Now that the season is over and the Cowboys lost the most critical game of the season to the New York Giants, the finger-pointing begins along with the long bouts of confusion. The fans are getting anxious over this lack of playoff success under owner Jerry Jones. Head coach Jason Garrett looked out of place at times and made decisions a high school coach in his first game would not make. You just don’t ice your own kicker on the game winning field goal. If you have been in football for more than a season or two, then you should know that instinctively.

New defensive coordinator Rob Ryan was supposed to bring the system that he perfected in Cleveland to Dallas and use superior players to get better results. As the season wore on, it became evident that the Cowboys’ defensive players were not all that superior to the Browns’ players. According to the pay per head sports experts, Ryan’s defense in Dallas ranked 14^th overall by the time the season was over. It did great against the rush where it ranked seventh, but wound up 23^rd against the pass. The defense just could not stop the opposition when it had to.

A bodog review of the entire Dallas team shows a team that was affected by the lack of a training camp. The team did not have time to get used to its new systems and its new coaches and it suffered. Jason Garrett is going to have to work on his game management skills because he made several blatant errors that had even the most casual fans scratching their heads. To judge this team on this season is probably not fair.

The first questions that Jerry Jones handled after the loss to the Giants were about the futures of Garrett and Ryan. Jones was adamant when he said that both men would stay in their positions with the team next season. Jones did not address any concerns about the level of NFL caliber talent on the Cowboys’ roster. While changes are expected, Jones did not give any indication of what kind of changes to expect.

One player that did speak out was wide receiver Dez Bryant. He indicated that the team was angry and disappointed at the way the season turned out. When asked about his own performance in his second year, Bryant indicated that he did okay but that he could do better. The Cowboys’ players all seem to share the burden of the loss, which could be the first sign of a team coming together as a single unit.

Enough about last seasons disappointment, let’s take a look at the Dallas Cowboys 2011 – 2012 schedule. Last year I provided a prediction for each game, which was so far from being right I decided to take a new approach. Instead I will go through the 2011 – 2012 schedule of home and road game opponents taking a look at their records and where they are headed next year.

Division Opponents (Home and Road Game)

New York Giants – Record: 10 – 6 – 0 | Missed Playoffs
The Giants looked strong all season, but injuries caught up with them down the stretch. This team will be strong again in the 2011 – 2012 season if they can stay healthy.

Philadelphia Eagles – Record: 10 – 6 – 0 | NFC East Division Champs
Michael Vick’s resurgence has the Eagles looking almost impossible to stop on offense. Vick’s contract is up, but it sounds like he will be an Eagle next season.

Washington Redskins – Record: 6 – 10 – 0 | Missed Playoffs
The Redskins couldn’t be any worse from the front office to the field if they actually tried to be horrible. The biggest question is who will they sign to a large contract this offseason to bench next year??

Non NFC East Division Home Games

St. Louis Rams – Record: 7 – 9 – 0 | Missed Playoffs
The Rams missed the playoffs when they lost to the Seattle Seahawks in week 17 of the 2010 season. The Rams should improve next year as they add more pieces around QB Sam Bradford and RB Steven Jackson.

Seattle Seahawks – Record: 7 – 9 – 0 | Wildcard
No that is not a typo, the Seahawks made the playoffs with a week 17 win over the St. Louis Rams.

Detroit Lions – Record: 6 – 10 – 0 | Missed Playoffs
The Lions will continue to improve if they can stay healthy in the 2011 – 2012 season. This team is in a lot better postion with the additions of RB Jahvid Best and QB Matthew Stafford.

Buffalo Bills – Record: 4 – 12 – 0 | Missed Playoffs
The Bills will still be rebuilding next year, but that process finally appears to be on the right track as the team begins to add talented players at the skill positions.

Miami Dolphins – Record: 7 – 9 – 0 | Missed Playoffs
Some analysts had the Dolphins making the playoffs, but the team took a step back in 2010. Rumor has it that the team will have a new coach next year, Bill Cowher anyone?

