Colder Than Jimmy Johnson
In Big D, you'd better do it Coach Parcells's way.
If not, you're gonna be doing it elsewhere:
In a move coach Bill Parcells might have used to send a message to his young team, the Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday afternoon released second-year cornerback and kick return man Derek Ross.Nameplate removed, stuff in trash can. Ouch!Parcells cut Ross a day after talking about accountability and the maturity of some players. Ross, 23, was a 2002 third-round pick from Ohio State, fumbled twice on kick returns in a loss Thursday to Miami.
[snip]
The consensus was that Ross, the No. 3 cornerback behind starters Terence Newman and Mario Edwards, had played well in his "nickel" role. But he missed a running session last Friday, the day after the club's Thanksgiving Day loss to the Miami Dolphins, and then skipped a Monday charity-related event at a local hospital.
However, Parcells and Ross had clashed since training camp. Parcells criticized Ross for relying on raw ability instead of technique when covering receivers and carrying the ball loosely on kickoff returns. Parcells wasn't pleased either with how Ross handled the knee injury that kept him out of those first four games.
[snip]
Ross' nameplate was removed and his locker cleaned out, with clothes and sneakers filling a trash can, when reporters were allowed into the locker room Tuesday. Also gone was the newspaper clipping Ross kept that included Parcells calling him "a street player," comparing Ross' playing style to a dog chasing cars.
Don't mess with Coach Parcells.
More here from Jean Jacques Taylor:
A team representative met Ross in the players' parking lot about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and informed him of his release. His locker was empty and the nameplate above his locker had been removed by noon.
And more here from Mickey Spagnola.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/02/03 21:43 | Dallas Cowboys | Technorati
Previous Entry | Home | Next Entry
Comments
Add Comments
While it is not required, creating an account for commenting provides a number of benefits (such as comment editing and bypassing the captcha challenge). You may log in to your account here.
No flames or impolite behavior. Any questions, see the site policies. Older posts are moderated (because of spammers), so if your post does not appear immediately, that could be why.
HTML will be stripped. URLs will be transformed into hyperlinks.
[b]text[/b] will produce bold text. [i]text[/i] will produce italicized text.
Comments for this post must be approved before being published. Thank you!
BLOG
» Create Account
» Log In
DISCLAIMER
Content and design copyright © 1997-2008, Kevin Whited.
Posts represent the views of Kevin Whited (and occasional guest bloggers) only, and do not necessarily reflect the views of employers, family, friends, or significant others.