Friday, Saturday, Sunday in Texas Page 8

  Never one to shy away from bold predictions, in 2001, the team’s first year after Hall of Famer Troy Aikman’s retirement, Jones recognized that winning with a rookie quarterback such as Quincy Carter might be a challenge, so he “softened” his stance in front of those attending the luncheon and predicted a more conservative number of regular season victories—ten. The Cowboys won just five games. The following year, Jones suggested to the crowd that a Super Bowl run was possible, but his team again struggled and finished 5–11 for the third straight season.

  Nevertheless, Jones continued his preseason optimism until he changed his stance somewhat in 2014. He took the stage and spoke of the “uphill battle” the Cowboys would face that season, but reminded the audience that teams sometimes played their best “when backed into a corner.” The club responded with a 12–4 campaign followed by a playoff win over the Detroit Lions before a controversial loss in the next round against the Green Bay Packers.

  Once again, the eternal optimist was back in 2015.

  “We understand the opportunity we’ve got. Last year, we needed to circle the wagons, and we did that,” Jones said as he looked around the stage at his players, who were seated on either side of the podium. “Men, I’ll tell you this. This is an opportunity for you. We’ve got players up here who could’ve gone somewhere else and been on other teams. There’re some great players up here. Let’s get it together. We’re ready to go.”

  But it wasn’t just Jones feeling the Super Bowl vibes. Several others who took the stage echoed his statements. Former Cowboys great Emmitt Smith, a Hall of Famer and the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, was honored with the Tom Landry Legends award. At one point in his speech, he turned toward the current players and coaches and said, “I want you to achieve the things we were able to achieve.”

  Smith’s running mate and fellow Hall of Famer Michael Irvin wasn’t as cryptic. The event’s honorary chair took the microphone and tried to connect numerical coincidences to a possible Cowboys trip to Super Bowl 50. He told the audience that the Cowboys had been around fifty-five years, and then pointed out that the Cowboys had won five Super Bowls.

  “I’m into omens,” he said. “Fifty-five minus five … that equals fifty.”

  Irvin also pointed out that it had been twenty years since the Cowboys won the thirtieth Super Bowl.

  “Thirty plus twenty equals fifty,” Irvin continued. “I don’t care how you get there. You just make sure that at the end of this year, the golden team in the NFL is winning the golden Super Bowl in the NFL.”

  Naturally, Irvin and Smith were a little more flamboyant on stage, but other former players in the audience, including quarterback Roger Staubach, also couldn’t avoid the “Super” elephant in the room.

  “I think this has a chance to be a really special team,” the Hall of Fame quarterback said.

  Respectfully, head coach Jason Garrett sat and listened to all of it. Super Bowl talk can make a laid-back, careful-with-his-words type of person like Garrett cringe, which he likely did several times when Irvin was up there preaching Super Bowl or bust.

  When it was finally Garrett’s turn, he found a middle ground. He recalled a story about the late Buck Buchanan, a longtime equipment manager of the Cowboys who had passed away in June. Buchanan’s son, Bucky, had been on the team’s equipment staff for more than twenty years.

  Just days before the luncheon, Garrett had gotten misty-eyed prior to the team’s preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings during a moment of silence honoring Buck.

  Garrett shared a story of his first season with the Cowboys in 1992, when he was just a young quarterback with seemingly long odds to make the roster. He sheepishly entered the equipment room and apologetically asked Buck if he could possibly get a smaller T-shirt than the baggy one he was issued. Garrett said he was shocked at Buchanan’s answer: “Here at the Cowboys, we pursue excellence. We’ll get you a shirt that fits.”

  Garrett also shared his story of watching U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on television and the inspiration for the “We Do” shirts, along with the constant theme of the previous year’s message, “Fight.”

  “A lot of people at these kind of luncheons want to make guarantees,” he said. “We ain’t making any of those. But, I will guarantee this: This team will define itself by what it does. This team is going to pursue excellence. This team is going to be a team that fights.”

