You have to love it when an athlete manages to gig the media without ripping his own britches. Tony Romo did just that on Tuesday, when he was able to tell reporters they didn’t matter and get a giggle out of them.

Usually, taking on the media is a bad idea, since it is the media that so clearly controls the line of communication between athletes and fans. It does not take much to paint a player with a certain brush and pretty soon the tide of public opinion is against him.

When it comes to football players, Tony Romo is in perhaps the highest profile position in the country. Playing quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys is akin to playing short stop for the New York Yankees. Or, really, it is akin to playing short stop, being the ace on the pitching staff and batting cleanup.

Dan Hanzus of NFL.com points out that Romo plays his hand with the media pretty well:

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Romo said the speculation that comes attached to his name has no effect on his life.

“Not trying to be rude, but you guys just don’t matter,” Romo said, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The comment drew a laugh from media members before Romo continued.

“I know you guys all have a job to do, and it helps grow the game and there’s a lot of talk about the game, and it’s a wonderful aspect of it,” he said. “But good (or) bad, none of it matters. It’s going to be played out on the field. No matter what, we’re going to have to open up the football season against the New York Giants, and whether you said great things or whether you guys may have said the Cowboys are whatever — the best ever, the worst ever, they can’t ever, they can — it doesn’t matter. You’ve still got to show up, and you’ve got to play.

“All the other stuff is for people to talk about and enjoy. To me, when you sit there and look at it, it just doesn’t matter. It’s just stuff.”

You have to have thick skin to be the quarterback of the Cowboys. You can dislike Romo as a quarterback, but it’s hard to argue that he doesn’t handle the media scrutiny at an expert level.

OK, Tony. So, what about the NFL Top 100 Players from 2012 thing? You worried that you don’t make that cut? Does that matter?

Here is a your answer, courtesy of Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News:

“Until I see one person who’s a Dallas Cowboy who votes on that stuff, I would figure at some point they’d ask me, Jason Witten or DeMarcus Ware to vote,” Romo said Tuesday. “I think then maybe it’s a vote by the players. But the four people who vote, I just don’t think it matters too much. I know this, I would have a hard time telling you who was great in the AFC last year. You just go by what’s written about and talked about.

“Once again, like I said, that stuff is fun to talk about, I enjoy taking a peek, seeing what’s happening. Then it’s just, OK cool, then it goes right on to the next day.”

With only the top 30 players left to be made public, it’s highly unlikely that Romo will make the cut.

Here are the quarterbacks that have already made the list: No. 43 Eli Manning, No. 46 Cam Newton, No. 51 Russell Wilson, No. 61 Ben Roethlisberger, No. 76 Matthew Stafford and No. 81 Colin Kaepernick.

Face it. Tony is right. These are things that are fun to talk about—to discuss and debate. They are off-season filler to keep fans engaged until kickoff. Nothing more.

Romo knows making some list for a TV series is not going to be the determining factor in how his performance is viewed. There is only one way for a quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys to forever endear himself to a once-spoiled, still proud fan base. It cannot be done with gaudy numbers or superior regular season play. It will not be accomplished by winning nice guy awards or being the darling of fantasy football leagues everywhere. It sure won’t be accomplished by winning over beat writers and whichever players get to vote on top 100 lists.

To quote the late Al Davis, it comes down to one thing: Just win, baby.

And by win, I mean win the way Staubach and Aikman won.

Win the big one, the whole enchilada, the Lombardi.

To Romo, that is what matters. That is what will ultimately determine whether he is remembered as over-hyped and overpaid.

You may not like Romo, but you have to appreciate his understanding of where he stands…and who (or what) really matters.

The post Tony Romo focused on football, not reporters or so-called top 100 players list appeared first on silver and blue blood Silver and BlueBlood.

At 6’2″and 321 pounds, Josh Brent is a big man. He is also a talented football player. Big. Strong. Quick. A formidable force on the interior of a defensive line. So, why did he fall to the Cowboys in the seventh round of the 2010 supplemental draft? A player of his talent could have—and should have—gone much earlier.

