Post by prossman on Dec 22, 2009 22:57:49 GMT -7
StrTgram JFE:Keith Brooking says the Cowboys will be a team to avoid in the playoffs
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LINK
Jennifer Floyd Engel
Oh, my, how painfully mediocre did Minny and Peter King BFF Brett Favre look Sunday while losing to Carolina with a backup QB and former Cowboys castoff? And New Orleans looked infinitely fallible on Saturday.
So dial down all Saints-Vikes, as a guaranteed NFC Championship Game, talk until further notice. What we have brewing looks to be a crapshoot, kind of whatever team doesn’t stumble too badly into January has a chance at Miami. And look who seems to be positioning themselves well for just such a finish — Philadelphia (per usual) and Dallas (finally).
Or to use Keith Brooking’s phrasing, a lot of teams want to avoid this Cowboys team come playoffs.
"As long as we play the type of football we know we can play and we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot and we don’t dig ourselves in holes throughout the course of games, I guarantee there are a lot of teams that don’t want to face us when the playoffs get here," the Cowboys linebacker said.
And he may very well be right. What has plagued Dallas in past seasons is not lack of talent but rather lack of timing. They were good right up until they needed to be good and then they were inconsistent or worse. They were oftentimes unwilling to admit the problem and unable to fix it once admitted. This team, in stark contrast, seems to be building toward its best ball.
"Like we said all along, we have to peak at the right time and we need to be playing our best football at the end of the year," Brooking said.
He spoke Monday between lighting up faces, and I am not exaggerating. A smile appeared wherever he walked at Cook Children’s Medical Center of Fort Worth as part of Cowboys players’ annual visits.
I have a confession. I have been going to Cowboys hospital visits for years now and am always a little jealous. What an incredible gift to be able, if only for a couple of moments, to alleviate pain and fear and bring a smile to a sick child’s face — as well as his siblings and doctors and parents. And guys like Brooking and Martellus Bennett and Miles Austin had just that impact on so many little fans eager to forget needles and tubes and instead talk about Saturday’s big victory in The Big Easy.
"A couple of them showed me what I needed to do," Austin said with a smile, "and I am always open for suggestions."
Best suggestion: Do not forget to beat Washington. Philly, too.
Apparently, even little Cowboys fans experience deja vu. And we have seen a big victory like this before, most recently a year ago, when Dallas beat The NYG in December to save the season only to promptly unsave it by going belly-up against Baltimore and Philly and failing to do anything with that supposedly season-defining victory.
Coach Wade inexplicably saved his job afterward with promises of meaner, tougher, better only to find his team back in almost that exact same spot a year later.
I repeat: almost.
The differences are they beat the Saints on the road as opposed to the friendly confines of JerryWorld, the personality of this team is a lot stronger and the idiot is no longer around mucking up the locker room. What they have instead are guys like Brooking, who was not sugarcoating what has to happen now.
"We have to back it up with two more good games," Brooking admitted. "We’re not looking to our right, to our left. We’re definitely not looking behind us. We definitely control our own destiny. We need to take care of our business the next couple of weeks."
Because players know what’s what. They see how "Favre for MVP" talk has been relegated to his true believers, and see Green Bay’s defense and see New Orleans’ vulnerability. They see the best football in the conference is being played in the East, with Philly and Dallas and possibly NYG looking primed for a little run.
So what the really smart guys see is an opportunity. What Cowboys players have to see is, with a little consistency, they have the potential to be dangerous come playoff time.
"And if my golf game had consistency, I’d be a dangerous golfer," Austin countered.
Well played, sir. Well played.
He’s right, and consistency is usually one of those things that falls under the purview of coaching. None of the coaches in the thick of the NFC has a track record of real accomplishment, save Andy Reid, and he has his own demons.
I am still not sure the NFC coach of the week was not Tony Dungy. He touched a nerve in Dallas’ locker room, so much so NBC revisited his "no chance" Sunday and joked about his power to inspire the Cowboys.
Any chance of possibly jumping on the Cowboys bandwagon?
"No," Dungy said. "But that Dallas-Philly game is going to mean an awful lot."
Maybe, "no" will resonate as strongly as no chance; the Cowboys handle Washington and Philly and are right where they want to be when the playoffs start.
If so, Brooking thinks nobody is going to want to play them. And he may just be right.
