Point/Counterpoint: Toughest Stretch Of The Schedule

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
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Point: Once Again, December Will Be Toughest Month

Posted 8 minutes ago

Bryan Broaddus Football Analyst/Scout

During my time in scouting departments around the league, I always remember guys like Ron Wolf, Tom Coughlin and Bill Parcells preaching that the push for the playoffs begins after Thanksgiving Day. If all things manage to hold together for the Dallas Cowboys, this once again will clearly be the case. You wanted to be playing your best at the end of the season when the games meant the most.

What will be key about the month of December for the Cowboys in 2013 is that with the four games in which they play, the matchups will be against conference opponents that will most likely be battling for the same playoff positioning as themselves. Wins against conference opponents is often the difference between a home game in the playoffs or having to make a trip on the road.

Teams have made that journey of late with success but it’s something that you want to try and avoid at all cost. What is also important about those final four contests, is that two of those games are against division opponents, the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles to end the season. In the last two seasons, we have all grown accustom to those final divisional games being winner take all matchups with the Cowboys coming up on the short end the last two seasons.





What also makes this month difficult is not only the opponents: Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles but the uncertainty with the potential problems with weather in Chicago and Washington. Having spent five years of my life in Green Bay, it’s a real plus to catch the Bears early in the month and not later where the conditions can be completely different. Serious playoff teams have to be able to function in all conditions and with so much on the line, the Cowboys cannot allow those conditions to hamper how they play those road games.

I understand that teams change from season to season but the Cowboys in that month of December will face two teams that have first year head coaches in Marc Trestman and Chip Kelly. Sometimes that is an advantage depending on how the season is going up until that point. If the team is winning that means the players are buying into the message, if not, we saw what happened to Andy Reid in Philadelphia last season.



Sometimes we use numbers to tell the stories with these teams. I went back to games played since 2008 to get my sample size for this point. The Chicago Bears are 6-6 during home games in the month of December which is surprising to me because of how difficult it has been teams for to get victories at Soldier Field over the years. The Washington Redskins are only 4-8, with one of those victories coming against the Cowboys in 2012. As far as road teams in the month of December that the Cowboys will face in 2013, the Green Bay Packers are 4-7 which is completely surprising because of how much success they have enjoyed even winning a Super Bowl a few short years ago.

The team that has been money on the road during this time has been the Philadelphia Eagles who have a record of 7-5. As for the Cowboys in the month of December, their record is 6-7 on the road and 5-5 at home, which is a reflection of what we have seen from this team the last several years. As important as all these games are in a season, what the month of December will once again tell the true story, for their sake, I hope it’s a different ending.
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Counterpoint: October Stretch Appears To Be Most Demanding

Posted 12 minutes ago

Nick Eatman DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer

Let me clarify by saying I am fully aware of how this team has struggled in the month of December. In no way am I overlooking the fact the Cowboys simply haven’t gotten the job done when the season is on the line.

They haven’t done it the last two years in the regular season finale. Last year’s 3-2 record – while still not good enough – was the first time they’ve had a winning record in December since 2001.

But when it comes to pinpointing the toughest month of games for the 2013 season, I would defer to October.

Like the other three months of the schedule, the Cowboys play two games at home and two on the road. Quite honestly, what does that even mean anymore?

This team just hasn’t been very good at home. Not horrible. But just average.

And on the road, they’ll surprise you with a win or two you never see coming.

Ok, so let’s look at October.

At home vs. Denver.

At home vs. Washington.

On the road at Philadelphia.

On the road at Detroit.

Playing Peyton Manning in North Dakota would be tough. That goes without saying.

And the Redskins will be a tough game for sure – regardless what RGIII’s status is. But you know he’ll be fine and running all over the place. Division games are always a beating.

At Philly has never been easy, even last year when the Eagles basically quit on Andy Reid. It still took three defensive and special teams touchdowns in the fourth quarter to win.



And at Detroit won’t be easy either. The Lions will probably be better this year and stopping that big receiver guy is something that hardly anyone does. The Cowboys surely didn’t in 2011.

You can argue that all 16 games will be tough and that’s probably true.

And the month of December might be harder on this team because of injuries. But when I look at the group of games, I can’t find a tougher stretch than the four in October.
 

ravidubey

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December is the hardest and it isn't really that close.

That combination of Bears, Packers, and Washington with two games on the road in the cold will be a serious challenge. Green Bay has the league's best QB and will be the toughest match-up of the year. At the end of the season, Miles Austin, DeMarco Murray, and half the DL will be hurt. Chicago has had Dallas' number lately and add to it that Washington will be competing for the playoffs with an atmosphere similar to last year. Road NFC East teams are 0 and everything in postseason-positioning games since NY beat Dallas to end the 2007-2008 season.

Romo is terrible in cold weather, 2009 17-0 shutout in Washington notwithstanding. Dallas could go 0-3 in that stretch.
 
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