Now, I know what youāre thinking: āDear Lord, Dawson, are we really doing this?ā
And yes, yes we are. War and sports analogies go back as far as the games themselves. But this one isnāt just about metaphorāitās about mindset. Because what weāre talking about here is a team trying to do something the world has all but decided canāt be done.
You ever throw up the X in your living room?Yeah, me tooAnd for the first time since Dez, Iām thinking⦠we might need to bring it back.
It starts with George Pickens.
Part I: The Interview That Stayed With Me
We interviewed Kelvin Joseph at Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, 2021. Iāve seen plenty of rookies come throughāmost wide-eyed, a little overwhelmed by the NFL scene, even in a dusty beach-town setup like Oxnard. But Kelvin was different. Not just nervous. Guarded. Anxious. You could feel it.
Micah Parsons is barreling toward a training camp holdout in Oxnard, California. And if youāve been paying attention to how the Cowboys do business, you saw this coming a mile away.
They donāt let elite players walk.They also donāt pay until a real deadline slaps them in the face.
Letās get something clear right off the top: Joe Milton isnāt replacing Dak Prescott in 2025. Not unless the wheels fall off, the stars align, and the Cowboys see something in Milton that Tennessee fans only saw once every three games. But⦠that doesnāt mean heās not worth watching. That doesnāt mean he canāt be a player. And it sure doesnāt mean Week 18 was a fluke.
The alphabet made him wait, just like all of us kids back in elementary school.
Sonny Styles steps forward and looks down. Finds his mark that demands another, child prodigy graduating to permanent marker.
The next play is all heās ever focused on, so why would he have prepared for this moment any other way?
If you read Part 1 of this #OTANSWERS miniseries, then you know Brian Schottenheimerās QB rooms have put him in a blender.
But this isnāt about whether Russ could, would, or should have been allowed to cookāweāre not here for Sopranos-sad endings in Year 1 of #SCHOPPENHEIMERās Dallas experiment.
Micah Parsons is headed for a holdout. Our own Gavin Dawson isnāt holding backāgetting behind the mic to guarantee Parsonsā absence. In fact, Dawsonās doubling down, expanding on the reasons why (LINK BLOG WHENCE LIVE) Parsons is barreling toward the wrong kind of Training Camp headlines.
Last week, the superstar gamebreaker alternately professed his availability for Mandatory Minicamp next week and put contract negotiations in Jones Family hands in the same tweet.
If youāve been watching or listening to our podcast, then youāve likely heard Newbear say the same thing a couple of different ways:
In 20 years as an OC or relative equivalent, Brian Schottenheimer has had to work through some things.
Chad Penningtonās chicken wing.