Sport » Maybe this could become a case of having your success and

FRISCO Amari Cooper Jersey White , Texas (AP) — Jason Witten talks a lot about just wanting to blend in now that he’s back for a club-record 16th season with the Dallas Cowboys following a year in retirement.Ask about playing time among a group of decidedly younger tight ends, and, well, the franchise leader in catches and yards receiving doesn’t seem quite sure what to say.In other words, an 11-time Pro Bowler many consider an easy choice for the Pro Football Hall of Fame whenever he retires for good just isn’t comfortable accepting the idea of fewer snaps when he took almost all of them for 15 years.“Those coaches work long hours; they’re smart,” Witten said a week before getting all the first-team reps in the only offseason practice reporters saw in which he participated. “I think that I can’t worry about how that plays out. My job is to kind of make it tough on them. We all benefit if that’s the case.”Witten is back after just a year as lead analyst on “Monday Night Football” because he missed playing and thought the Cowboys looked like future contenders for a Super Bowl — something he could never deliver — despite a divisional playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams last January.The 37-year-old is also back because, unlike best friend and former Dallas quarterback Tony Romo, the Cowboys hadn’t replaced him. Dak Prescott sent Romo into retirement/broadcasting with a debut worthy of the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award after the 10-year starter got hurt in 2016.The only experienced tight end trying to replace Witten last season — 2015 seventh-round pick Geoff Swaim — is in Jacksonville now after another injury-plagued year.Blake Jarwin, an undrafted pass catcher lacking Witten’s blocking ability, had the biggest impact by tying the club record for tight ends with three touchdown catches in a game , but not until a meaningless regular-season finale.And then there’s Dalton Schultz, drafted in the fourth round about a week before Witten announced his sudden retirement last year . He went from thinking he’d have a year to learn from one of the best, to not, to Witten leading the tight end room — and probably taking a lot of the snaps.“I was saying this when I got drafted last year, he’s only going to be good for this organization, no matter what,” Schultz said. “He was my idol growing up, which is weird. Don’t tell him I said that. Just to have a guy that you literally grew up watching, trying to emulate in your room, is pretty cool.”Witten didn’t get his old locker back, or his parking space at the practice facility. He appeared in the locker room only once in the three days it was open to reporters during offseason workouts. The team’s mandatory minicamp starts Tuesday.But his presence on the field was unmistakable, even on the days he didn’t participate in drills. During simple footwork sessions, Witten worked alongside tight ends coach Doug Nussmeier, another who joined the Cowboys last year only to discover Witten wouldn’t be there.“There’s nothing he hasn’t seen,” Jarwin said. “It’s always incredible just trying to get some input from him. Even the small stuff and what he sees and when we do things right and when we do things wrong Womens Michael Gallup Jersey , he’s always there to help us along. It’s been great so far.”With Witten, the Cowboys have one of two tight ends in NFL history with at least 1,000 catches and 10,000 yards. The other, Tony Gonzalez, will be enshrined in the Hall of Fame in August after being voted in on his first try.A third-round draft pick by Dallas in 2003, Witten figures to build on the club records of 1,152 catches and 12,448 yards. The 16th season will break a tie with defensive end Ed “Too Tall” Jones, safety Bill Bates and late offensive lineman Mark Tuinei for the most among Cowboys.While Witten never has been a prolific scorer, he needs six receiving touchdowns to break Dez Bryant’s team record of 73. Of course, numbers have nothing to do with why he came back.For that answer, look to Prescott and even younger backfield mate Ezekiel Elliott, already a two-time NFL rushing champion. Or a defense led by passing rushing star DeMarcus Lawrence and promising young linebackers Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch.The Cowboys have the pieces, and now Witten is another. Anything less than the franchise’s first trip to the NFC championship game since the last of its five Super Bowl titles during the 1995 season will be a disappointment.“I kind of like that the back’s against the wall for the whole football team, the whole organization,” Witten said. “I want those guys to know that I’m just a part of that. I want to be a part of it. It’s as simple as that. I didn’t overthink it. The fire was too strong.” There is a growing frustration in fans of the Dallas Cowboys. It is centered around Jason Garrett. When NFL teams hit a rough patch, it is common to pile the blame on the head coach. This, however, is a bit different. Whether it is the evident ire of owner/GM Jerry Jones, or the apparent dismissal of an in-game use of analytics that is seen as central to the rise of the Baltimore Ravens, it is becoming pretty much impossible to find any other solution for the problems of the team other than a change at the top. Garrett seems increasingly out of touch with where the NFL is headed. He was still clearly in the “establish the run” camp until the loss to the Minnesota Vikings forced him to change. At this point, it would take a massive turnaround and some real success in the playoffs to even open the door for Jones to offer Garrett a new contract. For many, even that would not be enough. It has gotten so bad