After a season full of depressing rumors and poor performance, we finally heard a good rumor yesterday. Apparently the Dallas Cowboys have made it known that they plan on applying the full court press to acquire Ray Lewis! The story broke yesterday by the Baltimore sun you can read that story here!
I am sure as this story gains more momentum their will be plenty of stories out there claiming that this is just a move by Jerry to collect another “name” or that it is just Jerry at work again trying to make headlines. All of this may be true, but with the state that the Cowboys locker room is in right now, this one guy could do more for the mentality, and repairing of the locker room fracture than anyone currently employed by the Dallas Cowboys. So would it not be worth whatever it took to get that guy? I absolutely think it would!
Ray Lewis is a football player, that is all he knows, and that is all he wants to know! There is not another player in the league that plays the game with more energy, fierceness, and enthusiasm. From the moment this guy steps into the locker room he is all business! He does not allow his teammates to give excuses, and he holds them all accountable. Take a look at what I wrote again! Tell me one player on the Dallas Cowboys roster that can even pronounce those underlined words? You can stop looking because you will not find anyone!
All we heard, all year long from the individuals in the Cowboy locker room were excuses and a whole lot of he said, she said crap! Not one player stood up and said “it is not anyone’s fault but our own, we the player’s did not do our jobs!” Instead all we heard was “I am not getting the ball, when I get the ball things happen”, or “I don’t know what happened we just did not make the tackle” or “I don’t call the plays”. I would love to see someone talk that kind of garbage on a team that Ray Lewis was on.
The rumored offer that the Cowboys are willing to give is somewhere around 3 years and 27 to 30 million with 25 of it guaranteed. That is a big figure for a 34 year old linebacker. With that kind of guaranteed money the Cowboys would be taking a large risk.
I am tired of looking at stats and trying to determine whether someone would be a good statistical player for the Cowboys. This group of individuals on paper is the best team in the NFL and what has that gotten us? Absolutely nothing! It is now time to look at players from a different vantage point. How about we start looking for specific attributes? How about we start looking for players that bring things like enthusiasm, energy, fierceness, locker room presence, accountability, maybe one that does not make excuses, maybe even one who is all about business! Wow that would be a novel idea!
Through this entire article I have not mentioned one time about Ray Lewis’ actual football record. While everyone wants to say that the guy is on the downhill slide, I see quite a different picture. The picture I see, is one of a outstanding football player that is still as good as any other inside linebacker on the team currently. Here are some stats to prove my point!
The following stats are career averages of two 2008 Dallas Cowboy ILBs and Ray Lewis. Which one is Ray?
| Sacks P/Y | Int. P/Y | Pass Def. | FF | TKL. | Assists | Total Tkl | |
| Player A | 2.25 | 0.166 | 3.16 | 1 | 54.6 | 24 | 78.6 |
| Player B | 1.57 | 1.3 | 2.92 | 1.23 | 85.1 | 48.2 | 133.3 |
| Player C | 2.5 | 2.1 | 4.8 | 0.9 | 96.5 | 29.3 | 125.8 |
For those of you who said “Player A” you would be incorrect! Player A is none other than Bradie James.
For those who said “Player B” you also would be incorrect! Player B is Zach Thomas.
The correct answer is “Player C”!
Ray Lewis on an average is better than both of those players in almost every category! Now for those of you who will say things like “those are not good comparisons because of the length of Thomas and Lewis’ careers” look at this. The following stats are the average of the last 3 years of each player, this is the truest measure of each player. If you also remember the year that Zach Thomas led the NFL in tackles, that year is in these figures.
| Sacks P/Y | Int. P/Y | Pass Def. | FF | TKL. | Assists | Total Tkl | |
| B. James | 3.6 | 0.33 | 4.33 | 1.66 | 70 | 36.6 | 106.6 |
| Z. Thomas | 1.6 | 0.33 | 4.33 | 0.66 | 70 | 33.6 | 103.6 |
| Ray Lewis | 3.5 | 2.3 | 9.00 | 1.66 | 82.3 | 31 | 113.3 |
As you can see Ray Lewis can still play football! Will he play for another 10 years? Not a chance! Can he play 3 more seasons? Yes and at a high level! Ray Lewis is better than any other option we have on the current roster, and in many ways!
The signing of Ray Lewis would be one of the smartest moves Jerry Jones has ever made. It is time to get a voice for the locker room, other than the slime that is already in their! Some of you may disagree, and you have every right to! All I ask is that before you criticize, take a second and really think about it. Then let me know what you think!
please dear god let us have this man,next we need a quaterback and and offensive line.
O line help and a veteran QB to push Mr.Simpson!
I saw somewhere that a lot of people think he would head to the Jets,to play for his old D coordinator, before he would come to Dallas.