Hindsight Bias (a psychology term): when, looking back prior to something happening, one "realizes" obvious, crystal clear events and reasons that led to that something happening.

The Cowboys knocked off the best team in the NFL. Shocking! No one saw it coming; but lo! now that this has happened, it's because the Saints have been struggling to win in recent weeks and their mojo is running low on gas.

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So I really like this tool. You get to predict every single matchup and determine what you think will be the playoff picture. I posted this on Blogging the Boys and thought I'd post this from a Jets point of view. Here's my scenario.

Jets to the Playoffs?

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Interesting little toy. You decide the winners/losers of the coming weeks and it shows you what the playoff picture looks like. Here's mine; you can use this link to also create your own:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/playoffscenario?algorithm=custom&13=41510055&14=44014111&15=51000041&16=55041505

Division winners: Philadelphia, Minnesota, New Orleans, Arizona, New England, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, San Diego

Wild cards: Green Bay, Dallas, Baltimore, Denver

In case you're wondering, I put the Cowboys losing to both San Diego and New Orleans, while winning against the Redskins and Eagles. I was wondering if the Cowboys could make the playoffs if they went on a late 3 game losing streak, and they can. What has to happen is that the Giants have to lose 2 games. I had them lose to Philadelphia and Minnesota, which may very well happen. Of course, there are numerous other possible scenarios in the Cowboys playoff tickets (if the Cowboys win 3 of the next 4, they're in good shape, for example, no matter what the Giants do).

I also have both Indianapolis and New Orleans going 16-0, which probably won't happen (New Orleans might) but on paper they can clearly accomplish it, so that's what I went by.

Enjoy! And feel free to post your scenarios!

Wondering who else is sharing my opinion about this. This enraged me the minute it happened. I may be a little sketchy with the numbers, but I'll write it as best as I can remember.

On the way to a scoring drive, we're well into the final two minutes of the first half, Barber has the ball, gets the first down, and has a clear way to the sidelines. He gets out of bounds, the clock stops, new play.

Instead, he turns to his left and keeps going. Fumble. Momentum swing.

Now, I know running out of bounds isn't Marion the Barbarian's style, but really, why waste a time out (though I can't remember if the Cowboys had any left or not, but if they didn't, it was even more of a questionable decision!)? The first down has been had, just run it out of bounds to stop the clock!

Even if Barber usually lowers his head and uses it as a battering ram, I feel taking it out of bounds was just the responsible thing to do!

Yes? No? Maybe?

Guess what?

The Dallas Cowboys are out of excuses/reasons for being a bad football team in December.

In 2008 the team, media, and fans blamed (well, maybe the team tried to hide this) the epic 1-3 December fail on locker room dissonance with clowns like T.O., Pacman Jones, and Tank Johnson causing problems. The mental toughness and testicular fortitude of the team was questioned nonstop over the offseason. So Jerry fired those locker room cancers and created a Romo-friendly offense.

This season, the offense, defense, and special teams are all working together. We've found a new weapon in Miles Austin, and Keith Brooking is a locker room leader who adds a lot of toughness to this bunch.

So we go down the list:

locker room harmony: check

working as a team instead of a series of divas: check

a balanced offense that's still explosive: check

a championship defense: check

mental toughness: double check

I read someone's opinion that last year's group would have lost to the Redskins. I agree. This year's team came back to win 7-6. The mental toughness is there.

Thus, if the Cowboys fail again this December, there's nothing to blame it on this time, and the Cowboys will be left with questions that may never be able to be answered.

Sure we may be able to blame Wade Philips and a lack of a number one receiver for a possible future collapse, but they're both looking pretty good at 8-3.

I actually have more confidence in this group than the 2007 and 2008 Cowboys going into December. This appears to be a mentally tough team that will do well in the last month of the regular season.

If they don't, it's going to be an offseason of not knowing what to fix.

My favorite Cowboys rivalry is the one against the Giants. I love the trash talking, there's almost always great football on both sides and it's just a really fun rivalry to me. When the Cowboys have beaten the Giants in recent years, they whoop them. Remember 2007? We beat them by 10 points and then 11 points in the regular season. The 2nd meeting in 2008? Our 'Boys didn't allow a single touchdown. Even the losses have been relatively close and competitive. With the exception of the (Brad Johnson-led) Cowboys loss in week 9 of 2008, the Cowboys lost to the Giants in the playoffs by 4 points and this year by 2. It's always an event I really enjoy, when the Cowboys and Giants play. Plus, I find Giants fans are usually a pretty classy group, so the whole atmosphere is set up perfectly.

Tony Romo is 4-1.5 (his first start was in the 2nd half against a loss to the Giants in 2006) against the Giants.

That's not how I feel about the Cowboys-Eagles rivalry. The Cowboys in recent years have put up some nice wins against the Eagles (@Philadelphia in '07: 38-17, @Dallas in '08: 41-37). What's frightening is that when the Cowboys have lost to the Eagles, they've bombed. One of the last games of the 2007 season ended with a 10-6 defeat. And then there was the 44-6 debacle this game in December last year where I don't really remember what happened...

Tony Romo is 2-3 against the Philadelphia Eagles, 2-2 when Donovan McNabb has been the quarterback (one loss came against a Jeff Garcia-led Eagles squad).

Not to expose myself as vulnerable to Bleeding Green Nation, but I'm usually more anxious (and angry) than excited when the Cowboys play the Eagles. Unfortunately, the recent losses overshadow the recent wins.

You know what else adds to my anxiety/anger of this rivalry? The Eagles' fanbase. I mean, the BGN members seem ok from my short time here (I'll know more about them after this week), but the general fanbase annoys me since they usually turn on their entire team the second something goes wrong and proclaim Super Bowl the second something goes right. Not to mention Michael Irvin, Santa Clause, etc. That may just be my opinion. But I've known some Eagle fans who are just flat-out DICKS.

Bottom-line: When the Cowboys play the Eagles, I feel uneasy.

How do you all feel when the Cowboys and Eagles play? Responses from both teams' fans are welcome.

P.S. - Eagle fans reading this, I acknowledge that you think Cowboy fans are classless, so please don't flood this FanPost saying so, as I have already made your point for you.

:)

Wow, sorry if this FanPost is a little sloppy.

Mark Sanchez - 22 years old

Leon Washington - 27 years old

David Clowney - 24 years old

Jerricho Cotchery - 27 years old

Braylon Edwards - 26 years old

Dustin Keller - 25 years old

Danny Woodhead - 24 years old

D'Brickashaw Ferguson - 25 years old

Nick Mangold - 24 years old

Vernon Gholston - 23 years old

David Harris - 25 years old

Calvin Pace - 28 years old

Bart Scott - 29 years old

Jim Leonhard - 26 years old

Dwight Lowery - 23 years old

Darrelle Revis - 24 years old

Lito Sheppard - 28 years old

Eric Smith - 26 years old

Donald Strickland - 28 years old

Steve Weatherford - 26 years old

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Think back to 2008 (I know it's hard) and think about the seven games we lost. Ones that pop out instantly are St. Louis, Arizona, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. If the Cowboys had won just one of those games, they would have gone to the playoffs. The kicker of those losses, is of course St. Louis, who won a meager two games last season. 

If the Cowboys had beaten St. Louis, most likely they would have been playoff-bound.

With that in mind, could Kansas City this year have been that crucial game? That game that prevents a win-or-go-home week seventeen? It's interesting to think about if you get my meaning.

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