All 8 of the Cowboys SB teams won their season finale

[KJJ]

Right, but it's not like we lost because the starters didn't play well. We lost because the starters barely played. And I think (hope) they got enough reps in to not be rusty come gameday.

Our starters didn't look great while they were in there, not bad but not real sharp. Dak was 4-4. We lost because we mailed the game in, choosing to play our worst QB almost assuring we would lose. I'm not sure Dak got enough reps to be as sharp as he's going to need to be in a couple of weeks. Wouldn't have hurt to give Romo a quarter. I didn't like the way we handled that game.

 

[SDCowboy]

Our starters didn't look great while they were in there, not bad but not real sharp. Dak was 4-4. We lost because we mailed the game in, choosing to play our worst QB almost assuring we would lose. I'm not sure Dak got enough reps to be as sharp as he's going to need to be in a couple of weeks. Wouldn't have hurt to give Romo a quarter. I didn't like the way we handled that game.

Hey don't get me wrong, I wanted the starters in there for a half. I'm just hoping it was enough. Time will tell.

 

[lukin2006]

And we would have won that game if we left our backup QB in for more than a cup of coffee...seriously Sanchez must practice really well for him to still have a roster spot. I dislike losing very winnable games, if we are 1 and done, this is on the coaching ... I'd like to think JG has learned a little something from '07, and we'll find out in a 1 1/2 weeks...

 

[KJJ]

Staubach played the last five games with it. He wasn't going to come out of the lineup. Landry sure wasn't going to bench him at that point of his career.

This whole thing reminds me of a great line uttered by Vin Scully. He said, "Statistics are like lamp posts to a drunk - used more for support than illumination."

If he played the last 5 games with it, it couldn't have been bothering him that much the Cowboys went 3-2 and Staubach attempted 40 passes in week 13, which was the second most attempts he had all season. He did have some bad games during that period but he also had some good games. Sitting Staubach because of a broken knuckle wouldn't have been "benching" him.

 

[KJJ]

And we would have won that game if we left our backup QB in for more than a cup of coffee...seriously Sanchez must practice really well for him to still have a roster spot. I dislike losing very winnable games, if we are 1 and done, this is on the coaching ... I'd like to think JG has learned a little something from '07, and we'll find out in a 1 1/2 weeks...

That's what irritates me the most about that game was playing Sanchez for most of it. We played a damn QB that's never going to see the field in the playoffs unless a complete disaster occurs. He looked worse than the scrubs we were using last season. He looks completely inept with pressure around him.

 

[Doomsday101]

No RB ever won the rushing title and SB in the same year..... until Emmitt. Fact is stats like that mean nothing nor does this one.

 

[KJJ]

No RB ever won the rushing title and SB in the same year..... until Emmitt. Fact is stats like that mean nothing nor does this one.

That's because the NFL has always been a QB driven league. Usually when you get to the playoffs and SB those games come down to the QB. A lot of those teams that had rushing champs had average QBs. Peterson, Dickerson, Sanders, Earl Campbell just to name a few. Emmitt had a HOF QB.

 

[drawandstrike]

Not a single one is of those eight teams rested Sean lee, Zeke Elliot, or played mark Sanchez in their final game

Amazing how the OP merely assumes because Dallas won those 8 season finales in the Super Bowl seasons, this automatically means starters played the entire games.

Projection is something intelligent people manage to avoid. Don't just assume, go check the hypothesis.

 

[drawandstrike]

Those teams chose not to mail it in and entered the playoffs on a positive note. The 76 team mailed it in mentally in the season finale, Staubach had one of his worst games ever completing only 5-22 and 2 of his his throws were picked off. He finished with a 22.7 passer rating and that game carried over to the playoffs.

What evidence do you have no key starters were rested during these 8 season finales? Or are you just merely assuming that since Dallas won these 8 games?

 

[Doomsday101]

That's because the NFL has always been a QB driven league. Usually when you get to the playoffs and SB those games come down to the QB.

People will say that but without Emmitt Dallas does not win the SB or Denver with Terrell Davis. Hell Denver not only failed but would get blown out, Davis changed that.
Fact is that stat does not determine what Dallas will or will not do. The fact Dallas lost to Philly means the same thing is has no bearing at all on what this team may or may not do. Dallas choose to play starter very limited and guys who were already hurt did not play it is not going to hurt them.

