With the Dallas Cowboys’ loss to the New York Giants officially ending their season, there has to be a time to look back and see what went right with the franchise. One of the best stories of the season featured a wide receiver that had never reached his potential getting another chance and exploding in 2011.

Laurent Robinson
Wikimedia Commons

Laurent Robinson joined the Cowboys to help out the team when Miles Austin went down with a hamstring injury. After integrating himself into the offense in Week 3, with three receptions for 49 yards, he exploded against the Detroit Lions in Week 4. While Dallas might have lost the game at the end, they found a new star for the wide receiver corps. Robinson caught seven balls for 116 yards.

Austin returned in the next game, after the bye week, but by Week 8, Robinson made his name with the Cowboys. Against Philadelphia, in that game, Robinson caught five balls for 103 yards and his first touchdown of the season.

Over a five game stretch, Robinson caught at least one touchdown pass in each game, with two against Buffalo and Miami. He broke 100 yards again in Week 14, against the New York Giants, and then finished the season, against the Giants once again, with two more touchdowns.

By the end of the Dallas Cowboys’ 2011 NFL season, Laurent Robinson finished with season high in receptions (54), yards (858) and touchdowns (11).

Robinson started his career in Atlanta and then moved on to the St. Louis Rams. At both stops, he was supposed to be a star but failed to hold onto a job at either location. With this fresh chance in Dallas, and a Pro-Bowl caliber quarterback throwing him the ball, Robinson finally showed what he is capable of.

If anything, Robinson has shown that he has a chance to be a solid starter for a team in 2012. It would be nice to see him return to Dallas, but does he really want to play secondary roles behind Dez Bryant and Miles Austin? He said he loves it in Dallas and would love to return, though. Fans of the Cowboys will have to wait and see, but if Robinson comes back in 2012, Dallas should have one of the top receiver corps in the NFL once again.

Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and has been a Dallas Cowboys’ fan since he was a child. His favorite players range from Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett to the Triplets of the 90s and he enjoys talking about all Cowboys’ related news, good or bad

Source: dallascowboys.com

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The Dallas Cowboys hold a one game lead in the NFC East but that could all fall by the wayside if the New York Giants beat them on Dec. 11. Despite the team’s winning record and current division lead, fans of the team find plenty to complain about. The biggest target right now is Jason Garrett and his play calling.

Now, on Dec. 5, some interesting information has popped up surrounding the fact that two teams have contacted Jeff Fisher with interest in bringing him aboard as their new head coach. While Garrett’s name has never appeared on any hot seat list, Dallas is one of the team’s mentioned when talking about Fisher’s eventual destination.

When trying to determine which two teams might have reached out to Fisher, Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network mentioned the following teams: the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, San Diego Chargers and St. Louis Rams. He mentioned that Fisher has strong ties with the Cowboys and Giants, while San Diego is a home town team and he has ties in the Rams’ front office.

Garrett has been a Dallas assistant since 2007 and moved into the interim head coach position in 2010. Since taking over as head coach, Garrett has built up a 12-8 record with the Cowboys. So far, he has the Cowboys at a 7-5 record in 2011 as they fight for the NFC East crown and a playoff spot.

Jeff Fisher’s only head coaching stop was with the Tennessee Titans. He took over as head coach in 1994 when they were still in Houston and he coached there for 17 seasons. Over his career in Tennessee, he took the Titans to the playoffs in six of those seasons. While Fisher is seen as one of the more successful coaches in recent years, he only finished with double-digit wins in six seasons and failed to even post a winning record in the other 11.

I don’t think trading up for Fisher would be a great move. He has been successful and coached his team to a Super Bowl appearance but has not been as successful as you would like. Garrett, on the other hand, finished 2010 with a winning record (5-3) and needs two more wins in 2011 to finish the year with a winning record. That makes Garrett more successful right now in my eyes.

Compare the two. Jeff Fisher took over midway through the 1994 season and finished with a 1-5 record. He then finished his first full season with a 7-9 record. Even if he doesn’t win another game this season, Garrett has been a more successful coach than Fisher was at the start of his career. I feel pretty good about sticking with Garrett and don’t consider Fisher an upgrade at this time.

Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and has been a Dallas Cowboys’ fan since he was a child. His favorite players range from Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett to the Triplets of the 90s and he enjoys talking about all Cowboys’ related news, good or bad

Source: CBSSports

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There are quite a few reasons why the Dallas Cowboys fell to the Arizona Cardinals in overtime but one of the big ones that flies off the stat sheet is DeMarco Murray(notes) carrying the ball 12 times for 38 yards.

This game was Murray’s weakest performance since taking over the starting role and his worst game since Week 6 when Felix Jones(notes) was still the starter. Here are some interesting numbers to make you wonder why head coach Jason Garrett was not calling Murray’s number more.

In Murray’s first game against the St. Louis Rams, he ran the ball 25 times for 253 yards and a touchdown. The next week, against Philadelphia, he carried the ball eight times for 74 yards and Dallas lost big to the Eagles. Some might argue that the Eagles taking the big lead was why Dallas did not run Murray.

True enough, Dallas was down 14-0 after the first quarter and 24-0 after the second, but only running the ball eight times might have a lot to do with Dallas only having four drives in the first half. In the first half of the Eagles game, Romo completed four of eight passes with an interception and was sacked three times. However, in the last four drives of the game, Tony Romo(notes) threw the ball 23 times, scrambled once and was sacked once. Murray never ran the ball.

Dallas lost 34-7.

Against Seattle, Murray ran 22 times for 139 yards. Against Buffalo, Murray ran 20 times for 135 yards and a touchdown. Against Washington, Murray ran 25 times for 73 yards. Against Miami, Murray ran 22 times for 87 yards. Dallas won all four of those games.

