2012 Schedule

I didn't post on here yet, but for 2012 here are Dallas' opponents. (AFC North and NFC South)

Home> New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Chicago... (and of course NFC East rivals)

Away> Atlanta, Carolina, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Seattle... (and of course NFC East rivals)

That is all for now...

This weekend is the Pro Bowl but there's only two Dallas Players, DeMarcus Ware and I think Jay Ratliff... so I'll watch but, eh...

R.I.P. Joe Paterno

I felt it was only right to pay a little respect to Joe Paterno, 85, former Penn State head coach, who passed away on Sunday, January 22nd due to complications with lung cancer.

Paterno had a storied 46 year career with Penn State and a record 409 wins as head coach. His legacy will live on despite the Sandusky scandal which brought about his dismissal and slightly tarnished his name.

With the scandal, Paterno's firing, and the announcement of his lung cancer, it created a whirlwind of news these past few months, and it is no doubt that all of this stress highly contributed to his downturn in health.

R.I.P. Joe Paterno, you will not be forgotten.

Deja Vu

Championship weekend is over and the winners are very familiar...

Baltimore was playing against New England, and played a great game, keeping it very close. It all ended, however, with a missed Billy Cundiff 31 yard field goal that would have sent the game into overtime, and The Patriots end up going to yet another Super Bowl.

San Francisco was hosting The Giants and they also played pretty well, although they made just enough mistakes to fail in overtime and the New York football Giants are once again sailing to the Bowl.

So there you have it... Giants vs Patriots, a rematch 5 years in the making... Will the underdog Giants once again rise against all challenges and claim victory or will The Patriots enact their revenge for their spoiled perfect 2007 season?

2011 AJay Awards

It's not that it hasn't been done in a hundred different places by many people, but I wanted to do my own little bit of recognition for who I believe were the top performers for the Dallas Cowboys in the 2011 season.

- Tony Romo - There isn't enough that can be said for Romo. He may have a couple games in him where he makes mistakes that cause a loss, but overall, he gives Dallas the best chance at winning and he puts his heart into his play. Many will criticize different aspects of Romo, but he's absolutely been the best option Dallas has had at quarterback since Aikman.

- DeMarcus Ware - I don't think anyone questions how good Ware is... this was a productive year for him, which was a nice surprise because he was getting double teamed almost every down. He still battled all season long with Jarred Allen for the league lead in sacks, and if it weren't for injuries, he may have topped Allen and won NFC Defensive Player of the Year himself.

- Laurent Robinson - Speaking of surprise, this guy was one of the biggest surprises of the season. Signed midway through the first half of the year, Robinson quickly became a reliable and valuable asset, making clutch catches and clutch touchdowns. He was pretty consistent all year as well, while Miles Austin and Dez Bryant both flip flopped injuries throughout.

- Sean Lee - This was practically Sean Lee's first season, since

he was injured all of last year, and it has been quite a year for the Penn State alum. Lee's performance was exceptional, and when he got injured and missed a game, it was evident how valuable he was... there is a huge drop off between him and the next guy (Keith Brooking.)

- DeMarco Murray - Another shock which nobody saw coming was the emergence of Murray, who took over when Felix Jones and Tashard Choice got hurt and cut, respectively. His first major game was against St. Louis, in that game he not only took his first carry for a 90-some yard touchdown, but he ended up with 250 rushing yards and broke a Cowboys record in the process. If it weren't for injury, he was on pace to break single season records as well, and he didn't even play much for the first 5 games.

Those players are tops on my list... there were certainly other players who I thought had a great year, but these five stuck out enough to stay in my memory.

Dez Nuts

I wanted to editorialize a bit about talented, second year wideout, Dez Bryant and his off-field troubles.

When he was chosen by Dallas in the draft two years ago there were already many who worried about his attitude off-field. He was reported to have a problem with practices and some of the other basic things about getting ready for games.

The talent was not a question, which was proven when he returned a punt for a touchdown in one of his first games as a Cowboy. He just seemed a little lazy and a little cocky.

In his two years, there have been a number of off-field incidents which are starting to put him in the 'Pacman' Jones category. There are issues of citations for wearing his pants too low at a mall and a couple reports about him not paying for jewelry. Most recently, he has apparently been involved in an altercation of some kind at a Miami club which may or may not have involved the rapper, Lil' Wayne. No police report has been revealed however.

Regardless, these problems keep adding up and what that means is trouble for The Dallas Cowboys.

I want nothing more than Dez to become one of the most elite wide receivers in the league, he has the potential. I can't even put him in the same category as T.O. because T.O. does put a lot of time into working out and preparing, he just has a monsterous ego. Dez doesn't put in the work he should and he's causing incidents off-field, which like I said earlier, puts him moreso in the 'Pacman' Jones category.

He is young, I will give him that, and I can only hope that he sees the light sooner rather than later, because right now, Dallas needs him.

