The Dallas Cowboys Need Changes, Bob Sanders Isn't One of Them

The Dallas Cowboys are coming off a season they would much rather forget. Losing seven of their first eight games, firing their head coach and losing their quarterback for the season.

The Dallas Cowboys Need a Change and it Starts With Carson Palmer

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The Dallas Cowboys have to be tired of losing, no matter how good they've gotten at it over the years. Owner Jerry Jones wants another Super Bowl championship banner hanging in his new stadium, though he hasn't done a lot to show that by the moves he and the front office have made.

Chan Gailey, Bill Parcells, Wade Phillips and now Jason Garrett. Four coaches, one playoff victory in the last 16 seasons. The Cowboys need a change and they need one quick.

No matter how many fans you talk to, most will tell you that they're tired of seeing mediocre football being played each and every Sunday. They're tired of taking to the radio airwaves on Monday morning and calling for Jones to step down as the general manager or for the head coach to be fired.

They know there are changes that need to be made but one that seems to be argued over more than any other is whether or not the team can get anywhere with quarterback Tony Romo. There are some that will defend him and others that want to trade him out of town for another "future of the franchise." The only thing most fans won't be able to give you, at least realistically, is who they want to take his place. Who should be the quarterback of the future for the Dallas Cowboys?

If You Think Michael Vick Will Ever Be Forgiven, You Might Want to Think Again

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Michael Vick seems to be enemy number one when it comes to a certain number of sports fans. When he was arrested on charges of dog fighting and cruelty to animals, the sports world went crazy.

People called him a murderer, others said he should be locked up for life. Though Vick plead not guilty at first he finally admitted to his crimes and was sentenced to 23 months behind bars.

Apparently not long enough for some.

After all that, even though he had gone to prison and served his time, he's still seems to be the most hated and talked about professional football player to this day. His community service, his time given to the SPCA as well as talking to youth about the mistakes he's made have not made a single dent in public perception.

Never was that more apparent than this week.

Can Carson Palmer, Reggie Bush Provide a Change in the Dallas Cowboys?

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The 2010 season is not one that New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush will look back on fondly. While he spent most of the season battling injuries, he'll also remember 2010 as the year he voluntarily gave back the Heisman Trophy he won as a member of the University of Southern California.

Not exactly a memory he wants to remember.

However, that might be the least of his worries. According to Alex Marvez of Fox Sports, Bush's career with the Saints might be coming to an end.

Saints' general manager Mickey Loomis, while on NFL Radio with Marvez and co-host Jim Miller, told them there was no question the team wants to sign quarterback Drew Brees for the longterm. But when it came to Reggie Bush, Loomis was anything but clear on the running backs' future.

"We've talked a lot about the position (internally) because we had a lot of injuries," Loomis told Marvez and Miller. "It's pretty difficult to prognosticate injuries. I've got to be a little careful about just because a guy was hurt one year assuming he's going to get hurt the next. We're going through that evaluation process right now."

To me, it sounds as if Bush might be seeing his time with the Saints come to an end. Though he's made it known he would be willing to renegotiate his rookie contract in order to stay with the team, there's no telling if the Saints are willing to continue to have the same relationship.

A little more than 800 miles to the north, up in Cincinnati, another controversy is brewing and another former USC Trojan could be seeing the end of days with his respective team.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer has made it clear he no longer wants to be a member of the Bengals and has asked the team to trade him or he would consider retirement. To this point, the team has no plans to give him what he wants.

In a story from Cindy Boren in the Washington Post, ESPN's Chris Mortensen cited sources that said Palmer is financially secure and the threat of retirement is not an idle one.

Two former USC players, two different situations, both seem to be at a crossroads in their respective careers. One thing they may have in common is the ability to bring change to another NFL team in the state of Texas.

It's no secret the Dallas Cowboys need a change on the offensive side of the ball to improve the team from their abysmal 2010 season. A season where they would win just one of their first eight games before firing head coach Wade Phillips.

While there is a love affair with quarterback Tony Romo regardless of being able to lead the team anywhere when they do get to the playoffs, one position the team needs to upgrade badly is at running back.

Fans have tired of Marion Barber and haven't seen enough of Felix Jones or Tashard Choice to believe they can be the next big thing in Dallas. They were spoiled with long time running back Emmitt Smith and having not seen anything like him since his retirement has brought a lot of frustration down on Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones.

