Why I Could See The Dallas Cowboys Going 8-8

Dallas Cowboys Offensive Line — Cowboys at Redskins 10/29/17

It’s been an up and down type of season for the Dallas Cowboy’s this year. I would like to preface this article with the fact that I am a die hard fan of the Cowboy’s and have been since the day I was born. My Father is one, my Mother was one, my brother and most of my friends are all fans. That being said, I also happen to be a realist. See, when you grow up being a fan of a team like this, you have to be realistic about your expectations. A team like this will drive you crazy if you don’t. Let me give you a brief history lesson on the Dallas Cowboys (at least a “recent” history).

“Brief” History Lesson

Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys back in February of 1989 (I was 2 years old at the time). When he bought the team they had just finished their third losing season in a row. Keep in mind before 1986 the Cowboys hadn’t had a losing season since 1966. The first thing Jerry Jones does is fire long-term and two time Super Bowl winning head coach Tom Landry (basically considered Jesus himself in the State of Texas). Not only that but he had tallied 250 wins, 7 NFL Championship/Super Bowl appearances, 10 conference championships games, 18 playoff appearances, and 20 playoff game victories in just 29 seasons. Now what’s not dumb is he replaced him with Jimmy Johnson (who he eventually fired prematurely as well).

Since Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys they have played in and won 3 Super Bowls. This is what most fans of the team (including myself) cling to when making arguments why our team is better than yours. Very few teams in the NFL can say they have so many Super Bowl wins. The fact of the matter is, however, that since Barry Switzer led them to a Super Bowl win in 1995, the Dallas Cowboys have 4 playoff wins and 0 NFC Championship game appearances. They are on their 5th coach in 20 years and consistently choke in the playoffs even when their regular season leads you to believe they have a chance. Since Jerry bought the team they have gone 268-222 during the regular season giving them an average record of 8.75-7.25 in a 16 game season. Most years that does not make the playoffs. Winning 54% of your games is not a winning strategy in my opinion.

So while I may have lied about this history lesson being “brief” you can see where a lot of the negativity comes from when it pertains to fans of other teams. We just don’t have the stats to back up all of our talk. Jerry Jones is probably one of the smartest business minds of our modern times. No one will ever dispute that. He has taken a franchise that was worth $140 million dollars in 1989 (a little over $290 million in 2019 terms) and increased the value nearly 20 times in 30 years. So what does all of this mean? Why am I talking about this when I should be talking about why I think they will go 8-8 again?

Getting To My Point

So with the Dallas Cowboys being 6-4 at this very moment, why do I think they will end up finishing the season 2-4? I would take you back to the before the beginning of the season when the schedule was released. The schedule looked like it started out fairly easy but gradually got harder. I figured they would start out 3-0 and eventually start to lose games. I was honestly hoping to be 8-2 at this point. I figured that’s what would be needed at this point to make the playoffs. So let’s take a look at the rest of the schedule shall we?

Week	Opponent	Opp Record
12	@ Patriots	9-1
13	Bills	7-3
14	@ Bears	4-6
15	Rams	6-4
16	@ Eagles	5-5
17	Redskins	1-9

The only virtual guarantee of a win in that list is the game at home against the Washington Redskins. Even then I am not comfortable in calling that game a win for many reasons. This game could make or break a playoff appearance for the Cowboys and they are Division rivals. This gives the Washington Redskins something to play for. Injuries are always a factor and the Cowboys have had quite a few this season already. Let’s break down the rest of their schedule week by week:

Week 12 – @ New England Patriots
This game is almost 100% going to be a loss. With all of the hype around the guy on top of the roof at the Star in Frisco (see the image below) even if the Cowboys had a chance of winning before the Patriots are obviously spying and know all their plays already (joking but…I mean???)…The Patriots have a home win streak going on right now for the ages. If Tom Brady does not play, all bets are off.

Week 13 – Buffalo Bills
The Bills have a great record at 7-3 but their wins look much like the Cowboys. They have wins over the Jets, Giants, Bengals, Titans, Dolphins (twice) and Redskins. Those are legitimately the worst teams in the NFL (with an exception in the Titans case because they are at 5-5). However, they only lost to the Patriots by 6 points and Browns by 3 points. They ended up losing to the Eagles by 18 points which makes you wonder if the Cowboys have a chance. I would say this game is most likely a loss but definitely one that the Cowboys can win.