  As the luncheon concluded, the players exited the stage and headed toward the charter buses that would take them back to Valley Ranch or their own personal cars. However, the media members in attendance scurried to find a few answers to questions that had popped up during the nearly two-hour event. While more than seventy players were on the stage, the focus shifted on the players not in attendance.

  Where was Greg Hardy? What about Joseph Randle? And no Randy Gregory or Corey White?

  Heading to his car, Executive Vice President and Director of Player Personnel Stephen Jones assured the media that all had excused absences and that their status with the team was safe, despite the Cowboys having to trim the roster to fifty-three players in three days.

  The Cowboys’ official statement was “personal reasons,” but for all of them, especially Randle, Gregory, and Hardy, any kind of absence was a red flag, considering their off-field troubles. Hardy, however, was gone to attend the birth of his child.

  The most serious of the no-shows was Randle, who had to return to his hometown of Wichita, Kansas, for another court appearance. This was not related to the previous February incident in which his ex-girlfriend accused him of pointing a gun at her and shattering a car window. It was another minor legal matter that he needed to take care of before the season began.

  Despite all of his off-the-field issues, Randle had plenty of support from the Cowboys, who not only let DeMarco Murray leave but also didn’t draft another running back.

  Randle didn’t get much competition in training camp from Darren McFadden, so for now, this starting job was still Randle’s to lose. But with each non-football matter that popped up, his grip on the starting job seemed to get a bit looser by the day.

  Missing the kickoff luncheon isn’t ideal, but this close to the season, the Cowboys would prefer these kinds of events be skipped rather than a practice or, of course, a game.

  Speaking of games, the Cowboys wrapped up the preseason on September 3 with what had become one of the more futile sporting events in the NFL—the fourth exhibition game. With most of the starters around the league never even putting on shoulder pads, the last preseason tilt was typically a sixty-minute affair of second- and third-stringers with only a few hopefuls still having a shot to make the team.

  Facing the Houston Texans for statewide bragging rights in a game known as the “Governor’s Cup,” the Cowboys rested thirty-three players, including all of their starters and top reserves. Hardy was again excused and missed the game, while Gregory and Randle returned but joined the rest of the key players in not suiting up.

  As for White, a cornerback sitting squarely on the bubble of making the roster, he not only played, but even scored a touchdown on an interception return in the third quarter to temporarily tie the game, 7–7. Third-string quarterback Dustin Vaughan, who desperately needed a solid showing to stick around for another season, then led a fourth-quarter drive that put the Cowboys in the end zone for a third time, securing a 21–14 victory and avoiding a second straight winless preseason.

  Vaughan, an undrafted rookie free agent in 2014 out of Division II West Texas A&M near Amarillo, spent his first season on the Cowboys’ 53-man roster, but never took a snap. A six-five frame with a strong arm is a good start for any quarterback, but his footwork, struggles reading defenses, and limited athletic ability had been exposed in the first three preseason games of 2015, and even at times against Houston.

  But in the end, Vaughan led the Cowboys to
the win, only stirring the pot even more about his chances of making the team.

  Undrafted quarterbacks obviously hold a special place in Jerry Jones’ heart. He often wonders what would’ve happened had he not given Tony Romo the years to develop. Back in 2004, Romo’s second season, he was nearly released and likely would’ve been had the team not shockingly cut incumbent starter Quincy Carter in training camp. And, of course, Romo went on to become one of the NFL’s most prolific passers.

  For two years, Vaughan had drawn comparisons to Romo, mainly because of their small school background and undrafted status. Now, Vaughan had rallied the troops in the second half, which seemingly was enough to convince the coaching staff to keep him. If anything, he had his offensive linemen on board.

  “You just made the team,” one of the rookie linemen yelled at Vaughan as they walked off the field after the score. “They ain’t getting rid of you, boy!”

