While a lot of the more vocal Dallas Cowboys' fans will hate this, it looks like the chance of Dallas waiving Terence Newman might have dropped some. The oft-maligned defensive back, who blew a lot of assignments down the stretch for Dallas, just found a defender in his head coach.
Dallas head coach Jason Garrett mentioned this week that Newman played through a series of undisclosed injuries at the end of the season.
Now, I take that in one of two ways. The first way is that Newman was hurt and never told anyone. That is even more damaging than just bad play because it means that Newman was playing hurt, which affected his play, and he kept quiet so he wouldn't have to come out of the game. That would be a clear case to cut the player but I am pretty sure that is not what Garrett meant.
Through much of the season, defensive coordinator Rob Ryan gave hints Newman was playing hurt but Newman himself denied any injuries. Garrett said this week that Newman was playing through various injuries during the season. The one big injury was the groin problems he suffered in September.
If you ask any Cowboys' fan, they will point out all the bad plays Newman made. They will point out the blown coverage and the inability to tackle. They can also point out no less than two times in the loss to the New York Giants that a player hurdled over a surprised Newman to pick up more yards.
His last few games of 2011 provided some of the worst play I have ever seen from the former first round draft pick.
However, Newman also tied with Sean Lee for the lead on the team for interceptions with four. While interceptions are important, that is the least important task for a cornerback. The most important is locking in for coverage, defensing passes and making tackles. In those areas, Newman failed.
The fact that Newman is still under contract and Garrett is making excuses for him tells me one of two things. Either we will see Newman back in the starting lineup in 2012 for the Cowboys or Garrett is sugarcoating the season in an attempt to trade Newman.
I really hope it is an attempt to trade the player because, injuries or not, that performance from a number one corner will cost Dallas a lot of games again next year.
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
