2007 Dallas Cowboys Preview
The Cowboys Season Hangs on the Arm of Tony Romo
The star burned bright in the 90's, and it will burn bright again if Wade Phillips and Jason Garrett have anything to say about it.
The Cowboys ended their season with a disappointing playoff loss to Seattle last year, but with a new coach and the most promising young quarterback since Troy Aikman, the Cowboys have their sights aimed higher this year.
Wade Phillips comes back to Texas where his coaching career started. He brings with him the Phillips 3-4, an aggressive defense that relies on talented players doing what they do best: making plays. And he'll find plenty of talent on a defense led by standout Pro Bowl linebacker DeMarcus Ware and anchored by safety Roy Williams and cornerback Terence Newman.
Another familiar face in the new coaching staff is Jason Garrett who takes on the role of offensive coordinator. Garrett was the backup to Troy Aikman during the 90s, and spent the last two years as the quarterbacks coach in Miami. Garrett is a disciple of Norv Turner and will bring a precision passing game to Dallas.
The Cowboys defense played strong in the first half of 2006, but splintered after linebacker Greg Ellis was lost for the season due to injury. With Ellis still recovering, the Cowboys drafted Anthony Spencer in the first round of the NFL draft. Between Ellis and Spencer, the Cowboys look to right the ship and become one of the dominant defenses in the NFL.
The offensive line was a sore spot during the 2006 season, and Dallas hopes to plug the holes in the line with Leonard Davis, a 366-pound lineman who spent the last few years in Arizona. Davis is being moved from offensive tackle, the position he played with the Cardinals, to guard where he can use his size and strength to open up holes for the running game.
The secondary was another area of concern, and the Cowboys will look to newly acquired free safety Ken Hamlin to help shore up their problems defending the deep ball. Hamlin comes over from Seattle where he came off a season-ending injury to start all sixteen games last year and was named the NFC's defensive player of the month in September.
The Cowboys already have plenty of weapons on offense. Terrell Owens and Terry Glenn make up one of the best wide receiver tandems in the NFL, Jason Witten is a Pro Bowl tight end, and the two-headed monster of Julius Jones and Marion Barber III power a strong running game. But the season will mostly rest on the hands of Tony Romo who is entering his first full year as the starting quarterback. After starting strong last year, Romo faded towards the end of the season, leading to the question of which Tony Romo will Dallas see this year?
