The 2009 Schedule: Cowboys Cruise Through Coaching Gauntlet

What are the two most important components of success in the NFL? Coaches and quarterbacks. Hands down. It’s no secret. This is why we can look at the Cowboys newly released 2009 schedule and say that they received a bit of a pass this season, in terms of running through the coaching gauntlet.

Wade Phillips is by no means elite. He has a history of being dominated by the elite coaches. Sometimes it takes a little bit of extra preparation to beat those elite coaches, which is exactly what the Cowboys will have this season. Let’s take a look at the Cowboys schedule in terms of coaches and quarterbacks:

WEEK 1:  @ TAMPA BAY

-Coach: Raheem Morris (Rookie)

-Quarterback: Luke McCown/Brian Griese

Need I say more? The Bucs are significantly on the decline and their defense is getting older by the day.

WEEK 2: VS. NEW YORK (FOOTBALL) GIANTS

-Coach: Tom Coughlin

-Quarterback: Eli Manning

Alright, the first tough test. But you know good and well that the Cowboys coaching staff is already studying film on this one. The home opener for ‘Jones Mahal’ will hopefully be a better fight than the final game at Texas Stadium.

WEEK 3:  @CAROLINA

-Coach: John Fox

-Quarterback: Jake Delhomme

The ONLY back-to-back coaching tests of the season for Wade Phillips and the Cowboys. Fox has had his share of winning success with a mediocre Panthers team in recent seasons. Although, ever since the Quincy Carter era (he had an era?) ended against Carolina, the Cows have yet to lose in Charlotte.

WEEK 4: @ Denver

Coach: Josh McDaniels

Quarterback: Kyle Orton/’Insert Draft Pick Here’

Gone are the days where Mile High was a feared place to play on the schedule. Cutler couldn’t lead the Broncos to the playoffs a season ago, what makes anyone think that Orton can? Never thought I would say it, but Wade Phillips wins this battle.

WEEK 5: @ KANSAS CITY

Coach: Todd Haley

Quarterback: Matt Cassell

Another rookie head coach (But wait! There’s more!). Boy would Haley love to get this one. Neither Haley or Cassell are proven though, so they get no pass as being in the elite category.

WEEK 6: BYE WEEK

Guarantee of the year: Wade Phillips does not get outcoached this week.

WEEK 7: VS. ATLANTA

Coach: Mike Smith

Quarterback: Matt Ryan

This is an up-and-coming duo. No telling just how fast these two will climb into ‘elite’ status, but they aren’t quite there yet. We are looking for legends.

WEEK 8: VS. SEATTLE

Coach: Jim Mora

Quarterback: Matt Hasselbeck

Since the infamous bobbled snap, the Cows have yet to lose to Seattle either. Sure, they have only played Seattle once since (last Thanksgiving), but the Seahawks have Julius Jones on their roster. That right there is enough to give the advantage to the Boys.

WEEK 9: @ PHILADELPHIA

Coach: Andy Reid

Quarterback: Donovan McNabb (at the moment)

I really don’t want to call Andy Reid ‘elite.’ But his mad-scientist-I-haven’t-slept-in-days look when he dominated the Cowboys shows how much better of a coach he is than Wade Phillips. It should bring back fond memories at the Linc.

WEEK 10: @ GREEN BAY

Coach: Mike McCarthy

Quarterback: Aaron Rodgers

As the great Josh Flanagan texted me after the schedule came out, “how many yrs in a row r we gona play the packers?” Do you think Wade Phillips has ever had nightmares about Mike McCarthy stealing a win from him? Maybe a block of cheese, but no not a win.

WEEK 11: VS. WASHINGTON

Coach: Jim Zorn

Quarterback: Jay Cutler Jason Campbell

Late in the season to be playing the Redskins for the first time. I could go on about Gurode vs. Haynesworth Part I, but this is about coaches. Zorn is still too new at this stuff.

WEEK 12: VS. OAKLAND

Coach: Tom Cable

Quarterback: JaMarcus Russell

See ‘WEEK 1′

WEEK 13: @ NEW YORK (FOOTBALL) GIANTS

Coach: Tom Coughlin

Quarterback: Eli Manning

Wade will have the good ol’ 10-day advantage to prepare for this one. It won’t matter. December is back. (Maybe Wade can alter the calendar he gives the players and has the last five games listed as being played on “November 31?” Just saying.

