Ironic division twist

All the talk about the NFC East being football's toughest division turns out to be... exactly on the nose after week 4.  With the Cowboys and Eagles both losing, the East no longer holds three of the top five teams in the newly released ESPN Power Rankings.  However, with the Cowboys' loss coming at the hands of the Redskins, the division still proves to be a powerhouse.  Now the Giants, Cowboys, Redskins, and Eagles are ranked 1, 3, 6, and 9, respectively, and have their entire division among the top ten teams in the NFL. It's a little bit frustrating to know that one of these teams will not make the playoffs and still possibly be one of the best teams in the league.

weird dream

I seriously had a dream last night that I was hanging out with Tony Romo and Jason Witten. It was kind of funny. I don't know why they were there, but they were. Tony kept wanting to play basketball and frisbee and was kind of like a little ADHD kid. Jason was much more laid back and tried to keep Tony under control. They were both really nice guys.

Maybe I'm a little bit overloaded on football right now.

Recap

Of the three wins the Cowboys have this year, two of them came despite mediocre performances. Today against the Redskins their mediocre performance wasn't enough. Overall, both teams played well, but the 'Skins played better.

Despite rushing for a career high 142 yards against the Packers last week, Marion Barber was only given eight touches this week. That makes me wonder what was going through the mind of Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. On the other hand, it seems like many teams are most successful when under pressure, running the no-huddle offense out of desperation. Dallas is even more this way than most teams. Both at the end of the first half and at the end of the game the Cowboys were able to move the ball at will from a no-huddle shotgun-only offensive scheme. I realize that one of the reasons that such a scheme is effective is because the defense is usually in some sort of prevent defense which allows teams to gain 10-15 yards per snap, but if a dangerous offensive team were to go no-huddle for a large part of the game, a defense would be forced into undesirable situations where they wouldn't be able to blitz as often or set themselves to know what's coming. It just seems to me like an offense with such potency as the Dallas offense should be able to overcome a defense that gives up 26 points.

Anywho, this is a setback for the 'Boys, but maybe it'll wake them up a little. If Philadelphia wins the game they're currently playing against Chicago (as they should), three NFC East teams will be 3-1 with New York a half game ahead at 3-0 (they're on a bye week). It almost makes it look like by week 15 or 16 the top four teams in the power rankings could be from the East. That'd be something else, huh?

Football Day in America

It's game day. This afternoon the Cowboys will seek to take the lead in the NFC East with a win over the division rival Redskins. With the Giants on a bye week, a Cowboys win will put them a half-game up. If the 'Skins win, then Philadelphia, Dallas, and Washington will all be 3-1 (assuming the Eagles beat Chicago), with each team's loss coming at the hands of a division foe.

The game starts at 3:15 central time, and will be broadcast nation-wide on FOX with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman providing the commentary and Pam Oliver on the sidelines.

My prediction:  Dallas 31, Washington 23

'Boys-'Skins

The Cowboys seem to be the best team in the NFL. The Redskins seem to be somewhere between the 9th and 16th best team in the NFL. Logic says that I have nothing to worry about. My team should win relatively easily at home this weekend. However, NFC East rivalry games are almost ALWAYS closer than they should be. You can bet that Washington will play one of the best games of their year so far. Hopefully Dallas will to. At the front of my mind I still feel fairly comfortable about this game. The Cowboys are better in every respect than the 'Skins, and they're playing a home game. Still, in the back of my mind I'm a bit nervous because it's a rivalry game and you never know what's gonna happen there.

More evidence

I don't believe that ESPN's opinion on things is always a definitively correct assessment of anything. Therefore, I just wanted to point out that power rankings on NFL.com and SportsIllustrated.com also have Dallas, New York, and Philadelphia as the top three teams. So, in the world of educated football analysts, it looks like there's no argument about the best three teams in football.

Beating the Dead Horse

There is absolutely no doubt in the football world that the NFC East is easily the most competitive and most dominant division in the league. I don't need to say anything about it, but I will because that's the division in which my Cowboys play, and I love to watch all the teams in it as well.  If you're looking to argue division supremacy with anyone, consider the following:

The top three teams in the just-released Power Rankings from ESPN this week are the Cowboys, Giants, and Eagles.  The top three teams from a single division!  I feel safe in assuming that that's never happened before.

With the Redskins ranked 15th, the NFC East doesn't have a single team in the bottom half of the rankings.

The NFC East is a combined 10-2 this season, with their only losses coming within the division. Other divisions records:

AFC East 7-5

AFC North 4-7

AFC South 5-6

AFC West 5-7

NFC North 4-8

NFC South 7-5

NFC West 5-7

So there you go.

