SPORTSDAY

Terence Newman said on ESPN recently that he thought the Cowboys were overconfident entering the playoffs and took the Giants for granted.

Tony Romo strongly disagrees with that line of thinking. His lengthy, interesting answer to a question about that subject is after the jump.

Linebacker Kevin Burnett talks about what cost the Dallas Cowboys a victory in their last playoff game on our Cowboys Insider blog.

Is it easy for the Cowboys to rehash their 21-17 playoff defeat to the Giants? Nope. But it can be beneficial.

Tony Romo prefers to look at the tape from an analytical perspective, studying it as he would any other game and looking for ways to improve on the way he played. The hope is he finds tweaks he can make in there. And avoid agonizing.

"You always think about that stuff," Romo told us yesterday. "You watch it to get better. But you don't think about (the pain) at this point, where you scrutinize it more than you did at the time."

Patrick Crayton took a lot of heat for a critical third-quarter drop in the game, a potential catch which would've converted a third down and, quite possibly, set up a touchdown that would've made all the difference. He hasn't forgotten it. Nor is he trying to.

Asked if he still thinks about it, he said, "Probably about twice a week, out at the complex. You know, we throw twice a week. Every time we do that, it pops in my head."

In his Sunday notes column, the New York Daily News' pre-eminent Morning News alum, Gary Myers, gives the Giants' four playoff victims a forum to speak about their postseason losses.

Cowboys coach Wade Phillips lamented that perception at the time -- that New York wasn't that good -- conflicted with the reality of the situation.

"Right now, it's easier to say we had a good season," says Phillips. "At the time we lost, certainly everybody said, 'Well, the Giants aren't a very good football team and they came in and beat you.' But that didn't prove to be the case."

Did the Giants winning it all show winning in Dallas was no fluke?

"It proved they really were a good team and that we got beat by somebody that was the world champs," Phillips said. "We didn't lose to somebody and then they lose the next week."

The NFL tabled talks of re-seeding the playoffs today, which would call for ranking teams solely based on record for each conference's bracket, rather than placing division winners in the top four spots. So that got me thinking -- how would it have affected last year's playoffs? Here's how ...

NFC
1. Cowboys (13-3); Actual seed: 1
2. Packers (13-3); Actual seed: 2
3. Seahawks (10-6); Actual seed: 3
4. Giants (10-6); Actual seed: 5
5. Buccaneers (9-7); Actual seed: 4
6. Redskins (9-7); Actual seed: 6

AFC
1. Patriots (16-0); Actual seed: 1
2. Colts (13-3); Actual seed: 2
3. Chargers (11-5); Actual seed: 3
4. Jaguars (11-5); Actual seed: 5
5. Steelers (10-6); Actual seed: 4
6. Titans (10-6); Actual seed: 6

So in essence, all the re-seeding would've done this year -- if you go by the records -- is flip the venue of one wild-card playoff game, and both those were won by the visiting teams.

But the larger issue, which Giants owner John Mara brought up, was making Week 17 games relevant. The Buccaneers, for example, wouldn't have mailed in the last two weeks of the season in this scenario, since a home playoff game would've been at stake. Same goes for the Steelers, who slapped a stamp on their regular-season finale.

Either way, I think Mara should be applauded here. Too often, clubs officials get stung by something, and raise issues like this in reaction. Mara isn't doing that. His team just won the Super Bowl. No, it seems like, as is his nature, he's doing it for the good of the league.

After a solid month of comprehensive draft and free-agency coverage, it's time to get back to Cowboys Blog's bread and butter -- sensationalizing, then relaying trash talk from one NFL team to another.

The other night on NFL Network, the Giants had a party for the release of the NFL Films Super Bowl highlight video. And when asked what their strongest memory from the game was, most Giants picked a February moment, like the Helmet Catch, from Arizona.

Not Amani Toomer.

"I remember beating the Cowboys," Toomer said. "They're the only real rival we played all year. They beat us twice earlier in the year, and they were really disrespecting us with what they were saying and doing during the week leading up to it. It was just great. Great revenge. Great revenge."

Funny. I kinda remember things being like Toomer said they were in January, only the exact opposite.

The Giants and Patriots aren't new franchises to this Super Bowl stage. In fact, each of them moved up another notch on the appearances list.

Yes, the Cowboys are still on top. Here's how they rank:

Eight appearances
Dallas Cowboys (5-3)
Six appearances
Denver Broncos (2-4)
New England Patriots (3-2)
Pittsburgh Steelers (5-1)
Five appearances
Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders (3-2)
Miami Dolphins (2-3)
San Francisco 49ers (5-0)
Washington Redskins (3-2)
Four appearances
Buffalo Bills (0-4)
Green Bay Packers (3-1)
Minnesota Vikings (0-4)
New York Giants (2-1)

In case you're wondering, there are six teams left that haven't made a Super Bowl: Browns, Cardinals, Saints, Jaguars, Lions and Texans. That's particularly ugly for the Cardinals and Lions, the two teams that have been in existance throughout the Super Bowl Era (Saints' first year was the season of Super Bowl II; The Browns had the three "years off").

CORRECTION: I had the Lions down twice and left the Saints out originally. My dad and his entire side of my family's from Detroit, so I'm sure they appreciate it.

Toomer's sideline grab looks like a catch to me. He got both toes in and he held onto the ball. But that's after watching one replay. So, let's see if Fox gives us a few different looks.
But on first glance, it's a catch.

Nice play by Donald Driver getting free from Corey Webster. But the Giants had no deep help and that allowed Driver to run free down the sideline.

Pack, 7, Giants 6. We got a ball game, folks.

I've noticed the kickoffs in both conference championship games have been a little short. I wonder if that's the weather. A cold ball is probably harder to kick.

The Giants have done a good job with the play calling on offense and defense to take a nice 6-0 lead on the Packers. Plax Burress and Eli Manning have been a good 1-2 punch.

Heard on the tele that the heated benches are cold on the Giants sidelines. That's bad, bad, bad.

Just got a text message from JJT and he said the wind chill in Green Bay is 17 below. I told him it's about 74 degrees in my house.

He didn't send me a happy response back.

Is it time for Billy V?

I'm not sure, but that third down pass by Rivers had nothing on it because he has one leg. He can't push off his legs to complete throws on a consistent basis.

Chargers defense can only do so much right now.

Antonio Gates just went to the locker room. Not good for an already banged up team.

Timmy Tabloid, I too picked the Chargers to win the Super Bowl before the season. Was the only one in the Boston Herald predictions to do that, too.

Unlike you, I'm willing to do some revising. And I'll also take a mulligan on picking the Cowboys to win the NFC, another ill-fated prognostication that ran in those Herald pages.

Three matchups to watch in the NFC Championship Game:

Giants SE Plaxico Bureess vs. Packers RCB Charles Woodson: A lot of the underneath work that Eli Manning did to move the chains won’t be there in Green Bay, with the Packers DBs playing up to the line and re-routing receivers. That puts the onus on Burress to make the Packers pay down the field.

