Cowboys (Falling) Back

It is never good to let your enemies know what your weakness is.

And that holds true in every aspect in life, not just sports.

Somehow, Dallas Cowboys owner/GM/point-man Jerry Jones never learns his lesson.

Prior to last month’s NFL Draft, everyone, blind or not, could see that the Cowboys were badly in need of a couple of good running backs and were looking to pick a couple of them in the draft, probably in the fourth round. But they did not have a fourth-round pick thanks to the trade for backup quarterback Trey Lance. The result? Other teams that needed running backs drafted an astounding 12 (TWELVE!) of them between the Cowboys’ picks in Round 3 (#87) and 5 (#174). That had completely wiped out the Cowboys’ draft board and in the end, they did not draft any running back and only signed one rookie free agent.

While Jones would sign Ezekiel Elliott who returned to the Cowboys after being released last year, Zeke clearly was no longer the spectacular superstar he was when he was drafted fourth overall in 2016. To put it politely, he made “business decisions” every time he touched the ball and often goes down at the first contact, and seldom breaks tackles anymore.

The below-par running back room several years ago was exactly why the Cowboys drafted him fourth overall in 2016. And somehow, their running back room this year is just as bad.

But unlike 2016, they did not spend any draft pick to cover themselves this year.

Oops.

MotoGP is Ageless

Marc Marquez is back. Back to his very best.

Stuck on an under-performing Honda for the past couple of seasons, the eight-time World Champion joined Gresini Ducati this season. It did not take him long to secure his first podium, and he soon mastered his Ducati to be among the front runners in all four races so far. If not for a sudden gust of wind, he would have won the Sprint race last weekend in Jerez, the circuit where he badly broke his right arm in 2020. Undaunted, he put a show in the Grand Prix proper and literally traded tyre marks with reigning World Champion Francesco Bagnaia throughout the race. In the end, he came home a close second to Bagnaia, and now sits sixth in the World Championship. And it is now a matter of when, not if, the 31-year-old will win a race this season, something that was unfathomable in the past couple of seasons.

Meanwhile, still in MotoGP, rookie Pedro Acosta has been sensational, with three podiums out of the possible eight so far. In Jerez he had a very slow start and could only come up a lowly tenth, but that was just an aberration as he is now the highest-ranking KTM rider in the Championship, ranked even higher than the factory duo of Brad Binder and Jack Miller, and has 59 points more than his teammate Augusto Fernandez. Acosta has been a revelation since Moto3 just three years ago, when he won his first race in Doha while starting from the pit lane. Like Marquez, many expect him to win a race soon. Not turning 20 until later this month, he still has a shot of beating Marquez’s record as the youngest winner in the premier class.