Posts tagged AdamJones at FanHouse

The nice thing about being anyone on the San Antonio Spurs is that, well, you can generally sling criticism around; it's not a characteristic trait of any particular player on that team, but after so many years of solid team play and, well, just winning, they've got some sturdier walls than most glass houses.

Hence Bruce Bowen's recent comments to the San Antonio Express about the Dallas Cowboys, his favorite football team. See, it appears that Bruce, like every single person in the free world except Jerry Jones and Wade Phillips, doesn't think the Cowboys really have good chemistry.

"It's very disappointing," Bowen said of Sunday's painful showing by his favorites, "but character wins out over talent any day, at least in my book. You can see how infectious certain characters can be down the end of the road."

Bowen declined to name which of the Cowboys characters he considered "infectious," but he made it clear he believed the Cowboys were doomed by self-centered players.

Well, Bowen might have declined, but allow me: Pacman Jones, Terrell Owens and Roy Williams (the receiver). Of course, Pacman was probably more of a distraction than a totally destructive locker room presence, but still, anyone who thought bringing him to the Cowboys would result in anything positive is running a fool's errand.

And while Bowen is getting a bit aggressive in calling out another sport's players, what are the Cowboys going to do? Tell him he's wrong? Because, um, he's not.

The nice thing about being anyone on the San Antonio Spurs is that, well, you can generally sling criticism around; it's not a characteristic trait of any particular player on that team, but after so many years of solid team play and, well, just winning, they've got some sturdier walls than most glass houses.

Hence Bruce Bowen's recent comments to the San Antonio Express about the Dallas Cowboys, his favorite football team. See, it appears that Bruce, like every single person in the free world except Jerry Jones and Wade Phillips, doesn't think the Cowboys really have good chemistry.

"It's very disappointing," Bowen said of Sunday's painful showing by his favorites, "but character wins out over talent any day, at least in my book. You can see how infectious certain characters can be down the end of the road."

Bowen declined to name which of the Cowboys characters he considered "infectious," but he made it clear he believed the Cowboys were doomed by self-centered players.

Well, Bowen might have declined, but allow me: Pacman Jones, Terrell Owens and Roy Williams (the receiver). Of course, Pacman was probably more of a distraction than a totally destructive locker room presence, but still, anyone who thought bringing him to the Cowboys would result in anything positive is running a fool's errand.

And while Bowen is getting a bit aggressive in calling out another sport's players, what are the Cowboys going to do? Tell him he's wrong? Because, um, he's not.

From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

Mark Teixeira, merely the best free agent left on the market, is set to choose a team before Christmas. It's probably fitting then that there are four calling birds (and maybe a fifth looming giant) in pursuit of his services.

Teixeira is the ideal Scott Boras client. First and foremost, he's a tremendous ballplayer, but he's also calm and collected with the press, a family man, and, most critically for Boras' purposes, seemingly completely willing to go to the highest bidder.

Let's assume for a second that Teixeira isn't a Boras-bot sent from the future to destroy humanity lighten up some billionaire owner's wallet. Let's assume that big Tex will consider a wide variety of factors as he makes the most important decision of his baseball-playing life.

Which team, then, should he sign on the dotted line with?

Well, that didn't take long. "Adam" Pacman Jones played in the first six games of the season, got into a fight with his bodyguard at a Dallas hotel, Commissar Goodell promptly suspended him indefinitely, and after a 30-day stint in rehab, and seven weeks after stepping foot on the field, Jones resumed his NFL career last Sunday in Pittsburgh. He played surprisingly well in the secondary, but was a non-factor in the return game.

And now we learn that Jones injured his neck against the Steelers and won't be available against the Giants this Sunday night. Which means that owner Jerry Jones is furiously writing up a press release calling Mr. Pacman "soft" and claiming that he's shocked to learn that "Adam can't go this week," so on and so forth.

The Dallas Morning News reports that depending on the test results, Jones could miss the rest of the season. All told, not much of a comeback for the Titans 2005 first-round pick who spent 2007 out of football for various off-field transgressions.

Still, given that Jones is only 25 years old and has the potential to be a shutdown cornerback and dangerous return man, Jerry will almost certainly continue to be interested. Because after all, what would Valley Ranch be without all the manufactured drama?

UPDATE: NFL.com's Adam Schefter reports that not only is Pacman in danger of missing the rest of the season, his career could be in jeopardy. "When Jones suffered the injury Sunday, his body went numb for two full minutes. Jones spent the early part of this week visiting with neck specialists, who are sending him on to more neck specialists."

Following the Cowboys' implosion against the Steelers Sunday, a game in which Dallas was without Marion Barber -- arguably their toughest player -- owner Jerry Jones thought it would be a good idea to call out Barber for, well, not being very tough.

Barber suffered a toe injury during the Thanksgiving day beatdown of the Seahawks, and there were doubts all week as to if he'd play in Pittsburgh. Apparently, Jerry Jones, M.D., personally evaluated Barber and had a different take on the matter.

Which helps explain these seemingly insane comments: "He can play with that injured toe ... He can play with the soreness and a combination of those things. I see nothing that led us to believe he couldn't."

So, let's see, Barber, who by all accounts is a nice guy and a consummate team player, gets called out by the owner as soft while, at the same time, Jones defends "Adam" Pacman Jones like he's Johnnie Cochran at the O.J. trial. Brilliant.

"Adam" Pacman Jones, back from rehab and newly reinstated, will play this Sunday for the first time since Week 6. A starter coming into the season, Jones will return punts and play in the substitution packages against the Steelers, which means that rookie Orlando Scandrick will remain the Cowboys' nickel back.

