Dallas Cowboys "State of the Team" Press Conference

Chaos6 · #1 (**permalink**) 10-09-2004

Owner:

Good Morning. As you all know it has been an unusual off-season this year. Teams have made an unprecedented number of trades, and Free Agents have been signed to unfathomable contracts. We have been a small part of the trade action this off-season and were in the market on some Free Agents. However we felt that many of those Free Agents were severely over priced for what they could bring to our team. We did manage to sign a few lower profile free agents that we think can come in and help our team.

The staff and I sat down this off-season to look at our team and decide where our focus should be and what our goals were realistically for this season. We saw a team that had some aging players at key positions with young talent behind them on the offensive side of the ball, and a few holes on the defensive side that needed to be filled. If you look at our off-season moves you will notice it has been focused on getting younger and faster, improving our defensive secondary and improving the offensive line. We decided to make the focus this year on the future.

With that in mind I would like to go over some of the changes made to our team and where we are trying to get to this year. I will cover each area of the team and then I will open it up for questions to either myself or the coach.

I will start with the all important Quarterback position. We realized Quincy was not the quarterback for this team and we needed to move in another direction. We made a deal with the Texans that brought in Drew Henson. We feel he has the potential to be a good quarterback in this league and we want to find out what we have in him. He is going into preseason as the starter, its up to him to show us what he can do. We have brought in Vinny to help mentor Henson, show him the ropes, and Vinny accepts that as his role. Now if Henson doesn’t show he is up to the job, or has problems, then we have Vinny who is ready to step in at any time. But the coaching staff and I like the upside that Henson has and we feel we need to see if the Kid can play in this league.

Moving on to the running backs… We drafted Julius Jones with the expectations that he could come right in and get things done. With Hambrick out of the picture it will be up to him to show he can carry the load. We looked into a couple of veteran backs in free agency and even brought Eddie George in to look at him. But we feel confident that Jones is up to the task and that Rashard Lee is a good change up back to come in and give Jones a breather. With Anderson moving out in a trade for future draft picks Jamar will have to step up and take over. While he doesn’t give us all the options Anderson did as far as moving out of the backfield to catch a screen or check down, he makes up for it with his exceptional and powerful blocking.

At receiver we brought in Keyshawn Johnson to give us that Possession receiver we have needed for quite some time. Antonio appears ready to become a starter this year with Terry Glenn at the third receiver spot. We have an outstanding front group of receivers. We brought in Bryan Gilmore and Greg Lewis to fill in the depth chart. These two guys bring a lot of speed to the team and show a lot of potential. And they may also be able to return kicks.

Jason Witten continues to show us that he is ready to be one of the top tight ends in the league. The kid can do everything and he is tough. Dan Campbell adds veteran leadership at the position along with exceptional blocking skills. We brought in a rookie in Ben Utecht that seems to be able to catch anything and shows a lot of promise.

We knew we really needed to get better on the Offensive line if we were going to go with a rookie quarterback and a rookie running back. I want everyone to know we did talk to the agents of several free agent linemen, but in the end the asking price for those guys got too high. We do feel we improved our line over last year. With Flozell and Allen both coming off Pro Bowl seasons last year the left side of out line is pretty solid. At center Rookie Jacob Rogers is really going to push Dinapoli for the starting job this preseason. Gurode is ready to take the next step at right guard and we brought in Barry Sims via trade to anchor the right tackle position.

We have made some changes on the defensive side that we think only made an already good defense even better. On the line we brought in Marcellus Wiley who is a definite upgrade over Ekuban. We signed rookie free agent Nathaniel Adibi. This kid played line backer in college but shows he knows how to get to the quarterback. He will be making the switch to defensive end and should be a great pass rush specialist for us in the dime. I don’t know how this kid was still available but we are glad we got him. We brought in Brian Young via trade to help take some double teams off of La’Roi. And Eric downing and Chad Eaton are both capable of rotating in to keep those guys fresh.

Bradie James is another kid that looks ready to become a starter. He will be competing with Adrian Ross, another free agent singing for the left outside linebacker job. Dat Nguyen, a guy I feel is the most under rated linebacker in the game, returns to hold down the mike spot and Dexter the other outside position. We brought in a young guy that is still rough but shows a lot of promise in Middle Line Backer Grant Wiley. And Josh Stammer should be able to fill in solidly if there were an injury.

Terence Newman should only get better in his second year holding down the number one corner, and we brought Derek Ross back for a second tour with the Dallas Cowboys. He seems to have his act together now and should do a great job at the other corner. Pete Hunter continues to show improvement and looks ready to play the nickel spot. We signed B.J. Tucker and Von Hutchins. These guys can run with anyone and have a lot of talent. They still need a lot of work but with their raw talent they could turn out to be good pick ups.

Roy and Darren will be switching sides. Roy will move to the Strong Safety position where he can play the way he plays best. Stuffing the run and blitzing. Woodson will move to the Free Safety spot where he doesn’t take so much punishment and can add some veteran leadership in coverage. We are hopeful this will prolong Woodson’s carrier a few more years. We signed J.R. Reed, another rookie with a lot of speed and raw talent. And we brought in Mel Mitchell via trade to back up Roy.

At punter we have another Rookie in Matt McBriar. With the release of Toby Gowin we again leave it up to our outstanding kicking coach to develop this young guy into a solid NFL punter.