WEEK 14: VS. SAN DIEGO

Coach: Norv Turner

Quarterback: Philip Rivers

It looks like the Tom Coughlin matchup above was sandwiched by Tom Cable and Norv Turner. Oh my, how ever will Wade do it?

WEEK 15: @ NEW ORLEANS

Coach: Sean Payton

Quarterback: Drew Brees

Tough matchup here on ‘November 31′. But when you simply look at coaches, once again, Sean Payton is not elite. But Drew Brees will eat up the Boys’ secondary. No question.

WEEK 16: @ WASHINGTON

Coach: Jim Zorn

Quarterback: ?

This is getting a bit redundant. Anyhow, I expect this to be the absolute biggest game of the season and when it matters most when the Boys size up against the Redskins in big games they take care of business.

WEEK 17: VS. PHILADELPHIA

Coach: Andy Reid

Quarterback: Donovan McNabb

McNabb’s last game as an Eagle? Hard to predict this far away. ‘Revenge’ will be the theme of this one, as this game could be equally important as it was last season.

This post was meant to look at the schedule from a different perspective, often the perspective that gets lost the most. By no means am I a Cowboy dreamer, (in fact 10-6) is my prediction, but it is nice to see that the schedule-makers did them a favor.

We are just under 5 months before the season kicks off. Until then, we can enjoy the NFL Draft, the NBA Playoffs, and ignore the baseball season. Wade Phillips, your time was yesterday is now.

Spare me the expense – give me the draft

Free agency, once again, was overhyped. (Excuse me if I’m not fawning over the Big H’s, Haynesworth and Houshmandzadeh.) The demand far outweighed the supply, which caused contract bloatations across the board – see Brown, Jason.

If nothing else, remember the mantra: BEWARE THE CONTRACT YEAR. Not surprisingly, Haynesworth avoiding stepping on opponents’ heads and taking off plays this season. On the other hand, he was injured – which somehow helped his value?!?

Housh has been consistent for several years now, but he’s hardly worth $8 mil/year. At 31, his route-running won’t be compromised, but his speed might. Ask Marvin Harrison – that cliff is steep.

I’m not (by any means) the first to write this, but the real value is in the draft. The great drafting teams like the Steelers and Patriots have been able to consistently compete every year. The biggest free agent signings recently have gone to teams like the Browns, Rams, Lions, Seahawks, Raiders, and the worst spender of all, the Redskins. Collectively, what’s the success rate? Blech.

Teams are still spending like they’ve got a bailout package coming. Bad news is, help is not on the way.

Do yourself a favor: Wait until April 25th, head to your local pub, and enjoy the Draft. It’ll be refreshing, especially after the awful aftertaste of free agency.

Super Bowl Sunday

If the opening coin toss comes up heads, the Gatorade dumped on the winning coach is orange, John and Al say “Big Ben” fewer than 5 times, and Jennifer Hudson finishes singing the national anthem in 2 minutes, it’s going to be a very lucrative day for me. This is what happens when the Cowboys are not in the Super Bowl to make me care.

I’ll be watching the game from a Bleecker Street bar here in NYC and not live blogging even though I thought I might try. It occurred to me that I’d rather eat wings and not get buffalo sauce on my keyboard.

And okay, I do care who wins. The Steelers must be kept from getting 6 Rings before the Cowboys. They were first to 3 and 4 and the Niners were first to 5 (and obviously the Packers were first to 1 and 2). It’s about time the Cowboys were the first to win a certain number of Super Bowls, and I don’t want it to be 7 because then I’ll have to wait all the way until 2011 after we’ve won both Super Bowls 44 and 45. And, no, I don’t think that the heartbreak I’ve experienced in the past few years might have something to do with insanely unreasonable high hopes, why?

Speaking of unreasonable, I realize it’s a risk taking the under on Jennifer Hudson singing the anthem, but I really liked the odds I was getting. And yes, I timed myself singing it. I know I’m no J-Hud, but I promise I did all the runs and showboating and even dramatic pauses and came in well under the 2 minute mark. Then again, her rendition of “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” from Dreamgirls is over 5 minutes long whereas my in-the-shower version comes in at a pathetic 3:24. Dangit.

Enjoy the game!

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