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- steelmoney
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Cowboys get hint: It's about men of Steel, not one Superman
by steelmoney » Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:36 pm
Cowboys get hint: It's about men of Steel, not one Superman
March 5, 2009
By Clark Judge
Shortly after Pittsburgh rallied to beat Baltimore late last season with an improbable 92-yard drive, reporters flooded the locker room and wondered how in the world the Steelers kept on doing this.
They had rallied to beat San Diego. They had rallied to beat Dallas. They had rallied to beat Jacksonville. They had beaten Baltimore in OT before they rallied to beat them again.
So what was it, guys?
"We hung together," said coach Mike Tomlin.
Terrell Owens' Cowboys made headlines. James Farrior and the Steelers won the Super Bowl. (US Presswire)
Ah, yes, team chemistry. You can't beat it. Finally, finally, finally, the Dallas Cowboys seem to have received the memo, and hallelujah. With their releases of Terrell Owens and Pacman Jones the Cowboys have started the process of returning a toxic waste dump to a locker room, which means maybe, just maybe, they're on the road to recovery.
If you're a Dallas fan, you can only hope.
Yeah, OK, so Owens is a talented receiver. He catches a lot of passes, he scores a lot of touchdowns, he produces a lot of headlines. Great. I'm glad for him. But there's a reason the Cowboys gave up on him three years after Philadelphia gave up on him and five years after San Francisco surrendered, and the reason is this: Talent doesn't always win games.
Look at Pittsburgh. The Steelers have a passel of high-quality, highly productive players, but they're not the mighty, mighty Cowboys, symbolized by a giant star on their playing field. There is Tony Romo and DeMarcus Ware. Roy Williams (the receiver, not the safety) and Jason Witten. Terence Newman and Marion Barber. And, until now, there was Terrell Owens.
In short, there is talent galore. But look where it got them: Nowhere but the lead story on SportsCenter. The Cowboys haven't won a playoff game since 1996, for crying out loud.
They lost three of their last four games last season. They lost three of their last four the year before. And they lost four of their last five the year before that. That wasn't supposed to happen because ... well, because the Cowboys were more talented, deeper and more gifted than anybody else. In fact, they were so loaded they couldn't figure out how to get the football to former Lions star Roy Williams.
Well, now they can, and now they will. Without Owens the Cowboys have a chance to repair a locker room torn in too many directions and follow the leader. And the leader is Pittsburgh.
The NFL is a copy-cat league, and the teams that are imitated are the teams that are the most successful. Makes sense, right? Well, it's about time someone woke up to the Steelers. They're not the most talented or the richest or the deepest. They're just the best, and it's because of a locker room where a bunch of talented guys become a bunch of talented guys pulling together.
I saw that on their closing drive against Baltimore in December, when Hines Ward and Nate Washington each made three catches before Santonio Holmes stepped in to produce the game winner. The Steelers had done it so many times last year that players hardly seemed surprised.
"We're like a family," Ward said afterward. "Everyone trusts each other."
Tell me the last time you heard those words from the Dallas locker room. The last time I saw Romo, Witten and Owens in the same picture was when, after a late-season victory, they were brought together by national TV to answer questions about Owens' alleged rift with Romo -- with the wide receiver reportedly annoyed that his quarterback-du-jour was playing favorites.
Please. I've heard it too many times before.
It's always something with Dallas, and I guess owner Jerry Jones grew as tired of it as the rest of us did. That's why he put the gag order on his coaches. That's why he released Pacman. That's why he released T.O. He seems to be doing what he should have done a long time ago, which is to keep the Cowboys focused on pulling together instead of pulling apart.
The Steelers learned that a long, long time ago. You didn't see them bidding for Owens. You didn't see them reaching out to Pacman. You didn't hear them complaining about Ben Roethlisberger, though he wasn't ranked in the top 10, 15 or 20 quarterbacks in last year's passer ratings. Nope, to find him you had to scroll down to the 24th position, where he sat with his 17 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions.
Big deal. He knew how to win. And he demonstrated it over and over and over. So did his teammates because, as Tomlin said, they "hung together." Maybe Dallas will discover how to do that someday. All I know is that their chances just got better.
March 5, 2009
By Clark Judge
Shortly after Pittsburgh rallied to beat Baltimore late last season with an improbable 92-yard drive, reporters flooded the locker room and wondered how in the world the Steelers kept on doing this.
