Power Rankings Fail

Although I'm going to try to sound slightly objective, the homer inside of me is going to be on full display. With that in mind I would like to explain how ESPN's NFL "analysts/experts/geniuses with mustaches" have so much hate for the Cowboys that it affects their ability to make an objective observation and ranking.

First of all, I know the Cowboys get more coverage than any other team. Yes they are given more primetime games than most other teams. Yes Jerry Jones is pretty insane and yes I do realize that Barry Sanders would have broken Walter Peyton's record in 5 seasons if he ran behind Dallas' O-line in the 90's.

That being said, if you are not a fan of the Cowboys, then you hate the Cowboys. There is no in between. Ask almost any football fan, the only thing that can always make a losing week enjoyable, is the Cowboys losing too. I don't mind it and I actually kind of enjoy being hated, but please at some point be objective. Especially if your job entails creating the Week 4 Power Rankings for ESPN.

Take a look at the season.

First the Cowboys two wins-

Take into account that both were against teams that have not won a game and are currently ranked 31st (Bucs) and 25th (Panthers).

Beating the Bucs, who have played absolutely dreadful this season, was expected. They fired their offensive coordinator 2 weeks before the start of the season, they have a rookie headcoach and they started the season with Byron Leftwich as their quarterback. Yes, the Cowboys started off slow that game, but then turned it on right before the second half and carried it over through the end of that game.

The Panthers are a different story, they are still a dangerous football team. Remember this is virtually the same team that went 8-0 at home last season and made the playoffs. They are 0-3 with 3 tough games to start the season (Eagles, Falcons, Cowboys). No cupcakes in that group as they combined for a 29-18-1 record last season. Before counting this game as an easy win lets see how they do in their next 4 games with Washington, Tampa, Buffalo and Arizona. As seen in game 1 the Cowboys started off slow in the first half (0 points) and then proceeded to step it up in the second half to win the game. On top of this the Panthers still had a couple opportunities had their receivers showed up. Delhomme's two picks were not his fault, just receivers running lazy routes, and then Muhammed pushed off on what would have been a long TD. End result, Cowboys win.

On to the big enchilada. The Giants game is the one that really has irked me. If you listened to the media after that game you would have assumed that the Cowboys lost 45-0, had no offensive production and couldn't stop the Giants defensively.

The fact is that the Cowboys turned the ball over 4 times. Tony Romo threw 3 interceptions, one of which was a flukey bounce when Witten tried to knock down an uncatchable ball. The Giants had a few crazy bounces, Manningham's td catch and Smith's catch on a tipped ball on 3rd and 5 just outside of field goal range. You could say that they Cowboy's played a very poor game even though they had rushed for over 200 yards.

YET, they lost to the Giants by a last-second field goal as time was running out. The Giants are ranked 3rd in the NFL Week 4 Power Rankings, while the Cowboys are ranked 17th. The lowest ranking for a team that has a winning record. I could understand the wide difference in the rankings if the Giants had another big win against teams who are in a much better standing but they're only wins are against the Redskins (who are "power ranked" lower than the Panthers) and the Bucs.

I am not saying the Cowboys should be ranked higher than Giants, I'm not even saying that the Cowboys should be ranked higher at all. All I am doing is wondering aloud why they are ranked so much lower (14 spots!) when they have beaten equally tough competition and only lost after turning the ball over 4 times and falling to a last second field goal. In an objective opinion, either the Giants should be ranked lower or the Cowboys ranked higher.

Any objective opinion should yield the same result. I'm not asking that you stop hating the Cowboys, be able to make an objective assessment of NFL teams given the facts presented.

Anyways, I'm done venting for the day, and who knows now that I stuck up for the Cowboys we will probably get our butts handed to us by the Broncos.

And yes, I promise no more Cowboys talk next time.

http://www.giants.com/schedule2009.asp
http://espn.go.com/nfl/powerrankings?year=2009&week=4
http://www.panthers.com/news/article-1/Inside-the-2009-schedule/f56b2e36-c3cb-40e9-8d78-3d8ccf326606
http://espn.go.com/nfl/standings/_/year/2008