Non NFC East Division Road Games

Arizona Cardinals – Record: 5 – 11 – 0 | Missed Playoffs
The Cardinals are a quarterback away from being relevant again, it will be interesting to see if they can get a QB in the offseason.

San Francisco 49ers – Record: 6 – 10 – 0 | Missed Playoffs
The coaching carousel continues in San Francisco, the 49ers will have a new coach for 2011 and they still have questions at quarterback.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Record: 10 – 6 – 0 | Missed Playoffs
The Buccaneers are a young team on the rise, they should be even better next year. However things in the NFL don’t always work out that way, remember when the Cowboys were supposed to win the Super Bowl in 2010?

New England Patriots – Record: 14 – 2 – 0 | AFC East Division Champs
Going 14 – 2 – 0 with a defense that was called inexperienced and to young by the so called experts this year is pretty good. Winning in New England is always tough.

New York Jets – Record: 11 – 5 – 0 | Wildcard
The Jets faded down the stretch, and the only thing that is holding them back is waiting on Mark Sanchez to progress as a quarterback.

Sources: Y!Sports, NFL.com

So what does Cliff Lee going to the Philadelphia Phillies mean for the Texas Rangers? It is not as bad for the Rangers as you think.

Since the Rangers didn’t give a monster contract to Cliff Lee, there will now be enough money to keep the current roster in tact. The Rangers could add another starting pitcher by trading prospects or sign one of the free agent pitchers left on the market. The Cliff Lee deal would have been great for the next couple of years, but the last 2-3 years of the deal he would most likely be on the decline. So money wise the deal would have been worth it in the short-term, but a burden to the Rangers in the long-term.

Talk has moved on to the possible trade options: Zach Grienke, current Kansas City Royals ace and Matt Garza of the Tampa Bay Rays who is more of a number 2 guy. Either of these moves will probably cost the Rangers part of the long-term future, just like the Cliff Lee deal would. Both of the Rays and Royals will ask for too much, and for this reason I think that Jon Daniels will end up targeting the free agent market for starting pitchers with an upside that can be had at a decent price.

Who is still out there?
Here is a list of the free agent starting pitchers that are left on the market (minus Kevin Millwood and Rich Harden). A few of these guys were hurt last year so their numbers are a little off or non existent.

• Carl Pavano – 2010 (17 – 11) 3.75ERA
• Brad Penny – 2010 (3 – 4) 3.23ERA
• Chris Young – 2010 (2 – 0) 0.90ERA
• Brandon Webb – 2010 Injured
• Bruce Chen – 2010 (12 – 7) 4.17ERA
• Justin Durchscherer – 2010 (2 – 1) 2.89ERA
• Chris Capuano – 2010 (4-4) 3.95ERA
• Jeff Francis – 2010 (4-6) 5.00ERA

For the price that the Rangers would have forked over for Cliff Lee, the Rangers can probably get a two of these starting pitchers and a veteran first baseman. Rookie 1B Mitch Moreland looked good in the playoffs, but so did Chris Davis a few seasons ago. A veteran first baseman could DH if either Moreland and/or Davis play well next year. Former Cubs 1B Derrek Lee is a good locker room guy that can still hit.

Would it have been bad ass if Cliff Lee and his ninja pitching skills signed with Texas? Oh yes it would have been. However I think that the Rangers can still salvage this offseason and keep the farm system in tact with a few free agent signings.

Image Credit: http://blog.prorumors.com/
Sources:Yahoo! Free Agent Tracker

The betting experts can be a fickle bunch, and NFL betting experts are particularly brutal in their assessments. But when you serve up a home run pitch like Cowboys running back Tashard Choice did after the Cowboys loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in week 14, then the NFL predictions are going to weight heavily against you.

