Last Sunday’s football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Detroit Lions was like watching the movie Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – and I don’t mean just because of quarterback Tony Romo.
In the first half the Cowboys were full of vim and vinegar. They were blocking and running and catching passes that Romo was throwing with pinpoint accuracy.
In the second half, the Cowboys were sleepwalking. No hustle, no offense, no defense.
Head coach Jason Garrett seemed in a trance and new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan seemed in a daze.
OKAY, SO GIVE the Detroit Lions credit. They did a heck of a job of adjusting at the half to win 34-30. The Cowboys had no answer. Simply, they were out-coached. The Dallas receivers were well covered in the second half and in some instances the defenders out-muscled the ball away from the suddenly wimpy Cowboys.
Romo has been getting most of the blame, and he deserves a lot of it. But folks, he has a lot of help – and I don’t mean the good kind. He staked the Dallas defense to a 24-point lead against Detroit with less than a half to go and the defense couldn’t hold it.
What? Romo has to play defense, too?
THE WHOLE program, from top to bottom, is shaky. The head coach is a rookie, the defensive coordinator is new, the offensive line is new, the secondary is awful, the running game is skimpy, receivers don’t run their routes, the play-calling is erratic and then there’s Jerry Jones.
Yes, Jerry Jones is a big part of the problem not as the owner but as general manager. I was covering the Cowboys for the El Paso Herald-Post when he first took over the team and I got to know him well. Personally, he’s a nice fellow, always accessible and friendly.
But like my son Victor has kept telling me, Jones should never have appointed himself general manager. His picks in too many instances have been anything but outstanding and he seems too involved in team affairs. Some compare him in that respect to Al Davis, the erratic owner of the Oakland Raiders.
THE COWBOYS are off this week. They’ll work out, strategize and try to fix mistakes. All fine and good. But they need better coaching, tougher players and most of all, more inspiration.
You can teach strategy all you want, but like someone once said, the hardest thing to teach is passion.
TRIVIA QUESTION: How many golfers have posted a career PGA grand slam and can you name them? Answer at end.
GOOD LUCK wishes to a couple of good friends who are scheduled for hip replacement surgery later this month. One is Nancy Hamilton, one of UTEPs’ finest graduates, journalists and writers. She’s a former winner of the school’s Gold Nugget award. The other is Jack Welch, El Paso’s golf teaching guru. Both had planned to be at this month’s Gold Nugget awards but will have to miss them.
HAVE YOU seen the movie Moneyball? It’s the story of how the Oakland Athletics set a Major League record of 20 straight victories in 2002. The film is full of drama and great acting but more than that, it shows the wheelings and dealings that go on behind the scenes not only in baseball, but in all sports. Every sports fan should see it.
ANSWER TO trivia question: Five. No golfer has won all four in the same year although Tiger Woods won four in a row in a span of two years. Others who have won the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and the PGA at least once during their career are Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen.
Veteran sports journalist and author Ray Sanchez welcomes suggestions for his column.
21 Oct