Week 14 – @ Chicago Bears
This is another iffy game for the Cowboys. The Chicago Bears have been up and down all season. They have wins over the Broncos, Redskins, Vikings, and Lions. This will not be an easy game to get through.

Week 15 – Los Angeles Rams
A rematch of the 2018 Divisional Playoff game. This might be a home game but this is far from an easy win. The Rams defense is very stout and there will not be a lot of give.

Week 16 – @ Philadelphia Eagles
The Cowboys have had their number since Dak has started for them so I would say this is most likely a win. I will also depend on how the standings look at game time. If the Cowboys are still in the hunt for a playoff spot then this should make for a very good game. These two are currently #1 and #2 in the Division.

Week 17 – Washington Redskins
This is a win. Only thing that might stop them is the fact that the Redskins have been playing a little better since they got their new interim coach. This is still going to be a win though.

I could see the Cowboys going 2-4 in their last six games but only time will tell where they end up. I am hoping for the best but expecting the worse. Jason Garrett will undoubtedly be gone if this happens.

College Football Playoff Rankings For Week 13 Are Out!

So we knew that certain things were going to change and others were not. We knew that Texas, Kansas State, and Navy were all going to drop from the rankings after their losses over the weekend and we knew that LSU would still be #1. Some of the questions that I personally had at the end of the weekend were where other teams might be on the list. Schools like Minnesota who lost to Iowa, Baylor who led against OU all game until the end of the 4th quarter, or Auburn who lost a tough game against Georgia.

	CFB Playoff Rankings
Rank	School	Record
1	LSU	10-0
2	Ohio State	10-0
3	Clemson	11-0
4	Georgia	9-1
5	Alabama	9-1
6	Oregon	9-1
7	Utah	9-1
8	Penn State	9-1
9	Oklahoma	9-1
10	Minnesota	9-1
11	Florida	9-2
12	Wisconsin	8-2
13	Michigan	8-2
14	Baylor	9-1
15	Auburn	7-3
16	Notre Dame	8-2
17	Iowa	7-3
18	Memphis	9-1
19	Cincinnati	9-1
20	Boise State	9-1
21	Oklahoma State	7-3
22	Iowa State	6-4
23	USC	7-4
24	Appalachian State	9-1
25	SMU	9-1

So as we suspected Texas, Navy and Kansas State all dropped from the Top 25 and were replaced with SMU, USC, and Iowa State. Auburn, Minnesota, and Cincinnati were the biggest losers this week each dropping at least two spots. Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa were the biggest winners each moving up at least 2 spots. The top 7 positions remained the same.

You can expect a little more chaos this week as Penn State takes on undefeated Ohio State at the horseshoe. Texas plays at Baylor and they need to a big win to quiet fans from committing mutiny. OU takes on TCU and we all know what they have been able to do this season against Top 25 schools. They may not be ranked but you can bet that Patterson is going to have Duggan and company ready for that game.

First Major Movements in NCAAM Top 25 in Week 3

The Duke Blue Devils are number one again. Big surprise right? With 52 votes in the AP Poll they are hands down the favorite right now. All but 8 of the teams in the Top 25 are back on top. With their first win coming against a top ranked Kansas squad it’s no wonder they are back on top of the polls. What really sold the first position was the fact that Kentucky just lost to the Evansville Purple Aces. This represents one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Men’s Basketball history (in my opinion). Kentucky suffered the largest lost in the polls dropping 8 spots from #1 to #9. You can watch the highlights in the video above.

	AP Top 25 Rankings
Ranking	School	Record
#1	Duke Blue Devils	4-0
#2	Lousville Cardinals	4-0
#3	Michigan State Spartans	2-1
#4	Kansas Jayhawks	2-1
#5	North Carolina Tarheels	3-0
#6	Maryland Terrapins	3-0
#7	Virginia Cavaliers	3-0
#8	Gonzaga Bulldogs	4-0
#9	Kentucky Wildcats	2-1
#10	Ohio State Buccaneers	3-0
#11	Oregon Ducks	4-0
#12	Texas Tech Red Raiders	3-0
#13	Seton Hall Pirates	3-1
#14	Arizona Wildcats	4-0
#15	Utah State Aggies	4-0
#16	Memphis Tigers	3-1
#17	Villanova Wildcats	2-1
#18	Xavier Muskateers	4-0
#19	Auburn Tigers	4-0
#20	Tennessee Volunteers	3-0
#21	VCU Rams	4-0
#22	Texas Longhorns	4-0
#23	Colorado Buffaloes	2-0
#24	Baylor Bears	2-1
#25	Washington Huskies	2-1

