Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Dear Lord, Dawson, are we really doing this?”
And yes, yes we are. War and sports analogies go back as far as the games themselves. But this one isn’t just about metaphor—it’s about mindset. Because what we’re talking about here is a team trying to do something the world has all but decided can’t be done.
You ever throw up the X in your living room?Yeah, me tooAnd for the first time since Dez, I’m thinking… we might need to bring it back.
It starts with George Pickens.
Part I: The Interview That Stayed With Me
We interviewed Kelvin Joseph at Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, 2021. I’ve seen plenty of rookies come through—most wide-eyed, a little overwhelmed by the NFL scene, even in a dusty beach-town setup like Oxnard. But Kelvin was different. Not just nervous. Guarded. Anxious. You could feel it.
Micah Parsons is barreling toward a training camp holdout in Oxnard, California. And if you’ve been paying attention to how the Cowboys do business, you saw this coming a mile away.
They don’t let elite players walk.They also don’t pay until a real deadline slaps them in the face.
Let’s get something clear right off the top: Joe Milton isn’t replacing Dak Prescott in 2025. Not unless the wheels fall off, the stars align, and the Cowboys see something in Milton that Tennessee fans only saw once every three games. But… that doesn’t mean he’s not worth watching. That doesn’t mean he can’t be a player. And it sure doesn’t mean Week 18 was a fluke.
The alphabet made him wait, just like all of us kids back in elementary school.
Sonny Styles steps forward and looks down. Finds his mark that demands another, child prodigy graduating to permanent marker.
The next play is all he’s ever focused on, so why would he have prepared for this moment any other way?
If you read Part 1 of this #OTANSWERS miniseries, then you know Brian Schottenheimer’s QB rooms have put him in a blender.
But this isn’t about whether Russ could, would, or should have been allowed to cook—we’re not here for Sopranos-sad endings in Year 1 of #SCHOPPENHEIMER’s Dallas experiment.
Micah Parsons is headed for a holdout. Our own Gavin Dawson isn’t holding back—getting behind the mic to guarantee Parsons’ absence. In fact, Dawson’s doubling down, expanding on the reasons why (LINK BLOG WHENCE LIVE) Parsons is barreling toward the wrong kind of Training Camp headlines.
Last week, the superstar gamebreaker alternately professed his availability for Mandatory Minicamp next week and put contract negotiations in Jones Family hands in the same tweet.
If you’ve been watching or listening to our podcast, then you’ve likely heard Newbear say the same thing a couple of different ways:
In 20 years as an OC or relative equivalent, Brian Schottenheimer has had to work through some things.
Chad Pennington’s chicken wing.