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Posted: December 28, 2005 @ 1:30 am
The Star-Telegram’s Clarence Hill provides a handy-dandy guide to aid your scoreboard watching and rooting this weekend. It shows who gets in and who will be left out of the NFC playoff race in a tidy, little grid. I recommend printing it out and having it by your couch. Pop quizzes will be given on Friday afternoon.
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it’s more simplistic in my guide,
WASH lose–Dall wins and their in OR
CAR lose–Dall wins and their in. Thats all you need to know, not like its going to make a difference because this team will be bounced out of the playoffs in the first round anyway.
Raf,
I have an even easier way to do this. On Saturday night, in between the drinking and the partying, each time you head for the bathroom, inconspicuously check your cell phone for the Raiders vs Giants score. That night I’ll be hoping the Raiders can open the door so we have 3 options heading into Sunday.
(Make sure before you go to bed to take an aspirin) .. and when you wake up Sunday afternoon (at around 2:30) two games of interest will be nearing halftime. Carolina will be in Atlanta (a place where the Panthers haven’t won in 7 years) and the Bucs play hosts to the Saints (hey if any team should be accustomed to playing games on the road, it would have to be the 2005 New Orleans Saints). So by the time we wake up on Sunday we will start to have a good idea of the scenarios that will get the Cowboys in. With a Giants’ loss, a Bucs loss would give us a chance at a birth even if the Redskins win at 4:15. While a Carolina loss creates a wide open door for the Boys .. win and you’re in!!
Then its on to Philly. Were again, if the Redskins loose, Dallas is in with a win!!
So to make it all simple, without cards or calculators … #1 root against the Giants - their loss only opens another possibility for us. #2 root against Carolina and Washington - its win and they are in if either team looses. #3 root against the Bucs - because you never know it may come down to that tiebreaker. … So the math is easy here … root against all of them!! And have a Happy New Year!!
Derrick — has anyone told you (outside this blog) that you tend to be a little negative?
Oh one more thing ….. LETS GO COWBOYS!!!!!
Jackin’ myself up for the Cowboys making it into the playoffs by listening to my “The Power And The Glory - The Original Music & Voices of NFL Films” CD here at work. I’m on “Golden Boy” now…
…GO COWBOYS!!!
The play of the Cowboys have drivin’ me simply crazy this year. I cannot remember when I have been more confused about sensing when they were going to win or lose.
It certainly appears there will be another AFC Superbowl winner. Good. I said it. I’ll be wrong again! Happy day.
With one game left, I checked the charts and saw some interesting & surprising stuff.
OFFENSE
The Cowboys run the ball the 4th most often of anyone, but average the 8th worst yards/carry. No surprises there. But combined with the 11th best yards per pass attempt and 2nd fewest penalty yards(!), they are effective enough to be 8th in first downs per game. Nice.
That shortens games for the defense, and Dallas leads the league in Time Of Possession with a sweet 32:48 avg. The major concerns are the poor running average and 4th worst sack total (45).
DEFENSE
Remember last year’s horrible secondary? Neither do the ‘Boys, as the DBs have held opponents to just 54.4% completions–the NFL’s best. Unfortunately, the D-Line hasn’t held up as well; opponents now average a whopping 4.3 yards/carry (6th worst).
Fortunately, most teams catch on too late, leading opponents to run the ball just 55% of plays (13th lowest). Remember the Chiefs running at will yet throwing the game away repeatedly? Stubbord/stupid.
And, yes, the Cowboys allow the 5th lowest 3rd down conversion% (great!), despite their 11th worst yards per play (driven by all those rushing yards).
THE RAMS
A good offensive team (7th in yards per play), driven by a good passing game (3rd in completion%) and an average rushing game (12th yds/carry). But they shoot themselves in the foot with interceptions (24, 2nd most), fumbles (13, T-9th most) and penalties (8.3/game, 7th most). Thus they score just 23 points/game (11th) vs. the Cowboys 21 (15th).
But their Defense is the real reason they are 5-10. They give up 355 yards/game (3rd worst) on 5.7 yards/play (3rd worst). Teams average 141 yards rushing on them (2nd worst) on 4.9 yards/carry (worst by far). They also allow 63.2% of passes to be completed (4th worst) and don’t force many turnovers (23, T-10th).
So the Cowboys should be able to eat the clock with their usual conservative attack against this team, and our DB’s should take away the passing game that is the heart of this team. Let’s just hope they don’t decide to run all day long on us!
THE PLAYOFFS
If the Cowboys make the playoffs, they must face teams that can run the ball: the Seahawks, Giants, Bears and Redskins are all in the top 10 yards/carry. Yeesh! And this time, they’ll have enough time and tape to recognize our softness vs. the run. And exploit it. Lots.
So it doesn’t look good for our D. On offense, who can tell with all these ups-and-downs? But the O better be ready to hang 24+ points on the opponent if they want to advance. And Suisham better be ready, because any wins in the postseason are going to be nail-biters.
Go Cowboys!
Is Randy White still in playing shape
Remnant,
When I looked at our stats, one thing stood out to me. Bledsoe!! While Drew is in the middle of the pack of a lot of categories, his 15 INTs and 7 fumbles ranks him 2nd in the turnovers from the QB postion (just behind Favre). But the 44 sacks he indored really stood out, as it seems to me his inability to move within the pocket has cost the Cowboys both yards and turnovers this year. .. This has proved to be the Boys achiles heel, and when you look at what needs to be done next season, I believe this will be a hot topic.
well our game is sunday night so we’ll know by about 7:15.if we should play romo or not.