Cowboys Playoff-Bound And FishTip Says 'At Home' Is Good
By Mike Fisher | @fishsports
ARLINGTON (105.3 The Fan) -- The Cowboys entered Sunday with a 3-4 record at AT&T Stadium. Hardly glittering... But also hardly a reason for the skeptics to predict failure -- or, even more silly, for Cowboys fans to think the team's terrific 7-0 road record should mean a preference for playoff away games.
Smart Fan Fans (meaning, pretty much all y'all) know the advantages of playing at home in a postseason, no matter the circumstances that led your team there.
And Dallas' 42-7 dismantling of the visiting Colts at AT&T Stadium on Sunday will give the locals a chance to realize it.
The win pushes the Cowboys to 11-4 — the reverse of the record predicted for them by so many experts, who, in fairness, probably never saw coming the dual MVP candidacy of Tony Romo and DeMarco Murray or the Coach-of-the-Year legitimacy of Jason Garrett.
But this win means a playoff berth (not accomplished here since 2009), an NFC East title and a guarantee of starting the playoffs at home.
"In so many ways, this is such a long journey and to get to a point to achieve your first goal of winning the divisional title, a lot goes into that ," said head coach Jason Garrett after the game. "We've got challenges ahead and we're going to take an unemotional view of it and get ready for that next challenge in Washington next week."
There is more work to do, of course. But I'll do some of the work by repeating the primary "FishTip'' revealed on 105.3 The Fan in the official Cowboys pregame show, in which I noted how regular-season mediocrity at home should not, must not, be a deterrent to desiring another crack in the playoffs.
Since 2000, there have been nine NFL playoff teams with 4-4 or worse home records.
* Six of those nine of teams won their home playoff game.
* Three of those six teams ended up going to the conference title game.
*One of those three teams won the Super Bowl: the 2011 NY Giants, who were 4-4 at home — just like Dallas is now -- but demolished Atlanta 24-2 in the NFC wildcard in their path to winning the Super Bowl.
Dallas' home losses have come with reasons. Or even excuses. But not reason or excuse enough to desire to be anywhere but Arlington in January.
And now, thanks to this overall-glittering season, that's exactly where they will begin their hopes for a trek to a Super Bowl.
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