The other big losers this week were Villanova, Washington, Florida, Saint Mary’s, and LSU. The Villanova Wildcats lost big to Ohio State (76-51) on the 13th. The sad part is that they were down big all game. We really kind of figured out what they are made of at least early on in the season. Washington lost by 13 to Tennessee (75-62), LSU lost a close one at Virginia Commonwealth (84-82), and Saint Mary’s lost to Winthrop (61-59). Florida just looks sad this season as they have lost to both Florida State (63-51) and UConn (62-59). This week has been a big week for basketball and next week will just bring more chaos.

Dallas Cowboys Dismantle New York Giants 35-17

One has to wonder in an opening day game like this one whether or not it says more about the Dallas Cowboys or New York Giants. I say this because I have been fooled in the past by early Dallas Cowboys’ success. Dak Prescott was unleashed tonight by Kellen Moore to the tune of more than 400 yards passing. Ezekiel Elliot looked almost pedestrian tonight being held to just 53 yards on 13 carries. Not his worst performance ever but it definitely makes you wonder what he will be able to do this season considering he just got made the highest paid running back in the league and instead of going to training camp he was holding out in Mexico for over a month. It’s really hard to tell yet whether or not the New York Giants are just a dumpster fire at this point.

Eli Manning completed 30 out of 44 passes and actually ended up with a decent passer rating for the entire game. The problem is that he could never muster enough offense in order to dig his team out of the hole they were in from early on in the game. The difference in this game was Kellen Moore and Dak Prescott. Dak Prescott is only the third quarterback in Dallas Cowboys history with multiple 400 yard passing games. Even the great Troy Aikman only had one game of over 400 yards passing. Tony Romo had five such games of this magnitude while Don Meredith had two.

The sports world is up in arms about whether or not this Cowboys team is actually as good as the statistics show, but I have a feeling that they are going to surprise a lot of people this season. The Twitter world had some good reactions after the game though:

I know many won’t give up proper due. But that @dallascowboys offense just may be UNSTOPPABLE!!!! ALSO Any more questions about @dak ?? THOUGHT NOT!!!
— Michael Irvin (@michaelirvin88) September 8, 2019

The #Cowboys trio of WRs looked mighty fine tonight:

Amari Cooper: 6 catches (on 9 targets) for 106 yards and a TD.

Michael Gallup: 7 catches (on 7 targets) for 158 yards.

Randall Cobb: 4 catches (on 5 targets) for 69 yards and a TD.
— John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 9, 2019

Kellen Moore you was outstanding today!!!!!
— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) September 8, 2019

When you see Dez Bryant praising people on the Cowboys you know something is going right in the Cowboys locker room. I cannot wait to see the next few weeks because I want to know what the cause of this new rejuvenated team is all about. Who or what is to be commended for such a change from the previous two seasons? Is it Dak Prescott trying to get paid $40,000,000? Is it Kellen Moore and his new system? Is it just as simple as Dak getting another off season with some new talent around him? Keep in mind the Cowboys did all of this without much of a running game. It seemed like the Giants were content just stopping the run and making Dak throw the ball. Little did they know their defense is a dumpster fire and Dak ended up lighting the torch.

All that being said, it really and honestly could just be that the Giants are so bad this season that they have decided to just rebuild. Maybe they are giving Daniel Jones a few games to soak it all in before they throw him to the fire…maybe they just don’t care anymore. Who knows. I do love seeing them lose though.

Luke Maye Leads Tarheels Past #15 Louisville

North Carolina’s last loss was January 12th when they were destroyed by Louisville 83-62. Today was their day of reckoning. Luke Maye led the Tarheels in both points (20 points) and rebounds (11 rebounds). The victory keeps the Heels rolling through their ACC schedule. Late in the first half the Tarheels were up by 19 but the Cardinals were able to cut that lead to 9 points by the middle of the second half but never came closer than that. The #9 North Carolina Tarheels ended up winning the game by 10 points with a final score of 79-69.

Their schedule will not get any easier with four of their next six opponents are top 25 teams. They have NC State and Virginia at home before going to Duke for their first match up of the season on February 20th. This will be their first major test to see how they are going fare once the ACC tournament rolls around.

