The Dallas Cowboys always seem to win the NFL's schedule championship

The NFL is moving its preferred season-opening time on Thursday to Wednesday to accomodate the President, but the league obviously has zero intention of giving in to the idea that the Dallas Cowboys do not merit anything other than a prime time slot.

The defending Super Bowl champion New York Football Giants will host the defending 8-8 playoff-less champion Dallas Cowboys on Wednesday, Sept. 5 in New Jersey to be televised on NBC.

How cute. The Cowboys 2011 season begin with a loss in New Jersey against the Jets on NBC, and ended with a loss to the Giants in the same stadium, on the same network.

The league normally begins the season on Thursday, but it does not want to interfere with President Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention scheduled for that evening.

The NFL could have put the Giants against any of the following:
- Washington Redskins, and QB RGIII
- Philadelphia Eagles, and that train wreck
- SF 49ers, whom they beat in the NFC title game
- Baltimore Ravens, a team that nearly went to the Super Bowl
- Carolina Panthers, and QB Cam Newton
- Atlanta Falcons, which made the playoffs last season and lost to the Giants in the first round
- Green Bay Packers, whom the Giants beat in NFC divisional round
- New Orleans Saints, who potentially may be coached by former Giants coach Bill Parcells and this season will be one of the most interesting teams to watch as a result of the Bounty Gate fallout.

Instead the NFL went with the .500 Dallas Cowboys. 

The Cowboys may never again do well in January and early February, but no team rocks an offseason schedule like this team.

 

@MacEngelProf
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Bad Idea Jeans: former Dallas Cowboys coach may take New Orleans Saints job

The man who loves to retire may find a new way to un-retire yet again. Bill Parcells makes boxers look more committed to quitting.

The four-lettered is reporting that former Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells is talking to the Saints about their temporary head coaching job.

The Saints are going to be without the services of Sean Payton, who has been suspended by the NFL for one season for his role in BountyGate. If you remember, Payton was on Parcells' staff as an offensive coordinator/QB coach/passing game coordinator blah blah blah. Payton worked with Parcells from 2003 to '05 before he accepted the Saints' gig.

According to this story, the scenario sounds like a long shot.

Parcells is 71, and said after he left the Cowboys following the 2006 season that he was done coaching. Of course, he said that after he left the Jets. He took a VP of football operations job with the Dolphins in 2007. He left that team in 2010 and has since returned to working for ESPN as an NFL analyst. 

As many obstacles that exist for Parcells to return to coaching for just one season, primarily being it's a bad idea, I could easily see him contemplating this. Even though it may not be good for his health, and as much as he fights himself and his own temparment, the NFL is a part of him that he simply can't quit.

The irony is that for a brief period the relationship between Parcells and Payton was decidedly not good.  The fissure? Former Dallas Cowboys safety Keith Davis.

Not long after Payton accepted the Saints job in 2006 the team made a play for Davis, who at the time was a reserve nickel defender but primarily was a special teams beast. Parcells was irked that his former assistant made a play on Davis without contacting him first. The Cowboys had to match the offer made by the Saints to keep Davis.

Parcells pulled a classic passive-aggressive sorority house stunt and simply would not talk to Payton. As are a lot of men who have worked for either Parcells, or his close friend Bobby Knight, they don't much care to get shut out. So they have to beg.

Later in 2006, Payton called Parcells to apologize. As Parcells noted in the press conference that season, "He was a man about it."

Basically, Parcells didn't want to get into a bidding war when one wasn't necessary.

Now the relationship is obviously pleasant. 

Regardless, Parcells doesn't need to be walking into this situation. The Saints need to give this head coaching gig to a coordinator and let Payton use one of those untraceable phones from The Wire and text in plays during a game.

 

@MacEngelProf
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