The first win at JerryWorld

Colin Cowherd on his radio show this morning calls the Cowboys "good, not great." He also has some negative things to say about the Dallas running game. Maybe he's right, but I'm a fan. Emotion plays a part in my Cowboys analysis. And that's the way it is.

The Cowboys got a much-needed win last night against the Carolina Panthers on Monday Night Football. The game headed to halftime with the Panthers up 7-0, but the Cowboys were the only ones to score in the second half and put the game away with about 5 minutes left when Terrence Newman returned an interception for a touchdown to give Dallas the two-touchdown lead.

WHAT I LIKED:
For the second consecutive game the Cowboys rushed for over 200 yards. Through Week 3 Dallas leads all teams in rushing and are averaging almost 7 yards per attempt. It should be noted that last night's 200+ yard performance was without their headliner, Marion Barber.

Tony Romo played smarter. Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett seemed to call this game better than last week's too, because he stuck with and relied on the run for the most part, and stopped putting Romo in situations that could lead to bad decisions and bad throws. Without a huge playmaking threat like T.O. at the receiver position the Cowboys have to understand their strengths, and going for home run deep passes six or eight times per game isn't it. It's running the ball, and using Jason Witten, Patrick Crayton, and Roy Williams to pick up first downs and getting into position to score.

The defense finally showed up. They got a couple of sacks on Jake Delhomme, they caused a fumble, and grabbed a couple of interceptions. After the first two weeks Dallas was the only team without a sack and a takeaway, and they finally changed that last night.

I also liked that they put away an inferior team. I feel like Dallas has a tendency to get into close games that come down to a final drive with teams that just shouldn't be hanging around. Last night, though it took them a little too long to do it, they put the nail in the coffin against Carolina.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
Felix Jones came out of the game in the third quarter with a knee injury. It sounded pretty minor, but today he's getting an MRI to check it out. With Marion Barber already banged up, and Felix proving to be almost unstoppable, a significant injury would not be good for this quite promising rushing attack.

The Cowboys two-minute defense at the end of the first half was laughable. Jake Delhomme, of all people, marched his below-average team down the field and got a touchdown for the first points of the game right before halftime. It looked like the Cowboys put 11 guys on the field and told them, don't do anything, we don't want to get a penalty called on us.

Dallas's opening drive looked stellar, and then they got in the redzone and couldn't do anything... and then the always-reliable Nick Folk missed a 40-yard fieldgoal. That could cost you a win against good teams.

WHAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND:
On 2nd and goal from the Panthers 1, Garrett calls a low-percentage fade pass in the corner of the endzone to Roy Williams. Incomplete.
On 3rd and goal from the Panthers 1, Garrett calls the same play to tight-end Martellus Bennett. I think those were two of the dumbest play calls I've seen this season.

Why are the MNF announcers so bad at their jobs? As I watched the game last night I remembered why NBC's Sunday Night Football is my favorite football broadcast of the week. 1) You don't have to have cable to watch it. 2) The announcers are Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth -- two of the best. 3) Their in-studio counterparts at Football Night in America include some really great analysts and reporters like Tony Dungy, Bob Costas, Peter King, and Dan Patrick. 4) It's usually a better game!

INTERESTING FACTOID THAT MAY INTEREST ONLY ME:
(Yes, this little segment idea is stolen from Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback column.) I think it was in the 3rd quarter when Flozell Adams was called for a false start. Adams is the NFL's most penalized player over the last few years (and I don't know the exact stats, but I would guess it's not close), and I was frustrated. I said, "Well, it's not really a Cowboys game until Flozell Adams has had a false start penalty called on him." About two seconds after I finished, one of the MNF crew (I think it was Ron Jaworski) said, "It's not really a Cowboys game until Flozell Adams gets penalized, is it?" I laughed.

I might have more to say later, but that's it for now! Your thoughts on the Cowboys win, or any other Week 3 game (including the phenomenal Vikings victory ending)?

Woops.

