Rick Gosselin has some depressing stats in his article this morning. (sub. required)
The longer a team stays on the road, the more weary the body and legs become. Of the 92 teams that have taken three-game trips in the last 16 years, 63 lost more games than they won. Six teams went 3-0 and 23 teams went 2-1 - but 48 teams went 1-2 and 15 more went 0-3.
And to make it worse Dallas has 6 road games in its first 9 contests. I will say this though, if Dallas can come out of the first half of the schedule with a decent record, the second half of the season sets up nicely.
Gosselin also says the 1992 Cowboys had the same 3-game road trip and wnet 2-1 on the way to a 13-3 season and a Super Bowl win.
But...
This Dallas team doesn't.
The Cowboys declined to match the Bucs offer to OT Torrin Tucker.
Tucker, who received a $100,000 signing bonus, is scheduled to earn base salaries of $1.3 million each of the next two seasons.
Dallas will not receive any compensation for losing Tucker because he was an undrafted free agent when he joined the Cowboys prior to the 2003 season.
The preseason games have also been scheduled.
Nick Eatman, of DallasCowboys.com, reports the Dallas Cowboys will start the preseason with a 9 p.m. (CDT) start in Seattle against the Seattle Seahawks Aug. 12, followed by the ESPN Monday night game against the New Orleans Saints in Shreveport, La., Aug. 21. The Cowboys will return home for the final two preseason games, facing the San Francisco 49ers at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 26, and then the Minnesota Vikings in a Thursday, Aug. 31 meeting at 7 p.m.