I see a lot of concern over the media, talking heads and anyone else picking against the Cowboys. I do not get it because they will actually settle this on the field tomorrow so why should we care what anyone else thinks?
This is the perfect matchup for many of these ex coaches and players because they're just human. Think they do not get tired of the "must discuss" Dallas Cowboys all the time? To them, the tail is wagging the dog. Some begin to hate the Cowboys because they dislike being forced to talk about them more than any other team.
I mean, c'mon, ask yourself this. The defending champions Tampa Bay Buccaneers, do they get discussed nearly as much as the Cowboys? Did Tom Brady, the QB that has thrown for more TD's and yards than any other this season, get discussed as much as Dak Prescott's slump? He is having a MVP season and gets more coverage in a Subway commercial. Think that doesn't wear on those ordered to talk about Dak and the Boys? It sure as hell would wear on me and I'd take my shots when I could. Like now.
This isn't a football team; it is its own reality show complete with the obligatory shot of the owner in every game and it doesn't matter where that game is played. He is the only owner in history that gets that.
The team is a poster child for marketing and promotion but that does not sit well with the ex footballers that are still about the game and not the show business game.
So, on one hand you have the forever hyped glitz and glamour Dallas Cowboys with stars a plenty and on the other this blue collar rabble from the land of wine and cheese perceived to be the old Packers or Steelers, so much tougher of body and mind than the Hollywood Dallas Cowboys.
This is a gift to them, it is two polar opposites, or at least they're trying to make it seem that way and the Bay Area Bullies are coming to teach the softer Cowboys a lesson in tough football. Ridiculous.
But they forget one thing, the uniform does not make the player. Inside those Cowboys uniforms are men just as tough as the tough guy Niners. They hit with the same authority and resolve and once that first kickoff starts sailing through the air, it is no longer about any of this chatter, and much from people we've never heard of before, it is a football game.
I don't care who they pick, I don't care who you pick or even who I pick. Tomorrow we return to the playoffs. The playoffs I took for granted for so many years as a right because we were the Cowboys. I bought in too.
The most interesting part of all of this is that the Cowboys aren't being called out as a team, their manhood is being questioned. Football is a tough man's game and to insinuate one man is not tough enough to beat the other, he lacks that most necessary ingredient required of a professional football player is absurd. A player cannot help it if another is bigger, faster, stronger or just more talented than he is, but he can match toughness.
This isn't the old Cowboys-Niners rivalry; this is the old Cowboys-Steelers rivalry of the 70's when blue collar steel mill grit played against Hollywood glitz and glamour. And toughness did not defeat those Cowboys, a couple of plays did.
If the Cowboys lose this, it will not be because they were not tough enough. They will be every bit as tough as the Niners. It will all come down to which team makes the plays when they need them the most.
And while this is about the media talking heads, two of the Niners tough guys, Bosa and Kittle, have talked and that can be a mistake. Players expect that from the media but tend to take it personally when coming from a player. I think Shanahan would have preferred them to be tough guys that don't talk.
This game is like the weather, everyone talks about it but no one does anything about it. Except those players wearing your colors will do something about it in less than 30 hours. They've been called out and not just by the media. They will respond.
Tomorrow the toughest team in the playoffs emerges much to the dismay of the talking heads. This just isn't a game, it is the first step and these men will be asking "who's next"?
We're on the same page though for sure...
