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Musings On Wednesday

On Wednesday, we go in any number of directions as sort of a “reset” day. It has also grown a life of its own with TC’s drive for the final 3,000 words or so at the bottom of the page. And, as someone who has previewed his work, allow me to say that he is debuting the “Easter Egg” strategy that some DVDs do these days. I will try not to spoil it.

But, before we get to all of that, here are a few other things before we check our weekly numbers:

1) Occasionally, while watching a Cowboys game, I will see something that I have no place for in one of my entries, but I just wanted to share it with you anyway. Here is one of those cases. I can’t explain why, but for some reason, nothing makes me crazier when watching a football game than the Defensive Backs who refuse to tackle altogether or refuse to tackle properly. It seemed like once upon a time there was the idea that DBs could tackle and would do so utilizing proper technique with arms wrapping up and driving. Somehow, over the years, DBs have found that it is easier (albeit lower percentage) to simply launch a shoulder and hope you knock the player silly.

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If You Thought Cowboys Would Have Best Weekend in NFC East, Kindly Pass Along Lotto Numbers

The Giants blocked a New Orleans PAT attempt, but they failed to block the other six and lost by 21. The Eagles couldn’t score a touchdown on the Raiders. The Chiefs joined the Lions as beneficiaries of that little-known Washington stimulus program known as playing the Redskins.

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Red River Report Card: Grading Out The OU/UT Matchup

If you own a television, or computer, or radio, or read a newspaper, or even just have eyes or ears, you probably already know this. But just in case you still own a phone with a hand crank and get your stock tips from ticker tape — in which case, I’m not sure how you ended up here — allow me to break some news to you. There’s a big football game in Dallas tomorrow. No, it doesn’t involve the Cowboys. Amazingly enough, it doesn’t even involve JerryWorld either. It’s the annual Red River Rivalry game between the University of Texas and Oklahoma University at the Cotton Bowl.

Now, I know most of Dallas never attended either school, but considering it’s the biggest sporting even in town tomorrow, we have to say something about it. Does the fact that I’m a UT fan have anything to do with my unabashed interest in this game? Maybe. Does that mean that this post is a little biased? Possibly. But to the average fan of college football in Dallas, it’s a big game that’s happening right in your backyard, and with apologies to SMU, that’s something that doesn’t happen around here all too often. For the rest of you, this can just serve as yet another reminder to stay away from Fair Park tomorrow morning. Here we go…

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We Like The Football Musings

This morning, I wanted to show you a few numbers about this question about the 2-TE results. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the receiving portion of Martellus Bennett has been shockingly disappointing. You can ask a dozen people as to why, and you will get different responses about why Marty B has 4 catches in 5 weeks (not quite the 50 or so that I had thought possible!) for 40 yards. Surely, Tony Curtis could have done that.

But, does that mean the “12″ and the “22″ personnel packages are failing? Not even close.

Is the object of the game to get Martellus Bennett stats, or for this offense to prove it can be elite? Originally, I thought one would lead to another, but now we see something different so far.

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On T.O., Texas and TCU, Stars’ Start, Etc.

While the Cowboys’ defense was seemingly setting new lows for offside penalties, Terrell Owens’ new offensive unit had 11 false starts.

While Miles Austin was setting the Cowboys’ record for receiving yards in a game with 250, Owens was piecing together a season high in catches with four. He doesn’t have 250 receiving yards this season. His team gave up six points and lost by three. Wonder if he texted Austin with congratulations.

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Chiefs vs. Cowboys: Tribute to Lamar Hunt and Why I Don’t Like the Cowboys

Go Texans. I mean Chiefs.

I’ve never been a Dallas Cowboys fan. In fact, I’ve hated them from the moment they played their first game at the Cotton Bowl in 1960. I’d been at the Cotton Bowl the day before to watch my beloved Dallas Texans play. Fifty years later, I’m still bitter. I’ve always blamed the blue and silver for forcing my team to move to Kansas City. My friends, all members of the Dallas Texans Huddle Club, cried when we learned that Lenny Dawson, Abner Haynes, and, my favorite, Chris “#88” Burford were moving.

