I stayed up way past my bed time last night to watch the entire Dallas Cowboys preseason game against the Oakland Raiders. Here are are some of my thoughts.

The audio for the telecast was awful. Sounded like it was coming across an old am radio.

The starting Dallas offense looked quite good. Romo spread the ball around well, and the timing was on for everyone, especially for a first game.

Brian Orakpo, former defensive end for the Texas Longhorns, was picked by the Washington Redskins as the 13th pick in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft. By dropping to the Redskins, he is guaranteed to visit the state of Texas at least once every year, as he tees up Tony Romo in one of their two games every season.

Said Orakpo shortly after the pick was announced:

I can’t put it into words how I feel right now. Being a first-round draft pick is a dream come true. It really shows how hard work pays off and is a tribute to my family, coaches, teammates – everyone that helped me get here. It was tough to wait a little longer than I expected, but when it came down to the Washington Redskins, I was really excited. I had a great visit their with Mr. Snyder, Vinny Cerrato and Coach Zorn. It just felt like the perfect fit. It’s a lot like Texas, a great organization with a proud history, a winning tradition, great fans. I can’t wait to get to work and do my best to help the Redskins. I told them when we had dinner on my visit there that I guaranteed them I would work as hard as anybody, and now I’m ready to show them.

While there is no official word yet, ESPN and Fox News reported late last night that the Dallas Cowboys are going to cut Wide Receiver and Chief Derision Officer Terrell Owens. Good. If I want drama, I’ll watch American Idol.

The situation in Dallas is beginning to make sense.

It was announced this week that Michael Irvin is going to host a reality television show involving the Dallas Cowboys. Twelve wannabe football players will compete for a spot on the Dallas Cowboys’ opening eighty person training camp roster.

In a move that surprised few, the Dallas Cowboys fired Brian Stewart today. If Jerry Jones continues to follow the my-team-is-in-a-death-spiral playbook and lets Jason Garrett walk out the door, Wade Phillips is likely safe for at least one more season.

Stewart was far from one of the core problems at Dallas. His unit was eighth in total defense, and led the league in sacks. He was, however, quite publicly stripped of his play calling duties after the 34-14 loss to the Rams this season.

Today’s Dallas Cowboys rumor is that it will be announced tomorrow (Saturday, January 17th) that Jason Garrett will be named the new head coach of the St. Louis Rams.

Much of the shine that Garrett had after last season has been tarnished. It would not surprise me if Jerry wasn’t as keen to keep him with the Cowboys as he was last season.

The rumors and grumblings are growing within the Dallas Cowboys locker room that wide receiver Terrell Owens needs to be let go. I know I wouldn’t shed a tear if he were given his papers.

If this year proved anything, it’s how critical chemistry is to a professional team. Looking strictly at the talent level in Dallas, they should have made a run deep into the playoffs. Instead, the team never really came together as a unit, and they didn’t make the playoffs, finishing the season with a humiliating loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Dallas Cowboys began the process of cleaning house today, as Adam “Pacman” Jones was released. The only people that will miss his being in the Cowboys defensive backfield will be fans of the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Cowboys release Jones after learning of yet another incident, this one a shooting outside a suburban Atlanta strip club in June 2007. Apparently, Jones did not disclose this incident to management.

Despite the best efforts of the owner, the coaching staff, and the players, the Dallas Cowboys may yet find a back door into the playoffs. After last night’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens, where the Cowboys defense completely collapsed in the closing minutes, the playoff hopes looked quite bleak.

As I posted previously, we were on the second row of the upper deck, so we had a great view.

Unfortunately, much of the view was taken up by the four, um, “ladies” in front of us. I’m fairly confident that they were all ex-strippers, and I suspect that they might have looked good at some point in the 1980′s. Let’s just say they were past their prime.

They were all very drunk (with perhaps some other chemicals…