Dallas Allows Washington Into the Playoffs

It was a less-than mediocre performance today from Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys. Wade Phillips kept several starters on the inactive list this week, including Terrell Owens and Terrence Newman.

Romo had an off day in the rain, which is not surprising considering the lack of motivation. The only things the Cowboys had to play for today were records. Romo fell one pass short of a franchise record for the season. Jason Witten fell a few catches short of 100 for the year. Such is life.

Now let’s move on, shall we? Let’s take a deep breath, and just exhale all the tension right out of our shoulders… Good. That’s much better, now, isn’t it?

Now we can realize that this game didn’t matter and look forward to the playoffs. Dallas gets two weeks to rest its players before the first game as the best team in the NFC. I’m not making any promises about this team, as we’ve all seen some weaknesses which any opponent could potentially exploit. But they’re as solid a team as there is in the NFL short of the Patriots, and the Cowboys still have as good a shot at the champs as anyone else.

So let’s not overreact. Leave that to Randy Galloway and crew on Monday afternoon.

On the flip side, if you’re a Redskins fan, you should thank Wade Phillips for giving your team a chance to play in the playoffs. Had the Cowboys come out full force, it would have been over for Washington and Minnesota would be in the dance. So count your lucky stars, Redskins fan… those beautiful blue stars!

The Road to the Super Bowl

As the season draws to a close, it’s hard to deny that the Cowboys are the real deal, especially after soundly defeating the Packers. So let’s take a look at what that road could look like for America’s Team, and who poses the greatest threat to a Cowboys Super Bowl appearance.

The Boys have already wrapped up the division and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Green Bay, Seattle, and Tampa Bay have clinched their divisions. The Giants are guaranteed a Wildcard spot. The remaining Wildcard could be Minnesota, New Orleans, or Washington.

Despite the Giant’s defense, the team as a whole is too sporadic to count on. Eli’s inconsistency, for sure, is a serious weakness to the team. The need to rest up and get healthy at the running back and wide receiver positions. They can be a serious threat on any given Sunday, but due to their spotty performance and Eli’s tendency to crumble under pressure, I wouldn’t count on them getting past the Wildcard game.

The Packers are probably the best team in the NFC besides the Cowboys, but the Cowboys have already demonstrated an ability to take them apart. Despite Favre’s experience and ability, expect him to be distracted. Again, not a reliable bet in the offseason. The Pack can come out hot or ice cold. It’s a toss up.

Seattle is my sleeper team. They’ve quietly made it into the playoffs without much of a running game, though their back has had a few decent performances. This team’s defense is probably the best of the NFC, and I expect to see them put a hurt on whichever wildcard team they face. This team poses the biggest threat to the Cowboys. Should they meet in the playoffs, expect BIG media coverage discussing Romo’s fumbled snap last year that cost the Boys a chance at the title.

Tampa Bay is a solid, second tier team in the NFC. I love their quarterback, but even the great Garcia isn’t enough to put the Cowboys away. Should they meet in the playoffs, expect a 14-17 point margin of Cowboy victory.

New Orleans isn’t worth mentioning this season. I don’t expect them to make it into the playoffs, but they’ll get wiped out soon if they do. Not much chance they’ll face the Cowboys.

Minnesota is my favorite of the remaining Wildcard contenders. I’m a HUGE Adrian Peterson fan. Chester Taylor has earned my respect as well. They are the backbone of this team. Young Jackson at QB is likely to make a mistake or two in a playoff game, but the running game should give them a chance at two playoff games this year. Expect them to give Seattle fits if they play in round one.

Washington can’t hang with the Cowboys, regardless of the outcome of this weekend’s game. Wade Phillips will sit some of his veterans to keep them healthy for the playoffs. He just better protect Romo. This all hinges on that guy staying healthy.

With a little bit of luck and big performance from returning receiver Terry Glenn, expect to see the Cowboys versus Patriots in the big game.

I Believe In Baseball Santa

Dear Baseball Santa:

Okay, look - I know people normally drop their letters to you before December 25th, but I have it on good authority that you spend your post-Christmas decompression period in Arizona. This means you’ll be close enough to Surprise to fulfill each of these wish list items for me (Since you didn’t come through on my original wish for my own nuclear silo / bunker complex, you can consider this a “make good,” Herr Jolly.).

As a Rangers’ fan, here’s my wish list:

Pitching. Like every beauty pageant contestant asking for world peace with their one wish, Rangers fans wish for pitching. So, there.

