Here comes the tough stuff, the second half of the season
Well it's that time again..going into basically the second half of the season, and it's going to really be a test to see how good this team is.
First off let me start of with some stats for you. We have nine games left in the regular season, of those nine games only two teams have a losing record. Those two teams are the New York Jets and The Philadelphia Eagles. I don't even want to throw the Eagles into that category because it's a division game, and who knows what can happen in a division game. Every year, when I make my prediction for the win loss record of the season, I split the division 3-3. They're just too unpredictable.
Now, I'm not panicking or anything. I believe we have a real good team and a great opportunity to make a deep run into the playoffs and even the Super Bowl. You have to think though, this is where we see who the real Cowboys are. Like everyone keeps saying, I would take 6-1 at the bye in a heartbeat. Who wouldn't? Also, though, nobody expected the bears to be as bad as they are. Heck, I wouldn't have taken Miami OR St.Louis to be as bad as they are. I didn't expect them to be great, but I didn't expect them to roll over and die.
Coming up to the next half of the season we will most certainly be challenged. Heck, our next three games are division games. If we can sweep that little trifecta there I believe it's going to be real hard for anyone to stop us. Three division wins in a row would be a huge momentum boost, not to mention give us great separation from the rest of this division, not to mention the conference (hopefully).
The win loss record of our upcoming opponents is 25 and 19. That seems kind of close but you have to keep in mind that the Eagles have lost 4 games and the Jets have lost 6. So the schedule is tougher than the combined win loss record really shows. Heck, of all the teams we play, those are the only two teams on our schedule at this point with more than two losses.
I realize that the season is still young, but I believe this is where the true colors of our beloved Dallas Cowboys well be shown. We have to stay healthy, continue rolling on offense, and most importantly STOP BEATING OURSELVES. If this team doesn't have heart I don't know what it does have, because we constantly commit stupid penalties and turnovers and come back to find ways to win.
Push come to shove, I believe that we can win this division and keep playing great football. Barring a catastrophe or colossal breakdown we should roll into the playoffs (hopefully with a first round bye and home field advantage). This has been an exciting season thus far and I don't expect the next half to be much different. Thanks for reading.
Mark
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not as tough as you think
the remaining games seem tougher because we've only played one divisional game and have 5 division games left.
Obviously the divisional games are always tough, but teams like Jets, Lions, Panthers should not be looked at as tough games. If so, we have no business thinking we're a SB team.
I'll be happy if we go 4-2 within our division, but I wouldn't consider 3-3 all that horrible either. To me, GB is the big game as it might determine home field throughout the playoffs.
Even if we only win 2 out of 3 againt Detroit, Carolina and NYJets, that should give at least us 10 or 11 wins.
See, when you break it down like that, its not so bad, although I'm still standing by my preseason prediction of 13-3, we lose to Giants on the road, and Washington the last game of the season as hopefully we'll be resting players for the playoffs.
by Terry on Oct 22, 2007 4:33 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Detroit
I know they stink, but it seems like whenever we play them at Detroit we manage to lose the game.
by APerfectStar on Oct 22, 2007 6:11 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Good point
We have played Detroit 3 times in their place since 2000:
2001 lost 3-15
2002 lost 7-9
2003 won 38-7
The common thread of the two losses is we could not score. I think it safe to say this offense is a little better than any of those years. But the pasting they put on our defense (31-39) last year at home should stir some blood in our guys this year.
by lee3022 on Oct 23, 2007 2:23 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I hope they make Furrey pay
For knocking that star off the wall. But I can also see Kitna having a long day, if he's still uninjured by then.
by APerfectStar on Oct 23, 2007 4:23 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
The only game that worries me
right now is the Giants game. They are playing well and their D-Line is just killing O-line's and QB's. Now, they haven't fixed anything in the secondary, so if we can contain the pass rush, we should be able to light them up again.
For some reason, I can't think past the Giants game. That one is circled on my calendar.
by Philosopher on Oct 22, 2007 4:48 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
that no doubt will be the toughest game
by Terry on Oct 22, 2007 8:47 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
True, very true.
I agree some of the teams in the upcoming schedule are doing worse than they were. Let's just hope these teams don't rebound! Like I said, i'm not too worried but I also don't want to overlook any of these teams. Any given sunday my friends, and given sunday
by markdamack on Oct 22, 2007 5:56 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Or Any Monday
We escaped from Buffalo, hope the team learned not to ever look past anyone from that experience.
by APerfectStar on Oct 22, 2007 6:13 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
IF IF IF
If we can go 3-2 against the division the rest of the way, and 3-1 in the non-division games, that would put us at 12-4, which certainly should earn us a bye week, and hopefully will give us home field advantage.
To me, that is a worst-case scenario. If we do any worse than this, it is because something went terribly wrong... meaning we don't deserve to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.
If we can reduce the mistakes, 13-3 is very possible, perhaps even probable. At this point, it seems the only thing standing between us and a Super Bowl are our own mistakes.
by DalaiLuke on Oct 22, 2007 9:12 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
you're absolutely correct
the only difference between Pats, Colts and our Cowboys is experience and consistency.
Those teams don't beat themselves so if we can get to that point at some point this season, we can definitely compete for the championship because we're as talented as any team.
by Terry on Oct 23, 2007 7:34 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
One problem with predictions
is they cannot allow for future injuries, either ours or our opponents. We can only estimate based on no critical injuries but look how the loss of Newman, Ferguson and then Henry has affected us already. We are a relatively deep team but the Super Bowl champion is often the good team with the fewest injuries at the end.
by lee3022 on Oct 23, 2007 3:31 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

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