I officially renounce my post from a couple of weeks ago in which I speculated that the Redskins could win the division. Today they lost to the Lions, who hadn't won a game since before Christmas 2007.

I now think the division will be a fight between New York and Dallas, with Philadelphia coming in third.

Cowboys/Panthers tomorrow night. My prediction: Dallas by 24.

A Week 2 recap

Regarding Sunday night's home loss at the debut of Cowboys Stadium:

WHAT I LIKED:
The offense. Tony Romo didn't get touched all game long. And frankly, I would like someone to tell me how they think teams will be able to stop the Barber-Jones-Choice running attack. It just doesn't look like a realistic goal. In Week 1 the Giants gave up 85 yards rushing. In all of 2008 the Giants rush defense ranked 9th in the league, allowing just under 96 yards a game. Sunday night against the Cowboys the Giants gave up 251 yards on the ground. 251!

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
The offense. Tony Romo threw three interceptions, and yes, they were all his fault (I'm clarifying this because of the, "But that one was a fluke that bounced off the tight end's foot" crowd. It was still a terrible throw.).
The defense. Although the redzone defense looked good early in the game, they came up short when they were needed the most. A usually-solid pass-rush looked totally weak. The 'Boys didn't sack Eli Manning once. DeMarcus Ware seems like he's kind of dropped off the planet in these first two games, and that's not a good sign. The young secondary got picked on all night long. It just felt like they couldn't stop anybody the whole second half.

WHAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND:
The negativity coming from everyone about the Cowboys. Let's think about this. The Giants are ranked 3rd in the league according to last week's ESPN power rankings, which is right about where the vast majority of "experts" would place them. Going into the game on Sunday night, the two teams ahead of them, the Steelers and Patriots, had both lost. If new power rankings were to be released at that moment, one would expect to find the Giants listed at #1. The vast majority of analysts that I've seen picked the Giants to win the game. Those who picked Dallas did so knowing that it would be a very close and hard-fought game.

In a game where the Cowboys were -4 in turnover differential (the Giants didn't turn it over once), it took a long, last minute drive and a time-expiring field goal for the Giants to win... by two points. Now all I'm reading is about how terrible the Cowboys are, how amazing the Giants are, and how they played one of the best games they've ever played to get a win in the Cowboys "housewarming party." If that was one of the best games they've ever played, then they'd better hope every decent team they face this season will have a QB who throws 3 picks right into their hands. They'll no doubt jump to #1 in the power rankings that will be out in just a few hours, while the Cowboys will likely fall from their previous #13. That's all fine with me, because as I've said before, "expert" opinions don't determine who makes the playoffs. All I know is, I'm still feeling okay about the year.

a video and someone else's prediction

Last week NFL films had Tony Romo mic'd up for the season opener against Tampa Bay. Here's the 5-minute clip they put together. It's amusing. I encourage you to watch it!

ESPN.com's NFC East blogger, Matt Mosely, has picked the Cowboys to beat the Giants in the Sunday night debut of the new Cowboys Stadium by a score of 28-24. What do you think of that?

(Sorry, when I first posted this I left out the video link. It's there now)

Giants-Cowboys hatred? Who'da thunk it?

Apparently, Brandon Jacobs of the New York Giants "hates the Cowboys with a bloody passion." He said that in response to a question about Cowboys defensive star Demarcus Ware who shared on a Dallas-area radio show that he hates the Giants. I don't think anyone's surprised by those comments.

The Giants head to Arlington this weekend where they play the 'Boys in the regular season debut of the new stadium affectionately known as "Jerry's World."

Jacobs also made some comments about being excited to play against Dallas in the stadium's opener. He said that the Cowboys should have chosen to play the Lions instead of the Giants in the big premier. I guess he thinks that Jerry Jones selected the Giants as their first home opponents because he wants to get a big win.

