DMN Blog: Marion Barber speaks

[Arch Stanton]

Drew Rosenhaus

 

[tunahelper]

Maybe JJ got rid of TO because in fact he is declining and not because of distraction problems?

 

[Next_years_Champs]

Uh, to me him saying that he's a great guy is irrelevant. Saying that they couldn't work it out in the locker room is saying that TO was definitely causing a tension.

There you go and basically ever other player that has talked has said the same thing. That the locker room was divided and couldn't over come it.

It was also obvious by the teams play, Jerry decided that TO was a big factor in that problem and cut him.

Jerry Jones is right.

 

[Wrangler87]

He speaks!!!

....and I see why he doesn't.

 

[Fletch]

Yeah that does say a great deal about the situation but the more I think about it the more I'm convinced this was what Romo wanted...

Yeah. Blame Romo in the end.

Bottomline, the Cowboys are better off without the distractions on and off the field. The whole "Look at me" persona of T.O. finally took it's toll. Nothing new there.

T.O. is gone, and the Cowboys can now get back to work. Finally!

 

[DragonCowboy]

yeah, maybe now people like ed weiner werder are happy now and will leave the cowboys alone, better yet, owner jerry jones makes sure that espn with ed weiner werder gets no more news from valley ranch and cowboys organization. In fact, jerry jones bans ed weiner from the cowboys or tells him, i will be the only person your are allowed to talk to on the cowboys.

If you start anything else, i will totally ban you from the cowboys, personally myself. Time for you to shut up ed weiner werner and go bug some other nfl team to get your kicks.

what are you, 5?

 

[StarWiz2]

I think we all know TO is not completely blameless for what happened in the locker room this season. He talked out of line and became a pr nightmare for Jerry. What infuriates me, though, is that Jerry made him, as well as other players, the scapegoat for a horrendous season, instead of putting the blame where it really belonged, in effect, pulling out some weeds, but not getting to the root.

TO was one productive weed for the Cowboys. And RW is not the answer as we will come to find out in preseason. He's not a leader. He's a whiner. TO had passion for the game. He mentored the other players on the field. He contributed to the community. And he scored a lot of touchdowns.

That's just one reason why Dallas Cowboy fans ought to be concerned about next season.

The other is the roster churning. This was a team stocked ten barrels high in depth before, dumb, dumber, dumbest, and dumb dumb, meaning, Jerry, Stephen J, Wade and Garrett, took over from Parcells.

OUT:

Canty
Henry
Glenn
TO
Roy Williams
Fasano
Ayodele
Thomas
Tank
Fergy
Matt Moore
Aaron Glenn
Burnett
Possibly Killah
Pacman
Elam
Ima sure there are more


Kept

CrockPot (got a 2nd round tender no less; I would've given him away)
Adams
McQuistan
Carpenter
Curtis
BJ (two years too many)

Added

Igor 'I take games off if you make me mad' Olshansky. Oh, and I'm a tad slow off the block. (acc to SD fans. He won't be missed by most)

Stewart, who the heck is he? Oh Wade's boy

Kitna "I have big mouth, bad back, and I'm a tad old. Oh, and I just got traded/fired from the worst football team ever." Sterling resume right there.

Keith Brookings "I'm a hard worker and a leader. But I'm a tad slow and old. You'll like watching me, if you like watching cement pipes roll down a long hill. But I promise I won't overpursue."


Yep, not only are we blessed with Wade for one more long agonizing year, but he's making sure we don't ever miss him when he leaves.

 

[tyke1doe]

Being a "good guy" and being a "team player" aren't mutually inclusive.

You can be the salt-of-the-earth and be a "me" individual.

The guy trying to steal your woman away from you is a "nice guy" or a "good guy." The recruiter trying to get you to change jobs is a "nice guy."

But that doesn't mean he has the best interest of your "team" at heart.

The other point here is LEADERSHIP.

A leader, whether a coach, president, king, etc., doesn't want challenges to his authority. Whether the challenge comes from a "nice" guy or a "meany" doesn't really matter. When you perceive that someone is challenging your authority and recruiting individuals to his side, even through niceness, you're going to resent that.

Moreover, Marion Barber is an employee, a grunt worker, a subordinate. He is not in charge. Of course, his view is going to be different than Jerry Jones, Stephen Jones, Wade Phillips or Jason Garrett.

