Recall that the Cowboys lost at home to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1 of this season. emphasis on 49. This year, the Cowboys might very well find themselves in Super Bowl 49 against the Colts, who they firmly beat in their home stadium on 12/21/14, a very curious date. The Colts and Cowboys met in the Super Bowl 44-years ago this season. In that season, the Cowboys advanced over the Lions, and the Colts advanced over the Bengals in the first round, just as they did this year.
Also, I want to look at the Giants vs Lions box score from Week 1. In this game, the Lions beat the Giants by a score of 35-14, giving a sum of 49... I'm starting to wonder if perhaps the Lions and the Cowboys were both chosen as suitable teams to face Andrew Luck in the Super Bowl... perhaps their are flexible options here, for the sake of Las Vegas and all the money that runs through pro sports.
The Cowboys had a tricky scheduling stunt to pull of this year. Jerry Jones put himself into a bit of a bind when he agreed to host the College Football National Championship in Dallas at AT&T Stadium.
ReplyDeleteWith the College National Championship Game being played on Monday, January 12th, Dallas could not host a NFC playoff game on Saturday, January 10th or Sunday, January 11th. It takes a week to prepare AT&T Stadium for a massive game like the National Championship. Repainting the field and end zones, changing the hashmarks, adding additional seating, preparing the luxury boxes, etc. takes several days.
The Cowboys had to place no better than 3rd in the NFC or the NFL game would have to be moved to one of the local college stadiums. Clearly that was never going to fly.
The Packers and the Seahawks did their part by storming back in the later weeks to cover the #1 and #2 NFC spots. Note that the Cowboys went a curious 4-4 at home this season, which seems to indicate that it was easier for Jerry to have them to manipulate and throw their games in Dallas.
Worked out like a charm for Jerry Jones, huh? The Cowboys got the highest possible NFC playoff seed (#3) that did not comprise the highest grossing revenue game in AT&T Stadium history.
What luck! ;)