Leading up to the heavyweight fight against Pittsburgh, Let's Talk Numbers will be presented in two parts this week. Part II will be up Friday morning.

In this week's first installment of Let's Talk Numbers, we determine if the Dallas Cowboys' defense has improved after the debacle in St. Louis. Since Wade Phillips took a more "active" role in the defensive playcalling against Tampa Bay, the Cowboys are 4-1 and the defense has started to show signs of just how good they could be.

Are things as good as they seem, or is the defense performing at the same level as they were to start the season? Follow the jump to find out.

Continue reading this post »

The Dallas Cowboys took another hit at the safety position today when Patrick Watkins was placed on injured reserve.

Safety Patrick Watkins has now down for the rest of the season with a neck stinger that's bothered him off and on all season long. The roster move clears the way for Adam "Pacman" Jones to join the 53-man roster this Sunday against the Steelers.

While Watkins' play hasn't been the best this season, he provided much needed depth at safety and was a staple on special teams.

The Cowboys didn't get any help today in their quest to slide into one of the two NFC wildcard spots. Currently the NFC South is foiling the Cowboys' hopes as Carolina (9-3), Tampa Bay  (9-3) and Atlanta(8-4) are all ahead of Dallas in the conference. Dallas and Atlanta have the same record, but Atlanta holds the tie-breaker due to a better conference winning percentage.

Green Bay, New Orleans and San Diego all had a chance to win their games in the last minute but fell on their faces in the end. Most frustrating was watching Drew Brees, the darling quarterback of all media, force a bad throw on second down with plenty of time left to drive for the game tying field goal. Aaron Rodgers also forced a throw into coverage while attempting to lead his team from behind. So much for the NFC quarterbacks poised to overtake Romo as a Pro Bowl quarterback. Tony Romo now has the best quarterback rating in the NFC and trails Philip Rivers for the NFL lead by just a tenth of a point. [Note by Brandon W, 12/01/08 6:55 AM EST ] I guess the stats guys at NFL.com took a while to update Rivers' numbers....Romo now is the highest rated QB in the league.

But I digress.

The good news is that the NFC South contenders still have a couple of games against each other. Here is a breakdown of their final four games:

Carolina - vs. Tampa Bay, vs. Denver, at NY Giants, at New Orleans
Atlanta - at New Orleans, vs. Tampa Bay, at Minnesota, vs. St. Louis
Tampa Bay - at Carolina, at Atlanta, vs. San Diego, vs. Oakland

So mathematics tell us these teams will have to lose at least one more game this season. The best to hope for is for Carolina to win out and for Atlanta to lose to Tampa Bay, dropping Atlanta behind Dallas and putting the Cowboys ahead of Tampa Bay due to head to head tie-breakers. New Orleans winning out would help out a lot as well.

All this hinges on Dallas winning the rest of their games this season. The Cowboys hold the keys to their own destiny and at this point it is looking like 10-6 would mean missing the playoffs. 11-5 does not necessarily assure Dallas a wildcard berth either but it sure helps things. If the Cowboys lose only five games and miss the tournament, that loss to the Rams will hurt, hurt, hurt.

All they have to do is go 4-0 in December during the toughest four game stretch the team has faced in a very long time.

That's not too tough a thing to ask is it?

The Dallas Cowboys look to extend their winning streak tomorrow against the 2-9 Seattle Seahawks. The Seahawks, thought to be a lock for the NFC West division title, are struggling to find their way in a season mired by injury. At one point they were having open tryouts for wide receiver and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has struggled this season while dealing with an ailing back. Yet the team is getting healthier and have become much more competitive in the past few weeks.

How do the numbers stack up? What do the Cowboys do differently on defense that is key to winning games? Follow the jump to find out.