They had rallied to beat San Diego. They had rallied to beat Dallas. They had rallied to beat Jacksonville. They had beaten Baltimore in OT before they rallied to beat them again.
So what was it, guys?
"We hung together," said coach Mike Tomlin.
Terrell Owens' Cowboys made headlines. James Farrior and the Steelers won the Super Bowl. (US Presswire)
Ah, yes, team chemistry. You can't beat it. Finally, finally, finally, the Dallas Cowboys seem to have received the memo, and hallelujah. With their releases of Terrell Owens and Pacman Jones the Cowboys have started the process of returning a toxic waste dump to a locker room, which means maybe, just maybe, they're on the road to recovery.
If you're a Dallas fan, you can only hope.
Yeah, OK, so Owens is a talented receiver. He catches a lot of passes, he scores a lot of touchdowns, he produces a lot of headlines. Great. I'm glad for him. But there's a reason the Cowboys gave up on him three years after Philadelphia gave up on him and five years after San Francisco surrendered, and the reason is this: Talent doesn't always win games.
Look at Pittsburgh. The Steelers have a passel of high-quality, highly productive players, but they're not the mighty, mighty Cowboys, symbolized by a giant star on their playing field. There is Tony Romo and DeMarcus Ware. Roy Williams (the receiver, not the safety) and Jason Witten. Terence Newman and Marion Barber. And, until now, there was Terrell Owens.
In short, there is talent galore. But look where it got them: Nowhere but the lead story on SportsCenter. The Cowboys haven't won a playoff game since 1996, for crying out loud.
They lost three of their last four games last season. They lost three of their last four the year before. And they lost four of their last five the year before that. That wasn't supposed to happen because ... well, because the Cowboys were more talented, deeper and more gifted than anybody else. In fact, they were so loaded they couldn't figure out how to get the football to former Lions star Roy Williams.
Well, now they can, and now they will. Without Owens the Cowboys have a chance to repair a locker room torn in too many directions and follow the leader. And the leader is Pittsburgh.
The NFL is a copy-cat league, and the teams that are imitated are the teams that are the most successful. Makes sense, right? Well, it's about time someone woke up to the Steelers. They're not the most talented or the richest or the deepest. They're just the best, and it's because of a locker room where a bunch of talented guys become a bunch of talented guys pulling together.
I saw that on their closing drive against Baltimore in December, when Hines Ward and Nate Washington each made three catches before Santonio Holmes stepped in to produce the game winner. The Steelers had done it so many times last year that players hardly seemed surprised.
"We're like a family," Ward said afterward. "Everyone trusts each other."
Tell me the last time you heard those words from the Dallas locker room. The last time I saw Romo, Witten and Owens in the same picture was when, after a late-season victory, they were brought together by national TV to answer questions about Owens' alleged rift with Romo -- with the wide receiver reportedly annoyed that his quarterback-du-jour was playing favorites.
Please. I've heard it too many times before.
It's always something with Dallas, and I guess owner Jerry Jones grew as tired of it as the rest of us did. That's why he put the gag order on his coaches. That's why he released Pacman. That's why he released T.O. He seems to be doing what he should have done a long time ago, which is to keep the Cowboys focused on pulling together instead of pulling apart.
The Steelers learned that a long, long time ago. You didn't see them bidding for Owens. You didn't see them reaching out to Pacman. You didn't hear them complaining about Ben Roethlisberger, though he wasn't ranked in the top 10, 15 or 20 quarterbacks in last year's passer ratings. Nope, to find him you had to scroll down to the 24th position, where he sat with his 17 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions.
Big deal. He knew how to win. And he demonstrated it over and over and over. So did his teammates because, as Tomlin said, they "hung together." Maybe Dallas will discover how to do that someday. All I know is that their chances just got better.
Re: Cowboys get hint: It's about men of Steel, not one Superman
by StillRush » Mon Mar 09, 2009 2:31 pm
Nice to read someone giving props to what everyone in Steeltown already knows. The Steelers are the best run organization in pro sports from top to bottom, and that breeds team chemistry, a winning attitude, success and therefore more Superbowls than anybody else!!
Those moves will help the Cowgirls eventually, but they'll never win until they get a winner under center when it counts the most, unlike Tony Choko...
Those moves will help the Cowgirls eventually, but they'll never win until they get a winner under center when it counts the most, unlike Tony Choko...
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