Alan Truex: Cowboys undisciplined, sloppy, dysfunctional

LLANO, Texas — Football can’t be played much worse than the Dallas Cowboys played it Sunday night with eight turnovers in a 27-3 flop to Arizona.  If I never again see Cooper Rush or Lance Lenoir on a TV screen it will be too soon.  

Even so there was a silver lining.  It was flashed by Randy Gregory, the 2015 second-round draft pick whose first two seasons were all but eliminated by suspensions for using a banned substance. 

But he was clear-headed for Preseason Game 3 which used to be a dress rehearsal for the real deal.   No more.  NFL coaches are keeping most of their best players under wraps like family heirlooms.  

But Gregory got his chance to shine and provided a relentless pass rush, spinning the Cardinals’ starting left tackle D.J. Humphries like he was a top.  The 26-year-old defensive end had a sack and numerous pressures.

Sadly, the game at AT&T was not over before the silver lining was ripped away.  Jason La Canfora, hard-digging reporter for NFL Network, tweeted: “Hearing there could be more trouble for Randy Gregory.”

Immediately the Metroplex media horde besieged the team’s front office, starting with owner Jerry Jones.  Nobody knew anything about new trouble for Gregory, but Jones did not dismiss La Canfora’s tweet as groundless. 

“We all realize that the guys who have had suspensions are vulnerable,” he said.  “Certainly the ones that have had recent ones.”

Gregory rushed out of the locker room before the horde could snare him.

So those of us who are lifelong Cowboys fans once again fret about inevitable off-the-field issues of a team endlessly welcoming physical marvels who can’t manage their personal demons.  

You can argue that the strategy sometimes works.  Michael Irvin led teammates on frequent drunken, druggy all-night binges but played on three Super Bowl winners on his way to Canton.  So how evil was his influence?

Alas, not such a delicate balance with Greg Hardy, Pro Bowl edge rusher for the Carolina Panthers who was convicted of beating up his girlfriend.  He was such a vile character that his arrival in Dallas in 2015 drew rebuke from the mayor.    

Even so, most Cowboys fans opened their arms to Hardy.  That is, until Deadspin posted photos of his ex-girlfriend being battered and bloodied.  Never mind that he was tougher than that on quarterbacks, that he had 6 sacks, 5 stuffs and a pick in 12 games.

I could go on and on — All-Pro tackle Erik Williams now on trial for two murders in a marijuana holdup, Josh Brent drunk-driving a teammate to his death in 2012, Sam Hurd’s 2013 cocaine dealership, Dez Bryant slapping his mom in the face, as alleged by a police report. 

For whatever reasons I’m always seeing a lot more Cowboys in trouble than Houston Texans.  In fact, as tracked by the vigilant Dallas Morning News website, SportsDay, 17 Cowboys have been suspended since 2014, most among the 32 NFL teams. 

Interestingly, two years ago SportsDay listed Gregory at No. 10 in its listing of “Players Jerry Jones Has Taken a Risk On.”  The tea leaves on Gregory?  Well, the leaves were not tea. 

Jones knew Gregory was being treated for substance addiction when he drafted him on the second round with “first-round talent.”  The merciful owner could forgive a brief venture into illegal mental stimulation. 

Unfortunately, Gregory couldn’t stay clear of marijuana, checking himself into rehab for a second time.  He admitted he was constantly using at the U of Nebraska, self-medicating for anxiety.  His teammates and others who know him insist the funnyweed is the most serious vice he has, and until he entered the NFL it caused no problems for him.     

So lots of questions begged here: Was he cheating anyone but himself?  Should his addiction end his NFL career and put him on the streets?   You say weed isn’t addictive?  Ask Ricky Williams.  Too bad Jerry never did.  So is there about to be a third strike on Randy Gregory?  What lessons do we learn from all this?

This has to happen when Cris Collinsworth is promising the Cowboys will have “a pass rush as good as you’re gonna see.”  Leave it to Cris to trumpet everyone who’s a little above average as being “maybe the best in the league.”

Actually, the Cowboys’ defensive starters played well on Sunday night, especially Gregory, DeMarcus Lawrence, Jaylon Smith (finally healed from a 2015 knee reconstruction) and rising sophomore corner Chido Awuzie. 

Safety Kavon Frazier injured his left shoulder, inspiring a flurry of “Down goes Frazier” tweets.  But this doesn’t look like a long-term issue.  The team’s best safety, Xavier Woods, will miss the season opener with a pulled hamstring but probably not many more games.

I still think that before the season is half done the ‘Boys will acquire a barely faded superstar safety, Earl Thomas, to mentor the very average ones they have now.  Because it just has to happen.  For the good of the game.  Eventually the Seattle Seahawks will lower their price when they see how adamant the ex-Longhorn is about a Texas homecoming.

Can’t wait for splashy linebacker Sean Lee to make his annual cameo, but let it happen in the regular season, not now.  

I’m sure Jaylen Ramsey would dispute Collinsworth’s view that Dallas has a stronger pass rush than Jacksonville.  But the hopelessly hyperbolic announcer is correct that last year’s late-blooming No. 1, Taco Charlton, can bring impactful pressure from either inside or outside.  It won’t be easy to block Lawrence (14.5 sacks last year), Gregory and Charlton at the same time.

And once another of those talented druggies, David Irving, makes it through his 4-game suspension, this will indeed be a fearsome foursome, assuming Gregory can remain part of it.

It was good to see Kris Richard upbraiding his defensive backs after T.J. Logan navigated them for a 59-yard scamper.  This team has long been short on both discipline and fire under the undemanding, often enabling head coach Jason Garrett, who makes Hue Jackson look like Captain Bligh.

As for Scott Linihan’s mostly scrubby and childishly simple offense, less said the better.  What did we expect with Dak Prescott, Zeke Elliott (sorry I forgot to mention his domestic issues), Zack Martin and Tyron Smith not playing? 

And of course, there’s All-Pro center Travis Frederick, facing uncertain recovery from a neurological disorder, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, named for the French physician who discovered it in 1916.  It’s a more serious affliction than the Cowboys acknowledge.  It can be fatal, though 70% of victims fully recover.  

So the odds are in Redbeard’s favor that he has a lengthy NFL career.   As for the odds on Randy Gregory?  My guess is a little less than that.  For a parallel predicament, see Josh Gordon.