Super Bowl LIII Prediction

The Patriots will be once again gracing us with their presence in the Super Bowl this year. Tom Brady continues to defy the odds by making yet another Super Bowl after the age of 40 breaking his own record and becoming the first Quarterback to not only start in one Super Bowl but two after the age of 40 years old. I am sure some of you are arguing with me behind your screen right now saying…”but dude, the rules have changed dramatically in the past 10 years in favor of not only the offense but especially the Quarterback position.” You aren’t wrong of course because QB’s are far less likely to suffer career ending hits these days than they were 20 years ago…but it still happens. Just look at Tony Romo (Back, Collar Bone, etc), Aaron Rodgers (Collar Bone), Andrew Luck (Labrum), Deshaun Watson (ACL) and others who have suffered major injuries in the past few seasons. The difference is that Brady can get the ball out quickly. Very quickly. His offensive line is just good enough to keep him safe and when you match that with the fact that I don’t really think there are many players in the NFL that want to be known as the guy who ended Brady’s career and you get a guy who can stay upright for a while.

That Los Angeles Rams are essentially the next generation Patriots organization. You have a young Head Coach in Sean McVay who is already widely considered a guru when it comes to running an offense and clearly a team. He took what looked like a bust in Jared Goff and turned him into the “Next Tom Brady.” We have been hearing that a lot these days from several analysts and players.

Jared Goff stats comparison under Jeff Fisher and Sean McVay

Some would like you to think that the Rams are going to be involved in the changing of the guard by taking this Super Bowl away from the Patriots and Bill Belichik but I think we all know better than that at this point. As long as Tom Brady is still standing, I will never bet against him.

I have the Patriots winning this one 30-27

Biggest Upsets In The First Two Rounds

This year’s March Madness has been just that, madness. I would say that it’s been a little more crazy than most years. If you look at the first round alone more than 28% of the games were statistical upsets. That’s nine upsets in the first round alone. The second round saw six upsets which was almost 38% of the games (6 upsets). We saw the first number one seed to go down in the first round ever. I mean we all knew it would happen some day but I didn’t think it would be in my lifetime. Let’s take a look back at all the biggest upsets so far in this tournament:

#16 UMBC annihilates #1 Virginia 74-54 in the very first round of the tournament. This is the first time in NCAA history that such an upset has happened. UMBC was ranked #111 in the nation in RPI at the time while Virginia was the overall #1 seed.
#13 Buffalo destroys #4 Arizona 89-68 in the very first round. To be honest, I didn’t have much hope for Arizona this season as the Pac-12 was really weak all year and they seemed to be the only real contender to come out of it. I actually saw Buffalo play two years ago at Duke. They played more transition ball back then but they are most definitely an up and coming mid major. It’s just too bad they ended up drawing Kentucky in the second round.
#11 Loyola-Chicago upsets #3 Tennessee 63-62 in the second round. This was one of the many games that really ruined a lot of brackets. That seems to be Loyola (Chi)’s mantra in this tournament. They are the lowest seeded team still left in the tournament as of this point.
#11 Loyola-Chicago makes it to the second round on a buzzer beater three taking down Miami 64-62 in the very first round. While this game was a major upset, for them to advance to the Sweet 16 is a big deal which is why I put this one lower on the list.
#13 Marshall beats Wichita State 81-75 in the very first round. This game has me questioning whether or not mid majors have actually “earned the right” to play in this tournament. Wichita State only lost by 6 points but Marshall would go on to lose by 23 to West Virginia (a mediocre Big 12 team).
#9 Florida State takes out #1 Xavier 75-70 in the second round. Xavier was ahead for most of this game and were even up 9 points with a little over 5 in a half minutes left. The last four minutes of the game were the deciding factor as Florida State ended the game on an 11-2 run.
#11 Syracuse upsets #3 Michigan State 55-53 in the second round. This was a great classic back and forth tournament game. It came down to free throws and a last second three point shot that didn’t go in.
#7 Nevada overtakes #2 Cincinnati 75-72 in the second round. This was one of the crazier comebacks that I have seen in a while. The game started out with Cincinnati getting out to a 10-0 lead. Less than five minutes into the game the score was 18-4 Cincinnati. It was 27-10 with 12 minutes still left in the first half. With 11 and a half minutes left Cincinnati was up 21 points. That’s when Nevada woke up. With less than a minute left they finally tied it back up for the first time since 0-0 14 seconds into the game. The rest is history. This was one of the best games so far in the entire tournament. Cincinnati scored just two points in the last 5:48.
#7 Texas A&M crushes #2 North Carolina 86-65 in the second round. I don’t even want to talk about this game. Personally speaking this is probably the biggest heartbreak of my entire college basketball life. North Carolina is my favorite college basketball team…has been since I was a little kid. Texas A&M is my arch enemy because I grew up outside of Austin, Tx. This could not have been a worse moment for me. I will leave it at that, but yea…North Carolina got wrecked.
#11 Syracuse takes out #6 TCU 57-52 in the very first round. This was another heart-breaker for me because I love TCU so much. My significant other went to grad school there just a few years ago so I spent a lot of time around the campus and grew to love them as a whole. Syracuse just wanted it more apparently.

