April showers might bring May flowers, but April also brings us a little bit closer to Football Season. There are still 5 months before the actual battles will begin, but April is when the schedules are announced and also when the draft takes place. It is the difibulator that electrifies the heart and keeps Football alive in these lonely, cold off-season days.
On Tuesday the schedules for the 2009 season were released, and Dallas sure doesn't get many breaks. Sure, you could say that Kansas City & Oakland might be easy wins, but you could have said the same thing about St. Louis and Baltimore last year, and we all know how that turned out.
Regardless of what happened then, this is now and we have a clean slate for 2009. If you haven't already noticed, I posted the new schedule on the right side of this blog, and it was definitely a good feeling deleting last season's dismal schedule and scores.
The new schedule has Dallas in five prime time matchups, with the possibility of even more (depending on late season flexes.) This is definitely welcome, especially for me since I no longer have DirecTV and unfortunately all of the local bars are either Eagles, Steelers or Ravens bars... ugh.
There are a few teams that Dallas seems to play every year now (besides our division,) so we will once again face Tampa Bay (Week 1 @ TB), Seattle (Week 8 @ Dal) & Green Bay (Week 10 @ GB.) I am looking forward to the opening game against Tampa Bay, as that is my nephew's favorite team. If Dallas comes out strong, as they have the past few years, The Bucs should provide The Cowboys with their first 'W'.
Week 2 will be the Grand Opening of Dallas' new stadium in Arlington (if you don't count the pre-season). Whether you call it JerryWorld, JonesMahal or just The New Texas Stadium it will be ready for the world to see on September 20th against division rivals, The New York Giants. I got my popcorn ready... oh wait, I guess I should come up with a new phrase now huh?!
The "unfortunates" of the schedule include: An early BYE (Week 6,) and another tough final stretch. Lately, Dallas has not exactly been top-notch by the time December comes, and this year doesn't seem any easier.
The last five games are against The Giants, San Diego, New Orleans, Washington and then Philly... (again!)
I don't know what the cruel joke is, but that's two years in a row that the season has ended with a Dallas/Philly matchup. Sure it's a great storyline, but it's hard not to think of that 44-6 loss from last season and throw up a little in my mouth. Let's just hope it's not another do-or-die playoff scenario.
I mentioned that there will be five prime time games. Week 2 against The Giants, Week 3 (MNF) against Carolina, Week 9 against Philly, Week 15 (NFLN) against New Orleans and Week 16 against Washington.
The excitement of new schedules has me a little antsy, and I'll be even more excited next weekend when the draft begins.
To sum it up, and my first prediction of the 2009 Season... The Cowboys will go 11-5 and reach the playoffs, hopefully forging a path to the Super Bowl. Is this a realistic prediction? Nah, just high hopes, but we'll see how it all plays out.
I will do my best to update my blog after the draft to see what new weapons Dallas will have. Until then... Good day!
