Maybe it makes some sort of cosmic sense that the Dallas Cowboys are back to holding training camp in San Antonio. Of course, the Alamo City is home of the NBA champion Spurs. And the last time the Cowboys held camp here, back in 2003, the Spurs were also champs of the NBA.

I mean, that's where the Cowboys are trying to get back to, that championship level.

But, hold on.

"Everybody wants to talk about 11 or 12 wins," new head coach Wade Phillips told me, "but we're not an elite team -- not yet, at least."

In part, that's why I find the Cowboys to be one of the most intriguing squads in the National Football League. They could wind up being an elite team, or it could quickly go the other way.

I think the Cowboys could do anything from win the Super Bowl, to finish 7-9, or 8-8. With this team, and nothing's a given.

It's been 12-years since Dallas won its last Super Bowl. They haven't won a playoff game since then, and have but one double digit win season since '98.

All that was supposed to change when Bill Parcells came to town, but after four seasons, nada.

Now, in fairness, Parcells took over a team that was coming off three consecutive 5-11 campaigns. The cupboard is a lot more stocked for Phillips, the man who's replaced him.

"When Bill got here, the team was here (hand raised to about his waist), now it's here (hand at neck level). It's up to us to take it up to that next level," Phillips said.

Moving up to that next level will most likely hinge on whether or not quarterback Tony Romo can take it up a notch in his first full season as "the man."

You know the story with Romo: The former free agent finally gets his chance last year, and it was a tale of two seasons for him.

He came out the gate as a winner in four of his first five starts. In his final five, he was 2-3 with six touchdowns and 12 turnovers.

"Romo's got to find a way to be more consistent," one player told me in the "duh" comment of the day.

That said, his teammates still believe firmly that Romo can be the guy. Why not? With him in charge, the team did score its most points in a season since that Super Bowl year.

As Phillips put it, "We've got talent on offense....we've got two good running backs (Julius Jones and Marion Barber), three good receivers (WRs Terrell Owens, and Terry Glenn, along with TE Jason Witten), our offensive line is huge."

The point is that Romo doesn't have to do it all on his own.

The only personnel change the Cowboys have made on offense is bringing in Leonard Davis, who was the second player taken in the '01 draft behind Michael Vick, to play right guard. Davis played all over the line during his years in Arizona, but is probably a better fit at guard than the left tackle spot the Cards had him in under Denny Green.

Where the Cowboys think Romo will benefit is in the support around him off the field. Former Cowboy Jason Garrett was brought in to be the new offensive coordinator. Wade Wilson, another ex-Cowboy, is the QB Coach. And Brad Johnson is the new # 2 QB.

While keeping the running game the same, Garrett has totally changed the passing system. But it's one that Romo is familiar with. Garrett learned it under Saints head coach Sean Payton when he was Garrett's offensive coordinator with the Giants. Payton then brought the system to Dallas where Romo began to learn it as a rookie, before it changed a bit last year with Payton's departure.

So while it will be different, it's not a system that's totally new to Romo.

Despite Romo's late season struggles, the real problem in Big D was how little the D played, ranked 20th of the 32 teams in points allowed.

That's where Phillips comes in.

In his last six stops as an NFL head coach or defensive coordinator, Phillips has taken over a team with a losing record the year before he got there and guided them to the playoffs in his first season -- mostly on the strength of eight top 10 defensive finishes.

Let's see what he can do in Dallas while keeping nine of the 11 starters from last year's struggling unit.

"We're just wiping the slate clean, (we're) gonna teach them an entirely new defense," said Phillips. Not worried about trying to ease the transition by keeping some of the old in with the new, he said with a smile, "There was a reason I was brought in here."

Phillips really lights up when he talks about defensive play and schemes. His take is that his system finds out what a guy does best, and then plays to that strength, rather than worrying about fitting a guy in to what he teaches. Adapt to the players, instead of making the players adapt.

A prime example would be what he plans to do with linebacker DeMarcus Ware.