A muzzle for Tom Hicks. It seems like every time Tom Hicks has talked to reporters in the last six years, he’s said something that fans don’t want or need to hear. There’s a yearly mantra of “If you people would come to more games, we would get a higher payroll.” (We know how the economics of it work, Tom, but laying down that gauntlet won’t make anyone happy.) There was the comment of how much better Liverpool football fans were than North Texas hockey or baseball fans. There was the disclosure of how much money he had sitting on the table for Mark Teixeira to return as a Ranger, only to be shunned. Really, Tom, we don’t want to know. (If we can’t get Hicks a muzzle, can we at least get him a handler who stands over his shoulder and whacks him in the back of the head with a rolled up newspaper when he’s preparing to say something stupid? No? Okay, stick with the muzzle.)

Validation for John Daniels’ trade skills. I have defended Daniels to everyone who questioned each big move he’s made. I defended the Chris Young / Adrian Gonzales trade to San Diego, because it brought us Akinori Otsuka. I defended the John Danks trade to Chicago, because the scouts must have seen something in Brandon McCarthy that made him look like he was Danks, one year sooner. Now, I’m having to defend him again in sending Volquez to Cincinnati for Josh Hamilton. Hamilton’s not a pitcher — he’s a centerfielder, and time will tell just how good he is. (Don’t care about the battle back from drug abuse, or about his size 19 feet. If he stays clean and doesn’t step on my cat, I’m fine with him.)

Continued health and happiness for Michael Young. The whole Rangers world revolves around Young these days — which is great. Regardless of the accolades writers and coaches pile on him, I still think Young is one of the most undervalued player in the major leagues. You could start to hear the frustration in Young’s post-game quotes last year, including this gem around the time of the Teixeira trade:

“I’m not trying to guess what I think a rebuilding process is — I know exactly what it is. I’ve been a part of it.”

When Young is firing on all cylinders (which has been every single year he’s been in a Rangers uniform), this team has a better-than-zero chance of winning every game. Whatever it takes to make him happy, this organization need to do it.

A resurgent Hank Blalock. When Ron Washington came on with the Rangers, he said he was taking on Hank Blalock as a project. “Hank Blalock is mine,” Washington said. “I’ve got Hank. I’m going to make Hank better.” No one wants to see that prediction come to pass more than me. Whatever is off in Hank’s game needs to get fixed. If Young is the heart of this team, Blalock was once the soul. That needs to come back.

Real, dominant starting pitching from the farm system. We’ve heard from a lot of baseball writers the Rangers have one of the strongest farm systems in baseball right now. Time to see a good harvest. This does not mean power-hitting infielders, or “role-playing” relievers. It means dominant, hungry starting pitchers who want to come hard-charging out of the dugout and seven solid innings. (This may sound like I’m doubling up from the first item on the list. Sue me, big guy.)

A home post-season win. Okay, I know this may be the hardest thing to get the elves to manufacture, but one of my fondest memories as a Rangers fan was watching the Rangers beat the Yankees at Friday’s Front Row in 1996. Remember how that one win carried baseball fandom in this town for years? Imagine what it would do to see one here in town. (I could ask for more wins, even advancing in the playoffs… but I don’t want to seem greedy. It is, after all, Christmas.)

Texas Rangers Hot Stove Recap

First, here’s the short version:

• The Rangers didn’t sign Torii Hunter.

• They non-tendered Akinori Otsuka, who still doesn’t know where he’s playing.
• The word around the campfire is that Jon Daniels is building for 2009.

With those points in mind, I’m reminded of the off-season the Rangers had leading up to the 2004 season. I’ll get to that in a bit. Let’s look at who the Rangers did pick up, and quit focusing on the negative:

Kazuo Fukumori
Looks to step into the eighth-inning role Otsuka formerly occupied. Last year, for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, Kaz was 4-2 with 17 saves and a 4.75 ERA in 34 games. His season was cut short when he had surgery to take out elbow bone chips. JD says the surgery was minor, and he’s made a full recovery.

One thing I like about Ron Washington is his reluctance to slot anyone in a role until after he sees ‘em in Spring Training action. Kaz has repeatedly said he wants the ball in the ninth inning, but that role goes to Zen warrior C.J. Wilson until further notice.

Milton Bradley
It’s never a good sign when writers use the term “ill-mannered” about anyone, especially baseball players.

Bradley’s had issues with anger management in the past, so it shouldn’t have surprised anyone when he got into a pissing match with an umpire at the end of the 2007 season. Padres Manager Bud Black spun Bradley to the ground to keep him from going after Mike Winters, and tore his Bradley’s ACL in the process.

When he’s healthy (and not being benched or suspended), Bradley’s got serviceable numbers — .273/.358/.439 in eight years of big-league work. He’s had a great rapport with Ron Washington, and that goes a long way with “troubled” players. More importantly (at least to me), Bradley’s got a lot of competitive fire — something a lot of people think is missing from the Rangers clubhouse.

