Countdown to Cowboys
Posted: October 30th, 2011 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 22 Comments »I’ve been a nervous wreck all week.
The Cowboys game always has me on pins and needles, no matter how things look. The Giants and Skins are rivals. The Cowboys are the enemy. Must beat them.
Most of my attention on this Saturday has been focused on college games, but Dallas has crept into my head from time to time. The more I think about the game, the more comfortable I’m getting. Part of that is the fact I like a lot of the matchups. Part of that is due to consuming a few PBRs.
No matter what, I am stoked for the game. The whole point in being an NFL fan is to see how your team does in big games. And this sure as heck is a big game. A win makes us and Dallas both 3-4 and really puts us on solid footing. A loss? It would be slightly less than awesome.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how our DL does in the game. This is the healthiest we’ve been since the season opener. Win the battle up front and you can win the game.
* * * * *
Irrelevant, but interesting….
* We haven’t won at home since last December. 5 straight losses at The Linc. Gotta change that.
* We haven’t beaten Tony Romo since the 44-6 drubbing to close out 2008. He swept us in ’09 and was hurt last year.
* The Eagles are undefeated coming off the bye in the Reid era.
* Wins over Dallas have been very important in the Reid era.
1999 – Big Red’s first win came vs Dallas after 0-4 start.
2000 – Pickle Juice Game launched a winning season.
2003 – Basically won the NFC-E with a 36-10 win over Dallas in December.
2004 – Won big in Dallas after beatdown by PIT. Trot got his first start at MLB that year.
2006 – Win on Christmas Day basically gave us the NFC-E.
2008 – Win on final day gave us Wildcard berth.
Will the first meeting of 2011 join that list?
I should be nervous, but I’m not. The Eagles haven’t earned it. They haven’t played well, and they haven’t done their jobs. I’m supposed to be happy about wins against the Rams and Redskins?
Everybody knows they have the talent to win the Super Bowl, even with the 2-4 start. They’re healthy, they’re talented, they know the team they’re facing well, and they’ve had two weeks to prepare.
It’s not that I demand a win. I’m just not clear why anyone should care about a 2-5 team that plays they way they have. I don’t know a lot about football, but I know they’ve been playing bad football, and I can’t see any excuse for it. If Dallas is just the better team Sunday night, as much as I hate that idea, so be it. I just don’t think they are.
I still loathe Dallas enough to get some satisfaction out of beating them, much more so than the Rams or Redskins, even if the Eagles season doesn’t end up being up to par. That last game of 2008? I’d written off the unlikely playoff scenario and was just happy the Eagles had a chance to ruin Dallas’ season, too.
I don’t Know why but I’ve been feeling more and more comfortable about tonight’s game. I just think that our front four will make the difference, led by Trent Cole and Jason Babin who will have 2 sacks each. This will be Romo’s personal Halloween, turning into a brutal nightmare.
Eagles 34, Cowboys 24
Bring on the girls!!!
The 36-10 game is my favorites, since I was there. No highlight reel plays in that one, just solid D and an offense run (in the second half, anyway) to perfection.
Being there always helps to make it special. To this day, my favorite win over Dallas was the 38-24 one at the Linc in ’06. I can still vividly remember my Dad and I going completely nuts when Lito jumped in front of Jason Witten and took that Bledsoe pass 100 yards the other way.
A win always feels good. A win over Dallas is like sex.
Some random thoughts…
Why is Dallas’ undrafted rookie kicker awesome and we won’t even let our rookie kicker (best in college football) attempt a kick over 45 yards (unless it’s 60 yards+)?
If we lose this game and are essentially out of the playoff race, the calls for AR’s head will be coming. What about Howie Roseman though? If Reid gets shit canned and Howie still oversees the draft, then it doesn’t matter who our coach is. I’m as tired of Reid as anyone, but if I had to choose one or the other…
Speaking of Reid, we all talk about how many times he’s taken his team to the post season, but it got me thinking….how many times did we back into the post season because of someone else pulling an upset in week 16 or 17? It seems to me that it’s happened two or three times but I’m struggling to remember all of the instances. I think the year Akers missed that kick against the Giants was one of those times…can anybody think of the other ones?