Packers RT Mark Tauscher vs. Giants LDE Michael Strahan: The Packers figure to test the depleted Giants secondary by spreading it out with four- and five-receiver sets. If Strahan and Osi Umenyiora can win matchups on the edge, that will force Green Bay out of these sets. Also, don’t be surprised to see Strahan dropping into coverage to take away the slant in zone-blitz situations.

Packers RB Ryan Grant vs. Giants MLB Antonio Pierce: It will be on Pierce to play discipline, and not allow himself to be influenced in one direction or the other by the Packers zone blocking. He will be the key to closing off the cutback lanes that Grant has used to gash overpursuing defenses.

Three matchups to watch in the AFC Championship Game:

Patriots WR Randy Moss vs. Chargers CB Antonio Cromartie: I’d expect that the Patriots will move Moss around to get matchups for him. Physically, there’s not another corner in the league that sizes up with him better than Cromartie. It’ll be interesting to see if the Chargers lock Cromartie on to Moss. If the Charger star can slow down “The Other 81”, San Diego can then bracket Wes Welker.

Chargers C Nick Hardwick vs. Patriots NT Vince Wilfork: The key to everything the Patriots do defensively is Wilfork, a space-eating, double-team-demanding force in the middle. If Hardwick can handle him, the Chargers may be able to get LaDainian Tomlinson’s lead blockes, Lorenzo Neal and Andrew Pinnock, isolated on the Patriots inside linebackers at the second level.

Chargers SE Vincent Jackson vs. Patriots CB Ellis Hobbs: Jackson has an enormous size advantage, and this is one that the Chargers tried to take advantage of – and could’ve early if Philip Rivers threw a better deep ball – last year. Getting Jackson open underneath, with his understanding of how to post a corner up, could give the hobbled Rivers a chance to get rid of the ball quick and avoid getting hit.

Timmy Tabloid and I will be bringing it today from our respective couches. Plenty of knee-jerk reaction, sophomoric cage-rattling and instant analysis to come on both Patriots-Chargers and Packers-Giants.

I'll have my picks up in a little bit.

But for now, I'll go ahead and turn it over to you. And the question isn't who you think will win. It's who you want to win.

I'd urge all of you to consider all factors. Who do you hate? What Super Bowl would you most like to see? And as nice a story as the Brett Favre Revival Tour has been, can you stand a storyline that would beaten into the ground more than "Jerome Bettis is from Detroit" was two years ago? Let us know.

While the Colts are seen as their chief rival, and the Jets feud has gotten a lot of hype (e.g. Mangini-Belichick, Parcells circa '96), the most heated donnybrooks the Patriots have gotten in to over the last few years may just be those with their combatant in tomorrow's AFC Championship Game.

There was LaDainian Tomlinson's comments earlier in the year. There was the Patriots' chest thumping after shocking a more talented San Diego team in the playoffs last winter. And then, there was the beginning.

Which brings us to why this is coming up on Cowboys Blog. The real seed of the unpleasantries between the teams was planted in Foxboro, Mass. on Oct. 2, 2005. That afternoon, the Chargers stomped the Patriots 41-17 and then high-stepped their way off the field, with no voice more distinct than that of Wade Phillips, then the San Diego DC.

"That's an ass-whuppin' right there," Phillips bellowed for all to hear as he entered the Gillette Stadium tunnel, something that was caught by then-Belo employee Tom Curran. Phillips' players followed suit.

If we'd only all listened to that soothsayer Michael Strahan. I'm watching NFL Replay, and they have pregame audio of the defensive end's impassioned speech to his teammates.

"Hey Fellas!" Strahan shouted. "Play loose, play hard, have fun -- I guarantee you we will win this (bleepin') game!"

Some people were a bit more relaxed. Like Tony Romo. Before Strahan broke into his rant, the NFL Films cameras caught Romo fraternizing with counterpart Eli Manning and, in the process, paying homage to his hero.

"You watch the games yesterday? The Snow Bowl up in Green Bay?" "Pretty good. I tell you what, Brett (Favre) throws the ball pretty good in that stuff."

I'm going to make sure to catch any post-game audio the good folks at Films have. Chances are it won't exactly be G-rated. And I'm willing to bet Brandon "Big Mouth" Jacobs is prominently involved.

Want to see that big Packers-Cowboys game at Texas Stadium this weekend? Well, we got your tickets right here, four of them side-by-side in the ninth row of the lower bowl.

Go ahead and bid on them. Or, if you want to be sure that you'll be there for the big one, you can click on the "Buy It Now" and get all four for the reasonable rate of $3999.99.

There probably is something we should tell you first ... What the heck -- Act Now!

It appears the weather conditions will be very Packers-like for Sunday's NFC title game.

Not sure if it qualifies as Ice Bowl II, but check out this frigid forecast, courtesy of the Green-Bay Press-Gazette.

Wade Phillips usually goes out of his way to defend his players. That wasn't the case with Patrick Crayton yesterday.

"If Patrick wouldn't have slowed down, it would have been a touchdown," Phillips said, referring to throw to Crayton in end zone in the final minute of the loss to the Giants.

Crayton acknowledged yesterday that his hesitation could have been the difference between playoff failure and preparing for the NFC championship game. He elaborated on the play during an appearance on Michael Irvin's ESPN 103.3 show today.

Crayton said his route was supposed to be a 16-yard out, but he was surprised that he was able to blow by the cornerback so easily. He hesitated while deciding whether to adjust his route to continue running vertical, which is obviously what Tony Romo expected.

"I got on top of him [and] I was like, 'Should I break out and let him sit underneath, or should I just go ahead and go?'" Crayton said. "That slight hesitation cost me that extra yard I probably needed."

I haven't put on a helmet and shoulder pads since my senior year in high school, but I might be partially to blame for the Cowboys' playoff loss if you follow Bradie James' logic. From Calvin "Lucky" Watkins' story:

Inside linebacker Bradie James said he thought some of the stories about the team leading up to Sunday's game were a distraction. He took exception with what he considered negative portrayals of quarterback Tony Romo's two-day trip to Cabo San Lucas with teammates Jason Witten and Bobby Carpenter.

"It's up to you guys to sell papers and do those other things and be negative," James said. "I thought from a media standpoint, we had a lot of local guys who were going against us, and we didn't understand that."

It was an interesting admission from James, considering players rarely comment publicly what they read or watch on the media. James was asked if his teammates failed to block out distractions.

"Yeah, evidently," he said. "We could have done a better job, really. It doesn't really matter what was said before the game. It's about the game and getting out there and performing."

I'll give James, who has always been a class act, the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was just blowing off steam. After all, if negative media affected a team, the Giants would never win a game.

Superstar columnist Jacques "The Ripper" Taylor pulled no punches in this morning's paper. Here's how his column started:

IRVING – This loss represents abject failure.

