Cowboys/Redskins or just Football fans...
Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:05 amFound this on the 'Boys website...but even you 'Skins fans would probably agree with this one. Good read, too.
>> Dallas Cowboys 2008 Schedule <<
IRVING, Texas - Maybe the NFL is just assuming the Dallas Cowboys are going to be darn good again this year.
And evidently the schedule-meisters must feel that way since the Cowboys will play five primetime night games this year, appearing three times on NBC's Sunday night telecast, once on ESPN's Monday night show and once on an NFL Network Saturday night presentation.
That national exposure doesn't include the annual Thanksgiving Day game from Texas Stadium, which is broadcast to a national audience, along with obvious Sunday afternoon games likely going to the majority of the nation when the Cowboys open the 2008 season at Cleveland and then play a Dec. 7 afternoon game at Pittsburgh.
So really, that's like eight practically national broadcasts. Not just any team gets that type of exposure. And certainly the Cowboys aren't just any team when it comes to you guys tuning them in given the chance from anywhere in the country.
But then, hey, the Cowboys are coming off a 13-3 season. They did win the NFC East last year. They did beat the Super Bowl champion Giants two out of three times, even if they didn't win the one that counted most. They did earn the NFC's top seed in the playoffs.
So maybe that's why the NFL didn't seem to give much thought to the final regular-season game scheduled to ever be played at Texas Stadium. The matchmakers must be counting on the Cowboys playing a home playoff game for the final game ever Texas Stadium.
But if they don't, come on, Baltimore? Potentially the final game to ever be played at what's going to be the 37-year-old Texas Stadium come this fall?
Boy, a lot of historical significance in that matchup.
Like is this Baltimore, the old Johnny Unitas team, the franchise which denied the Cowboys their first Super Bowl title, back after the 1970 season? Uh, not so much, since that franchise now resides in Indianapolis.
So is that the Baltimore, the old Cleveland Browns franchise which moved to the city known for its crab cakes in 1996, the one the Cowboys used to battle in the old Eastern Conference of the NFL during their inception? Uh no, remember the Browns left their history in Cleveland.
Nope, these are the Ravens, technically the franchise the Cowboys have played all of two times, in 2000 and 2004, and both times on the East Coast. Oh, so pardon me, there is some historical significance to this game. This will be the first time - but the only time - the Ravens will play a game at Texas Stadium.
La-de-dah.
Guess tradition only weighs in with aging saps like me. But to me, more important than finding out on Tuesday when the NFL announced the 2008 schedule that the Cowboys would be opening the season at Cleveland, was looking immediately to the bottom of the schedule to see just when, and with whom, the Cowboys would be closing out Texas Stadium.
And it says, Saturday, Dec. 20, at 7:15 p.m. (CST) against Baltimore.
Now not sure if it was mere coincidence or not, but the Dallas Cowboys, and appropriately so, participated in the final game the Redskins played at RFK Stadium. As they should have after all those two teams did for football, not only in the nation's capital, not only in Dallas, but for the entire NFL.
And I remember being there for that momentous moment, Dec. 22, 1996, a game the Redskins won, 37-10, solidifying Norv Turner's first winning season as a head coach when the playoff-bound Cowboys, already having clinched the NFC East and their spot in the playoffs, benched Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith for the game.
In fact, I know exactly where the program for that game is right now. Made a point of keeping that one, and who knows, maybe its only value 12 years later is that I can tell you I have one from the final game played at RFK. Good bar story, anyway.
That's why, it would seem, with a little thought the NFL would have matched up the Cowboys and Redskins in the "potentially" the final game at Texas Stadium - at least the final regular-season game at Texas Stadium. But no, the two teams are playing here Sept. 28 at Texas Stadium.
Just seems as if that would have been the right thing to do for posterity sake. Because if you look over the years, check some of this out: Tom Landry's last coaching victory was over the Redskins. Roger Staubach's last regular-season victory was over the Redskins. Vince Lombardi finished his first and only season as head coach of the Redskins losing to the Cowboys. Troy Aikman's final regular-season game was against the Redskins that 2000 season. Emmitt Smith's final game as a Cowboy was against the Redskins (2002), as was Dave Campo's last as a head coach.
You want me to go on?