Bradley insists he’ll be available to play on Opening Day. We don’t know if that will be as a DH or in center field.

Edgardo Alfonzo
It’s a minor league contract. Don’t get your knickers in a twist.

Alfonzo’s 36 years old, and spent last year with the indie league Long Island Ducks. He’s been in the bigs for twelve years, and was an All-Star with the New York Mets in 2000. Last year he hit .266 with 56 RBIs in 105 games. For his career, he’s .284/.357/.425.

If you see him at the big league level for an extended period of time, it’s not because the Rangers have thrown in the towel.

…
So, there’s the Rangers’ off-season (so far). Not a lot to get you to run to the Ballpark’s ticket office in February… and that’s fine. If you don’t want to think this team will do anything to distinguish itself from the rest of the American League, fine.

But every time I look at this roster, I think back to the build-up for the 2004 season. Our ace was Kenny Rogers; we had an unproven infield; we had just traded Alex Rodriguez to the Evil Empire. Everyone thought there was good reason to look forward to 2005, but ‘04 was a “rebuilding” year. Instead, they went 89-73, and might have made more noise had Frankie Francisco not launched a folding chair into Jennifer Bueno’s schnozz.

You never know what will happen from year to year (unless you’re a Devil Rays fan)… but I’m at least intrigued by the Rangers in 2008.

Bill Parcells Avoids the Falcons, Turns to Miami

What can the Falcons expect from the Big Tuna? As everyone on ESPN Radio has already said, it’s obvious that Bill Parcells would want control over the franchise when he moves from ESPN analyst to NFL team exec. You already know that Parcells will pick the next coach for his team as well as controlling who is taken in the draft each year. Strangely enough, though, after all the hoopla given to this deal this morning, Bill Parcells will NOT be joining the Atlanta Falcons.

Parcells will apparently be joining the Miami Dolphins. Parcells told ESPN tonight that although a contract has not been signed yet, he expects to be the official vice president of football operations at Miami by Thursday. Whether it really happens or not remains to be seen. But there couldn’t be another football team more in need of a major overhaul than Miami.

I heard someone on ESPN Radio today give credit to Jerry Jones for some of the picks and off season acquisitions made by the Cowboys during Parcells’ tenure here. He cited Terrence Newman as an example of someone the Cows picked up despite Bill, and not because of him. Then, 0f course, there’s Terrell Owens. Big Bill was obviously not thrilled by that decision.

So we don’t know how much credit to really give Bill for building the team that Wade Phillips has turned into the second best team in the NFL. We can HOPE, however, that Bill will have enough power to turn the Dolphins franchise around. They’re the worst franchise in the NFL, and they’re being bested by disapointments like Atlanta, San Francisco, New York (Jets), and St. Louis.

Atlanta isn’t fun to watch anymore. Miami is so bad they earn our pity. Both teams desperately need a quarterback, obviously, and a running back at the very least. It’s going to be a three year rebuild for Miami… maybe five. Regardless, I hope Parcells can get this team back on track. As for Atlanta, we can only hope that someone of Mike Singletary’s caliber will be chosen as the next head coach so that they have a chance at one day being a team worth watching again.

Matt Mosley is the Golden Child of ESPN

Where did Matt Mosley come from, all of a sudden? I’ve been listening to ESPN radio religiously for more than a year, and I can tell you that someone is suddenly pushing Mosley onto the public in a major way. You’d think he was a superhero, the way his name pops up everywhere, all of a sudden. Perhaps it was just the coinciding of his transition from the Dallas Morning News to ESPN, but whatever it was, the entire ESPN network apparently drank the Mosley Kool-Aid.

He’s funny enough, I’ll give him credit. Mosley has more personality than 90% of the people I hear on ESPN Radio every day. I have nothing against the guy. He makes me laugh every time he talks about his latest conversation with Tony Romo or some other celeb that we all know he has almost no contact with. The guy actually exudes a kind of charm you wouldn’t expect on a sports radio network. Mosley fits more with my people… the internet marketing, blogging, SEO, social media peeps.

I love how Randy Galloway refers to Matt Mosley as “the ESPN blogggg man.” Randy exaggerates the word “blog” so much that you have to wonder if he even knows what he’s talking about. Perhaps he’s trying to figure out what the term means. Either that, or we have to put Randy in the same pitiful category as those other Dallas Morning News writers who have a chip on their shoulders against bloggers because the blogs are stealing their readers.

That’s what Mosley is… a blogger. He’s a new generation of sports personality. He is the fresh, young blood. Nice. Now if only he’d replace Dale Hansen from 6-7pm so I can drive home in peace. Don’t be surprised if our young Mosley finds himself in a prominent place on daily ESPN Radio. Whether it’s the morning slot vacated by Jennifer Engle or the all too valuable slot currently taken hostage by the pathetic Dale Hansen, he’s welcome to take his pick as far as I’m concerned.