The answer is simple: Josh Brent is stupid. He makes bad decisions on a regular basis. He did so when he was in college at the University of Illinois.

Here is an article by ESPN’s college football writer Adam Rittenberg from June 10, 2009:

Illinois defensive tackle Josh Brent is serving time in the Champaign County jail as part of a plea agreement stemming from his drunken driving arrest.

Brent pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DUI on June 2 after being stopped by police Feb. 21 in Urbana, Ill. His driver’s license was suspended at the time, and a warrant had been issued for his arrest for failing to appear in court in Livingston County for driving on a suspended license.

Brent was sentenced to two years probation and 60 days in jail in accordance with the plea agreement. He also must pay a fine and perform 200 hours of community service.

The Fighting Illini junior began the sentence June 2 and could be released in only 30 days.

Head coach Ron Zook indefinitely suspended Brent in February, and Brent did not participate in spring practice. Zook will make a final determination on Brent’s status after his legal issues are concluded.

The 6-2, 315-pound Brent started eight games last season for Illinois and recorded 34 tackles. He ranked second on the squad in tackles for loss with 8.5 (1.5 sacks).

Lesson learned. Right?

Wrong!

Here is your reminder of what happened in December 2012, after Brent had managed to get himself selected by the Dallas Cowboys and even worked himself into a more than serviceable replacement for the injured Jay Ratliff:

(AP) IRVING, Texas — Dallas Cowboys practice-squad linebacker Jerry Brown was killed in a one-car accident Saturday and teammate Josh Brent was charged with intoxication manslaughter.

Irving police spokesman John Argumaniz said the accident happened about 2:20 a.m. Saturday in the Dallas suburb. Brent was speeding when the vehicle hit a curb and flipped at least once, Argumaniz said.

Argumaniz said the 25-year-old Brown – also Brent’s teammate at the University of Illinois for three seasons – was found unresponsive at the scene and pronounced dead at a hospital.

The police spokesman said officers conducted a field sobriety test on Brent and arrested him. The charge was upgraded after Brown was pronounced dead.

Some people are that way. They have a lifelong pattern of self-destruction. No matter how bad the consequences of the last bad decision hurt, the next bad decision is inevitable.

So, now, while on probation, preparing for a court battle that will determine whether he goes to prison, Brent, who is being monitored for alcohol, tests positive for marijuana.

The problem here is this: You can cure ignorance with education, but there is no cure for stupidity.

Jerry Jones still looking for the next Michael Irvin?

Michael Irvin had his troubles while with the Cowboys. Women. Drugs. Court dates. But Irvin overcame those issues to help his Cowboys win three Super Bowls in four years and is now a proud member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Jones remembers that. So, he keeps believing he and his Cowboys can overcome a character flaw here and there, if the football talent is significant enough to warrant the risk. Thus, you find characters like Pacman Jones, Dez Bryant, and Josh Brent, to name a few.

The verdict is still out on Dez. He appears to have made strides in the right direction. His problems may have more to do with immaturity and the obviously tenuous relationship with his mom. Pacman, on the other hand…

And now we have Josh Brent. Like former Cowboys cornerback Dwayne Goodrich, Brent’s stupidity proved fatal for someone other than himself.

Josh Brent is no Michael Irvin

Michael Irvin is a football player, who happened to have a character flaw that almost cost him his career. Josh Brent is a flawed character, who happens to play football.

There is a difference.

Irvin made stupid decisions, but Brent is just stupid. And, like Forest Gump said, “Stupid is as stupid does.” (Actually, you could make that statement more accurate by saying, “Stupid does because stupid is.”)

The post Dallas Cowboys should cut Josh Brent, because you cannot fix stupid appeared first on silver and blue blood Silver and BlueBlood.

While some debate the choice of Bill Callahan as offensive play-caller, I ponder more timeless questions, like who is the greatest Dallas Cowboy of all time?

I decided to select and rank my top 16 candidates. They are seeded according to their ranking and placed into a single-elimination tournament. YOU will get to vote on the head-to-head competitors each week for the next four weeks. At the end, we will have our consensus choice for Greatest Dallas Cowboy of all time.

