I will never get why everyone has such an issue with the Cowboys nickname.
I appreciate the fact that the author took time to cite a poll. It beats the same ole rhetoric of '
they're no longer America's team because everybody *I* know is not a fan of theirs.'
Although Dyer misses out on some key points.
1) This is the Cowboys' lowest ranking since 2002. In 8 of the 13 years of the poll, they have ranked #1. And in 11 of the 13 years they have ranked either #1 or #2. Only the Packers have had any similar type of success and even theirs pales in comparison to the Cowboys. And this despite the team having won only 1 playoff game in the time that the polls have been conducted.
2) Meanwhile, the Broncos have had a median ranking of 10.5 during this time. In fact, 3 years ago they were ranked 17th. It wasn't until they got Peyton Manning and went to an AFC Championship game along with a Super Bowl game the following season that they had their meteoric rise in the rankings. If anything, one could conclude that the Broncos ARE NOT 'America's Team', but instead...Peyton Manning is 'America's Quarterback.'
3) This completely ignores all of the other polls and KPI on a team's popularity like Facebook and Twitter polls along with the ratings Dallas gets like they did last week against the Seahawks.
As somebody that works in market analytics, I would find the poll to tell me that the fans are not happy with the product the past few seasons and didn't like us retaining Garrett for another year. Of course, if the team just makes the playoffs and manages to win just 1 playoff game, my bet is that the Cowboys retain the most popular team in the NFL title the next season. Meanwhile, I have a belief that once Peyton retires the Broncos will go back to around 10th in popularity. They may gain a little more of the slice of the pie if they can remain successful after Manning retires, but I highly doubt they will consistently be in the top-4 in the rankings.
YR