that there is a surprisingly large contingent of fans that would choose having Garrett fired over playoff success. (H/T to @CowboysNation for these.)When over a third of the fans would forego getting to the conference championship and nearly a fifth of them would pass on another Lombardi, the discontent is strong with this one. Admittedly Demarcus Lawrence Jersey , these were hardly scientific polls, but it is still obvious that patience with Garrett has disappeared.After a 3-5 start last season, the head coach probably was saved by the team finishing the year 7-1 and getting a win in the wild card round of the playoffs. This year, that may not be enough. It all depends on Jones, of course, but it would surprise few if any if he should part ways with the head coach if the team just puts in a token playoff appearance.That cameo in January is still very likely, because the Cowboys are, for the moment, marginally the least bad team in the NFC East. There is only one other division team that could conceivably claim the automatic spot, the Philadelphia Eagles. They currently trail Dallas by one game. Remaining schedulesWeekCowboys opponentEagles opponentWeekCowboys opponentEagles opponentThe Cowboys have a harder slate to play out the season, with this week’s Thanksgiving Day game against the Buffalo Bills the one huge challenge. Outside of them, both the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams are looking very beatable. Of course, that Bears game is in Chicago in early December, and at night, so it is no gimme. There is a valid chance that the Cowboys could drop a couple of their remaining games, while the Eagles win out (which would include beating the Cowboys in their second meeting), and this all becomes moot, since it would be inconceivable for Jones to bring Garrett back after not getting to the playoffs with this roster.But let’s say the Cowboys do just enough, including taking down an Eagles team that has looked a bit lost the past couple of weeks, to make the playoffs. If they do, they would get the privilege of hosting a wild card team. There is no way they could get a first round bye at this point. Let’s look at the likely candidates for that opponent, based on the current standings.VikingsSeattle SeahawksGreen Bay PackersSan Francisco 49ersI don’t know about you, but that list fairly screams “one and done” to me. From what we have seen over and over this season, the Cowboys just don’t seem capable of beating one of those potential opponents, even in their own house. The Packers and Vikings have already handed them a loss at AT&T Stadium this year.Even if they win the first playoff game Womens Dak Prescott Jersey , they get to go on the road to play another one of those teams, or the New Orleans Saints, who have (stop me if you’ve heard this one) already beaten Dallas at their place this season. Road wins in the playoffs just don’t happen very often, especially by the time the second round rolls around. That is why those losses that could have been wins are so damaging for the Cowboys. The whole idea of making the conference championship seems extremely far-fetched for Dallas. But it isn’t impossible. They could go on an improbable run and pull off a series of upsets. After all, there would absolutely be no case for Eli Manning to enter the Hall of Fame if he and the Giants hadn’t done exactly that. Twice.So we can at least imagine the Cowboys getting to the NFCCG. Or maybe even winning it. And who knows what would happen if they get to the Super Bowl?It could happen. And we will wind up stuck with Garrett for at least another season (because all NFL coaching contracts are really one-year deals with guaranteed money added). Or would we?Anything short of an appearance in February would, to me, fall short of sufficient reason to bring Garrett back. After watching and writing about this team since the beginning of his tenure, I have come to a conclusion, especially this season.This team wins despite Garrett, not because of him. Not long ago, that was not true. Dak Prescott’s rookie year was very much due to his head coach, who directly mentored the rookie who was suddenly thrust into the starting role. It’s not that way now. As my podcast leader Michael Sisemore (find our Brews and the Boys at the SBNation podcast hub) pointed out last episode, the team looks lost at times, especially early in games. The special teams fiascoes fall on him, if for no other reason than he has absolutely failed to fix anything about them. Any thing. ANYTHING! If this team miraculously does get a couple of playoff wins, it would most likely be attributable to the players stepping up, Kellen Moore and Kris Richard coaching their butts off, and maybe some sizable deposits not traceable back to The Star made to the accounts of some referees to not find phantom penalties at crucial moments.I just don’t see what Garrett can do at this point to really make much difference.Maybe this could become a case of having your success and eating the coach’s job, too. Dallas might get a couple of those difficult wins in January and Jones could still see fit to go in a different direction. This has been a badly bungled season, with far too many issues that point to the coaching. Winning the weakest division in the league and then managing to pull out some improbable victories in the playoffs is not justification for another chance to try to do it all over again. In any case, just winning the NFCE is not going to cut it. We all want to see the Cowboys win as many games as they can, and go all the way. What we hope for and what we realistically expect are two very different things. Barring a fairy tale run, this is going to end sadly for Garrett, even with a relatively strong finish.