Football is back.  The Dallas Cowboys are the first NFL team to begin training camp.  In reading reports about the first day, I was struck by the focus of the four primary wide receivers for the Cowboys.

1.  Patrick Crayton – although he wrestled about contract issues over the summer, Jason Garrett loves what Crayton has brought to training camp.  Garrett (offensive coordinator) spoke of him doing all the big things and all the little things.  A good professional.

2.  Miles Austin – Austin has not let his sudden success in the NFL go to his head.  His last two tweets on twitter read:

• “Blocked my %#* today!
• Out of meetings. Had a good first practice but I dropped a ball I should have caught in the second one… Gotta work harder!!

3.  Dez Bryant – arrived 2 hours early for the first practice.  Was the first player on the field, 45 minutes before anybody else.  Made great plays that impressed everybody.

4.  Roy Williams – was booed when he dropped a ball and then makes a big deal out of Dez Bryant not carrying his shoulder pads for him.

Kudos to Crayton, Miles and Bryant.  Whatever is opposite of kudos to Williams.  If Roy would just play football and try to earn what has been invested in him, he would be in a much better position.  This is not the first time that we have highlighted his ability to jack his jaws.  At least Terrell Owens caught passes while running his mouth.

I have friends and family in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex.  Would somebody please take a muzzle out to Valley Ranch and put it on Roy Williams?  For a guy who caught 38 passes last year, he is being quoted more than Drew Brees.  Brees just happened to win the Super Bowl MVP.

If we can’t get a muzzle, then will some other members of the Dallas Cowboys distract the reporters?  Perhaps Marion Barber could start talking about seeing UFO’s.  Or DeMarcus Ware could ramble on about his thoughts on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.  Anything would be better than letting another reporter get a microphone near Roy Williams.

I have previously commented about the words coming out of Roy Williams mouth (here and here).  His mouth is putting up great stats.  If only his hands were attached to the same body.

Here is the latest from Williams after workouts at the Cowboys’ facility,

You know, last year around this time we were throwing and catching and it wasn’t very good. Just to be quite honest with you, we were missing balls, and bad throws and drops and all that in the off-season that carried over to the season. But this year, we’re connecting like Montana and Rice.

Oh, my.  Let’s dissect this a bit.

1.  Williams did not need to be honest with us about last year.  Everybody believes him on that part of the statement.  Last year wasn’t very good.

2.  Did Williams just compare himself and Romo to Joe Montana and Jerry Rice?  I can’t even comment on that.

3.  If he was going to compare the QB-WR tandem, what would be wrong with some Dallas Cowboys’ greats?  Staubach to Pearson???  Aikman to Irvin???

4.  In honor of Allen Iverson, “It’s PRACTICE.  C’mon…practice.  I mean…practice.”  The quarterback and receiver should be connecting in practice in the spring.  Let’s see what happens in the fall and winter months.

In the midst of last season’s Dallas Cowboys’ schedule, Roy Williams complained that he and quarterback Tony Romo were not on the same page.  He quipped, “It’s not even funny.”  Now that it is the offseason, Williams continues to talk.  Never mind that he never has performed any where near his pay grade.  His latest comments are comical.  Cowboy fans can laugh now because if he continues to underperform, he won’t be on the field.  But why can’t he just be quiet until he does something?

This week he has been talking quite a bit.

I’m going to look at this (the arrival of Dez Bryant) as I’m the man, like I’ve always been.  And that’s never going to change.

3 problems with the short quote:

1.  He isn’t the man.

2.  He hasn’t been the man.

3.  He won’t be the man.

Miles Austin has been the man.  Miles Austin is the man.  Miles Austin and Dez Bryant will be the men.

Williams boasted about his off-season prep work to indicate that he won’t be dropping balls like he did last year.  Of what does this workout consist?  Catching 200 passes a week from an automatic throwing machine and 40-50 passes from Romo.  Let’s do the math.  On a 5 day work week, that is 40 passes from a machine daily and 10-13 from Romo.  Two questions about this.  First, what did he do last year in the off season?  Second, is that supposed to be an impressive number?  It doesn’t sound like it to me.

At a golf outing, Williams continued his affirmations of primacy.  He insisted that he is still the starting wide receiver.

Like I said when I first got here, ain’t no such thing as me sitting on the bench.  Never in my life.

We will see.  We will see.

With 1:55 remaining in the playoff game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings, Bret Favre threw an 11 yard touchdown pass to Visanthe Shiancoe.  After the extra point, the Vikings lead was at 34-3.  That was the final score.

The television cameras caught Dallas linebacker, Keith Brooking, sprinting to the Vikings sideline to castigate Vikings coach, Brad Childress.  His complaint?  That Minnesota was running up the score and embarrassing the Cowboys.

After the game Brooking said,

I thought it was classless.  I thought it was BS.  Granted, we get paid to stop them, but we had zero timeouts left.  I didn’t think there was any call for that.

Wade Phillips agreed with Brooking.  Most people don’t agree with Phillips or Brooking.  On an ESPN poll, only 20% of those surveyed agreed with the complaining Cowboys.

I am a fan of the Dallas Cowboys and think that this years addition of Brooking has been an instrumental part of their playoff run.  I know he is an emotional player and love watching his pre-game rant that inspires his team.  However, he is wrong on this matter.  He should have trotted back to his sideline after the touchdown.  Any emotions of being upset should have been focused on himself and his team for not stopping the Vikings.

