The Cowboys fell from power because the Salary Cap finished going into effect and Jones quite simply didn’t know how to build a team with a hard cap. One of the first things he started doing was signing players with deferred salary, which is pretty much the dumbest thing you can do in a capped league (losing cap next year for play this year is handicapping yourself). That was part of his continued obsession with BIG NAME players, which can work in an uncapped world where you can throw money around, but doesn’t work so well in a cap where you suddenly find you’ve got no money for an offensive line. He seems to have figured it out the last couple of years as he’s finally started building his lines and not running after old stars. We’ll see how next year pans out.
If the Post 9-11 SB was a “geographic trick” then why was it Pats (source of the terror flights but not actually a victim) - Rams (completely uninvolved in 9-11). Sure the Pats have that name, but if somebody wanted to orchestrate a 9-11 “tribute” SB each conference has 3 teams geographically close to where 9-11 victims were killed. A “Skins- Jets SB would have been much more “geographical” for that one.
Penalties aren’t random, so there should be a pattern. Some teams coach better than other teams. Some teams draft better than other teams. Some teams bring in NFL refs to officiate scrimmages and teach players the rules better, and some teams are too stupid to partake of this obviously smart move.
There are way too many blowouts every year, especially in the prime time games, to think the refs control the game to avoid them. Just look at this year’s Thursday night scores, CBS paid extra to get half those games, and they were all broadcast on the NFL’s very network, and most of them were complete snorers over by half time.
The Cowboys have a variety of incredible structural advantages that make it difficult to comprehend their Charlie Brown legacy since winning 3 super bowls.
I also tend to think the Steelers are getting some sort of weird bad deal as well.
The Cowboys did and still do have such a high prestige attached to their identity that their capacity to retain players at lower salaries is better than most any other NFL team. Yet, supposedly Jones is too stupid and too self destructive.
He is part of an agreement among owners and he wants the NFL to be highly profitable. Dallas has had a number of excellent coaches and they all seem to hit magic walls that keep fans interested but crestfallen right at the end.
I am personally glad that a statistical analysis came out about the Patriots. I think there are some semi-persuasive rebuttals but the lack of such analysis in a hyped up sports world is rather ridiculous. Lets start talking about whether the NFL is pro wrestling. Lets deconstruct every million dollar minute of the NFL and make them publicly defend the odd irregularities.
ESPN’s coverage of the NFL seems absurd. Their decisions to fire Craig James and diss Tim Tebow reek of politics gone wildly leftist. The public should start raising hard questions on statistical anomalies. Part of what affects me is that I have moved quite a bit over the years and recently came back to Dallas. I cheered for a number of other NFL teams while I was gone from Dallas area. Seeing Dallas games compared to several other AFC and NFC teams I cheered for, it seems ridiculous. 2010-2012 was mind blowing for calls against the Cowboys. Just the fact that so little is said about Seattle’s ball fiasco against Dallas seems sketchy presently.
I do cheer for the steelers and their games resemble cowboy games. These two seem selected for Charlie Brown designations— close but no. Other teams seemed charmed in officiating. I also think this is starting to happen more and more in college football games.