Last week, KD posted a list of 21 things he thought he was thinking about Dallas Cowboys type things. I liked the Idea so much that I decided to do one of my own lists, so here are the 17 things I think about the Cowboys and stuff.
- How can anybody do a numbered list of things he thinks and not have that number be a prime? I asked KD about that and he replied that "21 is for Deion Sanders. As such it is a Prime number in a round about, take a left at the corner, type of way". Hrmpf!
- The preseason doesn't matter: Colts are 4-24 in their last 28 preseason games. They've lost eight straight. Yet they've made the playoffs in each of the last seven years and have won one Super Bowl in two appearances.
- The preseason does matter: Only two of the last 11 Super Bowl Winners had a losing record in the preseason. Obviously, one of the two were the Colts. Here are all the 11 Super Bowl winners and their preseason records.: ‘10-GB: 2-2, ‘09-NO: 3-1, ‘08-PIT: 3-1, ‘07-NYG: 4-0, ‘06-IND: 1-3, ‘05-PIT: 3-1, ‘04-NE: 1-3, ‘03-NE: 4-0, ‘02-TB: 3-1, '01-NE: 3-1, ‘00-BAL: 4-0.
- I'm not saying, I'm just saying: Stephen McGee leads all QBs after two preseason games with 365 passing yards. And his 89.0 passer rating with three touchdowns and one pick is not too shabby either.
- On the first two preseason weekends, the new kickoff rules resulted in a touchback percentage of 37.0% (103 touchbacks on 278 kickoffs in 32 games). That's more than twice the rate of the 2010 season, when the percentage was 16.4% (416 touchbacks, 2,539 kickoffs). But it also means that about two thirds of the kickoffs still do not result in a touchback. All this talk about not needing a big leg anymore may be just a tad premature.
- I will not be picking any more pet cats this season. My two pet cats, QB Zack Eskridge and DE/OLB Alex Daniels were among the first to be cut this year.
- Football is sooooo back. Chargers at Cowboys Sunday night on NBC ranked as the most-watched program on TV for the entire week. And we've noticed a surge in interest here on BTB as well. July set a new BTB record with 1.2 million page views. In August, we're already at 1.4 million page views and still have a week left. Dave, did you get that server upgrade we were talking about?
- Statlining: After two preseason games, the Cowboys are ranked 28th in the league with a 99.1 defensive passer rating. Last season they were 29th. Progress. Yep, definitely progress...
- I like that our Stadium is named Cowboys Stadium. But the Meadowlands just signed a 25-year deal with MetLife for a reported $17-18 million per year, and I'm worried Jerry might sign a similar deal soon. I understand that Jerry can't just kick $20+ million per year to the curb. But I just don't like the idea of a Cisco Circus, American Airlines Arena or Pepsi Palace.
- To improve the fan experience at Cowboys Stadium, I would put urinal cakes in the men's rooms with pictures of Michael Vick, Eli Manning and ... uhm ... lemme see .. Redskins ... hmmm ... Oh, darn it, let's just put Ben Roethlisberger in as the third guy.
- What on Earth is a progress stopper? If you search for the term on SBNation, you get 237 hits in the comments section. 159 on BTB, 75 on the Dolphins' Phinsider site. Don't you think it's a little strange that there are only two fan bases in the NFL that use the term? Connect the dots between the two teams and you get ... Bill Parcells and Jeff Ireland. Among the many Parcells-isms, Progress Stoppers are like an amicable divorce - you are sure it must exist, but in truth there is probably no such thing.
- Allow Rob Ryan to do the postgame press conferences. He swears a lot and looks angry most of the time. Just like most Cowboys fans. I would be glued to the screen for every single one his pressers.
- There are very few things that annoy me more than the whole "Score, Commercial, Kickoff, Commercial" thing. You end up watching a replay of the TD after the second play of the ensuing drive, which is just nuts. There's just too much advertising going on. Every time there's a great play on the field, you get abducted by advertisers trying to get you to buy stuff you already have or don't need. More importantly, that's time the cameramen and -women could have invested in much more worthwhile extreme close-ups of cheerleaders. [Ed Note]: Of course, advertising and such on BTB is exempted. Hey, we have to pay the bills somehow! [End Note]
- I think KD's mischievously annotated screenshots in his play-by-play posts are hilarious. I always skip down to the pictures first, then go back up and read the article.
- I think we'll see a lot of shootouts in the first eight or so Dallas games as the offense will be very busy keeping up with the scoring allowed by the defense. After that, the defense should be up to speed on Ryan's defense to win us a couple of games themselves.
- I'm rooting hard for Alex Albright to make the team as an outside linebacker. Imagine an OLB team of Spencer, Ware, Albright and Butler. Karmic awesomeness ensues.
- Tashard Choice was "screaming while running down the sidelines after catching a screen pass in the afternoon session". I don't really want to know exactly what he was screaming, but with that kind of passion, energy and moxie, that's the kind of guy I want on my team. End of discussion.