End of discussion.

So don't waste time trying to sugarcoat it. Or rationalize it.

The Cowboys don't want to call their season a failure. They prefer the term "disappointment." Greg Ellis went so far as to call the premature playoff exit the biggest disappointment in his 10-year career.

"We wasted a good opportunity with a lot of talent on one team to go out and get it done," Ellis said as the Cowboys packed up their belongings at Valley Ranch today. "We didn't do it."

Reckon we shouldn't be too shocked by the Cowboys' premature playoff exit. After all, this team didn't play well all December.

They finished the regular season 13-3, as we were told repeatedly, but the Cowboys last looked like a Super Bowl contender when Green Bay came to town in November. They ended the regular season with an absolutely pathetic performance against a Redskins squad fighting for a playoff berth.

The Cowboys fessed up to being uninspired that day. They had the NFC's top seed all wrapped up, so what did they care? They'd be able to flip the switch come playoff time. No worries.

Too bad the Cowboys played today a lot like they did the last month.

"We played with no emotion – the same way we did in Washington," CB Terence Newman said. "Everybody knows you can't flip the switch."

If they didn't know before, they learned that lesson today.

Wade Phillips is now 0-4 as a playoff head coach. And tonight's loss debunked just about every theory he presented before for being lackluster after the regular season: Be it playing away from home or being the victim of some miracle.

In a way, all that hard luck made the coach endearing to the players. They wanted to win for him today. And the fact that they didn't deliver for Phillips hurts as much as anything.

"I really feel sorry for him," Terence Newman said. "He wanted this a lot. He’s been coaching a long time. I wanted to help be a part of that."

The winner wasn't determined until Giants CB R.W. McQuarters picked off Tony Romo with nine ticks left on the clock. But the game's key series came in the final minute of the first half.

The Cowboys should have been puffing out their chests as they jogged into the locker room at halftime. They punched the Giants in the mouth on a 20-play, 90-yard touchdown drive to take a 14-7 lead.

But a secondary featuring three Pro Bowlers let Eli Manning and Co. march 71 yards in 36 seconds to tie it right back up.

"It changed the whole momentum of the game," CB Terence Newman said. "We just weren't in our key spots to make plays. They ended up getting a touchdown. I mean, you're playing at home. The biggest thing you've got to do is at least make them kick a field goal, if that. We gave up seven points."

Newman didn't point the finger at any of his teammates, but it was clear that Manning went after Jacques Reeves. Manning threw four passes in Reeves' direction on the drive, completing three for 52 yards (plus a 15-yard facemask penalty).

Reeves, an unrestricted free agent, might have played his last game for the Cowboys. Even if he didn't, the Cowboys would be wise to draft a cornerback with one of their two first-round picks. Kansas' Aqib Talib, a Richardson Berkner product, would look pretty good with a star on his helmet.

All the cynical DMN staffers picking today's Cowboys game have the hosts winning, all eight of us.

Two of our superstar columnists, Jacques Taylor and Tim Cowlishaw, tie for the biggest point spread in the picks. Each expect Dallas to win by 10. Hall of Famer Rick "Goose" Gosselin's calling the closest game, handing it to the Cowboys 23-20.

So we're fully expecting apologies from the players if they blow this one for us. Feel free to fire off your own predictions here.

I'm coming at you here at the ridiculously early hour of 11:15 a.m. from Texas Stadium in Irving. Right now, there are troops on the field, rehearsing for the playing of America the Beautiful, with a band on a stage at the 50.

As you'd imagine, there's a rather large press corps slated to be here. The rundown of out-of-town or national media outlets on the list (with number of reporters in parantheses): the Washington Times (1), Arizona Republic (1), Los Angeles Times (1), Chicago Tribune (1), Philadelphia Inquirer (2), Houston Chronicle (1), Miami Herald (1), Philadelphia Daily News (1), Washington Post (2), Sports Illustrated (2), USA Today (2), Tampa Tribune (1), Palm Beach Post (1), Toronto Globe & Mail (1), Rocky Mountain News (1), NBCSports.com (1), Foxsports.com (1), CBSSportsline.com (1), Yahoo! Sports (1), NFL.com (1) and ESPN.com (2).

And I'd imagine just about every team left in the playoffs has at least one scout in attendance. We'll be back, of course, but for now, scroll down to check out some pretty intensive analysis of both teams set to play today.

Let's disrespect the Giants by looking ahead to next week's NFC championship game against the Packers.

You can't ask for a much better storyline than Brett Favre coming back to Texas Stadium to face the young gunslinger who grew up idolizing him. Favre is 0-9 at the house with a hole in the roof, including three playoff losses.

The Packers chances of winning strangely improved significantly when Favre was knocked out of the November game that ultimately determined homefield advantage in the NFC. You can relive his first eight trips to Texas Stadium here.

"I haven't won in Dallas," Favre said during a postgame interview on Fox. "There's always a first time, I hope."

The inbox got hit up a couple times last night, begging for some digging on Giants WR Plaxico Burress' comments during his appearance on the Stephen A. Smith Show on ESPN Radio yesterday.

Every email contained the word "guarantee." Was it? You be the judge.

Smith asked Burress if he had a prediction. The outspoken playmaker (we don't know anything about those around here, right?) responded with this:

"We’re going to bring this thing back on home, and then I’ll see everybody on Sunday night in New York City somewhere."

The host pressed him. Are you guaranteeing that? "We’re gonna get this thing done, that’s what we’re going to do," Burress responded.

And that was probably more tame than some other comments Plax had for the Cowboys. Follow the jump for those.

Most fans don't need any reminder that the Cowboys are going to be playing their first home playoff game in nine years. Italy's Keith Davis and DeSoto's Patrick Crayton don't, that's for sure.

And Crayton doesn't care to hear about what happened in that playoff loss, coming 20-7 at the hands of the Cardinals, much either.

"Sickening. Sickening, dude. Ever since then, they haven’t really played football in Arizona," Crayton said with a smile. "They played pretty good this year, but up until this point, they hadn’t really played football in Arizona. I think people half-forgot they had a team was out there. Then they got the new stadium and they were like, ‘Hey, we got a football team.’"

The opponent aside, the loss has been compounded by Texas Stadium going absent a playoff game for such a long time. And now that the wait's over, the guys who have seen the whole thing through can barely contain themselves.

"Just the whole playoff atmosphere," Davis said, "just coming up being a Cowboy fan, all my life, all I knew was the Cowboys, to actually be a part of it is a great feeling."

Cowboys OLB DeMarcus Ware has returned to the team after dealing with a personal matter yesterday.

He's not injured in any way.

Timmy took a couple of fire-back-from-the-bow shots at my guy, NBCSports.com's Tom E. Curran, on the post right below this one.

Maybe Tom isn't going to declare Wade the modern Lombardi. Know what, though? He does like the Cowboys this week. Check out this, and find out that Curran -- who I know loves the talent in Big D -- sees a big play from Terence Newman propelling the Cowboys into their first NFC Championship Game in a dozen years.