The Cowboys' only regular-season victory in 1989 came at the expense of the Redskins. The Redskins' only loss during the strike-shortened 1982 season was to the Cowboys. Washington's first loss during the 1991 season, having started out 11-0, was to the Cowboys, and some argue had they beaten the Cowboys they would have played all their starters in the final game of the season they lost by two at Philadelphia to have a chance at finishing 16-0. And, well, Jimmy Johnson's last regular-season coaching appearance at Texas Stadium came against . . . yep, the Redskins.
So come on, Cowboys-Redskins, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2008, for the final regular-season game at Texas Stadium, to be shown on NFL Network? I mean, the Redskins are just playing Philly the next day. No biggie. That could have been arranged.
Who knows, maybe Fox didn't want to give away both Cowboys-Redskins games, since the game at Washington is scheduled to be a Sunday night game (Nov. 16) on NBC and that final regular-season home game at Texas Stadium is on NFL Network, which I'm guessing will be a bone of contention for many of you and for discussion on another day.
Or maybe the NFL execs are simply counting on the Cowboys earning a home playoff game or two based on last season's track record, thus one of those becoming the actual final game at Texas Stadium.
Still, tradition must continue to mean something. We can't turn our backs on history in this iPod age.
Just think the NFL matchmakers could have made me a better match.
How's about you?
Random Schedule Thoughts
While the Cowboys play five primetime night games, three of those will be home games, making those following Monday's much easier.
The two road night games are followed by home games.
The Cowboys will play back-to-back games at home three times, but only once will they face back-to-back road games, going to Arizona and St. Louis. At least a bye breaks up the consecutive road games at the Giants and Washington.
We knew this already, but 12 of the Cowboys' 16 games will be against teams with at least .500 records from last season.
The start of the season should grow some hair on the chests of the Cowboys, having to start off at Cleveland, a 10-6 team last year, then face 8-8 Philly, Green Bay (13-3) and Washington (9-7).
Once again the Cowboys are playing at home on the Sunday before the annual Thanksgiving game, then have 10 days to prepare for the game at Pittsburgh.
The Cowboys also can thank their lucky stars that game at Green Bay is a September night game, not a November or December date. So really, they have only two potentially cold-weather games, at Pittsburgh on Dec. 7 and then the season finale at Philly Dec. 28.
>> Dallas Cowboys 2008 Schedule <<
IRVING, Texas - Maybe the NFL is just assuming the Dallas Cowboys are going to be darn good again this year.
And evidently the schedule-meisters must feel that way since the Cowboys will play five primetime night games this year, appearing three times on NBC's Sunday night telecast, once on ESPN's Monday night show and once on an NFL Network Saturday night presentation.
That national exposure doesn't include the annual Thanksgiving Day game from Texas Stadium, which is broadcast to a national audience, along with obvious Sunday afternoon games likely going to the majority of the nation when the Cowboys open the 2008 season at Cleveland and then play a Dec. 7 afternoon game at Pittsburgh.
So really, that's like eight practically national broadcasts. Not just any team gets that type of exposure. And certainly the Cowboys aren't just any team when it comes to you guys tuning them in given the chance from anywhere in the country.
But then, hey, the Cowboys are coming off a 13-3 season. They did win the NFC East last year. They did beat the Super Bowl champion Giants two out of three times, even if they didn't win the one that counted most. They did earn the NFC's top seed in the playoffs.
So maybe that's why the NFL didn't seem to give much thought to the final regular-season game scheduled to ever be played at Texas Stadium. The matchmakers must be counting on the Cowboys playing a home playoff game for the final game ever Texas Stadium.
But if they don't, come on, Baltimore? Potentially the final game to ever be played at what's going to be the 37-year-old Texas Stadium come this fall?
Boy, a lot of historical significance in that matchup.
Like is this Baltimore, the old Johnny Unitas team, the franchise which denied the Cowboys their first Super Bowl title, back after the 1970 season? Uh, not so much, since that franchise now resides in Indianapolis.
So is that the Baltimore, the old Cleveland Browns franchise which moved to the city known for its crab cakes in 1996, the one the Cowboys used to battle in the old Eastern Conference of the NFL during their inception? Uh no, remember the Browns left their history in Cleveland.
Nope, these are the Ravens, technically the franchise the Cowboys have played all of two times, in 2000 and 2004, and both times on the East Coast. Oh, so pardon me, there is some historical significance to this game. This will be the first time - but the only time - the Ravens will play a game at Texas Stadium.
