Kellen Moore is the new quarterbacks coach for the Dallas Cowboys after spending the previous three seasons as the backup to Tony Romo and then Dak Prescott.
Moore’s move is part of a significant overhaul to coach Jason Garrett’s staff. Although offensive coordinator Scott Linehan and defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli are returning Authentic Dorian O'Daniel Jersey , eight new coaches and two promotions were announced Friday.
Sanjay Lal, who has worked with receivers for four NFL teams over the past 11 seasons, is the new receivers coach in what could be a crucial year for 2014 All-Pro Dez Bryant’s future in Dallas. After spending last season with Indianapolis, Lal replaces Derek Dooley, who left to become offensive coordinator at Missouri.
The other newcomers are Paul Alexander (offensive line), Ken Amato (defensive assistant), Doug Colman (assistant special teams), Doug Nussmeier (tight ends), Markus Paul (assistant strength) and Kris Richard (passing game coordinator/defensive backs).
Ben Bloom was promoted to linebackers coach, and former special teams assistant Keith O’Quinn will take over that unit.
The staff shake-up came after the Cowboys finished 9-7 in a season marred by 2016 All-Pro running back Ezekiel Elliott’s six-game suspension a year after Dallas had an NFC-best 13 wins.
The 29-year-old Moore spent six seasons in the NFL, the first three with Detroit as an undrafted free agent out of Boise State. He ended up as the backup in Dallas because of his ties to Linehan with the Lions.
Moore played just three regular-season games in his career, all of them after Romo broke his collarbone for the second time during the 2015 season and the Cowboys had benched both of Romo’s other backups, Brandon Weeden and Matt Cassel.
Moore likely would have started in 2016 when Romo broke his back in a preseason game, but Moore broke an ankle during practice in training camp.
The injury to Moore made Prescott the backup, and the former Mississippi State star went on to have one of the best rookie seasons for a quarterback in NFL history. Moore was Prescott’s trusted confidant as his backup last season.
The Cowboys gave the QB coaching job to Moore after deciding not to bring back Wade Wilson, who held the job for 11 seasons. Linehan also works closely with quarterbacks.
Matt Eberflus also was among the coaches who left the Dallas staff. The former linebackers coach and passing game coordinator agreed to become defensive coordinator for the Colts when they were planning to hire Josh McDaniels.
After McDaniels changed his mind and returned to New England, the Colts said they would honor the deals with the assistants who had agreed to come and hired new coach Frank Reich.
Former Dallas special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia took the same job under Jon Gruden in Oakland. Alexander replaced Frank Pollack, the new offensive line coach in Cincinnati. Other coaches who didn’t return were Joe Baker (secondary) and Steve Loney, who retired after one season in charge of the tight ends.
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Vince McMahon is resuscitating the XFL.
OK, let’s get the bad jokes out of the way: Are some teams going to be wearing masks and representing parts unknown? Will the hook-and-ladder play involve smashing someone with a real ladder?
The XFL was a ”colossal failure” the first time McMahon tried it – his words – and there’s every reason to believe XFL2 will meet a similar fate.
But a spring football league, done the right way, could work.
The United States Football League came up with the most feasible concept back in the 1980s, only to crumble after just three seasons because of out-of-control spending and a suicidal push by owners such as Donald Trump to compete directly against the NFL .
But the USFL might still be around today if it had stuck to its original concept, which was to serve as more of a complement to the NFL than a direct competitor.
The timing is ripe for another attempt.
While the economy is booming and football remains the nation’s most popular sport, the NFL is contending with shrinking TV ratings, empty seats and a lingering debate over players kneeling during the national anthem to protest social injustice. For the first time in decades, there are actually some cracks in the league’s armor.
Clearly, those issues figured into McMahon’s planned re-launch of the XFL in 2020 .
”As far as this league is concerned, it will have nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with social issues,” he said. ”That’s what the fans want. When they tune in to a game, they don’t want to deal with political issues. They want to watch good football.”
Good football will likely be the fatal flaw in McMahon’s new venture, just as it was for the original XFL. While the risque cheerleaders and close ties to wrestling brought plenty of much-deserved ridicule, it was the amateurish quality of play that ultimately caused its downfall. As Bob Costas memorably observed, it was ”mediocre high school football” combined ”with a tawdry strip club.”
Since McMahon’s new XFL will follow the same single-entity plan – he’ll be the sole owner of the eight-team league – there’s unlikely to be nearly enough money to lure any recognizable names, unless Tim Tebow (yes, he came up during the announcement Thursday) decides to make a football comeback.
But an updated version of the USFL concept would have a real chance at succeeding during the spring and summer, football’s traditional offseason.
Here’s a few ideas:
– Start with 10 or 12 teams, split between major NFL cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles; those that have lost teams (San Diego, St. Louis and soon-to-be Oakland); and untapped markets with big league stadiums (San Antonio comes to mind).
– Restrict ownership to those who not only have deep pockets, but are totally committed to the concept (i.e. Kenny Clark Jersey , not simply trying to turn their investment into a merger with the NFL). Point out the relative bargain of owning a team in the new league compared to, say, the Carolina Panthers, whose selling price will surely exceed $2 billion. Maybe Mark Cuban would be interested in a Dallas franchise. Reach out to Oprah Winfrey about a Chicago team.
– Don’t get into a bidding war with the NFL over players. Focus heavily on scouting and development, which means pursuing lower-level pros who might thrive in a bigger role and college stars projected to go in the later rounds of the NFL draft. Always be on the lookout for someone like 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson, the subject of wildly varying draft projections, who might have a better chance at playing time in a new league. And let’s not forget: Colin Kaepernick is still unemployed.
– Line up a traditional TV deal to provide financial stability, perhaps some combination of a major network and a newer, sports-themed cable outlet such as NBCSN or Fox Sports 1. But also be on the cutting edge of subscription services, mobile streaming and other innovative conduits that appeal to a younger audience.
In essence, follow the model laid out by the late David Dixon, the New Orleans businessman whose longtime push for an out-of-season league finally came to fruition with the launch of the USFL in 1983.
Looking back, that first season was a rousing success in many ways. The Denver Gold averaged more than 41,000 fans. Overall attendance was roughly in line with the hoped-for 25,000 per game. TV ratings on ABC and then-fledgling ESPN actually exceeded projections. The quality of play was solid.
But the seeds of the USFL’s downfall were already in motion. When the New Jersey Generals skirted the salary cap to lure Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker away from Georgia, it only led more teams to dole out big bucks in pursuit of stars. That, in turn, led to huge financial losses. Dixon wisely walked away after that inaugural season.
In the end, the USFL’s most enduring legacy was the $3 judgment it ”won” in an antitrust suit against the NFL, a ruling that finished off the league in 1986 before it carried out a Trump-backed move from spring to fall.
No one since has made a serious attempt at a spring football league.
A revived XFL certainly doesn’t qualify.
But someone out there should heed McMahon’s words.
”Football is America’s favorite sport,” he said. ”We’ve got seven months of no football on the gridiron and 70 million fans. Why not now? Now is the perfect opportunity.”