Random stuff

I just now realized that "Valley Ranch" sounds like a very tasty salad dressing.

The NFC East is a combined 10-2, and the two losses are misleading because they came from other NFC East teams.  Peter King pointed out in his Monday Morning Quarterback column on SI.com that Ohio and Missouri are 0-12 through the first three weeks of the season (that includes Cincinatti, Cleveland, Kansas City, and St. Louis). Rough, man.

Dr. Z wrote in  Sports Illustrated a few weeks back of his complete predictions for this NFL season.  He listed the Cowboys as going 10-6 and getting 2nd in the division to Philly.  If he's right, then the 'Boys will go 7-6 the rest of the season.  That's ridiculous.  Also, in looking at the Cowboys schedule, if I were trying to name 6 games they could possibly lose this year, I'd already be wrong about two of them.

At work (the bookstore) we have a FedEx guy named Dave who comes in to drop off our packages every day.  We call him Dave the Wave.  Dave's a Broncos fan, but one of those "fans" who does nothing but rip apart his team every week.  Dave likes to make predictions.  He told me a few weeks ago that Dallas would go 9-7.  Did I mention Dave's often wrong?

So, the Cowboys are my favorite team, the Broncos are second, and if I had to pick a third it'd be the Packers.  None of my favorite teams have lost yet this season except to a team I like even more!

Debriefing

The Positives:  The Cowboys won, and they won against what I think is a very good Packers team. In the first two games of the season, the Cowboys' biggest problem has been stupid mistakes/penalties.  Tonight they had a lot fewer penalties than in the first two games.  They still seem a little prone to inopportune fumbles and interceptions, but my confidence is growing. Felix Jones continues to look pretty good, and Marion Barber had a great night.  I will continue to argue that Jason Witten is the league's best all-around tight-end. I was a little struck by how often Dallas ran the ball.  I haven't looked at any numbers, but I'm guessing Romo's night wasn't anything spectacular stat-wise. He didn't seem to throw all that much, which is really kind of exciting considering how the offense was usually able to grind out pretty long drives.  This was a big win (they all are, but this was one I was a little worried about).  The last positive: My preseason prediction is still completely intact. (If you didn't catch it, I predicted that the 'Boys would go 13-3, with one loss apiece to Philadelphia and Washington, and one at Pittsburgh in December.)

The Negatives:  There are still some silly mistakes, and they often happen at terrible times (Romo's interception in the red zone).  Pacman still looks a little shaky in his position, and with Roy Williams out for a few weeks, that's not good.  I still feel like the defensive line needs to get to the QB a little quicker.  I know they got some sacks on Rodgers tonight, but I often felt like he had too much time and escaped the pocket and was able to make something happen. We've got to start trapping quarterbacks in the pocket and not giving them any running room.

These are my preliminary thoughts.  It's late and I'm tired.  More later... maybe.

Announcers

One of the greatest things about Dallas playing the Sunday night game is that we get to listen to Al Michaels and John Madden do the commentary.  They're the two best on television.  Say what you want about Madden -- I think he's hilarious.

A paraphrase of Madden's pre-game analysis of the Cowboys:

"Well, to succeed in the NFL you need a really strong running back, and you need a big-play making receiver, and then you gotta have a reliable tight end who can catch the ball well, and it's all gotta be led by a good quarterback, and the Cowboys have all that."

Profound, John.  Thanks.

Game Day

We're less than an hour away from kickoff for the Green Bay-Dallas primetime game on NBC.  This is the first Cowboys game of the year that I'll get to see from the comfort of my own apartment, so I thought I'd keep a little game-blog as we go (we'll see how many times I truly post something).

The NFC East has pulled out three more wins this week, and if the Cowboys win tonight, the division will still be undefeated against non-division teams.  The Redskins' win was over a playoff contender (which isn't that impressive, I guess, since it was still the Cardinals -- a playoff contender only because they're in football's weakest division), the Eagles' win was over a Super Bowl contender (Steelers) and the Giants' win was over the Bengals... in over time.

It's already been a crazy week.  I mean, the Dolphins beat the Patriots.  The last time the Patriots lost in the regular season before today was December of 2006 against... the Dolphins!  That's crazy.

Week 3 Preview

The two biggest games this weekend are by far the Cowboys-Packers and the Steelers-Eagles.  Many of the other games feel like other than adding a win to one team's record and a loss to the other, they're pretty much worthless.  Kansas City-Atlanta (who cares?), Miami-New England (does anyone really expect a Dolphins win?), Bengals-Giants (weakling vs. powerhouse), Raiders-Bills (doesn't Al Davis have someone to fire?), and Lions-49ers (does anyone have any paint they need help watching dry?) all fall into the "Isn't there any other game on?" category.

