In Depth: Quarterbacks

I have given a brief overview of both sides of the ball heading into the offseason but I want to go a little more in depth now position by position. It appears that free agency is probably going to be delayed so that gives a little more time to assess where the Cowboys stand heading into free agency and the draft.

Tony Romo - The Cowboys searched for nearly a decade before finally discovering a franchise quarterback. Despite what some people refuse to admit, they have a player who can put the offense on his back and win games. There are some who still doubt Romo's ability but he is one of the highest rated quarterbacks in NFL history. Now he needs to take his team deep into the playoffs and win a Super Bowl to convince his remaining doubters that he is a top tier quarterback. Obviously the Cowboys are set at starting quarterback for at least 3 or 4 more years and maybe more.

Jon Kitna - Kitna proved this season that he can be counted on to be an effective back up option. He took over for Romo during the second half of the season and did enough to allow the Cowboys to go 5-3 in the second half of the season. While he doesn't have the play making ability of Romo, Kitna still has plenty of game to allow the team to win if Romo goes down again. Kitna should be able to fill in as the back up for at least another season or two.

Stephen McGee - McGee finally got a chance to get some meaningful playing time in the last two games of the season. All he did was lead his team to two last minute touchdown drives. While that was impressive he struggled during the majority of his playing time. But his strong finishes in his two games showed enough that it looks like the Cowboys still might be able to develop McGee into a long term backup option.

Heading into free agency and the draft it appears that quarterback is the least of the Cowboys needs. I don't expect the Cowboys to make any moves at quarterback this offseason.

The Season Ends on a Winning Note

It was an ugly game. The Eagles sat most of their key starters. And the defense still struggled to stop Kevin Kolb and his cast of backups. Stephen McGee was terrible until the Cowboys needed him the most. But in the end...a win is a win and I'll take it. How can you complain about a victory after the way this season has gone?

Demarcus Ware was clearly too good for the Eagles to block. Of course he was going against backups, but the three sacks he got in the game count just as much as the rest he got this season. He is the best player on what was a horrible defense. But at least the Cowboys know they have the best pass rusher in the NFL to rebuild the defense around.

Jason Witten came up with the big plays on the winning drive after being shut out up to that point. He ended the season with 94 catches and over 1000 yards. Great numbers under any circumstances but even better when you take into account that he played with three different quarterbacks this season.

Stephen McGee was awful. But you have to give him credit for making the big play in the big moment for the second week in a row. McGee was terrible against the blitz for the majority of the game but he at least scrambled well and didn't turn the ball over. And making the passes in the last two minutes count for a lot when you try to decide if he is worth keeping around long term.

Jason Garrett finished the season 5-3 as the interim head coach. And many reports have stated that he will be named the permanent head coach some time this week. He has earned the job with the way he pulled the team together after their 1-7 start. He didn't completely transform the team but he did start the process of getting back to fundamental football and the team is learning how to win again. Hopefully this win will help propel the Cowboys into the offseason.

I think it is pretty obvious that the defense needs a major overhaul. The offensive line will have to be addressed. David Buehler is going to be forced to win the kicking job this offseason now that Kris Brown is on the roster. Jerry Jones, the rest of the front office and the coaches will have their work cut out for them to get this team back to the playoffs next season.

But Jason Garrett has proven to us that there is still enough talent on this roster to win. With a second and then even a third string quarterback the Cowboys have battled and won a lot of games people picked them to lose during the second half of the season. With some roster improvements this offseason we should be expecting to see the Cowboys in the playoffs next year.

The Cowboys Have Found Their Kicker!

It was only a preseason game. I understand that. But when David Buehler stepped up and calmly kicked the game winning 31 yard field goal right down the middle as time expired I let out a huge sigh of relief. It was a big moment for Buehler. If he makes it you know his confidence will soar. If he misses you have to wonder if the Cowboys need to go find a new kicker. Buehler hit two big pressure kicks during the game and I think those kicks will give him the confidence to be successful in the regular season.

Buehler showed that he has improved a great deal since the first preseason game. His first field goal came at the end of the first half. It was a 51 yarder as time expired and he nailed it with 10-15 yards of distance to spare and nearly right down the middle. Buehler also hit from 45 and 40 yards. One kick barely squeaked through but he was 4 for 4 overall.

Stephen McGee looks like he has a future with the team. I'm certainly not predicting greatness for McGee but he at least finally made some throws that would make you believe he could develop into a solid backup quarterback in another year or two. He threw for 304 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. The 46 yard touchdown pass was a beautiful deep ball to Sam Hurd. And another pass that caught my eye was a 12 yard out pass that McGee fired between two defenders to Kevin Ogletree. There were also some ugly plays for McGee but I think he did enough to prove he should stick around this season.

Sean Lee looked a lot better this week. He still looks a little unsure of himself at times. But when he knows what to do he gets to the ball quickly and he makes the tackle. As soon as he gets more comfortable with the scheme he is going to be a very good player. I expect Lee to get more and more playing time as the season goes on.

Akwasi Owusu-Ansah is obviously a natural returner. You can see watching him that he has the vision to find the seams in the punt and kick coverage and he has the burst to hit the hole when he finds it. He had some trouble with his footing but that was an equipment issue that is easily corrected.

