Cowboys bringing back Dallas Soap Opera

A week and change ago Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had the cajones to question Marion Barber’s toughness after he sat out of last week’s game against Pittsburgh with a dislocated toe.

Jones has had a knack for occasionally putting his foot in his mouth since buying the team in 1989 and soon after announcing that his then-rookie quarterback Troy Aikman looked great in the shower.

This week the soap opera had another predictable participant. Terrell Owens is apparently down on quarterback Tony Romo because of a perceived preference for throwing the ball to tight end Jason Witten.

Owens denies it but he’s had a history of being a jagoff and his quarterbacks are generally the victim of choice. Owens was a douchbag to Jeff Garcia when both were in San Francisco. And he was an assclown to Donovan McNabb the year after the duo helped lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl.

Now he’s going off on Romo, sniff, sniff, because Romo throws the ball to Witten too much. In fact, allegedly Owens, Roy Williams and Patrick Crayton all called a meeting with coordinator Jason Garrett to whine about Romo’s ball distribution.

Newsflash: Witten produces. Owens has 55 receptions for 848 yards and nine touchdowns with three games left in the season. Solid numbers. According to fanball.com, Owens is being targeted 9.2 times per game. How is that being ignored?

Witten leads the team in receptions with 64. He’s behind Owens in yards and touchdowns (771 and 3) but has gotten his nine more catches – while averaging 1.6 fewer targets per game, according to Fanball.

Crayton and Roy Williams might actually have a point – they are getting 4.5 targets and just fewer than two targets respectively — but Williams started the season with Detroit and Crayton was looked upon so highly by the organization that they gave up a ransom to acquire Williams as the number two receiver.

Neither of those two has any right to complain. Williams will likely be a more frequent target next season after he’s gone through a training camp with the team. And Crayton, who reportedly was about to lose his number three wideout position to Miles Austin before Austin got hurt, should shut up and be glad he has a job in the league.

Thing is, Williams, guess how bad it’s going to get next year when Owens turns on you for taking looks away from him too.

The Dallas Cowboys came into the 2008 season as the odds-on favorite to be the NFC representative in the Super Bowl. Yes, Romo missed a few games and backups Brad Johnson and Brooks Bollinger were brutal. But this team has not hit on all cylinders since well before Romo got hurt – and the team has underachieved to the point where it is on the outside looking in at the playoffs at this point.

Romo is simply doing what he can to find the players that have produced – and Owens is one – but Witten is as well. And yes, quarterbacks sometimes make mistakes and don’t find the right receiver. That’s not just Romo, that’s any quarterback that has ever played the game. The best thing these snivelling whiners could do is shut up and do their jobs – and let him do his job. The quarterback is the field general. Not Owens. Not Williams. Especially not Crayton.

And if you don’t like it turn in your shoulder pads and go home. … Though if you don’t shut up and start playing with your quarterback rather than rallying against him you’re going to be doing that in three weeks anyway while watching the playoffs from your respective living rooms.