Bigger is better and other Cowboys observations

Troy Aikman, how I've missed you. Watching the Cowboys' preseason game vs. Tennessee, and the new stadium looks gorgeous, much-touted field-length HD big-screen included. Holy cow, it's big--definitely does Texas and the Cowboys justice. As big as it is, Jerry Jones has asserted repeatedly that it's high enough never to interfere with play, but half-way through the third quarter in the very first game played on the new grounds, a Titans punt hit it and dropped dead around midfield, and I thought it was AMAZING. You'd think something like that would be considered a quirk of the field of play and ruled the football equivalent of baseball's ground-rule double (what would that be?), but instead, in what continues to become ever-more-stifling NFL protocol, it was ruled a replay of the down. That's probably the right decision--can you imagine every other team in the league putting up some huge obstruction in the name of enhancing home-field advantage? Could have had an interesting wrinkle with that. And yes, I'll readily admit you'd never hear the end of it were we talking about FedEx Field and the Redskins instead.

As for the game itself, I can't tell you happy I am to have Mat McBriar back. Bill Parcells always touted the importance of winning the field-position battle and not neglecting "hidden yardage," and McBriar's season-ending injury against the Cards last year was a hugely-overlooked factor in the Cowboys' second-half decline last year. I suppose teams can survive with mediocre punters, but once you've had a Pro Bowl punter, you recognize the difference a guy like that makes. What were the other big factors? I'd rank them in the following order:

1. Kyle Kosier's injury: No team can survive a hole at left guard. Kosier went down, and suddenly the running game declined, and Romo/Johnson got sacked more often. Good thing in all that was finally arriving at a verdict on Cory Procter: back-up.
2. Felix Jones's injury: Nothing excited me more about the Cowboys in training camp last year than watching them install plays for Felix Jones. Lots of screens, backfield motion, lining up in the slot, and lining up alongside Marion Barber rather than always spelling him. He proved his worth immediately, averaging almost nine yards per carry in the five games he played. He's more dynamic than Barber, and the Cowboys missed that element until "discovering" Tashard Choice toward the end of the season.
3. Brad Johnson: It was pretty obvious in training camp that Johnson had nothing left, so I don't know why the Cowboys went into the season with just two quarterbacks on the roster. You'd like to think your backup could at least perform serviceably if called upon--you know, go at least .500 if your starter's going to miss a few weeks--but Johnson was so unserviceable that the Cowboys had to sign Brooks Bollinger. Brooks. Bollinger. Johnson displayed about as much field awareness as Drew Bledsoe, repeatedly held onto the ball too long, and couldn't throw a pass longer than 10 yards. It was like having to line up permanently in the red zone, only without the immediate possibility of scoring: short field, receivers all crammed into the small space in which Johnson could actually throw. What a failure.
4. Tony Romo: Reason #3 makes no sense without at least mentioning Romo. Already lacking Kosier and Jones, Romo's pinky injury vs. Arizona causing him to miss four weeks basically ended the Cowboys' season in week 6. Then, he came back with the team dynamic a shambles, not completely healed, lacking run support, and unable to find decent protection from his line. Of course, still hurt and with all the pressure on him to play savior, he reverted sickeningly often to the Favrian tendencies Parcells always hoped to exorcise. Not to mention all the drama, which I won't because I think that stuff's overrated even though Troy himself disagrees.
5. Poor tackling: I like to attribute this to the fact that the Cowboys practiced without pads for most of training camp, which obviously meant no tackling. I got it from a first-hand source that some of the players appreciated the rest, but were concerned re: the lack of practice with respect to their tackling. It showed. Sloppy, undisciplined season for the defense. Why's discipline always a problem for the Cowboys on both sides of the ball? Topic for another day, perhaps.
   
6. Jason Garrett may have gone to Princeton, but he can't make adjustments: speaks for itself.
   

Anyway, glad McBriar's back. Now I'll wait and see whether Nick Folk starts landing his kickoffs inside the five.