NFL: America's Team? Can We Have A Re-count?

The injuries are piling higher than the chads being thrown out in Florida.

Maybe Jerry Jones should change his sponsors from Nike, to the Red Cross. Ben Fricke will start at center for the boys Thanksgiving Day, yes, Ben Fricke. How did it come to this? Well, let's take a quick look back at a season that started with Superbowl possibilities, and is ending with the practice squad taking the field.

Week 1 saw the playoff hopes of the Cowboys disappear, as Joey Galloway was lost for the season, in a meaningless 4th quarter of a blowout loss, and Troy Aikman went down with a concussion. Ebenezer Ekuban was lost for much of the season with a toe injury in week 4, returning to watch fellow defensive lineman Chad Hennings go down for the season, along with the Raghib Ismail, the only other big play receiver Dallas had. The injury to Ismail meant that the Cowboys had lost 3 receivers for the season as a result of Philadelphia hits, dating back to Michael Irvin’s career ending injury. George Teague’s foot injury, and knee injuries to punter Micah Knorr, defensive lineman Leon Lett, and Center Mark Stepnoski round out the list on IR. (No that doesn’t stand for Is this for Real?) While wondering what Jerry Jones has to say about all this, I read a quote from him on Fox Sports.com saying, “ rebuilding has the connotation of getting new players, as opposed to younger players who have to get better.” Jones went on to say “We’ve got a lot of younger players that had physical problems, that just have to get better.” I guess that means the “Mod Squad” will have to do for now. It's nothing that a good draft this off season can't help improve, except that Dallas traded away its top draft choices for Joey Galloway. The trade, in my opinion, was a good one that will pan out in the future, but I believe that with some proper scouting, Galloway could have been attained a couple years ago, at a much smaller price.

In a league that is designed to help the bad teams get better, as the St. Louis Rams proved last year, the Cowboys and Jerry Jones, have handcuffed themselves with salary cap problems, and older veterans that they are reluctant to trade while they have value. Deion Sanders, Irvin and Aikman are examples of veterans with trade value left, but who hung around in Irving too long. Randall Cunningham did an excellent job imitating his MVP form of 1998, in limited action for the Cowboys, but Aikman’s job was guaranteed, despite poor performances. What will the future have for the ‘Boys? Many fans in big D hope to get more than some has-beens , or never-will-bes for their buck.