Posts from the Nfc East Category at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Before their abbreviated hibernation prior to training camp, the Dallas Morning News' Cowboys Blog caught up with owner Jerry Jones and unearthed this nugget:

A few weeks ago you said you would be open to getting a backup QB. You still trying to do that? "All the confidence. A lot of confidence in Brad. Had real good camps and real good work."

That's Brad Johnson. All 39 years of him. Blogging the Boys asks if "is anybody else as confident about Brad Johnson as Jerry is?" and the answer, obviously, is hell to da naw.

The Cowboys have two things in their favor, however: first, Tony Romo is resilient (bangs on wood). He's started 26 consecutive games since taking over for Drew Bledsoe midway through the 2006 season. In that time he's been sacked 45 times (or just two times fewer than Ben Roethlisberger ... in 2007), and had to play with various nicks and bruises.

Second, yes, Johnson's a fossil, but that's just a pejorative; the half-glass-full set would call him experienced. Sure, he had a rough go of it in Minnesota in '06, but that had just as much to do with those around him as his inability to complete a pass of more than seven yards.

The Cowboys feature a few more offensive weapons than that Vikings team, so there's that. Still, if Dallas is without Romo for any extended period, their odds of losing in the postseason get substantially longer. That said, given the names currently floating around free agency, I'm not sure the Cowboys could do much better than Johnson.

Hear that? It's the pitter-patter of fantasy football season approaching. Fantasy FanHouse is here to get you ready by previewing every team from a fantasy perspective.

Meet The ...
David who slayed Goliath ... and you know how that goes in the world of fantasy football. At least you should. The residue of a strong post-season run by a team almost certainly means several players are going to be overrated the next fantasy season. I'm looking right at you, Thomas Jones. So the question with the Giants is, can you look past the post-season and judge flatly on what you think they'll do in this regular season? Imagine the Giants had lost in the first round at Tampa Bay. Now judge their fantasy players. That should be an accurate rating system. For example, settle down about Eli Manning. Sure, you can believe he's taken a giant (pun unintended, but I'm keeping the word choice) step forward in terms of maturity and taking care of the football. You also should remember that 13 QBs outscored him in fantasy points in '07. His last name doesn't do him any favors either. Hypnotize yourself into believing that Eli Smith lost in the first round to the Bucs. Now do you like him as a top ten QB? Me neither.

The Breakout
Brandon Jacobs ... I already covered him.

I don't think anybody would argue that personal seat licenses (PSLs) are a racket perpetrated by NFL organizations to make some money.

A team announces plans to build a stadium, the region is excited by the prospect of a shiny, new venue and "a boost to the local economy", and then, after everyone's on board, the sordid details emerge: to complete the project, public financing will be slightly more than expected, and, oh, yeah, there will be PSLs for every seat in the house to help offset the costs. High-fives for everyone.

In today's Dallas Morning News, Rich Gosselin writes about two storied franchises building new stadiums, and the different approaches they're taking to gouging their fans.

The Giants will move into their new digs in 2010, and every one of the 82,500 seats will be tied to PSLs. These PSLs will range from $1,000 to $20,000. The Cowboys plan to relocate to their state-of-the-art space station next year, and to finance the Jerry Jones Mothership, PSLs will range from $2,000-$150,000. But it gets better:

Mention Bill Parcells' name and you'll get any number of responses, from reverence to disgust, depending on the audience. The Dolphins, his latest reclamation project, are undoubtedly glad to have Parcells; Patriots owner Bob Kraft probably wasn't all that jazzed at how Parcells abruptly ended things in New England.

And when Jerry Jones hired Parcells in 2003, the fans were no doubt ecstatic at the thought of the Cowboys again being relevant. The team made the playoffs in that first season, but, ultimately, never got close to the success (or a postseason victory), that many people envisioned.

Now, two years after Parcells "retired," DallasCowboys.com's Nick Eatman writes that much of the team's recent success is attributable to some very savvy personnel moves made early in Parcells' tenure. And it all started inauspiciously enough.

As fellow FanHouse-r Ryan Wilson told you earlier, the Dallas Cowboys and receiver Terry Glenn are reportedly back talking again and trying to mend some fences. Glenn and the team have been at odds for most of the offseason.

Glenn is now saying all the right things, including wanting to stay a Cowboy:

"I want [Cowboys owner] Jerry [Jones] to understand that I know he has the ultimate power in everything that goes on with the Cowboys, and I'm not trying to challenge him in any way, shape or form," Glenn told Werder earlier this month. "He can -- and will -- determine the outcome of this because it's ultimately his decision. But what I want is to remain a Cowboy. I've been here for five years and I've made Dallas my home, and I would love nothing more than to be a Dallas Cowboy."

Being humble to the owner is always a great start and stroking Jones ego is always advisable. This is a long way since the two sides were bickering about an alleged injury settlement. Even Jones thinks the notion that Glenn is challenging him is wrong.

"It isn't my will against Terry's," Jones said. "That's ridiculous."

So we could have this thing wrapped up in the next month, just in time for training camp, eh?

Yesterday, the word on the street was that the Cowboys might be interested Falcons' wideout Joe Horn. One of the story lines this offseason has been about Dallas finding a legit No. 2 receiver opposite Terrell Owens (might I suggest this guy), although I'm not sure how Horn, all 36 years of him, would upgrade the position.

