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Pittsburgh Steelers’ Troy Polamalu Won’t Win, but He Really Is the NFL’s MVP

Published: December 7, 2009

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Way back in September, when my fantasy league held its draft, I struck gold with the first overall pick. One of the many benefits of picking first is you can square away all your crucial positions and then go for favorites earlier/more easily than anyone else. I took full advantage and probably reached a little to yank the Pittsburgh Steeler defense off the board for reasons too convoluted to describe here.

When super-freak safety Troy Polamalu went down with a knee injury in the first game of the season against the Tennessee Titans, I knew I was in trouble.

Luckily, I reached into the hat and—blind panic nothwithstanding—had the wherewithal to snag the New Orleans Saints’ D. Insert big sigh of relief.

Although my emergency plan has become the stalwart, I’ve still kept a close eye on Steel City. Like I said, I drafted the Steel Curtain because I wanted to use it as much as I thought it would be a boon to my team.

As those in Pittsburgh can tell you much better than I, it’s been a loooooong wait.

And the undeniable reason has been the absence of The Man from Troy.

If you prefer cold hard numbers, you can see by that game-log that Polamalu has seen action in only five of the Steelers’ first 12 games. Pittsburgh won four of those games and the game they lost to the Cincinnati Bengals featured the best safety in the National Football League for only one series.

There’s a very persuasive argument that says the Steel Curtain is undefeated with Troy Polamalu on the field.

Even more telling are the seven games the “Head and Shoulders” huckster has missed.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, defending Super Bowl champions, have lost five of those seven. But these are not just typical losses—included in the quintet are defeats at the hands of the woeful Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Bears, and Oakland Raiders.

Consider that last one for a second because it was in Pittsburgh, a national telecast, and the freshest in the memory banks. Consequently, it was the ugliest of the bunch.

The Raiders, whose house is in almost total disarray as usual, came into Heinz Field and Bruce Gradkowski led the Silver and Black to a fourth quarter, come-from-behind victory. Not only that, the dude did it by absolutely gashing the Steeler secondary time after time after time.

In fact, there’s a decent chance Ike Taylor’s flaming jockstrap is still burning somewhere on that field.

Good lord, I’d bet good money nobody in America is more eagerly anticipating Polamalu’s return than Mr. Taylor after that performance.

But it wasn’t only Ike. The entire secondary spontaneously combusted as Gradkowski threw for 308 yards, three touchdowns, zero picks, and a passer rating of 121.8. Louis Murphy caught four passes for 128 yards and two scores. Johnnie Lee Higgins nabbed four passes for 63 yards and three other targets caught balls while averaging at least 10 yards per completion.

It was the definition of obscene from a defensive perspective.

It was also a theme that has been present ever since Troy Polamalu went down.

In those five games where he took at least one snap, the Steelers held firmly. Neither the Titans, the Cleveland Browns, the Minnesota Vikings, the Denver Broncos, nor the Bengals managed to score 20 points.

In the seven games Polamalu’s missed, Pittsburgh has been torched for at least 20 points six times. Only the Bears failed to reach the mark, falling three points shy.

The Bengals put up 23. The San Diego Chargers zapped ’em for 28. The Detroit Lions mauled the Steelers for 20 on the nose. The Chiefs posted 27 on the board, the Baltimore Ravens hit for 20, and the Raiders just lit ’em up for another 27.

The difference on paper is as obvious as the one in reality.

Clearly, no one can seriously argue the Most Valuable Player of the League is a guy who’s missed seven games (and counting) of a 16-game regular season. Furthermore, Brett Favre, Drew Brees, and Peyton Manning are all having phenomenal years as is Chris Johnson—one of those four (read: one of the quarterbacks) will win the hardware.

Rightfully so.

Nevertheless, Troy Polamalu’s absence has turned the Super Bowl champions into just another football team. One capable of losing to terrible teams and being embarrassed by an embarrassing franchise.