I'm not sure Pat Kirwan speaks for the whole league, but he does write for NFL.com, so the headline isn't too misleading. He's hopping on the Big Blue bandwagon.

New York has the pass rush, the running game and a hot quarterback who can turn the first two losses against Dallas into the experience needed to win a close game. Giants 24, Dallas 21. The deciding factor for me was Dallas' last home game against the Eagles that it lost, 10-6, against a Philadelphia defense built like New York's.

Has a 7.5-point favorite ever been such an underdog?

Folks around Valley Ranch are being coy about T.O.'s health, but the head honcho raved about Terry Glenn's potential to make an impact against the Giants.

"I think we've got a chance to have 83 light 'em up," Jerry Jones said. "I'm excited about that."

Glenn has been full go in practice for the last couple days. He chipped off a little bit of rust by playing against the Redskins in the regular-season finale, and Jerry thinks Glenn's decision not to have season-ending surgery in September could pay off big in the playoffs.

Wade Phillips said yesterday that anything the Cowboys get from Glenn should be considered a bonus. Sounds like Jerry is counting on that bonus.

LOUIS DeLUCA / DMN

Patrick Crayton could jaw about Brandon Jacobs all day long. He could rip Michael Strahan. He could question Tom Coughlin.

And it still wouldn't touch what he did say today. He compared DeMarcus Ware to -- sit down before reading this -- the Great Lawrence Taylor. Those in the Tri-State area are not going to like this.

"He is a beast, all the time," Crayton said of Ware. "I think he has the potential to be better than Lawrence Taylor. I know that’s saying a whole lot. You go back and look at their styles and how they play they the game, he may not have that craziness that Lawrence had, but when he’s on the field, you feel for some of the quarterbacks who are sitting there.

"Their (pass) drops are like the old-school drops, straight back, so you can look at him."

If you don't reside in Nevada, please ignore this post.

For those who are in a locale where sports gambling is legal, BetUS.com has forwarded us some odds for this weekend's playoff games. Follow the jump to check out the Giants-Cowboys odds, including a couple that seem like easy money to me.

WR Patrick Crayton has a long memory. He holds on to things. And this week, he's keeping in mind some stuff that Giants RB Brandon "Big Mouth" Jacobs had to say about the Cowboys.

"Jacobs talks period," Crayton said. "Ask some of the defensive guys what he says.

"He’s been talking ever since (the opener). He even talked after the first game, I think it was on a Wednesday, he was like, ‘I wish they were flying in today, I’d go wait at the airport.’ Just little stuff like that – We showed up and you weren’t there. And when we got to Giants Stadium, he still wasn’t there. I don’t where he was at. We didn’t go to the terminal."

The Cowboys are asking fans to wear white to Sunday's game at Texas Stadium.

If you're one of the first 40,000 through the gates, they'll give you a cute, white rally towel to wave. Parking lots open at 10 a.m., gates at 12:30.

Tank Johnson is one of a few guys in the Cowboys locker room to have played in a Super Bowl, having suited up for the Bears last February.

And the way he looks at it -- Yes, it's easy to say it now -- these Cowboys are better than those Bears were.

"It’s so similar, it’s kinda scary almost, we get every bounce we did last year, and this team is more explosive than we were in Chicago last year," Johnson said. "We have more big-play capabilities on offense and our defense is just as good. We’ve got all the right ingredients."

A subtle shot at Rex Grossman? Perhaps. And he kept it rolling after that.

"Our defense took a whole different approach in Chicago," Johnson said. "We were our own team, it was like we had to play offense, defense and special teams with our defense. With this defense, we know if we take care of our end of the bargain, our offense is very capable."

Tony Romo talked to the Valley Ranch media horde today. Believe it or not, the Simpson Family Bye Week Fiesta was a hot topic of conversation.

Romo certainly didn't apologize for leaving the country during the bye weekend. He did what he thought was best to prepare himself for a playoff run.

You might think Romo spent the whole weekend swigging Coronas and snuggling with Jessica Simpson, but that's not the case. I can't say for sure if Jason Witten ran any seam routes on the beach for Romo, but they did watch the full slate of NFL playoff games.

"I know what I needed to get myself in a position to hopefully be successful," Romo said. "You know, people asking for tickets, media requests, all these things doing the weekend – I was able to put the phone aside and get myself ready and watch some football for two straight days. It was really fun and exciting."

Giants coach Tom Coughlin just wrapped up his conference call, and agreed that his team hit a turning point in the New England game a couple weeks back, an emotionally-charged loss that completed the Patriots' 16-0 season.

"Just the fact that we played as well as we did and we were playing against the best team in football," Coughlin said. "For a great length of time, it was highly, highly competitive. And we were able to do some things. Eli played very well, and he was able to get the ball to some people who could do some things with it.

"The Patriots are an excellent, excellent team, and an excellent offensive team. You’re not going to stop them every drive. But we did have some situations where we were able to get them off the field and that helped."

And somehow, a loss has made them winners. Who knew?

The Seattle Slip sure is drawing laughs up in New York, especially with this clip circulating around the message boards up there.

If you want to invade their turf, here's a good place to stir it up.

The New York Post's Steve "Liberace" Serby went into full homer mode for this morning's column, "3RD TIME CAN BE CHARM FOR JINTS."

There are no cheesy Western references, but Serby lists several reasons why the "New York Dream Team" can beat a Dallas squad that won both NFC East meetings by double digits. Some of them even have something to do with football.

One of the football-related reasons is the potential for a backup tight end to exploit a perennial Pro Bowl safety in coverage. I'd rip Liberace for that, but he might just be right about the Kevin Boss-Roy Williams matchup.

I'm flat out stealing this chart from the New York Daily News.

This will be the 10th time in their illustrious history that the Giants have faced a team three times in the same season. And the second time in as many years, after getting ushered out of last year's post-season proceedings by the Eagles. Here's a look at the history:

1933: Lost to Bears 23-21 in NFL Championship (1-1 regular season)
1934: Beat Bears 30-13 in NFL Championship (0-2 regular season)
1943: Lost to Redskins 28-0 in Eastern Division Playoff (2-0 regular season)
1950: Lost to Browns 8-3 in American Conf. Playoff (2-0 regular season)
1958: Lost to Browns 10-0 in Eastern Conference Playoff (2-0 regular season)
1981: Beat Eagles 27-21 in NFC Wild Card Playoff (1-1 regular season)
1986: Beat Redskins 17-0 in NFC Championship (2-0 regular season)
2000: Beat Eagles 20-10 in NFC Divisional Playoff (2-0 regular season)
2006: Lost to Eagles 23-20 in NFC Wild Card Playoff (1-1 regular season)

You know what that means! The Giants haven't been able to win a playoff game against a team that swept them in the regular season in -- Get this -- 73 years!