Victor Butler looked like he was a starter. The Dolphins had their starting offense on the field for a large portion of the first half and Butler did a great job pressuring the quarterback.

The defense overall looked pretty good against the Dolphins' starting offense. Considering the Cowboys had second a third team defensive players matching up against the Miami starters I was very impressed by their performance. Some of the defenders later in the game were not good at all, but the primary backups looked good.

Sam Hurd certainly made a case for himself. A lot of roster predictions have left Hurd off the final 53 man roster. But Hurd showed, like he usually does in preseason, that he is a very capable receiver when given opportunities.

Kevin Ogletree appears to have made a complete 180 from his early training camp and preseason struggles. He looked quick and confident throughout the game. I realize he was matched up for much of the game against Miami backups, but he is starting to resemble the guy that showed so much promise last season. The offense may need him at some point so I'm glad he is back.

Robert Brewster still needs more time to develop before he can be counted on. His play in the San Diego game a few weeks ago was pretty good but he has been very inconsistent in the last two games.

Now Is the Time for McGee

Wade Phillips came to a decision on playing his starters in the final preseason game Thursday night against Miami. Despite the poor performances by his team in the last two preseason games the Cowboys will be resting the vast majority of their starters. No Tony Romo, no Jason Witten, no Miles Austin, no Demarcus Ware, and on and on.

So why would anyone want to watch the game tomorrow night? If you are a hardcore fan of the Cowboys like I am then you can find reasons for games without the starters to be compelling. Many of the players who take the field tomorrow night are not household names and might never be. But several of them are the future stars for the Dallas Cowboys.

The guy who is getting the biggest shot to prove himself this week is Stephen McGee. He has been unimpressive throughout his time with the Cowboys. But he is young and still has time to develop. And now he gets probably the entire Miami game to show what he can do.

Tony Romo developed himself early in his career in games just like the game Thursday night. McGee needs to show us that he can at least develop into the primary backup or the Cowboys will probably start looking for another young guy to groom after this season.

I'm not expecting McGee to light it up but I am expecting to see him show the ability to read the defense and make all the throws required at the NFL level. Every chance he has had so far since he joined the team last season McGee has seemed a little gun shy when it comes to throwing the ball down the field. He always seems to check down to the back or tight end very early in the play and he has rarely thrown the ball more than 10 yards down the field.

I would love to see some flashes of future greatness like we saw from Tony Romo early in his career. No one really knew for sure that Romo would develop into a top tier quarterback but you could sense that he definitely was a natural playmaker when he got on the field early in his career. I hope for the Cowboys' sake and for McGee's sake he can at least go out there and show the coaches that he deserves more time with the team to develop.

Training Camp Preview - Part I - Quarterbacks

The Dallas Cowboys start training camp in about 2 weeks so today I am starting a roster preview series leading up to training camp. Many of the positions are settled but there are a few positions with starting spots up for grabs. Every day or two I plan on taking a look at a different position on the roster. In my first part I am going to look at the quarterbacks.

This is obviously one of the most settled positions going into camp. Tony Romo is the clear starter with Jon Kitna backing up and Stephen McGee filling the number three spot on the depth chart. Since everything appears to be pretty well settled what should we look for during training camp out of these three players?

Tony Romo - Tony Romo is a pro bowl caliber quarterback with the potential to be an MVP candidate if the team can put together a great season. Right or wrong, Tony Romo's value is going to be measured by the success of the Dallas Cowboys late in the season and hopefully deep into the playoffs. With the departure of T.O. it is critically important that we see the development of chemistry between Romo and Roy Williams. They need to be on the same page especially on broken plays that require on-the-fly adjustments. Those type of plays tend to be where Romo is at his best so Roy needs to understand where to be so Romo can find him. Outside of that I am hoping to see Romo throwing great looking passes after getting his throwing hand healed up in the offseason. I would also like to see Jason Garrett demanding perfection from him after all we have heard this offseason about doing things "exactly right".

Jon Kitna - I think the Cowboys pretty well know exactly what they are getting in Jon Kitna. He is a solid player who can get the job done if Romo goes down with another injury this season. Kitna took an unbelievable beating as the quarterback of the Lions but he always got back up to play on. He is tough and he still has a decent arm. I would like to see him display a good understanding of the offensive system. I really hope that there is very little dropoff during training camp when he steps in to run the offense. That would give me extreme confidence in the quarterback depth heading into the season.

Stephen McGee - The only way Stephen is going to see an significant, meaningful playing time this season is if everything falls apart due to injuries at quarterback. I want to see if McGee's arm looks as good in practice as many of the players and coaches have been saying since he was drafted. I also want to see him go through his progressions on the plays and show he can find the second, third or even forth option on a play. It is going to take him some time to get up to speed, but time is on his side. In one to two years he needs to be ready to take over the backup role because Jon Kitna is no spring chicken.

Overall, this is the best the quarterback position has looked since the days of Troy Aikman. I am excited the Cowboys have depth this season so the offense won't go in the tank if Romo goes out for a few games again. I think Jerry Jones learned a valuable lesson last season about quarterback depth. I hope we don't see anyone but Romo behind center during the season, but everyone will sleep better knowing all is not lost if Romo goes down.