Why Monday night Wild Card game could be scheduling blessing for Cowboys
By Riley Donald
Week 18 came and went and that is really all that there is to say about that. No more beating a dead horse and focusing on the past. The real season starts now and the Dallas Cowboys are in the playoffs. This was the ultimate goal all along, right? Maybe a higher seed or home game but no one ever said that the playoffs are easy.
The Dallas Cowboys travel to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the finale of Super Wild Card Weekend on Monday Night Football. This game drew primetime coverage and will have the eyes of America on it. It’s America’s team, it’s Tom Brady, it’s all that the NFL could ask for.
And that is why some Cowboys fans are rather upset with the league. There seems to be noise on social media that the NFL is trying to “screw the Cowboys” or plot against them by making them play Monday night. The gripe is that they will be forced to play their divisional round game on a short week. Well, as math may have it, and as I will explain, that can easily be proven mathematically wrong.
Playing Monday night could very well be a blessing for the Cowboys for a multitude of reasons. First things first, let’s look at how it provides great benefits to them this week.
One more day of rest, prep, and game plan to take on Tom Brady is not the NFL hating the Cowboys, but rather a small blessing to prepare their best game plan yet.
The Cowboys played Sunday and will now get the full compliment of seven days before they take the field again. That is an entire extra day to prepare for Tom Brady, to work out some disastrously bad offensive issues, and to enjoy an extra 24 hours to heal any bumps and bruises. Micah Parsons, Jayron Kearse, and Leighton Vander Esch are three key cogs on defense that benefit greatly due to this extra day.
This extra day also allows for defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to prepare for Tom Brady, the best to ever do it. Trust me, this is immensely important. On the flip side, it gives Dak Prescott and the offense one more day to figure things out as there is no more rehearsals. It is go time and there isn’t a “next week” if things go south so this extra day needs to be used to fix the offense.
Let’s dive into the math now. Before we do that, though, griping about a divisional round schedule this early is rather ambitious. The Cowboys can’t worry about their second playoff game unless they win the first.
Mike McCarthy on the #Cowboys facing Tom Brady & the Bucs:
— Hailey Sutton (@_HaileySutton) January 9, 2023
"I think we’ll pay most attention to the fact that we’ve had the opportunity to compete twice against them; we have 0 responsibility or time to worry about what’s happened in the past."
It is absolutely no difference in rest, time, or anything whatsoever should the Cowboys win on Monday night and move on to the divisional round.
Anyhow, with the Cowboys playing Monday night, a win would guarantee them a Sunday divisional round game. That means that they would get six days off. I am no college professor but that per my finger math, that is the exact same amount of time between a team playing this Sunday and then playing in the Saturday divisional round game.
Believe it or not, the NFL is not conspiring against the Cowboys by giving them less potential rest time.
As stated, none of this will matter if they can’t take down Tom Brady, who maintains a perfect 7-0 record against Dallas. The extra day of rest, prep, and gearing up for the opening playoff game seems well worth the trade off that is… getting the exact same rest every other team would get in the next round.
One extra day to prep, game plan, and work out glaring issues on offense is no conspiracy by the league to screw Dallas but rather a hidden blessing in disguise as Dallas tries to make a deep playoff run.
