Cowboys’ star, and stars, will shine in prime time

By Anthony Bialy  |   Wednesday, April 16, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Dallas Cowboys
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article!

No matter how much time passes since Deion Sanders wore the star, Dallas will always be home to Prime Time. Thanks to the release of the NFL schedule, we know that the Cowboys are getting a typically elevated level of limelight time in 2008, something that is virtually expected as a given. Fans of not just the team but of football in general will come across Dallas on television most weeks this season, not to mention that they’ll see the team face a wide-ranging group oscillating game to game from 2007 playoff successes to bottom-scrapers.

The Cowboys have a lone Monday Night game this season, as they’ll face the Eagles on Sept. 15; only Dallas could look at the year’s schedule and justly find it odd that it's only scheduled to play once on every football enthusiast’s favorite weeknight, especially when one considers that this isn’t a team precisely hoping to have a rebound season. But the more important point is that a quarter of their games are slated for weekend nights, which has rapidly become the more glamorous late clash ever since the broadcast/cable trade for the evenings.

They currently are listed for four prime-time weekend games, as they get Sunday evening NBC battles against Green Bay, Washington, and the Giants along with a Saturday evening NFL Network match on Dec. 20 hosting Baltimore. The irritating popularity contest that is flex scheduling could muck everything up either way late in the year, but as it stands now the franchise will get a lot of exposure in the dark.

After a cursory glance, the actual lineup of teams looks mildly favorable: Nine games are against squads that missed the playoffs last season, including sides that had trying years of varying degrees such as St. Louis, San Francisco, and Cincinnati. At the same time, that’s certainly not a thoroughly accurate measure of how those same teams will fare this year, not to mention that three of those games are against two near-misses in Cleveland and Washington.

Those won’t be the only theoretically tough foes, either. It’s very preliminary speculation, but the stretch beginning when they host Seattle on Thanksgiving before they head to Pittsburgh followed by a return home for the aforementioned Sunday evening Giants matchup looks as if it could go a long way toward determining Dallas’ playoff status.

What could make the season easier is having back-to-back home games three times, as Dallas does, while only facing consecutive road games once, in Weeks 6 and 7 against Arizona and St. Louis, respectively. Of course, the downside is that this means they open and close on the road, as their first game is the Cleveland one while they finish in Philadelphia, but there’s no way to get around that whole eight home/eight away lineup.

Another factor will aid Dallas’ prominence, namely its GPS location: Seven late-afternoon scraps will help keep this team in the spotlight. That high number is naturally a consideration provided to Central Time Zone residents who double as football fans, as a 3:15 local start is worlds more convenient than getting to a football game by noon. But the Cowboys also benefit from this, as fewer overall matchups at that time means that their own games end up on a high percentage of televisions across the nation. Atlantic-vicinity fans tuning in for their team’s action at 1 p.m. Eastern and then staying on the couch to watch Dallas play is a fall tradition on the right side of the country.

That’s also good news for Dallas backers across the nation, not to mention that it will simultaneously irk those who resent the team’s high profile. But that animosity is in turn naturally appreciated by Cowboys followers, which all leads to the fact that this franchise is everlastingly polarizing. Fans love it, and the status implicitly granted to this team in the new NFL schedule stands as evidence that the Cowboys, as usual, can’t be ignored.
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article! (0)

About Anthony Bialy

I'm just here to submit ...
read more
Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report