Off-Field Problems Plague Cowboys Again
via The Sports Xchange
FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett is serious about filling his team with the right kind of guy and the right kind of character.
But there is only so much he can do to manage the personal lives of 53 players during the season and more than 90 in the off season.
Garrett and his mantra suffered two blackeyes the past two weeks.
Last week it was defensive end David Irving, who was suspended for the first four weeks of the season for PED use pending a reversal on appeal.
This week it was cornerback Nolan Carroll, who was charged with a DWI on Monday.
The latter is extremely personal to the Cowboys because five years ago, defensive tackle Josh Brown drove drunk and killed teammate Jerry Brown in car crash.
He was convicted of intoxication manslaughter.
“It’s obviously a very serious issue. It’s an issue that hits close to home to us,” Garrett said. “It’s something that we have to all learn from. He has to learn from it individually, we have to learn from it as players, coaches, staff members and everybody. … We addressed the issue here like we have with other situations that have come up with our team and issues that have come up around the league.
“You address them head on. You do your best to solve the issue and learn from it and move forward.”
Carroll was stopped at about 2:20 a.m. on Monday, according to a Dallas Police Department release, and was booked into the Dallas County Jail on DWI charges. He was released after posting bond at 2:45 p.m. on Monday afternoon.
The arrest and any conviction could result in a suspension of at least two games by the NFL for violating the league’s personal-conduct policy. Garrett refused to say whether Carroll faced any internal discipline from the Cowboys.
The team offers free Uber rides to players for situations like this.
“It’s a disappointing situation,” coach Jason Garrett said after Wednesday’s organized team activities. “There is no explanation, no excuse for putting yourself in that situation.
“Nolan has taken responsibility for it. He’s been accountable to it, not only with me and the coaching staff, but with the team. He’s going to learn from the situation. We all can learn from the situation and move forward.”
Carroll, 30, signed a three-year, $10 million deal with the Cowboys in free agency. He spent the past three seasons with the Eagles, starting all 16 games last season.
Carroll has worked with the first-team defense since the start of OTAs.
Suffice it to say, Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones is disappointed with Carroll and Irving.
“It’s disappointing,” Jones said. “We would like for all these guys to, when they come into the league, make good decisions. Is it always going to happen? No, it’s not. You just have to have your infrastructure in place. You have to have the right things in place knowing that it’s probably not always going to be perfect in terms of the decisions these young men make.
“I think a lot of times we all forget that some of them aren’t even graduated from college when they come into the NFL because they leave early for the right opportunities. And so you have to understand there’s going to be some bumps. That’s why we have all the programs and infrastructure that we have, is to try to prevent these things and try to educate these young men that it’s all in front of them. But these decisions they make can certainly set them back in terms of not only their careers as a football player, but their career in life.
“Nobody’s perfect. Everybody makes mistakes. Obviously if they make one when they’re wearing a Cowboys star, it’s magnified in a big way. We just have to continue to try to educate these young men that there’s consequences and there’s accountability that you have to have for the bad decisions you make.