Buccs-Bears: The outcome won't really matter to me.  It could be a close game, but I think Chicago will expose the NFC South for the crappy division it is.

Texans-Titans:  A division rivalry that, believe it or not, could stick the Titans  in the driver's seat of the AFC South.

Panthers-Vikings: The Vikings haven't impressed anyone, but they're starting Gus Frerotte this week, and maybe he'll be able to accomplish something more than T. Jackson did in his first two games.  The Panthers have won two games, but I'm not sure they've got a huge win streak in them.

Cardinals-Redskins:  This is only of interest to me because in the first two weeks the NFC East didn't lose a single game outside its own division (Washington's loss was to the Giants and Philly's was to Dallas), and that could change either in this game or in the Pitt-Philly game (or both).

Rams-Seahawks:  The Rams might be the worst team in football, but so far the Seahawks haven't looked all that much better.  I'd take the Hawks at home, though.

Saints-Broncos:  The Denver offense is legit, but its defense has struggled.  New Orleans hasn't yet come through on their high expectations at the beginning of the season.  The Saints need this win a little bit more than Denver does, but I don't think they're going to get it.

Jags-Colts:  This has been an interesting and bitter rivalry in recent years, but both teams look flat and boring this season so far.  The winner of this game will still be behind Tennessee in the division.

Browns-Ravens:  The Browns desperately need a win.  Let's see if they look desperate trying to get one.

Jets-Chargers:  Who'd have thought the Chargers would be 0-2 at this point?  Both teams need a win badly.  San Diego has the better team, and they're at home, so I'd pick them.

Just so you know, I'll be cheering for Philadelphia against Pittsburgh this week.  That should be a really good game.

Cowboys-Packers preview

I have no authority to be writing on this subject.  I love blogs.

The Packers are no slouch.  Last year they were young and talented and they went 13-3 and made it to the NFC championship.  This year they're young and talented and they've gone 2-0.  Obviously, the biggest change there is that Bret Favre has been exchanged for Aaron Rodgers, but in his first two games of the year Rodgers has looked great.  He's got the 2nd highest passer rating in the NFL.  Granted, his wins came against the unimpressive 0-2 Vikings and the even less impressive 0-2 Lions.  Still, the Pack is looking like a formidable foe.  The game on Sunday night takes place on prime-time television, where the 'Boys tend to excel, but it also takes place on the (probably not-so)frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, where the 'Boys tend not to excel.  I originally thought that the first two weeks would be the really tough ones for Dallas, but Week 3 in Green Bay will be a major test as well.  Green Bay doesn't play the Giants or the Eagles this year (the other two best NFC teams), so a win against Dallas this weekend could put them in a pretty good spot for the playoffs, even though it's still just the third week of the season.

Getcha popcorn ready.

Now I've got it

I just now realized that the real (subconscious) reason I began this football-only blog is so that I can fulfill my dream of being an ESPN/Sports Illustrated/Dallas Cowboys football columnist. I can write all my own stories now.

If only I got paid...

Cowboys sit atop the Ultimate Power Rankings

ESPN.com recently published an "Ultimate Power-Rankings" story in which they ranked all of the NFL's teams since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. See it here.

In case you don't want to check out the story but you're still curious, the number one team is the Dallas Cowboys. Yeah!

NFC B'EAST'

ESPN's power rankings this week have three NFC East teams IN THE TOP FIVE!!! I think that's pretty accurate too. I might even say they should be in the top four, with only Pittsburgh as a non-East team thrown in the mix. The other exciting thing is that four of the top five teams play each other this coming week. Dallas (1) at Green Bay (4) and Pittsburgh (2) at Philadelphia (5). Those will be some big games.

Introduction

If you've ever spent any time on the Dallas Cowboys website, you'll have noticed that "Valley Ranch" refers to the Cowboys community, as in "After the exciting game against Philadelphia the other night, Valley Ranch is alive with the buzz of preparation for next week's game at Green Bay." This blog is an NFL-oriented blog from just your average hard-core (oxymoron?) Cowboys fan, which means that while the blog's scope covers the entire league, most of the posts will focus on Cowboys-related news, or how news from around the league impacts the 'Boys. I have no qualifications other than the fact that I've been a Cowboys fan my whole life, and I watch a lot of NFL football. If ever it appears that I don't know what I'm talking about, that's why.

Enjoy.