I’d say that makes him the real MVP.

**www.pva.org**

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NFL Cornerbacks Threatening to Throw a Wet Blanket on Age of the Wide Receiver

Published: December 3, 2009

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At some point in the not-so-distant past—probably around the time Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson were at their shucking-and-jiving peak—the National Football League gave itself over to the Age of the Wide Receiver.

Rule changes made it infinitely more difficult to adequately and consistently cover a lightning fast, physical beast without committing some manner of infraction.

The game soon adapted.

Whether or not the garrulous talents on the peripheries of most offensive formations actually drive success and failure on the gridiron, the perception in many circles is that a stud receiver is one of the fundamental elements to successfully procuring a Super Bowl ring—right up there with an elite quarterback and gnarly defense.

Skeptical? You shouldn’t be.

Super Bowl XLIII

The game gave us the dueling blinders authored by the best wide receiver in the league—Arizona Cardinal Larry Fitzgerald—and the best wide receiver on that day—the Most Valuable Player and Pittsburgh Steeler Santonio Holmes.

Super Bowl XLII

The MVP of the game was the New York Giants’ signal-caller, Eli Manning, but the indelible impressions left on history were stamped by the G-Men’s talented wide-outs.

No football fan will ever forget David Tyree’s absurd catch and the city of New York will never forget Plaxico Burress height of glory, nabbing the game-winning catch to crush the New England Patriots’ undefeated dreams.

Super Bowl XLI

I’ll take the Rex Grossman Defense i.e. any game in which he figured prominently is, by definition, an anomaly.

Super Bowl X

Despite all the hoopla surrounding the Steelers’ Jerome Bettis returning home to Detroit to play for the championship, it was wide receiver Hines Ward who stole the show.

The game’s MVP registered five catches for 123 yards and touchdowns, including some enormous catches to place and drive nails into the Seattle Seahawks’ coffin.

Super Bowl XXXIX

I could merely say that this was a Patriots victory in which Tom Brady played well, yet it was wide receiver Deion Branch who took home MVP honors.

That statement alone tells you enough about the perceived importance of the guys on the other end of the QBs’ bombs.

Of course, that would unjustly neglect another key figure in the contest, the Philadelphia Eagles’ Terrell Owens.

Both men went over 100 yards on the day—Branch had 11 catches for 133 yards while TO had nine grabs for 122—and were primary decisive weapons in the shootout.

Super Bowl XXXVIII

Yet another Pats’ victory and this time Brady did take home the hardware, but check the box score:

Branch played a huge role once more—10 grabs, 143 yards, and a score—and he was joined by the Carolina Panthers’ Muhsin Muhammad (4/140/1).

The League’s Transformation

Consequently, the NFL became a place where outrageous, self-aggrandizing antics are almost the norm from the superstar wide receivers. It seems, no sooner has a new phenom arrived that the indomitable and tedious ego blossoms. Worse, it has been tolerated as a necessary evil in order to keep a focal point of the magic gameplan engaged, cooperative, and effective.

Well, don’t look now, but there’s something in the NFL wind.

Patience for the extracurricular nonsense is running thin, but there’s another trend taking shape.

I don’t know if it’s a reaction to the perceived significance of the wide receiver in the modern game or to the inherently seductive challenge of stifling obnoxious conceit, but we’re starting to see young shutdown cornerbacks pop up with more frequency.

Cornerback has become arguably the most difficult position on the field due to the rule changes protecting quarterbacks and simultaneously exposing the cover men.

Nevertheless, recent years have pulled back the curtain on some blanket wizards.

Old faithfuls like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Ronde Barber (34 years old), the Green Bay Packers’ Charles Woodson (33), and the Denver Broncos’ Champ Bailey (31) still inspire throws elsewhere by even the bravest gunslingers, but their legacies are secure when the day comes to finally retire the cleats.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ Asante Samuel (28) already has seven interceptions for the Eagles’ typically stout defense. The Chicago Bears’ Charles Tillman (28) leads the League with a ridiculous six force fumbles on the season—the same number of passes defensed.

