It’s Super Bowl week which means plenty of people in the media will be chatting about all 32 NFL teams including the two playing in Sundays’ big game. Radio row has been buzzing just three days into one of the most popular sports media weeks of the year. NFL.com gives one piece of advice to each NFC team as to how to take down the San Francisco 49ers.
ESPN took a look at every team and named one player per squad who leveled up. Jason Witten shared a story on the late, great Kobe Bryant. Jimmy Johnson gives his reasoning as to why the Cowboys didn’t reach their goals in 2019. Fox‘s Jay Glazer dishes that he helped the Cowboys move away from a defensive search for a coach and shares great insight on Mike McCarthy. Here’s the news and notes.
One thing each NFC team can do to dethrone the 49ers in 2020 :: NFL.com
For the 30 clubs not prepping to play on Sunday, the rebuilding has already begun, with an eye on being their conference representative in Tampa on February 7, 2021. NFL writer Gregg Rosenthal takes a look at what each squad needs most critically to increase their odds; he says the Cowboys need to focus on their defensive line.
With Robert Quinn, Michael Bennett, Maliek Collins, Kerry Hyder, and Christian Covington all set to become free agents (and Tyrone Crawford no lock to return), there’s major work to do to improve this unit that “got pushed around in the running game too often last year.”
–TB
Players who leveled up for all 32 NFL teams in the 2019 season :: ESPN
The Cowboys as a group didn’t improve from 2018 to 2019, finishing with a worse record and missing the playoffs. But there were individual strides made by several players in upping their game.
In Dallas, nobody made more of a leap than Michael Gallup. The second-year wideout broke 1,100 yards on the season and combined with Amari Cooper to provide the team with their first 1,000-yard tandem since 2006. The truly exciting part for Cowboys fans? There are areas where Gallup can get even better in 2020.
–TB
Jason Witten shares Kobe Bryant story :: @realjasonwitten82 (Instagram)
Personal stories continue to spread from athletes, celebrities, and regular Joes about Lakers legend Kobe Bryant in the wake of his untimely passing. One you may have missed is from future Hall of Famer Jason Witten.
The Dallas tight end touchingly recalls how he met Bryant shortly after his 2018 retirement from football, and how all the basketball icon wanted to do was break down the nuts and bolts of Witten’s signature play, Y-Option.
Bryant’s “You can’t cheat the muse” sounds like a close relative to Witten’s “The secret’s in the dirt.” It’s little wonder that the two hit it off.
–TB
Jimmy Johnson said 2019 Dallas Cowboys didn’t have the inner drive to succeed :: Forth Worth Star Telegram
A lot of people will have voiced their opinions on what they thought about the 2019 Dallas Cowboys season over the coming weeks. Some critique will be taken seriously and hold credibility and some not so much. However, when it comes to credibility, who better to ask about this year’s (8-8) season than former two-time Super Bowl winning head coach of the Cowboys, and new NFL Hall of Fame inductee, Jimmy Johnson.
Clarence Hill was able to ask Johnson his thoughts on the 2019 campaign. “I don’t know why it didn’t go better. I’ve watched them play a lot of times and they looked as good as anyone in the league, and they are very talented” Johnson started to explain.
Jimmy Johnson said 2019 Dallas Cowboys didn't have the inner drive to succeed https://t.co/2wpvpdfdYQ
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) January 29, 2020
Johnson continued to express that when the Cowboys faced adversity, that they would fall a little flat.
–DS
What stands out most about Mike McCarthy’s new offensive coaching staff ::: The Athletic
Jon Machota breaks down the brand new, revamped offensive coaching staff. Machota had the chance to speak with second-year offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, offensive line coach Joe Philbin and new wide receivers coach Adam Henry.
The 2019 offense lead the entire NFL by averaging 431.5 yards per game along with being sixth in scoring at 27 points per. New head coach Mike McCarthy was fairly confident in riding that momentum heading into 2020.
Kellen Moore: “It’s a get-the-best-players-the-ball offense. (In Green Bay), they were able to throw the rock a bunch. … We got a running back who is really good and another one behind him who is really good, and we want to get them the ball.” https://t.co/o69szFjIPP
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) January 29, 2020
Each of these coaches have a relatively young group of players to work with and it will be determined who else will join this offense from a personnel standpoint via free agency and the 2020 NFL Draft.
–DS
You absolutely have to hear this story about Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy ::: Blogging The Boys
RJ Ochoa sat down with Fox’s Jay Glazer on Wednesday in Miami as part of “Radio Row” for Super Bowl week.
Glazer was the one who broke both the Cowboys were moving on from Jason Garrett and replacing him with Mike McCarthy.
“Originally the Cowboys owners wanted a defensive coach because they wanted to keep the offensive staff. I’m like, don’t do that guys. And I talk to the Joneses about it. I said don’t do that. You get yourself in trouble that way. Get a leader of men. Get a guy who’s going to formulate the attitude of your team. This is who you want,” Glazer told Ochoa.
Glazer also retells a phenomenal story about who McCarthy is as a person.
Jay Glazer was fascinating on Radio Row. He told us about the type of person Mike McCarthy is (a great story involved), behind the scenes of the HOF announcement for Jimmy Johnson, and what Jason Witten needs to do.
Listen: https://t.co/gZC6MshgHu pic.twitter.com/4Pos3kEjYo
— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) January 29, 2020
–DS
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