JIM LANG CHRISTMAS BLOG

BYLINE: JIM LANG
FOR RODPEDERSEN.COM

NFL

The 2013 Dallas Cowboys officially “jumped the shark” late Sunday afternoon at AT&T Stadium.

The sight of receiver Dez Bryant walking off of the field and heading back to the Cowboys locker room with 1:21 left to play in the fourth quarter is a perfect symbol of another lost season for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys had an enormous 26-3 lead at halftime over the Green Bay Packers, and then proceeded to blow it, losing 37-36.

Someone on Twitter (@evansilva) noted than in the past two weeks the Cowboys have faced two back-up quarterbacks, Matt Flynn and Josh McCown, and allowed eight touchdowns passes. Adam Schefter of ESPN noted that going into the debacle against the Packers the Cowboys were 42-0 when leading by 20 or more points at the half.

The Cowboys are inventing new and unusual ways to blow safe leads and lose football games.

Their fans deserve better. But as long as Jerry Jones owns the team and refuses to allow his football people run the team, don’t expect anything to change.

Now this is a little thing but it goes a long way to explain the dysfunction that prevents the Cowboys from being an elite team.

When you click on the link on their team coaching staff the first name you see is Jason Garrett. The next four names are Jerry Jones and his kids; complete with a photo and full bio. The rest of the coaches are listed after the fact.

On the Packers’ official website there is a simple breakdown of the coaches and the position they are responsible for.

The bottom line is that Jerry Jones and his family will always come first in Dallas. Why would a high profile coach like a Jon Gruden or Bill Cowher ever leave the comfort of a Network Television job to take a job in Dallas when you know you will always have to take a back seat to Jerry and his kids?

Since winning Super Bowl 30 in January of 1996 the Cowboys are 2-7 in the post-season.

Jerry Jones’ greatest moment as the Cowboys owner took place during the time Jimmy Johnson coached the team. In Johnson’s five years in Dallas the Cowboys were 7-1 in the post-season and won two Super Bowls.

Eventually the massive egos of the two men could not coexist in Dallas and Johnson moved on.

Even when Jones hired Bill Parcells he was hiring a man who was in the twilight of his coaching career. Parcells was 62 years old and had coached 15 years in the NFL. While still a tough hombre, Parcells was far from the tyrant who ruled the Giants with an iron fist in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

As long as Jerry Jones owns the Cowboys he will never hire a coach that has full control of the team. Sure the Cowboys will continue to make huge amounts of money and draw big television ratings. But until Jerry swallow his pride and allows someone who knows that they’re doing to do their job, the Cowboys will never be considered an elite team in the NFL

NHL

The Leafs

After losing to the Florida Panthers Tuesday night the level of angst among the Leafs Nation has hit DefCon 2. (DefCon 1 is the stage where a team starts firing people.) The Leafs have lost two straight and five of their last six games. Take away their win over the Black Hawks last Saturday, and there hasn’t been a whole lot for Leafs fans to cheer about in December.

As the losses pile up the finger of blame is being pointed at anyone the fans can lash out at. They blame GM Dave Nonis for some of his off-season moves. They blame coach Randy Carlyle for the way he’s handling his players and not getting the most out of his injury depleted line-up on a nightly basis. They blame Dion Phaneuf, just because he’s Dion Phaneuf and he’s the captain.

The Leafs play the Coyotes, Red Wings and Rangers before the Christmas break. Anything less than winning at least two of the three games will send the Leafs Nation in a full blown Grinch-like panic.

In many ways the Leafs are desperately trying to hang on until Tyler Bozak and Dave Bolland are healthy and back in the line-up.

While that won’t cure all of the Leafs’ problems, at least Carlyle will have some legitimate depth at centre. Right now the Leafs are paper thin at the centre position and other teams are exploiting that weakness on a nightly basis.

The only thing working in the Leafs’ favour at the moment is the amount of mediocre-to-bad teams there are right now in the Eastern Conference. If the Leafs were in the Western Conference they would be toast. But in the East you always have a shot because of the amount of weak teams.

I can’t wait to see the second edition of HBO 24/7.  Between Carlyle fumbling around with a toaster and an avalanche of F-bombs it should make for some good entertainment.

The Anaheim Ducks

The Ducks live a quiet existence in Southern California, living and working down the road from the L.A. Kings

The Ducks are 6-0-1 in December and Bruce Boudreau is closing in on 300 career wins as a Head Coach in the NHL.

Meanwhile the players get to live in beautiful Orange County, California in relative anonymity and make money playing hockey. Where do I sign up for that gig?

While other markets, especially Canadian markets, live in a media and fan pressure-cooker every day teams like the Ducks can just fly under the radar and do their thing without anyone bothering them.  The most media a team like the Ducks faces is when they are in Canadian cities.

I have no doubt that players like Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf are some of the most proud Canadians you will ever meet. But having said that, why would they ever want to leave the good thing they have going in Anaheim?

Christmas

This is my last blog before the Christmas break. My next one will come before the New Year as I list my highs and lows of 2013. I just wanted to wish everyone a healthy and happy holiday.

Personally I am looking forward to my wife’s Christmas baking. Every year my wife makes four or five different types of Christmas cookies and squares and I make it a priority to eat as much of it as possible.

(Follow Jim on Twitter at @JimLangSports)