Week 12

I suppose that Jerry Jones has a lot of input into the schedules, and getting a weak team for a Thanksgiving day game is a bonus. After beating Oakland, the Cowboys get extra time before they get another crack at the Giants. New York is effectively out of the playoff hunt with a 6-5 record, but they'll certainly want to make life difficult for the Cowboys if they can.

Yes, New York can finish 10-6, which is usually good enough for a wild card berth, but I don't think it's going to work this year. The up-coming game will be important for the Cowboys in any tie-breaker situation. That's also true of Green Bay, which is contending for a wild card. The Packers already own that tie-breaker with Dallas, and unfortunately, the hapless Redskin's were not able to finish off the Eagles yesterday, leaving Philly in the hunt for the division title. So, it seems to me that the Cowboys must beat Philly in the last game of the season, while finishing up at least 11-5 to win the division.

Much of the local media seems to think that the Cowboy's offense is back on track. Problem is, they played the Raiders. The offense got some big plays again, but the worrying thing is that they are very inconsistent. They need to be able to work at a steady pace instead of going three/out over and over with a big play every now and then.

Romo is now 35-15 as a starter. That's awfully good.

The defense was solid, and gave up very few big gains. The special teams were, for the most part, solid. The kicker missed a 50 yarder in the first half, but he never should have needed to kick that long in the first place. The Cowboys still have that awful tendency to give up field position through bad penalties and sacks. The way they're playing right now, they can get a playoff spot, but they won't do much in it. They need more consistency, but that's been a problem for a while now.

Doug Free played pretty well. I only saw him get beat badly once. I suspect he'll solidify his place in the league with his playing for the remainder of the season. Good for him.