George: It takes more than Jerome Henderson to fix Cowboys' secondary

[Risen Star]

Brandon George, the Cowboys beat writer for SportsDayDFW.com and The Dallas Morning News, answered your questions about the team in a chat on Wednesday. Some excerpts:

With the talent on board, do you really think a new coach is going to fix the secondary?

No, it will take more than Jerome Henderson to fix the Cowboys' secondary. I really think they'll end up cutting Terence Newman and giving Orlando Scandrick a shot at the starting outside CB job. That said, Scandrick hasn't done anything to blow anyone away and it'll be interesting to see how he adjusts to that role full-time. He's been very solid as an slot CB, but he only had two sacks and one interception this season.

Does Terence Newman deserve to be back next year after such a dismal performance all year long?

As I just talked about, I don't think the Cowboys will bring Newman back next year. I think they'll go ahead and cut him. He really struggled over the last month of the season. He did play well early on but showed his age in December.

How do you build and keep your offensive line?

The Cowboys have changed their philosophy on building their OL. It started this season. In the past, they've added free agents and tried to add veteran players to get the job done, and now the Cowboys have adopted a youth philosophy after seeing the success of recent Super Bowl winners (most all have young OLs). So, the Cowboys will use the draft primarily to build their OL and continue to bring in undrafted free agents to build depth there, such as a Kevin Kowalski this season.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/dal...-secondary.ece

[TheCount]

Who the heck is Brandon George and why are people asking him about the team? I will never understand why anyone would ask a beat writer about personell and staff decisions for the team they cover. How does following a team around qualify you, in any way, to answer questions like that?

That's like an NFL team asking Mel Kiper to approve their draft board.

[zrinkill]

That moron is from Nacogdoches.

[DallasDW00ds0n]

We don't know who George is, but is he wrong?

No.

Did Scandrick do anything to make you say "well that guy should START!" ?

No.

And TNew is obviously going to get cut, he stunk up the place.

Right now I feel only Jenkins earned a spot. Elam did nothing to stand out from his peers, and while I like Sensy, he was on and off again, himself.

[Alexander]

Originally Posted by TheCount

Who the heck is Brandon George and why are people asking him about the team?

For the same reason anyone sends mailbag questions in to any of them. Some are worse than others, of course. I wouldn't bother asking this George person because he really is not knowledgeable like say, a Todd Archer. Fraley is in the same boat. But that's on the people sending in the questions, not the beat writer. Most of the time they are on the short end of the IQ stick, very much like the mouth breathers who send in questions to Mickey Spagnola every week and expect an intelligent and informed answer.

I will never understand why anyone would ask a beat writer about personell and staff decisions for the team they cover.

This makes no sense. He supposedly works around the team and as the beat writer, you would hope he knows a little more than someone (read: the person asking the question) who is not in a position to speak to the members of the organization on a day to day basis.

Wait, is this one of those all media are idiots and not to be trusted things?

Not sticking up for George as I have never been impressed, but just listen to yourself.

Put it to you this way, there are posters on this very message board who have people following them around like puppy dogs begging for scraps and not a single one of them work around the team every day. Beat writers are paid to do it, so I assume he will see and hear more than you or I.

It does not mean I have to respect his football knowledge or opinion, nor take it as gospel. But I can understand the fact he is going to be privy to some things at least and use that information with that fact understood.

How does following a team around qualify you, in any way, to answer questions like that?

A lot more than someone remotely on the other side of a keyboard does.

That's like an NFL team asking Mel Kiper to approve their draft board.

Bad analogy.

[mldardy]

Originally Posted by TheCount

Who the heck is Brandon George and why are people asking him about the team? I will never understand why anyone would ask a beat writer about personell and staff decisions for the team they cover. How does following a team around qualify you, in any way, to answer questions like that?

That's like an NFL team asking Mel Kiper to approve their draft board.

Brandon George seems to be all over the place and ain't saying nothing we don't already know.

[jnday]

Originally Posted by TheCount

Who the heck is Brandon George and why are people asking him about the team? I will never understand why anyone would ask a beat writer about personell and staff decisions for the team they cover. How does following a team around qualify you, in any way, to answer questions like that?

That's like an NFL team asking Mel Kiper to approve their draft board.

I thought it was just me . I have never heard of this guy . Is his opinion more valid than some of the posters on this board ?

[Future]

Originally Posted by jnday

I thought it was just me . I have never heard of this guy . Is his opinion more valid than some of the posters on this board ?

No...but spit in the wind and you'll probably hit a blogger who you could say the same about.