Try Injuries AND A Hall Of Fame Coach
Over the weekend, the Star-Telegram featured this bit of nonsense from former Dallas Cowboys head coach and longtime assistant Dave Campo:
And as far as Campo is concerned, the biggest difference between him going 5-11 in his last season in Dallas and Parcells leading the Cowboys to a 10-6 mark and a wild-card playoff berth in 2003 was injuries.
"If we would have stayed healthy while I was there, we would have won a few more games," Campo said. "How many that is, I don't know. But when you lose players, and especially significant players, for any length of time ... you are going to have a problem. I thought they stayed healthy last year and I thought that was as big a reason they made the jump as any."
By all accounts, Dave Campo is a really nice guy. His defenses were always among the league's best when he was coordinator. And there's no doubt that losing Troy Aikman and Joey Galloway right off the bat when his coaching tenure began was a blow, as were the salary cap difficulties and Larry Lacewell's drafting.
But the biggest difference in the success of the Dallas Cowboys last year after three straight 5-11 seasons is that guy with the nickname Tuna.
Bill Parcells just wins. For gawd's sake, he won with Quincy Carter and smoke and mirrors last season -- and yes, he even dealt with a few injuries (none of the caliber of Galloway or Aikman, but then again, there weren't many players of that caliber ON last year's team, and Galloway was mostly an invisible receiver). Maybe Campo was misquoted, because I just can't imagine he meant to compare himself to the guy running things in Dallas these days.
(Update) Speaking of injuries, the Cowboys top draft pick, running back Julius Jones, suffered a broken shoulder against Cleveland. No decision has been made yet to put him on IR, but that seems likely. This latest draft class has been plagued by injuries, which is not good for a team that needed an infusion of talent.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 09/20/04 20:10 | Dallas Cowboys | Technorati
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