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Bob Sturm: Analyzing one ‘luck’ component that was a key to Cowboys’ 2014 success
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Bob Sturm Follow @sportssturm Email sturm1310@me.com
Published: June 22, 2015 8:36 am
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Trainers attend to Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (9) after he was sacked by Washington Commanders inside linebacker Keenan Robinson in the third quarter during the Washington Commanders vs. the Dallas Cowboys NFL football game at AT&T Stadium on Monday, October 27, 2014. (Louis DeLuca/The Dallas Morning News)
I think most of us agree that luck plays a major role in football. We want to quantify everything in this great sport, but there is no way to know about luck’s role in things, so we hold our breath and hope for the best.
Luck has many machinations and forms, of course. The bounce of a football after a fumble would often have to fall in this category – and you may recall that occurred a few different times in the playoff game in Green Bay. A replay review getting called correctly could also fall under the umbrella of luck. A referee seeing something correctly could as well.
But, today, let’s simply visit the “luck” component of staying healthy. In a salary cap era where you put more eggs in fewer baskets – because those eggs cost so much of your cap – it is beyond vital that we keep those precious eggs on the field and not on the injured reserve. These days more than ever, there is no depth that can replace or replicate your All-Pro performers if they should happen to be hurt. This is why the preseason games often turn into consumer shams, since no team wants to lose a precious egg in a game with no real importance. The fans are ripped off by being forced to buy tickets as part of the season ticket offering, but even they understand and almost seldom complain about this dance.
So, as we look at health, I thought we should consider the fine work of last week’s study released by FootballPerspective.com on the Cowboys leading the NFL in health in 2014. Their methodology is interesting and debatable, but by their findings, the Cowboys boasted an average of 14.5 starts per starter or 318 starts overall. This was determined by taking the top 22 most common starters and adding them up.
Offensively, with the exception of Tony Romo and Ron Leary both missing the Arizona game, and Doug Free missing seven of the 18 games (NYG, Wash, Arizona, Indy, Wash, and both playoff games – Det, GB), the Cowboys offense was healthy the entire year. That is pretty difficult to fathom, but it happened. Basically, while they did have some guys play with bumps and bruises, nobody considered a starter missed extended time but Doug Free. That is beyond remarkable, and frankly, one of those items that seems impossible to duplicate.
We spend a lot of time talking about the training staff methods and strength coaches with regards to injuries, but this is football. I am always leery of a new trainer keeping a team from ever losing games to injuries. Sometimes with football, I would argue that avoiding injuries is nothing more complex than playing Texas Hold Em and hoping you get the cards you need and avoid the ones that kill you. However, it is worth discussion that the physical, forward bull-dozing style of the Cowboys offensive line from 2014 would seem to inflict more pain than it would sustain, but that is highly subjective and difficult to prove to any real degree.
http://cowboysblog.***BANNED-URL***/2015/06/sturm-looking-at-the-cowboys-health-from-2014.html/
Bob Sturm: Still mad that Cowboys didn't pay DeMarco? A look back at 'insane' deals Dallas did hand out
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Bob Sturm Follow @sportssturm Email sturm1310@me.com
Published: June 22, 2015 8:36 am
http://cowboysblog.***BANNED-URL***/files/2015/06/TRAINED.jpg
Trainers attend to Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo (9) after he was sacked by Washington Commanders inside linebacker Keenan Robinson in the third quarter during the Washington Commanders vs. the Dallas Cowboys NFL football game at AT&T Stadium on Monday, October 27, 2014. (Louis DeLuca/The Dallas Morning News)
I think most of us agree that luck plays a major role in football. We want to quantify everything in this great sport, but there is no way to know about luck’s role in things, so we hold our breath and hope for the best.
Luck has many machinations and forms, of course. The bounce of a football after a fumble would often have to fall in this category – and you may recall that occurred a few different times in the playoff game in Green Bay. A replay review getting called correctly could also fall under the umbrella of luck. A referee seeing something correctly could as well.
But, today, let’s simply visit the “luck” component of staying healthy. In a salary cap era where you put more eggs in fewer baskets – because those eggs cost so much of your cap – it is beyond vital that we keep those precious eggs on the field and not on the injured reserve. These days more than ever, there is no depth that can replace or replicate your All-Pro performers if they should happen to be hurt. This is why the preseason games often turn into consumer shams, since no team wants to lose a precious egg in a game with no real importance. The fans are ripped off by being forced to buy tickets as part of the season ticket offering, but even they understand and almost seldom complain about this dance.
So, as we look at health, I thought we should consider the fine work of last week’s study released by FootballPerspective.com on the Cowboys leading the NFL in health in 2014. Their methodology is interesting and debatable, but by their findings, the Cowboys boasted an average of 14.5 starts per starter or 318 starts overall. This was determined by taking the top 22 most common starters and adding them up.
Offensively, with the exception of Tony Romo and Ron Leary both missing the Arizona game, and Doug Free missing seven of the 18 games (NYG, Wash, Arizona, Indy, Wash, and both playoff games – Det, GB), the Cowboys offense was healthy the entire year. That is pretty difficult to fathom, but it happened. Basically, while they did have some guys play with bumps and bruises, nobody considered a starter missed extended time but Doug Free. That is beyond remarkable, and frankly, one of those items that seems impossible to duplicate.
We spend a lot of time talking about the training staff methods and strength coaches with regards to injuries, but this is football. I am always leery of a new trainer keeping a team from ever losing games to injuries. Sometimes with football, I would argue that avoiding injuries is nothing more complex than playing Texas Hold Em and hoping you get the cards you need and avoid the ones that kill you. However, it is worth discussion that the physical, forward bull-dozing style of the Cowboys offensive line from 2014 would seem to inflict more pain than it would sustain, but that is highly subjective and difficult to prove to any real degree.
http://cowboysblog.***BANNED-URL***/2015/06/sturm-looking-at-the-cowboys-health-from-2014.html/
Bob Sturm: Still mad that Cowboys didn't pay DeMarco? A look back at 'insane' deals Dallas did hand out
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