The last time was in '34, when the New Yorkers bounced back from a 13-3 fourth-quarter deficit to score 27 unanswered points on Bronko Nagurski and the Bears. Apparently, the icy track at the Polo Grounds forced the Giants to change out of their cleats at halftime, and the game forever became "The Sneakers Game". And since knocking off Chicago, who finished the regular season 13-0, on that chilly day, they haven't pulled off the bounce-back-from-a-regular-season-sweep-in-the-playoffs trick again.

Because switching shoes at the half, in those days, was considered a little underhanded, I feel completely comfortable calling this "The Curse of The Sneakers." Clearly, the club sold its soul that day. So Cowboys Blog will spend serious time this week trying to figure out if New York can break this awful hex.

Bobby Carpenter pretty much got a free pass after taking part in the Simpson Family Bye Week Fiesta, while folks freaked out about Tony Romo and (to a much lesser degree) Jason Witten having some fun in the sun.

Carpenter didn't get any heat for two reasons: 1) His '70s-porn-style mustachioed mug didn't show up in the first wave of paparazzi photos to hit the web; 2) Most folks forgot that Carpenter still plays for the Cowboys.

While Romo was spending extra time in the film room Monday, Carpenter bolted town again, jetting off to New Orleans to watch his alma mater get whupped in the BCS national championship game (along with Akin Ayodele and LSU alums Bradie James and Marcus Spears). Cross your fingers that Carpenter didn't take the Buckeyes' butt kicking too hard, because the Big Easy sure offers a lot of options for sorrow drowning.

Just seems strange to me that folks are so worked up about an undrafted free agent's getaway when a first-round pick made that trip and followed it up by hitting America's best party city.

Seeing as how Cowboys Blog was pretty complimentary of Michael Strahan today, it seemed like the time was right for a "Best of ..." post.

The only question This Blog had: What can we add to a Hall of Fame career? Well, since everyone know what he can do on the field, let's take a little trip down memory lane to see Strahan's finest moments outside those white lines.

It doesn't seem much like Strahan liked the 1990s classic "True Lies". Nor does he have much use for ESPN.

But Google is right up his alley, especially when it comes to picking college bowl games. And if he does have an anger problem, at least he's willing to admit it.

In that last clip, he joked that Jim Fassel is "the luckiest man going." In that, he was lucky to still have a job. Strahan likes that term. In fact, he used it in a word association game to describe Tony Romo just a few short months ago.

Clearly, Strahan's not shy. And we're all for it, here at Cowboys Blog.

I'm sure Tony Romo will be asked a question or two about the Seattle Slip when he talks to the media tomorrow, although he seems to have recovered from that painful moment pretty well, judging by the franchise records he set this season.

His performance as a quarterback in that game has been almost forgotten.

Romo had a rather ho-hum night throwing the ball against an injury-plagued Seahawks secondary. He completed 17 of 29 passes for 189 yards and a TD. Not bad numbers, but the Cowboys certainly didn't attack a secondary so beat up that a dude who started the week as a loan officer played nickel corner.

T.O. was held to two catches for 26 yards. Romo only had one completion longer than 20 yards (32 yards to Jason Witten). The dude who earned a trip to the Pro Bowl by gunslinging settled for being a bus driver.

You can blame Bill Parcells for the conservative game plan if you want. It was also puzzling that Marion Barber only got three carries. And you can point out that Romo put his team in position to win the game, although the key play on that drive was a 35-yard run by Julius Jones.

But I doubt you see such a conservative approach from Romo on Sunday, especially against a Giants defense he torched for eight touchdowns this season.

Here’s what I caught from the Giants-Buccaneers tape from Sunday:

 If there’s one thing that really worrisome about the Giants passing game, it seems to be the ability of the receivers to make sight adjustments and find holes in zones. Early on Sunday, the Buccaneers were dropping a safety into the box and, without a whole lot of help over the top, playing their corners 8 and 9 yards off the ball. And the Giants picked them apart for it. The Giants receivers would hook up at 4 or 5 yards, and Eli Manning would quickly get them the ball. It was absolutely prevalent in the second quarter, when Manning piloted touchdown drives of eight and seven plays. The Bucs tried to disguise at times, lining corners up close to the line, then having them bail before the snap. But none of it worked. The Giants receivers consistently adjusted on the fly. The Cowboys generally player their corners off the ball, so this is a concern, because it negates the pass rush (with the ball gone so quick) and moves the chains. This is a matter of Manning being patient and taking what the defense gave him, something he hasn’t always done. The other thing you see is how Manning relies on Amani Toomer to shuffle and sit down in holes in the zone, something that the receiver is very, very good at, and something that a zone-heavy team like Dallas should be concerned with.

Where Eli Manning’s 27 throws went on Sunday:

WR AMANI TOOMER
Thrown to: 7 (3 first half/4 second half)
Final stats: 7 catches, 74 yards (3-40/4-34)
Drops: 0

WR PLAXICO BURRESS
Thrown to: 5 (3/2)
Final stats: 4 catches, 38 yards (3-24/1-14)
Drops: 0

Here’s how the Bucs attacked Eli Manning on his 28 pass drops:

3-man pressure: 2 of 28 snaps (0 first half/2 second half)
4-man pressure: 17 of 28 snaps (8/9)
5-man pressure: 7 of 28 snaps (5/2)
6-man pressure: 2 of 28 snaps (2/0)

MANNING NUMBERS
First Half
Vs. 3-man pressure: 0-0
Vs. 4-man pressure: 5-8, 54 yards
Vs. 5-man pressure: 4-4, 31 yards, TD; Sack
Vs. 6-man pressure: 2-2, 23 yards
Second Half
Vs. 3-man pressure: 1-2, 5 yards
Vs. 4-man pressure: 6-9, 60 yards, TD
Vs. 5-man pressure: 2-2, 23 yards
Vs. 6-man pressure: 0-0
Overall
Vs. 3-man pressure: 1-2, 5 yards
Vs. 4-man pressure: 11-17, 114 yards, TD
Vs. 5-man pressure: 6-6, 53 yards, TD; Sack
Vs. 6-man pressure: 2-2, 23 yards

WHAT IT MEANT: Go ahead, take a second look. When the Bucs sent extra pressure, Eli was 8-of-8 for 76 yards and a touchdown. The sack happened in the first quarter. In the last three quarters, against the blitz, Manning was 7-of-7 for 70 yards and that score, and a 147.3 rating. Still thinking blitzing Eli’s the way to go? Manning was masterful, and that’s because after the first quarter, with the line adjusting to having a new center in place, he trusted his protection and had receivers playing smart, cutting off their routes underneath and settling to take small change all the way down the field. This looked like a different quarterback, and I think the Bucs would agree, based on the adjustments they made. After blitzing on nearly half of Manning’s drops in the first half, they came with extra rushers on just two of his 13 second-half pass attempts.