The Texans won the AFL title in 1962. I was ten. My dad, a member of the Spurs Club, gave me the championship ring that the team gave him as a loyal supporter of the team. (Please don’t ask me what I’ve done with it.) However, I still have an autographed picture and football that I keep at my desk. As you can see, I’m not quite over the move.

And neither is my baby brother, Bill Nichols. He writes a  lovely story about the Chiefs and the birth of the Cowboys. At noon, the Chiefs will host the Cowboys. I will watch the game, but only to see the Chiefs decked out in the original Dallas Texan uniforms as a tribute to owner Lamar Hunt who passed away in 2006. That’s not true. I will watch because I’d love to see the Chiefs kick the hell out of the Cowboys. Payback time. Go Chiefs. You still have fans in Dallas.

UPDATE: OH, YES. @:23. Do you go for two or the tie?? Tied at 20. (Hey Clark, send me one of those Texans caps.)

UPDATE: Miles Austin.

On Valley Ranch Rules, Crabtree, Tippett, Etc.

Media access to the Cowboys and all NFL teams has changed greatly from the days when Pete Rozelle ran the league and Tex Schramm ruled Valley Ranch. We now have situations like this week, when it took three days for reporters to learn Jason Garrett’s thinking near the Denver goal line, and when there was a 24-hour period from late Monday to late Tuesday when the local populace wondered if Tony Romo had lost track of downs.

In the case of Garrett, he’s made available once a week. That’s actually a 100 percent improvement over the Parcells rules, which treated all assistants as if hidden in a monastery. Romo’s designated day to address the media is Wednesday. When local media assumed for the better part of a day that Romo went into the final snap thinking it was third down, the Cowboys were compelled to issue a statement to the contrary.

NFL media policies are meant to minimize negative spin. Sometimes, they simply allow it to fester.

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Major League Baseball’s Playoffs Are Finally Here; Haven’t We Seen This Movie Already?

Baseball’s playoffs have begun. And don’t the teams look familiar? When compared to the other three sports over the past 10 years, MLB has had less movement between the haves and have nots, according to calculation performed by yours truly. While I can’t approach Sports Sturm in detailed dissection of numbers, I offer the following in trying to examine parity in the sports leagues – and how it’s decreasing in baseball.

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Football Muse You Can Use

As you know, Wednesday is my “day of rest” in the football week. So, this blog entry, while lengthy, will be mostly because my intern, TC, contributes 3,000 words (and some eye-catching photos) to this blog as he takes apart the Cowboys “Drive of the Week” with precision and detail.

Before we get to that, and an update on our weekly projects, let me cover two quick items:

Yesterday on the radio, Todd Archer of the DMN and now the Ticket, joined our show and we started talking about the Cowboys “blitz allergy”. When opponents blitz in the last few seasons, it is my premise that Romo and Garrett are actually worse now, than when Romo was a rookie.

Is it true?

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Football Musings on a Short Week

Short week, but as I break down the Broncos, check out some pretty good stuff including TC making another appearance with a solid breakdown of more Cowboys football:

First, let’s check in with our “winning correlation” numbers for the week. If you are familiar with what I am doing here, it is to check what people say about winning. Is it important to win the turnover battle to win a game? Absolutely, Positively! What about 100 yard rushers? Or 300 yard passers? Not as much. But there is still interesting stories to tell in each category. Here are the latest results:

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Huddle Up: Cowboys-Carolina MNF In-Game Blog

The local populace is in a lather because the Cowboys followed a dominating win over a bad team on the road with a loss at home on the final play to the defending NFC East champs. It’s all in the timing, especially when showing off your new $1.15 billion living room.

Beating Carolina should be routine. While the Cowboys will probably play it safe and sit RB Marion Barber, the Panthers have a slew of starters out through no choice of their own. OLB Na’il Diggs has bruised ribs, S Chris Harris a bad knee, FB Brad Hoover a bad back, DE Everette Brown a bum ankle. The Panthers, among the NFC elite last season, have probably heard everyone recite this week that an 0-3 start ends your season. Not sure they can do much to avoid it.

