Here we go again fanatics! In a year where everything we are comfortable and familiar with has been turned upside down, it is nice to return to following our favorite teams and players in the NFL. But even our most hallowed of sports is not immune to the precautions that must be implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19. For example, players will attempt to navigate a series of protocols intended to keep them safe including a tiered system of access to buildings and a series of tests that will be standardized across the league. Coaches will have to be creative in preparing their teams to function as a unit and be ready for full contact competition while attempting to maintain physical distance as much as possible in practice and team meetings. Games will be played in empty stadiums, essentially negating home field advantage at least as the season begins. These are truly unprecedented times. But we will get through this. An exciting football season may be exactly what the Nation needs right now. So, although we can't attend the games in person, we can still fire up the big screen and follow our boys in HD. It should be interesting. Mask up, wash your hands, and ensure your living room seating is at least 6 feet apart because the NFL is back!

There are jobs in this country that are so difficult and complex that they require years of education and preparation in order to be successful. Quantum physicists worked for years to develop semiconductor transistors, the foundation of modern microprocessors which drive every computer we interact with today. Air traffic controllers monitor hundreds of flights at a time and provide a safe, orderly, and expeditious air traffic system, literally preventing our planes from colliding in mid-air. Environmental scientists spend their entire careers attempting to preserve natural wonders such as the oxygen-producing Amazon rain forest in order to protect the environment and human health. These are just a few examples of professions and career fields that require high cognitive ability and critical thinking skills. Being an NFL referee is not one of them. I am simply amazed week in and week out, at how a small group of individuals in stripes can repeatedly turn the most simplistic of jobs into an absolute quagmire. Following the yellow tape crime scene that was the NFC Championship game, in which the Saints were had, were took, hoodwinked, bamboozled, lead astray, and run amok, surely the league would address the lack of competency in the part-timers they ask to serve as referees. But no. Eight months later, in the very first game played in the Superdome since the botched pass interference call that cost the Saints a trip to the Super Bowl, the referees commit another egregious error that impacted the game and quite possibly could have resulted in another loss for the Saints, had Will Lutz not snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a huge 58 yard kick. During the final drive of the first half, the referees failed to reset the game clock properly to 41 seconds, leaving it incorrectly at 26 ticks to go. This erroneous decision cost the Saints precious time in the hurry-up drive, ultimately forcing them to attempt a 56 yard field goal which Lutz missed. Fortunately for the Saints, NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating Al Riveron, admitted that the officials made an error and the Saints should have had 15 more seconds to work with. Well isn't that nice. The bottom line is this, the correct call needs to be made on the field. Whether that is by the referees on the field, officials in the press box, or Mr. Al in New York. Somebody should be able to ensure the call is made and it shouldn't be the coach's responsibility to throw a red flag. Most of these controversial calls can be figured out by viewers at home in less than 2 minutes. Why is it so hard for the NFL? The NCAA uses a better system. No challenges, and all turnovers and scoring plays are reviewed automatically. This proves that it is possible to have every play reviewed by officials in the box that have the capability to notify the referees on the field that they have missed something important. I understand that some infractions will not be able to be reviewed on every down such as holding, but they need to get the big ones right. The most frustrating part about it is that the big ones are easy for the fans to see. Why not the referees?

Every NFL offseason is filled with the anticipation of a fresh start. Beginning with the NFL draft, every team holds on to the excitement of what could be. Training camp begins with over 100 players on each team that general managers and coaches work tirelessly to evaluate and develop with the goal of identifying the final 53 men that best fit the culture, scheme, and needs of the organization. Players are traded, signed, released, and in some cases re-signed. It is chaotic in the best of times, yet this offseason seems to have set the bar higher. We saw the Cowboys' Zeke Elliott hold out long enough to successfully miss training camp (I applaud the veteran move), irritate his owner Jerry Jones, and ultimately sign a deal making him the highest paid running back in league history. Melvin Gordon of the Chargers attempted to do the same, but without the leverage or pedigree of Elliott, Gordon finds himself still at home on the couch with the real possibility that the Chargers may not want him back for the steep price he is demanding. Melvin may even miss the entire season. Which would not be unprecedented. Le'Veon Bell is set to make his return to the NFL with the Jets, after sitting out all of last season because he and the Steelers could not come to a collaborative contract agreement. All of these scenarios pale in comparison to the five-alarm dumpster fire that surrounds Antonio Brown. The Steelers traded arguably the best wide receiver in the league to the Raiders, which at the time had us wondering if Pittsburgh was asleep at the wheel, but in retrospect looks like the most enlightened move of the offseason. Since arriving in Oakland, Antonio Brown has suffered frostbite on his feet from a cryotherapy chamber which forced him to miss most of training camp, filed two unsuccessful grievances against the NFL and threatened to retire over his helmet, challenged his general manager to a physical altercation, posted to the internet a secretly recorded phone call between himself and his coach, ultimately forfeited $29 million in guaranteed money, and was released before playing a single down for the Raiders. However, you play to win the game. Nobody understands this more than the Patriot's Bill Belichick, who scooped up the troubled receiver within hours. It will be exciting to see how this all plays out and who ultimately raises the Lombardi trophy in Miami. One thing is for certain, we are all ready to cap off a chaotic offseason and start playing games that matter. Welcome back fanatics!