Say what you want about Jerry Jones, but the man's not stupid. He doesn't think this will be an easy game by any stretch of the imagination. Even if he had some say in who they played their home opener against, he didn't pick the Giants because he thought it would be a definite win for his Cowboys. If that were the case he wouldn't have picked a division foe at all, let alone the highly favored Giants. He'd have chosen the Raiders. Even if the Cowboys were fantastic and the Giants were terrible, a division game is never EVER a gimme in the NFC East.

Anywho, that's all I have to say. Just killing some time...

A somewhat brief review of Week 1

Here are a few of the things that struck me in my evaluation of the Cowboys after their first regular season game of the year:

WHAT BUGGED ME?

The defense scared me a little bit. The secondary looked porous (it is very young), and it seemed like for much of the game the Buccaneers receivers were able to get open just about whenever they wanted. The Buccs' Cadillac Williams and Derrick Ward also ran all over the Cowboys front line for too much of the game. I kept having to yell at my TV, "Can't we STOP THE RUN ONCE IN AWHILE?!?!" Finally, not having closely analyzed each play of the game, I feel like Byron Leftwich was way too protected. There weren't many sacks or even hurries on him, and considering his glacially slow release, he should have been on his back much more than he was. Good teams with good quarterbacks (which is what you face almost every week when you play in the NFC East) will make you pay for allowing the QB to take his time picking apart an inexperienced secondary.

WHAT DID I LIKE?

The answer to the most common question in the last few months, "Who will replace T.O.'s playmaking ability?" is "About eight different guys." Romo threw touchdown passes to Roy Williams, Patrick Crayton, and Miles Austin today. He threw a big first down to Martellus Bennett. He hit his favorite target, Jason Witten, for a couple of significant gains. All three Dallas running backs looked good. Tashard Choice didn't get much action, but looked like a pro when he did. Felix Jones, in my opinion, has the skills to become the second-best playmaker at the running back position in the league (behind Adrian Peterson, if you were wondering), and Marion Barber had another solid "bash-the-defense" kind of day. I don't think it'll be a struggle for the 'Boys not to have a single big-time playmaker at wide receiver, because their depth at the positions of receiver, tight end, and running back will more than compensate.

Next week against the G-Men will likely be a much tougher test than today's win over Tampa, but I'll still say that Cowboys fans have every reason to be optimistic about this season. I think Tampa was a little bit better than many thought they'd be.

In conclusion, GO COWBOYS!!

A Wacky Divisional Prediction

I'm going to make a prediction about where NFC East teams will finish this season within the division. It's bold for me, I know.

You might expect me to pick the Cowboys to be the division champs, since I'm an overly-optimistic and sincerely misguided fan, but I'm not going to do it. I'm going to be even crazier than that. I'm picking the Washington Redskins. I know, I know, that's a pretty stupid pick. I'm not picking it with any sort of real confidence. It's not based on me thinking they're going to blow people away and be the best team in the league. It's actually based on my belief that the East will beat itself up. I won't be surprised if Washington beats the Giants tomorrow. I won't be surprised if both New York and Philadelphia end up being just slightly worse than everyone expects, and if the Redskins and Cowboys end up being just slightly better than everyone expects. So, my NFC East predictions are almost the exact opposite of what most experts are picking, but I will say this as my disclaimer: I honestly think that the East could finish in any possible order. Usually you can be pretty confident in who might win the division, and it's often even easier to pick who will finish last, but this year I think any team could come in at any position. Here we go:

1 Redskins

2 Cowboys

3 Giants

4 Eagles

I'd love to say that I think Dallas will win the division, but with a really tough late-season schedule, and their propensity for playing like the Detroit Lions in December, I just don't see it happening. Second in the division might be a stretch too, but the optimistic side of me is poking through, and I really want the 'Boys to pull off a wildcard spot and make the playoffs. We'll see...

