Post by prossman on Dec 22, 2008 23:37:10 GMT -7
Playoffs Begin NOW
Spagnola: 10 Has Become Cowboys' Magic Number
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Mickey Spagnola - Email
DallasCowboys.com Columnist
December 22, 2008 6:00 PM Change Font Size A A A A
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Let the playoffs begin.
"It's one game," Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips said after a horrible Saturday night turned into a much more palatable Sunday which refilled the expectation bucket - again - on Monday.
So let's get this out of the way early this week: 10 is enough, as previously it always has been in this team's 49-year past to qualify for the playoffs. And since this season has yo-yoed about, going from 3-0 to 5-4 to 8-4 to now 9-6, that would be a perfect 10 by the way.
Bo Derek, eat your heart out.
So the beat goes on for the Dallas Cowboys, like some Spaghetti Western hero, shot time and time and time again, yet still staggering along one step at a time. This team just won't die, and that 15-game immortality rolls on this time no thanks to themselves but to the San Diego Chargers, who beat Tampa Bay, 41-24, dropping the Bucs, without the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over the Cowboys, into an identical 9-6 record with one game to play.
That means it matters not to the Cowboys now what Tampa Bay does, or Chicago and Minnesota do the rest of the way, all the Cowboys have to worry about is winning in Philadelphia, where they have done so in two of their last three trips to Lincoln Financial Field.
The total playoff picture then has cleared up considerably for the Cowboys. They now know they must win four consecutive games to just get to the Super Bowl, a tall order for a team that has capped two winning streaks at three this year and has yet to win a playoff game since 1996. Worse, never have the Cowboys even played four consecutive games on the road, let alone win all four, although they did win three straight road games in 1975 to reach Super Bowl X and won three road games in a four-game span in 1978 to reach Super Bowl XIII.
But that is their likely task, starting Sunday in Philadelphia, and if they win, then moving into a wild-card playoff game against either Arizona or the NFC North winner, and should they win that, then onto the divisional-round game likely at either the Giants or Carolina, and if they should win that then onto the NFC title game, which would only reopen Texas Stadium one more time if the Cowboys somehow finished as the fifth seed and met the sixth seed in that game.
Know what, though? After losing 33-24 to Baltimore Saturday night in the official regular-season closing of Texas Stadium, they are d**n glad to even have the opportunity to face such a daunting challenge.
But first things first.
"I think the team already is excited," Phillips said, pointing out he talked to a bunch of the players Sunday night at the Cowboys organization's annual Christmas Party in the Stadium Club of Texas Stadium about their newfound playoff hopes.
One of those he spoke at length with was quarterback Tony Romo, the two engaged in conversation that night sitting at a table, Romo probably needing to be off his feet after being thrown around by that Ravens defense Saturday night as if some scarecrow with straw missing from his back.
"Everything you're fighting for and want is right there," said Phillips, doing his best to put behind this club the shocking disappointment from how Saturday night's game inexplicably ended with the Ravens running for touchdowns of 77 and 82 yards on consecutive offensive plays.
"This is right in front of us; we know what's going on."
But talk about pressure? Now it would be easy to say this team has never been in this situation, although the
Playoffs Begin NOW Spagnola: 10 Has Become Cowboys' Magic Number - Continue Reading
Spagnola: 10 Has Become Cowboys' Magic Number
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mickey Spagnola - Email
DallasCowboys.com Columnist
December 22, 2008 6:00 PM Change Font Size A A A A
.
Let the playoffs begin.
"It's one game," Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips said after a horrible Saturday night turned into a much more palatable Sunday which refilled the expectation bucket - again - on Monday.
So let's get this out of the way early this week: 10 is enough, as previously it always has been in this team's 49-year past to qualify for the playoffs. And since this season has yo-yoed about, going from 3-0 to 5-4 to 8-4 to now 9-6, that would be a perfect 10 by the way.
Bo Derek, eat your heart out.
So the beat goes on for the Dallas Cowboys, like some Spaghetti Western hero, shot time and time and time again, yet still staggering along one step at a time. This team just won't die, and that 15-game immortality rolls on this time no thanks to themselves but to the San Diego Chargers, who beat Tampa Bay, 41-24, dropping the Bucs, without the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over the Cowboys, into an identical 9-6 record with one game to play.
That means it matters not to the Cowboys now what Tampa Bay does, or Chicago and Minnesota do the rest of the way, all the Cowboys have to worry about is winning in Philadelphia, where they have done so in two of their last three trips to Lincoln Financial Field.
The total playoff picture then has cleared up considerably for the Cowboys. They now know they must win four consecutive games to just get to the Super Bowl, a tall order for a team that has capped two winning streaks at three this year and has yet to win a playoff game since 1996. Worse, never have the Cowboys even played four consecutive games on the road, let alone win all four, although they did win three straight road games in 1975 to reach Super Bowl X and won three road games in a four-game span in 1978 to reach Super Bowl XIII.
But that is their likely task, starting Sunday in Philadelphia, and if they win, then moving into a wild-card playoff game against either Arizona or the NFC North winner, and should they win that, then onto the divisional-round game likely at either the Giants or Carolina, and if they should win that then onto the NFC title game, which would only reopen Texas Stadium one more time if the Cowboys somehow finished as the fifth seed and met the sixth seed in that game.
Know what, though? After losing 33-24 to Baltimore Saturday night in the official regular-season closing of Texas Stadium, they are d**n glad to even have the opportunity to face such a daunting challenge.
But first things first.
"I think the team already is excited," Phillips said, pointing out he talked to a bunch of the players Sunday night at the Cowboys organization's annual Christmas Party in the Stadium Club of Texas Stadium about their newfound playoff hopes.
One of those he spoke at length with was quarterback Tony Romo, the two engaged in conversation that night sitting at a table, Romo probably needing to be off his feet after being thrown around by that Ravens defense Saturday night as if some scarecrow with straw missing from his back.
"Everything you're fighting for and want is right there," said Phillips, doing his best to put behind this club the shocking disappointment from how Saturday night's game inexplicably ended with the Ravens running for touchdowns of 77 and 82 yards on consecutive offensive plays.
"This is right in front of us; we know what's going on."
But talk about pressure? Now it would be easy to say this team has never been in this situation, although the
Playoffs Begin NOW Spagnola: 10 Has Become Cowboys' Magic Number - Continue Reading