improve upon when things aren't successful as an athlete and as a competitor," Romo said.
"We weren't successful last season. I'm going to look at it and ask why. Why wasn't I as successful as I needed to be, and I'm going to try and go out and rectify that."
Did you know that receiver Terrell Owens didn't believe he got the ball enough last season?
Did you hear about the dust-up between Adam Jones and his bodyguard at a Dallas hotel?
Was offensive coordinator Jason Garrett really too predictable?
What about Romo and Witten playing catch and leaving everyone else out?
All kinds of stories, real and manufactured, surface when a team struggles. The focus invariably shifts to personalities.
The Cowboys may have come up short on victories last season, but they didn't on personalities.
"That's why it's hard to win a Super Bowl," Romo said. "It's not only dealing with the game but dealing with all the extra stuff that goes with it, dealing with the mental side.
"There are a lot of people that struggle with the mental side on off-the-field situations. If you can't get over that, then you're never going to be able to perform on the field."
Owens and Adam Jones are gone, a signal that management is no longer interested in the distractions and sideshows of the past. There was more structure to the off-season drills, and the players responded with a more workmanlike approach.
"I think it's been real, and the reason I can say that is the approach and the way we've practiced day in and day out," Witten said. "Things have come up, and we have not allowed things to get in the way.
"Whether it correlates to wins, I don't know. But I do like our approach."
That's not to say these Cowboys will be boring. Do you think a team owned by Jerry Jones would ever commit that sin? Besides, there is a new $1.15 billion stadium to celebrate.
Wonder how many head of cattle Jones can fit in his new place.