It looked like Barber was going to be the heir apparent for awhile, but as soon as he was given the starting job it quickly became clear that he wasn't ready to be an every down back.

Choice has made his share of big plays and, when challenged by Jones in the media, came up with a huge game to prove he be starting material.

However, the Cowboys still need one guy that can make an immediate impact. Not necessarily a guy who can come in and be the starter right away, but a guy who can line up with Choice and make defenses think twice about keying in on one guy.

Bush brings speed as well as the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. He can take pressure off of the other running backs as well as off of Romo who, at times, seems to have to do things on his own.

As for Palmer, most will tell you that he won't accept a backup job anywhere. While I can understand that sentiment, the Cowboys need a backup quarterback not named Jon Kitna. He did a respectable job when Romo went down, but if it happens again, the Cowboys need a guy who can come in and not miss a beat. Not only that, but a guy who can be just as good if not better going forward.

For those of you who have read my thoughts on the Cowboys, and Romo, in the past you know I'm not a fan of his nor do I think he's the right quarterback to get this team over the hump and back into the championship spotlight.

That being said, maybe having a guy like Carson Palmer would help push Romo a little bit harder. Maybe it would force him to play at another level knowing he has a proven NFL starter behind him waiting to take his job.

However you want to see this, the one thing that can't be questioned is the number of changes that need to be made to a team that was a foregone conclusion for the Super Bowl more than 15 years ago.

Now, fans wonder if they'll get out of the first round of the playoffs or even get that far.

You may not be a fan of Palmer or Bush for that matter, but these two guys can provide a spark that is badly needed at Cowboys Stadium.

Jones can draft all the guys that he wants, but he's shown over the past few years that he's lost his touch. The past two drafts have been a flop and it's time that a new strategy is put in place. One that will bring this team to a new level of success.

These two guys might not be the most popular names in town, but fans in Dallas are ready to try anything to see their team as Super Bowl champions again.

When it Comes to Tony Romo, the Dallas Media Is an Overreacting Machine

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In Texas, football is king. Whether it's high school football, college football, or the Dallas Cowboys, football is where it's at.

So, as you might imagine, being the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys comes with its fair and sometimes unfair share of criticism. When you're Tony Romo, you know that it comes with the territory. He knows that it's going to come from fans when the team loses and it's going to come from the media when it becomes a strong of losses.

If you watched this past season you saw Romo become more criticized than he probably ever has been since he became the starter. With exception to dropping the snap on what might have been the game winning field goal in a playoff game a few years ago.

Give him credit, he's handled it all with a lot more grace and patience than I could have ever handled it. The media knows how to get under people's skin, it's their job. They want the next big quote so they'll stick a microphone in his face, ask him all sorts of dumb questions, than wait to see if he'll explode on them. Sure it's happened before with other quarterbacks around the NFL (see: Ryan Leaf) but with Romo, that explosion has never really come.

But there has to come a time where the media has to realize they've overstepped their bounds and need to back up a step or two. Or three.

A few years ago, while Romo was in a high publicized relationship with Jessica Simpson, the two took a short vacation on an off day given to the players by then head coach, Wade Phillips.

That started a firestorm on the radio stations and through print media on how Romo should have stayed home and "studied the playbook" instead of going on vacation.

It was then that I realized just how scrutinized this young quarterback really was. I will admit that I've been critical of him as well but this went far beyond anything I've heard before.

What makes me laugh about that situation was fans expecting him to be held up in his home with his head in the playbook. They expected Romo to not take advantage of a day off given to him and the rest of his team by the head coach and approved by the owner. Neither of whom, by the way, came out and publicly chastised him.

His vacation hasn't been the biggest outcry coming from the fans as well as the local media. For those of you who are versed on everything Dallas Cowboys, you know one of his hobbies away from the football field is golf. He's not bad at it either. In fact, he's quite good.

If he wasn't a quarterback, Romo could take a real run at obtaining a PGA Tour card. But it's the one sports fans can't be more angry about their quarterback playing.

There's a certain radio station here in town that brought up his playing in a tournament to qualify for a PGA Tour event and it started a firestorm of response. Not only were the fans upset, though I take most of them with a grain of salt, but so were a few of the on air personalities.

