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Good “Bye Week” Musings

Tomorrow, we dive back into our Cowboys routine (Analyze the Falcons), as the bye week is over. Until then, here are 5,000 Words of Football Dorkdom:

I want to show you the results of a study or two we did during the bye week about the Cowboys offense. Hopefully, by now, you have some interest in our findings every Tuesday during the Season with our various “Football 301″ studies. Well, this week, and then the week after Thanksgiving will allow us a day or two to catch our breath and look at the bigger picture.

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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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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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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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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.

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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Priority #1: Keep QB Healthy

I am often asked who I read when it comes to football coverage. So, without even having to think about it, here are the guys I read every chance I get for my NFL stuff:

Peter King – Sports Illustrated
Michael Lombardi – National Football Post
Football Outsiders.com
Pat Kirwan, NFL.com
Rick Gosselin, DMN

Obviously, I include others for Cowboys-specific reading, but mostly, those are the 5 sources of my daily football reading. They are all geniuses in their own way. I highly recommend them all, as in pretty much every case, I have been following their writing for years and years.

With that in mind, I wanted to draw your attention to a conversation Pat Kirwan was having yesterday on Sirius NFL Radio when I rolled by his show with Tim Ryan.

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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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Eli Manning’s New Deal

I cant believe the news today
Oh, I cant close my eyes and make it go away

- Bono, Sunday Bloody Sunday

Certainly by now, you have joined me in not believing the news today that Eli Manning is indeed a richer man than he already was as the New York Times reports:

The Giants are poised to make quarterback Eli Manning the highest-paid player in the National Football League, agreeing to a six-year contract extension worth $97.5 million, $35 million of it guaranteed, according to a person involved in the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because no official announcement had been made.

Eli Manning, at training camp in Albany on Monday, will reportedly become the highest-paid player in the N.F.L. The person said Wednesday that the final details should be finished later in the day and that the contract would soon be signed.

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