Drive can stay alive for a No. 5
By Ray Buck
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
All aboard. There's a ton of room on the Cowboys bandwagon.
Quiet, too.
A story with Tony Romo's name in it hasn't appeared on a celebrity gossip Web site in nearly a week.
Instead, inquiring minds want to know how the Dallas defense has been able to allow 33 points per game over the last four weeks.
Even T.O. has been usurped.
We haven't seen the ubiquitous Owens on ESPN's Outside the Lines for days now. But don't rule out the Cowboys' pass defense landing an episode on Without a Trace.
Bill Parcells? He's having only a slightly better week than Jim Mora and Denny Green.
But for now, Parcells has been gutted only emotionally. He finds himself coaching an uncertain team with far more second-guessers than swagger, a team with (at last count) three losses -- all at home -- in its last four games.
Opening the playoffs Saturday night at Seattle, the Cowboys enter the Super Bowl tournament as the NFC's No. 5 seed.
That's the good news.
Since 2003, No. 5 seeds (all road teams vs. No. 4 seeds) are 4-2 in first-round matchups.
It's a trend that Cowboys fans may wish to embrace. There are so few chances of that these days.
Of the last six No. 5 seeds, the one that most closely resembles the Cowboys are the 2004 St. Louis Rams.
Quarterbacked by a young Marc Bulger, the '04 Rams finished 8-8 with a shaky defense, but went to Seattle (with me so far?) and won a wild-card game 27-20.
If the Cowboys can duplicate that feat, they'll win their first playoff game in 10 years and nine days.
Much like that '04 Rams defense (24.5 ppg, ranked 25th), this Cowboys defense (21.9 ppg, ranked 20th) has a chance to redeem itself in the Great Northwest.
It's the same cast of characters up there -- namely, Matt Hasselbeck, Shaun Alexander and the brains of the operation, Mike Holmgren.
Two years ago, they wanted to fire him, too.
Sure, the Seahawks are favored to win, and maybe even score 40 points in the process.
But let's face it. The Super Bowl tournament never goes according to plan.
It's almost guaranteed that the Chicago Bears and San Diego Chargers both will not end up in Miami on Feb. 4.
There hasn't been a Super Bowl matchup of No. 1 seeds since Dallas-Buffalo in SB XXVIII in Atlanta.
In a dozen Super Bowls since, the most common matchup has been No. 1 vs. No. 2 (seven times), and there have been a slew of lower seeds that wreaked havoc along the way.
Last year, No. 6 seed Pittsburgh won it all.
Just think of the Super Bowl tournament as a slate of movies at a cinema near you: You never know if what you're going to see is what you thought it would be.
For weeks now, we've known that the Cowboys weren't Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness, but maybe they can be Apocalypto. The Greek translation is "a new beginning," and for something to begin, something has to end.
The gorilla off the backs of the Cowboys, especially the defense, is the regular season, in which the Cowboys were trying to win a division title for the first time since 1998.
Didn't happen.
Now they're just a No. 5 seed, and that's not all bad.
As recently as last year, Carolina made it all the way into the NFC Championship Game before losing to Seattle. The Panthers were a No. 5 seed.
And what has happened... can happen to the Cowboys.
After all, this franchise is accustomed to sneaking into the playoffs. In each of the Cowboys' last four postseason trips -- two under Chan Gailey, two under Parcells -- the team has gone 2-3 in its last five regular-season games.
This is annoying, but nothing new.
Many NFL fans are flocking to a nifty NFL-produced Web site called playoffs.nfl.com/bandwagon to find where to jump off.
Or, more importantly, where to jump on.
However, if you decide to stick it out with the Cowboys, just remember what needs to be done:
Convince Carrie Underwood to visit Matt Hasselbeck before the game.
Find ways to help the Cowboys defense. Clone DeMarcus Ware.
Don't let the Seahawks, or anyone else, talk the Cowboys into playing this game at Texas Stadium. Dallas is 5-3 on the road.
Ignore T.O. Never mind... everyone already is doing that.
Hope that Tony Romo rubs off on the rest of his teammates, minus the turnovers.
Win one for Greg Ellis.
Remember the '04 St. Louis Rams. They didn't go to Seattle just for a cup of coffee.
And neither should the Cowboys.
