Tough slate awaits in '08.

We’re not done with the 2007 season as of yet, but if the Cowboys want to successfully defend their NFC East title, they’re going to have to do it the hard way, with the list of opponents they’re set to face in 2008.

We won’t know the dates for a little while, but the schedule certainly doesn’t do Dallas any favors, as they‘ll go up against every other team that will represent the NFC in the playoffs this season, with several more tough matchups on tap as well.

Along with facing their divisional opponents twice, which equates to playing three playoff-caliber opponents six times, the Cowboys will have several more quality teams on their slate.

Dallas will have to face four division champions, two at home (Tampa Bay and Seattle) and two on the road (AFC North champ Pittsburgh and Green Bay), which makes for a total of six playoff teams.

The Cowboys will also face a trip to Cleveland to face the Browns in the ‘#22 Bowl,’ though Brady Quinn may or may not be starting, depending on what the Browns do with Derek Anderson (a restricted free agent) in the offseason.

There’s also a road game at Arizona, who finished 8-8 this season, so all told, the Cowboys will have 12 games against opponents who finished .500 or better, with another who finished 7-9.

The other opponents will be San Francisco (home), St. Louis (away), Baltimore (home), and Cincinnati (home). Baltimore and San Francisco were supposed to be playoff teams this year, but severely underachieved, and so did the Rams and Bengals, with all four being hurt by injuries and ineptness on at least one side of the ball.

So, we’ll renew that once-fierce rivalry against the 49ers, and there also may be an added storyline in the Ravens’ visit to Texas Stadium, with Jason Garrett (as mentioned a few posts below) a potential candidate for the recently-vacated head coaching position in the Charm City.
2008 Opponents

Home: New York (10-6), Washington (9-7), Philly (8-8), Seattle (10-6), Tampa Bay (9-7), Cincinnati (7-9), Baltimore (5-11), San Francisco (5-11)

Away: Giants, Redskins, Eagles, Green Bay (13-3), Pittsburgh (10-6), Cleveland (10-6), Arizona (8-8), St. Louis (3-13)

The Last Time The Teams Met…

I’ll leave out the divisional opponents and the NFC teams that the Cowboys could meet in the next few weeks

Baltimore: 2004 - Ravens won 30-10 in Baltimore
Cincinnati: 2004 - Bengals won 26-3 in Cincinnati
Cleveland: 2004 - Cowboys won 19-12 in Dallas
Pittsburgh: 2004 - Steelers won 24-20 in Dallas
Arizona: 2006 - Cowboys won 27-10 at Arizona
San Francisco: 2005 - Cowboys won 34-31 at San Francisco
St. Louis: 2007 - Cowboys won 35-7 at St. Louis

It’ll be interesting to see how the schedule plays out in terms of dates, as there stand to be at least a trip or two into the cold in December, which means Tony Romo might have to reluctantly pull out the gloves, or tough it out and play bare-handed, which shouldn‘t be a problem, considering he grew up in Wisconsin and played his college ball at Eastern Illinois. You can imagine he’ll get as many tickets as possible for when the Cowboys visit Green Bay. I’ll put 7-2 odds on him doing a Lambeau Leap into his personal rooting section if he scores a rushing touchdown.

Yay! It's Week 17!

After 16 weeks, we’ve finally reached the end of the regular season. It couldn’t get here soon enough, and honestly, it can’t be over soon enough either, with the playoffs in plain view now.

Most of the playoff spots are secured, and we know who’s going to have the #1 draft pick, but there’s still plenty to play for - for some - in Week 17.

The biggest storyline for this weekend is whether or not the Patriots will beat the Giants at the Meadowlands to finish a perfect regular season.

With both teams having locked up their playoff positions, it’s unknown how much the starters will play a role, or if they should, but Tom Coughlin has said he plans to play his starters, and play to win.

As for the Patriots, we’ll see, literally, because there’s no way around it. The game will be simulcast on both CBS and NBC, and you can bet ESPN will be providing score updates on a regular basis.

Hopefully it’ll be worth all the hype that it’s getting. New England doesn’t really stand to gain much from winning, outside of remaining unbeaten. The same goes for New York, who’ll just have the satisfaction of ending New England’s chances at history.

There’s certainly a lot that could be lost though, so we’ll see how long Coughlin will keep his word, and if Bill Belichick bothers to keep Brady in for more than a quarter, or turns the glorious pursuit of history over to Matt Cassel and the rest of his second-teamers with plenty of time left on the clock.

There are only two playoff spots to be decided, and both are the #6 seeds in each conference.

In the AFC, Cleveland hosts San Francisco and Tennessee goes to Indianapolis, with the Browns and Titans both at 9-6.

If Tennessee wins, they’re in, and there’s a good chance that they could do it, considering the Colts have zero to play for, and won’t play Peyton Manning for more than a half, at most.

First up, though, is the Browns’ matchup with the 49ers. Cleveland must beat the hapless ‘Niners, who will be on starting QB #4, with Chris Weinke getting duties under center on Sunday afternoon, in order to have a chance at a playoff spot going into the evening. Then it’ll be up to the Titans to make or break their destiny.

In the NFC, the #6 seed comes down to Washington and Minnesota, both at 8-7.

If Washington beats Dallas, then they’re into the postseason at 9-7. The Cowboys are in much the same boat as the Colts (and for that matter, the Patriots and Giants too) are - they don’t need the win, and won’t really gain anything from keeping their starters in for longer than they need to.