The Eagles beat the Cowboys 30-27 in one of the closer NFL scores of the week. But when the game was over, backup running back Tashard Choice was captured on camera getting Michael Vick’s autograph. Choice had waited all season to finally get a chance to play. He had sat on the bench behind Felix Jones and Marion Barber all season long. In one of his chances to shine, Choice lavishes praise on the opposing quarterback by asking for his autograph.

Choice said the autograph was for his three-year-old nephew, and most of the Cowboys players support Choice. But it is the fans that the Dallas players should be worried about, and the fans are not happy. Dallas sports radio lit up the next day with calls to bench or release Choice. Dallas Cowboys fans are already sensitive about not making the playoffs this year. When one of their running backs does the celebrity worship thing with the opposing quarterback, it is not going to go over well in Dallas.

While the Cowboys are well out of playoff contention, they still remain a top television draw wherever they play. NBC has been broadcasting “Sunday Night Football” for five seasons now, and the Philadelphia-Dallas game in week 14 of this season tied as the highest rated game ever shown. It is an incredible feat considering the fact that there was absolutely no way that the Cowboys are ever making the playoffs this season.

Interim head coach Jason Garrett has some choices to make as the Cowboys enter their last three games of the season. Owner Jerry Jones is very much a “win at all costs” kind of person. But the season is lost in Dallas, and Garrett may need to start thinking about the future of the team.

The Cowboys have announced that they will not be changing out their starters to evaluate new talent in a statement that sounds like it has Jerry Jones written all over it. In the last couple of weeks, injuries have forced the Cowboys to use their depth at wide receiver and linebacker. Now Garrett has a chance to really look over what the Cowboys have for future depth on the roster, and it looks like Dallas will not be taking advantage of the remaining three games to prepare for next season.

Even though starting quarterback Tony Romo has been throwing for a couple of weeks now, the Cowboys have no intention on starting Romo until his collarbone is completely healed. The original projected return date for Romo was Christmas weekend, which would allow him to play in the team’s final two games. But Jason Garrett has said that there is no timetable, and that Romo will play when he is cleared by the doctors.

Dallas Cowboys vs Philadelphia Eagles Preview

Dallas Sports Fans is the place to get the Cowboys Eagles TV Time, Kickoff Time, TV Announcers and Cowboys Stadium parking information
Cowboys-Eagles Game Day / Date: Sunday – December 12 2010
Cowboys-Eagles TV Time: 7:20PM Central Time
Cowboys-Eagles Kickoff: 7:30PM Central Time
Cowboys-Eagles TV Channel: NBC
Cowboys-Eagles TV Announcers: Al Michaels & Cris Collinsworth
Cowboys-Eagles Tickets: Buy Cowboys Tickets at Razorgator ]]> http://www.dallassportsfans.com/week-14-preview-dallas-cowboys-vs-philadelphia-eagles/feed/ 0 http://www.dallassportsfans.com/week-13-dallas-cowboys-at-indianapolis-colts/ http://www.dallassportsfans.com/week-13-dallas-cowboys-at-indianapolis-colts/#comments Wed, 01 Dec 2010 18:08:42 +0000 Matt Lawrence http://www.dallassportsfans.com/?p=5826

At the beginning of the season the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys were heralded as Super Bowl Contenders, but as the season winds down the teams are both looking pretty bad. The Cowboys playoff ship sailed away without the team on board long ago, the best the Boys can do is 8 – 8 – 0, and that is if they win every game left in the season. However the Cowboys are 2 – 1 – 0 under Jason Garrett and Tony Romo could come back before the seasons end.

The Colts have been decimated by injuries all season on both Offense and Defense. It has finally got to the point where Peyton Manning can’t cover up the teams weaknesses on offense anymore. At 6 – 5 – 0 Indianapolis is tied with Jacksonville atop the AFC South division, the Colts still have a realistic chance of making the playoffs if they can get things on track again.

