NFL Sunday: Plenty on line for Cowboys, Saints, Ryan
IRVING, TEXAS— Perhaps this is the year the Dallas Cowboys finally shake their December curse.
The Cowboys have already won their first two games this month — road games at Chicago and Philadelphia, to move back into first place in the NFC East and onto the verge of clinching a playoff spot for the first time since 2009.
The fact that the Cowboys already won those first two December games — especially after a blowout loss on Thanksgiving to the Eagles — has Dallas players confident this season will end differently than recent Decembers. The Cowboys are 8-11 in December games since 2010 — including a 1-3 record last year that killed their playoff dreams.
“Dallas could earn that elusive playoff spot on Sunday with a win against the Indianapolis Colts, a team that has already clinched the AFC South, paired with an Eagles loss to Washington.
Doing so would be validation for plenty of Cowboys, but perhaps none more so than quarterback Tony Romo, who had a career record of 13-18 in December games before this season. In the first two December games this season, he’s completed 75 per cent of his passes, thrown six touchdowns and has no interceptions in road wins at Chicago and Philadelphia.
“I think you knew going into Chicago that if you didn’t win that game, it was going to be very difficult to have
any chance at getting in. We’ve been at it for two weeks, we feel like we’ve been in the playoffs the entire month of December, so we’re just going to keep that attitude and keep going,” Romo said.
Other storylines to watch Sunday:
The ugly-but-interesting NFC South race could end on Sunday should the following two things happen: The New Orleans Saints beat the Atlanta Falcons at home at the Superdome, and the Carolina Panthers lose at home to Johnny Manziel and the Cleveland Browns. Of course, with the way the NFC South has gone this year, with four underperforming teams, it will almost be fitting if chaos reigns for one more week.
If this is the final home game of Rex Ryan’s tenure as coach of the New York Jets, at least it is coming against his longtime rivals, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots — with the Jets trying to spoil some of the Patriots’ plans. The Jets have only beaten the Patriots one time in the last eight regular-season games, but crazy things tend to happen in this series that in recent years has given us the “Buttfumble” and even an entertaining Thursday night game earlier this season, when the Patriots held on to beat the Jets 27-25 in October.
Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray, the NFL’s rushing leader, will get to make the call if he’s able to play against the Indianapolis Colts just six days after surgery to repair a broken bone in his left hand. The questions for Murray will be how much pain he can play through, how much — if at all — he can grip the ball with his left hand, and how effective he can be if he has to use just his right arm.