Thursday, April 24, 2014

Dallas Cowboys 2014 schedule a treacherous road

When the 2014 NFL schedules were released on April 23, it felt like Christmas morning. NFL fans across the country were already making projections of how their teams would fare by season’s end. However, for Cowboys fans, the slate of games looked like a nightmare on Elm Street. The Dallas Cowboys will open their 2014 campaign versus NFC rival San Francisco 49ers on Sept. 7 at AT&T Stadium. The most recent matchup between these storied franchises was a Sept. 2011 overtime win by the Cowboys at Candlestick Park. QB Tony Romo rallied the troops to victory by overcoming a 24-14 fourth quarter deficit while dealing with a broken rib injury.

The season opener will set a barometer of a team who has gone 8-8 in three straight seasons. The Cowboys’ first 10 games of the season are favorable with road games at Tennessee and St. Louis and a trip across the pond to play Jacksonville in London on Nov. 9. The team will have five prime time games including a week 4 tussle with the New Orleans Saints and an Oct. 27 game versus the Washington Redskins on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.  Following the week 11 bye, four of their final six games of the season are on the road with trips within the division at NY Giants (Nov. 23), at Eagles (Dec. 14) and the season finale at Redskins (Dec. 28). Speaking of the Eagles, the Cowboys will host them for the annual Thanksgiving Day game on Nov. 27. The overall view of the schedule is that while difficult, the Cowboys can find ways to win at least 11 games and win the division if they do not get in their own way. Being that Romo has turned 34, the Boys must become a run-oriented team to take the pressure off Romo so that he doesn’t make anymore game-ending turnovers. In addition, the defense must step up in 2014 and protect double-digit leads in the fourth quarter if the team will have any kind of postseason success.  The Dallas Cowboys should go 11-5 and will avoid yet another “Win and In” situation.

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