Even if the Eagles beat Dallas, they’re still two games behind the Giants. There’s no way they’re getting upset by Miami, right? Yet we’re still blindly optimistic….well, not me, but that’s another story.
Tommy ~ please, no more posts about potential LBs in the draft. You’re killing me. They’ll never draft an elite LB high, and we see what years of mid-round prospects have given us.
5 straight losses at the Linc is inexcusable. My old man is right, it’s the Jinx. This organization has gotten soft. Home field advantage isn’t what it used to be. And there’s nobody left on this team that knows what hard-hitting, Eagles defense is all about. Don’t give me Trent Cole…I love him, but I’ll never forgive him for that stooopid f’n kick against they Giants a few years back. That game was the beginning of the end of my marriage.
Damn, the NFL is awful this year. Can we just let the Pack and Saints have a best of 5 series to determine the Super Bowl winner already? For all of those anti-fantasy football people out there, please tell me if 80% of the games each week are even watchable without it?
Maybe I’ll start drinking now.
Quick comment about trailing the Giants. Just look at their schedule after the Miami game. It is absolutely brutal. I’d be shocked if they didn’t have a losing record the second half of the season. Plus their mental toughness would be really tested once they lost a couple games after 3 straight years of late season collapse. I really believe the winner of this game controls their own destiny as far as the division goes.
I hear what your saying. But even if the Eagles win tonight, I’m still not willing to trust them in controlling their own destiny.
AR isn’t going anywhere. We could end up missing the Playoffs and AR would still keep his job. NEXT YEAR would be the hot seat year. Lurie seems to be too level-headed (which is why he’s fit with AR over the years) to fire his long-term coach for one bad season.
How he wouldn’t be on the hot seat if they miss the playoffs this year is beyond me. But as I eleduded to, I’d take Andy another year if Roseman isn’t back as General Manager. What a joke that is.
I don’t know if it’s because I live in NJ or if it’s because I’m 26 and was a little young for hate Dallas heyday, but there is no team I hate more than the NY Giants. Don’t get me wrong, Dallas Sucks! and I can’t stand them or their bandwagon jumping fans, but they are #2 on my “I Hate Those Guys” list.
The giants have been more competitive recently, I can’t stand Tom Coughlin and his temper tantrums, I would have disliked Eli for what he did with San Deigo no matter who he went to, Brandon Jacobs is a punk, Osi is “soft”, etc. Add in how pompous their fans are since they won a Super Bowl most recently and they are my enemy #1. I mean they even send in a spy (Steve Smith) to come in and tip interceptions to them to prevent us from scoring.
Dallas fans are easier to keep quite because they have won 1 playoff game in 15 years and their QB may be the “Ulimate Loser” or the Anti-Brady. Nobody dislikes DeMarcus Ware, Romo is slightly more likeable than Eli, and other than Rob Ryan (btw, is it wrong of me to dislike the entire Ryan family?) and Mike Jenkins they don’t talk a lot of smack in the media. I personally think that Jerry Jones is the most dislikeable owner in the game, but he’s so arrogant he gets in his team’s way more than helps them.
I’m just curious when you all realized that you hated Dallas the most and why. Has that changed at all depending on who is most competitive or what coaches/payers were with the teams?
I also missed the Dallas heydays(I’m 22), and have lived outside the area since I was 9 years old… but, while I see where you’re coming from, I oddly kind of respect the Giants. I still loathe them, extremely, but their fans and front office get a lot more respect from me than the other teams in the division.
70% of Dallas’ fanbase are fairweather fans that jumped on at the “America’s Team” peak and have freely jumped on and off whenever the mood strikes them since. The football culture in that area is High School first, College second, the Cowboys third. I can’t respect anyone like that.
