Rayfield Wright remains an intimidating figure, but apparently not intimidating enough to be in the NFL Hall of Fame. Wright, who was an Offensive Tackle for the Cowboys from 1967-79, was moved to the seniors list this year, to increase his chances of being selected. The list is designed to catch players, who were overlooked. Still, he has no guarantees.
“I don't think there is any assurance with these guys,” says Wright. “I really don't. I wish we could predict but you can't. I'm happy that I have the opportunity to come back again so early.”
Wright's credentials are indisputable. He played in five super bowls, helping Dallas win two. Known as the “Big Cat”, Wright earned first or second team All-NFL honors six consecutive years from 1971-76.
Cowboys running back Preston Pearson, who played for the Cowboys from 1975-80, things a bias against Dallas is still there. “Rayfields’ chances, believe it or not, after twenty years of trying to get in there, are probably as good as anybody's,” he says. “They know they've missed him, for at least the last ten years, and there is no earthly reason why Rayfield Wright should not be in the hall of fame, come on.”
Jim Myers, Wright's offensive line coach who watched him block for a Cowboys offense that won two super bowls, shares the same sentiments and feels Wright should have been in the Hall of Fame a long time ago.
Says Myers, “He had the talent, had skills, and he knew how to used them. You know his first game was against Deacon Jones and he shut Deacon out. He came to Dallas as a Split End and a Weak Safety, and they tried to make a Tight End out of him, tried to make a defensive guy out of him, but he came over to the offensive line and made a coach out of me,” he says laughing.
Mel Renfro, a Cowboys Cornerback from 1964-77, feels Wright’s induction is longer overdue. “I'd love it. I think there are few more Cowboys that should be in the hall of fame. You know, we lost Bob Hayes, but Bob Hayes should be there. Ed Jones, Harvey martin, we just had tremendous players that should be there, but aren't,” he says.
“You know they say, there is any bias against the cowboys, well yes, there would have to be,” Renfro continues. “I don't know it is, but it is. We've got five players in the Hall of Fame, and Tex Schramm and Cach Landry, that's it. It took me 14-years to get in, there is a bias. If someone did an investigation and found out what that was or why it came about, that would be a great story.”
Says Wright, “You look at all the great players we've had from Bob Hayes, and Jetrho Pughs, and the Leroy Jordans, Chuck Howleys, you know and all these guys, and none of these guys are there, you know, so you kind of wonder whether there is a bias or not.”
So what happens next? Wright is keeping his fingers crossed.
II don't really know what to say,” he says. “I remember last year, or two years ago, and I was really, really excited, you know. I'm still excited a little bit, but you know, I just don't want to get crushed like I was two years ago.
Wright is not a shoe in for the hall of fame, apparently no one ever is, but he should be. We know he's close and next weekend, we'll see if he's close enough to get in.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Dale Earnhardt Jr Tests Tires For Goodyear
Dale Earnhardt Jr was testing tires for Goodyear at the Texas Motor Speedway Tuesday, but NASCAR rules have greatly reduced individual team testing. “I'm all for it, testing is ah, you know, to be quite frank, testing is one of the most boring things we do,” he said laughing.
The 2006 season is almost here. “It’ll be here before you know it,” said Earnhardt. But because of the changes in testing at tracks, this will be Earnhardt’s only trip to Texas for testing, until they race in April.
Last year, was Earnhardt's sixth season as a Cup driver, but statistically, it was his worst. He finished 19th, down three from his rookie season, and missed the chase for the Nextel Cup. He's been reuinted with his hold Crew Chief, Tony Eury Jr, one of a many changes at Dale Earnhardt Incorportated.
“Its good to be partnered back with the team that I was with when i had my past success,” says Earnhardt. “We got a couple of extra guys that came from the team that I ran with last year, and everybody seems really excited about how things are going so far.”
Things certainly couldn't get much worse after a year where the number-8 car found victory lane only once. The focus now is on a turnaround.
Says Earnhardt, “This is a big deal for all of us, our cars are really coming together. I mean I'm going out there and running some wicked fast laps, with ease, the car is really fun to driver, that says a lot about our potential and our chances this season.”
When the first group of Cup teams that reported to Daytona International Speedway to complete their three-day test, they will not be able to test at the track at any other point during the season.
