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With the Cowboys horrendous season in the books its time to look forward to the 2009 Draft. Our draft picks have changed with the Roy Williams trade and the Adam Jones suspension. We will have a total of (9) draft picks and they are as follows:

1st Round: NONE (traded to Detroit)
2nd Round: Dallas
3rd Round: Dallas from Cleveland
4th Round: Dallas & Dallas from Detroit (from 2008 draft trade)
5th Round: Dallas & Dallas from Tennessee (Pacman suspension compensation)
6th Round: Dallas from Miami (from Ferguson trade)
7th Round: Dallas & Dallas from Detroit (from Roy Williams trade)

When its all said and done, with the extra picks we had after the 2008 draft, we basically traded just our 1st rounder, we still have picks in every round except the 1st.

Our 2nd round pick will be a little after the mid-part of the round

Our 3rd round pick was acquired in a 2008 draft day trade, and its a good pick, its going to be in the top of the 3rd since the Browns had a bad season it bodes well for us.

Our 4th round picks are solid as well, we have our own pick and the top pick in the 4th round, basically a late 3rd rounder since Detroit lost all their games.

Our 5th round picks are ok, middle to late part of the round depending how deep the Titans go.

6th round pick was picked up when we shipped Ferguson to Miami, this pick could be a later pick depending how far the Dolphins go.

Our 7th round picks are good too, again, we have our own pick, plus the top pick in that round from Detroit.

From a fan’s point of view I’m going to eat some humble pie and officially admit that Coach Sparano’s departure after last season left a big void in our offensive system. So much focus was put on Jason Garrett bringing a new life to the offense last year, thus the 13-3 record and offensive explosiveness, but how much of the success last season was because of Jason Garrett. Yes, Garrett probably had his input in the system, but I’m going to believe that Sparano was the one doing the bulk of the work while Garrett was doing understudy work.

Think about it, how is a young buck coming from a QB coach position in Miami going to come in, design, and know how to prepare against the leagues best defenses? Not likely. What’s more likely is that Sparano was the one doing his due diligence in preparing the offense week in and week out.

On top of Sparano taking care of the offense last season, he was responsible for getting the offensive line in order while he was in Dallas. The  Dallas Offensive Line has been abysmal all season long. They are the same players, so why all the miscues and sloppy play? Don’t give me the LG injuries either, that’s one player. The point is that the line needs order, they have to be coached and told what to do. Hudson Houck has been a bust in his return to Dallas, total garbage.

Without Sparano, the offensive game preperation has not been there, the play calls have been predictable, and Garrett has shown his inexperience in virtually every game. Some of the leagues worst defenses were able to pick apart the offensive schemes, and forget about the best defenses in the league, we saw what they did to us. Garrett is overrated, and if anyone needs to get the boot it needs to be Jason Garrett. I’d advise the Cowboys to bring David Lee back into the fold. Give him the promotion to Offensive Coordinator. He built up Romo and knows how to get Romo back in check, because as it is now, Romo has cart blanche on stupid gametime decisions without consequence. We need someone to be in his ear and get him in check. In addition, Lee worked with Felix Jones while at Arkansas and knows his strengths.

Get rid of Garrett, he’ overrated and useless, he needs more understudy work. Bring in David Lee to repair the offense.

The Cowboys will be in the playoffs if they beat the Eagles, this is easier said than done. Basically, the Cowboys have to reverse all their December misgivings and take home a win on the road in hostile territory. I’ll be the first to tell you, I’m not confident at all that this 2008 squad can get it done. I’ll be more surprised than anything to come away with a victory. The gameplan and turnovers will be the key today, its as simple as that.

The Cowboys need to keep the passes quick and simple, and ride Choice all game long. Choice has been a great draft find, and TRUE 4th round steal. If the Cowboys abandon the run early you can call this game by the half. If Romo doesn’t take care of the ball, then you can count us out. So, ride Choice and keep Romo in check and we’re in. I don’t want to see any of those stupid hail mary lobs for INTS, and neither do the rest of Cowboys Nation. The poor game management of Romo is growing thin on the fanbase very quickly.

Sense of urgency is something we should have seen last week, and it was not there. Today the Cowboys should show this sense of urgency, if we don’t see it early then forget it.  We’re going to know the path of this game early on, but if the Cowboys manage to take a lead after the half they need to close out the game rather than leave the Eagles in it. We’ll see what happens. This is a playoff game before the playoffs, so again, all eyes will be on Romo, and that’s just the way it is. Please step up and win the game.

