Positive Zach

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2010/10/cowboys-roy-williams-jon-kitna-is-just-as-good-as-tony-romo/1#uslPageReturn

So, its been a day after the most crippling injury in my time as a Cowboys fan, and I've now decided it is not time to give up on the season. This article, while obviously not true, did give me hope. It reminded me that despite our absolutely disgraceful play this season, no one has thrown in the towel (no one that matters at least) and none of the players have mouthed off about coaches or other players. And while Jon Kitna is obviously not as good as Romo, he is better than many give him credit for. While he looked shitty at first last night, as the game progressed he started to get into a bit of a rhythm and actual brought us back a little. In fact if not for our woeful defense we could have actually won. And throughout his career Kitna has done quite well despite playing for terrible teams. People forget, it was Kitna, not Carson Palmer, who brought the Bengals back to success after a decade of mediocrity. Then he managed to throw for 4,000 yards two years in a row for the pitiful Lions despite being sacked 114 times IN TWO SEASONS. And while our team responded terribly to Romo's injury, instead of rally around Kitna as I hoped, maybe after they regroup, some of the receivers develop a report, and realize Kitna is now their quarterback they will in fact respond positively. While I realize our team has sucked thus far, I will bring up several cases of teams succeeding after their starting qb went down. 1968, the Baltimore Colts lost Johnny U, Earl Morral stepped in and led them to a Super Bowl. 1972, the Miami Dolphins, again Earl Morral stepped in this time for Bob Griese and led the Fins to the only perfect season and a super bowl victory. And, more revelant and recently, 1991 for the Cowboys where Steve Beuerlein stepped in for Troy Aikman and rattled off 5 straight wins to get into the playoffs, and won the wildcard game versus Chicago. And while you might argue that in all these examples the team was actually good, I would argue that our team has the potential to be just as good. Then again, more often then not the injury to the starting quarterback ruins the team for the season. We will see which way it goes for us, obviously we have sucked so far and so it seems inconceivable that the injury to our starting quarterback could help us. But time will only tell.

Fines for hits in the NFL and Rodney Harrison

After this previous weekend, the NFL decided, most likely based on a trend but certainly punctuated by several particular plays over the weekend, to increase the punishments for "flagrant tackles." These punishments will be increased fines and suspensions. Obviously this has created quite a lot of controversy so I thought it would be a good topic to weigh in on. First of all I am pleased to say that these rule changes will not affect my beloved Dallas Cowboys in any way. This is because we seem to have already gotten the message that the purpose of football is to try not to hit the opposing team too hard. If we had anyone on our defense that actually was capable of "flagrantly" tackles someone, it might be an issue. In fact Wade's Cowboys have wisely chosen to follow the "don't wrap up when making a tackle", "don't hit the quarterback too hard or often", "make at least 10 penalties a game", "give up long returns on special teams", and "miss field goals in big situations" rules that the NFL has not yet implemented. So in a few weeks when they finally do make these logical rules, we will be unstoppable. Actually the only play who hasn't been following these rules is Demarcus Ware. So we should probably release him.

But anyways, in all seriousness this is a BS rule. On ESPN today Mark Schlereth ripped NFL, calling them hypocrites for making this rule to avoid big hits and yet selling dvds online about the NFL's biggest hits. I thought he was dead on, and my opinions are pretty much the same as what he said. It all comes down to money of course, the NFL is now a billion dollar industry and its premier players are investments, and it does whatever it can to protect its investments, no matter how much it compromises the integrity of the game. But one thing I would like to bring up is Rodney Harrison's take on this rule. Apparently Harrison said this last Sunday before the Sunday night game but I heard about it today on NFL.com. Harrison called out the NFL some of the vicious hits that took place that day, specifically the hit Dunta Robinson put on Desean Jackson, one of the best receivers in the NFL that knocked both players out of the game with concussions, stating that the league should increase the punishments for violent hits. Before I go into the insane irony of this situation, I will say that I am somewhat biased about Rodney Harrison. I didn't like him as a player, mainly because of a game between the Cowboys and Patriots in 2007 where every time Marion Barber stiffed armed him he whined to the referee and after the game bitched to the press that Barber was "punching players." This was true in fact, but for the same reason I think its ridiculous to ridicule that then, is the same reason I think it's ridiculous the NFL now. Rodney Harrison's ENTIRE CAREER was built upon dirty play, specifically vicious hits. He was twice named the NFL's dirtiet player, and was universally recognized as a hitting saftey. Now, Harrison seems imply that he has matured, mentioning that he has children who play football that he would hate to see get hit and not be able to get up. Okay Rodney, well if you're so sincere about being anti-hitting why don't you appologize to all the players you concussed back in the day, and returned maybe half of the salary you made playing because, while you were no Roy Williams at covering, your game was hitting people. That is why you made pro bowls, all-pros, why you may even make the hall of Fame. Hell, thats why you have the job you have now. If you removed "flagrant tackles" Rodney would be a decent saftey but no one special or noteworthy. Its like if Deacon Jones proclaimed that the NFL should outlaw helmet slapping three years after retiring, or Wilt Chamberlain endorsed the 3 second rule after retiring, or if Gaylord Perry said MLB should check for spitballs after retiring, etc. Don't go against the very aspect of the sport that made you famous. Now if Rodney were to speak out against "flagrant tackles" early in his career, or if someone like Troy Polamalu or Bob Sanders spoke out against it now I could accept that. Instead you have James Harrison saying he might retire in his prime because he can't play in such a pussy-whipped league (though not in those words). And though I still kind of hate James Harrison just because he undeservedly won the Defensive MVP in '08 over dware, I would respect that decision if he makes it. It would be the one decision in this whole situation motivated by love of football and not money.