  Except they did. Two days later, Vaughan was released, as was rookie Jameill Showers, another quarterback who had flashed some potential during camp but just wasn’t worthy yet of a roster spot.

  Perhaps Vaughan got caught up in the Cowboys’ raised expectations for this season. A year ago, they could take a flyer on a rookie quarterback from a small school and keep him on the roster all season. But in a year where there were legitimate Super Bowl aspirations, Vaughan just wasn’t good enough to keep around. His foot speed never developed like the Cowboys had hoped, coupled with just an average throwing arm. So the Cowboys cut ties with Vaughan, a player that never figured into the 2015 plans anyway, especially with Romo and then Weeden on the depth chart.

  On cut-down Saturday, Garrett personally visited with all twenty-two players who had been waived, a day he dreaded every year.

  “It’s the worst part of our job,” he said after the final moves were made on September 5. “There’re a lot of guys whose dreams and aspirations of being a pro football player are going to be cut short or at least detoured for now. That’s not easy. But we have to do what’s in the best interests of the Dallas Cowboys.”

  The preseason was done. The 53-man roster was set. Now it was time for the Cowboys to start their long regular-season journey.

  And somehow live up to the expectations.

  Chapter 3

  FULL OF SUSPENSE

  Friday

  High school football runs much deeper than the players who suit up on Friday nights. This is likely true in all parts of the country, but none more so than Texas, where football is undoubtedly the king.

  Sure, the players, coaches, band members, drill team, and cheerleaders live for the spotlight of Friday night. But in high school, you don’t have to wear any kind of uniform to be a part of the action.

  At Plano, there is no better way to keep up with the social circles that come with the teenage life than to simply go to the football games—home or away. The movie theaters, the mall, or even fast-food parking lots might be popular hangouts on other nights of the week. On Friday nights in Texas, the grandstands of the football field are where all groups, organizations, and even cliques come together as one.

  Just before kickoff, hundreds of Plano students who made the twenty-minute drive over to Hawk Stadium locked hands as the national anthem was played by Hebron High School’s marching band. Each of them waved a mini American flag as a tribute to 9–11, even though none of the high school students could’ve been older than five years of age when tragedy struck both New York City and Washington, D.C., on the fateful day of September 11, 2001.

  But patriotism and honor had no age requirements. These students stood tall, kept quiet, and raised their flags high in the sky. Two students even had red-white-and-blue face paint, along with maroon “We Are Plano” T-shirts, of course.

  And even before kickoff, this group of honorable students showed that they were into the game just as much, already engaging in across-the-field banter with the Hebron students on the opposite sideline.

  Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the biggest fears of Plano’s fans to become a reality. Forced into his first start because of the previous week’s injury to Obale Enoweyere, sophomore Seagol Mbua gave up an early score on Hebron’s first possession, a 32-yard touchdown over the middle on third-and-11.

  Head coach Jaydon McCullough glared over at his defensive coaches, coordinator Clint Stewart and assistant Chris Fisher, with an “I told you so” look that reiterated his concerns entering the game. Whether or not he believed it, Fisher shrugged it off. “We’ll be all right. He’s fine. Let’s go O. Let’s get it back.”

  And they did, just like that. Matt Keys heaved a 52-yard strike to Garrett Frederick on Plano’s first play from scrimmage, and eventually tied the game with his own 1-yard run, providing just the response the Wildcats needed.

  “They can’t stop us, guys. Let’s keep it up. This is our game!” Keys shouted on his way off the field, as he was greeted by just about every player in uniform. The score was tied 7–7, but perhaps even more importantly, that answer by the Wildcats seemed to indicate a major shift in momentum.

  The defense started to calm down as Plano made some adjustments on the fly in the secondary, mixing up the coverages and providing more safety help to the corners, especially the young Mbua.