In an amazing twist of fate, the Bucs and Eagles lost today, thus thrusting the Cowboys back into control of their playoff hopes. Its simple. If the Cowboys win on the road in Philly we’re in. Whether or not this will happen will be the great question. The Cowboys will get one more chance for the ultimate retribution.

Romo its do or die the rest of the way, please step up your game and make better throwing decisions…

As a die hard fan on this special night, this is the most embarrassing game I’ve ever watched in my entire life. We’re talking about a chance to control our playoff aspirations and close out the final game ever at Texas Stadium with a win. It did not happen, the Cowboys are a complete failure and big disappointment.

This team has ALOT of issues to address this offseason. I’m officially writing off this team, they plain suck. Its mind blowing to imagine that this bumbling squad still has a shot at a wildcard spot. After tonight, I don’t see them winning in Philly. No heart, no killer instinct, these guys have nothing inside to overcome the stupidity made by their key players.

The bumbling starts with Romo, I’m sold on him not being able to win in huge games. Tonight’s game was basically a playoff type game with alot on the line, and Romo put the Cowboys behind early, and the offense never dug out of his hole. When Romo stinks so goes the rest of the team. I’ll say it again, Romo is no where near Aikman’s caliber, and not even better than Danny White, so that’s a big problem for Dallas. If your QB is not better than a Danny White caliber forget getting to the Superbowl, seriously. Do not try to sugar coat or throw stats at this argument, Romo is a huge disappointment and he is what he is - not good enough.

For Wade, I expect him and his entire staff to get the boot after we lose to the Eagles next week. Wade has failed to get this team fired up, and Garrett has failed to be innovative, get them both the hell outta here and start over. This team takes losses like this and implodes, show me something this whole year that gives you hope, and I’ll reconsider my stance, but the reality is that the Cowboys do not have what it takes to win anything the rest of the way, let alone the playoffs. (We need Jim Mora to speak at the podium tonight, he’ll tell you)

The Cowboys now will rely on others to lose in order for them to sneak into the playoffs, what a joke of a team, seriously. I love this team, but they have the wrong pieces in place right now.

Jerry Jones has to be beyond disappointed and completely embarrassed. This was a slap in his face and the faces of the fans, the players stunk it up in the worst way.

Dallas can clinch a playoff spot, with:

• a win and a Philadelphia loss or tie and a Chicago loss or tie and an Atlanta loss OR

• a win and a Philadelphia loss or tie and a Chicago loss or tie and a Tampa Bay loss OR

• a win and a Chicago loss or tie and a Tampa Bay loss and an Atlanta loss OR

• a win and a Philadelphia loss or tie and an Atlanta loss and Dallas clinches strength of victory tiebreaker over Chicago

If there were any questions as to who was running the defense, all those questions have been answered by now. Wade Phillips has taken the helm on defense and ever since the change the Cowboys Defense has turned it around. The pressure is there, the execution is there, and the 3rd down stoppages are there. Wade was brought in to fix the failed 3-4 defense Parcells implemented. The 3-4 was heading into oblivion after several seasons of mediocre play, including Phillips’ 3-4 last year and 1st half of this year. The defense has indeed been corrected, and looking stout at the right time of the year - December.

Its been well documented that Dallas D in December has been abysmal and consistenly inconsistent. What the Cowboys are missing now is the offense, and the attention is steadily shifting towards Jason Garrett. Garrett’s name has been in most of the recent headlines that include meetings with key offensive players, and the Owens, Witten, Romo triangle. Clearly, the offense has been stagnant all year long. Last year’s explosiveness has been non-existant most of the year.

Some are already making the offensive playmaking comparisons to that of Sean Payton. One year the offense looks good, the next year the offense runs the same plays and the offense is found out. The Cowboys seem to be at this threshold under Garrett in year two. The Cowboys have been shutdown and slowed down by various defenses; from bad defenses to good defenses. It doesn’t matter, and decent defensive coordinators have been able to study our film and devise a solid gameplan. So, what’s the deal? Garrett is not getting it done this year on offense, and with each defensive dominating game and lackluster offensive display the pressure will mount on Garrett, and don’t throw stats at this, there’s more than stats that make a team. Parcells was not a stats guy, and neither am I. What you see on the field is what we are, and right now, the offense is not looking so good.

