The online sports betting world would like to think that professional football players just do their jobs and roll with changes in the league. But even in the midst of Super Bowl 45 betting, it is important to remember that these men are people capable of some very strong emotions. Coaching changes happen all the time in the NFL, but it has been years since the Dallas Cowboys have changed their coaching staff. The departure of wide receivers coach Ray Sherman has been especially hard on the Cowboys young receivers.

Wide receiver Miles Austin had a lot to do with the NFL scores that the Cowboys put up this season, but the departure of Sherman has definitely had an effect on Austin’s life. In a recent discussion with betting services experts, Austin said that the departure of Sherman affected him deeply because Ray Sherman was a mentor to Miles Austin. Austin said he was excited to start working with whoever the new wide receivers coach will be.

The AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers have been in Dallas all week getting ready for Super Bowl XLV, and some of the Steelers have been giving advice to the Dallas Cowboys. Even though the two teams have not met since 2008, the some of the Steelers have been saying that chemistry and not talent is the problem for the Cowboys. At the Steelers media day, wide receiver Antwaan Randle El said that the Cowboys missing the playoffs was a shock because Dallas is loaded with talent. Former Cowboy, and current Pittsburgh, offensive lineman Flozell Adams said he was also surprised at the Cowboys’ record and added that it was bad chemistry that ruin Dallas and not a lack of talent.

Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones spent much of the week praising the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers as the two teams get ready to play Super Bowl XLV in Cowboys Stadium. But Jones was getting his fair share of Cowboys questions, and one of the persistent questions is the slow pace at which the Cowboys are putting together their new coaching staff. With the draft approaching and Dallas needing to scout talent to make good picks, you would think that there would be an urgency to put together a staff. Jerry Jones has indicated that he is in no hurry at all and that the staff will be put together in due time.

Jones has also indicated that any players being released or signed from free agency will take time as well. Cowboys fans are getting anxious to see how their team will look if there is a 2011 season, and Jones understands that. But Jerry Jones has indicated that complacency was what caused the Cowboys to fail in 2010, and he wants to make sure that all of the proper roster moves are being made this off-season to strengthen the Cowboys chances of making the playoffs in the next NFL campaign, regardless of whenever that next campaign may be.

When Flozell Adams met with the media on Monday to kick off Super Bowl week for the media, it was obvious that he was having a hard time containing his excitement. Adams said all of the politically correct things, including tipping his hat to the quality of the Cowboys organization. Adams went so far as to say that it didn’t matter where the Super Bowl was being played, just so long as he was in it. But with each question he answered about the opportunity to play in front of the Dallas Cowboys fans as a member of the reigning AFC champions, it was getting harder and harder for Adams to hide his joy.

The new Dallas Cowboys coaching staff under Jason Garrett continues to take form, especially on the defensive side of the ball. New Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan has named Matt Eberflus as linebackers coach. Anyone familiar with Rob Ryan will not be surprised by this hiring as Eberflus was the linebackers coach for two years under Ryan in Cleveland.

The NFL predictions on the rest of the vacancies in the Dallas Cowboys defensive coaching staff are starting to become interesting. Dave Campo was the defensive secondary coach under Wade Phillips, and he is still listed on the Dallas staff currently. There are talks underway between Rob Ryan and Jason Garrett as to whether or not Campo will remain in Dallas, or if Ryan will bring in his own secondary coach.

Roger Staubach was approached by Jerry Jones as early as 2007 to help head the effort to get a Super Bowl played in Dallas. Throughout the process, the hall of fame quarterback has been constantly in the news as the face of the Dallas organization, aside from Jones, and the driving force behind convincing the NFL that Dallas deserves a Super Bowl. Staubach has said that one of his reasons for doing this is because once Dallas is in the rotation for hosting a Super Bowl, it will stay in that loop and get more big games in the future.

It was announced this week that Roger Staubach will be the one who brings the Vince Lombardi Trophy on to the field after Super Bowl XLV and hand it to broadcaster, and fellow hall of fame quarterback, Terry Bradshaw to give to the winning coach. Staubach continues to talk to the media about the advantages of having the Super Bowl in Dallas, and he is expected to be an integral part of the big game on Sunday February 5, 2011. The process of handing off the Lombardi Trophy is so precise, that Staubach says he practiced for two hours on how to get it right.

The Dallas Cowboys have announced that Rob Ryan, brother of New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan and son to legendary defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, has taken the defensive coordinator’s job in Dallas. The betting services consider this a curious move by Ryan because, for all intents and purposes, it is a lateral move.