7:09: On ESPN’s pre-game show, Keyshawn Johnson said his impression of Tony Romo having played with him for two years was Romo “did enough to get by” day in and day out.

Big 12 Conference Question of the Week: Does the League Need a New Football Travel Agent?

I realize we might not be having this discussion if Mike Leach’s whiz-bang offense could move straight ahead for one yard when necessary. But Texas Tech’s 29-28 loss at Houston on Saturday night was just the latest example of what can happen when BCS schools visit non-BCS campuses. Especially Big 12 teams. Wins often don’t mean much, losses too much.

Tech at Houston (loss). Kansas State at Louisiana-Lafayette (loss). Colorado at Toledo (loss). Texas at Wyoming (more difficult for a half than it should have been).

The Big 12 will play more games at non-BCS schools this season than any other BCS league. More than the Pac-10 and Big Ten will play combined. You tell me whether the Big 12 is to be congratulated or criticized in its non-conference scheduling.

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Analyze The Enemy – Week 3 – Carolina Panthers

THURSDAYS: We catch you up on this week’s opponent with an overall portrait of their team. This is not breaking down this week’s match-up, because that happens on Friday. This is just to set the table in preparation for laying out the gameplan.

In Week 3, The Cowboys welcome another playoff team from 2008, those Carolina Panthers for a little Monday Night Football. The Panthers are certainly another team that has its share of critics across the league, and as usual – the targets on that team are two familiar positions for football criticism, Head Coach and Quarterback.

John Fox, entering his 8th year as head coach of the Panthers, took the job over after serving 5 years with the New York Giants under Jim Fassel, where the Giants went all the way to Super Bowl 35. Led by their defense, Fox was the hot name for a few offseasons, and in 2002 he took over the Panthers who were coming of a 1-15 2001 under their previous coach, George Seifert. In fact, as hard as it is to believe, Fox has been the coach of the Panthers longer than Seifert and Dom Capers combined. Capers only coached in Carolina for 4 years (going to the ‘96 NFC Championship game), Seifert for 3 (going 16-32). Fox, 63-49 in his 7+ seasons, took the Panthers to the brink of a Super Bowl 38 victory in his 2nd year, and to the NFC Title game in his 4th year, before losing to the Seahawks. His 3rd trip to the playoffs was last season where the Panthers equaled a franchise-high 12-4 record, but then were demolished in Charlotte by the Arizona Cardinals in the playoffs.

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Football Muse You Can Use

For our Wednesday NFL Reset column this week, I wanted to get something for you to examine that I have been meaning to publish for a few weeks. It is a trend that I love to follow because September is always the month everyone projects their own personal playoff predictions.

I am no different, and this year I predicted (before the season started) that the Eagles, Cowboys, Packers, Saints, Seahawks, and Falcons would make the NFC Playoffs, and the Patriots, Colts, Bengals, Steelers, Chargers, and Titans would make the AFC Playoffs. I had the Saints-Chargers in the Super Bowl, with the Saints winning it all.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to print it here (rather than just say it on the radio) was to show you a very interesting trend that one should consider before guessing who is going to be in the 2009 playoffs. And, I should have shown you this 3 weeks ago so you could have known this before you made your own predictions. Sorry. I have been really busy with all of this Football 301 stuff.

The Trend is this – Since 1991, when the NFL Expanded its playoffs to 12 teams, each year has averaged 5.8 new teams each year. To say it slightly differently, only 6 teams make it back to the playoffs the next year – and the other 6 teams are brand new.

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Analyze the Enemy – Week 2 – New York Giants

THURSDAYS: We catch you up on this week’s opponent with an overall portrait of their team. This is not breaking down this week’s match-up, because that happens on Friday. This is just to set the table in preparation for laying out the gameplan.

This week’s foe needs no introduction. I remember when I first arrived in Dallas in 1998, I was always interested in the discussion of who is the Cowboys biggest rival (according to Cowboys fans). They are very similar to the University of Texas in the rivals department as everyone counts them as their biggest game, but what did you feel?

