DMN Blog: The game after Thanksgiving

[cowboyjoe]

The game after Thanksgiving
10:30 AM Sun, Nov 29, 2009 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
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I know some teams believe the biggest advantage of the Cowboys playing on Thanksgiving is the 10-day break - normally - that can almost serve as a second bye.

Certainly it allows the Cowboys to rest injured guys and this year it will benefit Jason Witten and Tony Romo.

But since 2000, the Cowboys are 5-4 in the games played after Thanksgiving. They are 3-4 in the away games after the holiday and have split with the New York Giants at the Meadowlands

They won the 2006 matchup after Tony Romo directed a late drive that led to a Martin Gramatica game-winner in a 23-20 victory. They lost in 2005, 17-10, in a game that didn't seem that close and all I remember is a snap-mixup between Andre Gurode and Drew Bledsoe that turned into a New York touchdown.

Both times the Cowboys entered that game at 7-4. In '06, they won there and made the playoffs. In '05 they lost there and missed the post-season.

(I'm not sure how to categorize the 2007 "week after" game after because it was a Thursday night affair against Green Bay and the victory gave the Cowboys the homefield edge that year. With a 10-day break after the Packer game, the Cowboys snuck out of Detroit with a 28-27 victory to clinch the NFC East title.)

Should the Cowboys be aware of this, the above statement?

Last year the Cowboys were 8-4 coming off their Thanksgiving win against Seattle and lost at Pittsburgh. Maybe you remember the interception return for a touchdown that won the game for the Steelers?

 

[poke]

http://cowboyszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169767

look in the daily zone

 

[cowboyjoe]

http://cowboyszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169767

look in the daily zone

sorry missed it;

 

[DallasEast]

(I'm not sure how to categorize the 2007 "week after" game after because it was a Thursday night affair against Green Bay and the victory gave the Cowboys the homefield edge that year. With a 10-day break after the Packer game, the Cowboys snuck out of Detroit with a 28-27 victory to clinch the NFC East title.)

Should the Cowboys be aware of this, the above statement?

 

[cowboyjoe]

remember thats the game we were losing badly and if not for a freak fumble with kosier covering, we would have lost that game, we were totally flat in that game, when it mattered

 

[DallasEast]

remember thats the game we were losing badly and if not for a freak fumble with kosier covering, we would have lost that game, we were totally flat in that game, when it mattered

It doesn't matter whether or not the team is aware since it has zero bearing on this season. The team simply needs to focus on beating the Giants next Sunday. How the team played in previous seasons does not factor into this season's successes or failures.

 

[cowboyjoe]

It doesn't matter whether or not the team is aware since it has zero bearing on this season. The team simply needs to focus on beating the Giants next Sunday. How the team played in previous seasons does not factor into this season's successes or failures.

I understand that, what i was trying to say, see you didnt take this game seriously, and look at what happened, you have to stay focused;

 

[DallasEast]

I understand that, what i was trying to say, see you didnt take this game seriously, and look at what happened, you have to stay focused;

Only time will tell, but the team as a whole appears to be more focused this season than any other this decade.

 

[cowboyjoe]

Only time will tell, but the team as a whole appears to be more focused this season than any other this decade.

True, i think thats what you do when you have leaders like brooking, ratliff, witten, bradie for example

those players can point back to some games where they didnt play and when they see it happening again in practice they can get on the players that arent doing their workload etc