La-de-dah.
Guess tradition only weighs in with aging saps like me. But to me, more important than finding out on Tuesday when the NFL announced the 2008 schedule that the Cowboys would be opening the season at Cleveland, was looking immediately to the bottom of the schedule to see just when, and with whom, the Cowboys would be closing out Texas Stadium.
And it says, Saturday, Dec. 20, at 7:15 p.m. (CST) against Baltimore.
Now not sure if it was mere coincidence or not, but the Dallas Cowboys, and appropriately so, participated in the final game the Redskins played at RFK Stadium. As they should have after all those two teams did for football, not only in the nation's capital, not only in Dallas, but for the entire NFL.
And I remember being there for that momentous moment, Dec. 22, 1996, a game the Redskins won, 37-10, solidifying Norv Turner's first winning season as a head coach when the playoff-bound Cowboys, already having clinched the NFC East and their spot in the playoffs, benched Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith for the game.
In fact, I know exactly where the program for that game is right now. Made a point of keeping that one, and who knows, maybe its only value 12 years later is that I can tell you I have one from the final game played at RFK. Good bar story, anyway.
That's why, it would seem, with a little thought the NFL would have matched up the Cowboys and Redskins in the "potentially" the final game at Texas Stadium - at least the final regular-season game at Texas Stadium. But no, the two teams are playing here Sept. 28 at Texas Stadium.
Just seems as if that would have been the right thing to do for posterity sake. Because if you look over the years, check some of this out: Tom Landry's last coaching victory was over the Redskins. Roger Staubach's last regular-season victory was over the Redskins. Vince Lombardi finished his first and only season as head coach of the Redskins losing to the Cowboys. Troy Aikman's final regular-season game was against the Redskins that 2000 season. Emmitt Smith's final game as a Cowboy was against the Redskins (2002), as was Dave Campo's last as a head coach.
You want me to go on?
The Cowboys' only regular-season victory in 1989 came at the expense of the Redskins. The Redskins' only loss during the strike-shortened 1982 season was to the Cowboys. Washington's first loss during the 1991 season, having started out 11-0, was to the Cowboys, and some argue had they beaten the Cowboys they would have played all their starters in the final game of the season they lost by two at Philadelphia to have a chance at finishing 16-0. And, well, Jimmy Johnson's last regular-season coaching appearance at Texas Stadium came against . . . yep, the Redskins.
So come on, Cowboys-Redskins, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2008, for the final regular-season game at Texas Stadium, to be shown on NFL Network? I mean, the Redskins are just playing Philly the next day. No biggie. That could have been arranged.
Who knows, maybe Fox didn't want to give away both Cowboys-Redskins games, since the game at Washington is scheduled to be a Sunday night game (Nov. 16) on NBC and that final regular-season home game at Texas Stadium is on NFL Network, which I'm guessing will be a bone of contention for many of you and for discussion on another day.
Or maybe the NFL execs are simply counting on the Cowboys earning a home playoff game or two based on last season's track record, thus one of those becoming the actual final game at Texas Stadium.
Still, tradition must continue to mean something. We can't turn our backs on history in this iPod age.
Just think the NFL matchmakers could have made me a better match.
How's about you?
Random Schedule Thoughts
While the Cowboys play five primetime night games, three of those will be home games, making those following Monday's much easier.
The two road night games are followed by home games.
The Cowboys will play back-to-back games at home three times, but only once will they face back-to-back road games, going to Arizona and St. Louis. At least a bye breaks up the consecutive road games at the Giants and Washington.
We knew this already, but 12 of the Cowboys' 16 games will be against teams with at least .500 records from last season.
The start of the season should grow some hair on the chests of the Cowboys, having to start off at Cleveland, a 10-6 team last year, then face 8-8 Philly, Green Bay (13-3) and Washington (9-7).
Once again the Cowboys are playing at home on the Sunday before the annual Thanksgiving game, then have 10 days to prepare for the game at Pittsburgh.
The Cowboys also can thank their lucky stars that game at Green Bay is a September night game, not a November or December date. So really, they have only two potentially cold-weather games, at Pittsburgh on Dec. 7 and then the season finale at Philly Dec. 28.
Had to.
The last game at Texas Stadium will be against the Ravens.