Here’s how the Giants attacked Jeff Garcia on his 40 pass drops:

3-man pressure: 3 of 40 snaps (1 first half/2 second half)
4-man pressure: 28 of 40 snaps (16/12)
5-man pressure: 4 of 40 snaps (3/1)
6-man pressure: 5 of 40 snaps (1/4)

GARCIA NUMBERS
First Half
Vs. 3-man pressure: 1-1, 4 yards
Vs. 4-man pressure: 8-15, 62 yards; Sack
Vs. 5-man pressure: 1-3, 8 yards
Vs. 6-man pressure: 1-1, 4 yards
Second Half
Vs. 3-man pressure: 1-2, 8 yards
Vs. 4-man pressure: 8-12, 92 yards, TD, INT
Vs. 5-man pressure: 1-1, 15 yards
Vs. 6-man pressure: 2-4, 13 yards, INT
Overall
Vs. 3-man pressure: 2-3, 12 yards
Vs. 4-man pressure: 16-27, 154 yards, TD, INT; Sack
Vs. 5-man pressure: 3-4, 22 yards
Vs. 6-man pressure: 3-5, 17 yards, INT

WHAT IT MEANT: The Giants forced Garcia to get rid of the ball quickly, no matter what kind of pressure they brought. The QB averaged an anemic 5.31 yards per attempt, and that number dropped to 3.4 yards when New York brought six. The Giants prompted the fast release and checkdowns also through deception, overloading a side and dropping a lineman on the opposite end, while rotating the coverage over. Just a masterful job of keeping an efficient passing attack in check by Steve Spagnuolo, whose Jim Johnson roots are showing. The rush didn’t always get there. But the threat was omnipresent, and that’s the idea.

It's the playoffs, so Cowboys Blog is stepping up its game, too. This week, I'm breaking down the Giants-Bucs game as if it were a Dallas game, and examining New York the same way I would the home team. So that'll be posting for the next few hours, like it normally does.

Here’s how the Giants deployed personnel on their 58 offensive snaps on Sunday:

2 RB/1 TE/2 WR (‘21’ personnel): 22 of 58 snaps (11 first half/11 second half)
1 RB/1 TE/3 WR (‘11’ personnel): 15 of 58 snaps (6/9)
2 RB/2 TE/1 WR (‘22’ personnel): 11 of 58 snaps (3/8)
1 RB/2 TE/2 WR (‘12’ personnel): 7 of 58 snaps (4/3)
1 RB/0 TE/4 WR (‘10’ personnel): 2 of 58 snaps (2/0)
2 RB/3 TE/0 WR (‘23’ personnel): 1 of 58 snaps (0/1)

WHAT IT MEANT: There’s Jeremy Shockey fallout here, with the Giants playing more often with a fullback than two tight ends. Most of this was situational, with the four-receiver sets coming out in long yardage, and most of jumbo sets used in the fourth quarter. Fundamentally, the Giants use fullback Madison Hedgecock in an old-school fashion, almost exclusively to help in pass protection and lead block in the running game. The one thing that was noticeable, personnel-wise, was the shuffling of the receivers to gain matchups – Amani Toomer, a prototype outside guy, spent a lot of time in the slot.

Wade Phillips studied up on the history of teams playing playoff games against division rivals they swept in the regular season. He recited the stat of the sweepers being 11-6 in those situations.

Greg Ellis, Valley Ranch's resident worrywart, said the Cowboys can't allow the season sweep to be an edge for the Giants. In other words, he wants to make sure the Cowboys are just as motivated as the Giants.

You can always count on Pro Bowl safety Ken Hamlin to simplify things. He scoffed at a question about the difficulty of beating a good team three times.

"I'm thinking about beating them one time," Hamlin said. "I'm not worried about anything we did in the past."

After being asked a softball question on how he spent his bye week, the next one hit Cowboys TE Jason Witten between the eyes -- So what did you do to pass the time?

Smirking like a kid who just pulled off an elaborate prank, Witten said, "I went with Tony, if you guys don’t know." That would be Romo, in case you didn't know, and Mexico is where they went. Cowboys Blog picked up on it Saturday, the day it went from rumor to hysteria.

"I think we understand," Witten said. "I just went because I’m buddies with him. Obviously, that’s part of the life he lives now. But for the most part, it doesn’t (bother me), because you understand what you’re doing.

"The whole team, we put ourselves in that situation, to be able to get away and relax, and come back and focus. I think the best thing as a team is get away from football for a little bit, then watch those games, and get ourselves ready. It’s going to be a fight."

Patrick Crayton usually isn't one to shy away from a little trash talk. Heck, after the last meeting with the Giants, he had quite a colorful take on the Cowboys marking their territory.

But Crayton won't fill up any Big Apple bulletin boards this week. He acknowledged that there's a lot of bad blood between the NFC East rivals, but he doesn't intend to say anything to add to it.

"You understand the magnitude of what's about to happen," Crayton said of the playoffs. "You understand all the excitement and that everything around you is going to step up to a whole 'nother level, so that's what you've got to do to your game. It's all about the focus and being keyed in. You've got to be locked in this week."

Let's just hope that Brandon "Big Mouth" Jacobs isn't so careful with the New York media.

Colts S Bob Sanders won 31 of 50 votes for Defensive Player of the Year, easily giving Indy Assassin the award.

But DeMarcus Ware did make the next group.

Tied for second, behind Sanders, were Seahawks DE Patrick Kerney and Titans DT Albert Haynesworth, whom garnered four votes apiece. Ware was tied for fourth with New England's Mike Vrabel, each drawing two votes.

I was prepared to post that the Cowboys proved their dominance over the Giants with double-digit wins in the two meetings between the NFC East teams this season. I did a little research to back up my theory that whupping a team twice during the regular season is a pretty good indicator that it'll happen again in the playoffs.

Well, the research didn't exactly back up that point.

As posted by Calvin "Lucky" Watkins, this will be the 18th time that a team has faced an opponent in the playoffs that it beat twice during the regular season. The sweeper is 11-6 in the playoffs, but regular season margin of victory doesn't matter.

The two sweepers with the biggest regular season margin of victory got beat in the playoffs by the teams they swept. If you don't think that's an ominous sign, consider this: Both of those sweeper/losers were Texas teams -- the '89 Oilers vs. Pittsburgh and the '98 Cowboys vs. Arizona.

This will be only the second time that a team has faced an opponent in the playoffs that it beat by double digits twice during the regular season. The 2000 Giants whupped the Eagles again in the playoffs.

If you're a stats geek (only people still reading this), follow the jump.

The Cowboys are 0-2 in the playoffs when facing a team that has a player named, "Bradshaw," not good news considering the Giants have running back Ahmad Bradshaw, who ran for 66 yards against Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Terry Bradshaw led the Steelers to wins in Super Bowls X and XIII by throwing six touchdown passes in two games. He earned MVP honors in Super Bowl XIII with four touchdown passes in Pittsburgh's 35-31 victory.

