First Impressions of 2009 Dallas Cowboys Schedule

I'm not one of those people who likes to look at the schedule and immediately predict a win/loss record based on the layout of the games. At this point in the offseason there are just too many unknowns about the upcoming season. The final roster is months from being determined, so any record projections you see thrown out by members of the media are basically blind guesses. What I do like to do is look at any oddities in the schedule that may impact the team. Here is a link if you haven't already seen it. 2009 Cowboys Schedule

As usual, the nationally televised games pop up all over the schedule. Week 2 and 3 start things off with a home Sunday night game against the Giants followed by a home Monday night game against the Panthers. The Cowboys are at the Eagles for week 9 on Sunday night. Then the annual Thanksgiving game has the Raiders visiting the Cowboys. Weeks 15 is an NFL Network Saturday night matchup against the Saints. And wrapping up the nationally televised games is week 16 on Sunday night against the Redskins. That last game will be subject to change based on NBC's flex scheduling agreement with the NFL but I wouldn't expect a change unless either one or both of the teams unexpectedly falls on their faces next season.

So the Cowboys will be in the spotlight again in 2009 which is a good thing because it means that they are still expected to draw a big audience. That happens when your team is expected to be a winner and when the team is high profile as the Cowboys have always been. Two of the last three games are on the road which won't help the team in their quest to finish strong in December. And they get another chance to redeem themselves in a season finale against the Eagles at home. I can already envision that game being a high stakes season finale similar to last season. Four of the last eight games are division games for Dallas. Things should get interesting in the second half of the season within the division.