Rob Ryan taking the job in Dallas has two immediate effects. It puts a bit of a dent in the notion that Mike Holmgren is going to attract top flight coaching talent just by being in Cleveland. It is possible that Holmgren allowed Ryan to leave the Browns because Holmgren does not feel that Ryan is the right guy for the job in Cleveland. But neither side is saying much about the move. The other effect of this Rob Ryan move is to elevate the feeling that a coaching job in Dallas is the job that every NFL coach wants. It adds a bit of muster to that Cowboys mystique that owner Jerry Jones is so fond of.

The Cowboys were obviously not impressed with their offense last season, so they went to the extreme of creating a new coaching position and realigning other duties. New offensive line coach Hudson Houck will now have the coordination of the running game added to his list of duties. To help Houck out, the Cowboys have created the position of assistant offensive line coach. To fill the position, the Cowboys have interview former Cowboys tight end Dan Campbell and former hall of fame offensive lineman Bruce Matthews. Bruce Matthews is the uncle to current Green Bay Packers’ linebacker Clay Matthews, but Bruce Matthews has also been an assistant offensive coach with the Houston Texans for the past two seasons. While the Cowboys have not made any announcements as to the hiring yet; Bruce Matthews is considered the top candidate.

Former Cowboys wide receiver, and current member of the San Diego Chargers, Patrick Crayton was on a San Diego radio station this week enlightening the football world to what is going on in Dallas. According to Crayton, the Cowboys let rookie wide receiver Dez Bryant get away with not performing many duties that a rookie would normally need to perform. Crayton did not go into details, but he repeated that Bryant was pampered by the Cowboys front office.

Crayton also mentioned that he does not feel that the Cowboys will respond to Jason Garrett. According to Crayton, the person that gets the respect in the Dallas locker room is Jerry Jones, and the personality of Jason Garrett is not going to be able to overshadow the dominance of Jerry Jones with the Dallas players.

The online sports betting world wants to be surprised at the fact that Jerry Jones finally hired Jason Garrett as the full-time Dallas Cowboys head coach, but the NFL football betting world has been back and forth on this for so long that most people are just glad it is over.

The Cowboys are not part of the Super Bowl betting frenzy, but they did make the news by finally announcing that Jason Garrett will have the interim tag removed from his title and be made the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. The betting services, and Jason Garrett, all know that the performance of the team under Garrett will be compared to the team’s performance under such coaches as Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson and not Wade Philips. Garrett knows that he must do significantly better than Philips if he wants to keep his job for more than two season.

When Jerry Jones was making the official announcement late last week, he indicated that it was the abrupt turn-around of the team once Garrett took over that convinced him that he has his coach. Garrett has already started to hire his staff and has indicated that he will have no off-season. Garrett has been charged with creating a Super Bowl team in Dallas, and he is set to take his job very seriously.

One of the coaching jobs that will get significant media coverage with the new Dallas coaching staff is defensive coordinator. Wade Philips ran the defense when he was the head coach, and most people felt that the defense under-performed for the past couple of years. The top candidates being considered for the open Dallas defensive coordinator position include Vic Fangio who currently works for the Stanford college football program and Greg Manusky who is currently a member of the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff. It is unclear as to whether Jerry Jones will hire the defensive coordinator, or if Jason Garrett will get involved in the final decision.

Jason Garrett was the offensive coordinator under Wade Philips, and he maintained that position when he took over as head coach. Now that Garrett is the head coach, one name that keeps coming up as the new offensive coordinator for the Cowboys is Miami Dolphins tight ends coach John Garrett. It probably does not hurt that John Garrett is also the older brother of Jason Garrett. The Cowboys hope to have a decision later in the week on both the offensive and defensive coordinator positions.

One casualty of the Dallas Cowboys search for a head coach was the departure of wide receivers coach Ray Sherman. Sherman had interviewed for the head coaching job that was eventually given to Jason Garrett. When Garrett was announced as the new Cowboys head coach, it was also announced that Sherman is no longer part of the Cowboys organization. It was not made clear whether Sherman resigned after not getting the head coaching job, or whether he was let go to make room for a wide receivers coach that Jason Garrett will choose.

Everyone is speculating that Jason Garrett will be the Cowboys new head coach, and the announcement is expected tomorrow. The last hurdle was to satisfy the Rooney Rule, which was done with the interviewing of WR Coach Ray Sherman by Jerry Jones today. More on this in the link to a Dallas News article below:

Hurdles Cleared for Jason Garrett Hiring

The online sportsbook experts have not seen a press release or heard an announcement from the Dallas Cowboys that confirmed that Jason Garrett is the next head coach, but rumors about Garrett building a coaching staff keep popping up.

