The Emperor
Marcus Aurelius Maximus
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Even though it's the first game and it's important to have a fast start to the season, it's important to remember that a season is a marathon and not a sprint. The playoffs are a sprint. The regular season is a marathon.
The media, the fans, and the organizations have built this Week 1 matchup into sort of a playoff game. The fact is it's Week 1 of the regular season. There's no playoff positioning on the line. There's still 15 more games to atone for whatever loss we should accrue Wednesday night.
Our Wednesday night encounter with the New York Giants is really nothing more than a glorified urinating contest. When we look back on the 2012 season, it won't define it at all. Other important games will do so, not this Week 1 matchup with the Giants.
Do I want to beat the Giants? Indubitably. But I'm also thinking long term.
We need Jason Witten for more than one game this season, and I would sacrifice his services in this one game for the potential ten we'll need him later on down the road. I pick the number ten because that's what will get us into the playoffs.
Don't send him out there with a lacerated spleen and have him waste his season all because we want to stick it to the Giants in their house and spoil their season opening. Going back to the days of Landry, the Dallas Cowboys aren't about squabbles like that. They're not about Sicilian duels of honor. They're about focusing long term and achieving loftier goals at the end of the road. You can't get there when you're giving into road rage because someone cut you off.
Sit Jason Witten this week. Find another way to win. Don't risk his season over one game that we could easily atone later on in November and December when it counts.
The media, the fans, and the organizations have built this Week 1 matchup into sort of a playoff game. The fact is it's Week 1 of the regular season. There's no playoff positioning on the line. There's still 15 more games to atone for whatever loss we should accrue Wednesday night.
Our Wednesday night encounter with the New York Giants is really nothing more than a glorified urinating contest. When we look back on the 2012 season, it won't define it at all. Other important games will do so, not this Week 1 matchup with the Giants.
Do I want to beat the Giants? Indubitably. But I'm also thinking long term.
We need Jason Witten for more than one game this season, and I would sacrifice his services in this one game for the potential ten we'll need him later on down the road. I pick the number ten because that's what will get us into the playoffs.
Don't send him out there with a lacerated spleen and have him waste his season all because we want to stick it to the Giants in their house and spoil their season opening. Going back to the days of Landry, the Dallas Cowboys aren't about squabbles like that. They're not about Sicilian duels of honor. They're about focusing long term and achieving loftier goals at the end of the road. You can't get there when you're giving into road rage because someone cut you off.
Sit Jason Witten this week. Find another way to win. Don't risk his season over one game that we could easily atone later on in November and December when it counts.
