Cowboys at Eagles to open 2018 season makes a ton of sense - Todd Archer,ESPN
Archer contemplates the NFL opening the 2018 season with the Cowboys taking on the defending Super Bowl champions.
Since 2012, the Dallas Cowboys have opened their regular season against the New York Giants five times. The only time they didn’t came in 2014 when they hosted the San Francisco 49ers.
While the 2018 schedule will not be announced until the spring, is it too soon to think about the Cowboys opening the season against an NFC East opponent once again?
With the Philadelphia Eagles winning Super Bowl LII on Sunday, they will kick off the 2018 regular season at Lincoln Financial Field in early September with a Thursday night game.
While that opener will garner ratings regardless of the opponent, having the Eagles and Cowboys open the season would almost certainly be a ratings boon for a league that saw the numbers slide in 2017.
Eagles’ Big Win Offers Cowboys Valuable Lessons On Roster Building - David Helman, Dallas Cowboys
Like many, Helman thinks the Eagles willingness to mine the free agent market and engage in trades is something the Cowboys need to consider in trying to get back on top of the NFC East.
Their backup quarterback, acquired for a very manageable salary, dissected New England to the tune of 373 yards and an MVP performance. Their running backs, both of whom were acquired for small prices, combined for 147 yards and a touchdown. The two cast off wide receivers that they signed last offseason combined for eight catches, 118 yards and a touchdown.
At every level of the field, it seemed like the Eagles got contributions from someone the Cowboys would never dream of employing. After all, for several years here in Dallas we have been warned about the dangers of the open market.
And let’s be totally fair to the Cowboys for a second. I still believe that free agency is not a smart way to build an NFL roster. Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones loves to point out that the open market rewards average players like good players and good players like great ones.
Star Evaluation: Keith Smith Maximizes Special Teams, Fullback Snaps | Dallas Cowboys
The Mothership has an interesting series looking at each player likely to be in camp and on the roster going into 2018. Here they look at fullback Keith Smith.
Unless the Cowboys find more ways to get an extra tight end involved as a blocker, or unless they add some true competition at fullback – a position that’s no longer a standard part of college-level offenses – Smith should continue his role on offense. Garrett still sees value in a lead blocker from his days as a teammate of Daryl “Moose” Johnston in the 1990s. And Smith is also as valuable special teams player. He played 257 of a possible 425 snaps on special teams and made an important block on the fake punt that helped keep the Cowboys’ season alive at Oakland in December.
Eagles 41-33 Super Bowl win caps worst season ever for Cowboys fans - K.D. Drummond, Cowboys Wire
Dummond looks back at the past season, blow-by-blow, recapping the highs and (mostly) lows. I'd forgotten how ugly the month of May had been.
May 12
Suspended Cowboys LB Rolando McClain arrested in Alabama on drug and gun charges.
May 23
It leaks Cowboys DE David Irving is facing a four-game suspension for violating the PED policy.
May 24
Elliott involved in another car accident, this one affecting his practice schedule for a few days.
May 29
Nolan Carroll arrested for DUI after attending a club function where he was guest of honor.
Eagles quarterback Nick Foles MVP - Clarence E. Hill Jr., Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Hill weighs in on Foles as the Eagles QB down the stretch.
Going from backup quarterback to a Super Bowl title and Super Bowl MVP has been done before. Doug Williams did it for the Washington Redskins.
But Foles’ run was unlikely and historic because his play toward the end of the season didn’t foster much confidence.
He was awful in a 6-0 loss to the Dallas Cowboys in the season finale.
But the Eagles never gave up on him, especially coach Doug Pederson, who used the bye week to tailor a game plan and an offense to Foles’ strengths.
The former Austin Westlake star — who joined Drew Brees, also from Westlake, as the only Texas high school quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl title — turned it on during the playoffs.
A day of reckoning for Jason Garrett and the Cowboys Tim Cowlishaw, SportsDay
More advice recommending the Cowboys look to the Eagles for lessons on how to build a roster.
For the third time since Garrett has walked the Cowboys sidelines as coordinator or head coach, an NFC East team has been crowned Super Bowl champs. This time it's different.
When Jerry Jones hired Garrett in 2007 for an undetermined job that turned out to be offensive coordinator (and head coach-in-waiting), it was because the owner believed there was coaching greatness in the former backup quarterback. It was no knock on the young coach when the Giants' Tom Coughlin stunned first the Cowboys and eventually New England in that 2007 season.
When Coughlin and the Giants did it again after the 2011 season, that was Garrett's first full season as head coach. The training wheels had not yet come off. And I think the most important difference between those Giants' triumphs and what happened Sunday night in Minnesota is that the New York teams got hot at the right time.
The '07 Giants were a 10-6 wild-card team that finished three games behind Dallas. The '11 Giants were 9-7 division winners. They seized on an opportunity more than anything else.
This year's Eagles came flying out of the gates and never stopped. By the time they had run over the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on Nov. 19, they were 9-1 with a four-game lead on Dallas. When they carved up the Rams in LA three weeks later -- the day they would lose MVP candidate Carson Wentz for the year -- they were 11-2.
Looks like the Cowboys fans decided to largely skip the Super Bowl this year (and we all know why):
Eagles' Super Bowl win didn't fly high in DFW. We were 46th among the 52 major markets in the overnight ratings game. The national score was 47.4 rating. DFW scored a 43.4.
— Barry Horn (@bhorn55) February 5, 2018
Details are scarce right now, but here's what we know about the Cowboys hosting the 2018 NFL draft - Barry Horn, SportsDay
Horn provides some insight into how the NFL draft wound up in Dallas (and why it won't be back any time soon).
The NFL took the draft on the road in 2015, first to Chicago for two years and then last year to Philadelphia. From 1965 to 2014 it was anchored in New York, where it most recently played out at Radio City Music Hall.
A scheduling conflict there forced the NFL to find an alternative. Instead of a another location in New York, it opted for a theater and nearby Grant Park in downtown Chicago. It was held in a similar setting in Philadelphia.
Seeing the apparent success of the road show, other cities quickly began lining up to host the event. The Cowboys have been interested since Chicago first got the draft. Their only uncertainty was a venue. They considered Dallas' Klyde Warren Park, which would offer a similar setting to Chicago and Philadelphia, AT&T Stadium and, of course, The Star, the franchise's home in Frisco, which was still under construction.
The Cowboys tried to sell The Star to the NFL for the 2017 draft, but the league opted for Philadelphia instead.
The Eagles Super Bowl victory doesn’t mean the Cowboys are on the wrong path - Danny Phantom, Blogging The Boys
Finally, BTB’s Danny Phantom tells us why the Eagles success isn’t an indication of the Cowboys’ failure.
What Philadelphia accomplished this season was impressive. Their general manager, Howie Roseman did a great job finding the right pieces to help his team. Head coach Doug Pederson has done a remarkable job during his first two years with the team. And the players on both sides of the ball all stepped up and performed this season. What they accomplished was extraordinary and worthy of high praise.
But just because Roseman did a great job doesn’t mean Jerry Jones and Will McClay are running around with their shoelaces tied together. Pederson’s climb to the top in such a short time is not evidence that Jason Garrett is stale and ineffective. And sure, the Cowboys had some of their biggest stars have down seasons this year, but that doesn’t mean they are washed up and should be released. Yet, this is where many fans are at right now.
When you see others have success around you, one reaction is to become jealous and just want what they have. It becomes easy to just get down on yourself. But another is to just focus on the task at hand to get yourself where you need to go. Fortunately for Cowboys fans, this example the type of head coach and front office this team has.