Sports

[Spurt]

@PARedbird @gardenman @soonersis 

If you think that Me, PAREDBIRD, and Don Harris are rough on the Cowboys you haven't heard anything until you read what one of their own, Hall Of Famer, Emmitt Smith, said about his team---its long but worth the read, HERE'S EMMITT

INTERVIEW WITH MIKE FLORIO 2/10/24 10:30 AM

It started with a simple question: Were you surprised owner Jerry Jones didn’t fire head coach Mike McCarthy after a 48-32 home playoff loss to the Packers?

“I was completely surprised,” Emmitt said. “I know how disappointed I was as a player to see that product put on the football field. It is not becoming of the Dallas Cowboys’ mystique, respect, the brand. It is not the appropriate representation of the brand itself. Now, Jerry understand these kind of words. The brand, right? The star. Everything has to be pristine, but this was not that. That right there was so disappointing not only to me, but to many of our fans and including people that was like, ‘What is that?’ It wasn’t a good look.”

I asked Emmitt about my own theory that Jerry’s quest for another Super Bowl win is all talk, that he claims to want to win one more to keep the fans engaged but that his actions don’t back up his world.

“You lose credibility,” Emmitt said of Jones. “And if you’re losing credibility, you’re losing respect. You lose respect, you have no honor. At the end of the day, I agree to some level. Things have to change. I thought the reason why I was so convinced that [McCarthy] was going to get fired because last year there was a whole lot of talk about ‘OK, this might be it. If he doesn’t perform this year, OK.’ You’re gonna accept twelve wins and the playoff berth, but you’re gonna accept the way we got kicked out of the playoffs? I mean, dominated. I mean, it’s like we went out and played with our hands tied behind our backs or we left our minds up in [the team facility in] Frisco and didn’t even take it over to AT&T [Stadium] in Arlington. It was such a disappointing thing. It was just bad. It’s bad all the way around. I even hate talking about it because I feel responsible. I feel like I could have helped, and I don’t know how. But, yeah, it was bad.”

We asked Emmitt what happened next as coach, if McCarthy doesn’t make it beyond 2024. Emmitt said he initially thought Jones would hire Sean Payton. Emmitt also suggested “stealing Dan Campbell from the Detroit Lions . . . because I think his message [of grit and effort and determination] is the right message that a lot of people are missing, and a lot of kids are missing.”

What’s missing?

“Nobody wants to fight no more,” Emmitt said. “No one wants to fight hard anymore. They wanna [say], ‘Oh, we are the Cowboys. Tell me how good I am. Check out my Instagram posts. See me on my podcast? I’m doing all this stuff. I’m everything.’ Without doing anything.

“And everybody’s patting them on the back without doing anything. People wanna give them so much without doing nothing. And what they’re living off of is what happened in the past, not what’s going down right now. They’re not establishing their own legacy, let alone building off of the legacy that was established.

“When I got to the Cowboys, I knew one thing. I knew I could not disappoint Tony Dorsett as a running back. And I knew I could not disappoint Robert Newhouse as a running back. Or Calvin Hill. Or let alone ‘Bullet’ Bob Hayes. Then, I knew I could not disappoint Captain Comeback, Roger Staubach. Ed ‘Too Tall’ Jones. I embraced the history of who we were because I loved them as a Cowboy when I was a kid myself. “So when I got there, it’s like, ‘Shoot, we ain’t gonna be 1-15.’ My mind was already on that, and I knew Michael [Irvin’s] mind was on it. Jimmy [Johnson’s] mind had to be on it. Amen. Don’t put up with no B.S. At the end of the day, when you see a legendary defensive end like Charles Haley who’s a Hall of Famer working with Leon Lett, Tony Tolbert, Tony Casillas, and Chad Hennings, Jimmy Jones and other players. Working with them, teaching them [the] swim [technique]. He’s working with them to make them better, so he becomes better. He’s not worrying about competing against them. But when you see that, you see greatness and that’s why that team was so good defensively. Then we see Deion [Sanders] come in. He could have came in as ‘Neon Deion,’ but he didn’t. He came in playing ping pong with everybody. Whoever wanted to play ping pong, he played. Bring it on. It was competition. Dominos was being played between James Washington and myself. Defensive players, offensive players and they’re getting to know each other. Things that brought us together are things that I think is missing within the locker room.”

The bottom line for Emmitt is that he’s had enough of the hype. “I’m tired of being sold on what the Cowboys could be,” he said. “I’m tired. I’ve had enough of it because I’m more about what the Cowboys really are. And who we really are and who we were. That’s where I’m at. That’s where everyone else is at. How do you allow this to happen? Yeah. And so, for me it’s like, ‘Hey, I know the prism which I look at the team through and eyes. I go all the way back to Staubach. I go all the way back to those days with Lee Roy Jordan. I go all the way back to those days and then I come up to where we were at and I’m like, ‘OK. We honored them. We respected them. We respected the history of the game. We love the game.’ I respect the history of the game like no other. Whether it’s Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Dorsett, Gale Sayers, you name them. All the way up to where Barry Sanders and I sitting side to side. Thurman Thomas is in the mix, right? I respect my players. I respect their play and I honor who they are because I’m honoring this position and I’m honoring the game. These motherbrothers. . . .”

He almost didn’t say, “Motherbrothers.” Regardless, everyone’s mother and brother is now aware that Emmitt Smith is mad about where the Cowboys are, about what they’ve become, about what they’re not doing, and about the absence of any apparently overwhelming desire to get there.