The New York Jets’ have two scintillating defenders and Lito Sheppard (28) does just dandy as the de facto main attraction.

Also demanding mention are the Pats’ Leigh Bodden (28 and establishing himself), the Tennessee Titans’ Cortland Finnegan (25, a 2008 All-Pro, and getting less credit than Vince Young for the Titans’ resurrection while being just as significant), the Cincinnati Bengals’ young pair of corners Leon Hall and Jonathan Joseph (both 25 and large reasons for the Bungals’ shocking defensive uprising), the Bucs’ other corner Aqib Talib (23 and withstanding the lion’s share of the opposition’s attention), and the Cardinals’ Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (22 and already a pseudo-household name after last year’s performance in the playoffs).

Ultimately, if you’re talking cover corners in the NFL, the list of the most elite practitioners starts and stops with two men—the 28-year-old Oakland Raider, Nnamdi Asomugha , and the 24-year-old reason Lito Sheppard works in a shooting gallery, the Jets’ Darrelle Revis .

Asomugha is comparably old news.

This wide receiver’s nightmare has been in the NFL since the 2003-04 campaign. His act was apparently slow to catch on, but the 2005-06 season saw him defend 14 passes and make 55 solo tackles. Then, in 2006-07, the former Cal Bear yanked eight interceptions, defended 19 passes, made 48 solo tackles, made the Pro Bowl, and was named a second-team All-Pro.

Word was out.

Since his first Pro Bowl, the opposition has basically quit throwing at Asomugha. He’s amassed a total of 18 passes defended since then, including the two he’s tallied this year.

In addition, he’s made only three picks (one this year). Yet he made another Pro Bowl in 2008-09 and graduated to the first-team All-Pro.

By contrast, Revis still has that new-car smell.

The former Pittsburgh Panther made the Pro Bowl last year, but what decent New York athlete doesn’t make the All-Star equivalent? In all seriousness, the Pro Bowl may mean you’re a bad man…or it can mean group think worked in your favor that year.

In Revis’ case, it was clearly the former even if it’s only now becoming crystal clear.

For those of you who are familiar with fantasy football, you know that the Jet is a death sentence for even the A-list wide-outs because he follows his mark for the duration. While Asomugha usually plays one side of the field, there is no quarter when you face the New York’s American Football Conference representative.

For those of you unfamiliar with the dynamic, check out his game log . Pay particular attention to the games against the Houston Texans, the pair against the Pats, the New Orleans Saints, the Buffalo Bills, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Panthers.

Note those games because each team mentioned has an identifiable No. 1 receiver and he’s a monster. Except when he is covered by Darrelle Revis:

Texans, Andre Johnson—four catches, 35 yards
Patriots, Randy Moss—nine catches, 58 yards, one touchdown, one pick, in two games
Saints, Marques Colston—two catches, 33 yards
Bills, Terrell Owens—three catches, 13 yards
Jaguars, Mike Sims-Walker—three catches, 49 yards, one touchdown
Panthers, Steve Smith—one catch, five yards, and Revis returned one of two picks for a touchdown

Against six of the best wide receivers the NFL has to offer, Darrelle Revis has yet to give up more than 50 yards in a single contest, has more interceptions than touchdowns allowed, and has one fewer touchdowns scored than allowed.

I guess that’ll work.

Nnamdi Asomugha and Darrelle Revis currently sit atop a heap of talented cornerbacks rearing up to resist the Age of the Wide Receiver, but who knows how long their reign will last?

If the last couple years are any indication, the heap is growing faster and faster. Furthermore, the guys at the bottom seem anxious and able to quickly tackle the ascent.

That’s bad news if you make your living catching the pigskin.

