Cowboys: Where To Go From Here

Oct 11, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy (76) reacts up against the New England Patriots at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports

Much of the talk this week will be about the sideline incident from Sunday.

Everyone saw what happened between defensive end Greg Hardy and wide receiver Dez Bryant this weekend. The other incident many missed was Hardy smacking a clipboard out of a coach’s hand. Losing tends to magnify tempers, but these are not things you want to see, at least not totally.

Bryant and Hardy are passionate players, with that passion comes fire, and from that fire comes conflict. It is still a little early for tempers to be flaring like this, but if the Cowboys keep losing, this could be the start of Garrett losing the locker room, if he hasn’t already.

Hardy needs to take a calmer approach and take this second chance seriously. I am sure some team would take a chance on him, but the more he acts this way, the less likely that will be. Sure, Jerry Jones has said he would like to sign him long term, but it is unclear what Jason Garrett and Rod Marinelli want, but since when did that matter to Jerry Jones?

There is no doubt that the defense is better with Hardy. The question will be is – how does he fit into the locker room? And does he cause too much of a distraction? Jerry Jones is known to work with troubled players, but if the NFL doesn’t feel Hardy is abiding by the player conduct policy at any point, it won’t matter what Jones wants. Dez has never really been a problem off the field and has become more of a leader the last few seasons. If he can help Hardy along, it will bode well for the Cowboys.

Enough of this, let’s look at the positives.

Next: Signs of Life