Dec 26th 2008 4:00PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Bears, Buccaneers, Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins, Vikings, NFL Fans, NFL Eliminated Teams, NFL Media Watch, NFL Rumors
Had Philadelphia taken care of business last Sunday and beaten the Redskins, the Cowboys-Eagles game was set for primetime, Sunday night, must-see, WIN OR GO HOME football. Instead, the ‘Guls lost and the game suddenly became “Cowboys win = in” as far as the playoffs go.
Naturally, the game would be bumped back to 1:00 EST because it’s in Philadelphia. Only it wasn’t — now it kicks off at 4:15 EST … which is what happened, and also which makes little sense. Or, if you’re Tim Cowlishaw and/or freaking love conspiracy theories, a whole lot of sense.
Tampa Bay, Chicago and Minnesota all play noon games. If the Bucs win, or if the Bears and Vikings both win, the Eagles are eliminated from playoff contention.
[…] But the Eagles are going to prepare all week in hopes that a victory will get them into the playoffs. To learn after you have warmed up and just before kickoff that you have been eliminated can be devastating.
Fiction can be funny … but seriously, this is kind of a stretch, no? Sure, that could potentially be an advantage for Dallas, but the Eagles hate the Cowboys, and people are still going to be screaming for Tony Romo’s head. Additionally, as Cowlishaw notes, the 4:15 slot with an NFC rivalry game and the Cowboys’ playoff hopes on the line for huge ratings.
Besides, why would Roger Goodell bother “pulling a Stern” and landing the Cowboys in the playoffs when they’re only going to play one game anyway? Just seems like a little too much effort.
Dec 27th 2008 10:00AM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Cowboys, NFC East, NFL Fans, NFL Coaching
Last spring, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones gave offensive coordinator Jason Garrett roughly three million bucks to stay in Dallas instead of taking the Ravens’ head coaching gig. Most people just assumed that Jones was keeping Garrett around to eventually replace the very replaceable Wade Phillips.
Despite a mid-season slide directly attributable to Tony Romo’s injured pinky finger, and a couple demoralizing down-the-stretch losses to the Steelers and Ravens, if the Cowboys beat the Eagles tomorrow, they’re headed to the playoffs. And to hear Jones talk, he’s quite content with the job Phillips has done. So much so that is sounds like he’ll keep Stay Puft Marshmallow Wade around. Maybe.Continue Reading
Dec 25th 2008 10:49PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Cowboys, Eagles, NFC East, NFL Police Blotter
Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens doesn’t think the offense is doing what it should. He thinks that there is a certain receiver who is getting overlooked — a guy who is being paid a lot of money to catch passes and score touchdowns and he’s not getting the opportunity to make plays.
For once, that guy isn’t Owens himself. He’s talking about Roy Williams.”If you bring a guy over here and you pay him that much money, you want (him) to be involved,” Owens told reporters in Irving. “He has a lot of talent. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be here. I’m not saying that in a negative way. I’m saying that because I know he can help the team.
“Once we figure out a way we can get him more involved and he can help this offense, the better off we’ll be.”Since Williams was acquired via a trade in October, he has caught just 17 passes for 194 yards and one touchdown. When Dallas dealt for Williams, they also inked him to a five-year extension worth $45 million.
Dec 26th 2008 8:13AM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Cowboys
Lost amid all the Week 17 NFL discussion is the fact that Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware is three sacks away from setting a new league record. Ware heads into Sunday’s game against the Eagles with 20; Michael Strahan owns the current mark of 22.5. (Sacks have only been an official statistic since 1982.)
The Cowboys’ official web site, however, makes an important point:
But unlike that year, when then-Packers quarterback Brett Favre basically took a knee to give Strahan his final sack for the record, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb is still fighting for a playoff spot and is unlikely to be as accommodating.
Yes, Favre handed Strahan the record in a moment that didn’t speak well for either of those future Hall of Famers. It would be nice to see Ware set the sack record in a meaningful fashion, and although three sacks in a game isn’t easy, Ware has done it two of the last four weeks. We could see that record fall on Sunday.
Dec 23rd 2008 3:00PM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Cowboys, Ravens, NFL Coaching, NFL Real Talk, NFL Rumors
Jerry Jones — if the rumors are true — made a serious karmic error by petitioning the NFL to schedule the Baltimore Ravens as the final opponent for the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium. Sure, at the time the Ravens had a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback, were coming off a disappointing season, and looked totally ripe for the picking at the hands of the unstoppable Cowboy juggernaut.
Hindsight, of course, is 20/20. But, as it turns out, the Ravens get a whiff of what Jerry was up to, as Willis McGahee explained to me in an interview yesterday, and Jim Harbaugh used it for motivation.
Yeah our coach told us about … you know they find out about the schedules in January, and you know, they wanted to schedule us for the final game in Texas Stadium, and our coach gave us a speech right before our meeting was over on Friday night … and we knew it wasn’t going to be no easy walk through for us or for them either.
So, yeah. That’s pretty freaking awkward. And it goes to show just how lacking in humility and tact the Cowboys’ owner can be at times — he literally told the NFL, “I want to whip these guys silly as the last big fireworks show in Texas Stadium” (presumably because they were the only team to never play there?)
Obviously it’s was an action that backfired heavily on him, but then again, most bulletin board material ends up that way.
Dec 24th 2008 12:35AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Cowboys, NFL Coaching, NFL Media Watch, NFL Rumors
Wade Phillips, and by extension the Dallas Cowboys, have seriously underperformed this season. Part of that performance can be blamed on Phillips, but certainly Tony Romo’s injury and the exposure of Jason Garrett as overrated may have something to do with it as well.