Silliness

Sign of the season.
Number of posts on this blog between May and July: 3
Number of posts on this blog in the last two weeks: 5

ESPN.com recently posted in-depth analyses and previews of every NFL team. NFC East blogger, Matt Mosely, wrote a good summary post here where he mentioned some of the more "off the wall" predictions of some of ESPN's contributors. I think it's funny that some of these "expert" picks are talked about as "controversial" and as having "upset some readers." I've said this before regarding the weekly power rankings, but it also applies to all of this pre-season prediction-making and analysis and previewing and picking who's gonna be defensive player of the year and everything else. It doesn't matter. Readers who are "upset" over who an ESPN employee said is going to win the AFC wildcard spots really need to find something better to get passionate about. I can picture a couple of morons on their lunch break going, "Can you believe that Adam Schefter thinks Aaron Rodgers is going to be this year's MVP? I'm so mad! What a stupid idiot. Has that guy ever SEEN a football game? GOSH!"

I love to talk about football with friends, and I often ask for predictions and analysis myself (I occasionally even give it). I think it's part of the fun of sports. But I'll never get ANGRY with someone for making a prediction. That's just ridiculous. That's like me picking a fight with someone who thinks Papa John's makes better pizza than Pizza Hut. C'mon.

Rankings & whatnot

ESPN's Week 1 Power Rankings were released today. Each Tuesday afternoon the week's rankings are posted, and even though it really means nothing, it's always a very exciting time for me (believe it or not). As time allows, I'll try to post on this blog each week and let you know where the Cowboys are sitting, and I'll likely include whatever random thoughts from the rankings happen to strike me.

Dallas sits at 17 in the final rankings before the season begins. That's a 3-spot fall since the training camp rankings were released a few weeks ago. I don't have any idea what in the Cowboys' preseason looked that bad to the four ESPN voters, but I guess that's how it goes. I'll just say that I think it's a bit ridiculous to think Dallas is in the bottom half of the league. But anywho...

On a SUPER DUPER FUN AND EXCITING note: Yours Truly will be at Invesco Field on October 4 when the Cowboys take on the Broncos. It'll be my first in-person NFL game ever. And it's my two favorite teams, in my favorite sport. I don't know if I could be more excited.

X-Factors

I'm not giving up on the Cowboys or Wade Phillips for this season, but I just wanted to mention that next season, think about these head coaches that might be willing to come out of retirement to coach the 'Boys if things don't work out this season: Tony Dungy, Mike Shanahan, Mike Holmgren, Bill Cowher. Wow.

I just watched some of the Cowboys-Vikings preseason game. It was fun to watch football, but the Cowboys 35-31 win means about as much as Elizabeth beating her personal high score in her "Turkey Shoot" computer game (which is to say, not much).

I just wanted to give a quick rundown of why I think the upcoming season will be interesting, and here it is: There seem to be a BUNCH of unknowns (more than usual) headed into the season. I'm gonna rattle some off the top of my head. Let me know if you've got more.

-Tom Brady's back for the Patriots (there's no question he's one of the all-time greats, but I consider it an unknown because we don't know if his injury will have lingering effects or anything else... okay, I'm really just HOPING that they don't go 18-0 to start their season again).

-How will Brett Favre impact the Vikings?

-How will Jay Cutler impact the Bears?

-How will the Dolphins follow up their unlikely 11-5 2008 season, and will teams figure out how to stop the wildcat offense enough to stifle the Fins?

-How will rookie QBs like Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez impact their respective teams?

-Will there be a "sophomore letdown" in Atlanta or Baltimore with Matt Ryan or Joe Flacco?

-How will T.O. impact the Bills (by joining them) and the Cowboys (by leaving them)?

-Are the Broncos really going to be as bad as they've looked?

-How will Michael Vick perform and in what function? And will he even have to be THAT good, or will his threat simply help the Eagles because defenses will have to take him into consideration?

-Will the absence of Tony Dungy on the Indianapolis sideline create big problems for the Colts?

-Will the absense of Jim Johnson on the Philadelphia sideline create big problems for the Eagles defense?

Okay, I think that's all I've got. What are the nagging questions in your mind as we prepare to kickoff the season?

SIX DAYS UNTIL THE OPENER!!!!

