The meaning of sweeping the Iggles..? A division title after only the 9th game..?

[Redball Express]

hey..

I've looked at the implications for this team going into the Monday Night game against Philly in our rematch and more or less seen that this game is the key to our season.

Forget the rhetoric from BP that's it's just another game in a long season. Sure, the official Valley Ranch mumbling will be about playing one game at a time, but this game coming up has pivotal outcome written all over it.

It's all about controlling our destiny and sealing another team's destiny and leepfrogging the rest of the NFC East at only the 9th game in the season.

The Eagles and our next Monday night against them is going to be a huge turning point in the division race. If any team is able to do better than a split with them, it means they control the division down the road.

We've got the first chance to do that of any team in the NFC East.

This game might be the one that jells us as a team and allows us to overcome all the injuries and setbacks so far or shakes us and brings doubt to the season.

If we don't add oil to the Iggles slide of recent with a sweep in our series, we are leaving the door open to them climbing back into the division race and being a factor that stops our ultimate success this season.

With all the other teams in our division playing each other and they all still have to play the Iggles in rematches..the path to the playoffs clearly goes thru Philly.

Every team that wants to be there at the end will need to sweep at least two teams in it's division to do it. The team that first does this is in the drivers seat.

Since we have wins against everybody except the Commanders now, that clearly becomes the mantra for any potential team's success.

If Dallas can sweep the Eagles, that would put extreme pressure on the rest of the division to keep up. It would also put extreme pressure on the Iggles to not fall any further behind against the rest of the division down the stretch.

Either way, the Iggles either get buried by us in our next game or they emerge with a victory and place a lot of doubt about the Cowboys being good enough to win the division. A win by the Iggles means that the pressure shifts back to Dallas to have to sweep another two other teams in the division at least.

And since we lost to the 'Skins, that means the Jints and Cards as the only possibilty if we don't take the Iggles this next game.

And with away games against the Jints &' Skins in possible cold weather conditions later this year not to mention our rematch still out in Arizona and the Cards, where we haven't won out there in several years..sweeping 2 teams within our division starts to be iffy.

Additionally, if we can manage to win and sweep the Iggles, then the Iggles are going to determine who our competition will be as they will play the role of spoilers in the second half of the season as all their games become playoff elimination games for them.

This next game coming up with them is huge. Can we really do this..?

Is this team really capable of taking advantage of a possible season-shaping win at this point and hold onto such an advantage if they get it..?

I have no idea.

But we can clearly see the destiny of the team taking shape and it's in it's own hands starting two Monday nights from now.

:trophy:

parcellswaterboy

 

[austintodallas]

Arizona is not in our division. We do not play them again.

 

[ravidubey]

Clearly what you say is true. I view every game against the division as critical, but it appears (at least at this time) that this game in particular gives us a chance to really distance ourselves psychologically.

Realize though that Philly hasn't played anyone in the division besides us yet. For all we know, they may be just a paper tiger and lose all their division games.

 

[kmd24]

The game on Dec 4 in the Meadowlands is shaping up to be the the pivotal game in the Cowboys' season.

Honestly, beating the Eagles in week 10 doesn't mean a whole lot except in the minds of Cowboys fans. The game will only be meaningful in the standings if the Cowboys lose.

Look at the NYG schedule. The Cowboys figure to be trying to keep pace with the Giants leading up to that game.

 

[TheHustler]

No way. The Giants are 5-2.

 

[Dallas31]

Waterboy still thinks we are in the old 5-team NFC East.

When he talked about sweeping 2 other division opponents if we lose to Philly, well that's impossible since we lost to the skins.

Good post, but it seems as if you are stuck in 2001 with the divisions.

No trip to AZ this year...

 

[Gordon]

Giants are at 5-2 and staring 7-2 right in the face with the next two games being against the 49ers and the Vikings.

After that, their schedule gets pretty tough, but if they don't win 11 games, I'll be surprised.

 

[NYCowboy22]

The game on Dec 4 in the Meadowlands is shaping up to be the the pivotal game in the Cowboys' season.

And guess who has tickets?

 

[NorTex]

You lost me when you started talking about our division rivals, Arizona.

 

[AbeBeta]

let's see. Monday night game against a wounded animal of a team on their home field. Optimism is not called for at this point.

 

[Billy Bullocks]

I would agree with you completely, however, it's not a 2 team race with us and Philly. I think Philly beats Washington, and they will be relegated to the cellar of the division, where they belong.

NYG have a very favorable schedule over the next 2 weeks, playing SF and then Minnesota. That could have them sitting with a 7-2 record after Week 9. So I think it's a bit far fetched to say the division is ours at Week 9.

Week 12, at NY, that's the game that could have huge implications on this division. Personally, I feel that NY, besides us, is probably the best team in the NFC East. Granted we out played them, they hung in the game. They are undefeated at home, and have only played 1 close game at the Meadowlands. They are a tough team to handle.

Defensively, I don't see the rankings as a good measuring stick of how they play. They swarm, and play with a real mean streak. The Giants game looked like probably the most physical one we played all year. They play hard, tough football.

The NFC East is a real tough division, and if you think we can win it by week 9, I think I'm going to have to politely disagree. With the teams so close right now, I really see it going down to the wire.

Regardless of what happens at Philly, we have to take 2/3 over the rest of the season to win this division. I think Washington is the most winnable, then Philly. Going to teh Meadowlands is a scary thought.

Thank god this team is built for grind it out cold weather games. We have alot of size and grit, along with good team speed on the rest of the D. Guys like Anthony Henry, Roy Williams, will really help out when it becomes a grinding run fest near the end of the season. I kind of wish we had gotten at least 1 away divisional game. 3 road games is ridiculous. It's gonna tell us what this team is really made of.