Here’s the NFC East trailer for the upcoming Madden 10, out in just a few weeks - enjoy!

“She is heartbroken,” said the source to the magazine. “She loves Tony. But it’s been difficult lately. He’s busy with his career and she’s getting ready to shoot her show (The Price of Beauty). They decided to part ways.”

There’s was plenty of controversy about Simpson in her relationship with Romo over the past two seasons. The countless shots of her in the suites wearing Romo’s pink #9 jersey gave fans around the nation even more reason to dislike the Cowboys.

Then who could ever forget the famous Cabo vacation fiasco that took place the week before the Cowboys lost to the Giants in the NFC Divisional playoffs in Dallas two seasons ago? Many felt that Simpson was a distraction to Romo, and now we shall see if the breakup remains, and if Romo plays better with the blonde bomber out of the picture.

“They were good together for along time,” says the source. “But I guess it wasn’t meant to be.”

Most of the responses still held that the Cowboys should retain the title and why they felt that to be the case.  Of course the writers responding to the question had their reasons why they should retain the title and then there were many comments from others about the topic.  Most brought up things such as merchandising, Super Bowl titles/appearances, etc.  One person also talked about how you can travel to other South and Central American countries and find numerous Cowboys fans.    For me, this would be the defining point in the argument.

When it comes to merchandising, the popularity of certain players plus other factors like current team records etc. will often determine the most purchased NFL jersey or other items.  You can look at Super Bowl wins versus appearances, but that is all or partly ancient history.  Or you can look at regional fan base versus national fan base and that, to me, is huge.  The Patriots rule the New England area, I’ve been up there and know that to be the case.  Cheeseheads (Packers fans) are quite prominent in the nation’s heartland and a little nation-wide.  The Steelers are truly beloved in the Pittsburgh and surrounding area, but not so much globally or even outside their region.  But the Cowboys’ fan base generally begins at the Mississippi and extends westward to include most of , oh, let’s say 25 states!  And as one of the fans mentioned, throw in Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Chile and it’s plain to see who rules the fans.

The only reason Europe, and I’ve spent considerable amounts of time there having been stationed in Germany for over four years while in the Army, isn’t a huge Cowboys area is the simple fact that the time difference precludes many people from actually viewing American football as opposed to soccer.  I rarely got to watch my team while living in Europe since they either weren’t on any TV channel or came on at 3 a.m! 

As I mentioned having been in the Army, let me also point out that it is probably the best institution in the world at being ethnically and racially balanced.  Guess who the majority of personnel rooted for when it came to the NFL?  That’s right, the Cowboys!  I also talked of having lived in the eastern regions of the U.S. and I had the opportunity to attend a Giants-Cowboys game in the Meadowlands.  I was very hesitant to wear my jersey, especially since I was attending with a die-hard Giants fan, but after arriving, I was surprised and put-at-ease by the enormous amounts of Cowboys jerseys sprinkling the stadium seats! 

Whether you want to admit it or not, there’s absolutely no doubt which NFL team deserves to be called, and still is called “America’s Team”……the Dallas Cowboys.

Ok, so maybe those two statements may be partially true, and maybe not. But here is a thought, what if the “D” in “Big D” plays better? That could help couldn’t it? Don’t let that 8th ranked defense bologna fool you, that is in terms of yards allowed, and as I’ve touched on before, the Cowboys special teams was less than spectacular last year, meaning opposing teams often had amazing field position to start their drives.

The harsh reality is that the Cowboys gave up 22.8 points per game last year. That was good enough to rank them 20th in the NFL.

The next big thing defensively is turnovers. The Cowboys were -11 in turnovers last year. That is dreadful. Now once again here come the Romo critics to point out that he threw 14 interceptions in 2008. True.

But the Dallas secondary only picked off 6 passes. In comparison, that means that Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu, Michael Griffin, Charles Woodson, and Nick Collins all picked off more passes on their own than the entire Cowboys secondary did last season. And that my friends cannot happen.

