What is a Team?

By Tex DeVille

Dictionary.com says that a team is “a number of persons forming one of the sides in a game or contest,” or “a number of persons associated in some joint action.” Jason Garrett probably could recite this type of thing. Princeton, after all, is an Ivy League school, where the read the dictionary for fun, right? Regardless, Garrett has been seen as robotic, inhumanly devoid of emotion, and ultimately over his head in his role as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Some commentators have said he’s too smart for his own good. Some are surprised he’s from Princeton with all the boneheaded calls he makes like throwing it on 3^rd & 1 with a guaranteed 1^st down in Demarco Murray, icing his own kicker, or all-around bad clock management. He is a former quarterback, and it shows in his “throw first and be interrogated about it later” offensive mentality. He wins more when he’s more balanced, but like any type of addict, bad habits die hard.

On Thanksgiving Day, most analysts, NFL fans, and even Cowboy fans wrote this season off as over and a failure. I don’t live in Dallas anymore, but I can imagine that if I was listening to the radio, everyone and their mom would be saying how Garrett should be fired, and Romo should be traded for someone (probably Tebow).

Then last week happened. A troubled young man killed his girlfriend and himself in front of his coach and GM. The NFL world was rocked. Suddenly, everyone gained perspective: it’s just a game. Kansas City fans, who earlier in the season stated that the team not only is bad at football but also at life, retracted a protest to fire their GM and asked for unity among the team and fans. The NFL was rocked, but by Thursday, it seemed to be returning to normal. Then Friday night happened. Josh Brent made a stupid decision that so many have made in the past, and it resulted in the death of his best friend. The police on the scene said he was trying to drag his friend out of the car to make him wake up. Jerry Brown, Jr. never did wake up. Another needless tragedy, another needless death, and another player younger than I am died. Josh Brent will live with that guilt for the rest of his life. Regardless of what the law decides, regardless of how long he’s in prison, regardless of any of that, nothing can be more painful than to know that you are responsible for your own best friend’s death.

The most tragic part of both tragedies is how avoidable they both were. Belcher was offered counseling, but no one thought to implement further safety precautions? Say what you will about Jerry Jones and the jokes made about how Dez Bryant had handlers this year, Jerry KNEW that something had to be done more than a pat on the butt and an “Atta boy.” And with Brown and Brent, the NFLPA offers rides to ANY PLAYER in an NFL city. Or just call a cab! You make more money in a week than I make in 10 years, and you can’t call a cab? The first situation you can argue was not entirely avoidable; no one ever knows the depth of mental illness without years of expert training. The second situation is a 100% completely avoidable tragedy that wasn’t avoided why? Machismo?

But I digress. Everyone, by now, knows these situations are tragic and are made even more tragic by the amount of things that could have happened and should have happened that didn’t. There is no sense on dwelling on “coulda, woulda, shoulda.” Besides, there is a saying: “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react.” So, how did the Cowboys react? They reacted with a signature win on the road. The players reacted with some of the best individual playing all year. Brandon Carr, who was close to all 3 people who died recently, played out of his mind. He had one interception that he returned 37 yards, and he kept AJ Green to 3 catches for 44 yards. In the fourth quarter, Romo was almost Peytonesque with his methodical approach: He drove 50 yards with no play going more than 9 yards.

And, most shockingly, Jason Garrett showed emotion. I actually could not watch his whole interview because, and I am unashamed to say this, he started making me cry. You could tell he and every other Cowboy was fighting back tears when that football split the uprights. Garrett, after the game, held Rob Ryan and Demarcus Ware tight. Jason Hatcher swung Brown’s jersey in the air in celebration. Lawrence Vickers told every single teammate and coach he saw that he loves them. Say what you will about the Cowboys; say they won’t win anything this year; say Romo can’t win the big one; say Jerry Jones is the worst GM in history. You cannot, however, say these 2 things: “They can’t finish games,” and “They aren’t a close-knit team.” Those 2 statements just got negated by the way the Cowboys carried themselves this week. Will the Cowboys win the rest of their games this season through February? I don’t know. Right now, I can safely say that I don’t care because I have confidence in what is happening in Dallas. I know a February is coming. The Cowboys have proven their character, and this week, moreso than they have in a long, long time, they have proven that they are America’s Team.