when all the corners were healthy: Henry stayed at right corner and it was Williams moving from safety to that nickel backer spot. Well, Pro Bowler or not, might as well get your best cover guys on the field.
Don't get the idea the Cowboys have this idea of moving Henry to safety. Not yet, anyway. That is their dime defense, as Henry says, and while he is not opposed to some day moving to safety if that can prolong his career, "I just think right now I'm at corner . . . right now, personally (safety) is not the choice I want to make.
"But with Pacman here, that makes your corner positions much more solid."
That stuck out to me on Wednesday, just as did Adam Jones' second pick of Richard Bartel in two days; Greg Ellis back on the field working with the ones; Ball and Jenkins the second-team corners; Jones, as expected, working on the right side; Courtney Brown and Tyler Everett the second-team safeties; Terry Glenn nor Ken Hamlin still not here; Deion, when talking about the cornerback talent on this team, saying, "The sleeper of the secondary is 23, Evan Oglesby"; and Jerry Jones doing a little dance of his own when sauntering over to shake hands with car-racing, dancing-dude Helio.
But so did this: How at peace and relaxed Owens has been and is here with the Dallas Cowboys.
He seems less guarded. He's laughing. He's having fun with his teammates and the coaches. The media, too. Now, maybe receiving a $12.9 million signing bonus will do that to you. But you get the feeling there is more to it than that.
So I asked him while taping our show about the trust factor he seems to have developed with not only this particular owner, but with Phillips, Tony Romo and receivers coach Ray Sherman. To me that little word, trust, has always been important to him.
Here is what he had to say:
"Having trust is all a part of a relationship, whether it's a personal thing or trying to accomplish something as a team. It starts from the top and (works) all the way down. And I think if you have any type of division or lack of trust somewhere, you know, in the midst of that there are going to be some problems. And as I think people saw, my first year here we had Coach Parcells and I ran into some issues with Todd Haley, there were some trust issues in that situation and things never really kind of stayed on the right track."
Despite whatever, and whatever you might think of the Cowboys signing Owens through the 2011 season when he will turn 38 in that December, here are his back-to-back combined season numbers with the Cowboys: 166 receptions, 2,535 yards and 28 touchdowns. While no Cowboys player ever has caught 15 touchdown passes in a single season that Owens did in 2007, certainly no player ever has totaled 28 touchdown receptions in consecutive seasons. Michael Irvin's best was 16. Tony Hill's best was 18. Lance Rentzel's best was 18. Bob Hayes' best was 25, and had back-to-back seasons of 23 and 20. Frank Clarke, who previously held the single-season touchdown reception record (14), had 26 back in 1962-63
Owens outdid them all. And only Irvin has caught more passes in back-to-back seasons (190) for more yards (2,844) than Owens.
And you wonder why Jones ponied up such big bucks?
Evidently some do. Saw where one Internet genius is questioning the "timing" of Owens' extension. Hmmm, maybe he didn't get the memo about the extension clearing $3 million off this year's salary cap for the Cowboys, or how the total cap is affected in the season before an uncap year, heaven forbid that happens in 2010, and this extension will help because of the 30-percent base salary increase rule. Maybe he didn't realize the Cowboys were on the books with Owens for $7 million, and by paying him just another $6 million - you can say "just another $6 million" when it's someone else's money - locked him up for three more years.
So the timing might not be all that "curious," his word not mine.
But hey, if nothing else, after the past three days, and if they weren't already after putting together back-to-back 9-7 seasons followed by least year's 13-3, you realize the Cowboys are back.
The talent is rich again. The media feels the need to comment about the Cowboys, good