The NFL returns this week and with it's arrival comes all of the excitement and ceremony that we have become accustomed to. However, this year brings with it the remnants of last year's social commentary concerning racism, patriotism, and the flag. What began as a silent protest of police brutality by Colin Kapernick, was hijacked into a litmus test of patriotism by our President. The issue hung over the 2017 season and resulted in the NFL creating a policy concerning how teams are to conduct themselves during the playing of the National Anthem. It's nice to see the NFL taking decisive action on such a critical issue like standing vs kneeling. It would be nice to see our President take decisive action on the true reason for the protest and an issue that is truly affecting the lives of many American citizens on a daily basis, the disproportionate numbers of shooting deaths of African Americans by white police officers. In the end, the President successfully convinced his base that there simply isn't anything to see here, and it's more important to focus on the uppity behavior of athletes who exercise their first amendment rights. NFL owners worried about the narrative affecting their bottom line, yet still cashed in payments of hundreds of millions of dollars for the season. Even Nike cashed in on the conflict by crowning Kapernick as the centerpiece of it's new Just Do It marketing campaign unveiled strategically during Thursday's NFL season opener. Yet still, we have a large portion of our country that faces seemingly unsurmountable odds while simply trying to navigate through life. And we worry more about flags and knees. As this season begins, I choose to be excited. I will cheer for my Saints every step of the way to their next Super Bowl victory. But as I do so, I will also remember that this is a game, and I am more interested in how we as a Nation succeed in the game of life.

Over 200 NFL players protested in some form or fashion during the playing of the National Anthem this past weekend. Those individuals who are uncomfortable in addressing the reason for these protests have succeeded in deflecting the attention from the root cause to the protesters themselves. The primary deflector being our President himself. During a primary rally in Alabama, the President made the following comments: "Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he's fired. He's fired,'" He went on to say: "You know, some owner is going to do that. He's going to say, 'That guy that disrespects our flag, he's fired.' And that owner, they don't know it [but] they'll be the most popular person in this country." He couldn't be more wrong. These NFL players are exercising their first amendment rights in a peaceful manner. It is disrespectful for our President to ignore an opportunity to defend the Constitutional rights of peaceful citizens and instead choose to drive a wedge deeper between an already divided country. The president finished his NFL critique by saying it hurts the game "when people like yourselves turn on television and you see those people taking the knee when they're playing our great national anthem." The President's choice of words when addressing a majority white crowd as "people like yourselves" and referring to a majority of African American NFL protesters as "those people" further inflames the narrative in the wake of Charlottesville. The NFL protest began with the sole purpose of bringing attention to police brutality towards African American citizens. This is an indisputable fact. Since it's inception, this country has treated an entire race of people as sub-humans. The institution of slavery was legal in all thirteen colonies at the time of our independence in 1776. Northern abolitionists began attempts to abolish slavery, while Southern states had a higher demand for slave labor due to the rapid expansion of the cotton industry following the invention of the cotton gin. Southern states tried to maintain a balance of power in Congress between free and slave states by extending their reach into the newly annexed Western territories, which polarized the Nation and resulted in the infamous Mason-Dixon line. When Abraham Lincoln won the Presidency on a platform of halting the expansion of slavery, seven states seceded from the Union. The Civil War followed. A war that divided this Nation and from which we have never truly recovered. What has followed from the aftermath of the Union's victory in the Civil War has been repeated attempts to preserve the domination of one race over another. Following the Civil War, Jim Crow laws were passed to enforce