The ground rules I used are as follows:

1. Candidates are chosen from players, coaches, and front office personnel (General Manager, owner).
2. The candidate had to have made his greatest impact in the NFL as a Dallas Cowboy. Sorry, Deion Sanders.
3. That’s it.

And now, on to the vote!

The post Who is the greatest Dallas Cowboy of all time? appeared first on silver and blue blood Silver and BlueBlood.

Dez Bryant is coming off his best year as an NFL receiver. He amassed 1382 yards and scored 12 touchdowns in the 2012 campaign.

Dez has improved his production each year he has been in the league. In 2010, his numbers were 561 yards and six TDs. In 2011, he had 928 and nine. Good health has been one factor in his growth. Gaining experience has been another. Maturing as a person may be the most important.

Longtime Cowboys writer and ESPN contributor Jean-Jacques Taylor believes Bryant is poised to race into the Cowboys’ history books in 2013:

The words are a harbinger for a player poised to turn in the best performance we’ve ever seen from a Dallas Cowboys receiver. Better than the best year Bob Hayes ever had. Or Drew Pearson. More impressive than any season Michael Irvin put together. Terrell Owens, too.

Irvin set the franchise record for receptions (111) and yards (1,605) in 1995 and Owens established the team record for touchdowns in 2007 with 15. Bryant will go at least one better in all of those categories this season, which means all he needs is an additional 20 catches for 224 yards and four touchdowns added onto 2012′s total.

Why will he reach those numbers?

Bryant’s mental acumen is merging with his physical talent.

Bryant may or may not meet those expectations, but his own aspirations and the team’s high hopes are certainly not unfounded. He is a top-flight talent, a physical specimen, and a competitor. But to be the man in Dallas, Dez has to commit to simply being A MAN first. This according to former NFL player and head coach, Herm Edwards of ESPN:

“He is an outstanding player. There’s no doubt about that…This guy’s an impact player for the Dallas Cowboys…We’re watching him mature…He has to understand this: We’re male by birth; we have to choose to be men. When you become a man, you make god choices, you understand your responsibility and you’re accountable.“ Herm Edwards on Dez Bryant

Here is hoping Dez is ready to be a man…and to be THE MAN for the Dallas Cowboys receiving corps in 2013.

The post Herm Edwards: Dez Bryant could be THE MAN, but must learn to be a man first appeared first on silver and blue blood Silver and BlueBlood.

The big Cowboys’ story of the week is that someone at Blogging the Boys website took video images from Jerry Jones’ war room interviews during the NFL draft and reconstructed the Cowboys’ draft board.

In Stephen A Smith’s peanut head, the real story is that he wants to interview Jerry.

Somehow, the geniuses at the worldwide leader in sports have paired the two most overrated, over-talking, under-talented nobs in the sports talk business. Stephen A and his partner in crime Skip Bayless are endlessly giving opinions no one—and I am convinced that includes themselves—takes seriously.

Now Smith is thumping his chest and challenging Jerry Jones, owner of one of the three most profitable sports franchises in the world, to talk to him? Give me a break. Jones, to his credit, never dodges the press. He takes the hard questions from actual sports commentators on a regular basis. This is the man that sat down with the coach he famously fired, after that coach became a sports commentator.

Dallas is to the NFL what New York is to everything else. It is the kitchen. The heat is always on the Dallas Cowboys owner, coach and quarterback. While other cities have writers wearing cheer skirts and waving pom poms, the Dallas media can be harshly critical and eternally unforgiving. Jones may give answers that make you wonder if he is the inspiration for Michael Scott, the goofy boss on The Office. But he gives answers. He does interviews. And he has thick skin. Even his harshest critics know that Jones is more fair with them than they often are with him. Take Dale Hansen, for instance. Hansen is DFW’s godfather of sports anchors. He is one of those bigger-than-life personalities that can often seem bigger than the story he is doing. (At least in his own mind.) Hansen has been one of the most vocal critics of Jones the GM.

