Winning a Super Bowl without leaders is nearly impossible. Every successful NFL team has players who aren’t afraid to let their voice be heard in the locker room and on the field. Maybe that explains why the Cowboys haven’t won a Super Bowl since the 1990s. On Friday, Dallas defensive end Jason Hatcher was asked who the Cowboys’ leaders are. He couldn’t provide an answer.
“Uh, dude, I got to be honest with you — that’s a good question,” Hatcher said during an interview with KESN-FM 103.3 according to the Dallas Morning News. “That’s a good question. I really don’t know, man.
“That’s another thing we really need. We need like a Ray Lewis. We don’t have that. We have talent and everything we need, but if we get like a Ray Lewis, everybody buys into him. When Ray Lewis speaks everybody listens to him, a guy like that. You really don’t got that. I think we definitely need somebody like that.”
Tony Romo should take that personally. The Cowboys quarterback talks like a leader sometimes and says he is confident this team will win a Super Bowl, but obviously his teammates don’t look up to him. Considering he is the quarterback of the immediate future, that is not a good sign.
“You have to have somebody who will hold you accountable and with a leader like that, everybody is held accountable, guys aren’t doing their own thing here or there,” Hatcher continued. “Everybody is going in one direction. Once you have that, you’ll be good. We’re still looking for it.”
Another person I would have expected to be mentioned as a leader is DeMarcus Ware, but obviously his stats don’t translate into a leadership role. If players on the Cowboys can’t even pretend they knew who their leaders are, they are in trouble. The problem for Dallas is leadership qualities can’t be taught. If Hatcher’s thoughts are shared by the rest of the team, the Cowboys will likely continue to stockpile talent but fail to win big games.