The Cup series has six tests scheduled this season. They include Daytona, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Richmond, Va., and Homestead, Fl. The Busch Series has four, including Daytona, Las Vegas, Charlotte and Richmond.
In 2005, teams were limited to five two-day tests and four one-day tests. Rookies weregetting seven two-day tests and five one-day tests. Tests at tracks not used in the series did not count against the limit, a policy that remains unchanged.
The biggest impact, may be on the rookies, who will miss valuable track time.
As for Earnhardt, his goal is to be back in the chase for the Nextel Cup this year. He didn't make it last year, and missing it two straight years, would be unacceptable.
By the way, Goodyear didn't want us covering this session of tire testing. Not sure why, like reporters can tell what kind of compound their using.
The 2006 season is almost here. “It’ll be here before you know it,” said Earnhardt. But because of the changes in testing at tracks, this will be Earnhardt’s only trip to Texas for testing, until they race in April.
Last year, was Earnhardt's sixth season as a Cup driver, but statistically, it was his worst. He finished 19th, down three from his rookie season, and missed the chase for the Nextel Cup. He's been reuinted with his hold Crew Chief, Tony Eury Jr, one of a many changes at Dale Earnhardt Incorportated.
“Its good to be partnered back with the team that I was with when i had my past success,” says Earnhardt. “We got a couple of extra guys that came from the team that I ran with last year, and everybody seems really excited about how things are going so far.”
Things certainly couldn't get much worse after a year where the number-8 car found victory lane only once. The focus now is on a turnaround.
Says Earnhardt, “This is a big deal for all of us, our cars are really coming together. I mean I'm going out there and running some wicked fast laps, with ease, the car is really fun to driver, that says a lot about our potential and our chances this season.”
When the first group of Cup teams that reported to Daytona International Speedway to complete their three-day test, they will not be able to test at the track at any other point during the season.
The Cup series has six tests scheduled this season. They include Daytona, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Richmond, Va., and Homestead, Fl. The Busch Series has four, including Daytona, Las Vegas, Charlotte and Richmond.
In 2005, teams were limited to five two-day tests and four one-day tests. Rookies weregetting seven two-day tests and five one-day tests. Tests at tracks not used in the series did not count against the limit, a policy that remains unchanged.
The biggest impact, may be on the rookies, who will miss valuable track time.
As for Earnhardt, his goal is to be back in the chase for the Nextel Cup this year. He didn't make it last year, and missing it two straight years, would be unacceptable.
By the way, Goodyear didn't want us covering this session of tire testing. Not sure why, like reporters can tell what kind of compound their using.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
College Football Coaches May Change Replay Guidelines
The National Football League adopted limited use of instant replay in 1986, but today twenty years later, its still not perfect. No where was it more apparent than in the NFL divisional playoff game between Pittsburgh and Indianapolis.
The call proved to be grossly inaccurate: “After reviewing the play, the defender caught the ball, lost it prior to getting his knee off the ground, therefore, its an incomplete pass,” announced Pete Morelli.
But the NFL said his review was wrong, and the initial call on the field was right.
In College, the American Football coaches association is surveying their members this month, to see if they prefer to keep it their way, or adopted the NFL method.
Charlie Weiss, the Head Coach at Notre Dame says, “The one thing about being in the NFL, you knew that he rules were going to be the same, every week, and I think that would be a good thing for college football, if the rules were the same every week.”
Joe Paterno, Head Coach at Penn State, likes the idea. “I think the replay is a good deal, now whether is perfect right now, whether we ought to have a red flag, from the coaches, I've been against that,” he says.
In College system is not based on challenges by the coaches can cost timeouts. Unlike the NFL, there are unlimited replays, all determined by an official in the booth. It began as an experiment in the Big 10 2-years ago.
Says Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel, “There’s some pros and cons to it if you’re going to have it. You know our Big 10 model, which was adopted by the rest of the country this year, I think Its as good as perhaps you can get. I'm kind of old fashioned, and believe in the human part of the game, and if they changed over every mistake I made as a coach, they'd be stopping every play. So I don't know, the jury is probably still out in my mind, do we really need replay
Paterno remains in support, saying “Basically, all we want to do is we want the kids to win the game, you don't want the officials to lose the game, that’s not it, and the officials don't want to lose the game, but we put them in positions sometimes where its impossible for them to be on top of every play, its too wide open.