racial segregation in the South which began during Reconstruction and lasted until 1964. Yes, for nearly 200 years African Americans were segregated from public places, public schools, public transportation, restrooms, restaurants, drinking fountains, etc. In the land of the free and home of the brave. Things have improved since the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed segregation, but there is clearly still a long way to go. We experience persistent racial inequality today because the enduring structures of Jim Crow still exist. Educational and residential segregation is still very real. Those that have won the lottery of birth and were born to middle-class white people can afford to buy their way into a solid gold-standard neighborhood with access to quality education that will set them up very well for life. Those that did not win the lottery, will experience a great deal of inequality. That inequality has manifested itself in interactions between African Americans and the police since the Civil Rights Act. The War on Drugs has disproportionately affected African-Americans and produced discrimination comparable to that of Jim Crow laws. By treating black criminals more harshly than white ones and decimating communities of color, the United States criminal justice system has functioned as a contemporary system of racial control, relegating millions to permanent second-class status, even as it formally adheres to the principle of color-blindness. Under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, drug offenses involving crack cocaine, primarily used by African Americans were punished 100 times more severely than those involving powdered cocaine, used primarily by whites. When the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 was signed, it reduced the sentencing disparity to 18 to 1. 18 to 1 seems fair. The militarization of our police departments, specifically the use of SWAT teams with military equipment and tactics, primarily in African-American neighborhoods further exacerbates the problem. When is the last time you saw a SWAT unit roll down your street? In the period of 2014-2016 there have been 13 killings by police of African-Americans that were caught on video. Most of the videos do not capture an officer's life in danger. Some show the victim fleeing, some show them walking away, some show them sitting in their car with their baby in the back seat. These 13 cases have fueled outrage, heightened racial tensions and instigated protests around the nation. In some of the cases, the police offered an explanation for their actions, but raw videos led many to conclude that the police actions were unjustified. Criminal charges have been brought against the officers in fewer than half of the cases. Of those that were charged, 1 pled guilty. The others were acquitted or the jury was deadlocked. Over half of these cases have resulted in settlements with the victim's families receiving payments ranging between $1.9M and $6.5M. Settlements of this size is a clear indication that the city recognizes that something very wrong has happened. However, it is a mistake to equate settlements with police reform. This country has a clear problem. One that affects African Americans. NFL players have chosen to exercise their Constitutional rights to bring attention to this issue. That is not disrespectful. It is disrespectful for the President to respond to their protests by calling them "sons of bitches". It is disrespectful for white Americans to demand that protests are only conducted at a time of their convenience. I'm sorry, African Americans are African Americans 24 hours a day and do not get to choose when they are harassed, mistreated, or otherwise minimized. It is disrespectful for the President to cloak himself in the patriotism of the flag, when as a Presidential candidate he said the following about Sen. John McCain: "“He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” Sen McCain is a former Navy pilot who spent 5 1/2 years as a POW in the notorious Hanoi Hilton where he was repeatedly tortured. It is disrespectful for Mr. Trump to say this about women: "And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything." It is disrespectful to victimize the very citizens that are trying to draw attention to our country's flaws. The issue is not the flag. If that camera pans away from the players to the crowd you will find people sitting, buying beer, eating nachos, going to the bathroom, and playing with their phones. Please. NFL players have a platform and are trying to give a voice to the voiceless. We should listen.