Prediction Cowboys at Colts
Even though the game is in Indianapolis, the Cowboys will win by a narrow margin. Peyton Manning looked flustered last week and the Colts defense will be exploited if Peyton and the Colts offense can’t eat up the clock. Look for Cowboys RB Tashard Choice to have increased carries if Marion Barber can’t go on Sunday. You can find the Kickoff TIme, TV Time, TV Channel and TV Announcers below:

Week 13 Dallas Cowboys at Indianapolis Colts | TV Announcers – Channel – Kickoff Time

Cowboys – Colts Day / Date: Sunday – December 5 2010
Cowboys – Colts Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Cowboys – Colts Kickoff: 3:20 PM Central Time
Cowboys – Colts TV Time: 3:15 PM Central Time
Cowboys – Colts TV Channel: FOX
Cowboys – Colts TV Announcers: Joe Buck & Troy Aikman

As always you can find the rest of the NFL Week 13 Game Time and TV Channel information in the Midwest Sports Fans week 13 viewer guide (Click Below):
Week 13 TV Schedule & Announcer Assignments

The Cowboys face the Saints who are in the middle of a tight race in the NFC South (currently tied for 2nd behind Atlanta). Even though the Cowboys season is all but mathematically over, they can still have an effect the NFL playoff landscape. As Cowboys fans we are relegated to watching our team play spoiler for teams still have playoff hopes. The Saints are one of these teams, so make sure and tune in your tv to see if Garrett and the Cowboys can give us something to be thankful for. You can find the tv time, tv channel, kickoff time, tv announcers and tickets for thanksgiving below:

NFL Week 12: Dallas Cowboys vs New Orleans Saints Game Information:

• Cowboys Saints Game Day-Date:
• Cowboys Saints TV Time: 3:15 PM Central Time
• Cowboys Saints Kickoff Time: 3:25 PM Central Time
• Cowboys Saints TV Channel: FOX
• Cowboys Saints TV Announcers: Joe Buck and Troy Aikman
• Cowboys Saints Parking Information: Cowboys Stadium Parking Information
• Cowboys Saints Tickets: Get Great Cowboys Tickets on StubHub.com!

Image Source: Star-Telegram

Steamatic

Jason Garrett aka Red Jesus led the Dallas Cowboys to their first victory since week 3 of the NFL season. The in the media all week was about how bad the Cowboys were going to be crushed by the Giants, but the Cowboys showed some backbone and actually showed up to play. So for at least one week I will not post anything bad about Jason Garrett, because it seems that he is making the Cowboys more accountable.

The Cowboys will face the Detroit Lions in week 11 of the NFL season in one of the Noon match ups on Sunday. There may not have been a game played with less on the line in the NFL this season, the Cowboys are ( 2 – 7 – 0 ) and the Lions are ( 2 – 7 – 0 ). The Lions star QB and Highland Park HS Graduate Matthew Stafford and Cowboys star QB Tony Romo have been lost for most, possibly all of this season. Remember that if this game gets to bad to watch you can check out the rest of the NFL TV Schedule for week 11. Below is the Dallas Cowboys vs Detroit Lions TV Channel, TV Time, Kickoff Time and TV Announcers:

NFL Week 11: Dallas Cowboys vs Detroit Lions TV Channel, TV Time, Kickoff Time and TV Announcers
• Game Day: Sunday – November 21 2010
• Kickoff Time: 12:10PM Central Time
• TV Time: 12:00PM Central Time
• TV Channel: FOX
• TV Announcers: Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, and Tony Siragusa
• Parking: Cowboys Stadium Parking Information
• Tickets: Dallas Cowboys Tickets

Image Source:NFL Soup

CBS 11 is reporting that Wade Phillips is fired and Jason Garrett is in as the interim head coach. I don’t feel any better about Jason Garrett as head coach.

However, I do hope that he flops at head coach and we can get rid of his big bag of nothing as well.

This would open the door for a completely new head coach, hopefully on willing to put the talent on the Cowboys in positions to succeed.