I can’t remember what the results were in my survey, because the important thing I learned is “it depends who you ask”. Well, if you ask me, the Giants are the biggest current rivalry in my mind. These two teams do not like eachother. At all. In fact, they go out of their way to say it. And it is pretty clear that bulletin board material is not a very big worry for either side.

This is an amazing division, as their are traditional powers in every direction. Off the top of my head, I believe it is the only division in football with all 4 teams owning NFL Titles (yes, in 1960, the Eagles last won the NFL Title; and no, I will not count AFL Titles for the purpose of my point).

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Football 301: Decoding Jason Garrett – Week 1

DISCLAIMER: This is not for everyone. It may not be for you. This is a statistical study of the Cowboys offense with lots of numbers that may make your head tired if you are not up to it. Read it only if it is something that is of interest to you. If not, see you tomorrow.

Sunday in Tampa, the Cowboys offense put up a rare display. 462 yards is amazing. 52 plays is rare. 462 yards in 52 plays so off the charts silly that we might be wasting our time to read any meaning into it.

How crazy is 52 plays for 462 yards? 8.9 yards per play. You may never see that again, so save the tape.

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Week 2: Rick Perry Republic of Texas Football Poll

Obviously, these rankings are going over like Kanye West at an awards ceremony. Exactly one person volunteered to be a pollster (and, thank you for the offer). I wasn’t kidding. If you want to vote and you’ve got way too much free time on your hands, like I do, contact me. Also, I could use more email.

We’re moving forward one way or another. It was a big week in the Texas-Oklahoma rivalry. Sure, Houston pulled the big upset, but why can’t Texas A&M (OK, A&M-Kingsville) and Angelo State get in on the act, too?

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The Corral: Cowboys-Bucs Live Blog

Not sure how much of a regular feature, the Cowboys Corral will be, but, given the weather situation in Arlington, let’s open this up for Cowboys talk.

12:12: The Depot, however, remains open and the great one, Jeff Miller, is on the scene i n Arlington to update on Rangers doings. The possibility exists that Houston could become an option for the Rangers-A’s series that is scheduled to start Monday.

12:14: Cowboys have moved ball well on first drive, but a time out less than five minutes into the season is not encouraging.

12:16: Who had Nick Folk with a 50+ field goal for the first points of the year?

12:20: And who had Jerry Jones opening the season with a $100,000 fine from NFL commish Roger Goodell”?

1:00: For rest of game, I ask you to do this – track positive plays vs. negative plays for Tony Romo.  Give me a final +/- tally after the game. And give me any commentary on plays that stand out one way or another as they happen.

1:04: Also, exactly what does Tony Siragusa do to add to a broadcast? Or, for that matter, to keep his job with FOX?

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Analyze The Enemy – Week 1 – Tampa Bay

On Thursdays, one of the in-season features we are having for Cowboys Season will be to simply checking all corners of the net to know our opponent as well as we possibly can. This will generally involve plenty of links for you to read as much as you want. Since I read it all to prepare for our radio show and the pregame show on Sunday, I thought you might like to read the same stuff. Then, on Friday, I will attempt to provide some guesses on what the game plan will be and what the key match-ups that will decide the game will also be.

So, basically, 2 posts at the end of each week to prepare you for what lies ahead. Today, I will also attempt to provide 2 more posts – one with my full league predictions, and another is a chat I recently had with the great Albert Breer from the Sporting News as we break down the Cowboys and NFC East for you. So, on this Texas Rangers off day, you should get plenty of NFL Opening Day content from Inside Corner.

Now, on to the Buccaneers breakdown:

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Garrett ‘08 vs Garrett ‘09

There is more than plenty of talk about what Jason Garrett should do with the offense this season. I happen to agree that the number #1 factor for the Cowboys is health this season; but #2 is how well Jason Garrett coordinates his offense.