Ware is on the verge of being a breakout star in the league. But while watching tape of last year, Phillips noted that opposing offenses would often dictate where he would play because the Cowboys lined him up according to the offensive formation. This season, Ware's job will simply be "rush the passer," said Phillips. The plan is to allow him to play in different spots on both sides of the defense so that offenses no longer know what's coming. It's the same design that allowed Shawne Merriman to become a beast playing in this same defense under Phillips for the previous three seasons.

There's no question around the league about how talented Ware is. It's the rest of the Dallas defense that people wonder about.

Yes, strong safety Roy Williams has been moved closer to the line of scrimmage where his play excels, and his responsibilities in pass coverage have been drastically reduced, simply because he wasn't very good at them. Free safety Ken Hamlin was brought over from Seattle, becoming the seventh guy to start beside Williams in the last three seasons. With veteran linebacker Greg Ellis in street clothes with a foot injury, first-round pick Anthony Spencer looks ready to take over at times, and at other times, he looks like a rookie in his second week of training camp.

Small moves, yeah, but moves Phillips thinks will make a difference.

But what if all this re-jiggering of the pieces simply doesn't work because the talent really isn't there? The Cowboys have spent their last eight No. 1 draft picks all on defensive players, but the results are yet to show.

If that trend keeps going, the Super Bowl years may continue to feel like another century to Cowboy fans.

But if Phillips is right, and he has been before, then the Cowboys could once again be the shining star of the NFL.

It could really go either way.

A QUICK SIDEBAR

Now that I've been to six NFL camps in the first week of my tour, I just wanted to mention to you how much fun this has been been for me.

Know that I have seen the hundreds of comments that you've posted following my blogging tour across the league and I thoroughly enjoy the input. After a full day of travel, watching practices, and talking to players and coaches (my life is tough, huh), I get back to the hotel a bit tired, but take to tapping on the keyboard to share with you what I've seen and heard.

Considering how late it is in the day, I often wonder if it makes any sense but then I see that it doesn't have to. You guys just take the ball and run with it. That team, that division, becomes a hot topic on the message boards.

Your passion proves what I tell folks all the time. NFL fans are the most passionate of any sport. They are the one group that truly cares about what goes on around the entire league, not just with the hometown team.

Thanks for your dedication. Thanks for your passion. Keep it up folks.

Next Stop: New Orleans

"The first day of camp, we walk into the cafeteria, and there on the TV, the NFL Network is showing the hilight film of the '05 Steelers team that won the Super Bowl. That clinched it for a lot of guys, because they thought, 'That's where we want to get, and now we've got the guys here, who got them there.' "

New Arizona Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt told me that story when I met him on Friday during my stop at Cards camp in Flagstaff.

He believes that that's the reason that his team has worked so hard to get to where they are to start training camp, and hopes that it continues into the regular season.

What is noticeably different when you are around this team this year, is that there seems to be more focus, the guys are working harder, and they are definitely in better shape than previous Cardinal teams I've seen over the years.

What is similar is that they start another year with expectations that "this year couldl be the year."  How many times have we heard that from or about this organization? This time, though, I think there's some truth to it.

I believed that under Denny Green, the Arizona Cardinals were a soft football team. Mentally and physically.

It wasn't just the blown leads like the infamous 20-point one at home to the Bears in that Monday Night game, nor the fact that players like Bertrand Berry at times were forced to openly and publicly question teammates' commitment.

It was the simple fact that when you watched them play, you often saw a team that looked like it wasn't trying late in ballgames. Or worse, yet, that was in the midst of chaos.

Even though they have yet to take a snap -- not even in a preseason game -- you get the sense that that won't be the case with this group this year.

Look, everywhere there's a new coach, the players all talk about how the new atmosphere is "good" ... how "things seem to be headed in the right direction." To me, the difference in Arizona is that the players can back up their statements about regime change with cold, hard facts about WHY things are better.

Talk privately with players and they will tell you about the previous coaching staff having big-time arguments in the locker room DURING GAMES! About the lack of accountability some players had, and were allowed to get away with. That is no longer the case.

Now that they believe some of the off-field things have been put to rest, it's all about football.

And all about the fact that this team is full of guys who WANT to win. What they've been looking for is someone to show them HOW to win.