So Matt, if you’re reading this (and let’s face it, we all know you are), best of luck to you in your budding career. May you replace Hansen swiftly and completely. In the meantime, the rest of you go check out Mosley’s Hashmarks blog on ESPN.

Jessica Simpson is a Major Upgrade for Tony Romo

Let’s face it, we want Tony Romo to date someone famous. He’s the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. We want him to receive national attention. We want him to be a celebrity.

Carrie Underwood is nice, but she’s no superstar, even with a hit album. Carrie doesn’t make headline news. She’s the product of American Idol, which means that while she can sing, she’s still considered a normal person by a good portion of the public. We saw her transition from nobody to somebody (sorry to sound so shallow), and that takes away from the mystique. Jessica Simpson is one of those larger than life types who made the colossal mistake of putting her new marriage on national television for everyone to see.

Some people will say that Carrie seems to be more grounded than Jessica, which may be true. But let’s face it - Jessica’s dumb blonde act is still just an act. She is of above average intelligence, and all the dumb blonde stuff was just a ploy to get attention.

If Tony Romo is going to be the national celebrity we expect him to be, don’t be surprised when you see women like Jessica Simpson decked out in her pink Romo jersey. It’s a sign that the world is watching. What better team to watch?

No One Cares about Keyshawn

Yet further evidence that the media has too much time on their hands. Does anyone REALLY care what Keyshawn Johnson says? Answer: no. He’s a has-been, and a “never-really-was”. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to like Keyshawn back in the day as a Dallas Cowboy fan. But his attitude was too similar to Terrell Owens without the superstar production.

Now, I’m not claiming Owens deserves to be praised as the second coming… not a chance. But he HAS produced when needed, and he HAS carried the burden of receptions on average. The supporting cast is absolutely necessary and nothing would happen without them. But Terrell Owens is almost as much a reason for Cowboys success as Tony Romo. Ewww… that hurt a few people, didn’t it?

As Keyshawn and Terrell go back and forth right now with their little lover’s quarrel, my only question is this: why does Terrell or anyone else give a rat’s @$$ what Keyshawn Johnson says? You’ve got to be a bigger man than that, T.O. Don’t let a whining has-been get on your nerves. Let him do his talking. That’s all he has left. You just go out and keep producing. I got my popcorn ready and I’m waitin’ for another big day!

Terry Glenn Slated to Return from Injury Soon

I’m sitting here watching the evening news, and the teaser just announced that the Cowboys will be getting one of their offensive weapons back very soon. Though I NEVER watch the news on television, I stuck around just to hear the good news.

If you’re in a fantasy league, this doesn’t concern you. Terry Glenn is scheduled to practice this week for the first time this season. He won’t play this coming weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles, but he may play the following weekend against Carolina. Great news for the team… too little too late for me to salvage my fantasy football season. I caught myself just shy of dropping an actual producing wide receiver in order to pick up Glenn before anyone else did. But then reality set in, and I wisely chose to keep my strong core and forgo the ever elusive Terry Glenn.

If only my hero, Adrian Peterson, hadn’t disappeared on me this week, I would have won. Chester Taylor actually had an excellent week for fantasy football, scoring 18.4 points in the Yahoo fantasy league. With Marshawn Lynch questionable and Adrian Peterson ineffective, I may have just lost my playoff spot. But I suppose you aren’t too overly concerned with all that.

In the meantime, your guess is as good as mine as to whether Glenn will be a welcome addition to the team come playoff time. There’s always the possibility that he will mess with the flow that the Cowboys offense has going. Terrell Owens needs his catches and touchdowns in order to be happy. This season has made him happier than he’s been in a long time. Glenn always competed with Owens for the ball last season, and that usually left Crayton and Witten with sporadic success at best.

This Cowboys team has definitely gelled as a cohesive unit during this season, and one can only speculate what effect Terry Glenn’s return will have on that very successful dynamic. Stay tuned.

Open Terrell Owens, Insert Foot

Watching a news teaser on NBC, I saw some of the Dallas Cowboys making an appearance at Children’s Hospital of Dallas. Terrell Owens was present, believe it or not, hanging out with the kids and making them laugh. It is a very worthy way to spend a day off the field.

However, given the opportunity, Terrell will not refuse the microphone. He was offered a chance to speak, and unfortunately, he did. Without quoting directly, I’ll give you the basic idea. He said that these cancer patient kids “probably” face more in a day than Terrell and his teammates do, so he’s just glad to be able to show up and brighten up their day. How nice.

Exactly where is the “probably”? Hmmm… Cancer? Or professional football practice for millions of dollars? Tough decision. Nice one, Terrell.

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