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Tuesday, December 9th
After reviewing this past weekend's games, I made the following observations:

1. The Cowboys really need to look at themselves in the mirror and decide whether they want to be good or great. I know that sounds funny, but they're one of the only teams in the league that can actually decide. The talent assembled in Dallas is that of a perennial Super Bowl contender, yet they continue to figure out how to lose games. The latest debacle in Pittsburgh is a perfect example of a team with lesser talent simply "wanting it more." Yes, we see the disappointment in all of the postgame interviews, and everyone in the locker room can stand up and say "my bad", but until someone actually does something about it, they're going to be known as one of the more disappointing teams in the NFL. In addition, Tony Romo needs to start living up to the hype in big games. It's easy to look good against San Francisco and Seattle, but putting up the same performance against the Giants or Pittsburgh is what's expected from a player of his caliber.

2. How in the world did the Texans win in Green Bay on Sunday? Granted, the Packers aren't quite the team we thought they'd be at the start of the year, but think about this:
   A. Matt Schaub was playing for the first time in over a month.
   B. The climate was exactly what Mike McCarthy was hoping for - nine degrees at kickoff with a wind chill of -1.
   C. Houston lost the turnover battle 4-1 with two of the them occurring in the red zone.
   D. Green Bay averaged 5.4 yards per carry.
And these are just some of the statistics that should have led to a long ride home for the Texans. As I said on 1560 AM in Houston the other day, maybe the ball is starting to bounce Gary Kubiak's way.

3. I have no idea what to make of the Jets. They looked fantastic on their way to beating New England and Tennessee, but they didn't put up much of a fight against the inconsistent Broncos in the Meadowlands or the 49ers in San Francisco. Now, Denver is a good team and New York was coming off a big win over the Titans, but San Francisco? And no, I don't want to hear about cross-country flights or overconfidence. They got beat in every sense of the word by a team that fired their coach last month. Good luck explaining that to the New York media, Eric Mangini.

4. Speaking of the AFC East, with the remaining three games being very "winnable" for New York, Miami, and New England, the last weekend should be highly entertaining. The Jets will host the Dolphins and the Pats will play in Buffalo. Let's hope that all three are 9-6 or 10-5 going into week 17.

5. Right now, Pittsburgh's defense is playing as well as any that I've ever seen, save the 1985 Chicago Bears. Granted, they're not as physical as the Ravens of 2000 or as opportunistic and fast as the Buccaneers in 2002, but they're a great combination of the two. If they can only figure out what they want to be offensively, I'd put them as the easy favorite to represent the AFC in Super Bowl XLIII.

6. Jared Allen needs to get over it. He's made a pretty big name for himself in this league using some very questionable tactics at times (just ask Texans' quarterback Matt Schaub). Most of the people I've talked to (all of which said that they never want to see a player get hurt) weren't "overly sympathetic" to the Vikings' All-Pro defensive end getting cut at the knees by the Lions' Gosder Cherilus.

7. When Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook are healthy, there's no better quarterback-running back tandem in the league. If those two can stay upright for three more weeks, they'll beat out Dallas and Atlanta for the last wild card spot in the NFC.

8. That was one hell of a display put on by the Panthers on Monday night. Since late September, I've been saying that the combination of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart was the second best in the league (only behind Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, and Ahmad Bradshaw for the Giants), but many people scoffed. They'd bring up Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown in Miami, Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor in Minnesota, Chris Johnson and LenDale White in Tennessee, and Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor in Jacksonville, but for my money, I'll take Carolina's duo any day.

Friday, December 12th
Raise your hand if you're tired of the never-ending soap opera in Dallas, or more specifically, the one that always surrounds Terrell Owens. Yeah, me too. The latest conspiracy theory spouted by the ridiculously-talented Cowboy wideout is one of the ludicrous that I've heard to date.
It's his claim that Tony Romo and Jason Witten are in cahoots to keep the ball all to themselves. Trust me, if there's one thing that everyone needs to realize is that both of them, especially the latter, are only concerned with winning. If you told Witten that Dallas would need him to block on every play in a game in order to come out on top, not only would he do it well, but he would do it with a smile on his face.
Of course, the basic flaw in his argument is the fact that they've tried at every opportunity to get him the ball, and in many cases, it hurt the team. Let me say that again for emphasis - they've tried at every opportunity to get him the ball, and in many cases, it hurt the team. I've been saying from the beginning of the season that the Cowboys are built to run the ball. They have a mammoth offensive line that's primary strength is drive-blocking and a running back that's known for his physical running style. Yet, they've given up on the run in a few games this year simply to try and get the ball to their enigmatic wide receiver.
Now, the worst part of all of this is that it looks as though this cancer is starting to affect the entire locker room. Supposedly, there are whispers coming out of the Metroplex that many of the defensive players agree with Owens. I hope that this situation teaches the owners that players like T.O. are not worth the risk. He's taken a team that should win multiple Super Bowls and turned it into a dysfunctional group that probably won't make the playoffs.