40th Anniversary

I almost let the day pass without realizing that today, January 16 2012, is the 40th anniversary of The Dallas Cowboys first Super Bowl Victory! Super Bowl VI to be exact.

It was their second appearance in the Big Game,

the first appearance was the year prior, in Super Bowl V in 1971 (the 1970 season,) and they lost 16-13 to the (then) Baltimore Colts.

In 1972 (1971 season) after a fairly successful run, Roger Staubach took Dallas into Super Bowl VI and convincingly won against the Miami Dolphins, 24-3.

While I have your attention, I figured I would continue looking back to the 'Good Times' and list all 8 of Dallas' Super Bowl appearances and the results. They have a 5-3 record... not bad, but now that Pittsburgh has 6 rings, it's about due time that Dallas reclaimed their throne.

- 1970 - Super Bowl V - Lost 16-13 (Baltimore Colts)

- 1971 - Super Bowl VI - Won 24-3 (Miami Dolphins)

- 1975 - Super Bowl X - Lost 21-17 (Pittsburgh Steelers)

- 1977 - Super Bowl XII - Won 27-10 (Denver Broncos)

- 1978 - Super Bowl XIII - Lost 35-31 (Pittsburgh Steelers)

- 1992 - Super Bowl XXVII - Won 52-17 (Buffalo Bills)

- 1993 - Super Bowl XXVIII - Won 30-13 (Buffalo Bills)

- 1995 - Super Bowl XXX - Won 27-17 (Pittsburgh Steelers)

Playoffs - Thus Far

It's been another wacky and wild NFL playoffs... Wild Card Weekend is over and now Division Weekend is over too... It all comes down to 4 teams, two of which will be heading to Indianapolis for Super Bowl XBBIIDN (or whatever.)

- Baltimore beat Houston this weekend so they will now head up to New England to face The Patriots (who whooped on Denver on Saturday night.)

- The Giants shockingly won against The Packers, and they will travel up to San Fransisco to face the 49ers, who shockingly beat The Saints.

So there you have it... I don't want The Giants to get into the big game, so I'm rooting like crazy for the 49ers... I also hate The Patriots, so it would be nice for Baltimore to have another crack at a title. I have a bad feeling that it might be a 2007 rematch between Giants/Patriots. We shall see...

New Year! Same Old?

Well another year will bring another season for Dallas, and although it is early and I am still sobering up from this pathetically mediocre season which led to nothing, I am hopeful for the future... I guess I have to be.

The schedule won't be released until April, and I'm not even positive which divisions Dallas will play next year, but I'm hoping that enough changes are made to inspire a 'winning' season.

DEFENSE:

The main changes need to come from defense... there is no question. Rob Ryan has a lot of fire in his belly (as well as a lot of food,) and his energy can lead to good things, but this season the defense fizzled out. Maybe it was the lockout, maybe it was poor talent, but there has to be changes this upcoming season.

First and foremost, Terrence Newman has got to go... I always liked the guy and hoped for him to succeed, but these last two seasons in particular demonstrate that he should not be the #1 cornerback for this team, nor any team. Jenkins and Scandrick are mediocre as well, so the whole backfield needs re-evaluated.

OFFENSE:

The offense wasn't too much of an issue... sure there was a game here and there in which Tony Romo made foolish mistakes that led to a loss, and the injury bug kept inflicting this team. It almost seemed that if Felix Jones was healthy, Demarcus Murray was hurt, or if Dez Bryant was healthy, Miles Austin was injured. With an offensive roster full of healthy players, Dallas can probably match any offense in the league (my opinion, of course.)

SPECIAL TEAMS:

Not much to say about special teams, they didn't really win us any games, but didn't really lose us any games either. They could tighten up some screws and whatnot, but they are what we thought they were.

D-feated...

Well, Happy New Year!

My lack of posts these past three weeks should probably tell you a little something. As it always seems, Dallas had two games in which to take care of business and get into the playoffs but as they always do, they blew it.

Against Philly, which was a game that meant nothing since The Giants won earlier in the day knocking out Philly, Romo got hurt on the first drive and the rest of the team played like they were all hurt... they managed one touchdown within the last couple of seconds just so they weren't blown out.

And in the finale' against The Giants, in a do-or-die game, Dallas' defense was practically not playing. It was a horror show, and it ended The Cowboy's season, just like that...

Now the Giants are already plowing through the playoffs, having beaten Atlanta in the wild card game, they will now go up to Green Bay to see if they can survive against Rodger's crew.

As for the rest of the playoffs... New Orleans beat Detroit and will head to San Fransisco next week... and for the AFC, Houston destroyed Cincinnati and will now head to Baltimore, and just last night Denver got more 'Tebow Magic' and won in overtime against Pittsburgh... Denver now plays New England.

So there you have it.