In this year's national championship game between Texas and Southern Cal, Texas would have lost an interception by Michael Griffin, if the instant replay booth had not stepped in. But later, a monitor malfunction kept officials from seeing a replay when Vince Young's knee was down on a lateral that lead to a touchdown. This turned out to be a technical meltdown, not a fault of the system.
Says Texas Head Coach Mack Brown, “I'd like to see us tweak it. I'd like to see us all do the exact same thing, but i thought it was an overwhelming success with a few glitches. And we used to talk about the officials making a mistake, and now we talked about one where the review maybe didn't look like it should have instead of four calls that officials made to lose the game, but I thought it took a tremendous amount of press off the officials.”
“All you want in a game is a fair fight,” says TCU Head Coach Gary Patterson. “I think that's all coaches want, that it doesn't come down to some bit technicality, of where something happened where there was a fifth down or something, where you didn't have control of it, and couldn't stop to review it, and get it right, and I think that's all we're really looking for.”
“You would expect it to ah, improve, and again, realize it was just our first year of using it, its still better than not having it at all I believe, but hopefully we can make it better, says Oklahoma Head Coach Bob Stoops. “There is no question it can be better, and you would think that, you know it’s our first year of everybody using it, that we'll tweak it, try to make some changes, and hopefully improve it.”
During the next few weeks, College Coaches will be trying to decide how to tweak their replay system, but history shows that no matter what they do, no system will be perfect.
The call proved to be grossly inaccurate: “After reviewing the play, the defender caught the ball, lost it prior to getting his knee off the ground, therefore, its an incomplete pass,” announced Pete Morelli.
But the NFL said his review was wrong, and the initial call on the field was right.
In College, the American Football coaches association is surveying their members this month, to see if they prefer to keep it their way, or adopted the NFL method.
Charlie Weiss, the Head Coach at Notre Dame says, “The one thing about being in the NFL, you knew that he rules were going to be the same, every week, and I think that would be a good thing for college football, if the rules were the same every week.”
Joe Paterno, Head Coach at Penn State, likes the idea. “I think the replay is a good deal, now whether is perfect right now, whether we ought to have a red flag, from the coaches, I've been against that,” he says.
In College system is not based on challenges by the coaches can cost timeouts. Unlike the NFL, there are unlimited replays, all determined by an official in the booth. It began as an experiment in the Big 10 2-years ago.
Says Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel, “There’s some pros and cons to it if you’re going to have it. You know our Big 10 model, which was adopted by the rest of the country this year, I think Its as good as perhaps you can get. I'm kind of old fashioned, and believe in the human part of the game, and if they changed over every mistake I made as a coach, they'd be stopping every play. So I don't know, the jury is probably still out in my mind, do we really need replay
Paterno remains in support, saying “Basically, all we want to do is we want the kids to win the game, you don't want the officials to lose the game, that’s not it, and the officials don't want to lose the game, but we put them in positions sometimes where its impossible for them to be on top of every play, its too wide open.
In this year's national championship game between Texas and Southern Cal, Texas would have lost an interception by Michael Griffin, if the instant replay booth had not stepped in. But later, a monitor malfunction kept officials from seeing a replay when Vince Young's knee was down on a lateral that lead to a touchdown. This turned out to be a technical meltdown, not a fault of the system.
Says Texas Head Coach Mack Brown, “I'd like to see us tweak it. I'd like to see us all do the exact same thing, but i thought it was an overwhelming success with a few glitches. And we used to talk about the officials making a mistake, and now we talked about one where the review maybe didn't look like it should have instead of four calls that officials made to lose the game, but I thought it took a tremendous amount of press off the officials.”
“All you want in a game is a fair fight,” says TCU Head Coach Gary Patterson. “I think that's all coaches want, that it doesn't come down to some bit technicality, of where something happened where there was a fifth down or something, where you didn't have control of it, and couldn't stop to review it, and get it right, and I think that's all we're really looking for.”
“You would expect it to ah, improve, and again, realize it was just our first year of using it, its still better than not having it at all I believe, but hopefully we can make it better, says Oklahoma Head Coach Bob Stoops. “There is no question it can be better, and you would think that, you know it’s our first year of everybody using it, that we'll tweak it, try to make some changes, and hopefully improve it.”