Continue reading this post »

Today was a fine day, and one that will live with me for the rest of my life as one of the best I've ever had. My entire life I have been a Dallas Cowboys fan and until I turned 18 and moved to Connecticut I lived within 30 minutes of Texas Stadium. For one reason or another I never made it to a game there and I always have regretted not being able to see the Triplets in person. Today I made up for it and for the the first and hopefully not the last time in my life I had the privilege of attending a Dallas Cowboys game in Texas Stadium.

It was an amazing experience and it all feels kinda surreal, like it happened in a dream and pretty soon I'm going to turn on the T.V. and watch the game on Fox. I still can't believe I was actually there, surrounded by the World Championship banners and the Ring of Honor. Best of all I was surrounded by fellow Cowboys fans. I got there early and had one heck of a day where it seemed anything that could happen, did. I met one awesome Hall of Famer, and got Roy Williams to shoot the 'Horns at me.

The tale of my experience is a long one but I feel the need to share my day with the Cowboys faithful. I also took a ton of pictures (until my battery died) and narrowing it down to reasonable number to share was far from easy.

Follow the jump for a detailed description of one hardcore fan's day at Texas Stadium.

Continue reading this post »

This week the San Francisco 49ers head to Texas Stadium in a game that a few weeks ago looked like a sure win on the schedule. Now, the Niners have a new head coach  in Mike Singletary that has the team playing with confidence following a big win over the St. Louis Rams. The biggest difference in this team is how the offense has played behind Shaun Hill after J.T. O'Sullivan was benched late in the first half in Singletary's first game as coach. A team that turning over the ball at an incredible rate has learned to protect the ball and scored 35 first half points last week.

But just how much better are they? Just how much better has the offense performed with Shaun Hill and is their defense good enough to subdue the Dallas Cowboys offense? What are the big difference makers in the game? All of these questions we will attempt to answer in this week's edition of Let's Talk Numbers.

Follow the jump for a stats analysis that that will make KC Joyner grin. Maybe.

Continue reading this post »

EDITOR'S NOTE 2:45PM: Welcome to Brandon from Blogging the Boys.  And as always, if you want to answer questions from the Cowboys fans, my FanPost is up at Blogging the Boys.

Hey, this is Brandon W from Blogging The Boys, the SB Nation Dallas Cowboys blog. I'm here to answer any questions you might have about the Cowboys and the upcoming matchup on Sunday.

The Cowboys are looking to continue pulling the season out of the brink with their next two games, both against NFC West opponents. They need to know that these are games they have to win to make a brutal December schedule easier to navigate, although all games from this point out are crucial.

On the bad news for us front, rookie running back Felix Jones has been placed on injured reserve with a torn ligament in his foot. Felix was a huge boost for this team and really added a speed element that had not been there in a long time.

Tony Romo seemed to be back to his old, jovial self and that could be dangerous against future opponents. Romo with confidence is a scary, scary thing for any defense.

Feel free to ask anything about the Cowboys or the game and I will answer to the best of my ability.

Per the DMN blog:

Rookie RB Felix Jones will be placed on the injured reserve and will have surgery to repair a torn ligament underneath his left big toe.

Ugh.

The Cowboys will really be relying on Marion Barber now, and Wade Phillips will have to overcome whatever bugs him about Tashard Choice. In today's NFL you cannot make it very far without some sort tandem backfield that helps to relieve your main guy. Marion Barber is one hell of a running back but we need him to stay as fresh as possible. Right now Barber is one pace for nearly 400 touches this season.

Santa Clause came early this year and I now have two tickets to this weekend's game against the San Francisco 49ers. This will be my one and only game at Texas Stadium in my lifetime and I cannot even begin to say how excited I am to finally be able to watch a Cowboys game in the historic venue. I have been to three Cowboys games so far yet all of them have been a fan in enemy territory. Thus what I am most looking forward to is actually seeing a Cowboys game surrounded by tons of fellow fans.

So, I was wondering if there are any regular readers who plan on going to the game. It would be great to meet up and tailgate with some fellow BTB'ers.

Also, if anyone has some tips about attending the game let me know (Parking, tailgating, food and drinks, etc).