The House That Jerry Built

Many have called the new Cowboys Stadium creation by Dallas owner Jerry Jones a mockery as the over $1 billion (yes, billion with a “B”) structure just seems to scream out overkill from nearly every direction. Although the Chargers players have yet to take in the sights of the Cowboys new home, Head Coach Norv Turner is making sure that the team is not in awe come game time Sunday afternoon. The Chargers will have a walkthrough in the stadium the day before the game and according to the Bolts leader: “There is a little bit of a conflict but we will rearrange our schedule to make sure we get to go to (the stadium), particularly a new stadium like this. I don’t want our guys to spend the first hour Sunday morning looking around to see what the stadium is like. I want them to be thinking about the game.” Of course that sounds a bit ridiculous when you think about grown men getting paid millions of dollars to perform on the field being sidetracked by a mere building, but stranger things have happened.

The structure itself is approximately 2.3 million square feet which means that the entire Statue of Liberty and its base could fit comfortably within the building’s confines with the roof closed. Native Texan LaDainian Tomlinson who grew up just an hour south of Dallas and spent his college career at TCU in the Ft. Worth metro area said of the trip: “I’ve heard so much about the stadium. I have friends who have season tickets and they say it’s great. This stadium is as big as it gets so I’m going to look around and hopefully get a tour. I’d like to see where (Cowboys Owner) Jerry Jones sits and check it all out.” Tomlinson’s ties to the area certainly make this trip an even more anticipated one for the Bolts who are looking to continue their winning ways when they face the Cowboys this Sunday afternoon.

Of all the massive features that this stadium has to offer, perhaps its most discussed and noticeable characteristics is the $40 million, 600 ton jumbotron that is above nearly the entire field. The scoreboard has had its fair share of controversy already when Titans rookie punter A.J. Trapasso hit the ginormous piece of equipment with a punt in a preseason game earlier this year. Chargers left tackle Marcus McNeill offered his thoughts on the scoreboard saying: “For people I’ve talked to who have been there, that’s the first thing they tell you about. They say it’s just so big and the picture is so clear. We’re all looking forward to seeing it.” There is no question that everyone in the Chargers locker room is excited for the sights of the stadium on this road trip and Head Coach Norv Turner is no exception as he said: “I’m anxious to see it. I’ve heard nothing but great things about it and I’m looking forward to it.”

Nothing but great things is true aside from the issues that arose in the preseason with the punting controversy. Chargers punter Mike Scifres is without question one of the league’s best in both leg strength and placement, but he believes that if the hometown guy booting the ball around that stadium hasn’t had an issue yet, the scoreboard will be no problem for him. Of Dallas punter Mat McBriar Scifres said: “Mat has a crazy strong leg.” He went on to comment on the Cowboys Thanksgiving Day opponent the Oakland Raiders where debatably the league’s most powerful leg resides as he said: “I thought for sure Shane (Lechler) would get it. There have been some good punters go through there that I thought would have the chance. Shane hit some monster punts that I thought for sure were going to hit it and they weren’t even as close as people would think.” Scifres believes that the scoreboard is most likely out of reach under normal circumstances as he continued saying: “That thing may be up there. You might have to hit something special to get it up there.”

That’s going to be the last thing in his head going into Jerry World on Sunday as Scifres believes that his normal routine has served him just fines this season and his teammates and coaches all agree. When asked about how he will punt in Dallas Scifres said: “I’m not going to change anything. I never have, never will. It doesn’t matter who the returner is or where we’re playing. I just go about my business and try to put my team in the best position possible.” Absolutely what everyone in that locker room wanted to hear as getting too many different thoughts flying around in your head is always a recipe for disaster. His coach backed him up echoing those same sentiments saying: “If you go punt the ball the way you’re supposed to punt it in a game and get it down the field, the ball isn’t going to get high enough to hit the scoreboard. I’m sure if other guys hit it, Mike could hit it, but that’s not our intention. Our intention is to get off a great punt and go down and cover it and get the best field position we can get.” And there is no doubt that hitting the best kick possible is the only thing that is going to be on Scifres’ mind on Sunday afternoon.

Amid all of the stadium hoopla, there are still two football teams that will be colliding in this tilt of preseason Super Bowl hopefuls. In actuality, these clubs are near mirror images of one another on both sides of the ball. Philip Rivers confirmed these suspicions saying: “There are a lot of similarities, I think both defense and offensive schemes.” With former Chargers defensive coordinator Wade Phillips at the helm for the Cowboys, is no coincidence that the two defenses are quite alike. LaDainian Tomlinson said: “It is like we’re looking at our defense. The same things that we do scheme wise and pressure wise, they do them. It’s like playing our own defense.” That can be a good or a bad thing as likewise Dallas could be thinking the exact same thing when looking at film and preparing for the Bolts.

Much like the Chargers offensive attack, the Cowboys feature an athletic tight end in Jason Witten, a stable of running backs, and some dynamic playmakers on the outside at wide receiver. The lineage of what will be seen on the field Sunday can most likely be traced back to the Chargers Head Coach Norv Turner who coached Dallas offensive coordinator Jason Garrett when he was a quarterback in Dallas in his final season with the team. Cowboys Head Coach Wade Phillips offered some compliments to Turner saying: “A lot of stuff that people are doing in the league came from Norv Turner. He’s certainly a guy that everybody sets a pattern after because he’s done so many good things. I don’t know if they have a name for the offense overall, because a lot of the things that he’s done have gone through the league. We do a lot of things similar to what they do.” The bottom line for this one is going to come down to execution and whichever side executes its gameplan the best and manages to out strategize the other will end up on the winning end of the decision.

Tags: A.J. Trapasso, Cowboys Stadium, Dallas Cowboys, Jason Garrett, Jason Witten, Jerry Jones, LaDainian Tomlinson, Marcus McNeill, Mat McBriar, Mike Scifres, Norv Turner, Oakland Raiders, Philip Rivers, Shane Lechler, TCU, Wade Phillips