That is just a small sample of how Jones is treated in Dallas, particularly by Hansen.

Still, back in 2007, when Hansen’s criticism of Jones was at a fever pitch, Hansen’s father fell ill. Mr. Hansen the elder received a get well letter…from Jerry Jones.

Randy Galloway is another longtime DFW sports personality and icon. He is also another harsh Jones critic. But Galloway will be thre first to tell you that Jerry Jones can take it and still be gracious.

There are interns in Dallas more talented and formidable in interview situations than Stephen A Smith. If Jones does not sit down with the talentless loudmouth it has nothing to do with fear of hard-hitting questions.

Get over yourself, dude.

Seriously.

The post Why would Jerry Jones dodge Stephen A Smith? appeared first on silver and blue blood Silver and BlueBlood.

Eat it, Cowboys!

Michael Strahan Twitter taunts the Dallas Cowboys and Cowboys’ fans

I think Michael Strahan was an above average player. He is an entertaining personality with a cool gap-tooth grin. Nothing wrong with Strahan, other than he was a member of the hated New York Football Giants and, consequently, an archenemy of the Silver and Bluebloods of the world.

In his post-football commentary gig, Strahan is pretty entertaining, as well. He has a cool vibe about him. His slight speech impediment is endearing. He is witty at times. He is also incapable of nonpartisan football analysis. More than any member of the NFL on Fox studio crew, Strahan skews everything towards his Giants. While Jimmy Johnson has openly ripped the Cowboys, Howie Long strives to give thoughtful analysis, and even goof-off Bradshaw brings an unbiased viewpoint to the FOX broadcast, Strahan mostly clowns around and then promotes his Giants.

In other words, he is only good for a laugh and the occasional poke in the Cowboys’ eye. He is never to be taken seriously, since his conclusions are foregone.

So, no need to get up in arms over his recent Tweet in response to Gil Brandt’s prediction that the Cowboys would win the NFC East:

Is this a reprint from the last 10yrs?RT @nfl: ‘I expect the Cowboys to finish with the best record in the NFC East.’ on.nfl.com/1135TOb

— Michael Strahan (@michaelstrahan) May 26, 2013

Still, I could not resist replying to the jolly old defensemen:

@michaelstrahan @nfl Can hardly wait to hear your thoughtful, analytical, nonpartisan commentary. Got any? Call Aikman. He’ll teach ya.

— DoomsDaddy (@DoomsDaddy) May 27, 2013

The war of words is on. I can hardly wait for the battle in the trenches to commence.

Maybe this is the year the Cowboys wipe that infectious grin off Strahan’s face.

If not, expect more Michael Strahan Twitter taunts and on-air punches to the Cowboys’ crotch. All of this from a man pretending to be an analyst while dressed in a Giants’ cheerleader’s uniform and waving pom poms.

The post Michael Strahan (@michaelstrahan) Twitter taunts the Dallas Cowboys and #Cowboys fans appeared first on silver and blue blood Silver and BlueBlood.

I have a question. Or two.

In fact, there are questions everywhere when you look at the NFC East 2013 edition.

There has been a temporary power shift to the NFC West, with the resurrection of the 49ers franchise under Jim Harbaugh, the emergence of the Seattle Seahawks under the USC outlaw refugee Pete Carroll, and the inevitable improvement that comes with hiring Jeff Fisher in St. Louis.

Meanwhile, back east where the beasts once roamed and ruled the NFL landscape, questions abound.

Let’s just take it city by city, shall we? We will start in the northernmost port and work our way south, so that at least we end our journey closer to where they really know how to make barbecue.

A man’s gotta eat.

New York Football Giants

1. Is the defensive line finally human and vulnerable as it ages? The Giants’ DL has been one of the league’s best and they have anchored two Super Bowl-winning teams. But last year, they were pedestrian at best. The vaunted Giants’ D gave up 383 yards per game in 2012, allowing 129 yards per game rushing. The Giants’ defense ranked 31st in the league in 2012.
2. Will the revamped offensive line give Eli Manning enough time to throw and provide emerging star running back David Wilson enough space to run?
3. Can Hakeem Nicks stay healthy and get back to his pre-2012 production?
4. Will Eli ever wipe that dumb look off his face? (Just kidding. No, really.)