 

[T-RO]

It's a pretty large sample size for our franchise and it's been consistent despite 25 years since our first SB appearance and our last SB appearance. It doesn't matter what other teams have done, our history shows how important ending our regular seasons on a positive note has been to us reaching the SB.

In 1992 we were 3-1 in December, beating a 5-11 Bears in our final game.
In 1993 we were 4-0 in December. We beat the Giants as we had to in order to win the division.
In 1995 we were 2-2 in December, beating a 4-12 Cardinals team in our final game.

In 2016 we were 2-1 in Dec and were winning in Philadelphia when the last of our key starters left the field. We had super games against TB and Detroit.

I have ZERO worry about lacking momentum. We have plenty of momentum.

 

[drawandstrike]

How many of those 8 teams had TWO meaningless games to end the season?

Correct. How many of these 8 season finales that make up his sample involved 'win and you're in, lose and stay home' scenarios?

I bet he didn't even check. He looked at the final scores and simply assumes if Dallas won the game that means starters played all the way through. In how many of these games were starters pulled in the 2nd half?

That would take some research.

 

[DogFace]

Our 1976 team that went 11-3 lost to the Commanders 27-14 in the regular season finale, which led to us getting knocked off in the playoffs the following week to the Rams. We haven't done real well in the playoffs over the years after dropping our regular season finale.

You told me in another thread that 10 years was the meaningful time frame for relevant history.

 

[KJJ]

People will say that but without Emmitt Dallas does not win the SB or Denver with Terrell Davis. Hell Denver not only failed but would get blown out, Davis changed that.
Fact is that stat does not determine what Dallas will or will not do. The fact Dallas lost to Philly means the same thing is has no bearing at all on what this team may or may not do. Dallas choose to play starter very limited and guys who were already hurt did not play it is not going to hurt them.

Emmitt did have a HOF QB which is something none of those other rushing champs had until Terrell Davis. Not saying the stat I posted will determine what the Cowboys will do this season. Some of you are reading way too much into this.

 

[Doomsday101]

In 2014 NE lost to Buffalo in the last game and won the SB. Now if this only applies to the Cowboys then it only makes it that much more meaningless. I say that because we are talking different teams, different coaches so not sure how this observation really means much at all

 

[KJJ]

You told me in another thread that 10 years was the meaningful time frame for relevant history.

Let's see the quote and exactly what I said. I don't remember wording it like that. lol

 

[DogFace]

This thread is stupid. I am now stupider for participating.

 

[slick325]

Interesting stat...thanks for sharing OP.

 

[KJJ]

In 2014 NE lost to Buffalo in the last game and won the SB. Now if this only applies to the Cowboys then it only makes it that much more meaningless. I say that because we are talking different teams, different coaches so not sure how this observation really means much at all

You have to look at your own history. Buffalo went to 4 SB's and lost everyone of them and so did the Vikings. It's pattern those teams developed and couldn't escape. Not saying that will happen to us but we have yet to reach a SB after losing our season finale.

 

[munkee]

It's a pretty large sample size for our franchise and it's been consistent despite 25 years since our first SB appearance and our last SB appearance. It doesn't matter what other teams have done, our history shows how important ending our regular seasons on a positive note has been to us reaching the SB.

What does "pretty large" mean? Is this sample size adequate to see a significant difference here? Also, are there other confounding variables that should be controlled for? For example, did the previous Cowboys Super Bowl champions have anything to play for in that final game? This years team of course did not. Did previous Super Bowl teams use starters or backups in that final game?

Additionally, why wouldn't you include the rest of the league in this analysis? The previous Super Bowls were won under different ownership and different coaches. You could argue that the current iteration of the Cowboys has more in common with all the Super Bowl champions of the past ten years then Cowboys teams from ~20-50 years ago.

Finally, wouldn't you want to compare these numbers to Super Bowl losers as well. Is it possible that winning the last game correlates with making the Super Bowl regardless of whether you win or lose? Under a league wide analysis of course. ;-)