So, What is the key to the Cowboys success in 2009 you ask, allow fewer points, and create more turnovers. As the old saying goes, “Offense puts fans in the stands, but Defense wins championships.”

Ellis was quoted in the Dallas Morning News that he was upset about his lack of playing time, but threw out an interesting tidbit that fellow friend on the team DeMarcus Ware would actually remove himself from games so Ellis would play. Here’s the story:

During his final season as a Cowboy, Greg Ellis didn’t hide his displeasure about his limited playing time. According to Ellis, one of his prominent former teammates was so frustrated by the veteran’s diminished role that he’d hide from coaches during games to force them to put Ellis on the field.

“It’s a disgrace when DeMarcus Ware comes off the field just so I can get in the game and when the coaches tell him to come on the field, he tries to hide so I can play,” Ellis said during an appearance on ESPN 103.3’s Michael Irvin Show. “And you’re telling me we’re trying to win the Super Bowl?”

Seems that Ellis is a bit peeved about the way things went down in Big D, and now that he has another team, he’s going to go out of his way to take shots at his former employer.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones defended Tony Romo from criticism by Troy Aikman, who said that because success has come so quickly for the undrafted Eastern Illinois product that Romo “hasn’t fully grasped what being the Cowboys quarterback is all about.” “I’ve always been so amused about any talk of Tony and his focus on football and his work ethic,” Jones says. “Tony’s boring. He won’t talk about anything but football and the Cowboys and how to move the ball and what plays we should run. “I don’t know (that) I’ve been around anybody who’s just that into football. I wish he would talk more about spicy things, but I can’t get him to.”

Passing game guru Mike Martz is the coach who got the most out of coachable WR Roy Williams, whose lone Pro Bowl season came during Martz’s first year as the Lions’ offensive coordinator. Martz doesn’t see any reason why Williams, after a full off-season to learn the Cowboys’ system and work with Tony Romo, can’t have similar success with Dallas.

“I’m not sure what kind of demands they had on him (last year),” Martz told blog buddy Albert “Einstein” Breer of the Sporting News. “But he’s very intelligent, one of those guys who will do what you ask him to, and he really understands the position. “Because Roy’s a pretty intellectual guy, it has to make sense to him what you’re doing. He questions a lot of things, but that’s all very healthy, very good, as long as you have answers for him. And Jason (Garrett), with his disposition–he’s a bright coach with a good feel–it’s a perfect match.”

Jones was having a terrific year last season before a toe injury forced him out of action early.  He is also a talented pass receiver out of the backfield and a great kick/punt returner.  All that stands in his way of having a great ‘09 campaign would be OC Jason Garrett, who seemed to have some trouble integrating him into the offense last year before the injury. 

In fact, Garrett would be my choice for some of the Cowboys’ offensive struggles late last year.   As the old saying goes, “where there’s smoke there’s fire” and if all of your key offensive players are complaining that your play calling has become boring and predictable, then it probably has.  Yes, execution is important, but many of us fans, myself included, felt the same way last December.  Garrett has to do a much better job this year of getting the most out of all of his offensive weapons, like Felix Jones. 

With Tashard Choice showing great signs of promise last year as well, the Cowboys are in great shape to have one of the most dynamic backfields in the NFL.  A heavy dose of Felix Jones will go a long ways towards curing some of the Cowboys’ offensive woes of late.

First, in the backfield, the team is playing around with using Cowboys RB’s Marion Barber and Felix Jones — something it did sparingly last season when the two were healthy — on the field at the same time. It doesn’t have to be in traditional, two-back sets, either; Jones has the flexibility to split out and motion into or out of the backfield.

That’s not my way.

I’m far from my peak, I have not played or showed any comparison to what I did at South Florida and a lot of fans, writers, coaches don’t know that. Me and Orlando are two totally different players. You can’t coach me the same way you coach him. Just like Nnamdi and Asante Samuel, we have two totally different styles.

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