Sports news coverage has been dominated this week by the fallout of ESPN anchor Jemele Hill's comments labeling President Trump a "white supremacist that surrounds himself with other white supremacists". Hill's company responded by suspending her for a few days and silently reprimanding her for her comments. This wasn't enough for some. President Trump tweeted a demand for an apology, and White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, called the comments a "fireable offense". Social media has responded with the predictable barrage of comments directing all sports personalities to "stick to sports". This is madness. ESPN invented television coverage of sports and is responsible for creating what we know today as the sports personality. From the start, ESPN recognized that viewers wanted more than just someone reading scores to them, which resulted in shows like "Outside The Lines" and "The Sports Reporters", of which Jemele Hill is a frequent contributor, that investigate deeper issues that intersect with sports such as race, politics, and human interest pieces. These issues are frequently controversial yet important to discuss. This may be hard to believe, but sports talking heads are human beings and they come equipped with their own values, opinions, and concerns for the future of this nation. The successful personalities all share the same trait, the ability to let the viewers in and give them a glimpse of the person behind the desk. That is why we enjoy watching them. They make us feel like we know what they stand for and what they are about. Jemele Hill and virtually all ESPN anchors have been doing this for years and that is a good thing. Asking them to "stick to sports" is an impossible request. Sports has been intertwined with politics and social issues for decades. We all remember John Carlos and Tommie Smith raising their fists at the 1968 Olympics in support of African Americans. In 1996, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf refused to stand for the national anthem in the NBA due to religious reasons. In 1973, Billie Jean King won the Battle of the Sexes, a made for television event in which she beat a male tennis player. The event was in response to years of King's efforts advocating for gender equality and social justice, which culminated in the creation of the Women's Tennis Association. There are hundreds of these examples throughout history. More recently we have seen WNBA players wear #BlackLivesMatter shirts during warm-ups, a college basketball player lay down at mid-court and remain there for 4 and a half minutes during the singing of the National Anthem to protest the police killing of Michael Brown, whose body was left on the ground in Ferguson, MO for 4 and a half hours. Are sports reporters supposed to ignore these incidents? Of course not. Refusing to engage in an uncomfortable conversation and hoping the problem goes away is a recipe for failure. You may disagree with Jemele Hill's comments or you may think they are 100% accurate. Either viewpoint is irrelevant to the fact that her comments are protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. The very same document that our President swore to preserve, protect, and defend. Jemele Hill does not owe our President an apology, nor should she be fired for her comments. To the contrary, the White House should apologize to Jemele Hill for abdicating it's responsibility to protect her First Amendment rights. This is an opportunity for our elected leadership to do the right thing and use it's power to influence positive change rather than divide us further.

Fall is upon us and it is now time for our thoughts to turn to those gladiators who finely tune their bodies to win the battle of wills against their competitors, concurrently trying to avoid unnecessary roughness calls, imaginary pass interference infractions, and getting anywhere near the world's most endangered species, the NFL quarterback. The Lombardi awaits the team that thoroughly solves the conundrum of how to dominate in a full-contact sport without actually touching anyone. Yes fanatics, our favorite pastime has returned. So, ensure your NFL Sunday Ticket bill is paid in full, your remote control is fully stocked with fresh batteries, and your favorite team's totem pole is displayed proudly on the mantle because football is back!

We are halfway through the regular season and several compelling storylines have emerged in an admittedly pretty boring NFL year. Here are a few things that should keep our interest in Week 9. 1) The Raiders are establishing themselves as one of the NFL's best teams. This week's contest against the Broncos will give them an opportunity to take sole possession of first place but more importantly prove to the unbelievers that they belong in the conversation with Denver and New England when discussing the AFC's top contenders. It's not an illusion. They are 5-0 on the road, have an MVP candidate in QB Derek Carr, and one of the top three offenses in the league. This national showcase game with the Broncos will determine the trajectory of the remainder of the season for the Raiders. 2) Is Russell Wilson seriously injured or is he turning the corner? Wilson has struggled this year, but we don't know if it's attributable to his knee, ankle, and pectoral injuries or a sign of regression. Wilson accounted for 35 touchdowns last season and only has 5 through 7 games this year. Seattle is 29th in scoring offense after finishing last year with the 4th most points in the NFL. They haven't won their last two games and enter a Monday night contest with only a one game lead over Arizona and LA in the NFC West. Add in the fact that Buffalo's defense has played well on the road this year and it's possible that we could be looking at an upset in Seattle, home to the mighty 12th man home field advantage. 3) Tennessee is maneuvering their way into the playoffs. Although they have a 4-4 record, the Titans are only one game behind the Texans in the AFC South. They have also won 3 of their last 4 games and are heading to San Diego with the opportunity to get above .500 to start their second half of the season. Marcus Mariota is looking like a true NFL QB, leading the Titans to over 30 points per game in the last 4 contests. 4) Two-game swing in the AFC North. Sunday's game between the Steelers and Ravens represents not only a two-game swing in the division, it also could result in a scenario where Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Cincinnati could have 4 losses heading into Week 10. Big Ben returns this week, but all of these teams are struggling right now. Who will emerge from this quagmire with the division crown? 5) Zeke returns to Ohio. The Cowboys take their 6 game winning streak into Cleveland which appears to be a Zeke reunion party. However, the potential for a letdown when facing the 0-8 Browns is high. However, the Browns have played hard, losing 4 of those games by a combined 16 points. The Cowboys are hot, but they are young and on the road. That scenario almost cost them in San Francisco. Can they keep up the momentum? 6) Who will emerge to contend in the NFC East? The Giants and Eagles battle this week in an attempt to remain relevant in a division currently dominated by the Cowboys. The loser of this game will likely be 3 games back in the division if the Cowboys take care of business on the road. Philadelphia is struggling after a hot start by rookie QB Carson Wentz and the Giants have not realized any of the promised offensive improvements that were expected from first year head coach Ben McAdoo. This is a must-win game for both teams. These stories and others will keep us interested in the first NFL week after an absolute classic World Series. It's a tough act to follow.

