Two Cowboys fan behaviors that have always puzzled me

1. "I would rather that our opponent be at full strength and have all of their players healthy so that they have no excuse when we beat them, than play an injury-weakened opponent" - really? You'd rather face a strong opponent and have only a 50% chance of beating them, than an injury-weakened opponent and have a 70% chance of beating them? A win is a win and a loss is a loss in the W-L column, no matter how you got there. Injuries don't factor into tiebreakers.
2. "We can't afford to look ahead - we need to focus on our weak opponent this week. Let's not talk about the games that lie further ahead and focus only on one game at a time." If people who say this are referring to Cowboys players and coaches, then I absolutely agree - one game at a time. But oftentimes, it seems that people who say this are referring to Cowboys fans - they seem to think that if Cowboys fans get ahead of ourselves and start talking about Thanksgiving or December or January when it's still Week 3, that somehow our behavior on an Internet message board will cause the Cowboys players and coaches to lose games by losing focus - what gives?

Red Dragon said:

In the many years that I've been a member of Cowboys message boards, I've always seen two recurring fan sentiments that baffle me:

1. "I would rather that our opponent be at full strength and have all of their players healthy so that they have no excuse when we beat them, than play an injury-weakened opponent" - really? You'd rather face a strong opponent and have only a 50% chance of beating them, than an injury-weakened opponent and have a 70% chance of beating them? A win is a win and a loss is a loss in the W-L column, no matter how you got there. Injuries don't factor into tiebreakers.
2. "We can't afford to look ahead - we need to focus on our weak opponent this week. Let's not talk about the games that lie further ahead and focus only on one game at a time." If people who say this are referring to Cowboys players and coaches, then I absolutely agree - one game at a time. But oftentimes, it seems that people who say this are referring to Cowboys fans - they seem to think that if Cowboys fans get ahead of ourselves and start talking about Thanksgiving or December or January when it's still Week 3, that somehow our behavior on an Internet message board will cause the Cowboys players and coaches to lose games by losing focus - what gives?

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Nav22 said:

1) They want to be able to talk trash to their buddies about a Cowboys win, and they know a key injury to the opponent will be used by their buddies as an excuse.

2) They like pretending they’re on this journey with the players/coaches and their fandom somehow contributes to the team’s success.

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Red Dragon said:

In the many years that I've been a member of Cowboys message boards, I've always seen two recurring fan sentiments that baffle me:

1. "I would rather that our opponent be at full strength and have all of their players healthy so that they have no excuse when we beat them, than play an injury-weakened opponent" - really? You'd rather face a strong opponent and have only a 50% chance of beating them, than an injury-weakened opponent and have a 70% chance of beating them? A win is a win and a loss is a loss in the W-L column, no matter how you got there. Injuries don't factor into tiebreakers.
2. "We can't afford to look ahead - we need to focus on our weak opponent this week. Let's not talk about the games that lie further ahead and focus only on one game at a time." If people who say this are referring to Cowboys players and coaches, then I absolutely agree - one game at a time. But oftentimes, it seems that people who say this are referring to Cowboys fans - they seem to think that if Cowboys fans get ahead of ourselves and start talking about Thanksgiving or December or January when it's still Week 3, that somehow our behavior on an Internet message board will cause the Cowboys players and coaches to lose games by losing focus - what gives?

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Shane612 said:

Funny. Particularly #2.
It muses me when fans use "we" and "us".
I guess many fans invest their emotion into the game. Thus, feel like they're part of the team.

I'm a fan, but I know the Cowboys organization couldn't careless about my well-being.

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12+88=7 said:

I'm in the play each team at full strength type of fan. This is the only way to truly evaluate the team.

Right now Dallas has played two pretenders and looked very well doing it. Let's take Dallas's first 7 games, without Brees I'm putting NO in the pretender category. Dallas goes 5-2, the two losses are to the only contenders they played Green Bay and Philadelphia. How do you feel about the team? Is the glass half full or half empty?

Playing teams at full strength is the best way to see where the team stands. Any thing else will lead you to believe you are better than you think.

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Nav22 said:

2 problems with this line of thinking:

1) Every single NFL team has a bunch of “pretenders” on their schedule. The teams that make the playoffs and contend for titles get there by winning the games they’re supposed to win.