There’s a strong message in Emmitt’s words for the players. If Jones truly wants to win, he’d try to find a way to embrace it and to use it and to help the current players adopt the same mindset that fueled the Dallas team that won three Super Bowls in four years.

JMHO---Emmitt you're right on the money....but the rest of the NFC East can rest easy knowing that Jerry won't listen to Emmitt but continue on in Jerry's own way 

[Spurt]

All these national media people sticking up for Eric Bieniemy apparently never watched a Washington football game, as one brave reporter agreed with the team for firing him said, I'd rather stand with Terry McLaurin and other players rather than the national media that doesn't know "jack" about what went wrong behind the scenes. And it had nothing to do with EB's pushing "soft" players, more about EB's play calling and not adapting to the actual talent on Washington's roster instead of trying to force the talent to do what KC does....

What went wrong during EB's time with the Commanders?  

• ISAIAH DEANDA DELGADO
• 2/9/24

Eric Bieniemy inherited a struggling offense, the team didn't invest much into improving the offensive line. Still, it seemed as though Bieniemy didn't have any interest in restricting his offensive scheme to fit the players he now had. 

"In Bieniemy’s lone season in Washington, the Commanders’ offense was inconsistent and unbalanced, and quarterback Sam Howell regressed as the season went on," Rather than lean on the Commanders' run game offensively, which averaged 4.4 yards per carry (seventh best in the NFL), Bieniemy tried to force Howell to turn into Patrick Mahomes by putting the first-year passer into a pressure cooker, as evidenced by Washington's 53 straight passing attempts against the Chicago Bears which led to him being hit 11 times and sacked five.

In the end, the Commanders would finish tied for 23rd in offensive scoring, 24th in third-down efficiency, and 30th in rush rate (38.2 percent) when the clock or scoreboard didn’t dictate run or pass, according to the Washington Post. 

Players such as Logan Thomas and Terry McLaurin also vocalized that there were struggles throughout the season. McLaurin referred to one of his games as a cardio session after not getting the usage one would expect of a top receiver.

"In the locker room, signs of frustration were evident throughout the season," the Washington Post wrote. "Players, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal team dynamics, described Bieniemy as a hard-working coach who hamstrung his own efforts with poor communication, stubborn play-calling and a disregard for player feedback."

According to the story, some players took issue with just how hard Bieienemy ran his practices, which left them tired before games, and believed that it left them more susceptible to injury. After not coming across as a players coach with his increased role in Washington, it's no surprise that only the Commanders gave him a head coaching interview in this year's cycle. 

"Bieniemy’s title of assistant head coach gave him greater authority than most coordinators, allowing him to script practices and alter players’ schedules during the week," the Washington Post wrote. With that responsibility, he shouldered as much blame for the team's failures as head coach Ron Rivera, who was also fired.

[gardenman]

The Bears are saying they want a record haul for the first overall pick. It sounds like a minimum of two firsts and more will be required. I don't see the Bears moving lower than three no matter what.

[Spurt]

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@gardenman wrote:

The Bears are saying they want a record haul for the first overall pick. It sounds like a minimum of two firsts and more will be required. I don't see the Bears moving lower than three no matter what.

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@gardenman 

Too much for Caleb thats for sure....Washington has too many needs to bet the farm on him and give up too many draft picks and yet again ignore the online and other roster needs.....its not like we get "our man" and everything is fine....i.e. See Panthers and Bryce Young....

[Trailrun23]

I hope the tv cameras are on the game and not always on Taylor or Harry & Meghan who have announced they will be there also. Could there possibly be more distractions from the game? Am guessing H&M will never turn down a chance for more media attention. Can't imagine either of them being NFL fans.

[Trailrun23]

The media hype is just being stirred up as much as possible to hopefully get more betting....major money. My brother in-law is a "sports betting broker". He used to be a bookie....but now it's a more respectable name. He sold his big company years ago and is a multi-millionaire...all from sports betting. I don't give him any money...not into gambling.

[Trailrun23]

The media hype is just being stirred up as much as possible to hopefully get more bets. Everything is more expensive in Vegas. Fans will be dropping some major cash this weekend.

[Trailrun23]

The Pro Bowl is nothing like it used to be. I remember when it was an honor to be invited to play; it was in Hawaii and the players could bring their families for a great vacaion. Now most players don't want to play and risk injury in a game that doesn't count for anything, season-wise. This year with flag football and the other silly changes, it wasn't worth watching IMO.

[Linmo]

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@Trailrun23 wrote:

I hope the tv cameras are on the game and not always on Taylor or Harry & Meghan who have announced they will be there also. Could there possibly be more distractions from the game? Am guessing H&M will never turn down a chance for more media attention. Can't imagine either of them being NFL fans.

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@Trailrun23 NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell invited H&M to the Super Bowl but they won't be attending. 

[gardenman]

Caleb Williams is one of those divisive guys. Many/most evaluators love him. Others are more iffy about his potential. His talk of wanting part ownership of any team is a bit of a concern. His interviews are going to determine where he lands. He reportedly isn't a big fan of the Bears and would prefer to land elsewhere. They're going to have to do some serious feeling out of him in the interview process to see where his head truly is.

A whole lot of football gets played between the earholes and nowhere is that more true than at QB. You need him absolutely committed to the team and the process. If Caleb Williams doesn't want to be a Bear, then the Bears are probably better off without him. 

We could end up seeing no team committed to the kid after his interviews if he comes across as entitled, spoiled, arrogant (more than normal for a QB,) and not a team-first kind of guy. You want a QB to be confident, even arrogant in his abilities, but you also need him to be a team leader. The Caleb Wiliams interviews will determine where he lands. I just don't know that I trust him yet.