Ahmad Bradshaw did not get a carry in the Giants' two losses to the Cowboys in the regular season.

Tony Romo and Jason Witten are participating in the Cowboys' walkthrough. They don't appear to have any lingering effects from the Simpson Family Bye Week Fiesta.

T.O. was the only player missing from practice. The hope is that he'll be ready to roll by Wednesday or Thursday.

Giants star WR Plaxico Burress will be in uniform Sunday.

But as he tells the Star-Ledger's Mike Garafolo, he's not right health-wise and hasn't been for a while now.

On his injured left pinky, Plax says, "It's never straight. This tendon is torn. It was the first play of the Green Bay game. It was a running play. I blocked Al Harris, looked down and it was like this." And his ankle: "Everybody thinks it's just a sprain. It's not. I tore my ligament off the bone. That's why I haven't been practicing. Anybody else would be on IR at home."

I'm sure you guys will have a lot of sympathy for Plax this week.

This isn't exactly uncharted territory for the Cowboys, but the truth is that all of two players on the team -- Flozell Adams and Greg Ellis -- were around the last time Dallas played a division opponent in the playoffs.

That, of course, didn't go so well. Jake "The Snake" Plummer and rising Cardinals came in and shocked the sinking Cowboys 20-7.

The 1998 Wild Card Playoff was the fifth time the Cowboys had faced an NFC East foe in the playoffs. But it was the first time coming off a regular-season sweep. In each of the other four cases, the Cowboys split with a division foe. Follow the jump for a rundown on how the playoff matchup worked out in each of these cases:

This seems like a good place to kick the week off: Timmy Tabloid's favorite New York columnist, the Post's Steve Serby, implores alternately annointed/villified franchise QB Eli Manning to "Ride 'Em Cowboy!" this week.

Serby got pretty fired up, even comparing Brother of Peyton to Phil Simms.

Meanwhile, in the pages of the Daily News, ex-DMNer Gary Myers says Eli delivered a poignant message to the Brothers Barber -- Just Shut Up. And Bob Glauber keeps the Manning Lovefest going with his column from Newsday.

Thankfully, Eli wasn't the only one getting credit. Flip Bondy, of the Daily News, did say it's about time Tom Coughlin gets some more job security.

According to STATS, Inc. NFL teams are 11-6 when they try to complete a three-game sweep, with the third game coming in the playoffs.

The Cowboys couldn't do it in 1998, but several other teams did.

The last team to accomplish this was the 2004 St. Louis Rams which pulled it off against Seattle.
That same year, Green Bay tried to do it, but lost to Minnesota in the playoffs.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like anything close to what Osi Umenyiora said in November came out of the Giants locker room this afternoon. Here's a sampling of what the Giants had to say about playing the Cowboys for a third time.

Even "Big Mouth" is tight-lipped on this one! Thanks to Brad Townsend in Tampa for passing all this along.

RB Brandon Jacobs: “You know (the win) says a lot about us. We have great character in here. Guys in here have a lot of heart. We do know one thing, when we go play against a team like the Dallas Cowboys we’ve got to bring it. Because it’s a good football team and they’re well coached.”

QB Eli Manning: “We have been in the playoffs the last three seasons and I haven’t played particularly well in the two games before, and just to come in here and play well, give our team a chance to win the game and make some big plays, that was quite a situation to be in. But now you can’t be just satisfied with what you’re doing. It’s about the bigger picture and keeping this thing going.”

Calvin "Lucky" Watkins is looking for his pom-poms! Big Blue is coming to town!

Shouldn't be too tough to stir things up this week. The Cowboys and Giants truly despise each other.

The Cowboys beat the Giants by double digits in both meetings this season, but at least one New Yorker believes those games were flukes. The Giants will have a chance to prove it next week.

Or just peruse these odds, place a wager and satisfy your habit.

Here, from the good people over at Bodog, are some of the numbers that are out there now. And surprise! Vegas agrees with Wade -- 13-3 does mean something. That being that the Cowboys are the NFC favorite. Here you go:

ODDS TO WIN SUPER BOWL XLII
New England Patriots 2/5
Indianapolis Colts 4/1
Dallas Cowboys 6/1
San Diego Chargers 8/1
Green Bay Packers 10/1
Jacksonville Jaguars 10/1
Pittsburgh Steelers 35/1
Seattle Seahawks 40/1
Washington Redskins 50/1
New York Giants 60/1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 65/1
Tennessee Titans 100/1

In today's pages, columnist Tim Cowlishaw says that a quick exit by Cowboys in the playoffs would rival the Mavs' spring 2007 collapse. And he's right.

The last time a No. 1 seed in the NFC bracket went one-and-done was in 1987, when the 49ers fell 36-24 to the Vikings. Minnesota's quarterback that day? Cowboys QB coach Wade Wilson, who found Anthony Carter 10 times for a then-playoff record 227 yards. ESPN's Page 2 ranked it as the 10th greatest playoff upset of all-time, a game in which Bill Walsh benched Joe Montana in favor of Steve Young.

That, of course, was in a strike year. The last time it happened in the NFC in a non-strike year, well, I probably shouldn't try to describe that one, since I was still a few weeks shy of my first birthday. That was a 30-27 Dallas win over Atlanta, following the 1980 season.

Wade Phillips had all the players who had won a playoff game stand up during a team meeting. Only six guys on the active roster rose to their feet: Terry Glenn, Tank Johnson, Brad Johnson, Ken Hamlin, Kyle Kosier and Terrell Owens. Of course, the majority of the players were one play away from a playoff win last season.

"It has nothing to do with this year," Hamlin said, downplaying the significance of playoff experience.

So Hamlin doesn't have any sage playoff veteran experience for his young teammates?

"You've got to play good," Hamlin said. "There's nothing new about it. We're still going to be on a football field; we're still going to be playing in front of people; we're still going to have an opponent on the other side. You've got to be ready and prepared like it's just another game, and you've got to play well."

It's been 11 long years since America's Team won a playoff game. That's still true, although Wade Phillips (0-3 as head coach in playoffs) has made a case that a bye should sorta, kinda count as a win.

I figured you folks would enjoy a quick review of the losing streak while enjoying New Year's Day bowl games.

Seahawks 21, Cowboys 20: Reckon you folks probably remember the Seattle Slip pretty well.

Panthers 29, Cowboys 10: It's a miracle that the Tuna took a team quarterbacked by Quincy Carter to the playoffs. Jake Delhomme, who considered signing with the Cowboys during the off-season, lit up the NFL's top-ranked defense.

Vikings 27, Cowboys 10: An 8-8 team went out with a whimper, ending the Chan Gailey Era.

Cardinals 20, Cowboys 7: You think the Cowboys' current playoff win drought is long? The Cardinals broke a 51-year drought with this win.

Panthers 26, Cowboys 17: The '90s dynasty was probably dead anyway, but it didn't help when Michael Irvin went down during the game's first series.

