Post by prossman on Jan 20, 2009 11:35:37 GMT -7
FWST: JFE: Keyshawn Johnson says Todd Haley can run the rats out of Valley Ranch
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Keyshawn Johnson says Todd Haley can run the rats out of Valley Ranch
By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL
jenfloyd@star-telegram.com
Monday began so perfectly. I woke up absolutely convinced the right coach was ready and available to put an end to what had been a long and grueling Anybody But Cupcake campaign.
Jon "Chucky" Gruden was perfect, or at least significantly better.
The guy is a fiery butt-kicker who has thrived under a meddling owner in Al Davis, who has handled high-maintenance receivers if not with aplomb then at least with authority, who has won a Super Bowl and who recently became available after being fired by Tampa Bay.
It took Keyshawn Johnson approximately 30 minutes to disabuse me of that idea Monday. I had called Key because he played for and won a championship with Gruden in Tampa and his time in a Cowboys uniform gives him a pretty good feel for what works in Dallas.
Who better to float my theory of Gruden as Cowboy Savior than him?
"Yeah but no. I don’t think so," Johnson said. "It’s not that I have any animosity there. I like him a lot. I just know it wouldn’t work. He is not humble enough to accept that he is not going to be the one in control. And there is better meat out there."
You couldn’t let me down easy, Key? Let me pretend, for at least a couple of seconds, Owner Jones may actually have a reason to change coaches and save everybody another season of "more whatever."
It turns out he could not, although, he is not sold on Coach Cupcake morphing into a coach capable of holding anybody except Rowdy accountable. So he ticked through the usual suspects before settling upon what he believes is the perfect solution.
"You know, Jen, why aren’t you touting Todd Haley for the job?" he asked. "He was the only one with the [guts] to tell Jerry 'I really want this job but I can’t coach this team with this guy on it. And I don’t think you are going to win anything of any consequence with this guy on it.’ "
This guy, of course, was Terrell Owens. And he and Haley were not exactly BFFs in their one and only season together as Cowboys under Big Bill.
T.O. vowed to "find the rats" with Haley being his prime suspect and blamed him for failing to use his considerable talent. Haley, a Big Bill disciple in every way, refused to cower and snapped right back which only further enraged perpetually touchy T.O.
Owner Jones did interview Haley, along with almost everybody else, when Bill Parcells left. Of course, Haley did not have a chance, bucking convention and saying what Jerry did not want to hear which is T.O. is the rat.
Now, Haley is the offensive coordinator of a team going to the Super Bowl and T.O. is whining about locker room rats again and how the offensive coordinator is to blame. And a few misguided souls actually believe this self-plagiarized rant with Haley being replaced by Jason Witten and Jason Garrett.
"What is obvious is you can’t keep Jason Garrett, T.O. and the coach," Johnson said.
And almost as an exclamation point, The Red-headed Genius chimed in from the Senior Bowl where he answered a question about T.O. with a very read-between-the-line-ish "I certainly have a lot of respect for him as a player. And we’ll just leave it at that."
My guess is JG thinks T.O. is going to be waived. No way his normally cautious self says what he said otherwise. Or else he figured out what Haley did two years ago which is you are not going to win anything of any consequence with this guy on your team. So better to jump from that doomed-to-fail ship.
Of course, JG already has started taking another local beating from T.O. apologists.
He needs to be more pc. He is really the problem. He needs to be fired.
If so, take solace Jason. Coaches have a way of looking smarter once departed from Valley Ranch and far, far away from Terrell Owens, with Haley and Tony Sparano immediately springing to mind. And both of them had Parcells backing them, rather than Coach Cupcake.
Of course, Key blames T.O. not Coach Cupcake for this.
"He is the poison pill," he said. "Everybody can see it. Marion Barber is a different personality now. Patrick Crayton is a different personality now. He was not that guy when I was there. He was happy to be in the NFL. He was just happy to be there. And now he is the spokesperson of the team. Sometimes, people have that kind of influence on a team."
In case you haven’t noticed, Johnson does not really respect T.O. And many dismiss everything he says about T.O. as jealous rantings of washed up player.
I kind of like to think of it as the truth.
"I know he screams jealous — jealous of what?" Keyshawn retorted. "What do you have that I don’t? I have my Super Bowl ring. And he can’t figure out how to get it because he can’t figure out how to be a team player."
Haley tried to tell them two years ago.
Of course, what does he know? He is just going to the Super Bowl while the Cowboys are again spending the off-season assigning blame and going on rat hunts.
