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Make no mistake about it, Adam “PacMan” Jones can play football, that is not in question. Jones is Devan Hester only he can play a position full-time; he’s a lock-down corner. The question about PacMan is if he will be in lock-down rather than locking down WRs in the NFL. You see Jones’ ability has never been questioned but his character and his judgment have been and rightfully so.
I know the outcry will come from some of you, most of them being Cowboy haters, that this is a “travesty”. Folks, let’s be honest here, the NFL is not about signing boyscouts, if you want that turn your attention to high school football; the NFL is purely about winning football games.
Jerry Jones has made a very smart and rather safe bet here. Jones has a team that is built to win a Super Bowl. We can all argue about what a joke the Pro Bowl is, however, Dallas had a record 13 Pro Bowlers last year thus you can’t argue that they aren’t an immensely talented team. The divisional round loss to the NY Giants doesn’t look so bad now considering the Giants subsequently defeated the Packers and Patriots to win the Super Bowl. Matter of fact I recall a team that went 13-3 in 2005 and lost to a very hot Pittsburgh team in the divisional round, a Pittsburgh team that won the Super Bowl that year. What team am I referring to; your 2006 Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts. Make no mistake about it, the Dallas Cowboys are on a short list of teams in 2008 that can win a Super Bowl. What happened to the Ny Giants in 2007 was an anomaly thus don’t count on this happening every year. Most years there are only 6-7 teams that have a realistic chance of winning a Super Bowl; Dallas is one of those teams in 2008.
Jerry Jones sent a 4th round pick in 2008 to the Titans for Jones. Dallas has two first round picks, a 2nd and a 3rd thus they will still make 4 picks in the first four rounds. If Jones is reinstated and plays a lot in 2008, Tennessee gets a 6th round pick in 2009. If Jones plays that much, Jerry Jones will be more than happy to give that 6th round pick to Tennessee because he will have gotten a steal. If PacMan does what PacMan has been known to do and screws this all up, then the Cowboys get their 4th round pick back in 2009 and it’s going to be a higher pick than the one they gave up this year (#126) unless Tennessee wins the Super Bowl in 2008.
I know we will get posts about PacMac “destroying the team chemistry”, just as Randy Moss destroyed team chemistry in New England right? Tank Johnson, who is not nearly as talented as Adam Jones, signed with Dallas last year and was a model citizen by all accounts. With Calvin Hill leading the way, the Cowboys have the best player support system in the NFL. The real risk here for Jerry Jones is this; Adam Jones will come back and play first-rate football, we all know that because he has that kind of talent. The Cowboys will then begin to rely on Adam Jones on Sundays. The question at that point will be, does Adam Jones become a knucklehead again and let down his team and their fans? If PacMan returns to his old ways, the Cowboys will get burned not because they gave up too much to get him, they didn’t; they will get burned because they end up trusting him and relying on him something that Adam Jones has not proven worthy of yet in his young life.
2 responses so far ↓
1 LauderdaleLegend // Apr 24, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Glad you’re back blogging again. Laurence Phillps, Art Sclichter and a few others couldn’t shake their demons and play great NFL ball each Sunday. Can’t say I’ve spent enough time on Pac-Man to do a decent psycho-analysis on him. But a cursory review would say that he has quite a few screws loose. The deal that was cut by the ‘Boys was actually pretty good for them and I would tend to agree that if Dallas counts on him and he goes loopy again, they may not be able to scramble quickly enough to compensate for him being off the field. I also agree with you that Team Chemistry is over-rated. Last season, the Giants were accused of the infamous ‘bad chemistry’ in mid season.
Good job by Dallas and i wish them well. I’ll be back if the Jets draft McFadden…I just may have a comment or two!
2 Emil Calomino // Apr 24, 2008 at 8:43 pm
I was tied up for a bit but I am back. As I said, the big risk for Dallas doesn’t involve compensation, the ability of this player or team chemistry. The only issue here is that Adam Jones is a Pro Bowl caliber shut-down corner, if Dallas trusts him and counts on him and he goes off the wagon it will be tough to replace him. I mean this team will have Terrance Newman starting beside Adam Jones with Anthony Henry as a 3rd corner, that’s a deep group. They are going to use a pick in the first round (they have two) or the second on another corner, nasty group barring injury or strip joints. The Jets or Oakland will get McFadden. That’s just my gut on him, you may be a happy camper come Saturday evening.
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