Sunday Night Lights: The Dallas Cowboys and The New York Jets

Take a trip down memory lane as our new writer, Nathan Maxfield, puts tonight’s game into perspective. Enjoy! – SM

With the Cowboy’s season kicking off tonight, I can’t help but reminisce about my childhood and the days of watching the games with my father. I lived in a Cowboy’s household. My father lived and breathed with every Cowboy win and loss. Now, later in life, he doesn’t take things as seriously. But back then, on game-days my father’s mood could easily be determined by whether or not the Cowboys won or lost. With a win, you were guaranteed laughter and smiles.  With a loss however, you were better off just playing outside or up in your room. It was just better to avoid the foul mood that a Cowboy’s loss would instill into my dear old dad.

I am not sure I know anyone who takes the games so seriously these days. I don’t know if that is from exposure, free agency causing constant team turnover or perhaps even the popularity of fantasy football. That isn’t to say that people aren’t excited – one look at my Facebook and Twitter feed tells me otherwise. I just wonder if fans care a little less about their teams than those from 25 years ago. People tend to move on quicker, just watch the next game or get prepared for the following week.

Nonetheless, tonight another NFL season begins for the Dallas Cowboys. As if there isn’t enough pageantry and pressure involved in the game just due to it being the first game of the year, add in the fact that it’s the Sunday Night Football game. And  that it’s on NBC. And it’s the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in New York.  You may just have the most pressure filled game of the weekend. I honestly don’t think any other comes close.

I can see this game going two ways. First, I can see the New York JETS feeding on the emotion and frenzy. I can see them beating up the Dallas Cowboys to the point where the game is over before the 4th quarter. Secondly, I can see the emotion and frenzy being too much for the JETS to handle. And the Cowboys take advantage of it and pull off a win in the closing minutes.  No matter how I look at it, I just don’t see the Cowboys winning big on the road. I feel, with a healthy Tony Romo, the Cowboy’s offense is superior to the JETS offense. But I worry about the Cowboy’s defense and the JETS superiority in that aspect of the game.

Of course, it is week one of the NFL season. And I know better than to be shocked by much of anything that happens in today’s NFL. We all know that the league is ripe for upsets. And rarely do you see more than you do in the opening weekend of football.

One thing to remember, amid all the 9/11 remembrance, amid all the live performances and with the pressure of being one of only two teams playing on Sunday Night Football is this – this is a game that your father loved. If you were like me, then this is a game and a team that made or broke his mood for an entire afternoon or evening. Take that emotion, your own football Sunday memories and the optimism of a brand new season and enjoy the game tonight. There is simply none other like it!