Eddie Murray, anyone?

To borrow a line from Michael Corleone, "I'm with you now, Cowboys. I'm with you now."

I have been wary of giving too much of my time to the Pokes in recent years, for more reasons than one. For one, I just recently finished graduate school. Second, the Mavericks ascendancy in the N.B.A. has coincided with the continued, prolonged swoon for the Cowboys.

But mostly, the Cowboys haven't worth my undivided attention for 3+ hours every Sunday, not to mention the countless additional minutes/hours reading about them. Actually, that was made easier when the Dallas Morning News started charging to read more than one Cowboy story a day on their website. That was actually not a bad idea on their part, given the 'Boys popularity. They just picked a bad time to do it; during their decline. Then, they were trying to plug holes around Troy Aikman with band aids, trying to prevent him from absorbing the next concussion. The only real thing of interest concerning the Star was Emmitt Smith's pursuit of the all-time rushing record, which he eventually captured. That was great and noteworthy, but it was not going to win any Super Bowls. Charging for coverage of a franchise in decline was like raising taxes at the onset of a recession.

I'm almost as big a Cowboys fan as the next guy, but if you don't have the feeling that 'it's there this year', shouldn't you direct your focus to something more productive? At least the Mavericks had a young core they were/are building on to try and get somewhere. That, in my mind, has been the Cowboys' problem, mainly and if only at what is often referred to as the most important position on the field: quarterback. The selection of Quincy Carter a few years ago wasn't exactly me with enthusiasm, but when Bill Parcells signed on, they actually went to the playoffs. There was promise. A young qb playing a young team that was shedding the last of it's older players from the glory decade of the 90s (with the notable exceptions of Larry Allen and Darren Woodson). Then Q failed a drug test. Great. The next steps at qb gave me no confidence. Nothing against Vinny Testaverde or Drew Bledsoe, but they were older veterans, perfect examples of a band aid in my mind, and at the most important position. Following the Cowboys from the late 70s, I had come to learn that they were best when they invested time in a young qb. That was probably the hope of most fans when Jerry Jones signed Chad Hutchinson, and then Drew Henson. But they did not pan out. Maybe it's not so easy to turn back to football after having given baseball a try. Who knows? Turns out, however, that Q's dirty pee may have helped plant the seed that is being borne out today (see Randy Galloway's article, "Romo's rise aided by Quincy's demise", from last week's Fort Worth Star Telegram: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/columnists/randy_galloway/16139753.htm).

While I was running this morning, I started to wonder just how much Tony Romo's insertion and play at qb has helped the Pokes mentally. When you include Vanderjagt's wobbliness, did it at all exist in any of their minds that regardless of how hard they played that they were just an interception or missed field goal away from losing? They have been, after all, hovering around the top five in both offense and defense for most of the season. Did that contribute at all to their penalties, which they seemed to have a lot of, or dropped passes (excluding Terrell Owens. He continues to be consistent in that area) or the like? Who knows? Then Romo comes in and passes for 300+ yards in this game and that, with an interception or two, and BOOM! They take over first in the division (with a little help from a collapsing New York Giant team). Bledsoe could easily have thrown either of those two INTs yesterday, but could he have scrambled and hit his tight end in stride yesterday, like Romo hit Witten? The only thing they needed now was a kicker they could count on. Voila! Exit Mike Vanderjagt, enter Martin Gramatica, he of the exuberantly celebratory Grammatica kicking clan. Does anyone now remember that he missed the first of his four attempts yesterday? Ha!

Take it for what it is, but I think the team now feels as if they have a qb and kicker who has their back.