What a mistake we made last year in releasing Woody Dantzler, when he showed up on the free agent list we had to bring him back. Woody is just a football player. The guy can do everything. He is a great kick returner and throughout his carrier has played quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and safety. When you have a chance to add a guy to your team that can do just about anything you ask him to you have to bring him in.

I’ll now open it up for questions to either myself or the coach……

titansrule · #2 (**permalink**) 10-09-2004

that was a good press conference.

Q. How do you see your prospects of making the play-offs this year, as you have reffered to it as a "focus on the future"?

Chaos6 · #3 (**permalink**) 10-09-2004

Coach:

Ill take this one.... While we are focusing on the future of this team, that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to win every game. My job is to coach the guys I'm given to the best of my ability so they can go out and win games. But at the same time we dont want to sell out the future for the sake of trying to win now. I think we have a verry talented group here that will continue to improve every year. Now its just a matter of "How quickly can these guys get it." If we can gel together as a team and these young guys listen to what I tell them and learn the game we can and will win games. But if I have a bunch of hard headed kids then it will be hard going.

Look... we made the playoffs last year with a bus driver at quarterback, a Larry Allen that couldnt stay on the field for 2 series in a row, and a running back that would rather run out of bounds then run someone over. But on the other hand, everyone else in the division has improved thier team also so we could actually be a better team but not have as good a record as we did last year.

I will do all I can to coach these guys and win games. One game at a time. Im not into making predictions and looking that far ahead. Prognosticating is an exercise in futility.

titansrule · #4 (**permalink**) 10-09-2004

thanks coach. are you worried about your lack of experience and playing time, and possible lack of chemistry between henson and jones?

Chaos6 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-09-2004

Coach:

Well you always have to worry when you are start a young guy. Does he have the knowledge to do the job? Thats what we are trying to find out. These guys have the tools to get it done. I know that. But I need to know if they have what it takes to play in this league. We will find that out this year, under fire. And if things dont work out... well then we know what we need to use our draft picks on next year.

Im not too worried about my running backs. Running back is the easiest position for guys to come right out of college and jump into at this level. But I need to see where I have to go next year as far as quarterback is concerned. Can Henson do a good enough job that I'm confortable with him starting again next year? Or do I need to look into drafting or trading for a quarterback next year?

Look Vinny's not much better then Henson is. Vinny has the experience, yeah, but Henson has better upside and Vinny's not gonna be around much longer. I need to get this kid out there and see what I have now. And if he falls on his face, then I have Vinny to stick in there and I go looking for someone else next year.

But I think I have put everything in place to let this kid succeed. With a good Offensive line and a good core group of receivers and tight ends. If the kid has anything he should be okay out there. All the kid needs to do is drive the bus this year. Show me he can manage and we will be fine. And besides... you media guys think I can just go out and call 1-800-get a quarterback? Its not like I have alot of options here. Give the kid time before you shoot him down...okay?

jdcoplnd · #6 (**permalink**) 10-09-2004

You have a terrific defense, in my opinion. But how do you see this defense stopping the offenses in your division? And how will your offense get past Philly or Washington's defense?

McNabb/Fred Taylor/Terrell Owens/Joe Horn/Larry Fitzgerald?

Brunell/Portis/gardner/Coles?

Ghs · #7 (**permalink**) 10-09-2004

Coach, If Drew doesn't play well, and Vinny goes down, How do you see your season ending up?

#8 (**permalink**) 10-09-2004

The cowboys are my second favorite team, I am liking that someone started a franchise with them. I love how you guys have the patience to write out in detail on these posts. I like the move of puting Henson in as your quarterback, in my opinion i might have done the same thing. He is real young and has the potential to be a surprise in the NFL for your team. Any positions your lackin depth coach?

phatboyty · #9 (**permalink**) 10-10-2004

this isnt a franchise its the sim league

Chaos6 · #10 (**permalink**) 10-10-2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdcoplnd

You have a terrific defense, in my opinion. But how do you see this defense stopping the offenses in your division? And how will your offense get past Philly or Washington's defenses?

*Smirks* How is it that you can say we have a terrific defense and then ask how we are going to stop another team?.... We are going to play defense, with our terrific Defense. I understand your second question and everyones concerns about how our offence will perform.... I have my own concerns there.... alot of young guys out there.... they gotta go out an prove themselves. If they go out an exicute like they are supposed to I think our defense will keep us in alot of games.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghsstrtkl65

Coach, If Drew doesn't play well, and Vinny goes down, How do you see your season ending up?

Not so good. *Laughter from the media* Look guys, Im not trying to be funny here. If I loose one quarterback and the other guy cant play quarterback then obviously our team wont do so well. But hey, thats life in football. You cant go into every season saying "What if this guy gets hurt and the next guy cant play?" Thats what we have backups for. And you need to hope you got the right guys back there that can step in and play if something happens.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mossafied84

Any positions your lackin depth coach?

I feel ok with this team where its at right now.... But the bottom of my roster is fluid. I'm always looking.... If I see someone that I think can help our team then I may pick him up. These kids have to go out and show me they can play.... If they dont Ill bring in someone else and give them the oportunity to show what they can do.

Chaos6 · #11 (**permalink**) 10-12-2004

Ok guys if there are no more questions.... We will wrap this up and see you again before the start of the season.