As a student, I love the class clown. He makes me laugh. But as the teacher, the class clown would get on my nerves because he's disrupting my class and dividing attention from what I'm trying to teach.

As the employee, I like the guy in the office who pulls practical jokes or who wants to talk about personal stuff and share his life with you, how his family's doing, what he does on his off time.

But as the boss, that guy becomes a distraction because he's diverting employees' attention away from work.

As a player, I would love the guy that was friendly inviting me over to his house to watch the game. Heck, if he's a hard worker, I might even listen to him and give weight to his criticism of the offensive scheme.

As the coach, I worry that that guy is undermining what I'm doing.

Again, it's not an either/or situation. Nice guy doesn't mean team player.

 

[tyke1doe]

yeah, maybe now people like ed weiner werder are happy now and will leave the cowboys alone, better yet, owner jerry jones makes sure that espn with ed weiner werder gets no more news from valley ranch and cowboys organization. In fact, jerry jones bans ed weiner from the cowboys or tells him, i will be the only person your are allowed to talk to on the cowboys.

If you start anything else, i will totally ban you from the cowboys, personally myself. Time for you to shut up ed weiner werner and go bug some other nfl team to get your kicks.

He's not going to do that for several reasons:

1. Jerry Jones grew up in America and understands the concept behind the First Amendment. Yes, the First Amendment deals with government's attitude with respect to free speech. But the concept behind it is that people have a right to share their views, and the press has a right to its job.

2. The NFL requires teams to give credentialed media access to the lockerroom at given times in the season.

3. Jerry Jones needs ESPN as much, and even moreso, than ESPN needs the Cowboys. Jerry Jones and other clubs want good publicity from ESPN and other outlets. You don't slice off your nose to spite your face, especially when continually talking about the brand name known as the "Dallas Cowboys" makes your brand name more popular and generates dollars to your organization.

4. Bans aren't really effective.. People have a need to speak. Players, coaches, etc. You might control this to some degree, but you'll never eliminate it. Besides, if you hate anonymous sources now, institute a ban, let the Cowboys decline and see what happens?

5. Ed Werder is just too well connected. You're not going to stop Ed Werder from reporting even if you do ban him from the facility. You'll merely help him mine his sources all the more. And then you lose your ability to control what Werder might say or put your spin on it. Don't think for one moment Jerry Jones doesn't know what Werder is going to report. Werder - if he's a good journalist, which I think he is - calls Jerry Jones and tells him, "Jerry, this is what we're working on and we're going to run with. We need your response."
Jerry either accepts or declines to comment. If you cut Werder off, you lose that little ability to control him and influence his stories, even if it is to give your side of the story.

In addition, it's interesting that you suggest that Werder go to another team to "get his kicks."

This may suggest that you're not necessarily critical of Werder's approach, just that he does it for the Cowboys. And therein lies the contradiction in your approach as well as your understanding of why we have Werder's.

People want to read about the internal workings of the Cowboys, America's Team.

If Werder leaves, someone else will take his place. In fact, it's interesting that even though Werder didn't break the T.O. release story, Michael Smith with ESPN did. ESPN ultimately doesn't care who breaks the story, as long as it gets the story first.

Removing Werder won't change anything. And Jerry Jones DEFINITELY is not going to ban ESPN from the locker room.

 

[MONT17]

My question, will be will this divide the team even more?

Doubts have already been raised... if play/media attention continue to go sour and TO is proved to be correct in his "under minding" will those who were on the fence, then lose faith in the establishment... or to a lesser extent conform to avoid being the "next" casualty.

 

[tyke1doe]

My question, will be will this divide the team even more?

Doubts have already been raised... if play/media attention continue to go sour and TO is proved to be correct in his "under minding" will those who were on the fence, then lose faith in the establishment... or to a lesser extent conform to avoid being the "next" casualty.

Then you have to clean house even more.

 

[CF74]

Yeah. Blame Romo in the end.

Bottomline, the Cowboys are better off without the distractions on and off the field. The whole "Look at me" persona of T.O. finally took it's toll. Nothing new there.

T.O. is gone, and the Cowboys can now get back to work. Finally!

Who cares about blame? It is what it is. If you don't think Jerry consulted with Romo about releasing TO well........meh who cares...