For Jerry Jones, Parting Ways With Tony Banks Proved To Be Start of Trouble For 2001 Dallas Cowboys

Quarterbacks were in abundance on the Valley Ranch lawn during the 2001 campaign. The legendary Troy Aikman had retired in April, and team owner Jerry Jones was busy orchestrating a merry game of musical chairs in searching for a suitable ...replacement.
Cowboy enthusiasts remember the scene well, their beloved franchise owning five different starting signal callers from August to November, the once fabled "America's Team" looking strangely akin to a minor league baseball team searching desperately for a reliable arm out of the bullpen.
Tony Banks, Quincy Carter, Anthony Wright, Clint Stoerner, and Ryan Leaf each found their respective names at the top of the depth chart at some point during the season, a 5-11 marathon that seemed to accomplish more damage than good.
The unquestioned starter coming out of mini-camps, the sixth-year veteran Banks was inexplicably cut early in preseason by an owner who seemed determined to reach the 10-win threshold he had so outrageously predicted months before with the raw talent of Carter, a wide-eyed rookie from Georgia. While Jerry was busy touting excitement and a brighter future as the primary causes for such a bold move, fans and sportswriters could only shake their head in bewilderment. They didn't understand Jones using a second-round pick on Carter in the April draft, and they surely couldn't see why Banks should be ditched while his replacement had yet to even learn the proper grip of a professional size football.
Without a doubt, it was a decision that destroyed the season before it ever started, the Cowboys' once-aspiring offense destined for NFL ineptitude.

Read more about "The Quarterback Carousel" in Chapter 5 of Ryan Bush's new book about The Worst Decade in Dallas Cowboys history "Decade of Futility." Use the following link to purchase your copy today:https://www.createspace.com/4161551

Drafting QB Position Has Been All Swing, All Miss For Jerry Jones & Dallas Cowboys

 

 

 

Quarterback is a position that the Dallas Cowboys have rarely wasted time drafting during the Jerry Jones era. But when they have, it's been nothing short of headline-grabbing, though this might have something to do with Jones' penchant for outrageous remarks.
Jones made a sudden audible during the 2001 draft to select Georgia signal-caller Quincy Carter in the second round, dubbing Carter "the next Troy Aikman." Less than a year later, Jones went out and found Carter's replacement in dual-star passer Chad Hutchinson. Neither of Carter or Hutchinson was on the Dallas roster when the Cowboys began the 2004 season.
In 2009, Jones made another draft day reach, taking Texas A&M freelancer Stephen McGee with the first selection in the fourth round. McGee, according to Jones, possessed qualities equal to that of Tony Romo, and was thought by many within the organization to be a capable successor to Romo.
Though McGee did win his only NFL start, a 14-13 affair in Week 17 of the 2010 season, he was released during the spring of 2012 after failing to progress in Jason Garrett's offense.
The Cowboys currently have three quarterbacks on their roster, so it isn't likely that Jerry will audible this year. But make no mistake, if he does, people will surely take notice.

Use the following link to purchase your copy of Ryan Bush's new book about The Worst Decade in Dallas Cowboys history "Decade of Futility"....https://www.createspace.com/4161551

Decade of Futility - When It Comes To Super Bowl Predictions, Nobody Is More Forthcoming Than Jerry Jones

During a late July "State of The Cowboys" address, Jerry Jones showed several signs that three consecutive seasons without a playoff berth were taking its toll, admitting that the Cowboys "have got a lot of work to do."
Yet, being the cheerleader that he is, he couldn't help but talk about how much better the team is at this juncture than a year ago, and even managed to insert a comment - though tongue-in-cheek it may have seemed - about making a run at the Super Bowl.
This pre-training camp talk about a push to the Super Bowl is a Jones trademark. During the writing of Decade of Futility, I was shocked to learn just how much so. Since the "One Year Away" Cowboys shocked the world in 1992 by destroying Buffalo in Super Bowl XXVII by a 52-17 score, Jones has neglected to thrill listeners with Super aspirations a grand total of four times. That's four out of a possible twenty-one opportunities. Truly incredible.
Even more incredible are the circumstances surrounding those times when he deemed it better to be humble, rather than bold. The first occurrence was in the wake of Troy Aikman's retirement in 2001, when all the Cowboys were leaning upon was the unproven right arm of Georgia rookie Quincy Carter. Yes, Jones was magnanimous that day in his respect for the dark hour that his Cowboys found themselves in, foregoing any Super Bowl predictions, prophesying instead for a ho-hum mediocre campaign filled with only - yes, only - ten wins.
The only other times that Jones was silent on any personal visions of impending glory just happened to be during the first three years of Big Bill Parcells' four-year reign of pigskin terror, when Jones was effectively kept under wraps.
Jones talks so boldly because he wants the fans to know that he cares, and that he - in his position as the team's General Manager - has pieced together a roster that everyone will be proud of. He envisions himself as the sharpshooter in a darkened gym that calls his own shot on one three-pointer after another.
More importantly, is the fact that Jones believes these predictions are within the bounds of reason, even when others around him are pleading with him for patience, and temperance.
The passing years have revealed that Jones is oblivious to any personal prohibitions related to drinking that most seductive of drinks, Cowboy Kool-Aid. The Cowboys have reaped the rewards this millennium of changing head coaches a mind-boggling four times. Five losing seasons, countless melodramas, one measly playoff victory, and a decade (2000-2009) that houses the lowest winning percentage in franchise history.
And there, impervious to reality, criticism, and countless glaring statistics, stands the Cowboys owner, handing out a beverage that has enslaved the innocent and gullible for more than a decade. Yes, drinks are always on the house at Valley Ranch, no matter the hour, the venue, or circumstance.

Read more about Jerry Jones and the Worst Decade in Dallas Cowboys History in my new book Decade of Futility.

 

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