Then, in Week 13, in a game that Dallas only allowed one Arizona touchdown in regulation, Murray ran 12 times and Dallas lost.

When DeMarco Murray runs over 20 times and Dallas controls the clock, they can beat anybody. When Murray is given the ball to get Dallas into range for field goals, Dallas can win close games against tough defenses. When Dallas keeps Murray sitting on the sidelines, they are nowhere near as good.

Jason Garrett took DeMarco Murray out of the game plan in Week 13, and as a result, the New York Giants game in Week 14 is more important than ever.

Author Shawn S. Lealos has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma (2000) and has been a Dallas Cowboys’ fan since he was a child. His favorite players range from Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett to the Triplets of the 90s and he enjoys talking about all Cowboys’ related news, good or bad

Source: Yahoo! Sports

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The last two times the Dallas Cowboys came to
the desert, they lost in excruciating fashion.

A blocked punt in overtime cost them in 2008, and after Arizona
converted on fourth-and-19, Jay Feely booted a 48-yard field goal
with 5 seconds left to give the Cardinals 27-26 victory last
Christmas.

So there should be no looking past the 4-7 Cardinals today by a
Dallas team that, at 7-4, holds a one-game lead over the New York
Giants in the NFC East. The Giants are at Dallas next weekend.

“Never do we go into Arizona and not have a tough game,” Cowboys
quarterback Tony Romo said. “It just continually happens since I’ve
been here. It just seems like that’s always taken shape. We’ve got
to be prepared for a tough, grind-it-out football game.”

The Cowboys have won four in a row, and a victory today would
give them their longest winning streak since they won seven
straight in 2007. The streak left Romo 17-2 in November, so the
Cardinals must be pleased this one is on Dec. 4.

“He’s a guy that’s scary because he makes plays,” Arizona coach
Ken Whisenhunt said. “Just in the last game (20-19 over Miami on
Thanksgiving), there at the end, he had that last drive. He moved
around and made plays and made throws. That’s the thing that you
have to be careful with this guy. He’s always looking down the
field, even when he has to scramble or move in the pocket. He can
make those throws.”

The Cardinals have won three of four, but two were against the
St. Louis Rams, now 2-9, and one was at reeling Philadelphia.
Arizona is 0-4 against teams that currently have a winning
record.

The Cardinals are expected to have quarterback Kevin Kolb in the
lineup for the first time in five games. A frustratingly
slow-to-heal right turf toe and bruise on the side of the same foot
has sidelined him for four games. While Arizona has gone 3-1 in his
absence, backup John Skelton struggled mightily the past two games,
completing a combined 18 of 42 for 213 yards, with no touchdowns
with five interceptions.

Kolb grew up in Texas as a Cowboys fan, specifically a Troy
Aikman fan, so he likes the idea of coming back against Dallas.

“It will be fun,” Kolb said. “They are playing well right now on
both sides of the ball, leading their division. It will be a true
test for us and we know that. We are ready for it. We feel like we
are getting better in all phases.”

It won’t be much fun if his mobility is hampered by the injury
as he tries to evade Dallas’ powerful pass rush, led by DeMarcus
Ware, who leads the NFL with 14 sacks.

“Their front seven is as good as anybody’s,” Kolb said. “Rob
Ryan does a good job of mixing a lot of different looks in there,
getting mismatches here and there that he wants. That causes a lot
of disturbance. When things get like that, you just have to play
your own game, focus in on the details of your own offense, and try
to simplify things and do them right.”

Arizona running back Beanie Wells said it’s important for him to
have some success on the ground to keep the pressure off Kolb.
Wells, despite a nagging right knee injury that limits him in
practice, set a franchise record with 228 yards rushing in last
Sunday’s 23-20 win at St. Louis.

“We don’t want to go out there and say it was a fluke — it
happened one time — and we can’t run the ball successfully, we
can’t block successfully, like we did that game,” Wells said.

Dallas’ standout punter, Mat McBriar, will face the NFL’s rising
punt-return star Patrick Peterson, the rookie whose fourth return
for a TD this season came last week against St. Louis and tied a
league record.

“It’s easier said than done to say we’re going to punt it out of
bounds or we’re going to do this with the ball,” Dallas coach Jason
Garrett said. “Those are hard things to do. Every team that faces
the Cardinals has this challenge. It’s very important for our
coverage teams to play well and keep him contained, and to tackle
him well. He’s really exceptional. I think the evidence has been
out there over the course of the first 11 games.”

Arizona’s defense has played better lately, growing more
comfortable in the scheme of first-year coordinator Ray Horton. But
against the Cowboys, the Cardinals will be challenged not only by
Romo and his receivers but by rookie running back DeMarco Murray,
who in his first extensive playing time following an injury to
Felix Jones set a single-game franchise rushing record of 253
yards. Like Wells, he did it against the Rams.

Murray has gained 834 yards, averaging 5.7 per carry.

“He was banged up early in training camp and didn’t really play
very much in the preseason until the last preseason game,” Garrett
said. “He was working his way to getting some more reps as the
season started, and then he got a real good opportunity against the
Rams a few weeks back and did a really good job for us running the
football. He’s certainly helped us a great deal, and we’re hopeful
that he’ll continue to play as well as he has.”

The teams have met 86 times and used to face each other twice a
season when they belonged to the NFC East. In the old days, before
University of Phoenix Stadium was built, about the only time
Arizona sold out at home was when the Cowboys came to town and
their fans packed Sun Devil Stadium. Even now, a good share of the
crowd will be cheering on the Cowboys.

And as for those last two hair-raising matchups, “Don’t mean
nothing,” Cardinals defensive tackle Darnell Dockett said.
“Different teams, different records, different personnel. Don’t
mean nothing.”