The newest NFL betting rumor is that the Cowboys brought in Miami Dolphins assistant head coach and secondary coach Todd Bowles to interview for the offensive coordinator position and not the head coaching job as originally reported. The football betting world knows that Bowles has been with the Dolphins for the last three years, and in those three years the Dolphins have dropped a lot of interceptions. But, as part of the Rooney Rule, Bowles was said to be interviewing for the head coaching job. The NFL predictions are guessing that the talk was more about defensive coordinator than head coach.

Still, with Jason Garrett now interviewing prospective members of his coaching staff, Jerry Jones has not yet named Garrett as head coach. The speculation was that Jones would do so earlier in the week, but he did not. Now with Eric Mangini available for a coaching position, rumors are flying again that Jones is not sold on Garrett and that the owner wants to interview Eric Mangini before making a final announcement. But the Cowboys did announce that the interview process ended earlier this week, but there has not been any kind of coaching announcement as of yet.

The activities at Valley Ranch in the last week or two are incredibly confusing and are raising a lot of questions. If Garrett is the new head coach, then why doesn’t Jerry Jones just make it official? If Garrett is not the head coach, then why is he interviewing coaches for prospective staff jobs? Obviously, Jerry Jones and the Cowboys front office know more than the media does. But this strange set of circumstances is only fueling the notion that the Cowboys are not a focused organization.

The Cowboys finished 26^th against the pass and lacked a quality cover corner in their secondary. That may be why there are new rumors floating around that the Cowboys may have an interest in tearing Champ Bailey away from the Denver Broncos. Bailey would give the Cowboys some of the closing speed they need at the corner and help bring stability to a defense that seemed to come unglued in the 2010 season.

The Dallas Cowboys finished the season with the sixth best passing offense in the league. That should give Cowboys fans a reason to be optimistic about 2011 when you consider that the starting quarterback missed most of the season, the offensive line was adequate at best and the star rookie wide receiver missed several games due to injury. The Cowboys can build on their successes of 2010, and try to create the offensive machine that everyone was expecting. Quarterback Tony Romo will be ready for summer workouts and training camp, and receiver Dez Bryant is expected to be ready by summer as well.

It appears to be a good sports bet that Jason Garrett will have the interim term removed from his title and be named the Dallas Cowboys new head coach as early as this week. The NFL betting lines have speculated for a while now that owner Jerry Jones will be naming Garrett as the official new head coach at a press conference sometime Tuesday or Wednesday.

But, true to Jerry Jones’ style, the Cowboys owner is not tipping his hand just yet. As the Super Bowl betting begins without the Dallas Cowboys, Jones is claiming that he is still in search of a coach and is still interviewing candidates. Many NFL predictions have Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden as front-runners for the job, but neither former Super Bowl winning head coach has made a comment on the process.

For his part, Jerry Jones has said that no NFL head coach has won a Super Bowl with two different teams. Jones could be reminding the media that Bill Parcels was supposed to bring a Super Bowl title to the New York Jets, New England Patriots and Dallas after winning the big game with the New York Giants, but Parcels failed to win the Super Bowl after leaving the Giants.

In a move that could be exposing the Cowboys head coach search process, interim head coach Jason Garrett has already started to hint at coaches he will want for his staff. One coach Garrett mentioned specifically was Wisconsin Badgers offensive coordinator Paul Chryst. There are strong rumors that Garrett’s first move if the interim tag is removed will be to bring in Chryst as the new offensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys.

Because of their 6-10 record, the Dallas Cowboys have secured the number nine pick in the 2011 NFL draft. The Cowboys seemed to come into the 2010 season with very few weak spots on either side of the ball, but as the season played out it became apparent that the Cowboys were deficient on the offensive line as well as the defensive secondary. The Cowboys get the chance to add to their already talented roster by either using the number nine pick, or trading it for experienced players.

This year will be a unique draft because of the looming cloud of an expiring collective bargaining agreement. If a new CBA is not in place by July, then there may not be a 2011 season. Teams are hoarding coaches and players in anticipation of the carnage to come. The Cowboys may decide to trade their pick because of the high cost, and high uncertainty, that a top 10 pick brings. No one in the Dallas Cowboys front office has commented on the draft order as of yet.

The Cowboys had five players named to the 2011 NFC Pro Bowl team despite the 6-10 record. OLB DeMarcus Ware, TE Jason Witten, P Mat McBriar, OL Andre Gurode and DT Jay Ratliff will represent the Cowboys in Hawaii the week before the Super Bowl.

