Ex-Cowboy Michael Irvin, one of the greatest wide receivers in Cowboys history, had some interesting things to say about current Cowboys WR Roy Williams. While making his Super Bowl prediction on NFL Network Irvin said,

I won’t take Dallas until Dallas has whatever it needs to stop playing 10 vs. 11. And with Roy Williams on the field, they’re playing 10 vs. 11. Now, if they put the young boy Dez Bryant in? You better believe I’ll take Dallas.”

Hear that? 10 vs 11.

According to the Dallas Morning News, in 25 regular-season games with the Cowboys, Williams was the target of 128 passes from QB Tony Romo. He only caught 57 of them. And once again during the preseason, Williams and Romo did appear to be on the same page.

Don’t worry Michael. These things will work themselves out on their own and once Dez starts producing more than Roy on the field, the Cowboys will be hard pressed to keep Bryant out of the starting lineup. In my opinion, the Cowboys traded the wrong player to the Chargers. They should have kept Crayton and shipped Roy to San Diego.

So much for all the critics! What do they all know anyways? Today, Cowboys rookie WR Dez Bryant, selected 24th overall, squashed all their doubt and uncertainly regarding the possibility of him looking to get paid top 10 money and becoming a rookie hold out.

Dez became the first first-round draft pick of the 2010 NFL Draft to sign a contact with his team. Bryant’s deal puts to rest all the naysayers and guarantees the rookie wide receiver will be on the practice field when the Cowboys open training camp practices in San Antonio on Saturday.

Bryant said in a statement,

This was very important to me to be able to get this done in time for the first practice. I want to help this team. I want to compete. I can’t wait to start playing football again.”

Bryant signed a five-year deal worth a reported $11.8 million dollars with $8.5 million dollars guaranteed. The contract is just shy of last year’s 24th pick, Peria Jerry, ($13.25 million), but has more guaranteed dollars than Peria’s $7.55M guaranteed.

Bryant also said,

This was my call. I told Eugene (his agent) that I wanted to be in camp on time. I just want to play football.”

And so here he is, signed and ready to play in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys. Forget the past kid, go out and make then say, “WOW!” Bryant is nor worried about playing time or even starting, but he wants to be on the field. “Don’t get me wrong. I would love to start, but I don’t care about it,” Dez said. “I just want to earn my playing time and do whatever it takes to help this team.”

Roy Williams, you have just been put on notice!

Welcome back to a second season of the Dallas Cowboys Star Report. Last year didn’t finish up quite like we wanted. After an incredible 13-3 season, we whiffed against the Gaints in the Divisional Playoff game, and I won’t even go into how we lost that game. As the title suggests – FORGET THE PAST, it is time to move on. You should notice however, that it has taken me 6 months to forget the past and get on here and start season 2.

But the time is now and I strongly believe that this is the year the Cowboys not only return to the promise land, but they win it all. That is right, I think the Dallas Cowboys have assembled a team that will get by the NFC with little problems and not only win one playoff game, but win three. Making the first team in the NFL to win 6 Super Bowls overall. It is my opinion, take it or leave it.

Now, I cannot confirm this as of right now – been pretty hard communicating with anyone in the states, since I am still in London. It is almost 1am, early Tuesday morning in London which is around 6pm in Los Angeles, but here is the deal everyone in the states will hear sometime tomorrow during the day and folks out here in London tomorrow night.

Tony Romo is getting a BIG FAT contract! Jerry Jones, Romo and the Cowboys organization are having a press conference tomorrow and will be announcing that Romo is getting a 6-Year, $68 million extension. The contract will include $30 million guaranteed.

Jerry Jones knows how to make someone feel secure in his job and I think he has seen enough. How much more confident will Romo be playing the rest of the season and the rest of his football career knowing he is secure financially.

Good job to Jerry getting this done. Hopefully, I am right on this one, and I do not look like a boob when my plane touches down tomorrow at LAX around 4pm.

With the Cowboys needing help on the defensive side of the ball, with the season ending injury to Jason Ferguson, they went out and nabbed a “tank” to help out later on in the season.

The Dallas Cowboys signed suspended defensive tackle Terry “Tank” Johnson to a two year deal. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

According to both head coach QB Wade Phillips and owner QB Jerry Jones, the Cowboys were already doing the research on Johnson. This was something they were already looking into and it was not something done to fill a need.

Steven’s take:
I do not like this signing at all. Do I believe in giving people a second chance? Yes.

However, I believe Tank Johnson was already given a 2nd and even a 3rd chance in Chicago. I am not sure he has learned anything from his past mistakes. I certainly hope he proves me wrong and he stays out of trouble. Right now, the Cowboys are on a roll and the last thing they need are distractions.