The Cowboys seem convinced that they'll flip a switch now that it's playoff time and everything will be just fine.

There's a still a lot of confidence in that locker room, despite the fact that not a single player in there has won a playoff game with a star on his helmet. Hey, maybe they're right. If that's the case, their 2-2 record in December will be forgiven and forgotten.

It is worth pointing out that the Colts went 2-3 last December and did OK in the playoffs.

There is precedent for such flip-switching around these parts. The Cowboys' last Super Bowl champions went 2-2 in December, with one of the wins coming on a last-second field goal.

Of course, a lot of guys on that team already had two rings.

We're up and running and Valley Ranch, where everything still seems very, very quiet.

Everyone knows what's at stake for both teams this week. The Redskins are playing for a playoff berth, and get one with a win. The Cowboys are playing for nothing but pride.

So what you do in this spot? Hit up the comments section and let us know.

Here's my take: If you have a bye, you want to stay sharp, so you play the game as you normally would for at least a half and probably three quarters. There are a couple caveats to that. First, I think you shorten the playbook a bit and hold things back. Second, I think any players that are "iffy" injury-wise should sit.

For teams like the Giants and Jaguars, on the other hand, that are locked in without a bye, I see more wholesale resting as the way to go. But even when making an effort to do that, it's not exactly easy in the NFL, with just 45 players dressing on gameday, and eight spots for inactives.

The Cowboys aren't playing their best football right now. WR Patrick Crayton said he'd give the Cowboys a "B" so far for December, and that might be a bit generous.

But the Cowboys are still the clear-cut favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. They have home-field advantage, and the other contenders in the conference aren't peaking right now, either.

Green Bay was absolutely awful in the Packers' 35-7 loss to the Bears yesterday. Tampa Bay has lost two of three, including a 21-19 loss to sorry San Francisco yesterday. Seattle lost at Carolina the week before the Cowboys beat the Panthers. Those are the other three NFC division champs.

The Giants, who have clinched a wild-card berth, got beat soundly by Washington last week. The Vikings were on a roll until getting whupped by the Redskins yesterday.

So Washington, the winner of three straight, could be considered the hottest team in the conference. The Cowboys might be able to keep the Redskins out of the playoffs, but finishing the regular season with no other key injuries should be a higher priority for Wade Phillips and Co.

Going into Week 17, the Cowboys know this about the playoffs: They won't have to deal with the Packers or Seahawks until the NFC Championship Game. And they know this too: They'll either play the winner of the Bucs-Giants Wild Card playoff, or any of three teams pulling an upset of Seattle, those being the Redskins, Vikings or Saints.

The Redskins control their own destiny. Win and they're in. Or tie and have Minnesota lose. Or lose and Minnesota lose and the Saints lose or tie.

The Vikings gets in with a win and a Washington loss or tie, or a tie and a Washington loss. And the Saints need to win in Chicago, and have the Redskins to lose to Dallas and the Vikings lose in Denver.

So there you have it. One of five teams will be coming to Dallas for the weekend of Jan. 12-13: the Bucs, Giants, Redskins, Vikings or Saints.

The Cowboys now know they won't have to play on the road during the NFC playoffs, but that was still very much in doubt last night. They assumed they'd have to win at Washington without T.O. to earn home-field advantage.

"I'm telling you, we do not want to play in Saskatchewan," WR Patrick Crayton said. "We do not want to go up there and play at all."

Crayton, of course, was sarcastically referring to Green Bay as a Canadian outpost. And to a dude from DeSoto, there really isn't much difference between the two winter wonderlands.

Crayton and the Cowboys can breathe easy (and not see their breath when they do), thanks to the Bears.

Believe that's safe to say with the Bears up 35-7 over the Packers with four minutes remaining.

Conked out on my couch at halftime and just woke up (dadgum 8 a.m. flight!), but heard that Green Bay WR Greg Jennings injured an ankle. He means almost as much to the Pack as T.O. does to the Cowboys.

At any rate, the Cowboys have accomplished their ultimate regular-season goal now. Next step: Ending an 11-year playoff winless drought.

In between, the Cowboys will make a trip to Washington for what is essentially a preseason game that counts in the official stats.

A bonus early Christmas gift: The Bengals are up 19-7 on the Browns.

Apparently, Bengals receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh has the same problem a lot of Americans do: He doesn't get NFL Network.

Appearing on ESPN Radio's GameNight tonight, Houshmandzadeh was asked if he wanted to see the Patriots get through their final two opponents to wrap up the first 16-0 regular season in league history. He said he was torn. Then, he said this:

"I would like to see them get to the Super Bowl. It'll be real interesting to see how they match up with Green Bay's corners."

What might be even more interesting is seeing if those corners, with a healthy Charles Woodson, can hold Tony Romo and Co. to less than the 309 yards and four touchdowns they yielded through the air in Texas Stadium a few weeks back. Because if that matchup isn't at least a little more "intriguing" than it was the first time around, T.J. may never get to see his dream matchup.

Maybe Jerry -- being the NFL Net honcho he is -- can hook Housh up with a tape of the game, and some DirecTV info so he doesn't miss the little things again.

SportsDay had a meeting last week to start planning our Super Bowl coverage, but I reckon it'd be wise to take 'em one game at a time. Here are some sensationalizable potential storylines for the Cowboys' playoff opener.

NY Giants: It really isn't tough to stir stuff up between NFC East rivals that really don't like each other. Eli Mannings is always an easy target, and we could revisit Brandon "Big Mouth" Jacobs' season-opening bulletin-board material. Would Tony Romo light up the Giants' D for a third time this season?

Tampa Bay: T.O. vs. Garcia!!! Joey Galloway has produced in Tampa Bay like Jerry thought he would for the Cowboys when he gave up two first-round picks.

Most of you already know these, but we'll pass them along anyway.

A Cowboys win or tie, or a Seahawks loss or tie today assures Dallas of a first-round bye. If the Cowboys win or tie and the Packers lose or tie, then the No. 1 seed gets locked up and the last two weeks of the season will be just for kicks.

Got it? Good.

Noted Cowboy hater Troy Aikman even said so!!!

"I'm amazed really when I hear people say that New England blew the Cowboys out," Aikman said at Valley Ranch today. "I know what the final score was. I realize all that. It was a seven-point game in the fourth quarter. A different play here, and a different play there, it’s a different outcome.

"And I understand that what happened, happened. I get all of that. ... Don't get me wrong -- I think the Patriots are the best team in football. But if they played 10 times, I don't think the Patriots win all 10. I think (the Cowboys) win three or four. I don't think they win five. But if they get New England on one of those three or four days, it's anyone's game."

My prediction: The Cowboys won't get a chance. Strange as it sounds, the Colts are better built for cold-weather playoff games than the Patriots. New England's lack of a running game will catch up to the Pats when the Colts come to town for the AFC Championship Game.

And, of course, the Cowboys proved they could beat the Colts last season.