Head coach Wade Phillips didn't want to go into too much detail about his defensive personnel plans, saying "We'll just see what happens ... You never know what could happen." Typical, boring Phillips-speak, right?

Well, it gets better. Via the Dallas Morning News' Tim MacMahon, during his Wednesday presser, Phillips got feisty with an anonymous reporter who asked if the five veterans who missed today's practice would sit out again tomorrow. Wade, voice dripping with sarcasm, answered, "No, we're going to give them off until Sunday."

Reporter: "Well, how much rest do they need? They were off the whole weekend."

Wade: "OK, well, why don't you coach them then?"

Reporter: "Maybe so. I might be in the playoffs by now."

Wade, with a death stare: "Yeah, I'd like to see that."

I have no formal journalism training, but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to publicly tell the head coach that you're better qualified to get his team to the playoffs than he is. Not unless you're working in Detroit, anyway.

And in case you didn't notice on first glance: yeah, in the photo above, those are Homer Simpson PJs underneath Pacman's practice shorts. If I had to guess, he swiped them from Phillips' office.

Photo credit: Michael Ainsworth, The Dallas Morning News / AP

Despite Drew Rosenhaus' ridiculous comparison (Sean Taylor : Plaxico Burress) during Monday Night Football last evening, there is certainly, as has been noted numerous times this year, a significant stigma revolving around guns, violence and professional football players.


Plax was the latest episode and one that left us wondering "Hey, man, why are you carrying a loaded gun into a nightclub?" The initial answer seemed to be "stupidity." But it turns out that maybe Burress had a legitimate reason to fear for his safety, considering that his teammate and fellow wide receiver Steve Smith was robbed at gun point recently.

Smith went out with friends on the night of Monday, Nov. 24, the day after the Giants beat the Cardinals in Arizona. He arrived home early last Tuesday morning - the Giants had the day off - and he was held up, apparently by the driver who took him to his home in a gated community in Clifton, N.J., according to a league source.

Shortly after being dropped off, Smith had a gun pointed to his head and was ordered to give up his jewelry and cash, which he did. The assailant then left the scene, and Smith called police.

Police have said that Smith doesn't own a gun ... but that doesn't mean there's not an easy, logical leap to figure out why Plaxico might be carrying one. Additionally, it's beyond terrifying to realize that his own driver was the one that robbed him.

Whether or not it was a personal hire or someone farmed out from a company is an entirely different issue, but it's still scarily similar to the whole deal in Vegas with Pacman Jones and his bodyguard in that it seems to be becoming increasingly difficult for these athletes to even know whom to trust.

Tenth time's a charm, as the old saying goes. After countless run-ins with legal authorities and the NFL, "Adam" Pacman Jones "is taking a serious approach in his return to the Cowboys." It's a heartwarming story, really.

Jones is fresh off a 30-day stint at a Boston rehab facility, and was suspended for the entire 2007 season for various off-field transgressions. He'll return punts and play in the Cowboys' nickel packages this Sunday against the Steelers, assuming, of course, he can maintain that new-found work ethic.

"I think that's positive," [Cowboys secondary coach Dave] Campo said. "I talked to him two or three times before the last incident went down, and [now] I've kind of given him some space a little bit. I told him if you want to visit about anything don't hesitate. That's kind of the approach I'm taking."

The Dallas Morning News' Calvin Watkins writes that before Mr. Pacman's six-game suspension, he had struggled returning punts, averaging just five yards per runback. Opinions differ on Jones' worth as a defensive back, but given the team's inconsistencies in the secondary, at the very least, he offers depth.

A week ago, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell decided to re-reinstate "Adam" Pacman Jones after a 30-day stint in a Boston-area rehab facility. Jones won't be allowed back on the field until Dec. 7, when the Cowboys travel to Pittsburgh.

He returned to practice yesterday and, assuming Jones can somehow avoid trouble for the next 13 days, he'll be available for Dallas' December playoff push.

Former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman (and the lucky devil who gets to spend 17 days a year watching football with Joe Buck) isn't impressed. In fact, he thinks bringing Jones back is "an absolute mistake." Via the Dallas Morning News' Barry Horn:

"I don't know why they are bringing him back," said Aikman ... "I just think that is an absolute mistake. The players won't say it ...I sense players don't want him back...On the field he didn't help them in the return game, which is really where he was supposed to help them, and teams targeted him in pass defense.

He was confused out there on the field. So there really isn't anything he did as a player that warranted another chance by the organization or at least maybe taking another risk on him. Who knows maybe he comes back and helps this team. I just don't see it."

Earlier this week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell performed his version of the ceremonial turkey pardoning when he reinstated "Adam" Pacman Jones. Jones, as you may recall, was suspended for the 2007 season for various transgressions, and after winning the good citizenship award this summer, was allowed to return to the league.

That lasted a few weeks, and following an incident with his bodyguard in a hotel bathroom, Goodell again suspended Mr. Pacman, this time indefinitely.

After a 30-day stint in a rehab and with a clean bill of health in hand, Jones is back. But this time, the league is SERIOUS: if the Dallas cornerback can't stay out of trouble, he could be banished for life. If it sounds familiar, it's because we've heard it before.

Whatever, ESPN's Chris Mortensen has the details:

Goodell added two more games to [Jones'] suspension and he gave heavy weight to the recommendation of the clinical specialist who oversaw Pacman's 30-(day) rehab and treatment... Sources say one of [the conditions is that] Jones must continue intensive rehab and counseling on an outpatient basis.

Any missteps, including, say, a missed appointment, could lead to a lifetime banishment. Oh, and Jerry Jones will not reinstate his four-man "watch Pac" detail.