Original Tweet from Bill Jones at CBS 11

I’ve done a couple informal studies, and the results are overwhelming:

If Darth Vader had a favorite baseball team, it would be the New York Yankees.

In an unrelated story (as far as you know), every time I hear someone talk about the Yankees, I hear this.

So how our plucky little Rebels – the Texas Rangers – going to take down the Galactic Empire, er, New York Yankees?

Find out after the jump.

Luke Skywalker (Cliff Lee) takes down Darth Vader (Derek Jeter) and Emperor Palpatine (Mariano Rivera) – The character closest to jumping to the New York Yankees must be considered Luke. Good thing for the Texas Rangers that he’s already a full-blown Jedi. I’m not quite sure if I could be a bigger Cliff Lee fan at this point, but it’s still unbelievable that one of the best postseason pitchers in baseball pitches for the Texas Rangers. It’s still not quite real. Kinda like the hologram at the end of Return of the Jedi that’s now Hayd———-.

Ooooh. Let me just stop right there. Painful subject.

But Cliff is going to strike at the heart of the Yankees (their offense) just like Luke struck at the heart of the Empire (the emperor). Plus I wouldn’t be surprised to see Cliff Lee’s arm turn into a green lightsaber by the end of the Series.

Han Solo (Josh Hamilton) and Chewbacca (Ian Kinsler) lead the invasion on Endor to destroy the shield generator (bludgeon the starting pitching) – We’re just going to pretend like the Ewoks aren’t really around. And that last series Josh Hamilton was still shaking off the effects of being frozen in carbonite. Anywho, Josh gets his mojo back early in the series with a couple of big hits against Sabathia (taking down Boba Fett, and what Jabba the Hutt joke? I don’t see any Jabba the Hutt jokes around here…) then leads the Rangers’ offense to enough runs to beat up the starting pitching and get into the soft underbelly of the New York Yankees (the bullpen before Mariano Rivera).

Admiral Ackbar (Ron Washington) and Mike Maddux hold off the Star Destroyers (deflect all criticism) – The media was all over these two guys for their handling of the bullpen in Game 3 of the Tampa Bay series, which was pretty undeserved in my opinion. Yeah Ron had a couple of quick hooks on a couple of guys, but a lot of the bullpen just flat struggled on Saturday night. Most of the time, that doesn’t happen. They’ll be just fine. Plus, it’s funny to think of Admiral Ackbar and Mike Maddux in the same ship.

IT’S A TRAP!

(Sorry, had to get that in. I’m good now.)

Biggs (Colby Lewis) and Wedge (CJ Wilson) cover Luke on the first strike on the Death Star (Games 1 and 2) – These are key games for the hopes of the Texas Rangers. If they can win at least one of the first two games (and pick up the first home playoff win in franchise history), their hopes for the series jump up a notch. That sets up Cliff Lee to win Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead. If the Texas Rangers get one of the following three games, they’re guaranteed to see Cliff in Game 7 at Rangers Ballpark. And, if you’ll let me shift into generic commentator mode for a second…

You know, if the Rebel Alliance hadn’t taken down the Death Star, the whole SERIES would have been different!

Lando Calrissian (Nelson Cruz) and Wedge Antilles (Michael Young) take down the Second Death Star (win the ALCS) with clutch hits – So what if Wedge was already used? He was promoted. Cruz was on fire during the ALDS, despite his unfortunate decision to admire his near homer in Game 5 (kinda like Lando’s unfortunate decision to trust Darth Vader). I expect that run to continue. I would certainly expect to see some late-inning heroics from the Boomstick in this series for the Texas Rangers. Michael Young didn’t have a huge role in the Division Series win, but the three-run homer in Game 2 sure was big. Somehow, he’ll find a way to have another big knock.

Prediction: The Rebels win, of course. In how long? Count the number of movies. (Even the prequels.)

Darth pic: http://deathstarpr.blogspot.com/2010/09/darth-vader-behind-mask.html