It's Going to Be Really Hard for the Cowboys to Make the Playoffs

Categories: Sports

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@tedemrich
Hopefully this wasn't a sign of things to come.
The Cowboys have already lost the biggest game of their regular season. Thanksgiving's debacle, the 33-10 drubbing at the hands of the Eagles, has left the team needing to win out to ensure its spot in the playoffs, something that was unthinkable after the team's 6-1 start.

11-5 probably won't be good enough, at least for the Cowboys, because of their loss to the Redskins in week 8. That loss, combined with the one to the Eagles, leaves the Cowboys with two division losses. The Eagles have none, which means that even if the Cowboys can win in Philadelphia against a team that humiliated them, they will still lose the divisional tiebreaker should the teams finish with the same record.

For reasons that I'll outline in a second, if the Cowboys don't win the division, chances are they won't make the playoffs. That means to get in, they need to finish with a better record than the Eagles, a team they are one game behind with four to play. The Eagles do have the Seahawks, who have reasserted themselves as one of the two best teams in the NFC, on Sunday, but the game is in Philadelphia. If Philly takes care of business against Seattle and in their final two games against the woeful Giants and Redskins, the outcome of the Cowboys/Eagles matchup sandwiched in between won't matter. If Seattle does the Cowboys a favor, Dallas could still win the division, but only by winning out against a schedule that includes -- in addition to the game in Philadelphia -- a December 20 home game against the 8-4 Colts.

Getting in via the wild card, while still possible, is unlikely because of the number of NFC teams that look good to finish 11-5 or better. Those teams, in addition to the Eagles, are the Packers (9-3), Lions (8-4), Cardinals (9-3) and at least one of the Seahawks (8-4) and 49ers (7-5). Wild card ties between three or more teams are broken by conference record, and the Cowboys have more intra-conference losses (4) than each of the aforementioned teams except the 49ers. Basically, to get the fifth or sixth seed, the Cowboys need late-season chaos to reign over their rivals or to be tied with only Seattle, whom the 'Boys beat head-to-head.

The 1985 Broncos and the 2008 Patriots are the only 11-5 clubs to miss the playoffs in NFL history. Both missed out at the expense of 8-8 division champions -- the Browns in '85 and the Chargers in '08. It's no coincidence that the likelihood of a third 11-5 team staying home has been ratcheted up this year thanks to the NFC South abomination. In order to make sure they play in January, rather than just being a curiosity, the Cowboys only have to do one thing. Win.


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32 comments
RTGolden1
RTGolden1 topcommenter

You had to bring up the Broncos.

b_hankin
b_hankin

One of the local blogs up here referenced this story which is how I found it being in Philly. In all honesty I had figured that with the Cowboys it would have been a season split (may still be), but would thought this would have been yours due to being a home game for you all. In watching it seems like your QB is not right, there were a number of times that he had about 20-30yds ahead of him and wouldnt run.

mavdog
mavdog topcommenter

Thank goodness local sports fans have the Mavericks to cheer for...

JackJett
JackJett

Does anyone have the NSFW version of this pic?

Catbird
Catbird

I lost interest in the Cowboys in 1989 when Jerry Jones bought the team and fired Tom Landry. So it had been a while since I even thought about the Cowboys when a friend of mine invited me to a game in Jones Arlington stadium. I went along out of curiosity and maybe with a little hope that my affection for the team would somehow be re-kindled I found the experience a larger than life metaphor for the Jerry Jones Cowboys: an over scaled, over priced distraction that demeans the nobility and pathos of the game that I once admired and maybe even loved. It isn't easy to focus on the game in Jerry World but there they were, flanked by go-go dancers, new car displays, beyond the sub-woofer wave so powerful as to cause temporary deafness, under the gigantic hovering digital television/scoreboard, tiny little men dressed in Cowboys uniforms doing something that resembled American football- absent the crowd experience of physical contact at the line of scrimmage that was a feature or the game at Texas Stadium. I thanked my friend for the outing and walked to my car with the new realization that I was never a Cowboys at all...all that time I was really a Landry fan.    

James080
James080

About what you would expect of a team managed by Jerry Jones. But don't lose any sleep over the playoffs, the Cowboys have not had a winning record in December for 17 years.

I have not seen anything from the Cowboys this season that would lead me to believe they anything other than an 8-8 team, give or take a few fortunate breaks and bad calls in games they ended up winning.

oaklawnmassage
oaklawnmassage

Cowboys were suppose to go 8-8 again because of the defense, so we can't complain too much. I just hope we beat the Eagles.

Myrna.Minkoff-Katz
Myrna.Minkoff-Katz topcommenter

It looks likely that a team with a losing record will make the playoffs.  Now that's a crime. 

holmantx
holmantx topcommenter

There's always next year.

wcvemail
wcvemail topcommenter

@b_hankin


Bear in mind that Romo's contract is 108 million, only about twenty bucks more than his medical expenses if he ever injures his back again. Jerry can't get camera exposure if Romo's in hospital, so Romo would be on his own if that happens.

