Cbz40
The Grand Poobah
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December 2, 2007
After the late games
Didn’t see this coming: Eli Manning keeps the Cowboys from clinching the NFC East. After losing his lunch for much the afternoon, you gotta give credit where it’s due. Manning threw three picks, then bounced back to lead touchdown drives of 75 and 77 yards in a hostile environment against a team fighting for its playoff life.
And the Cowboys didn’t get much help from the Eagles or Saints either. The South and West leaders, Tampa Bay and Seattle, are still three games back in the standings, meaning Dallas still needs a couple things to happen to lock up a first-round bye.
Follow the jump for some more on the late games:
-- Alright, the Cardinals have made some of my AFC/NFC proclamations seem a little silly, since they’ve now beaten both the Browns and Steelers. But here’s an interesting aspect to the whole thing: the Arizona head coach, Ken Whisenhunt, was Steelers offensive coordinator the last three years.
So obviously, he knows the Steelers pretty well. And from 2004-06, those Steelers went 6-0 against Cleveland, so he's got an idea how to beat them too. Don’t expect things things to unravel for the Browns from here on out. They have the Jets, Bills, Bengals and 49ers left on the schedule, which means they should be able to get to at least nine wins. Still, that might not get them in the playoffs, which would probably put the Cowboys “other” first-round draft pick at 20 or 21.
I do stand by what I said earlier, by the way, on the balance of power between the conferences.
-- I don’t think the Buccaneers have done a great job of assembling talent over the last few years. But Jon Gruden can coach, there’s little question about that. How else to explain this team he has, that doesn’t seem to scare anyone, yet just won’t go away?
They scored 27 points today in New Orleans with Luke McCown at quarterback, Earnest Graham at tailback and an offensive line that’s long been patched together.
-- The Seahawks and Buccaneers may be surging, but it’s going to tough for either of them to catch the Packers, let alone the Cowboys. Green Bay’s got a two-game bulge, and a 3-1 mark down the stretch should be relatively easy to achieve. The Packers should be able to beat the Raiders and Rams the next two weeks, then would need to split their last two games, at Chicago and against Detroit.
Meanwhile, it would take an absolute Dallas nosedive for the Cowboys not to get a first-round bye.
Posted by Albert Breer http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedcontent/dws/img/standing/icons/email.gif at 7:04 PM (E-mail this entry)
After the late games
Didn’t see this coming: Eli Manning keeps the Cowboys from clinching the NFC East. After losing his lunch for much the afternoon, you gotta give credit where it’s due. Manning threw three picks, then bounced back to lead touchdown drives of 75 and 77 yards in a hostile environment against a team fighting for its playoff life.
And the Cowboys didn’t get much help from the Eagles or Saints either. The South and West leaders, Tampa Bay and Seattle, are still three games back in the standings, meaning Dallas still needs a couple things to happen to lock up a first-round bye.
Follow the jump for some more on the late games:
-- Alright, the Cardinals have made some of my AFC/NFC proclamations seem a little silly, since they’ve now beaten both the Browns and Steelers. But here’s an interesting aspect to the whole thing: the Arizona head coach, Ken Whisenhunt, was Steelers offensive coordinator the last three years.
So obviously, he knows the Steelers pretty well. And from 2004-06, those Steelers went 6-0 against Cleveland, so he's got an idea how to beat them too. Don’t expect things things to unravel for the Browns from here on out. They have the Jets, Bills, Bengals and 49ers left on the schedule, which means they should be able to get to at least nine wins. Still, that might not get them in the playoffs, which would probably put the Cowboys “other” first-round draft pick at 20 or 21.
I do stand by what I said earlier, by the way, on the balance of power between the conferences.
-- I don’t think the Buccaneers have done a great job of assembling talent over the last few years. But Jon Gruden can coach, there’s little question about that. How else to explain this team he has, that doesn’t seem to scare anyone, yet just won’t go away?
They scored 27 points today in New Orleans with Luke McCown at quarterback, Earnest Graham at tailback and an offensive line that’s long been patched together.
-- The Seahawks and Buccaneers may be surging, but it’s going to tough for either of them to catch the Packers, let alone the Cowboys. Green Bay’s got a two-game bulge, and a 3-1 mark down the stretch should be relatively easy to achieve. The Packers should be able to beat the Raiders and Rams the next two weeks, then would need to split their last two games, at Chicago and against Detroit.
Meanwhile, it would take an absolute Dallas nosedive for the Cowboys not to get a first-round bye.
Posted by Albert Breer http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sharedcontent/dws/img/standing/icons/email.gif at 7:04 PM (E-mail this entry)
