Are the Cowboys playing with "House Money" now or will it be after another win?

[Eric_Boyer]

they are for me. I didn't expect having this much fun this year.

 

[WPBCowboysFan]

Is that really fair after they were just 8-8 last season? Now I am happy they have a chance to compete for a SB but if they play hard and lose a competitive game I would be upset just a little disappointed since they have exceeded all of our expectations

I think its fair. The goal is to win. As Herm Edwards said, its why we play the game. This team is good enough to win it all. That is not blind homerism but simply true. 8-8 is irrelevant. It has nothing to do with this year. This is a different team and a different year. IMO, the last three years at 8-8 were disappointing because we could have done better.

Will I be happy with this year even if we dont win it all? Absolutely yes! But the goal is to win it all. Listen to Red and the players, its their goal and they are not satisfied. You think they'll be satisfied with this year if they lose Sunday?

Will I feel like we could have and should have won it all, even if we dont? Yes!

 

[TellerMorrow34]

I want to see them win it all. Without question.

But I'm damned happy with this season because I had them at 8-8 with a small outside shot of 10-6 if the team got a few lucky breaks.

I didn't ever dream of them being 12-4, winning the East, and getting a playoff win.

I want it all now that they've shown they can do this much but they've already exceeded my expectations for the season.

 

[adbutcher]

No one picked this team to do jack squat this year. All of the headlines going into training camp were about how bad this D would be without Ware, Lee, and Hatcher. There were even articles about Romo being more injured than what was being reported, hint, hint, wink, wink. Also, how can we forget the Romo/Cutler comparisons? What about the huge mistake of drafting an OLineman instead of JF?

We had a roster full of nobodies and we drafted a bunch of stiffs, especially the two corpses of Hitchens who no one wanted and Lawrence who we spent too much for. My favorite is how the sport mediots took Jerry comments, paraphrasing, "that we are up against it" as admitting that we suck. When he had already said to those in the know that he believes that we are a double digit winning team.

So far, in spite of all of the passive aggressive reporting, mocking, out right hate, and backhanded compliments we have one of the most memorable seasons!
We are now 13-4 and counting. At the start of the season, we could throw a rock in any direction and find a prediction of 4-12, 1-15, 7-9, etc.

We currently 8-0 on the road, have haters searching high and low for reasons to justify their hate, have two MVP candidates, a very opportunistic Wefense, very solid ST, and a very scary Offense. If someone would have said that we would have accomplished any of the aforementioned after the 49ers game they would have been considered the zone's village idiot.

We are playing with house money but just because you play with house money doesn't mean you shouldn't shoot for the entire jackpot.

Playing with house money means that you can play loose, you can laugh at the doubters, and you can gasp...have fun while working towards your goal. Our mortgage is paid, our car note is paid along with the rest of our bills. Now we can go make it rain without any regrets even if our rain turns out to be a drizzle it would have still been a fun ride.

 

[MS17]

I know that but I was just pointing out they would be in a UNDERDOG role the rest of the season if they beat GB. A role which they seem to perform well in which was evident in the games below

at Seattle in October

at Philadelphia in December

Roger that. Good point, this weekend is a perfect setting.

 

[31smackdown]

I don't think it's playing with house money unless they beat Green Bay. A wild card win is great, but they were favored to win or expected by most to win that game. While most expect Green Bay to win this one, I look at this as the first real playoff game, then anything after is gravy. If you make it to the NFC Championship game that is a more definable accomplishment and is a more legitimate indicator of success.

While the expectations will be met after Green Bay, it's an interesting twist since they will be playing a team they either already beat once or that they will certainly be favored against, so in some ways this game is the one will validate their success more than the others.

 

[DeaconMoss]

I was thinking since no one expected this team to be in the second of the playoffs this season are they now playing with house money. But then I thought that since Romo has not got beyond the 2nd round yet maybe it will take another game before we can say that the Cowboys no longer are playing with pressure. Now of course we would all love to see them make the Sb and win but if they were to win this game wouldn't they be in a underdog role in the NFC championship and SB?

The pressure would be removed since all expectations would have exceeded and anything after GB is a Bonus

Agree or Disagree?

I'm sure when training camp started everyone on the team wanted to get a Wild Card berth and win one game in the playoffs.......
Are you crazy? Every player on every team wants to win the SB. That's the goal every year.

 

[Deep_South]

I think it is pretty clear the Boys are planning to win the Super Bowl this year. Anything less will be a major disappointment. There are always going to be great team to beat to get the top prize, so now is the time to grab it, and that is what they intend to do, starting with the Packers in their house. No, "Let's get better and come back next year", but "Let's do it now with what we've got, because who knows what's really going to happen next year." I'm sure they want it all, and they want it now. So do I. (Clearly, my position is "evolving" on this. )

 

[Verdict]

Dallas has a good enough team to win it all this year. They have proven that they can beat the best. You never know if they will draft well enough this off season, or if they can hold on to enough of their free agents, or sign enough replacement free agents to make another run next year. So you do everything you can to win it this year. Who knows if this will be Romo's last year due to a freak injury? I think the Cowboys are hungrier than the other teams this year, they believe they can win it and they want the Lombardi Trophy. Antything less is a serious disappointment as another wasted opportunity as Romo's window of opportunity closes.