The Cowboys werent shy about throwing without Romo. from miao1234's blog
TUKWILA, Wash. Duke Ihenacho . - When the collapse began last fall, the Seattle Sounders went from MLS favourites to a crumbling club that obviously needed change. Its the byproduct of having an unrivaled fan base and expectations that anything less than a league title is unacceptable for management. "To be honest it was time. Every couple of years a team is going to have to go through changes to grow and you get a certain amount of time with a certain group of players, and if you dont win you change it," Seattle midfielder Brad Evans said. "Most of the time its your star players you try and change and bring them in with other well-known players around the league and thats just the nature of the game and thats the business part of it. It kind of is what it is and we did lose some big names and some very good players but I think weve brought in some great players to fill in the shoes. And I think the group is a little bit stronger." Seattle will go into the 2014 season with the same belief that anything less than an MLS title is not success. But theyll do it with a completely overhauled roster, the result of the slide at the end of 2013. The question of whether changes were needed stretched from the bottom of the roster all the way up to coach Sigi Schmid. Eventually, general manager Adrian Hanauer and majority owner Joe Roth decided keeping Schmid and remodeling the team was the path Seattle would travel. It wasnt a complete overhaul. Evans is still around. So is Lamar Neagle, Obafemi Martins and rising homegrown star DeAndre Yedlin. Midfielder Osvaldo Alsonso was rewarded with a designated player contract and Seattle is about to get its first full season with Clint Dempsey on the roster. But the names that are gone are notable. U.S. national team striker Eddie Johnson is now with D.C. United. Defensive centre backs Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Patrick Ianni are gone. Midfielder Mauro Rosales is now with Chivas USA. Goalkeeper Michael Gspurning is back in Europe. Its a completely new look for Seattle and only success on the field will determine whether the right choices were made. "Its not really up to me what changes we make on the roster but the new guys have been great and very positive," Yedlin said. "They are good players and Im excited to see what they can bring to the team." The additions made by Seattle arent on the same level as the move last summer to bring Dempsey back from Europe. But they could end up being more important. Up front, Seattle brought in veteran striker Kenny Cooper, along with Chad Barrett and Tristan Bowen. In the midfield, Seattle acquired Marco Pappa through allocation when he decided to return to MLS from Europe. Chad Marshall, who played for Schmid in Columbus, was acquired in a trade to anchor the middle of Seattles defence. And former Toronto goalkeeper Stefan Frei was brought in to compete with 41-year-old Marcus Hahnemann for the starting job. "It is pretty obvious the mentality they are going for," Neagle said. "They want to be more aggressive and a lot more pressure and I think the guys theyve brought in have that same mentality, so its nice. Its easy to get on the same page when you have similar guys on the field." While all the roster changes mean some sort of acclimation period, how Dempsey fits during his second season will be watched closely early in the year. His first few months with Seattle late last season were a disappointment as the American star recorded just one goal and one assist in his nine games. Getting fully entrenched as Seattles leader will be difficult this season as well with Dempsey likely getting called away for U.S. national team duties even before training camp for the World Cup in Brazil starts in May. Dempsey may not even be available for Saturdays opener after being called into national team duty for an exhibition match against Ukraine. "Were still getting to know each other. Were still getting to know what the tendencies are of each player, but I like the spirit of the team, I like their attitude," Schmid said. Von Miller .S. Open champion Rory McIlroy shot a 3-under 69 on Friday to take a two-stroke lead after the second round of the Shanghai Masters. Cody Latimer . And how could he not? Marvin Jones set a Bengals record with his four touchdown catches during a 49-9 win over the Jets on Sunday, moving ahead of such Cincinnati luminaries as Isaac Curtis, Cris Collinsworth, Carl Pickens, Eddie Brown and Chad Johnson.ARLINGTON, Texas -- Nick Foles and Philadelphias high-scoring offence needed a little help from the defence