  Hebron had a shot to take a second-quarter lead with a field-goal attempt, but Aaron Ragas, flying off the right side of the formation, got a hand on the kick, deflecting the ball about ten yards back and into the hands of safety Nic Melson. He was not the biggest player on the field—by a long shot—but Melson was one of the Wildcats’ fastest and shiftiest players. He simply took off with the ball, darting down the right side in front of his Plano teammates, who were already bouncing on the sideline after the block. Melson got to the Hebron 40-yard line before he completely juked a defender, leaving him flat-footed in his tracks while he flew on by.

  The only person seemingly running as fast as the junior was … another Melson. His father, Marty Melson, tried his best to keep up from the 30-yard line to the 20. Once his son reached the end zone, the proud papa then showed a little hops on his vertical with an emotional jump.

  The stellar runback gave the Wildcats a 14–7 lead, and stunningly, gave Melson his second touchdown in just three games.

  Some of Marty’s colleagues, who stood next to him during each game charting plays, were beside themselves. “Coach, did you teach him those moves?” shouted one seventh-grade coach.

  Even the rather quiet, laid-back Melson couldn’t resist a big smile after that one.

  But that was just the beginning of the second-quarter’s big plays. Brandon Stephens, in his first game since announcing his decision to attend Stanford on a full football scholarship, ripped off a 45-yard score that resembled a Division I athlete facing players who will likely never suit up for organized football again after this season. Stephens was considered a smooth runner with moves on top of moves. On this touchdown, he danced his way through the line and around a linebacker before cutting up the field and running untouched to the end zone.

  Leading 21–7, Plano’s defense made a play that seemingly would bust the game wide open. A fumbled reverse was recovered by Ragas at the Hebron 33-yard line. But three penalties later, followed by a failed fake punt, and Hebron had the ball right back, actually gaining four yards in the process to the 37. In just six plays, the Hawks then drove right down to score on a 30-yard touchdown over the middle, where the tight end couldn’t have been more wide open.

  Still, Plano had plenty of confidence on offense, and with three minutes left before the half, that was more than enough time to get back on the scoreboard. Keys worked the short passes, while Stephens had two big runs down to the 2-yard line. From there, Keys tried a quarterback sneak on first down and was met in the hole by a blitzing linebacker who stood him up with a helmet to the throat.

  “I got rocked on that play,�
�� Keys admitted afterward. “I still feel that hit.”

  But at the time, his adrenaline was pumping enough for him to score on a similar third-down run with just twenty seconds left on the clock, giving Plano a commanding 28–14 halftime lead.

  “Twenty-four minutes!” McCullough yelled at his team as they were coming off the field, presumably telling his team that they had two twelve-minute quarters standing in the way of their first district win. Perhaps that was exactly how many minutes his team had to sit in the locker room while both bands played at halftime, but considering McCullough’s no-nonsense intensity, he was likely referring to the amount of football left to be played.

  Whatever happened during that half hour in the locker room, though, wasn’t something McCullough and the Wildcats wanted to bottle up for the future. Plano went into the break with 28 points, the most they scored in a first half all season. But no one, not even some of the more pessimistic coaches on the staff, would’ve dreamed they wouldn’t tally another point—for two weeks.

  Just before the second-half kickoff, Fisher had a nervous look about him. Knowing the offense would get the ball first, he kept saying, “We’ve got to go down and score. We just have to score right here. If we don’t score, it’s going to be a long game.”

  It was a long game—a game that would need an extra session.

  The offense that went into the locker room wasn’t the same one that came out for the last two quarters. A three-and-out followed by a short punt led to an easy touchdown for the Hawks, who cut the lead in half in less than three minutes.

  Although the score remained the same going into the fourth quarter, Hebron drove to the Plano 9-yard line, and on a third-and-goal, tried a reverse pass with the receiver throwing it back to the quarterback. But the Wildcats had it sniffed out and Ragas, who had been around the ball all night, was in a prime position for an interception at the goal line. Instead, he decided to just knock the ball down with one hand and not attempt the catch.