What the Jets can learn from the Dallas Cowboys

Fans of the New York Jets want flashy names and recognizable names.  They see Leonard Fournette in the draft and think it’s a good idea to draft him.  Some think they need to draft a franchise quarterback in this draft, even though there isn’t one.

The New York Jets need to stay away from flash and go for winning football.  There’s one franchise they can learn from, and that’s the Dallas Cowboys.  Yes, I said it, the Cowboys. As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day.  For the Cowboys, it has been 21 years since their last trip to the Super Bowl, and they have finally built a sustainable team.

Jerry Jones typically went for flash in the free agent market.  He wanted his name on the back pages in Dallas, and you can’t blame him for that, but he was getting it all for the wrong reasons. Since their last Super Bowl appearance, the Cowboys are known for something other than going after flashy free agents.  They’re known for mediocrity.  From 1996-2015 they averaged eight wins per season and were 0-8 in the playoffs.

They have a tough task ahead of them this season against the Green Bay Packers.  However, the needle is pointing up rather than down for the future. This season’s success can actually be traced back to the 2011 NFL Draft.  There the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars were selecting eighth and tenth.  They took quarterbacks, but sandwiched between them were the Cowboys who took an offensive lineman out of USC named Tyron Smith.

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In 2013, they took center Travis Frederick.  Then in 2014, Jerry Jones shocked the football world.  With Johnny Manziel sitting for the taking, everyone assumed Jones would take Manziel to be Tony Romo‘s successor.  However, he took Notre Dame guard Zack Martin, and it sent the football world into a whirlwind of emotions.  Everyone thought he finally made a correct decision rather than the flashy one.

In last year’s draft, they selected Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott.  Romo got hurt again, and the rest is history. This season that offensive line has helped the team to an average time of possession of 31:55, second in the league, 4.8 yards per carry (2nd in the NFL), and they’ve only allowed 97 combined sacks and quarterback hits, which is tied for sixth fewest.

Conventional wisdom says the NFL is a quarterback-driven league.  However, as Steve Ruiz wrote in his piece for USA Today’s For the Win, it’s not about the quarterbacks, but rather, the offensive line. The Cowboys line is opening holes for Elliott.  They are also allowing time for Prescott to show what he couldn’t show talent evaluators behind a bad Mississippi State offensive line, poise and the ability to pick apart defenses.

Next: Four bright spots on the Jets from an overall awful season

Woody Johnson took over ownership of the Jets in January 2000.  Since then the Jets have had 50 top 100 picks.  Only five have been on the offensive line, while 11 have been on the defensive line. It’s time to start building the offensive line in East Rutherford, NJ.  Otherwise, the quarterbacks will be sitting ducks, and they will end up like David Carr.