faced Washington's Brian Orakpo, Chicago's Julius Peppers and the guy they call Super Mario, Mario Williams of the Texans, and none of them have done anything against Free.
Nothing.
Not only has Free been good, he's been the best linemen the Cowboys have had so far this year. Even Wade Phillips said he's graded out better than any other linemen.
I'm sure there are a bunch of you guys out there that just love to say the phrases "I told you so" or "I was right" about Free. But honestly, save it. Because you didn't. You couldn't have known.
Even Free didn't know, and admitted as much here Thursday.
"I had confidence in myself, but you really don't know if you can do it until you really get out there and do it," Free said. "I've had a pretty good first three weeks, but you have to play every game. A lot of talk right now is good, but there's a lot of football left to play."
Honestly, can you have a better attitude than that? I was sitting here today listening to Free talk to a group of reporters. Trust me, it's something he really doesn't enjoy, but I was thinking to myself that you really can't have a better answer than that.
He talks about his own confidence, which is good. You don't want the guy to be scared to death and he wasn't. He admits there was some unknown to him playing left tackle. That's only natural. He's not humble enough not to admit he's played well, but humble enough to know it's a long season. Either that or he doesn't want to jinx himself.
Regardless, it was an impressive answer, but not nearly as impressive as he's been on the field.
Yes, I had my doubts on Free. Who didn't? Even Free had some.
And I'm sure the Cowboys had theirs. I know for a fact not every coach on the staff was on board with cutting Flozell for Free. But they made the call.
And three games into this thing, it looks like they got this one right, too.