**www.pva.org**

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Fantasy Becoming Reality: Peyton Manning’s Legend Enhanced By Focus On Numbers

Published: November 22, 2009

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Whenever you pump the brakes on the adoration showered upon a great player, the torch-wielding mob comes a-runnin’. Instead of axes and pitchforks, they’re armed with t-shirts featuring said player’s smiling mug and zealous advocacy for his or her prestige.

Who can really blame them?

I’ve been known to dust off the metaphoric shovel and grab a Tim Lincecum jersey when anyone tries to diminish the Freak’s ironic stature in Major League Baseball—as has been said before, “fan” is short for “fanatic.”

However, I’m really not trying to imply Peyton Manning isn’t excellent.

The Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback is quite possibly the best regular season signal-caller the National Football League has ever seen. His ability at the position rates, without question, amongst the finest to ever take a snap. Given a more ideal set of circumstances, the dude might have been the best QB the League has ever seen, period.

At 33-years-old, Peyton Manning still has plenty of time to yank that title away from Joe Montana, or whoever you think has it.

But…

You make your career out of what is and was, not what could have been or might eventually be.

The fact of the matter is, absent a professional sports’ culture that’s becoming increasingly infatuated with statistics and individual achievement, the elder Manning wouldn’t be placed on the mantle alongside a three-time Super Bowl winner like the New England Patriots’ Tom Brady or a four-timer like Joe Cool based on his body of work to date.

Understand—I’m not arguing this is right/wrong, better/worse, or attaching any other judgment to it (although it’s quite obvious where my personal feelings on the matter lie).

For the sake of this discussion, I’m simply saying it’s the truth.

Football has always been considered the ultimate team game where the W is unequivocally paramount. Quarterbacks have always received the lion’s share of the spotlight so their grades have always reflected this premium more so than other positions.

While a championship helps any player’s reputation, the studs behind center haven’t been able to enter the pantheon of all-time greatness without a Super Bowl ring. Additionally, it’s been tough to improve your position once inside without adding to your jewelry case.

Why?

I’m not an expert, but I’d argue it’s because football features no individual achievements now that Barry Sanders is a distant memory.

Successful series require a harmony of moving parts more numerous and intricate than an outsider like me can possibly identify, much less appreciate. The reality of even the outstanding “individual” effort is inevitably a concerted effort involving no less than five or six men.

Someone with a deeper knowledge of the game could probably formulate a very persuasive case for an offense-defense-special-teams synergy as well. You know, field position, time of possession, scoring, and how it affects defensive play-calling, and so forth.

Since quarterbacks serve as rough proxies for the team, most pigskin observers consider their individual statistics like touchdowns, passing yards, and quarterback rating only slightly more dispositive about the individual than the win or loss (within reason).

Or at least they did.

Although the fundamental, coordinated nature of football hasn’t changed, the perception is slowly slipping.

With the onset of fantasy sports, the infatuation with the individual is elbowing its way into the conversation. Think about it—how many times have you been watching a game and rooting for Player X on one team, Player Y on another, and with total disregard to the ultimate outcome?

I’m not even a huge fantasy guy and I know that happens to me on a weekly basis. In fact, I’ve even rooted for one of my fantasy squad while he’s playing against the Niners. Admittedly, it’s with the caveat that it doesn’t actually hurt the fellas.

Suddenly, a good day from a quarterback turns into 350 yards, three touchdowns, and one pick. Who cares whether the team wins or loses—you don’t get points for that. Usually a good fantasy day coincides with a winning effort, but not always and you quickly learn to stop seeing a difference.

Not only that—the fantasy season ends along with the regular season. Obviously, the entire football world perks up when the playoffs start so it’d be foolish to claim the fantasy games have eroded the significance of the second season.

Of course, it’d be equally foolish to claim the interest in the regular season hasn’t been ratcheted up by the popularity of the fantasy games. Interest in one can gain without taking a bite out of its counterpart.

Which brings me back to Peyton Manning—both phenomena seem tailored to his resume.

