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Parcells Guys Editorial

Playing Right Tackle For The Cowboys In 2005

You can talk about Torrin Tucker, Jacob Rogers, Rob Petitti and even Larry Allen playing Right Tackle for the Dallas Cowboys in 2005, but none of that is going to happen. When September 11th rolls around you will see me out there lined up next to Marco Rivera. I am Kurt Vollers.

Vollers came to the Cowboys looking for a chance to make the team, whether it was on the 53-man roster or the practice squad made no difference. Just a chance to become a better football player was the task at hand. Jump ahead to Week 15 of the 2004 NFL season and Vollers found himself starting at Right Tackle for the Cowboys.

Coming out of Notre Dame in 2001 there weren’t many coaches calling for Vollers to join their team. He eventually went to training camp with Colts as a free agent. He wound up on the practice squad after being released by the Colts just before the beginning of the 2002 season. The Cowboys grabbed him off the Colts practice squad on Oct 22, 2002 after they were depleted by injuries on the offensive line.

After checking into some stats about Vollers 2003 season you would be thinking this guy is a career back up if anything. He was behind Ryan Young and Torrin Tucker on the depth chart and it did not look promising for Vollers. But in the NFL injuries are considered an open door for anyone looking for a chance. Young went down with a bum knee, this resulted in Vollers and Tucker battling it out for the Right Tackle spot all season. Vollers did start 8 games and did a decent job by all accounts.

When the 2004 season started Coach Parcells chose Tucker as his starting Right Tackle. This may have been a mistake from the beginning. Tucker was having problems with blocking assignments and just plain playing bad football. Coach Parcells waited until he could stand it no longer and inserted Vollers into the starting line-up in Week 15 against the Eagles in Philly. Talk about getting thrown into the fire, thanks Coach for giving me a chance to show you what I can do with Jevon Kearse across from me.

In a highly competitive loss to the Eagles, 12-7, the stats for Kearse were pretty mild. No sacks and 1 tackle. Pretty good for a back up who got thrown into the mix because the first choice was playing like a bum. Vollers kept the job for the last two games of the season and again played admirably. This was becoming a trend for Vollers and the Cowboys. Coach Parcells picks the “other” guy to start and then Vollers winds up in the starting lineup at some point after watching the other guy fail to do the job.

Remember that playoff game against the Panthers; Vollers was the Right Tackle in that game. Guess whom he was blocking? Julius Peppers. Guess the stats for one of the best young Defensive Ends in the NFL? 1 tackle, no sacks. The only play I can remember Peppers being involved in was that silly interception Quincy threw right to him. So in both games against arguably two of the best young Defensive Ends in the game Vollers held his ground and allowed 2 tackles. Here’s the best stat about Vollers in those two games, no penalties. Even against the best of the best Vollers kept his cool under pressure.

Coach Parcells has two strikes on him when talking about Kurt Vollers. This is not a guy who strikes out very often people. This season we are going to see a bigger, more seasoned and much improved Kurt Vollers come into training camp. He won’t give Coach Parcells the opportunity to do anything other than hit a home run when determining who starts the season at Right Tackle.

Agree? Disagree?