Philadelphia Eagles

1. Was it a mistake to fire Andy Reid, the most successful head coach in franchise history?
2. Will Chip Kelly bring a new kind of offensive genius to the NFL? The man that put Eugene on the map—well, actually, I am the man that put “Eugene” on the map—by leveraging Phil Knight’s Nike money and his own offensive innovations and building a football dynasty in an unlikely northwest outpost hardly known as a high school football players breeding ground shake up things in the NFL with his offensive schemes? Or, will he be another Nick Saban and find himself in over his head on Sundays? (I never miss a chance to take a shot at Saban.)
3. Who plays QB?
4. Who has the best Philly cheese steak, Geno’s or Pat’s?

Washington Redskins

1. RG3. Can he repeat his magnificent rookie season?
2. RG3. Can he stay healthy?
3. Is running back Alfred Morris really all that or has the NFL taken notice and prepared to reel him in? Morris went off for 1613 yards and 13 TDs in 2012. With RG3 providing dynamic play in the passing game, teams will have to stop Morris without putting eight and nine men in the box.
4. Will Obama be impeached?

Dallas Cowboys

1. Will Tony Romo shut the mouths of critics like Donovan McNabb and Stephen A. Smith and prove Jerry was right to pay him and make him even more the focal point of the team’s offense?
2. Can the offensive line be less offensive and more effective or will they finally get Romo actually killed on the field of play?
3. Will the 2012 draft class make a significant contribution in 2013?
4. Can the team riddled with injuries in 2012 stay healthy in 2013?
5. How much better will the defense be under new coordinator Monte Kiffin and the Tampa 2 defense? Face it, they will be better. Come on. Rob Ryan or Monte Kiffin? That is like upgrading from a McDonald’s burger to a Ruth’s Chris steak.
6. Will Jerry Jones make Bill Callahan split his paycheck with Romo since Romo is basically acting as offensive coordinator?

The Redskins won the division n 2012 by the skin of their teeth with a 10-6 record. The Giants finished 9-7 and the Cowboys, 8-8. In 2011, the Giants barely squeaked by, winning the division on the last Sunday of the regular season and proceeding to launch their second unlikely Super Bowl run in five years. The Cowboys played for the division title in week 17 each of the last two seasons. The Eagles struggled, but are not that far removed from the days when they were winning division titles on a regular basis. Of course, there is no Andy Reid or Donovan McNabb in Philly anymore.

I guess you have to give front runner status to the defending division champs, but this thing appears wide open to me. The question of who will win it comes down to which team answers the above questions correctly.

For you Cowboys fans, Gil Brandt says the Cowboys will win it and he gave the Dallas Morning News 10 reasons. Bleacher Report has an article for why each team will win it, but that is Bleacher Report: Homerville and SEO mill. I take nothing I see on that site seriously, except the obvious lack of ability demonstrated by the vast majority of their “writers” and the fact that, indeed, every fan believes he would make a fabulous sports writer or coach. or both.

I think this is a four-horse race myself. I would not be surprised if we had a three-way tie as late as week 15, just the way we did in 2012. I do not know which three teams it might be, but the good money is on whichever three have the fewest key injuries.

Looking down the road, if RG3 can stay healthy, the future may indeed belong to the Redskins, if somebody doesn’t do something.

In 2013, however, I like the Cowboys’ chances. I believe this is the year they win a meaningful game in week 17…and win the division. We can worry about 2014 and beyond when the time comes.

What do YOU think?

The post Dallas Cowboys & NFC East 2013, where the questions outweigh the answers appeared first on silver and blue blood Silver and BlueBlood.

OK, #NFL History class is about to begin with a two-question quiz:

1. Is Brian Urlacher the best middle linebacker in Bears’ history?
2. Does it matter?

The answer to the first question will probably be directly related to your age.

If you are, say 60ish, you will say, “Hell, no! Dick Butkus is peerless, baby. Not even in the same league.”