Minnesota will hope that the Cowboys somehow do get the W, so that they’ll still have a chance at the postseason heading into their late afternoon clash with the Broncos in Denver. The Broncos don’t really have anything to play for besides pride, as they’ve had a disappointing year, but won’t hand a victory to the Vikings.

There’s sure to be some drama in the next 30-odd hours, but then again, with several teams with something to play for going up against teams with little or nothing to play for, then things could very well be just a little anti-climactic.

Cowboys clinch home-field advantage in NFC.

With the Packers going down 35-7 at Chicago today, Dallas has clinched the valuable home-field advantage through the conference championship game. The Cowboys are 13-2 after their 20-13 win over Carolina last night, with the Packers' loss dropping them to 12-3, so even if Dallas loses at Washington next week, they'll have home field because of their 37-27 win over the Packers in Week 13.

So, if the two teams meet up in the NFC title game, Dallas won't have to make the trip to freezing (and possibly snowy/icy/rainy) Green Bay.

Dallas improves to 13-2 with 20-13 win at Carolina.

It wasn’t sealed until Marion Barber’s 11-yard run inside the final two minutes, but Dallas has their 13th win of the season by a count of 20-13 over the Carolina Panthers.

Barber ran for 110 yards, the second-highest total of his career behind a 127-yard game against Arizona in his rookie year, and Dallas needed all of those yards tonight, especially at the end.

Tony Romo bounced back well from Sunday's nightmare game against Philadelphia and finished 28 of 42 for 257 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, and broke Danny White’s single-season team record of 3,980 yards (it now stands at 4,125).

Give credit to the Panthers for staying in it even though the Cowboys should have had it sewn up well before the end. Matt Moore certainly has the tools to be a success as a starter in the NFL, as he’s shown in his first two starts - it wouldn’t have taken long for him to be the backup in Dallas, but he’s much better off in Carolina - and he nearly came back to haunt his old team.

But, the defense certainly didn’t take it easy on Moore, sacking him five times, with DeMarcus Ware upping his total to a career-high 13 with two sacks and Greg Ellis adding one to his total, which is now at 12.5 for the season. The key plays for the defense were keeping the Panthers out of the end zone both times in the second half when they had a chance to cut into the Cowboys’ lead.

Judging by the statistics, it was a dominating performance by the Cowboys, even though the scoreboard indicates otherwise - 405 to 216 in total yards, 25 to 12 in first downs, 39:00 to 21:00 in time of possession.

That dominance could have translated on the scoreboard if not for a few missed opportunities for Dallas, but in the end, it’s not about the opportunities you miss, but the ones that you convert, and the important thing is that the Cowboys converted more than the Panthers, and thusly, Dallas is a Packers loss (or a win at Washington next week, if the Packers beat Chicago tomorrow) away from having home-field advantage in the NFC, while 6-9 Carolina is eliminated from playoff contention.

Into the final few minutes, Cowboys holding on...

Things have greatly quieted down in the second half, and as time winds down, Dallas is a stop and a few first downs from having it in the books.

All each team has to show for in the second half is field goals, with Carolina trimming the deficit to a touchdown right out of the locker room with a 37-yard field goal from Jon Kasay on a drive that got down to the Dallas 1, but was pushed back by a false start and two sacks.

The Cowboys moved the ball into scoring position early in the fourth, but a Romo interception kept the Panthers in it. But, he made up for it on the next drive, leading Dallas to a field goal and a 20-10 lead with less than nine minutes to play.

It’s far from over though, as Moore just hit Smith for 57 yards on fourth down, and Carolina has it at the Dallas 9 inside four and a half a minutes.

A touchdown here, and it gets a little nervy, because the Panthers still have two timeouts.
Time to close it out…

Cowboys on track for lucky #13.

It’s back to business as usual for Dallas, as the Cowboys are up 17-7 over the Carolina Panthers at halftime.

Tony Romo has already thrown 32 passes, but he’s surpassed last week’s completion mark by eight (21 to 13), and with his 188 passing yards in the first half, Romo has a new single-season Cowboys record of 4,056 yards.

It’s good to see Romo back on track, and even more so to see a semblance of balance in the offense, as Marion Barber has 80 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.

The offense has thoroughly dominated proceedings in the first half, outgaining Carolina 291 to 109, but more importantly, holding a 50 to 17 edge in plays and a 15-minute edge in time of possession.

But, the Panthers are still very much in the game because of the one successful drive they put together, when a short kick gave Carolina the ball at the 37, and after a first-down completion and a 39-yard run by DeAngelo Williams, Matt Moore threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Steve Smith to get Carolina on the board.

After responding with a field goal, the Cowboys could have added to the lead before halftime, but a penalty for an illegal shift wiped out a first-down pass to Sam Hurd (that would have put it at the 20), and then Dallas simply ran out of time.

The second half just started, with the Panthers getting the ball first. The Cowboys will be playing the rest of the game without T.O., who left during the last scoring drive with an injury and won’t return. He had five catches for 48 yards and the score before he was hurt, so it’s a blow for him, since he was a key part of the offense after being quiet in the last two games. It shouldn’t be a big concern for the duration of the night, but hopefully it’s not an injury that will keep him out of any games from this point.

Carolina’s moving the ball and has it inside the 10, so the deficit could quickly be trimmed.
I’ll check back here and there…