Post by prossman on Nov 1, 2009 9:12:55 GMT -7
DMN:For the record, only the Dallas Cowboys' record matters
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LINK
Tim Cowlishaw
As much as we like to examine statistics and comment on the significance or lack of same that should be attached to victories in the NFL, it's really all about the record.
And that's all it is.
If the Cowboys win today in the first noon kickoff at their new digs, they get to 5-2. That either puts them ahead of the Eagles before going to Philadelpha next Sunday, or it gets them a first-place tie with the Eagles ahead of the Giants in the division.
Everything else?
Meaningless.
It wasn't this way a few years ago. We could see the great teams, the Super Bowl-bound teams, emerging as a season unfolded. Contenders and pretenders were easily separated once the schedule rolled into November.
No more.
We can tell the really bad teams from the rest. We know that St. Louis and Kansas City and Tampa Bay are bound for nowhere, and we can probably say the same about today's wounded visitors from the Northwest.
The Seattle Seahawks are just 3 ½ seasons removed from their one and only Super Bowl trip. That's a lifetime in today's NFL.
The reason that getting to 5-2 is significant for Dallas is not only where it puts the Cowboys in the division. It's where the defending champion Steelers are right now. It's where the defending NFC champion Cardinals are trying to get with a home win over Carolina today.
It's not at the level of the unbeaten Colts and Broncos, and it's not at the level of the Sports Illustrated-cover boy Saints, who have at least one player (Reggie Bush) talking 16-0 already.
From a Cowboys standpoint, none of that is relevant.
We are just getting into the month of November today, and yet the best team near the end of November a year ago was the 10-0 Tennessee Titans.
The Titans and Giants took home-field advantage into the playoffs last year. What did it get them?
Early exits.
That wasn't the case just a decade ago.
The NFL went to 12 playoff teams in 1990. For a decade, securing home-field advantage was what the regular season was all about.
Coaches still talk about it today as if it carries the same meaning.
It doesn't.
For the 1990 through 1999 seasons, seven No. 1 seeds won Super Bowls. The Cowboys won as a No. 2 in 1992, having to travel to San Francisco for the NFC title game. They added to their Lombardi Trophy collection as No. 1 seeds in 1993 and 1995.
In fact, it was at the end of that decade that I penned a memorable Sunday column (and by "memorable" I mean that I vaguely remember it) that stated that just getting into the playoffs wasn't enough for the Cowboys. I wrote that the "anything can happen" notion that might be true in baseball's playoffs did not exist in an NFL in which No. 1 seeds were winning Super Bowls 70 percent of the time over a 20-year period.
The funny thing is that Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman, standing at the postgame podium that day said, "I know Tim doesn't believe it, but I really think anything can happen once you get in the playoffs."
Troy was just ahead of his time. He was wrong then, but he's oh-so-right now.
The longer the Saints can stay undefeated, that may be a great uplifting story for the city of New Orleans. But Sean Payton hasn't forgotten that two years ago a team that went 16-0 lost a Super Bowl to a 10-6 team.
In fact, the '03 Patriots are the lone No. 1 seed to win a Super Bowl this decade. We have seen as many wins by a No. 6 seed (Steelers in '05), No. 5 seed ('07 Giants over those unbeaten Pats), No. 4 seed ('00 Ravens) and a No. 3 seed ('06 Colts).
And as Cowboys owner Jerry Jones likes to point out, last year's Super Bowl was about 60 seconds away from going to a 9-7 NFC team that entered the playoffs with no real momentum.
That's why, until further notice, it's all about the record. If the Cowboys get to 5-2 today, it won't remove the lapses this team showed in its two losses or even in a clumsy overtime win over winless Kansas City.
It's about getting into position for the postseason and finding some tangible reason to believe that a run can happen.
And in this anything-goes era, "belief" isn't as hard to attain as it used to be.
__________________
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK
Tim Cowlishaw
As much as we like to examine statistics and comment on the significance or lack of same that should be attached to victories in the NFL, it's really all about the record.
And that's all it is.
If the Cowboys win today in the first noon kickoff at their new digs, they get to 5-2. That either puts them ahead of the Eagles before going to Philadelpha next Sunday, or it gets them a first-place tie with the Eagles ahead of the Giants in the division.
Everything else?
Meaningless.
It wasn't this way a few years ago. We could see the great teams, the Super Bowl-bound teams, emerging as a season unfolded. Contenders and pretenders were easily separated once the schedule rolled into November.
No more.
We can tell the really bad teams from the rest. We know that St. Louis and Kansas City and Tampa Bay are bound for nowhere, and we can probably say the same about today's wounded visitors from the Northwest.
The Seattle Seahawks are just 3 ½ seasons removed from their one and only Super Bowl trip. That's a lifetime in today's NFL.
The reason that getting to 5-2 is significant for Dallas is not only where it puts the Cowboys in the division. It's where the defending champion Steelers are right now. It's where the defending NFC champion Cardinals are trying to get with a home win over Carolina today.
It's not at the level of the unbeaten Colts and Broncos, and it's not at the level of the Sports Illustrated-cover boy Saints, who have at least one player (Reggie Bush) talking 16-0 already.
From a Cowboys standpoint, none of that is relevant.
We are just getting into the month of November today, and yet the best team near the end of November a year ago was the 10-0 Tennessee Titans.
The Titans and Giants took home-field advantage into the playoffs last year. What did it get them?
Early exits.
That wasn't the case just a decade ago.
The NFL went to 12 playoff teams in 1990. For a decade, securing home-field advantage was what the regular season was all about.
Coaches still talk about it today as if it carries the same meaning.
It doesn't.
For the 1990 through 1999 seasons, seven No. 1 seeds won Super Bowls. The Cowboys won as a No. 2 in 1992, having to travel to San Francisco for the NFC title game. They added to their Lombardi Trophy collection as No. 1 seeds in 1993 and 1995.
In fact, it was at the end of that decade that I penned a memorable Sunday column (and by "memorable" I mean that I vaguely remember it) that stated that just getting into the playoffs wasn't enough for the Cowboys. I wrote that the "anything can happen" notion that might be true in baseball's playoffs did not exist in an NFL in which No. 1 seeds were winning Super Bowls 70 percent of the time over a 20-year period.
The funny thing is that Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman, standing at the postgame podium that day said, "I know Tim doesn't believe it, but I really think anything can happen once you get in the playoffs."
Troy was just ahead of his time. He was wrong then, but he's oh-so-right now.
The longer the Saints can stay undefeated, that may be a great uplifting story for the city of New Orleans. But Sean Payton hasn't forgotten that two years ago a team that went 16-0 lost a Super Bowl to a 10-6 team.
In fact, the '03 Patriots are the lone No. 1 seed to win a Super Bowl this decade. We have seen as many wins by a No. 6 seed (Steelers in '05), No. 5 seed ('07 Giants over those unbeaten Pats), No. 4 seed ('00 Ravens) and a No. 3 seed ('06 Colts).
And as Cowboys owner Jerry Jones likes to point out, last year's Super Bowl was about 60 seconds away from going to a 9-7 NFC team that entered the playoffs with no real momentum.
That's why, until further notice, it's all about the record. If the Cowboys get to 5-2 today, it won't remove the lapses this team showed in its two losses or even in a clumsy overtime win over winless Kansas City.
It's about getting into position for the postseason and finding some tangible reason to believe that a run can happen.
And in this anything-goes era, "belief" isn't as hard to attain as it used to be.
__________________