Let’s say you are in your mid-life crisis. Your answer: “Mike Singletary! He anchored the best defense in NF: history.”

If you are 35 or younger, you have heard of Singletary and Butkus, but you know full well there is only one answer: “Urlacher.”

Question #two is less subjective. The correct answer to it a resounding, “NO!”

It does not matter which of them was the greatest, though it is fun to debate. It is like Cowboys fans debating Staubach versus Aikman, Bob Lilly or Randy White, or Tony Dorsett vs. Emmitt Smith. They were each Hall of Fame greatness. They were each singular players in their era.

So it is in Chicago. They happen to have in the Windy City the headiest middle linebacker group of any NFL franchise. To go three deep at a position, and each man in the discussion is arguably the best of his era (I did say arguably, Ray Lewis fans) is an uncommon feat for any franchise.

For all of the great defenses the Bears have had through the generations, only Singletary and Urlacher have won NFL defensive player of the year for the franchise. But if you think that puts Butkus behind them, then you aren’t listening to Bears’ great Dan Hampton:

“There will never be another Butkus,” he said. “Was [Vince] Lombardi the all-time greatest coach? I don’t know, but forever he’ll be recognized as the greatest and so will Butkus. He defined the position, changed the public’s perception of the NFL. There’s Ray Lewis, but Butkus will always be Butkus.”

The Hampton quote was lifted from a brilliant article on the subject by Melissa Isaacson of ESPNChicago.com.

Butkus defined the middle linebacker position in Chicago and the NFL. He is the standard. Singletary redefined it in Buddy Ryan’s 46 defense and the 1985 Bears defense is among the best in league history. That team went 15–1 and won the Super Bowl. That defense, which was ranked first in the NFL, gave up only 198 points in a 16-game season. That is 12.4 ppg! They surrendered just 4135 total yards, which is 258 yards per game. They also had 54 takeaways.

And in the middle of all of that was Mike Singletary.

But then Brian Urlacher was part of two amazing defensive years in Chicago.

On NWI.com, Mike Erickson points out the 2005 Bears were pretty darn good:

The 2005 Bears defense was the stuff of legends. While it didn’t quite capture the hearts of millions the way the 1985 Bears defense did, it was the league’s force to be reckoned with — buoyed, of course, by No. 54. Urlacher had 121 tackles, made the Pro Bowl and was named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year, joining two-time winner Mike Singletary as the only Bears to win one of the league’s highest honors.

And who can forget the first half of the 2012 season? In eight games, the Bears recorded seven pick sixes. Erickson vividly recalls the one Urlacher had:

Urlacher had one interception his last season. Against the Titans in Nashville, the Bears turned in a 51-20 shellacking to improve to 7-1. Up 14-2 in the first, with the Titans at midfield, Urlacher picked off Matt Hasselbeck, jumped over a diving defender near the far sideline and beat a handful of others to get to the end zone. It was the Bears’ seventh pick-six score in their eighth game of the season, and almost appropriately in a throwback to the Bears’ defense of old, it was a 46-yard gallop.

Urlacher has officially retired from the NFL. In five years, he will join Butkus and Singletary in Canton. The Pro Football Hall of Fame ought to display their three busts together…right in the middle, where they each made their indelible mark on the NFL.

The post Is Brian Urlacher the best middle linebacker in Bears’ history? appeared first on silver and blue blood Silver and BlueBlood.

Awww! Smile everyone. Cha-ching!

I doubt there are many moments in a football player’s life to compare to that moment the commissioner of the NFL calls your name−especially if you are taken in the top ten.

Tyron Smith was a right tackle out of USC, highly touted, highly coveted, highly talented, and after the Cowbooys took him number ten in the 2011 draft, highly paid.

And that, according to Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com, is the rub:

Smith spoke about the ordeal for the first time to The Dallas Morning News. He agreed to pay his parents in four installments after getting drafted, but they kept coming back for more. When he told them about a move to left tackle, they didn’t say congrats. They talked about the next contract.

