We are right in the thick of our draft studies this week as the party has shifted to Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine. Here at the “Sturm 60 HQ,” we are stressing out about how to make 68 prospects fit into 60 spots and figuring that whoever doesn’t make the cut will be more likely to be selected by Dallas. Today, I will get the 24th player fully evaluated.
https://theathletic.com/3154424/2022/03/01/dan-quinn-and-micah-parsons-redefined-the-possibilities-and-deserve-all-of-the-credit/
This is the end, my friend.
Sunday starts the end. That end could take either a month or a few hours. We certainly don’t know which, but we also know what we would all prefer.
And whether the season ends this Sunday or in one month in the Super Bowl, we are getting a pretty clear message that Dan Quinn’s era as the architect of this defense will come to an end. Who could have imagined that the year he spent here would have gone so well?
https://theathletic.com/3066555/2022/01/12/dan-quinn-is-with-the-cowboys-for-now-and-he-definitely-wants-another-super-bowl-run-before-he-goes/
Thanks to COVID-19 and any additional variants that have complicated the football weekend, hopefully you can understand my reluctance to get too carried away about specifics regarding the game. In digging through the Giants news, it seems incredibly difficult to suggest who will be playing and who will not.
We will do our best, but both the texts and visual aids of this Friday tradition, you might see some things that are affected with late-breaking availability news. Please offer us a fair amount of latitude to offer our educated guesses.
https://theathletic.com/3021535/2021/12/17/how-close-is-micah-parsons-to-defensive-player-of-the-year-cowboys-pregame-riffing/
We love revisionist history when it means good things have happened. When the pregame chatter of what Washington’s offense can do to you turns out to be a false alarm and by halftime you are wondering how the WFT ever strung together four straight wins — including a win over the Super Bowl champions — you will take it every time.
https://theathletic.com/3017774/2021/12/16/sometimes-you-have-special-players-making-plays-that-defy-xs-and-os-the-cowboys-did-dan-quinn-report/
Make no mistake, last Thursday will not win awards for the finest defensive performance of 2021. You can’t give up 400-plus yards to a team of understudies and feel too good about yourself. Not when you give up nine yards a carry to a QB who is having a hard time completing a pass. Not when you cannot really find a running back or wide receiver who should stress your defense at all. At some point, you needed someone to step up and make a play.
https://theathletic.com/3002896/2021/12/08/defense-sparked-by-the-return-of-tank-and-another-great-micah-parsons-moment-dan-quinn-report/
I realize there is no shortage of Micah Parsons reading material these days, but I have never let others affect my game too much. If I am going to write about Parsons with wild wonder on Monday and try to process what we have just witnessed, then I sure better be willing to examine it in great detail when we look at the defensive film on Wednesday.
https://theathletic.com/2841832/2021/09/23/micah-parsons-historic-day-in-l-a-cowboys-rookie-tackles-new-role-with-best-magic-johnson-impersonation/
This week we know the Cowboys are really zeroing in on the makeup of their roster. So this is the first of a two-part series where we will first look at the progress of the 11 draftees from April and then later in the week mix in the all-important special teams discussions which often help us know who is making the team and who is not. But, first things first. Today, I am offering thoughts on the new 11 picks and what they have shown me in camp and during the preseason.
https://theathletic.com/2784968/2021/08/23/from-micah-parsons-to-quinton-bohanna-film-tells-stories-of-the-cowboys-2021-rookie-class/
The Hall of Fame Game on Thursday night in Canton was, in fact, played. It did happen and if you watched it, you saw some classic uniforms and a few isolated things here and there worth noting. But, let's be honest: If you decided to skip it, you can still call yourself an NFL enthusiast and keep your Cowboys fan card. Jon Machota offered his insights from last night and I encourage you to check those out here.
https://theathletic.com/2755643/2021/08/06/sturms-morning-after-the-cowboys-defensive-lineup-provides-clues-on-the-plans-at-linebacker/
On one hand, there are plenty of folks who have enjoyed all of the media draft work that has been done for 100 days only to see the Cowboys show us that we can read the tea leaves all we want and still not see the train coming right at us.
On the other hand, perhaps they were the ones hit by the train and are now spinning the story to appear as if they were playing chess while the rest of us were stuck on checkers all along.
https://theathletic.com/2555848/2021/04/30/the-morning-after-cowboys-defense-grabs-micah-parsons-and-ignores-the-sunk-cost/
Last week was Week No. 3, and I am going to make good on that one before doing another in a few days for Week No. 4. The electricity may not always stay on in North Texas, but we still try to offer you the promise that eventually the trains will get to their destinations.
https://theathletic.com/2402266/2021/02/23/dallas-cowboys-draft-digest-micah-parsons-tops-strong-list-of-non-rush-linebackers/
