And with the 6th pick in the 2012 NFL Draft the Dallas Cowboys select MORRIS CLAIBORNE.
Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em. The Cowboys have traded up. How about these trades, huh? Jerry Jones is sick and tired of watching Terrance Newsome mope around the field. So he got himself some secondary help.
Mo Claiborne and Patrick Patterson made up one of the best corner tandems in college history. He is a talent and at 5’11”, 188 lbs he should be able to hold his own against receivers. He’s described as “rangy” and “super athletic”.
This is a pass happy league having cornerback that can make plays is necessary.
You can now synchronize your watches. The NFL has given word that the 2012 regular season will officially start when the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants host the Dallas Cowboys on September 5th. As usual the game will kick off on the Champ’s home field but what’s odd is that the game is on a Wednesday, not the normal Thursday event.
The regular season has started on a Thursday since 2002, but the league moved this year’s opener up a day to avoid a conflict with President Barack Obama’s planned speech at the Democratic National Convention.
According to the league, it hasn’t played a game on a Wednesday since Sept. 22, 1948, when the Rams faced the Lions.
The Boys have been making some offseason moves. Last year the Cowboys’ secondary was pretty awful. You could argue it was one of the main reasons they faded down the the stretch. On Tuesday, Dallas cut Terence Newman, which was a move that will probably benefit both parties. Newman played poorly in Dallas, a fresh start will do him a lot of good.
Yesterday, the Cowboys began to improve their secondary with the Chiefs’ Brandon Carr. They gave him a five-year deal for $50.1 million. Carr is a good cover corner and he is only 26 so he could improve into a great cover corner but that is a huge deal. Think of it this way. On the other side of Carr was Brandon Flowers, the better of the two cornerbacks who would handle the opposing team’s WR1. They Chiefs locked him up for five-year, $52 million last year. I suppose that’s the price of inflation.
In other news, Laurent Robinson signed a deal with Jacksonville. Robinson was huge for Dallas while Miles Austin was injured. They should have Dez and a healthy Austin but Robinson will be missed.
The rookie runner broke onto the scene with a franchise record 253 rushing yards against St. Louis, and was on his way to a 1,000 yard rushing season even without playing a full campaign.
With all the moving parts in the NFL each year, there’s always one thing we can count on: a competitive race in the NFC East.
The Giants will wake up tomorrow two full games ahead of the Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins. But have you seen their schedule? Here it is: at New England, at San Francisco, vs. Philadelphia, at New Orleans, vs. Green Bay, at Dallas, vs. Washington, at New York Jets, vs. Dallas.
There is —- literally (Rob Lowe’s Parks and Recreation voice) —- not one easy game on that schedule.
But you know what? I think the Giants can go 5-4 in this closing stretch, putting them at 10 wins and in a good spot for a playoff spot, if not the division title.
Because if there’s something else we can count on, it’s that Tom Coughlin’s Giants always disappoint when you expect too much, and surprise when you think it’s time to count them out.
This will be one of my favorite storylines for the next two months, and a defining stretch for Eli Manning’s career.
