Blogging The Boys
The Dallas Cowboys training room and staff are under intense criticism.
When it comes to the Dallas Cowboys there is no shortage of opinion from across the internet. Fans of the team have a lot to say about the organization and these days it is mostly negative. Having the longest NFC Championship Game appearance drought, among other things, will have that sort of impact.
While fan opinion certainly matters. it is always interesting to see what players themselves think. Thankfully for all of us we can legitimately understand what they did in fact say.
On Wednesday the latest round of NFLPA Team Report cards emerged and the Dallas Cowboys graded out fairly nice overall with a ranking of 10th in the NFL. The problem spot is near the very bottom of the league and concerns the team’s training staff/facilities.
As you can see, most of the grades for the team were either very good or average. The Cowboys fared most well with regards to treatment of families (it was noted they provide daycare during home games and a family room as well) and the locker room (although it was noted that a third of responded felt there were ongoing plumbing problems in the locker room).
The Cowboys graded poorly in both the training room and training staff departments. Here is what the report offered.
75% of Cowboys players feel they have enough full-time trainers, ranking them 30 out of 32 teams.
60% of players feel they have enough full-time physical therapists, a rank of 32 out of 32.
95% of players feel they have enough hot tub space, a rank of 9 out of 32.
88% of players feel they have enough cold tub space, a rank of 13 out of 32.
Players report that the training room is understaffed, particularly an insufficient number of physical therapists. They also feel that the training room lacks certain modalities found in most other NFL training rooms.
72% of Cowboys players report that they receive enough one-on-one training treatment, ranking them 29 out of 32 teams.
The players feel that their training staff slightly contributes to their overall success, ranking them 31 of 32.
This is a pretty big indictment against the way that the Cowboys go about handling their training room and staff, and this is a matter that has been brought up before. It is important to remember that these are evaluations based on the season and year that just finished, so we are talking about what preceded the Brian Schottenheimer...