I'm not going to bad mouth the station that started this "fire storm" because it's their job to get the fans to respond. It's their job to get callers to light up their phone lines and text board. While there's no telling them how to do their job, something I wouldn't do, I don't think it's right to tell an NFL quarterback how he can and can't spend his time off the field.

Golf isn't the only sport Tony Romo shouldn't play. Basketball has also made that list as well and is the only other topic that has gotten Romo blasted more than any other. Ok, maybe outside of Simpson jinxing their playoff game because she was in the building.

So with all that comes the reason why fans, and local media alike, are so critical of this team and it's quarterback. The Cowboys have just a single playoff victory in the last 16 seasons. They expect better and who's to blame them?

But the one thing I love about Romo, no matter how much I believe he's not the right guy to lead the Cowboys to a Super Bowl, is the fact that he does what he wants when he wants with absolutely no regards to anyone else's opinion.

Bravo, Tony.

I get that players need to respond to their fans and I get that they should care about their expectations of them as well as the team. But when it comes to what they do outside of the football field, it's their decision and their decision alone.

Before you think this is an entire article taking sides with an NFL quarterback, you've got another thing coming. He's not the leader this team needs for the same reasons Jason Garrett isn't the right choice to be the newest head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.

That being said, this town needs to stop acting like the sky is falling every time the team loses. Don't get me wrong it makes for great radio for me every Monday morning after a loss. But if the media is going to go after him hard and fast, don't be surprised if he could care less.
It's actually what I like most about Tony Romo.

Are the Dallas Cowboys Really Shopping Dez Bryant?

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With all the goings on with the Dallas Cowboys this past off season including hiring Jason Garrett as their new head coach, there was an interesting rumor that came out today.

As most of you fans know, wide receiver Dez Bryant surprised a lot of people this season but missed the last few weeks because of a fractured ankle. Next to that, he was a guy that the Cowboys loved at wide receiver.

At least I thought so.

Making it's way around the Twitterverse today was a rumor that the Cowboys were allegedly shopping their first year player for a pick in the first round of the NFL Draft.

Keith Whitmire of Fox Sports Southwest has a piece out this afternoon talking about this apparent rumor and shoots down that the team would even be remotely curious about trading a guy that Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones loved from the moment he drafted him.

What Whitmire also talks about are the whispers that Bryant wasn't the most focused person on the team. He apparently was late to several team meetings and didn't exactly study the playbook as much as he should have.

Late to team meetings? Didn't study the playbook? Maybe the Cowboys see another Terrell Owens forming in Bryant. Then again, there may be nothing to this talk and it'll die off in the coming days or weeks.

But, on the flip side, this talk may heat up especially with the draft just a few months away. We know Jones loves him. Why else would Bryant be handed the No. 88? A number worn by two big names in Cowboys' history. But could new head coach Jason Garrett not be a fan of Bryant's and could that really be the writing on the wall that sends the rookie out of town?

The problem with the reports that surfaced today is the fact that we don't even know if there's going to be a season in 2011. As far as we know, with no Collective Bargaining Agreement signed, we could be looking at a work stoppage and silent NFL stadiums around the country.

So with so much unknown at the moment, why trade what seems to be a very talented young man for a draft pick that may not be anywhere near the caliber of Dez Bryant and someone that may not even see a practice or game until the 2012 season?

Those questions would lead me to believe that these rumors have absolutely nothing to them. Although, that's been said before about rumors we thought had nothing to them and watched as they became reality.

For right now, Bryant is still a wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys. Who knows, maybe all the talk is a shot across the bow and a wake up call for someone who thought he could do what he wanted to do because the owner liked him.

If this is a preemptive strike from the Cowboys it's one that couldn't have come at a better time. They could be bluffing and it could get the reaction they need.

It could also be the start of what could be one of the more shocking moves for this team in quite some time. We won't know until someone from the Cowboys comes out and denies all the talk that's been going on today.

Until that time, I'm not so sure a team like the Dallas Cowboys would be ready to give up on a player they've had for a single season. A player they drafted with their very first pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.

If I'm wrong about this, then maybe this team is starting to change their stripes and becoming more serious about winning games and not just selling merchandise.

If that's the case, it's about time.