Maybe it goes without saying, but I thought I'd spell out for you how I decide which team I'm rooting for in any given NFL game:
1. Are the Cowboys one of the two teams involved in the game? Cheer for the Cowboys. Easy enough, right? If I could have ONE guaranteed win per week, it'd be Dallas every time.
2. Is there an NFC East team involved in the game? Cheer against the Eagles, Giants & Redskins. Every loss they suffer helps the 'Boys.
3. Are there TWO NFC East teams involved in the game? Cheer against whichever one is ahead in the standings. Again, the idea is to help the Cowboys' position in the division.
4. Are there any wild card contenders in the game? Cheer against them. If Dallas isn't going to win the East, we at least want them to get a wild card playoff spot, so it helps them if other contenders lose.
5. Is it an NFC matchup that includes NO NFC East teams, and NO wild card contenders? Root against the 49ers. Root for the Vikings. If neither the '9ers nor the Vikings are playing, I generally cheer for underdogs. But I should be clear that I also don't care very much about these games. I'll watch them if they're on, because I love football, but I really don't care who wins the Carolina-Seattle game.
6. Is it an AFC matchup? Substitute the above criteria with the Broncos as the team you wish to ultimately succeed. (That is, root against AFC West teams and other AFC wild card contenders.) After that, root against the Patriots & Steelers.
EXCEPTIONS: Let's say the New York Giants are 11-0, and basically have the NFC #1 seed locked up. The Cowboys are 7-4, with virtually no chance to win the division. The Eagles are 6-5 or 7-4. I'd be rooting for the Giants in a Giants-Eagles game, because an Eagles loss helps Dallas much more than a Giants loss does. This is in violation of #3, but I'm sure you can see why.
Cheering against the 49ers in #5 is a timeless, universal truth. I will never cheer for the '9ers, unless a San Francisco win will directly help the Cowboys' season. But, in #6 where I say to root against the Patriots & Steelers, that's mostly based on the recent successes of those teams. If, in 15 years, New England is at the bottom of the NFL food chain, I'll root for them as an underdog. I just tend to root against teams who have won a lot lately (which is why I also haven't liked New Orleans for a few years).
Lastly, sometimes I don't know who to cheer for early in the season, because everyone is still a contender in Week 4. At that point, I typically root FOR the following teams:
Cowboys, Broncos, (I've always liked these two, plus I live in Denver)
Vikings, Packers, (people close to me like these teams, so I've always had positive feelings toward them)
Falcons, Texans (no real reason, except that the Texans are perennial underdogs, and I like many of the Falcon players and their coach - these two are NOT timeless).
I typically root AGAINST the following teams:
Eagles, Giants, (because they're division rivals)
Redskins, 49ers (because they're hated rivals)
Saints, Patriots, Steelers, Colts, Chargers (because of relative success over the last decade)
Bears, (they just rub me the wrong way)
Raiders (their fans make me irate sometimes - they're just jerks)
Lions (at least this season - I'm not crazy about Jim Schwartz, and I never thought they were as good as everyone else did when they started 5-0).
Any team not mentioned in one of the two preceding categories means I don't have any positive or negative feelings whatsoever about them, and probably couldn't care less who wins.
Questions? Comments?
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