Jennifer Floyd Engel, 817-390-7760
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Keyshawn Johnson says Todd Haley can run the rats out of Valley Ranch
By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL
jenfloyd@star-telegram.com
Monday began so perfectly. I woke up absolutely convinced the right coach was ready and available to put an end to what had been a long and grueling Anybody But Cupcake campaign.
Jon "Chucky" Gruden was perfect, or at least significantly better.
The guy is a fiery butt-kicker who has thrived under a meddling owner in Al Davis, who has handled high-maintenance receivers if not with aplomb then at least with authority, who has won a Super Bowl and who recently became available after being fired by Tampa Bay.
It took Keyshawn Johnson approximately 30 minutes to disabuse me of that idea Monday. I had called Key because he played for and won a championship with Gruden in Tampa and his time in a Cowboys uniform gives him a pretty good feel for what works in Dallas.
Who better to float my theory of Gruden as Cowboy Savior than him?
"Yeah but no. I don’t think so," Johnson said. "It’s not that I have any animosity there. I like him a lot. I just know it wouldn’t work. He is not humble enough to accept that he is not going to be the one in control. And there is better meat out there."
You couldn’t let me down easy, Key? Let me pretend, for at least a couple of seconds, Owner Jones may actually have a reason to change coaches and save everybody another season of "more whatever."
It turns out he could not, although, he is not sold on Coach Cupcake morphing into a coach capable of holding anybody except Rowdy accountable. So he ticked through the usual suspects before settling upon what he believes is the perfect solution.
"You know, Jen, why aren’t you touting Todd Haley for the job?" he asked. "He was the only one with the [guts] to tell Jerry 'I really want this job but I can’t coach this team with this guy on it. And I don’t think you are going to win anything of any consequence with this guy on it.’ "
This guy, of course, was Terrell Owens. And he and Haley were not exactly BFFs in their one and only season together as Cowboys under Big Bill.
T.O. vowed to "find the rats" with Haley being his prime suspect and blamed him for failing to use his considerable talent. Haley, a Big Bill disciple in every way, refused to cower and snapped right back which only further enraged perpetually touchy T.O.
Owner Jones did interview Haley, along with almost everybody else, when Bill Parcells left. Of course, Haley did not have a chance, bucking convention and saying what Jerry did not want to hear which is T.O. is the rat.
Now, Haley is the offensive coordinator of a team going to the Super Bowl and T.O. is whining about locker room rats again and how the offensive coordinator is to blame. And a few misguided souls actually believe this self-plagiarized rant with Haley being replaced by Jason Witten and Jason Garrett.
"What is obvious is you can’t keep Jason Garrett, T.O. and the coach," Johnson said.
And almost as an exclamation point, The Red-headed Genius chimed in from the Senior Bowl where he answered a question about T.O. with a very read-between-the-line-ish "I certainly have a lot of respect for him as a player. And we’ll just leave it at that."
My guess is JG thinks T.O. is going to be waived. No way his normally cautious self says what he said otherwise. Or else he figured out what Haley did two years ago which is you are not going to win anything of any consequence with this guy on your team. So better to jump from that doomed-to-fail ship.
Of course, JG already has started taking another local beating from T.O. apologists.
He needs to be more pc. He is really the problem. He needs to be fired.
If so, take solace Jason. Coaches have a way of looking smarter once departed from Valley Ranch and far, far away from Terrell Owens, with Haley and Tony Sparano immediately springing to mind. And both of them had Parcells backing them, rather than Coach Cupcake.
Of course, Key blames T.O. not Coach Cupcake for this.
"He is the poison pill," he said. "Everybody can see it. Marion Barber is a different personality now. Patrick Crayton is a different personality now. He was not that guy when I was there. He was happy to be in the NFL. He was just happy to be there. And now he is the spokesperson of the team. Sometimes, people have that kind of influence on a team."
In case you haven’t noticed, Johnson does not really respect T.O. And many dismiss everything he says about T.O. as jealous rantings of washed up player.
I kind of like to think of it as the truth.
"I know he screams jealous — jealous of what?" Keyshawn retorted. "What do you have that I don’t? I have my Super Bowl ring. And he can’t figure out how to get it because he can’t figure out how to be a team player."
Haley tried to tell them two years ago.
Of course, what does he know? He is just going to the Super Bowl while the Cowboys are again spending the off-season assigning blame and going on rat hunts.
Jennifer Floyd Engel, 817-390-7760