The NFL is taking a sport custom-made for television and transforming it into something that has become borderline unwatchable. This is due to multiple reasons. First and foremost, the games are too long. If you are an NFL fan and tune in every week, you must enjoy watching really big men doing a whole lot of nothing. There are 60 minutes in a regulation football game. But the action is stopped so much that the average NFL game lasts 3 hours and 10 minutes. Of that 3 hours and 10 minutes, actual game play averages 11 minutes. Let me simplify this for you. If you were to only watch the actual plays, from the start of the action to the referee's whistle, you could watch the entire game and not miss a single thing in 11 minutes. Somehow, that 11 minutes takes 3 hours to play itself out. Penalties, timeouts, replay reviews, people standing around, other people talking about those people standing around, and commercials fill up those bloated 3 hours. Personally, I am not interested in any of that. Let's discuss further. Officiating in the NFL is terrible. There is no other word to describe it. In 2016, NFL games are averaging over 14 penalties per game , not including those that were declined, offsetting, or overturned by review. At first glance that might not seem like a lot, but it is the second highest total the league has experienced since 1990. The high rate of penalty calls directly affects the most exciting parts of the game, the big plays. Of the 160 average total of plays in a typical game, only 20 fit into the category of big plays: sacks, turnovers, passes and runs for over 20 yards, and touchdowns. Due to the fact that nobody, including and especially NFL officials can define pass interference or even what a simple catch is, several more potential big plays are affected each week by inexplicable yellow flags flying after the whistle. It's to the point that I don't count any play over until 5 seconds after the whistle to account for a potential flag. I consider myself a football fanatic and I don't even understand the rules completely which tells me that the average fan finds them cumbersome and unnecessary. For example, a false start is called when an offensive player moves after being set at the line of scrimmage. This is called for even the slightest movements, like a tilt of the head or rocking of the hips. Unless it's caused by the defense "drawing" the false start, which I don't really understand. Unlike offensive players, the defense is allowed to move all over during the pre-snap, including crossing the neutral zone as long as they return to their side of the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped. Therefore, I'm not really sure what causes an offensive player to be "drawn" into a false start. In my opinion, it could be called on every false start. False starts get even stranger. Sometimes the offense calls a play, gets set at the line of scrimmage, then the QB kills that play and begins to audible. At this point, all offensive players move from their set positions, the linemen actually turn around and look at the QB to make sure they understand the call, and the RB runs up to the QB to do the same. That looks and feels like a false start to me. Yet, who really cares? I don't care if offensive linemen block downfield on passes, or if receivers run patterns to pick off DBs, or if a tight end failed to announce himself as an eligible receiver before the play started. I don't mind if the QB didn't scramble out of the box before throwing the football away, nor do I get offended if the defense uses "leverage" to block kicks. The bottom line is this once wonderful game has become over legislated. Let the players play. At a local high school football game this week I saw a penalty I didn't even know existed. A "numbering violation" was called on the offense for having two players on the field with the same jersey number. I was baffled. I fail to see how this is a problem and even begins to remotely give a team an unfair advantage. After the death of their pitcher Jose Fernandez, the Marlins recently played an entire major league baseball game in which every player on the team wore the same Fernandez jersey complete with his number. They made it work. In fact, every team in baseball commemorates the accomplishments of Jackie Robinson once a year by allowing every player in the league to wear his number 42. It works just fine. I don't need a bunch of officials to show they are controlling the action by stalling the game-play in order to prove who is in control. It's quite obvious who is in control. Sponsors. Of the aforementioned 3 hours and 10 minutes, commercials take up a full 60 minutes. How long fans will put up with this is yet to be determined, but the cycle of touchdown, commercial, kickoff, commercial is infuriating. Which is why the RedZone channel is becoming the only channel I watch on Sundays. It shows exclusively game footage, eliminating timeouts, replays, commercials, and kicks. In other words, it broadcasts football games. Sounds like heaven.

