Dallas Cowboys Want Blockbuster Deadline Trade for Patrick Surtain? The 1 Who Got Away

Dallas Cowboys finally cornering their cornerback in Patrick Surtain(?), Dallas Mavericks picked to win NBA title, Texas Rangers cursed at home, and whiffing on Dak Prescott and viral fans, all in this week's DFW sports notebook.

WHITT'S END 10.20.23:

Whether you’re at the end of your coffee, your day, your week or even your rope, welcome to Whitt’s End …

*Better late, than never? In the 2021 NFL Draft the Dallas Cowboys desperately wanted/needed a cornerback. In the wake of a historically horrible defense that surrendered franchise records of 54 touchdowns and 473 points, they replaced Mike Nolan with new coordinator Dan Quinn and were gearing up for a renewed commitment.

They sought a partner for the promising Trevon Diggs, and as CowboysSI.com reportedly exclusively at the time, attempted to move into the top six picks to land an elite corner. They targeted Miami, unsuccessfully, and by the time they were on the clock at No. 10 both studs Jaycee Horn (8th) and Patrick Surtain II (9th) were gone. Deflated – and with no other no-brainer players on his board – Jerry Jones traded down with the Eagles.

But this isn’t the tale of how Philly landed DeVonta Smith or how the Cowboys settled for Micah Parsons at No. 12. It’s more a circle-back to how – as this year’s Halloween NFL trade deadline approaches – they could still acquire Surtain.

The 1-5 Broncos are a complete mess. On the edge of a fire sale. In two seasons, Surtain has been All-Rookie and All-Pro. Not that DaRon Bland isn't filling in admirably - in fact, he's allowing an NFL second-lowest 25.2-percent completion rate - but the Cowboys' defense hasn’t been the same since losing Diggs to a season-ending ACL injury in Week 3.

I’m not promising that the Cowboys will trade for Surtain by the deadline; We've reported on the word that Denver might view him as "untouchable.'' But I am guaranteeing an exploratory phone call will be made in an attempt to get the one who initially got away.

*Wait, Shaquille O’Neal picked who to win this season’s NBA championship? The team with a relatively skinny rookie slated to start at center, better known as your Dallas Mavericks. Last I checked the Mavs were +2500, with only the 9th-best odds to win the title. Shoot, in the loaded Western Conference it’s a realistic goal for them just to make the playoffs. Homecourt advantage in the first round would be overachieving. But a title?! I think Shaq, the omnipresent pitch man, has finally spread his focus too thin.

*Been watching the Texas Rangers since attending their first game in Arlington in 1972. Nonetheless, don’t ask me to explain the first four games of their ALCS with the Houston Astros. They took a 2-0 lead by calmly winning Games 1 and 2 in Houston and then … I dunno? In their last five games against the Astros at Globe Life Field the Rangers have been outscored, 57-18. Even the baseball analytics geeks are at a loss.

*Sometimes being skeptical is prudent. But I’m ashamed to admit I thought that viral Chargers fan was absolutely a paid actor. Turns out she’s not. Just a genuinely passionate fan that – win or lose – hangs on her team’s every up and down. Life is short. Find something to care about as much as she does her Chargers.

*As an admitted space geek, I was bummed out by last weekend’s much-ballyhooed solar eclipse that was supposed to feature a brilliant “Ring of Fire.” Notsamuch. I mean, it got a little darker. Or, more accurately, only a little less bright. The moon simply looked like it was eating about two-thirds of the Sun, like a hungry-but-ravenous Pac-Man. There was no “Ring of Fire.” If you didn’t know, you never would have known. But, hey, the glasses were hip.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Richie Whitt (@richie_whitt)

*Texas may still be a football state, but … nine of the last 19 World Series will include a team from here. In that same span, zero Texas NFL teams have played in a Super Bowl. At least Dirk Nowitzki, Luka Doncic and Tony Romo attended Thursday night’s Game 4.

*Hot.

*Not.

The Cowboys desperately wanted Patrick Surtain II in 2021. Will they get him in 2023?

*When I’m wrong, I’m wrong. My apologies to Dak Prescott. Last week I essentially commenced digging his grave, only to watch him resurrect his 30-year-old legs in the Cowboys’ victory over the Chargers. According to NextGenStats, he twice topped 18 mph on runs. Thought those days were long gone. I was indeed wrong. Cowboys are a different, more dangerous team with Prescott as a running threat.

*Last week at the State Fair, 22-year-old Cameron Turner shot and injured three people in the food court area. I went to the Fair on Texas-OU Saturday and – like this year’s expected 2.5 million visitors – walked through a fancy schmancy, six-foot tall new metal detector tower called “OpenGate.” Its Italian security giant manufacturer calls it “revolutionary” in that the things ignore phone and keys but specifically detect weapons. Or so we thought. Says CEIA president Genaro Cavazos, “That weapon will be detected 100 percent of the time if it’s brought through that detector.” Sure. But then how exactly did the shooter have a gun inside the Fair?

*Basketball Hall of Famer Reggie Miller thinks the Mavs’ Luka Doncic-Kyrie Irving form the most skilled backcourt in hoops history. Maybe Shaq does indeed know what he’s talking about?

*There’s this new “thing” apparently where women are shocked at how many times a day men think about the fall of the Roman Empire. Me: Never. But I do ponder weird, pointless crap like … If you drilled a tunnel straight through the Earth and jumped in, how long would it take you to fall through to the other side? Or, since there’s no “downhill” inside the Earth and about halfway through gravity would start working against you, would you just stop falling at the center of the core? My best guess: It would take you about an hour. But I might tweak that answer after I think about it again tomorrow.

*A for effort for the kid who dressed up in a banana costume in a Rangers suite behind home plate Thursday night. But F for execution. Despite him frantically waving his hands in an attempt to distract Astros pitchers all the way to the 9th inning, the Rangers were outscored 7-0 over the final six innings.

*Let me get this straight: We have fingertips, but not toetips. Yet we can tip-toe, but not finger-toe. Now what’s that all about?

*Hey, what were Jerry and Jimmy Johnson talking about on the field before Monday Night Football at SoFi Stadium? Oh, just stuff … including, yep, Jimmy’s delayed entrance into the Cowboys Ring of Honor.

*How long are we supposed to go on pretending that it’s not totally wonky how State Farm just magically changed pitch-man “Jake” from a white dude to a black dude?

*Remember all Summer when we breathlessly waited for talented free-agent receivers Odell Beckham and DeAndre Hopkins to choose their NFL teams? In hindsight, ’twas much ado about nothing. Beckham has nine catches for 113 yards for the Ravens; Hopkins 27 for 376 for the Titans. Neither has yet to score a touchdown. Cowboys’ tight end Jake Ferguson is more productive.

*This Weekend? Saturday let’s navigate 30 obstacles over 13.1 miles in the Spartan Beast in Granbury. Sunday let’s hope to be in one piece when the sun rises. As always, don’t be a stranger.

---