JPostSam said:
silverbear, if i've given canty too much credit for the whole fight/injury thing, i'll take it back. but the fact remains that he never said that anyone owed him anything. the main point is that he has treated his nfl experience as a gift and an opportunity -- a perspective that ellis, who has already made millions of dollars and who stands to make millions more, would do well to adopt.
First, props for having the intellectual integrity to admit you might not have had all the facts in the Canty situation... I can respect a man who can admit when he might be wrong...
Second, if Canty ever gets to the point that Ellis has, where he's made millions of dollars, if he gets near the end of his career, you might well find him copping a "veteran attitude", if he feels like his talents are being wasted in whatever defensive scheme he happens to find himself in...
Greg is just trying to get the Boys to trade him to a team that might be able to use him in a way that will maximize his abilities... this is not unreasonable on his part, just as it's not unreasonable for the Boys to keep him around if they think he can play well for them in a more unreasonable role...
no, i DON'T care that ellis is "uncomfortable." i'm not aware of any part of his contract that promises his "comfort" -- are you?
Not really, but unlike you, I don't really care if he's running off at the mouth either-- so long as he's ready to play when the gun sounds... like I've said all along, if he holds out or something like that, then I'll get down on him, but right now all his woofing doesn't add up to jack-- except that it pisses off guys like you...
also, since you're giving me flak over the canty bottle incident, let me remind you that ellis's play last season can not be considered to have "suffered badly," as you say, since his sack total matched his career high.
That's the ONLY stat that didn't suffer... he had the lowest number of tackles of his NFL career...
well... you want me to think about why ellis has suddenly become a "squeaky wheel," as you say. well, considering his statements, i can only conclude that he doesn't think he'll perform well in his new role, and thinks that will harm his opportunity to earn a bigger paycheck in a year or two.
Bingo... I think that most people, if they found themselves in that situation, would be unhappy at the prospect of seeing their earning potential diminished...
Listen, Greg has NEVER trashed the Cowboys over any of this, he says he understands why they're doing what they're doing... he's just saying that he's not a particularly good fit in this system, so it might be better-- both for him and for the Cowboys-- for him to be traded to a club that can use him the way he used to be used by the Boys...
trouble is, i don't think highly of any player who doesn't have the attitude that he'll kick butt no matter what -- especially when his head coach has repeatedly insisted that he will be put in a position to make plays.
I'm fully confident that so long as he remains a Dallas Cowboy, Greg Ellis will give his best effort when he's on the field... I'm also confident that despite him skipping these OTAs (which DOES bother me a little), he'll show up to training camp in shape and ready to play...
If that proves not to be the case, if he starts dogging it, then I'll quickly come around to your way of thinking... but until he shows me that, I'm gonna give him the respect he's earned for the play he's given the team in the past...
another troubling thing is that he already HAS the guarantee of a bigger payday down the road: he is under contract for four more years, and is meant to earn more money each year.
Though Ellis has talked about the Cowboys giving him a new deal, I truly think this is more about his role in the defense than financial considerations...
so get this straight: i am not "disloyal" to ellis. i just don't sympathize with the way he is going about his business. i expect him to either request his immediate release from his (lucrative) contract from the cowboys so he can pursue other opportunities,
There is no way the Cowboys will ever release him outright, and he has never requested they do so... he's talking about the Boys looking into TRADING him, getting some value in return...
or shut up and start working to MAKE himself into the best 3-4 (and nickel 4-3) defensive end that he can be.
Ahhh, now we get to the REAL heart of your problem with Greg-- you want him to shut up... it pisses you off that he's runnin' his mouth in the press...
Precisely as I suspected... I'm guessing you get pissed at any player that rocks the boat; well, I've been a Cowboys fan for a loooooong time, and I vividly remember lots of players who caused problems, and still played their butts off for the Boys...
Charles Haley was always starting trouble... Emmitt Smith was a REAL troublemaker when it came time to negotiate a new deal, even missing two games at the start of a season... Hollywood Henderson and Duane Thomas were always stirring the fecal matter, but they always showed up on game day...
So, it's from that historical perspective that I say that I don't give a rat's patootie what a player SAYS, so long as he shows up and plays on game day...
what he is doing definitely IS testing the patience of fans as well as the management. to pretend that it is not is just unexplainable.
I rather doubt that management is nearly as pissed as some of you fans are... they know that they hold all the cards, and they'll do what they think is in their best interest... I suspect they also know that Ellis will show up on game day, no matter what he's saying now...
Nope, it's only guys like you (and to be fair, a lot of others in here) who are showing impatience in this situation... me, I see this as a lot of hot air that ultimately means NOTHING; Greg Ellis will play for the Cowboys this year, then I suspect they'll find a way to get something for him next offseason... and when he plays, Ellis will give us all his best effort...
And that's ALL I care about...
but you seem to believe that ellis should be judged differently than you or i would be judged in our own work environments, don't you?
Actually, I'm saying that Ellis should be judged on what he DOES on the field, not what he SAYS off it... I'm saying I don't care in the slightest what he's saying these days...
you even believe that he should be judged differently from his own teammates.
Where in God's name did you get THAT idea?? I sure as h*ll have never said any such thing... to the contrary, I'd hold any player to the same standards I'm holding Ellis to here-- so long as you do your job on Sunday, and don't break any league rules, I couldn't possibly care less about anything else...
apparently, you think it's okay to defy your coach -- your boss -- and the owner -- your boss's boss -- and expect to be rewarded monetarily for doing so.
How exactly does asking to be traded constitute "defying your coach"?? Bluntly, I think you've had a rather silly, knee-jerk reaction, and you've taken it WAY too far...
In conclusion, you'll have to forgive me if I doubt your claims of respecting Ellis, not when you trash him so bitterly... if you really had any respect for him, you'd give him the benefit of the doubt, you'd wait until he caused problems on the field for the Cowboys before goin' for his throat...
Bottom line, you guys are gettin' all worked up over not much of nothin'... suddenly, you're all acting like you're convinced that if we shaved Greg's head, we'd find 6-6-6 tattooed somewhere on his melon... LOL...
