Jason Witten: I like him

Here's a good article on Cowboys Pro-Bowl tight end Jason Witten and his desire to help victims of and prevent domestic abuse, and also on his relationship with Christ.

I need to improve

I was re-reading some of my posts from last September and October (you know, the first half of the NFL season), and I was embarrassed at a lot of what I saw. It's definitely evidence that I'm no pro, and that people should never been expected to accurately predict the outcome of a season early on.

So do me a favor... don't go back and re-read my posts from those months (as if you were going to anyway), and DEFINITELY don't compare those posts with actual end-of-the-season standings and statistics.

Thanks

Football Fix

I got my football fix today. This morning on NFL Network they showed the NFC Championship between the Cowboys and the Packers from January of 1996. This was the last Cowboys team to have won in the postseason. After beating the Packers in the game I watched this morning, they went on to win the Super Bowl. Since then the team hasn't won a single playoff game.

It was kind of a nostalgic experience for me. Watching Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders, Larry Brown, Leon Lett, Nate Newton, Darryl "Moose" Johnston, Larry Allen, Chris Boniol and Charles Haley (injured on the sidelines) playing against the old Packers Brett Favre (who looked like a little kid), Reggie White, Antonio Freeman, and Robert Brooks -- it was really kind of fun.

As I watched the game, I realized how different that team was compared to the recent Cowboys. They were fundamentally solid. Their offensive line completely ran over people, allowing the offense to grind out yards and eat the clock -- not relying on big flashy plays to the wide receivers (though those certainly came too... Michael Irvin scored the 'Boys' first two touchdowns). There were other noticeable differences too, some involving the effort that the players seemed to give versus what we see today (but that's not entirely fair to everyone -- Marion Barber works as hard as any player I've ever seen). I think the biggest difference I saw was that the Cowboys of 13 years ago stepped on the field knowing that they were better than the other guys. In everything they do, even when they're tied and the other team is driving, they carry themselves with confidence, knowing that they have the ability to take over the game. I couldn't say the same thing about the team today.

On a final note, I know there are an awful lot of people who have the life mission of pointing out to every Cowboys fan how lousy T.O. is, and how arrogant he is and how flashy and egotistically he plays... but I guarantee that if you watch T.O. play a game today and compare it to watching Deion Sanders play a game from a decade ago, you'd hate Sanders MUCH more. He had way more of that kind of presence on the field than T.O. does.

T.O.?

Yesterday in his Monday Morning Quarterback column, SI.com writer Peter King predicted that Terrell Owens will not be a Cowboy six weeks from now.

I'm posting this because I haven't posted any Cowboys-related stuff for quite some time. Not because it's all that interesting.

Big game prediction

The game starts in just over an hour. THE game. The Super Bowl. The single largest sporting event every year for who knows how long. I'd promise to blog through the game, but first of all, that would likely annoy all of you, and second of all, I neither care enough nor know enough about these teams to be able to blog throughout the game. As promised, however, I am now providing my prediction for the game's outcome.

Cardinals 27, Steelers 20.