Thanks for chiming in from birdland. Hey, do y'all still boo the Punt-Pass-Kick kids up there?

JustSaying
JustSaying

@JackJett  I can't decide if the NSFW pic would pan back to reveal a person blowing him or if it would show us the grand finale of a scat scene.

wcvemail
wcvemail topcommenter

@JackJett


Not I, but you do have my interest should you find it.

wcvemail
wcvemail topcommenter

@Catbird


Poetic. (No, not pronounced "pathetic.")

Seriously, good writing.

ozonelarryb
ozonelarryb topcommenter

There's always next GM.

b_hankin
b_hankin

@wcvemail @b_hankin

I still cant believe Romo got that contract that he did years ago, especially without having won anything!. He has talent, but makes some of the dumbest moves at the most inopportune times for you all.


Wow... I came on here trying to be respectful and have a conversation and you want to bring booing up. 

JackJett
JackJett

@JustSaying  I am not interested in any Number 2 on Number 3, but I would like to see him out of his tights. And I would like to see if Number 83 is as much of a tight end as I imagine. 

holmantx
holmantx topcommenter

@ozonelarryb

His kid would post a dead Jerry like a scarecrow in a corn patch, replete with that wild-ass grin.

he could also double as Big Tex for three weeks in October.

wcvemail
wcvemail topcommenter

@b_hankin @wcvemail

Ah, b_, don't take the booing comment so hard. You're a well-read and thoughtful (and respectful) commenter, welcome here any time. 

In fact, it was right here that I learned of the vastly different approach in paying QBs between the Eagles (and the rest of the league), and the Cowboys. Y'all pay all three QBs in the $2mil range this year, right (although Foles was earning a good raise, and Sanchez might be underpaid.) The two Dallas QBs are at 108 mil and ... 2 mil. That's just bizarre. Out of all Jones' boneheaded GM decisions, that may be the worst of all.

I wonder if your guy Lurie and the other owners sorta pretend to have to take a phone call when Jones comes a-backslappin' at the owners meetings.

JustSaying
JustSaying

@JackJett Tony Romo could win 3 consecutive Super Bowls, league MVPs, and one day get inducted to the Ring of Honor and Hall of Fame. Even if all that happens and I could be him for just one day that day would be the first time Jessica Simpson gave it up to him. Because boobs.

wcvemail
wcvemail topcommenter

@holmantx @ozonelarryb


Regarding Stephen Jones, at least he will have been well-educated in the NFL business before he takes over. Contrast with the Davis spawn in Oakland, who was apparently not even good enough in Al's eyes to order lunch, yet now is one of the elite 32 and driving the Raiders even further into the swamp.

b_hankin
b_hankin

@wcvemail @b_hankin Very few QB's out there are worth the kind of money they threw at Romo and even McNabb during his time here. And both of them are not it! We will see what happens next season up here as we have Sanchez due up and Foles on the last of his rookie. So at some point we gonna have to pay someone soon!


But I love the fact that Jeff comes out once a year at the end to give the state of the season message and then go back to his box. Until your man Jones learns to keep himself out of the decisions and let a GM come in and have free rain to do the necessary moves, I dont see anything changing in TX any time soon.

JackJett
JackJett

@JustSaying I use to play this game when we would cover the AVN convention and Awards, where I would go around and feel each female porn stars boobs and try to guess how much they weigh and if they were real or not.  About the third year I got pretty good at it and would know when the girls were not being truthful about implants.  

We had Christopher Knight on the show who gave me instructions on how to properly feel up a girls breast (for the purpose of foreplay not for weighing) and we had Mary Carey as a model.  I learned a hoop and scoop maneuver that ended with clipping the nipple with a finger nail.  I wasn't very good with that as it was just too much for me to deal with at one time, plus the lack of hair made my hands slippery.  

My experiences with various vaginas have been a total nightmare, but one can never say I didn't give it a try.  

ScottsMerkin
ScottsMerkin topcommenter

@wcvemail @holmantx @ozonelarryb LEave the Raiders alone, I enjoy the current state of the Raiders and hope they remain that way as it means the Chiefs really only fight 2 teams to win the West

JustSaying
JustSaying

@JackJett I dated a few strippers in my early 20's. Thanks to that level of boob exposure I have the ability to spot implants like I was a damn plastic surgeon myself. Occasionally a pair of implants will look so real or a set of naturals will be so perky and symmetrical that I am actually wrong but the feel test gives you the correct answer every time. I'm an advocate of naturals. I want the nipples of some big ass titties to be staring at the walls when Im on top, not looking at the ceiling fan.

b_hankin
b_hankin

@ChrisYu @b_hankin Yup, you do have them and with the owner you have right now... they wont be having any friends joining them and will continue to collect dust.

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