Why are the Cowboys wins considered "real" and the Saints aren't (1 Viewer)

[Ti Rider]

The Cowboys schedule -

9/10 @ Jacksonville L 24-17
9/17 Washington W 27-10
9/24 BYE
10/1 @ Tennessee W 45-14
10/8 @ Philadelphia L 38-24
10/15 Houston W 34-6
10/23 NY Giants L 36-22
10/29 @ Carolina W 35-14
11/5 @ Washington L 22-19
11/12 @ Arizona W 27-10
11/19 Indianapolis W 21-14
11/23 Tampa Bay W 38-10
12/3 @ NY Giants W 23-20

The sportsmedia knocks the Saints for beating garbage teams. Ummmm....besides their win against the Colts I see a team that's piled up wins against "garbage" teams. Make no mistake I think the Cowboys are a good team and will be playing a depleted Saints teams so they have the advantage this meeting. Someone explain to me why the Saints reocrd isn't as "real' as the Cowboys.....

 

[SaintSpyNDallas]

It's all based on the team's prior history. Since the Cowboys have Superbowls and the Saints have a terrible past, that's how it is viewed. We need to get ourselves a Superbowl to be "real". I realize that's not fair, but that's how people view it.

 

[bradman1965]

Seems to me that "real" is relative. Look at the Giants. Not "Real" for 3 or 4 games at the beginning of the year, "Real" for middle 5, not "Real" last 4.

In the words of Associate Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart,
"I know it when I see it"

and I think right now the Cowboys are "real". I think the Saints are "real" also, but it's harder to quantify with the Saints. If I was an outside observer of the Saints I'd think that at some point the defense becomes the Saints undoing. It hasn't to this point, but that's what "they" are waiting for. Makes sense to me.

 

[SuperSaintJohn69]

Don't you know. They beat the Cardinals, and we haven't played them, thus the real record.. :_rofl:

 

[BoNcHiE]

Its the dumbest logic I've ever seen that the media is using.

We beat Atlanta when noone though they were beatable. We beat the Eagles when they were 5-1 and torching people. Seems like those are "quality" to me.

If not for us the Eagles and Atlanta would both have winning records, so wheres the logic there?

 

[DCTransplant]

The Cowboys schedule -

9/10 @ Jacksonville L 24-17
9/17 Washington W 27-10
9/24 BYE
10/1 @ Tennessee W 45-14
10/8 @ Philadelphia L 38-24
10/15 Houston W 34-6
10/23 NY Giants L 36-22
10/29 @ Carolina W 35-14
11/5 @ Washington L 22-19
11/12 @ Arizona W 27-10
11/19 Indianapolis W 21-14
11/23 Tampa Bay W 38-10
12/3 @ NY Giants W 23-20

The sportsmedia knocks the Saints for beating garbage teams. Ummmm....besides their win against the Colts I see a team that's piled up wins against "garbage" teams. Make no mistake I think the Cowboys are a good team and will be playing a depleted Saints teams so they have the advantage this meeting. Someone explain to me why the Saints reocrd isn't as "real' as the Cowboys.....

I think it's because the Saints were so bad last year, and all of the media picked them to be bad this year, while everyone expected the Cowboys to be a playoff contender, so if the Saints are doing well, it has to be a fluke! But if the Cowboys are doing well, it's because they're such a good team....

I find it funny how the media has projected the NFC race...

It started with Chicago being the favorite... they were so good that it was predicted they would be undefeated. Meanwhile, The Saints were a nice story but they would come back down to Earth soon.

Then Grossman started playing awful and the Bears lost a game, and the Cowboys lost that ugly game to the Giants, and they switched to Romo, and the Giants became everyone's favorite... Meanwhile, The Saints continued to be a nice story ready to come back to Earth.

Then the Giants lost 4 in a row, Romo became a media darling, and the Cowboys beat the Colts, so now the Cowboys are the favorite... Meanwhile, no one pays attention to the Saints.

This is the game that would change opinions... If we can beat the Cowboys in Dallas, I think the media will jump on the bandwagon... Then we will hear how, at 9-4, The Saints are finally legit or "for real". But if we lose, it will be more of the same.