Around-the-league glance

This is not even close to a comprehensive look at the upcoming NFL season (though when I read the soon-to-be-released Sports Illustrated NFL Preview issue I might do one of those posts...), but I wanted to give some thoughts on all the teams I've heard a lot about lately, and see if we can't come up with at least something to say about each division. If you read this blog last year, you'll know that I made some statements and predictions early on that sounded downright stupid after four or five weeks of the season. It's entirely possible that the same thing will happen this season. I make no claims to expertise. Just a fans ramblings...

AFC South

The only stuff I've heard about the Titans this offseason was when I watched them play the Cowboys in a preseason game last weekend. Everything I heard from the announcers was that they're at least as good, if not better than they were last year, when they jumped out to a 10-1 start and captured the #1 seed in the AFC playoffs. I don't agree with that. I don't think they're a bad team, but they're not one of the best in the league, or even in the AFC. Indianapolis will be tough because Peyton Manning is still their quarterback. The other team to keep an eye on is Houston. I have no reason to think that they'll be better than the .500ish seasons they've been having for awhile, but at some level I guess it just feels like at some point they'll get over that hump and make the playoffs.

AFC East

It might be interesting to see how Miami follows up its very impressive 2008 season. It also might be interesting to see how the Matt Sanchez story unfolds for the Jets. It also might be interesting to see what impact T.O. has on the never-spectacular Bills. But it's very likely that much of that won't matter, because Tom Brady will be on the field for the Pats again, and that pretty much spells doom for everyone else.

AFC North

No reason to think that anyone will seriously challenge the Steelers for the division championship here.

AFC West

This might be one of the more dismal divisions in the NFL. The preseason hasn't given Broncos fans a whole lot of reasons to be optimistic. Orton doesn't look great, and their best receiver forgot to grow out of his three-year-old temper-tantrum phase. I think there's some confidence in Josh McDaniels' ability to manufacture some good from the season, but not many are expecting a serious playoff run. San Diego will be the frontrunner in this division as they've been for quite some time. The Raiders are still owned by Al Davis, so there's not a whole lot of good to be said about them either.

NFC West

The reigning NFC Champion Cardinals haven't done anything impressive in the preseason, so I'm not necessarily keeping them at the top of this division in my thinking. Seattle and San Francisco have both shown some promising elements, perhaps most notably would be the young, strong 49er defense. But I hate the 49ers, so we'll hope the Seahawks can take 'em down. I've told people recently, though, that winning the NFC West is sort of like being named Valedictorian of summer school. I mean, congratulations, but look at your competition.

NFC South

It seems like both the Panthers and the Buccs are more or less in panic mode. Carolina's defense doesn't seem to be able to stop anyone, and Colin Cowherd, who originally predicted Tampa Bay to go 6-10, switched his prediction to 1-15 after watching them play a preseason game last week... "and to be honest," he said, "I can't find the one game they might win." I guess that opens the door for the Matt Ryan-led Falcons or the always-in-the-hunt Saints to win that division. I'm (not-so) secretly pulling for Ryan & the birds.

NFC North

This is beginning to look like it could be quite a fight. Obviously, the talk of the offseason has been about Matthew Stafford in Detroit, Jay Cutler in Chicago, and Brett Favre in Minnesota, but if I'm choosing the North champion today, I'm picking Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. They've looked better in the preseason than any other team in the league. Favre will help make Minnesota a contender, and I'll grant that they could be quite tough. Although Cutler has looked quite good for Chicago thus far I'm not ready to say that he'll have the Bears fighting for the division championship. And I don't see any reason to include Detroit in talks of who might win, well, anything.

NFC East

The toughest division in football will remain the NFC East for at least another season. The Giants look good, and are predicted by many to win the division. The Eagles look pretty good and are predicted by many to get second in the division and make the playoffs. The Redskins look like they've got a somewhat competent and confident quarterback which will put them right in the mix, even if most consider them merely a spoiler. And despite what everyone says, I wouldn't be surprised a bit if the Cowboys won the division. It'll serve them well not to be quite as hyped-up as they've been for a few years now.

That's all I got. What are your predictions?