Everyone knows he’s setting NFL regular season records on a weekly basis, and he’ll continue to do so until his career ends. We know about the Most Valuable Player awards and the rest of the glittering individual accolades. We know if someone asks you who’s leading the NFL in a quarterbacking statistic; the Colt is a pretty safe bet.

We know all this for good reason—Peyton Manning deserves every single ounce of respect and attention he gets for those very substantial feats.

Yet Manning, himself, will probably tell you that’s not what the real game is about.

I’m confident he’d tell you that because he must’ve already learned the lesson well—do you think he’d trade some of his college laurels for one win against the blood-rival Florida Gators? Maybe a National Championship?

And that brings into play a couple other truths about Peyton Manning.

We also know he’s 7-8 in the playoffs and we’ve all watched him become a shadow of his regular season self in those contests. I could tally off some shockingly condemning numbers, but that’d be strange having devoted so many previous inches to attacking the true significance of such numbers.

Luckily, I don’t need them—the eye test is conclusive.

Instead of precise and decisive lasers, Playoff Peyton is far more prone to some grade-A Gumby shoulders and unbelievable bouts of gloom on the sidelines—unbelievable in that no leader of any group should EVER look the way Peyton Manning does when things get bumpy.

There just isn’t the same resolve.

It’s like one of the game’s greatest minds over thinks the situation. The higher stakes seem to create a moment of doubt—maybe an extra split-second to clear the target of any exotic turnover monsters that might’ve been saved for the postseason. It’s not that he’s horrible—for whatever reason, something is just off and the results reflect the snag.

Yet Peyton Manning’s legend grows with every regular season yard he piles onto his obscene career total, with every extra touchdown he puts in his trophy case. Somehow, a guy with one ring—courtesy of arguably the most underwhelming performance by a QB on his way to football’s biggest prize ever—and a sub-.500 playoff record gets mentioned in the same breath with the NFL’s biggest winners.

The undeniable evidence shows this is quarterback who dominates the regular season on an annual basis, then becomes either a poor, average, or better-than-average snap-taker when the heat is on.

Whichever adjective you choose, the fact is Peyton Manning regresses when his team needs him most—asked to do what he has been doing all season, he has routinely failed. You can make any number of excuses—ranging from legitimate to absurd—but they’re all irrelevant because you can make similar excuses for any of the all-time greats.

Maybe even for any quarterback at all.

If you want to start making allowances for every imperfection in a quarterback’s supporting cast, you must do that for every quarterback in the discussion and the entire thing deteriorates into a meaningless morass of hypothetical.

Nobody has the perfect situation—gotta play ’em as they lay.

Heretofore, these blatant truths would keep anyone out of the most rarefied air. Even a statistical monster like Peyton Manning. For better or worse, that seems to be changing.

What a brave new world…

**www.pva.org**

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Michael Crabtree’s First Start Stops the Bleeding In More Ways Than One

Published: November 1, 2009

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Many in the national media and almost everyone around San Francisco have been openly critical of rookie wide receiver Michael Crabtree’s decision to hold-out for more money. Although I never grappled with the issue directly, I’m definitely and firmly in that group.

The story is old news by now—the kid was arguably the best collegiate wide receiver, got hurt, slid in the draft, the San Francisco 49ers grabbed him at No. 10, Crabtree and an armada of advisers decided he should be paid like a top seven or eight pick, and all manner of insanity followed.

There were allegations that 22-year-old was being led astray by his agent, Eugene Parker, for the glorification of Parker’s reputation. There was the ever-helpful Deion Sanders popping off from his podium on the NFL Network about the youngster’s financial security. There was a different one of Crabtree’s agents boasting the exact same thing.

The New York Jets even nosed their way into the mix when San Francisco filed tampering charges against the East Coast club.

