Dallas Cowboys 2017 schedule: No need to overreact

While the NFL loves to create hyperbole around things such as the release of the schedule, there is no viable reason to overreact for Dallas Cowboys fans.

We have been aware of who the Dallas Cowboys would be playing for quite some time now. On Thursday, the official schedule was released, revealing the order of the opponents.

Just like everything else, the NFL likes to make a spectacle of things like this.

Is it nice to know almost five months ahead of time when and where the Cowboys will be playing?

Absolutely.

Is it necessary to create such hyperbole about these things before any even knows who will actually be on the roster?

Absolutely not.

Of course, that does not stop the talking heads of whichever 24-hour sports network you happen to choose for your news.

Both the NFL Network and ESPN had multi-hour shows going through each teams schedule and predicting wins and losses. Never mind that no one knows who will actually be available for any of these games. Let’s just make something as simple as a schedule release a reason for speculation.

Former NFL player Heath Evans was playing Carnac The Magnificent for the the NFL Network as he predicts that the Dallas Cowboys will win just eight games.

As for ESPN, their fortune teller for the Cowboys future was played by former players Louis Riddick and Jerome Bettis. They were slightly more kind to the Cowboys, predicting a 9-7 finish.

Ironically, both believe that Dallas will get swept again by the New York Giants. Just for a point of reference, the Cowboys have not lost four straight to New York since a stretch of six consecutive losses from 1988-90.

Those Cowboys won 11 games in three years. These Cowboys won 13 last season.

Those Giants won 35 games from 1988-90 including a Super Bowl. The current version has one season with 10+ wins in the last six years.

Safe to say, a second straight sweep is highly unlikely.

Evans has Dallas losing five of their last six games with their lone win against division rival Washington. This seems like a good time to point out Dallas has just one losing situation like that under head coach Jason Garrett.

You may remember that year. It was the one before last season. You know, that one where Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassel and Kellen Moore all started multiple games for Dallas.

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I’ll just say the only way Dallas loses five out of six in 2017 is if Moore repeats his role as multi-game starter.

As you can see, these types of predictions are foolish. When you’re analyzing the schedule information, there is really just a couple of things that matter.

For one, you want to look at how much rest your opponents get prior to playing your team.

The Dallas Cowboys play two straight games against teams that play on a Thursday before their matchup. They only play one game against a team coming off a bye. Overall, their net total of rest compared to their opponents is zero.

For comparison purposes, division rival New York has a net total of -22. They have four games against teams coming off their bye. The Giants also have more travel miles than any East Coast team with the exception of the Jaguars, who have a home game in London.

Things could be worse for Dallas.

Another thing that matters, especially for a team like Dallas, is when you play your road games. This year, the NFL was so kind as to give the Cowboys three December road games. Two of those games are divisional. For a team that plays in a climate controlled building, weather could be an issue late in the season.

Lastly, if you’re concerned about the Dallas Cowboys “strength of schedule,” don’t be. According to last season’s records, the Cowboys have the tenth most difficult schedule. The reason why that is a mirage is that, again, teams change from year to year.

Dallas has just four games against teams that have back-to-back winning seasons. For the record, only seven franchises have won 9+ games in back-to-back seasons. Now you can see how pointless it is to fret over what opponents did last year.

Oh, and if you disagree with that, then remember that Washington and New York both have “harder” schedules that Dallas. As for the Eagles, their tied with the Cowboys at tenth.

Next: Dallas Cowboys 2017 NFL Draft: Seven Round Mock 11.0

Hopefully, this article was able to put things in to perspective. I cannot think of any viable reason to overreact to release of Dallas Cowboys 2017 schedule.

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