Dallas Cowboys' defensive end Jason Hatcher did an interview this last week with Fox Sports and made a very interesting observation. Hatcher said his team has no leader. He went on to talk about how Ray Lewis inspires the Baltimore Ravens to play hard and win and said Dallas doesn't have one of those players.
Right now, when looking from the outside, it seems like Tony Romo is the leader of the offense and DeMarcus Ware the leader on defense. However, according to Hatcher, a player on the inside, no one is vocal enough to rally the troops.
That would explain a lot of the problems with the 2011 season.
There were times that I saw Romo take control and provide vocal leadership on the sidelines. One great example is when he took Jesse Holley aside in the Week 2 game with the San Francisco 49ers to talk him up. Holley then caught the two big passes that set up Dallas' tying and game winning field goals.
However, looking at the end of the season, I never really saw Romo on the sidelines trying to pump his teammates up and get them ready to come back out to take over the game. I am no fan of the New England Patriots, but Tom Brady is a great example of someone who fires up his teammates and that is why he is one of the best clutch quarterbacks in the game.
Even more distressing is DeMarcus Ware. Hatcher namedropped Ray Lewis as someone that was a great example of an on-field leader. Lewis is famous for yelling, talking no-stop, and getting everyone around him fired up. That is probably one of the reasons the Ravens' defense is so scary and dominating.
Ware is a fantastic player and someone who specializes at getting to the quarterback on almost every play. However, if you listen to Hatcher, Ware is not someone who gets the entire defense fired up to make a play. Maybe that is why the defense played so uninspired last season.
Rob Ryan is a fiery coach and maybe he needs to find someone with his personality to play out on the field. Dallas needs their own version of Ray Lewis if they ever want to relive the glory days of the Fearsome Foursome.
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