And having lived around DC for a few years, I can attest first hand that the Skins’ fanbase sucks. Hard. They have the biggest stadium in the league(albeit, a complete dump), and its barely half-full each week. And the people that ARE there, are a bunch of hipster drones who go there to eat at the Hooters bar and use the free wifi there.
From a “football intelligence” perspective, I think the Giants fanbase is on par with ours. Most of their fans live, breathe and eat football, and I can respect that. I still hate their motherloving guts, but yeah.
You’re correct!
You’re too young to remember when Dallas was America’s team. Back on the 70’s-80’s with Stauback, Randy White etc, is when the Philly fans hatred for Dallas was born. You had to be there and live through that crap. It was very disconcerning. How could you hate Roger the Dodger; an All-American hero, Navy boy, who did everything the right way? Well, we all secretly admired him, but prayed that Bill Burgey would crush his ass just once, for all of us. I blame some of my adult disfunctionality on my pure evil hatred of “America’s Team”
And don’t even get me started about the “Flex-Defense”…ugh!
2011 – Late October blowout of the Cowboys provided momentum to one of the most talented Eagles rosters of all time and set the stage for us finishing 12-4, winning the East, beating the Packers in the NFCCG, and getting a revenge win in the Super Bowl over the Patriots. For the second time that season, Kurt Coleman picked off Brady twice, and Shady rushes for 225 yards and 3 TDs, and catches 2 TDs from NFL MVP Michael Vick who-
Alright, I’ll stop. Tommy – do you have a pick? I’m going to go with 24-19…Cowboys win….
I will say that I just got Madden ’12 (haven’t played in a few years), and beat the Cowboys 9 – 5. It was a weird game. First score came from Shady being safetied on a 1st and 10 from the 1 yard line, our only TD came on a Dion Lewis kickoff return, Madden told me to go for 2, which I didn’t make, and Romo threw 2 picks and got sacked 6 times, all with 28 total gameplay minutes (7 minute quarters).
I’m as nervous about this game as I am every game, but why are we overrating the Cowboys? They put together a good game against the RAMS last week (so did we) and we put together a solid effort from the Redskins in our last game. Reid has never lost coming off the bye. This game will be tough, but it’s not like the “Monstars” are coming to town and we should be shaking in our boots. Go check out the Cowboys W’s and L’s, they’re having nearly as rough a season as we are; minus the expectations.
I know I’m not overrating the Cowboys. I just don’t trust the Eagles. Two teams that are absolutely capable of finding ways to lose games that they should win…
Don’t know about you guys but this is the first time this season that I am really fired up for an eagles game!! Finally.
Dallas sucks!!
I HATE Dallas. Let’s get this done boys
As long as Jerry Jones owns the Cowboys, or, actually, as long as Jones owns the Cowboys or was a former owner of the Cowboys, I’ll hate that team. Figures to be a long time.
I think this is a must win but I don’t feel the same kind of pressure I did last game for some reason. But I don’t feel confident either. Biggest issue today is, no surprise, linebacker play against Witten and Murray. If we do a decent job against those 2 guys, I feel our CB’s can handle Bryant and Austin. And we win. But if we can’t contain Witten and Murray, long day and longer season.
I had a very vivid dream last night, that I was watching the game and quickly became infuriated by DRC’s lack of effort in giving up a few big plays early in the game. He then proceeded to pick off 3 or 4 passes and win the game almost single handedly. Weird.
Tonight is going to be… interesting. I’m staying with my sister in Orlando. Her husband is a die-hard Cowboys fan. We have set a gentlemanly precedent that we will stop short of physical violence, for the sake of my sister’s well-being and crap like that. But I expect many, many expletives to be hurled and many, many shots of jager to be downed.
Go Eagles. Thats all I can say. And I’ve never meant something so much. GO. EAGLES.
Go Dolphins!