2) Let’s say Dallas’ 5-2 start includes wins vs the Packers and Eagles, but they somehow lose vs the Dolphins and Jets. Would that REALLY make you feel better about their title chances?

There’s so much parity in the NFL that there are very few teams that are total garbage anyways.

It’s easy to dismiss the Commanders as a bad team after we took care of business, but the point spread was only Dallas by 5.5. The Commanders raced out to a 17-0 lead at Philly in Week 1 and nearly pulled off the upset. They’re not pathetic.

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Red Dragon said:

In the many years that I've been a member of Cowboys message boards, I've always seen two recurring fan sentiments that baffle me:

1. "I would rather that our opponent be at full strength and have all of their players healthy so that they have no excuse when we beat them, than play an injury-weakened opponent" - really? You'd rather face a strong opponent and have only a 50% chance of beating them, than an injury-weakened opponent and have a 70% chance of beating them? A win is a win and a loss is a loss in the W-L column, no matter how you got there. Injuries don't factor into tiebreakers.
2. "We can't afford to look ahead - we need to focus on our weak opponent this week. Let's not talk about the games that lie further ahead and focus only on one game at a time." If people who say this are referring to Cowboys players and coaches, then I absolutely agree - one game at a time. But oftentimes, it seems that people who say this are referring to Cowboys fans - they seem to think that if Cowboys fans get ahead of ourselves and start talking about Thanksgiving or December or January when it's still Week 3, that somehow our behavior on an Internet message board will cause the Cowboys players and coaches to lose games by losing focus - what gives?

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CATCH17 said:

#1.. I agree but there are times when playing a team at full strength is a good thing.

2014 Seattle, 2016 GB and Steelers, 2018 New Orleans... All of those games spring boarded the season and wouldn't have created the momentum without those teams being full strength.

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Red Dragon said:

In the many years that I've been a member of Cowboys message boards, I've always seen two recurring fan sentiments that baffle me:

1. "I would rather that our opponent be at full strength and have all of their players healthy so that they have no excuse when we beat them, than play an injury-weakened opponent" - really? You'd rather face a strong opponent and have only a 50% chance of beating them, than an injury-weakened opponent and have a 70% chance of beating them? A win is a win and a loss is a loss in the W-L column, no matter how you got there. Injuries don't factor into tiebreakers.
2. "We can't afford to look ahead - we need to focus on our weak opponent this week. Let's not talk about the games that lie further ahead and focus only on one game at a time." If people who say this are referring to Cowboys players and coaches, then I absolutely agree - one game at a time. But oftentimes, it seems that people who say this are referring to Cowboys fans - they seem to think that if Cowboys fans get ahead of ourselves and start talking about Thanksgiving or December or January when it's still Week 3, that somehow our behavior on an Internet message board will cause the Cowboys players and coaches to lose games by losing focus - what gives?

Click to expand...

Shane612 said:

Funny. Particularly #2.
It muses me when fans use "we" and "us".
I guess many fans invest their emotion into the game. Thus, feel like they're part of the team.

I'm a fan, but I know the Cowboys organization couldn't careless about my well-being.

Click to expand...

Shane612 said:

Funny. Particularly #2.
It muses me when fans use "we" and "us".
I guess many fans invest their emotion into the game. Thus, feel like they're part of the team.

I'm a fan, but I know the Cowboys organization couldn't careless about my well-being.

Click to expand...

Red Dragon said:

In the many years that I've been a member of Cowboys message boards, I've always seen two recurring fan sentiments that baffle me:

1. "I would rather that our opponent be at full strength and have all of their players healthy so that they have no excuse when we beat them, than play an injury-weakened opponent" - really? You'd rather face a strong opponent and have only a 50% chance of beating them, than an injury-weakened opponent and have a 70% chance of beating them? A win is a win and a loss is a loss in the W-L column, no matter how you got there. Injuries don't factor into tiebreakers.
2. "We can't afford to look ahead - we need to focus on our weak opponent this week. Let's not talk about the games that lie further ahead and focus only on one game at a time." If people who say this are referring to Cowboys players and coaches, then I absolutely agree - one game at a time. But oftentimes, it seems that people who say this are referring to Cowboys fans - they seem to think that if Cowboys fans get ahead of ourselves and start talking about Thanksgiving or December or January when it's still Week 3, that somehow our behavior on an Internet message board will cause the Cowboys players and coaches to lose games by losing focus - what gives?

Click to expand...