But sometimes the reason is that you're stupid and you make bad decisions. Jerry Jones will soon be faced with a decision point that will have significant influence on not only the rest of the Cowboys season, but may indeed determine Big D's destiny for the next decade. The decision? Whether to return the veteran Tony Romo to his starting QB position upon his return from yet another injury, or continue to ride the hot hand of their new record-setting rookie Dak Prescott. Some might say the Cowboys are fortunate to have two capable QBs and couldn't make a wrong choice with this one. I'm here to say that when Jerry Jones is involved, no decision is easy, and whatever choice he makes will be second-guessed for some time. Jerry believes himself to be a football expert which he is not, so his penchant for meddling in the day to day operations of the team is at the very least an annoyance. Yet, over the last 15 years that annoyance has intensified, turning what at the time appeared to be poor choices into franchise killing stupidity. Let's walk the dog shall we? In 2006, Jerry signed Mike Vanderjagt in free agency. I say that again, he signed a kicker in free agency. Not only did he sign a kicker, he gave this hot-headed, supersized ego a salary of $4.5 million with a $2.5 million signing bonus. Folks, kickers are like cheap sunglasses, you get a pair, forget them at your friends house, sit on them in your car, and leave them on the table at a restaurant. No big deal. You just pick up another pair at Target. Or the gas station. Or you steal a pair from your kids. My point is, you can find a kicker anywhere. You certainly don't sign one in free agency with an alcohol problem and a penchant for arguing with Peyton Manning. I didn't even know that kickers were supposed to speak. Sebastian Janikowski has been kicking in the league since I was born and I don't think I've ever heard his voice. He may be a mute for all I know. And that is exactly the way it's supposed to be. What did the Cowboys get for their investment? Vandy made 13 of 18 kicks and was cut before the season ended. In 2005, Jerry traded a 3rd round pick so he could pick up QB Drew Henson, a failed major league baseball player. Drew was given one half of football in which he was 4 of 12 for 31 yards and an interception before he was pulled for Vinny Testaverde. Drew spent the rest of the season as a backup completing just 10 more passes before he was waived. Jerry also signed the number one draft bust in the NFL, Ryan Leaf, to replace Troy Aikman in 2001. Despite Leaf's failed stints in San Diego and Tampa, well publicized personal demons and drug use, Jerry was excited to bring him in. He lasted merely weeks before he failed a team physical, but was actually signed again to replace injured Quincy Carter. Leaf played 4 games, losing every one, throwing 1 TD and 3 picks, before he was released. Jerry signed Greg Hardy. A man that was arrested and charged with attempting to murder his girlfriend. This is the kind of guy Jerry decides is worth $11 million per year. Hardy rarely saw the playing field, is still facing criminal charges, and is currently pursuing a career in mixed martial arts. I hope he gets his ass kicked. Jerry fired Tom Landry on a golf course. The only coach in team history. A member of NFL royalty. Jerry thinks it's a good idea to give that man walking papers as he puts his peg in the ground on the 9th tee of the local muni. Class act. The list goes on. Passing on Tom Brady in 2000. To be fair, everyone missed on Brady, but Jerry had multiple opportunities to pick him up and continue the greatness Aikman produced. Picked up Roy Williams number 1 by passing on Ed Reed and picked up Roy Williams number 2 by trading 1st, 3rd, and 6th round draft picks. Roy 1 never reached his potential, and Roy 2 only played 2 1/2 years and never caught more than 40 balls in a season. Jerry gave up 2 first round picks for WR Joey Galloway. Galloway was gone in 3 years and Seattle used the first round pick to draft Shaun Alexander, a mainstay of their offense for years that led them to a Super Bowl. In 1998, Jerry passed on Randy Moss. Moss grew up a Cowboys fan and let them know he wanted to be a Cowboy. He also let Jerry know that if he passed on him, Moss would make the Boys regret it. Jerry passed, and Moss abused them over the next decade winning 7 key games against Dallas and putting up monster numbers. Jerry signed Terrell Owens. A receiver his head coach, Bill Parcells, did not want. Jerry ignored Bill, paid TO $25 million with a $5 million signing bonus, only to watch him get injured in the second week of the season, endure more surgeries over the next 2 years, and cap off his Dallas tenure with an infamous press conference breakdown. Jerry fired Jimmy Johnson. The man responsible for the Cowboys resurgence and Super Bowl victories in the 90's. Without Johnson's strict oversight, the Cowboys fell into drug use and ego fights that dragged the franchise down to where it is today. In short, when two turns diverged in a yellow wood, Jerry has consistently chosen the wrong one. Whether it's Dak or Romo, be assured that Jerry will favor the one most traveled by, and that will make all the difference.