“There was a certain amount I agreed to give them, but it went way beyond that and I was just like, ‘I’m done,’ ” Smith said. “I feel like I shouldn’t have given them so much. There was nothing wrong with helping them out and making sure they were taken care of, but not something to where they live the same lifestyle as you.”

Smith’s lawyer alleged that his mom and/or stepdad threatened Smith’s well-being and the life of his girlfriend. The lawyer also alleged that Smith’s family took more than $1 million from him. The money went missing when Smith was using a financial advisor his parents recommended.

“There was money missing, but I just don’t know where it went,” Smith said. “There were times I would check my statements and it wouldn’t make sense and I hadn’t authorized it at all. I just felt betrayed and I was like, ‘Who can I trust?’ ”

Anyone with sudden riches can tell a similar story. Whether you won the lottery, signed your first big contract or sold your fledgling company to Google or Yahoo for a bazillion bucks, you can bet you are going to meet cousins you never heard of and all of your siblings are going to forgive every misdeed of your childhood.

If you are a good soul, one of the first people you think of when you get your fortune is your dear ol’ mom. If you do not, you are probably some sort of sick, selfish, petty little person plaguing the world with yourself.

Unless, of course, your mom is the kind that was more a mother and never much of a mom until you got rich. Or worse. She is a gold-digger, willing to threaten and harass you every minute until you cough up whatever amount she is trying to extort.

To hear Tyron Smith tell it, that is the kind of woman his momma is. She and the man she is married to apparently see their precious child as a cash cow.

All those hugs, smiles and tears we saw when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called Tyron’s name, unfortunately, were not accompanied by thought bubbles. If they had been, we might have seen this coming.

Smith had to call 911 on his siblings and get a restraining order against his mom. He also suspects either his mother or the man she married of stealing around a million bucks from him.

Ouch.

Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the family wall come Christmas?

Hey! At least the Cowboys play on Thanksgiving, so Tyron won’t have to awkwardly turn down an invite to share turkey dinner with dear ol’ mom.

The post Tyron Smith family man: Black sheep or fleeced by the familial flock? appeared first on silver and blue blood Silver and BlueBlood.

Free is the new cheap

The speculation on Doug Free staying or leaving the Dallas Cowboys has ended, according to ESPN’s Todd Archer:

IRVING, Texas – Doug Free has accepted a pay cut and will remain with the Dallas Cowboys, according to a source.

Free was scheduled to make $7 million this season and count $10.02 million against the salary cap, but the new two-year deal opens up salary-cap room for the Cowboys and allows Free to remain with the team that drafted him in 2007.

He will make $3.5 million in each of the next two seasons. His salary in 2013 is guaranteed, a source told ESPN NFL Insider Ed Werder.

Free’s new contract clears roughly $3.5 million in salary-cap space, which the Cowboys could use in extension talks for linebacker Sean Lee, who is an unrestricted free agent after this season.

Free has started 48 consecutive games since 2010 but struggled in his return to right tackle in 2012, which led to the salary reduction. In 2011, Free signed a four-year, $32 million deal, including $17 million guaranteed.

Apparently, the Cowboys’ flirtations with free agent right tackle Eric Winston are done with, though I am not sure they should be. With the new-found money, it might make sense to pursue Winston for the tackle position and move Free inside, to guard. Free gets beat in space. He is a little tall for the guard spot, but experts believe he can play there and enjoy more success than on the edge.

The Cowboys would not have to ask Free to take a pay cut, if they were better able to self-evaluate. As Gregg Rosenthal observes:

This marks yet another misadventure by the Cowboys in self-scouting. They overpaid Free, and then were forced to change course. Jones often hypes his own players, and then he winds up paying for it.

If you are among Cowboys fans leery of trusting the health of suddenly insanely wealthy quarterback of the present and the future, Tony Romo, to the too-often over-matched Doug Free, too bad.

Free is not free to leave, which means left defensive ends may feel free to knock Romo into the middle of next week, or even the end his career.

The post Dallas Cowboys Doug Free ain’t free, but at least he’s cheap appeared first on silver and blue blood Silver and BlueBlood.