You can follow our coverage of the 2017-2018 NCAA Final Four Tournament here

#8 North Carolina Goes Down To Miami With Buzzer Beater

North Carolina men’s basketball has had it’s up’s and down’s this season but this loss to Miami smacked of their National Championship game a couple of years ago in which they lost in the final seconds after hitting a last 5 seconds shot. It’s hard to believe that this could have to a team twice when it’s so rare that it happens once. North Carolina should have no issues making the tournament at this point but Miami almost surely punched their ticket with a win last night.

Week 1 Game of the Week – #25 Tennessee vs. Georgia Tech

What started out as one of those games that Tennessee looked like they had no business winning turned into a top 10 game in college football this season. Butch Jones had his team going in the locker room before the game screaming, “You got my back?” in which his team would respond yelling back, “I’ve got your back” in sync. Starting from the get go though the Volunteers did not look like they were going to be able to get their offense going. The Georgia Tech defense is very stout. The best play of the game however was with three seconds left in regulation Georgia Tech had a 36 yard field goal to win it. Tennessee had other plans as they blocked the kick and sent it to overtime. Georgia Tech would get the ball first and score a touchdown off a QB sneak. Tennessee got the ball the next two times in a row. Their first touchdown was when Kelly reached the ball over the goal line as we was being stopped. Kelly also scored their first touchdown of the second overtime. In college football you have to start going for two point conversions starting in the third overtime. After Marshall took it to the house himself in the second overtime Georgia Tech decided to go for two but Marshall couldn’t get into the end zone a second time in a row. Tennessee ends up taking the game 42-41 in 2 OT.

Players of the Game:

Tennessee – John Kelly with 19 Carries, 163 total yards, 4 touchdowns

Georgia Tech – TaQuon Marshall with 5 passes, 44 carries, 369 total yards, 5 touchdowns

Here is a copy of the full game:

Golden State Survives The Onslaught of Game 1

In what will go down as one of the most bizarre games of this years playoff race, the Golden State Warriors overcame a 25 point deficit to beat the San Antonio Spurs 113-111 in the final minutes. What seemed to be over at halftime actually ended up being a great game once Kahwi Leonard rolled his ankle twice and left the game for good. On pace for a 50 point game, Leonard left the game after only 24 minutes of play and 26 points. He seemed fine for the entire first half even after rolling his ankle the first time. Coming down off a three point jumper he rolled his ankle and left for the locker room. This destroyed any semblance of cohesivity with the San Antonio Spurs for the rest of the game. With 7:54 left in the third quarter, Leonard shot his two free throws which put the Spurs up 23 points and left the game for the final time.

Enter Jonathan Simmons. Now what you have to remember about this guy is that he once paid $150 to try out for the Austin Toros (D-League NBA Team) and before giving basketball a second shot was a barber. While he has received high praise for his abilities on the court, he is no Kawhi Leonard and the Warriors figured out how to abuse the weak link in the Spurs game plan from there on out. The real story in this game in my opinion is the fact that Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant carried the Warriors to a win in the end. Curry had 40 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Durant posted up 34 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and a block while the rest of the team didn’t even come close to matching those stats (except in rebounding of course).

What worries me the most for the Warriors is whether or not this style of basketball will be able to whole up in this series as injuries have plagued the NBA Playoffs thus far. Will the Warriors be able to stay healthy, compete with the likes of Aldridge, Gasol, Ginobili, Mills, Green and others. I have a feeling if the Spurs continue to stay with a bigger line up they are going to increasingly cause issues for the Warriors. I still say the Warriors win in 5 or 6 games.

Sports Dude