But despite the possibility that the ‘Boys could miss the playoffs this year after being favored to rep the NFC in the Super Bowl, Jerry Jones says Phillips’ job is safe.
“I don’t have any inclination as I stand here, after this ballgame, about any coaching changes. … And I don’t see (coaching) as an issue,” he added. “And it’s not that fragile. It’s just not that fragile.”
[…]”You don’t think for one minute Bill Parcells Jr. is going to come in here and do any better, do you? He didn’t,” Owner Jones said. “I don’t think (a coaching change) is a cure all. … Do we want to go to college and get one?”
The response of reporters — who seem to be pretty feisty this time of year — at the press conference was to inquire about Jimmy Johnson’s success in Dallas. Jones was not, um, really complimentary of Jimmy’s overall career.
“But what a price to pay. We were 1-15,” he said. “By the way, he went down to Miami and got run on.”
Well, that’s surprisingly honest, kind of stupidly brutal and entirely unnecessary. Jones must, at this point, realize that some of the embarrassment of this week’s loss to the Ravens falls on his shoulders, but even that obvious fact seems a bit too easy to grasp for someone as, uh, humble as Jerry.Continue Reading
Dec 24th 2008 1:30AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Cowboys, Redskins, NFL Coaching, NFL Media Watch, NFL Rumors
Jim Zorn’s fall from grace (as well as 6-2) as been well maligned by many a DC area sportsblogger, but it appears that despite all the Bill Cowher rumors and Dan Synder craziness, the Zorn Star will be returning to coach the Redskins in 2009.
At least that’s what Vinny Cerrato told the press yesterday (after previously remaining silent on the subject).
“Yeah,” Cerrato said when asked if Zorn would lead the Redskins in the 2009 season. During an interview at his office at Redskins Park, Cerrato offered general observations about the state of the team as Washington (8-7) prepares to complete its season Sunday at San Francisco …
[…]He took things a step further yesterday, describing a question about Zorn’s standing as “crazy. Why wouldn’t he be back?”
It’s also important to remember that Zorn was Cerrato’s handpicked guy to take the reigns as Redskins coach, so he’s got a lot at stake in making sure that the ‘Skins coach gets a chance (like, say, his job).
And, much like the case of Wade Phillips, it’s kind of difficult at this stage of the game to just start pulling the plug on Zorn’s career as a coach in DC. He will, barring a moustacheod upset at the hands of the 49ers, lead the ‘Skins to a winning record in his first season, and firing him right now would only serve to embellish the idea that Snyder can’t keep his hands out the team’s general business.
Dec 21st 2008 10:15AM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Cowboys, Ravens, AFC North, NFC East, NFL Fans, NFL Coaching, NFL Rumors
Two days before the Cowboys closed out Texas Stadium in forgettable fashion, I wondered if the rest of the league had caught up with Dallas offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. After getting credit for leading the Cowboys to 13 wins a year ago, he’s also the guy behind an offense that has been maddeningly inconsistent this season.
Sure, losing Tony Romo for a month had something to do with it, but Brad and Brooks had nothing to do with Garrett’s decision to underutilize Marion Barber earlier in the season, or to find new ways to take Terrell Owens and Roy Williams out of the game plan, even if unwittingly (prior to Ed Werder Week, anyhow). And last night, Romo admitted that it took the offense three quarters to understand exactly what the Ravens defense was doing. That’s on Garrett.
Interestingly, Garrett could’ve had the Baltimore job last spring, but he left his interview without signing a contract, and Jerry Jones promptly gave him a raise. Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs had that in mind as he was slapping Romo silly.Continue Reading
Dec 21st 2008 2:55PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Bills, Broncos, Buccaneers, Chargers, Colts, Cowboys, Dolphins, Eagles, Jets, Giants, Panthers, Patriots, Ravens, Titans, Vikings, NFL Media Watch
Last year, the NFL started this flex scheduling thing, which allows them to alter the schedule late in the season so that the more meaningful games are broadcast on national television.
While there are rules that the NFL follows for selecting these games, they do Week 17 a bit differently. No games are off limits for the switch to NBC, aside from picking teams that have reached televised limits. They also only have to give six days advance warning about the change, instead of the normal 12 days.
That means the NFL will place the game with the most riding on it as their season finale on NBC.
So which games look like they could be a possibility?Continue Reading
Dec 22nd 2008 7:34AM by JJ Cooper (author feed)
Filed under: Bears, Broncos, Buccaneers, Chargers, Colts, Cowboys, Dolphins, Eagles, Falcons, Jets, Giants, Panthers, Patriots, Ravens, Steelers, Titans, Vikings, NFL Playoffs
This was the week when seemingly everyone decided they didn’t want to go to the playoffs. For three weeks, the injury-ravaged Broncos could have earned a playoff spot by simply winning one game. But here we are with a week to play and the Broncos still need one win.
In the NFC wild card race, Dallas came into the weekend controlling its own destiny, but they lost. That then put the ball in the Falcons and Bucs’ court. Atlanta did come through with a win to clinch a playoff spot, but the Bucs also punted their chance with a loss to the Chargers. That meant that the Eagles could put themselves in the driver’s seat with a win over the Redskins (the same team that just lost to the Bengals). Of course Philadelphia lost that game, which means that Dallas is right back where they began the weekend–win next weekend and the Cowboys are in the playoffs.Continue Reading