I’m all for mercy rules in sporting events…for amateurs.  Once athletes begin being subsidized for their athletic abilities (college and pro sports), the mercy rules are out.  Brooking and the Cowboys are being paid millions to play the game.  It is their job to keep the opponent from scoring.  If they can’t do it, then they need to regroup and consider what they should do the next time.

Brad Childress paraphrased Lou Holtz in responding to Brooking.  Holtz said that it is the job of the offense to score and the job of the defense is to stop them.  I agree.  Favre and the Vikings are supposed to try to score.  Brooking and the Cowboys are supposed to stop them.  If you fail, don’t blame the other team.  That is called whining.

If I were an NFL athlete, I would be more humiliated if the other team did not try.  So, to paraphrase Jesus, don’t worry about the splinter in somebody else’s eye when you have a log in yours.

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It’s not even funny, Roy Williams.  Williams considers himself the #1 receiver for the Dallas Cowboys.  He might line up in the number 1 spot, he’s paid like the number 1, but number 1 he is not.

Miles Austin in the past 3 games has more yards, more touchdowns and more of a presence than Williams has in his entire 16 game Cowboy career.  (Yards: Austin – 482, Williams 447; TDs: Austin – 5, Williams – 3).  What is Williams explanation of this statistical disconnect?

He says it is because quarterback Tony Romo throws good passes to Austin and every other receiver.  Williams gets bad passes instead.  He cries that he has to stretch, reach and whatever else to catch a ball.

I think there are some old adages about one’s perception is something is true about everybody but you.  If only Romo would throw to Williams like he throws to Austin, Williams would be a monster receiver.  It is apparent that Williams does not remember the numerous dropped passes, the lazy routes or his inability to get open like the other receivers.

He claims that he and Romo are not on the same page.  Think about that.  If Austin, Patrick Crayton, Sam Hurd and Jason Whitten are on the same page as Romo, perhaps Williams needs to catch up by turning a few pages in his book to where everybody else is reading.

Williams said about the situation, “It’s not even funny.”  That is one statement with which I concur.

Tony Romo (QB) – 351 yards, 2 TDs, 0 interceptions.  He played with much better focus and leadership.

Miles Austin (WR) – 250 receiving yards, 2 TDs including the game winner in overtime.  The 250 yards broke the Cowboy record previously set by Bob Hayes in 1966.  Had he not dropped 2 earlier passes that would have been touchdowns, he would have had the perfect game.

Keith Brookings (LB) – the middle linebacker was in on 11 tackles and had 1 sack.  He continues to come up with big plays.  Plays smart and with some intensity.

Tashard Choice (RB) – with only 8 carries, he had 92 yards and 1 TD.  With Marion Barber at less than 100 percent, Choice should have had more than 8 carries.

Defensive Line – 5 penalties for being offsides?

Patrick Crayton (WR) – Crayton had the opportunity to step up big with the absence of Roy Williams.  He had 4 catches.  More importantly, he set up Kansas City’s first score with a fumbled punt.  Another fumble was recovered.  He had at least 2 passes go through his hands.

Flozelle Adams (OT)- will he ever overcome the mindless penalties?

Wade Phillips (Coach) – see above notes on penalties.  After all of the discussion this past week, the Cowboys did their best to provide Kansas City with their first win of the season.  Discipline is simply missing from this team.

The above picture is from video shot by the Dallas Fox affiliate.  It reportedly shows Tony Romo after the 4th down incomplete pass in the end zone at the end of the game Sunday in Denver.  According to reports, Romo tried to gather his team for one more play after the 4th down try failed.  He then raised his three fingers as if to ask the referee if that had been third down.  When he discovered otherwise, the video reportedly shows Romo uttering a curse word.

Are you kidding me?  Everybody in the stadium and watching at home knew that the Cowboys had exhausted all 4 downs…except for the quarterback?

This incident would be enough to cause fans to scratch their heads.  The problem is that this was not an isolated incident.  Consider the other head-scratching actions.

Romo chose to throw to his 4th best receiver (Sam Hurd) on the last two plays against Champ Bailey.  Bailey is perhaps the best defensive back in the NFL.  Even Tom Brady said that he was amazed that they kept going after Bailey.  It was not as if Bailey was having a bad game.  He had already intercepted Romo earlier in the game with a great catch.

Speaking of 4th best receiver, Roy Williams is not a #1 receiver.  His routes are too simple and predictable.  He has not demonstrated that he has good hands.  Unfortunately for him, he was off the field on the last plays because Romo left Williams out to dry on a high pass across the middle.  Williams was drilled in the midsection by a Denver defender.

Where was Jason Witten in all of this?  The Broncos did double team him.  In theory, this should have meant other guys getting open.  But Romo repeatedly threw zig patterns when the receivers zagged.

On the interception by Bailey earlier in the game, Miles Austin apparently ran the wrong route.  I don’t know how the passing game could be scored anything other than with a failing grade on Sunday.

Terence Newman was beaten by Bronco receiver Brandon Marshall.  Marshall then began weaving back and forth across the field until he reached the end zone.  Newman’s response after the game was that Marshall should have been flagged for throwing Newman off of him at the start of the play.  No determination to get better.  Only excuses.

Speaking of excuses, I counted three times at the end of the games that Cowboy receivers begged for interference calls when they were not able to catch a Romo pass.  It seems as if the Cowboys have developed a culture where somebody has to be accountable.  It’s just not going to be any of them.

I would love to see them quit complaining, excusing and forgetting what down it is.  I love how hard the running back group of Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice run the ball.  I loved Keith Brookings huge hit in the hole when Denver failed to convert on a 4th down.

If the Cowboys are going to regroup, they need a mental toughness that they have yet to demonstrate this year.