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
All aboard. There's a ton of room on the Cowboys bandwagon.
Quiet, too.
A story with Tony Romo's name in it hasn't appeared on a celebrity gossip Web site in nearly a week.
Instead, inquiring minds want to know how the Dallas defense has been able to allow 33 points per game over the last four weeks.
Even T.O. has been usurped.
We haven't seen the ubiquitous Owens on ESPN's Outside the Lines for days now. But don't rule out the Cowboys' pass defense landing an episode on Without a Trace.
Bill Parcells? He's having only a slightly better week than Jim Mora and Denny Green.
But for now, Parcells has been gutted only emotionally. He finds himself coaching an uncertain team with far more second-guessers than swagger, a team with (at last count) three losses -- all at home -- in its last four games.
Opening the playoffs Saturday night at Seattle, the Cowboys enter the Super Bowl tournament as the NFC's No. 5 seed.
That's the good news.
Since 2003, No. 5 seeds (all road teams vs. No. 4 seeds) are 4-2 in first-round matchups.
It's a trend that Cowboys fans may wish to embrace. There are so few chances of that these days.
Of the last six No. 5 seeds, the one that most closely resembles the Cowboys are the 2004 St. Louis Rams.
Quarterbacked by a young Marc Bulger, the '04 Rams finished 8-8 with a shaky defense, but went to Seattle (with me so far?) and won a wild-card game 27-20.
If the Cowboys can duplicate that feat, they'll win their first playoff game in 10 years and nine days.
Much like that '04 Rams defense (24.5 ppg, ranked 25th), this Cowboys defense (21.9 ppg, ranked 20th) has a chance to redeem itself in the Great Northwest.
It's the same cast of characters up there -- namely, Matt Hasselbeck, Shaun Alexander and the brains of the operation, Mike Holmgren.
Two years ago, they wanted to fire him, too.
Sure, the Seahawks are favored to win, and maybe even score 40 points in the process.
But let's face it. The Super Bowl tournament never goes according to plan.
It's almost guaranteed that the Chicago Bears and San Diego Chargers both will not end up in Miami on Feb. 4.
There hasn't been a Super Bowl matchup of No. 1 seeds since Dallas-Buffalo in SB XXVIII in Atlanta.
In a dozen Super Bowls since, the most common matchup has been No. 1 vs. No. 2 (seven times), and there have been a slew of lower seeds that wreaked havoc along the way.
Last year, No. 6 seed Pittsburgh won it all.
Just think of the Super Bowl tournament as a slate of movies at a cinema near you: You never know if what you're going to see is what you thought it would be.
For weeks now, we've known that the Cowboys weren't Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness, but maybe they can be Apocalypto. The Greek translation is "a new beginning," and for something to begin, something has to end.
The gorilla off the backs of the Cowboys, especially the defense, is the regular season, in which the Cowboys were trying to win a division title for the first time since 1998.
Didn't happen.
Now they're just a No. 5 seed, and that's not all bad.
As recently as last year, Carolina made it all the way into the NFC Championship Game before losing to Seattle. The Panthers were a No. 5 seed.
And what has happened... can happen to the Cowboys.
After all, this franchise is accustomed to sneaking into the playoffs. In each of the Cowboys' last four postseason trips -- two under Chan Gailey, two under Parcells -- the team has gone 2-3 in its last five regular-season games.
This is annoying, but nothing new.
Many NFL fans are flocking to a nifty NFL-produced Web site called playoffs.nfl.com/bandwagon to find where to jump off.
Or, more importantly, where to jump on.
However, if you decide to stick it out with the Cowboys, just remember what needs to be done:
Convince Carrie Underwood to visit Matt Hasselbeck before the game.
Find ways to help the Cowboys defense. Clone DeMarcus Ware.
Don't let the Seahawks, or anyone else, talk the Cowboys into playing this game at Texas Stadium. Dallas is 5-3 on the road.
Ignore T.O. Never mind... everyone already is doing that.
Hope that Tony Romo rubs off on the rest of his teammates, minus the turnovers.
Win one for Greg Ellis.
Remember the '04 St. Louis Rams. They didn't go to Seattle just for a cup of coffee.
And neither should the Cowboys.
posted by The Gryphon at 6:28 PM
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