Mercifully, it all came to an end when the wideout inked his belated contract with the Niners. Ultimately, he got $1 million more in guaranteed money ($17 million vs. $16 million). There were also any number of additional mysterious incentives, but the value of those is so unpredictable that they’re virtually beside the point.

Regardless, Michael Crabtree was officially a San Francisco 49er!

By the Bay, you could hear the crickets chirping.

No trumpets blaring, no red carpets being rolled out for the savior, and certainly no fan-base drooling with anticipation of seeing their new toy. The squad was a Brett Favre, desperation heave away from being 4-0 and sitting atop its division. The Niners had already taken out the defending National Football Conference champion and division rival Arizona Cardinals on the road in addition to both of their other division opponents.

The faithful had better things to focus on than a self-entitled, self-centered prima donna who’d finally relented to gracing the City with his presence on the football field.

Then, the guys got smashed by the Atlanta Falcons and the team headed into its bye week with too many emergency lights flashing for anyone to give much thought to Crabtree. A 45-10 mauling by a good-not-great adversary tends to do that.

With all hands on deck to right the Niner ship, the rookie’s first start—against the Houston Texans coming out of the bye—didn’t play out to a whole lot of hype or fanfare. Followers heard plenty about how many snaps Crabtree would take and that he’d be challenged to prove his opinion of himself immediately, but that was mostly local noise directly from Mike Singletary’s mouth. In other words, the national radar blip was small.

Consequently, there haven’t been too many demands for those in the media who fed at the Crabtree holdout trough to make amends. Well, let me be one of the first to fall on my sword (although it’s infinitely charitable to call me part of “the media”).

In Week Seven against the Texans, the burner caught five of six looks for 56 yards and participated in 48 of 54 offensive snaps. That’s no small accomplishment in your first National Football League action (as far as I can tell). What’s more, the live-and-in-color version was even more impressive than the box score because not all of the catches were easy.

Several times, Crabtree yanked in the back-end of the ball and secured tough offerings. He routinely snatched the pigskin with just his hand, which seems to be the way guys who don’t drop the thing do it.

Most importantly, the speedster gave the 49ers another threat with his athleticism and ability to draw coverage. Placed alongside Frank Gore and a developing game-changer in Vernon Davis, the dynamic receiver probably deserves a good amount of credit for the dramatically different Alex Smith we saw against Houston.

It might not be a momentary aligning of the planets, either.

Alex Smith’s talent has never been the problem—it was always a matter of his confidence and the talent around him. Neither were very good, but an improvement in the latter can quickly raise the former.

It’ll be a tough to tell with a Week Eight assignment against the juggernaut Indianapolis Colts, but we’ve already seen signs of a change.

Which means Michael Crabtree gets his just desserts.

The decision to holdout was and will always be an exercise in stupidity and counterproductive greed, but the kid can play. At least between the sidelines, Michael Crabtree’s arrogance and swagger looks to be plenty justified. It was only a single game, but he looked special.

And ‘special’ heals all wounds.

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Cowboys Beat a Winning Team: Get Ready for the Annual Dallas Deluge

Published: October 27, 2009

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A bygone birdie told me I should write something about the National Football League since America’s Table is on hiatus. I’ve found it’s usually a good idea to listen to such voices.

Plus, the timing is perfect.

In case you haven’t heard, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Atlanta Falcons. If that is news to you, this must be your first foray into the datasphere since the games Sunday because—as is usually the case—the big boys were all over it.

Howie Long at FOX Sports proclaimed it the arrival of the Cowpokes that the so-called experts predicted before the season started. Meanwhile, ESPN’s NFL page leads off with a picture of Miles Austin front and center.

Understand, I’m only making observations, no implicit judgments. In truth, there’s nothing inherently wrong with the hype.

As far as I can tell, everything Long said was totally appropriate. I’m not enough of a jackass to question the football analysis; Hollywood Howie is in Canton and I’ve never taken a snap on an organized gridiron.

Advantage—NFL Hall-of-Famer.

