The Problem With Old Greats

If there is anything I’ve learned over the years being a Cowboys fan it’s this, you don’t win championships with another team’s talent.

We’ve seen it many times in Dallas in this 12 year post-season drought, with the remarkable exceptions likely being either Terrell Owens or Zach Thomas; both current players. We have seen good come from these worn out vets, like Romo stepping in for Bledsoe and not only shocking this fan nation back to life, but doing so after learning from an intelligent and once very solid quarterback.

Even when Romo took over for him, it wasn’t because Drew had forgotten how to play like it appears Brad Johnson has, and it wasn’t because he never did anything great. He was a recycled quarterback from Parcels glory days. And he wasn’t the only one that “The Tuna” brought in.

I guess Big Bill thought quarterbacking was like coaching, even past the expiration date, cheese can still be good. I don’t think Bledsoe or Testaverde were ever comparable to even something like cottage cheese while in Dallas, but they weren’t so bad that they single handedly caused seasons to go down the drain.

I mean look at Kurt Warner, how many times has he been written off since that famed season with the Rams in which he led them to a Super Bowl victory, unlike last night as the Cardinals top guy. Yet there he was last night, and nobody was saying, “if Warner can limit his mistakes, they’ll have a shot.” In fact, the worst I heard said about him was from John Madden seconds after the 45 yard completion to Boldin, and it was simply a comment about his ability to throw it deep when he has enough time in the pocket.

Again, it’s less about not taking players well beyond any ability, but taking players that have made a career, a long career, in another city is just not working out too well across the league.

So the talk of picking up players like Ray Lewis and Julius Peppers just sounds like more of the same, and we all know how that’s been so far. I was for the Peppers trade at first, but only when I figured there was a chance he’d stick with a defensive end spot. As time goes by it becomes clearer that he wants be a DeMarcus Ware and switch to a 3-4 and the OLB spot.

The problem for the Cowboys there is simple though; Ware isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Jerry Jones is going to compromise his ability to fill other holes on the team to make sure of that. So that leaves the left side where Ellis and Spencer are currently. Spencer is up and coming still, as long as he stays healthy, and has much more upside than Peppers does at this point, and Ellis would likely contemplate suicide before quitting the team if Peppers were signed. That is a distraction that none of us need, let alone these Dallas Cowboys.

And let’s say we do sign Peppers and figure out a way to make the whole Peppers-Ellis-Spencer thing work out, you’re going to get maybe 4 or 5 years out of Peppers. The same thing goes for Ray Lewis really.

You’d get a few years out of him and there’s no telling how he’d play. A backup has never been the leader of a team with any positive outcome, not even Keith Davis. The one thing that the Lewis rumor has going for it is our need for a good inside linebacker, whether Thomas and Kevin Burnett leave or not.

But perhaps the biggest gamble when signing another teams long standing talent is their ability to adjust. Most of the top players that the media is rumoring and drooling over are on teams that have had consistent coaching, meaning one coach for most of their career and in a system that changed little, if at all.

Suddenly you want to take a guy like Lewis, who is practically a house-hold name as power LB, and throw him into a new defensive scheme. Sure, there may be some similarities and overall you’d expect a team to make some accommodations for a guy like that, but then you’re also changing what you’ve been teaching your guys, some of them too young and inexperienced to handle changes like that right away.

Look at Owens, who has been very vocal about his desires to use more of a west coach offense, his bread and butter before joining the Eagles. And even they used him in a similar way, unlike Garrett and Parcels have since he joined Dallas. He was great before coming to Dallas and that’s why he was signed, but he hasn’t adjusted to this offense well enough to be great again. By great, I mean that a 1,000 yard season shouldn’t be a surprise or even worth mentioning.

All in all, while there is something to be gained from seasoned veteran free agents, it’s just another project in the long run. Hasn’t the Cowboys’ “long run” been long enough?