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

If you plan on placing an online sports bet on the Dallas Cowboys this week, you may want to wait until the Cowboys decide who is playing quarterback. Despite his spirited, and well-choreographed, comeback against the Arizona Cardinals on Christmas Day, the NFL betting lines experts were informed that Dallas third-string quarterback Stephen McGee is not a lock to start the last game of the season.

The sports betting bonus crowd will have to wait and see what kind of progress quarterback Jon Kitna has with his torn abdomen muscle before finding out who will start. Kitna has still not been able to practice since his injury in the third quarter of the Arizona game, but people are holding off on any NFL predictions regarding Kitna’s status until Friday.

While Kitna sits on the sidelines and watches practice, McGee has been taking all of the snaps with the first-string offense. The Cowboys have not brought in any other quarterback to practice, and no other Cowboy player was seen taking snaps besides McGee.

The Cowboys actually have a very practical reason for wanting to at least have Kitna in uniform for this game. Once you get past Stephen McGee on the depth chart, there really is no one to play quarterback for the Cowboys. Starting quarterback Tony Romo is out for the season, so the Cowboys would have no one to play quarterback if McGee were to get hurt and Kitna is not on the field. It is unclear as to whether or not the Cowboys will sign a quarterback for the one game, or designate a back-up quarterback from the current roster if Kitna cannot go.

Despite the less than impressive season from the Cowboys, it was learned that five Dallas players were named to this season’s Pro Bowl. Tight end Jason Witten leads a group that includes center Andre Gurode, defensive tackle Jay Ratliff, punter Mat McBriar and outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware. The most impressive thing about the list is that every Cowboy that was selected was also named a Pro Bowl starter. The Pro Bowl will be played the week between the Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl, but it has been moved back to Hawaii after being played last year in Florida.

The Cowboys have put their search for a new head coach into high gear, and it looks like the Christmas Day loss to the Cardinals put a nail in the coffin of interim head coach Jason Garrett. For four years Garrett was called the associate head coach and paid like a head coach just to keep him in Dallas in anticipation of the day when he would take over the team. But the media noticed a defined anger in Jerry Jones when the Cardinals game was over, and Jones announced after that game that the result had affected the search for a new head coach.

Garrett has not made a comment on the coaching search since the Christmas Day loss, but he has maintained prior to the game that he understands the process and is just trying to win football games at this point.

The online sports betting websites are buzzing after the Dallas Cowboys lost a game on Christmas Day to the Arizona Cardinals that they never should have lost. It is difficult for the NFL betting lines experts to say that a missed extra point will cost Jason Garrett the chance to become the full-time Cowboys head coach, but it is certain that place kicker David Buehler did not help his chances of being on the Cowboys roster next season, if there is a next season.

The sportsbook promo betting action this week for the Cowboys centers on two topics; the search for a new head coach and who will play quarterback in the Cowboys final game of the season. The coaching search is under way, but owner Jerry Jones says that his list of potential candidates is short. Aside from Garrett, the only other current Cowboy coach that Jones mentioned by name is wide receivers coach Ray Sherman. Jones says that both Garrett and Jones will be given a chance to go through the interview process when the season is over.

Other names that keep coming up are Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher, but Jones expressed some hesitation at hiring a former Super Bowl winning coach. Jones pointed out that no head coach has won a Super Bowl with two different teams, and the goal in Dallas is a Super Bowl.

Along with the high profile coaching names, candidates such as Mike Singletary and Norv Turner are also being discussed. While the media has been throwing names around for the interview process, Jones assured fans and the media that the short list of actual candidates is less than 10 and that this interview process will be much more comprehensive than the process that was used to hire Wade Philips.

None of the NFL predictions surrounding the Dallas Cowboys took third-string quarterback Stephen McGee into account. But when back-up Jon Kitna was injured in the Arizona game, McGee came in and gave the Cowboys a chance to win. Were it not for a missed extra point on a McGee touchdown pass, the Cowboys could have taken the game with the Cardinals to overtime. But McGee played well in his first taste of extended playing time in the NFL. He went 11 of 17 for 111 yards, one touchdown and a rating of 102.8.

With nothing left to really talk about in the Cowboys season, the question now comes up as to who will play in the Cowboys final game of the season against the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia. Jerry Jones wants to win this game, make no mistake about it. That means that the team will put in the quarterback that gives them the best chance to win. Kitna has torn abdominal muscles that need to heal before he can consider playing. If Kitna cannot go, then McGee is expected to start. But if Kitna feels he can play, then the Cowboys have indicated that the veteran backup will play in the finale against the Eagles.