However, there weren’t any wider proclamations of Super Bowl runs based on a single win or other nonsensical bits of hyperbole that so often follow Dallas like a palpable stench—the FOX studio personality merely pointed to a solid victory over a good team and an upcoming soft spot in the schedule.

Seemed totally reasonable.

With regard to ESPN’s adulation of Austin, the dude’s scorched the League for 16 catches, 421 yards, and four touchdowns in his past two games. Only a single fumble and the fact that one of his big games came against the Kansas City Chiefs sully the picture.

When a professional wide receiver averages eight grabs, more than 200 yards, and two scores for any period of time, it’s probably reason for some coverage. Especially when he hasn’t shot anyone, thrown any of his teammates under the bus, played Stepin Fetchit for the television cameras, or demonstrated any of the other tedious traits of several of the most prominent wideouts.

Instead, Miles Austin has been content to simply thrash opposing defenses. Not too bad for an undrafted chump from Monmouth College.

Can you feel the ‘but’ coming?

Look at the Dallas Cowboys’ 2009 resume to date, which boasts a record of 4-2:

Week 1 — a 34-21 win over the 0-7 Buccaneers in Tampa Bay.

Week 2 — a 31-33 loss to the division-rival and 5-2 New York Giants to open the new palace known as Cowboys Stadium.

Week 3 — a 21-7 win over the 2-4 Carolina Panthers for the first W in the new digs, the Panthers have managed wins over Tampa and the abysmal Washington Redskins, Sunday saw them dominated by the mighty Buffalo Bills.

Week 4 — a 10-17 loss to the undefeated and apparently real-deal Broncos in Denver (6-0).

Week 5 — a 26-20 overtime win over the 1-6 Chiefs in Kansas City, their lone win coming against those accommodating Redskins, Sunday saw the Chefs manhandled by the San Diego Chargers.

Week 6 — bye.

Week 7 — the aforementioned 37-21 win over the now 4-2 Falcons in Dallas.

So that’s one good win and three lay-ups (one of which turned into a struggle) to go with two respectable L’s. Not too much to crow about.

Let’s get one more thing on the record. What do the Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers, Falcons, Arizona Cardinals, New England Patriots, Cincinnati Bengals, and Pittsburgh Steelers have in common?

It’s rhetorical—they all have the same number of losses as the Cowboys with at least the same number of victories (the Giants, Pats, Bungles, and Steelers all have five).

The Football Giants are leading the National Football Conference East, which happens to be Dallas’ division, and have dropped two in a row. The Pack has its big date with the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field this week. The Cardinals wrestled the NFC West lead away from the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday by handing the G-Men their second defeat.

Both ‘Nati and the Pattycakes are atop their groupings—the American Football Conferences North and East, respectively.

Based on the Cowboys’ body of work, it’s hard to believe those other squads don’t have a more compelling array of wins and losses.

Furthermore, the Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, and New Orleans Saints are all undefeated. The Vikings are 6-1.

Consequently, the obvious question is, as always, what makes the Dallas Cowboys so freakin’ special?

There seems to be ample reason to focus on any number of organizations that have more impressive 2009 seasons to date. All seem as relevant, if not more so, to the developing playoff picture and several have much bigger storylines in the works.

As I said, the victory over the Atlanta Falcons was important and possibly even a watershed moment for the ‘Pokes.

But the same thing can be said about Arizona’s big W in New York. Or the Saints’ phenomenal comeback against the Miami Dolphins. Or Cinci’s bombing of the Chicago Bears. Or the return of Troy Polamalu spurring Pittsburgh onto triumph… over the previously undefeated Vikings.

Yet it’s always the Star that gets top-billing at the first possible moment.

As Howie Long emphasized, the schedule is about to deliver five eminently winnable games to the Dallas Cowboys’ doorstep. Which means America better be ready for a whole lotta Cowboy coverage.

The clouds are already forming…