At the skill positions on offense, it's hard to argue against Pro Bowlers Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald at WRs, Edgerrin James in the backfield, and Matt Leinart under center.

The only member of that group who has yet to prove how good he can be is Leinart.

In his second season, his first as the starter from day one, Leinart seems ready to do just that.

While shooting promos with us for Fox NFL Sunday this summer, Leinart told me that the offensive system Whisenhunt has installed is more akin to what he had success with at USC, that he's more comfortable in it.

But what impresses me the most about Leinart isn't just what he does on the field. It's not even what he does off the field. It's the fact that Leinart has "IT."  You can't define "IT," but when you're around "IT," you know "IT," and Leinart has plenty of ..."IT!"

"What makes Matt special is that guys not only like him, but guys believe in him ... that's not the case with every quarterback," Whisenhunt said. "He just has that abiltiy (to pull guys together)."

Whisenhunt will also quickly point out that Leinart is still just a second-year guy. That he has things to work on, like reading defenses better, or mechanical issues that most QBs are still working on at this early stage. But he believes that Leinart is also ahead of where most of those young guys are at this point ... and remember, Whisenhunt was Ben Roethlisberger's offensive coordinator his first three years in the league ... including his Super Bowl season in year two.

Now Roethlisberger and the Steelers had a lot to more to work with in that season than the Cards have.

There are still questions about the offensive line with RG Duece Lutui (who's down nearly 40 pounds this off-season) being the only starter returning in the same position as last season. Then again, as offensively that line played, that's probably a good thing.

They still don't have a receiving threat at tight end, but Whisenhunt wants to install more of a power game like he had in Pittsburgh, so a blocking tight end is really more important to this offense, and to getting the real Edgerrin back.

By the way, with all this talk about about a power running game, don't think that Whisenhunt, who will be calling plays, plans to forget about Boldin and Fitzgerald. His hope is to get leads early by putting the ball in the air and taking shots deep down the field, and THEN being able to run out the clock on the ground.

"Our mentality has to be that we get to the fourth quarter with the advantage, and then it's our time to wear teams down," Whisenhunt told me.

You get the feeling that if anyone can get it going on offense, and make that happen, it's Whisenhunt and Asst. Head Coach/Offensive Line Coach Russ Grimm.

To me, the biggest issue facing Arizona will be the play of its defense.

Statistically, the Cards dropped from 8th in the NFL in '05 all the way down to 30th last year.

They come back with essentially the same pieces, but many will be in different places.

First, the team will switch from a 4-3 to a version of the 3-4. Guys like Chike Okeafor and Bertrand Berry will play more hybrid DE/LB roles than standard DEs as in the past. Darnell Dockett, who was a DT, technically becomes a DE as part of a three-man front, but the real change is that he will switch sides from the right to the left.

Whisenhunt, who kept Defensive Coordinator Clancy Pendergast from the previous staff because, he said, "Clancy had success here a couple of years ago," asked Pendergast to evaluate the players on that side of the ball as individuals. See what they were good at, and where they would best fit in as players, rather than trying to take guys and fit them into a "system" first.

The result was that they felt they had talent, but much of that talent wasn't in the right places.

That remains to be seen.

The bottom line is that the Arizona Cardinals should be a better disciplined, tougher team come the regular season.

Does that make them a winning team?

I'm not sure that the talent is there, particularly on the defensive side -- ESPECIALLY not in the secondary -- to say that they will win now.

They will however be a more competitive team.

The competition in the NFC West has also stepped it up, so it may be even tougher for them to make it out of the division this year, but at least I think the Arizona Cardinals are at least headed in the right direction.

FINALLY!

Next Stop: Dallas Cowboys 

I'm sitting here in my hotel room in Santa Clara. Almost Famous (an underrated movie, btw) is on T.V. right now. The kid who plays the Rolling Stone writer just told Kate Hudson "... I like Russell (lead singer of the band Stillwater), but you can't say anything because I'm a journalist!"

That's kinda how I feel after a day with the San Francisco 49ers. I like this team, but don't tell anyone.

I like head coach Mike Nolan, a lot. I think he's finally put together a very good staff. The players are now the "right kind of guys." None of that was the case when he took over a 49er franchise that was a mess three seasons ago.