To have all the weapons on offense and not rack up some points is mind blowing. Is it Garrett, is he still too green, are the players not responding to his coaching style? Is it this Turner style scheme? The three prominent coaches running this scheme are Norv Turner (San Diego), Cam Cameron (Baltimore), and Jason Garrett (Dallas). Obviously each of these coaches have their own twist on the philosophy. Turner has had a decent offense this year, but their defense is putting them in bad situations. In Baltimore, Cameron doesn’t have big names, but somehow he’s made the most out of the offense which includes a rookie QB. I think the offensive woes come down to Garrett’s inexperience to be innovative or adaptive, something just isn’t jiving on offense this year.

The media circus is in full effect, and the drama in Dallas has been kicked up another notch. This being said, the Cowboys better win today, or its going to get really ugly, really fast. This mess started with Jerry Jones making some questionable comments about Barber, and then we have all this drama with Romo, Witten, and the wide receivers. Then Newman calling out the coaching staff, and now word that Witten was Werder’s source in regards to the love triangle between Romo, Witten, and Owens. Its a mess from the very top to the bottom - a mess.

Its complete mayhem in Dallas and a loss in a key game against the Giants could absolutely make this team implode. A win is needed bigtime in order to get the team back in wildcard contention, but more importantly for the sake of stabilizing the team as a whole. The locker room antics are wide open to the media, its ridiculous what is going on in Dallas. This is another indictment of bad coaching and ability to manage these players.

This sort of locker room drama would not have happened under Parcells, and its getting out of control right now in Dallas. Phillips seems to be oblivious to what’s going on, he was asked if the locker divided, in which he basically said no. Just the fact that the head coach is being asked these types of questions is just not a good thing.

Let’s see how the team responds today against the Giants.

I’m still fuming over the meltdown in Pittsburgh, but its time to try to move on. Bam! The Giants are up next, that’s not a very fun way to get over last weeks debacle, but ok, let’s get into this week and what it means for the rest of the 2008 season.

To put it simple, the Cowboys MUST now run the table. Yes, at this point, we’re technically still in the wildcard hunt, but c’mon, let’s be real. We’re talking about a team that has a bad history of being no-shows come December. The debacle in Pittsburgh was not the right start, and we’re now at a crossroads against the Giants, and here are the two scenarios facing Cowboys Nation:

1. The Cowboys will host the Giants and get defeated. A loss at home against the hated Giants could be the final straw that completely demoralizes this team, thus thrusting us into a tailspin. Beaten and deflated, I would then see the Cowboys flopping against the Ravens and Eagles. Wade gets canned. There’s always a scapegoat, Wade gets the boot, the offseason circus begins.

2. The Cowboys will host and beatup the Giants. A decisive win would lift this team up, and the team moral will be higher going against the Ravens and Eagles. Confidence down the stretch in December has been non-existent our previous December implosions, so a win for this team is paramount.

Either way you cut it, this team absolutely has not lived up to the hype from the offseason, we know this. We should not even be having this discussion, but here we are. By now, you know we’re not as good as we thought we were. This being said, a playoff appearance and anything more will be a great surprise. A Super Bowl appearance would be a miraculous comeback story considering the bad coaching, injuries, and all the sloppy play by million dollar players.

This team has two paths: Collapse or Comeback, lets see how this team responds to December adversity.

The Cowboys future was almost shut the week going in the Redskins game, but the Cowboys have been able to put together two relatively successful games. The offense remains suspect at times, but the defense seems to be gaining some momentum. The Cowboys are far from being a lock for the playoffs, but we still control our own destiny. Its simple math. Run the table and you’re in.

The Cowboys should be able to defeat the Seahawks as they did last week against the 49ers. They are the same type of team, so the Cowboys need to keep the pressure on defense on the pedal and not relent. A victory against the Seahawks gives us a small step towards the playoffs and would take us to 8-4

After the Seahawks comes our dreaded Decemeber meltdown jinx. Can we break this jinx this year? If this is a team bound for the playoffs they will absolutely have to win in Decemeber. Its said that the Cowboys need to split December by going 2-2. That’s the worst case scenario and wrong type of thinking. The Cowboys need to be thinking about running the table. 10-6 may not get Dallas into the playoffs with the way the NFC South is playing, that division could send 3 teams into the playoffs.