The Cowboys have their share of players that are all banged up, but the news is getting worse for their regular-season opener against their division rival, the New York Giants.

Head coach Wade Phillips confirmed in his press conference on Friday that WR Terry Glenn will not play against the Giants. Phillips also informed the media that the Cowboys medical staff is in the process of gathering more information on the knee injury that will sideline Glenn. Glenn was re-injured during his first practice after having arthroscopic knee surgery on the 1st of August.

Phillips also said that this knee injury is a new one, and does not relate to Glenn’s previous injury and that the receiver’s status beyond Sunday is not known.

Matt Mosley of ESPN, is reporting that Terry Glenn is actually out for the season, but that the Cowboys do not want to go public with that just yet. We shall see, and a story definitely worth keeping a close eye on.

Other injuries that are of concern, CB Terrance Newman missed practice again and although some feel he will be ready to go on Sunday night, others are not that sure. The defensive side of the ball has the most injuries. Besides Newman, the Cowboys are still unsure of LBs Greg Ellis and Kevin Burnett.

Steven’s Take:
Glenn will be missed, but if the Cowboys have strength on offense it is their receiving corp. WR Patrick Crayton will fill the No. 2 spot behind T.O. and Sam Mills and Miles Austin will have to step up and contribute. Look for TE Jason Witten to get more looks as well as RB Marion Barber to make catches coming out of the backfield.

The defensive side of the ball is where the Cowboys should be concerned. With the aggressive 3-4 defense the Cowboys will be running, linebackers are a necessity. With the injuries to Ellis and Burnett, the Cowboys will have 6 healthy linebackers, meaning they will only be able to rotate 2 players in and out of the lineup.

I really enjoy all the moves new Head Coach Wade Phillips appears to be making with the Cowboys. There is a new sheriff in town, and right now all his shots are golden.

The latest, involves starting cornerback Terrance Newman and his ailing heel. Phillips has said that they will be keeping Newman out for the rest of the preseason. Newman who has a strained heel, will now be able to focus on getting healthy and making sure he is ready for the games that matter, the opening day game against the rival New York Giants.

“It’s a little worse than we thought it was,” Phillips said of Newman’s heel. “He’s been out for a week anyway, so in and out, it’ll probably be a two-week thing, just into next week. I’ll be surprised if he plays in the Thursday game either.”

Some may see this as catering to the players and even a sign of weakness. During the Bill Parcells’ reign at Valley Ranch, the Cowboys players felt an urgency to get back to the playing field sooner coming off an injury. Not the case anymore.

Fourth round draft pick, rookie WR Isaiah Stanback, missed all of training camp and never felt pressure to rush out onto the field. After only five days of practice, Stanback’s performance last week against Denver shows this was clearly the right approach.
Get them healthy and get them ready for the games that count.

Maybe, just maybe, Phillips’ new style of handling bumps, bruises and injuries will help the Cowboys down the stretch as they make their playoff push in December.

Fresh off a 31-20 thumping at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos safety John Lynch said the Cowboys blitzed too much, over prepared, played too hard and played too aggressively.

Speaking to The Denver Post, Lynch said, “They came out and game-planned us, blitzing every play. They came after us. It’s no excuse for the way we played. But I think they might have broken the code of ethics for the preseason.”

Seriously?

Is this the NFL or pee wee football? You can out publicly and accused a team in the National Football League of playing too hard?

Lynch went a bit further saying, “I don’t know if Wade’s (ticked) off the Broncos fired him, but it sure looked that way.” Now Lynch made it clear he was joking, but I am not sure he was.

Broncos QB Jay Cutler agreed with Lynch saying he thought the Cowboys got a little too aggressive with their defense for a preseason game.

Head Coach Wade Phillips appeared almost hurt when told of the accusations that some players said his coaching style during the game breached an unwritten protocol of play for the preseason. “It’s nothing we didn’t do all week in practice,” said Phillips.

That’s right. They practiced with the Broncos all week before the game. One would think the Broncos would have been a little more prepared. Not to mention the offense rolled up 190 yards rushing on the Denver defense. Lynch had nothing to say about why his defense gave up so many rushing yards.

Plus, watching the game, you could see the Broncos send blitzes at the Cowboys as well. Of course the Cowboys picked them up and QB Tony Romo made the Denver defense pay for blitzing. So didn’t Denver use bad form?

This brings up the following question? Are there unwritten rules in football? Can you over prepare for a pre-season game?

Would Lynch or Cutler be saying this if the shoe was on the other foot? Could it be that they just got embarrassed by a horrible performance and are trying to rationalize their bad play with these outcries of unfair pre-season play?

Advise to the Denver Broncos players, pre-season or not, don’t make excuses for an awful game. Just stick to playing football and let the coaches coach.