to make sure it was the same old sad ending for the Dallas Cowboys. Foles threw two touchdown passes, one to NFL rushing champion LeSean McCoy, and Brandon Boykin had a game-sealing interception to help the Eagles beat the Cowboys 24-22 in a win-or-go-home game for the NFC East title Sunday night. The Cowboys lost to a division rival with a playoff berth on the line for the third straight year, and nobody can blame Tony Romo for this crushing loss. Kyle Orton, filling in two days after Romo underwent back surgery, had Dallas about 40 yards from field goal range with 1:49 remaining. But he threw behind Miles Austin on the first play, and into the arms of Boykin. "We kept fighting. We believed in each other," said Foles, who was 17 of 26 for 263 yards after throwing for only 80 in a 17-3 loss to Dallas at home. "When the offence was struggling, the defence picked us up." The Eagles (10-6) will host New Orleans in a wild-card game Saturday night, while the Cowboys (8-8) have now dropped a finale to each division rival the past three seasons and have missed the playoffs four straight years. Dallas is 136-136 since the start of the 1997 season. "Its unthinkable, really, to me to be sitting here three years in a row and this game ends up putting us at .500 and this game eliminates us from going to the playoffs," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. McCoy, who had a 3-yard scoring catch, rushed for 131 yards to finish with 1,607 yards and become the first Philadelphia running back to win the rushing title since Hall of Famer Steve Van Buren in 1949. "With the stats and the records, none of that stuff means anything, if you dont win in the end," McCoy said. "Thats the most important thing." The Eagles won the division for the first time since 2010 a year after going 4-12, which led to Andy Reids departure and the hiring of Chip Kelly and his fast-paced offence from Oregon. Dallas trailed 24-16 when Orton threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Dez Bryant. Orton went back to Bryant for the 2-point conversion, but Cary Williams dove to punch the ball away. But the Eagles, with the second-ranked offence in the NFL, couldnt run out the clock against the leagues worst defence. Foles even tried to throw on third down, but had to slide shoort of the first down when nobody was open. L.J. Fort. Boykin took care of things from there. "It definitely wasnt our best, but some guys came up with some huge plays when we needed them to," said Connor Barwin, who knocked down a fourth-down pass earlier in the fourth quarter. Romo was the quarterback for losses the past two seasons to the New York Giants and Washington -- and against the Eagles in the same scenario in 2008. The Cowboys were down 10-0 early in the second quarter and never led, but still found a way to make it interesting without Romo and defensive leader Sean Lee, who was out with a sprained neck. Regardless, Dallas is only the third team in NFL history to finish with three straight 8-8 records, according to STATS. And those are in Jason Garretts three full seasons as coach. "You feel a tremendous sense of pride about how the team played, how they fought, how they scratched, how they clawed, how they battled," Garrett said. "But having said that, we didnt get the job done." Orton, who was 30 of 46 for 358 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in his first start in two years, was the first Dallas starter not named Romo in an elimination game since a playoff loss to Carolina with Quincy Carter under centre during the 2003 season. The Cowboys werent shy about throwing without Romo. Trailing by one, Dallas tried to pass on fourth-and-1 from the Philadelphia 40 early in the fourth quarter, and Barwin knocked down Ortons throw to DeMarco Murray, who was open in the flat. That decision came after Garrett called a timeout moments before the Eagles would have been called for a false start on fourth down from the Dallas 1. The defence bailed him out by stuffing Foles on a sneak. After the Cowboys failed fourth-down try, Foles led a steady march to Bryce Browns 6-yard run for an eight-point lead with 6:09 remaining. Notes: Cowboys K Dan Bailey had three field goals and made his last 21 of the season. He was 28 of 30. ... McCoy had 134 yards from scrimmage and finished with 2,146 to break Brian Westbrooks team record of 2,104 from 2007. ... Murray had 51 yards rushing and finished with 1,124, the most for Dallas since Emmitt Smith had 1,203 in 2000. ... Eagles WR DeSean Jackson had 28 yards for No. 2 on the franchises single-season receiving yardage list with 1,332. Mike Quick had 1,409 in 1983. ' ' '
The Wall