Honestly, I thought he was poor last season. I thought his play calls were often to appease some; for instance Terrell Owens gets 18 targets (Washington, Week 4) which led to Felix Jones not getting a touch. I also thought he relied on the shotgun and the pass too much when a game began to develop. When you are down 14, sling the ball without regard for caution or care, but when you are down 3 in the 3rd Quarter, there is no reason to abandon your game plan. But, the facts indicate that the Cowboys were too willing to throw the ball early and often and that gets everyone in trouble.

It gets your QB hit too often, it puts too much pressure on your OL, it allows the defense to “pin their ears back” and disregard the running game. And if you review the games in December, you will see the disregard grew.

The Cowboys threw the ball 59.1% of the time in 2008 (579 passes/400 runs) – only 4 teams in football threw more often. Playoff teams in 2008 threw the ball 52.7% of the time. The difference? 64 run plays. 4 a week. The Cowboys averaged 61.1 offensive snaps in 2008, and the average split was 36 passes and 25 runs.

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The First Republic of Texas Football Rankings

Back in April, our dear leader, Gov. Rick Perry, made some veiled secession remarks and it made us think about all the important issues of Texas returning to being a republic. Like, how would it impact the BCS?

Would Texas schools even be eligible? Or should we just thumb our noses at the Texas-less NCAA and have our own National Championship free of those fouled up computers? Hey, it’s one way to eliminate that silly tie-breaker that the Longhorns lost to Oklahoma. So in the interest of Texas Independence, we prepare for the future with the first RP Poll. I’ll give you three guesses what RP stands for. And it’s not Rensselaer Polytech.

Jump for the poll. If you want to be a pollster in future weeks, just email me. Oh, and be prepared to document your multi-generation Texas legacy. I may be kidding about that second part.

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How Do You Get to 53?

With almost no drama left for 80% of your roster heading into the final preseason game, I wanted to look at the last two years as a template for how Jerry Jones, Wade Phillips, and the Dallas Cowboys Personnel Department looks at its 53 man board.

As you know, by the weekend, teams across the league must trim to 53. This generally is followed by teams changing out the last few spots with other teams’ discards, but, obviously, we can only analyze those who are currently owned by the Cowboys.

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Question of the Day: Should Inside Corner “Adopt” an Area High School Football Team to Cover?

Here’s your chance to help dictate the direction of Inside Corner’s fall coverage. While we will be covering all things baseball (and in depth, I might add), we want to provide something of interest during the other seasons, too. Obviously, Bob Sturm will offer tons of Cowboys analysis and I’ll chime in there occasionally and also offer some college morsels. But, what about high school football? Since the season is upon us – I completely zeroed out over Zero Week – I offer up this question:

Should the Corner “adopt” a local team to offer up some weekly coverage this season? So, respond to these queries:

1. Yes or no?

2. If yes, please nominate a school and a compelling reason why multiple stories about said school might be interesting to a wider audience than just alums and students.

Blondes vs. Brunettes of Dallas

I used to think playing like a girl was a bad thing. Now I know better.

Blondes vs. Brunettes of Dallas put on its second annual powder puff football game Saturday to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association. The idea started when the first match-up of Blondes vs. Brunettes was organized in Washington D.C. four years ago, and the success of the event sparked groups across the country to start their own game for Alzheimer’s research. A Houston chapter picked up the game in 2006, and Erin Finegold brought BvB to Dallas in 2008. (more…)

Analyzing The Enemy: Oakland Raiders

During the regular season, here at Inside Corner, we are planning quite a few weekly features to help you through a Dallas Cowboys season with more information than you could ever possibly need to get you ready for the following Cowboys opponent.

Obviously, there isn’t too much you likely are worried about regarding tonight’s opponent in the preseason opener, but I thought I would have a few pre-season run throughs to refine the idea in my head for this feature known as “Analyzing the Enemy”. I do plenty of out-of-town research every week for my own personal use, but since we are all now fast friends at IC, let’s share notes with the class and see if that helps prepare for Sundays.

This feature will run on each Thursday during the season, I do believe.

Gametime: 9:00 Central, Channel 11 in Dallas. Pregame show: 8:00 pm

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