They had a defacto GM in Terry Donahue, who spent more time relaxing in flip-flops in San Diego than he did in San Fran. They had a head coach in Dennis Erickson, who just couldn't cut it at this level. And don't even get me started on the players they had here -- a number of whom didn't belong in the NFL, and who never signed anywhere else after being let go.

A positive change, indeed. A definite upgrade in all aspects. But does any of that mean that they are a team to be optimistic about in 2007?

As Shakespeare said, "that is the question."

Coming off a 7-9 season (which followed a 4-12 year in Nolan's first season), the 49ers try to take that so-called next step into the playoffs. But they're going to try to do it with a new offensive coordinator for the third straight season; a new defensive coordinator, and a new special teams coordinator.

Special teams guru Al Everest is a proven NFL veteran. The other two coordinators are untested.

Hey, that's not always a bad thing, it simply means that as we sit here on the first of August, it's an unknown.

The bad news concerning new OC Jim Hostler is that not only is it his first job as a pro coordinator, he hasn't called plays in a game since 1999 when he coached at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

The good is that despite being the 3rd OC in three years for young QB Alex Smith, Hostler is actually the one constant he's had.

If Bill Walsh had a coaching tree, Mike Nolan says he himself has developed "a bush."

Hostler was the QB coach for the 49ers under Mike McCarthy in 2005. When McCarthy left to become head coach of the Packers, Norv Turner took over as OC in 2006, and Hostler remained as QB coach. Now that Turner is the head coach of the Chargers, Hostler is the man on offense in San Fran.

Smith told me that he and Hostler are simpatico, in sync, they-finish-each-other's-football -sentences, kind of close.

Another reason the 49ers believe he's ready, is that even though Hostler has been a postion coach in the NFL for the last five years with the Jets and Niners, he's always secretly prepared his own game plan to compare with the way the team's OC did his.

Hostler may be ready, but I'm not sure he really has the weapons to compete on offense just yet.

I like Smith at quarterback. I think he's a young Matt Hasselbeck in the making. A guy who will be consistent once he gets good pieces around him, and win games on a regular basis. He'll probably never be in that debate over the 2-or-3 best QBs in the league at that time, but he'll be solid.

That time isn't just yet.

The Niners still lack that number one wide receiver. Yes, the offensive line has improved, and look for first round pick Joe Staley to overtake Kwame Harris at any moment, but it's still a step away.

Frank Gore is a beast , but in a day in which many teams are going with two solid RBs, he's the Niners "one-and-only." If he goes down with anything more serious during the regular season than the small broken bone in his hand he suffered this week, San Fran is in DEEP trouble.

Defensively, the 49ers are coming off a 3rd straight season of allowing 400-plus points,  so it's probably good news that of the 38 players in camp. 20 were not with the team at all last year. Then again, neither was the defensive coordinator.

The bad news is that new coordinator Greg Manusky is also a first timer.

Manusky has been a solid LB coach with both the Redskins and Chargers producing four different pro bowl linebackers in six years.

"He's smart, he gets it," said Nolan.

The hope is that with Manusky, who also played linebacker for 12 years in the NFL, now in charge, Nolan is able to spend more time with the entire team, and less time having to correct defensive issues.

Manusky has tools to work with, starting with last year's first rounder Manny Lawson at outside LB, and this year's top pick Patrick WIllis at inside. After I watched them up close, here's all you need to know about the two: Lawson is speedy, WIllis will be STUDLY.

When asked about WIllis, none other than the legendary Mike Singletary put it best: "he works hard, and somehow just knows how to be around the ball." Something tells me to trust Singletary's judgment on linebackers.

It may not be Week 1, because they want to bring Willis along patiently, but at some point, he will be one of what might be as many as six new starters on defense. That many changes take time to develop.

However, the Saints proved last year that sometimes it can all come together quickly.

The reality is that the Niners still have a lot of questions, playing in what suddenly has become a competitive division.

What fans have to feel good about is that for the first time in a long time, the Niners actually have more answers than questions. But:is it enough?

Next stop, Raider Nation.