Jerry Jones agrees, evidently; talking to ESPN, the Cowboys owner offered this: "Yeah, that's not correct ... I haven't expressed any interest there and haven't evaluated him. That's just not correct." Doesn't leave much room for confusion.

And now, Terry Glenn, the No. 2 receiver already on the Cowboys roster who has been at odds with the organization over money, is looking to mend some fences.

Wide receiver Terry Glenn is speaking with Dallas Cowboys officials again in the hopes of returning. ... "Terry is someone I have a lot of interest in," Jones said Friday night. "We worked well together last year. We will sit down here and look at how he fits and what we can do with him as a player this year."

The backstory: Glenn refused to sign an injury wavier that would pay him $500,000 should he re-injure his knee, and the Cowboys wouldn't let him practice without the waiver. The threat of Joe Horn has changed all that, apparently. Or maybe common sense prevailed. Either way, Dallas is closer to getting that veteran wideout to play with T.O. And this one has cat-like quickness, which is a nice little bonus.

Yesterday, I passed an article along that suggested that the Houston Texans were a team that compressed the time between training camp and the rest of the offseason schedule. I thought it might be an interesting experiment to watch.

Whoops, it turns out that the Si.com article was wrong about the Texans schedule. I contacted someone with the team, and they said that the official offseason workouts concluded a few weeks ago with the last day of OTAs, but added there are "a lot of players" working out on a voluntary basis.

Maybe it's too bad, because Washington Redskin tight end, Chris Cooley provides some thoughtful reasons why offseason schedules make no sense. In one of Cooley's magnificent blogs, he explains:

"If teams really want players at their highest performance level then have guys stick around until closer to two weeks before camp starts. If you want to give players a little more time away from the game, then give it to them in March and April. If I'm coaching, I'd rather find out that my players are lying around on the beach having a couple drinks earlier in the year. I certainly don't want that happening with less than two weeks to training camp."

That seems to make a lot of sense to me but the SI.com article explained that teams are reluctant to do it because it's the only time coaches get much of a break. The coaches need to be around earlier in the season because of draft evaluations.

Cooley HT to PFT

Tony Romo's had a pretty good year: he led the Cowboys to 13 wins, made the Pro Bowl, dates Nick Lachey's ex-wife, fired an 84 at Torrey Pines, and now it looks like he's about to bank $10 million for endorsing Starter. Tough break.

When he finally signs the deal, Romo will be the highest-paid "athletic footwear and apparel endorser in the NFL." By the tone of the article, this is impressive. (Commences being impressed.)

The record for an NFL apparel and shoe deal is believed to be the reported five-year, $5 million Adidas deal with New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush. ...

Industry sources said Starter was interested in signing Romo as an endorser because he is the quarterback of the high-profile Cowboys, who like Starter have a blue-and-white star as their symbol, and because of his romantic link to celebrity Jessica Simpson.

I guess that's a marketing strategy. Whatever, SI.com's Don Banks is happy for Romo:

That's great. Now if the Cowboys always-telegenic quarterback can somehow negotiate an actual playoff victory as his next feat, I'm sure the slightly out of order procession of these accomplishments will quickly be forgotten.

Yes, but Romo plays for the high-profile Cowboys! And Starter also has a blue-and-white star as their symbol! And JESSICA SIMPSON! But, yeah, otherwise, Banks makes a good point.

This one is a bit odd. The Washington Times reports that Redskins' defensive lineman Phillip Daniels called out cornerback Shawn Springs for not being at the team's OTAs yesterday. (Hat tip: Hogs Haven):

"If there's no reason [for his absence] and I'm here, then be here, be a leader," said Daniels, who has been Springs' teammate for eight seasons with the Redskins and the Seattle Seahawks. "[Shawn]'s his own man. I'm a leader. I lead by example. I lead by being here. I'm not a rah-rah guy. He's not here to help us right now. ... He gotta deal with the way people perceive him. I can only say to him, 'Get here. Be involved with this.'"

Wow. Now you as a fan may think the same way, but players don't typically do this. Unless you have some character issues, teammates rarely call out others for not showing up to these things. Remember, these are OTAs which are, technically, voluntary. Now, we all know that "voluntary" in the NFL eyes means "you are either a mega star or you better have a good reason not to be here".

Ten years ago, maybe, but I find it pretty hard to believe that Terence Newman thinks that Terry Glenn is the toughest wide receiver he has faced in his NFL career. Newman made the comment on an ESPN.com chat, and The Dallas Morning News' Tim MacMahon notes the follow-up question it elicited:

Rob (Boston): Terry Glenn? Really? You're just saying that.

Terence Newman: Nah, he's one of the toughest receivers I have ever faced. He comes out of his breaks better than anybody in the league. He has cat-like quickness. He just understands the game.

The "cat-like quickness" line makes me think Newman caught a "Tommy Boy" rerun. When healthy (and a few years younger), I think Glenn could be that guy, but he played in just one game last year. If Newman's serious, though (and he's shown an inability to massage the truth in recent interviews), then maybe the Cowboys should make more of an effort to keep Glenn around.

Or they could go after Joe Horn (since he's older and slower ... but healthier). Or here's an idea: stick with what they got while the Glenn situation works itself out. Whatever happens, the team's No. 2 receiver won't decide the season for the Cowboys, and honestly, I'd think Jason Witten would create more matchup problems for defenses than either Glenn or Horn.