Jennifer Floyd Engel 817-390-7760
__________________
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK
Jennifer Floyd Engel
Oh, my, how painfully mediocre did Minny and Peter King BFF Brett Favre look Sunday while losing to Carolina with a backup QB and former Cowboys castoff? And New Orleans looked infinitely fallible on Saturday.
So dial down all Saints-Vikes, as a guaranteed NFC Championship Game, talk until further notice. What we have brewing looks to be a crapshoot, kind of whatever team doesn’t stumble too badly into January has a chance at Miami. And look who seems to be positioning themselves well for just such a finish — Philadelphia (per usual) and Dallas (finally).
Or to use Keith Brooking’s phrasing, a lot of teams want to avoid this Cowboys team come playoffs.
"As long as we play the type of football we know we can play and we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot and we don’t dig ourselves in holes throughout the course of games, I guarantee there are a lot of teams that don’t want to face us when the playoffs get here," the Cowboys linebacker said.
And he may very well be right. What has plagued Dallas in past seasons is not lack of talent but rather lack of timing. They were good right up until they needed to be good and then they were inconsistent or worse. They were oftentimes unwilling to admit the problem and unable to fix it once admitted. This team, in stark contrast, seems to be building toward its best ball.
"Like we said all along, we have to peak at the right time and we need to be playing our best football at the end of the year," Brooking said.
He spoke Monday between lighting up faces, and I am not exaggerating. A smile appeared wherever he walked at Cook Children’s Medical Center of Fort Worth as part of Cowboys players’ annual visits.
I have a confession. I have been going to Cowboys hospital visits for years now and am always a little jealous. What an incredible gift to be able, if only for a couple of moments, to alleviate pain and fear and bring a smile to a sick child’s face — as well as his siblings and doctors and parents. And guys like Brooking and Martellus Bennett and Miles Austin had just that impact on so many little fans eager to forget needles and tubes and instead talk about Saturday’s big victory in The Big Easy.
"A couple of them showed me what I needed to do," Austin said with a smile, "and I am always open for suggestions."
Best suggestion: Do not forget to beat Washington. Philly, too.
Apparently, even little Cowboys fans experience deja vu. And we have seen a big victory like this before, most recently a year ago, when Dallas beat The NYG in December to save the season only to promptly unsave it by going belly-up against Baltimore and Philly and failing to do anything with that supposedly season-defining victory.
Coach Wade inexplicably saved his job afterward with promises of meaner, tougher, better only to find his team back in almost that exact same spot a year later.
I repeat: almost.
The differences are they beat the Saints on the road as opposed to the friendly confines of JerryWorld, the personality of this team is a lot stronger and the idiot is no longer around mucking up the locker room. What they have instead are guys like Brooking, who was not sugarcoating what has to happen now.
"We have to back it up with two more good games," Brooking admitted. "We’re not looking to our right, to our left. We’re definitely not looking behind us. We definitely control our own destiny. We need to take care of our business the next couple of weeks."
Because players know what’s what. They see how "Favre for MVP" talk has been relegated to his true believers, and see Green Bay’s defense and see New Orleans’ vulnerability. They see the best football in the conference is being played in the East, with Philly and Dallas and possibly NYG looking primed for a little run.
So what the really smart guys see is an opportunity. What Cowboys players have to see is, with a little consistency, they have the potential to be dangerous come playoff time.
"And if my golf game had consistency, I’d be a dangerous golfer," Austin countered.
Well played, sir. Well played.
He’s right, and consistency is usually one of those things that falls under the purview of coaching. None of the coaches in the thick of the NFC has a track record of real accomplishment, save Andy Reid, and he has his own demons.
I am still not sure the NFC coach of the week was not Tony Dungy. He touched a nerve in Dallas’ locker room, so much so NBC revisited his "no chance" Sunday and joked about his power to inspire the Cowboys.
Any chance of possibly jumping on the Cowboys bandwagon?
"No," Dungy said. "But that Dallas-Philly game is going to mean an awful lot."
Maybe, "no" will resonate as strongly as no chance; the Cowboys handle Washington and Philly and are right where they want to be when the playoffs start.
If so, Brooking thinks nobody is going to want to play them. And he may just be right.
Jennifer Floyd Engel 817-390-7760
__________________