During the next few weeks, College Coaches will be trying to decide how to tweak their replay system, but history shows that no matter what they do, no system will be perfect.
Monday, January 16, 2006
Greg Ellis Wants Out of Dallas
Cowboys Defensive End Greg Ellis doesn’t know where he will be playing in 2006, but he does know, Dallas is no longer a perfect fit for his talent.
Speaking at McDonald’s Scholar Athlete Banquet, hosted by WFAA Sports Director Dale Hansen, Ellis said, “There's some controversy between me and the Cowboys whether I'll be here next year, but due to the fact that 'm here with him (referring to Dale Hansen) and what he just said, I think its going to be resolved pretty fast,” he said with a laugh.
Ellis just completed his 8th season with the Dallas Cowboys, but his playing time became less and less as the season wore on. Now, his future is uncertain.
Said Ellis, “I don't know, I just know and go off the facts, and the facts are this year, the world has to agree, my future doesn't look like its going to be with Dallas.”
Even before training camp, Ellis expressed frustration when the Cowboys changed to a 3-4 defense, a move that requires him to face tackles who outweigh him by more than 40-pounds. He still recorded 8-sacks this year, one shy of his career high before his playing time was reduced.
“One year in the 3-4 isn't going to be enough to really say, you gave yourself a fair and honest chance,” says Ellis. “So I think obviously, they need to stick with it, and I think they're going to stick with it, and if they do, I don't fit it.”
As for Parcells’ future with the team, he says, “Bill Parcells, knows what he wants to do, I don't but I think he definitely needs to stay and jerry needs to stick with him, and you don’t get rid of the 90-percent of the pie, I'm that 10-percent.”
Ellis isn’t angry with the Cowboys, but its obvious he would like to leave. If he does, he wants to leave on good terms. “Its not like I'm a big problem,” he says, “not at the latter end where I'm making four or five million dollars a year, so that's not a topic, that's why you have to realize, when its up its up, and don't be afraid, or be blind to the fact as I like to say, to see it when you see it, as bill put it, how many times do you have to smacked in the face by a skunk, to know that it stinks.”
Ellis was the 8th overall pick in the 1998 draft and still has four years left on his contract, but a lot has changed since he arrived here, and the biggest change for him, may well be coming this off season.
Speaking at McDonald’s Scholar Athlete Banquet, hosted by WFAA Sports Director Dale Hansen, Ellis said, “There's some controversy between me and the Cowboys whether I'll be here next year, but due to the fact that 'm here with him (referring to Dale Hansen) and what he just said, I think its going to be resolved pretty fast,” he said with a laugh.
Ellis just completed his 8th season with the Dallas Cowboys, but his playing time became less and less as the season wore on. Now, his future is uncertain.
Said Ellis, “I don't know, I just know and go off the facts, and the facts are this year, the world has to agree, my future doesn't look like its going to be with Dallas.”
Even before training camp, Ellis expressed frustration when the Cowboys changed to a 3-4 defense, a move that requires him to face tackles who outweigh him by more than 40-pounds. He still recorded 8-sacks this year, one shy of his career high before his playing time was reduced.
“One year in the 3-4 isn't going to be enough to really say, you gave yourself a fair and honest chance,” says Ellis. “So I think obviously, they need to stick with it, and I think they're going to stick with it, and if they do, I don't fit it.”
As for Parcells’ future with the team, he says, “Bill Parcells, knows what he wants to do, I don't but I think he definitely needs to stay and jerry needs to stick with him, and you don’t get rid of the 90-percent of the pie, I'm that 10-percent.”
Ellis isn’t angry with the Cowboys, but its obvious he would like to leave. If he does, he wants to leave on good terms. “Its not like I'm a big problem,” he says, “not at the latter end where I'm making four or five million dollars a year, so that's not a topic, that's why you have to realize, when its up its up, and don't be afraid, or be blind to the fact as I like to say, to see it when you see it, as bill put it, how many times do you have to smacked in the face by a skunk, to know that it stinks.”
Ellis was the 8th overall pick in the 1998 draft and still has four years left on his contract, but a lot has changed since he arrived here, and the biggest change for him, may well be coming this off season.
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