 

[bradman1965]

I also think there is a subtle distinction between being a good team and being a championship caliber team and you need to draw that distinction when you define "real". At this time of the year when you start to analyze who's left with a good shot to make the superbowl it becomes more about your flaws then your strengths.

Beyond a few bozos, I don't think you get a lot of analysts who feel the Saints are not a good team. What you get are people looking at the flaws of the remaining playoff bound teams and I think they see 2 things. A potentially suspect defense and an untested team as far as whether they could look a championship in the eye and not flinch.

There is nothing you can do about the defense and I think they'll hold up just fine like they've done all year. What I'd like to see, is to have a Saints team that finally has a challenge, meets it head on and emerges successfully. That's when you learn a lot about a team. If you lose because your over matched athletically that's one thing, but it's entirely another if you run scared into the corner. And unfortunately that's been the Saints mo historically. Time to change that.

 

[MamaRoux]

I agree with your whole premise! No one should judge this team by last year's standards or else you're going to get your butt whipped and handed to you! Thank You Very Much!

One thing I do KNOW, beyond a shadow of any doubt, THIS team WILL show up and it will make it'self accountable, putting forth a valient effort and loaded with young talent mixed in with veteran leadership. Do you actually think DEUCE will lay down? Reggie will somehow lose a step? Drew will come unglued over the dallas image? Coach Payton will have a meltdown on the sidelines due to parcells' mojo over him? Our Defense will NOT get after Romo-The HOMO-sapien? NO! NONE of THAT will happen! Now dallas may be too full of themselves and THINK they have this thing locked up! THAT is more likely to happen than the SAINTS imploding, IMHO!


Hey daaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssss!

The SAINTS ARE COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AlbertaSaintsFan]

It's cause they have Tony Romo, and he is the second coming. Testify.

 

[PeteNBroussard]

Although I think that we will win going into Dallas, it should be noted that even a loss; under the right conditions will validate the current Saints team as "real".

Think back to the Patriots/Panthers SuperBowl. After Jake turned in on in the second half, it was a game between two evenly matched rivals and the Patriots won only because they held the ball last. And then, they won only by a field goal with time running out.

A well played game where the teams duke it out, mistakes are created but are not of the "unforced" kind, even if it ends in a Saints loss, will definitely mark the team as able to go in and take their licking and keep on ticking.

 

[ACCOUNTNOLONGERINUSE]

I think it's because the Saints were so bad last year, and all of the media picked them to be bad this year, while everyone expected the Cowboys to be a playoff contender, so if the Saints are doing well, it has to be a fluke! But if the Cowboys are doing well, it's because they're such a good team....

I find it funny how the media has projected the NFC race...

It started with Chicago being the favorite... they were so good that it was predicted they would be undefeated. Meanwhile, The Saints were a nice story but they would come back down to Earth soon.

Then Grossman started playing awful and the Bears lost a game, and the Cowboys lost that ugly game to the Giants, and they switched to Romo, and the Giants became everyone's favorite... Meanwhile, The Saints continued to be a nice story ready to come back to Earth.

Then the Giants lost 4 in a row, Romo became a media darling, and the Cowboys beat the Colts, so now the Cowboys are the favorite... Meanwhile, no one pays attention to the Saints.

This is the game that would change opinions... If we can beat the Cowboys in Dallas, I think the media will jump on the bandwagon... Then we will hear how, at 9-4, The Saints are finally legit or "for real". But if we lose, it will be more of the same.

You are absolutely right!! Great post.

 

[State Of Affairs]

Guys it's simple.... It's all opinion, and you base your opinion on how you feel and the Saints don't have a history that breeds confidence. People/media are not confident in the Saints thus they punch holes in our ship. We build a winning tradition over then next few seasons and the Saints will be viewed better.

 

[estrabd]

I guess this shows how infectious the way college football does things is. People try to take a truly objective system (i.e., the NFL), and look for hidden meaning behind the subjective junk that makes up college football's system. On the other side, we clamor for a more objective college system. What gives?

My point is that I don't listen to all this talk about quality wins and who is better based on them. If you want to see how good a team is, look at the facts and do not try to extrapolate. The Saints and Dallas have the same records. Their stats are nearly the same. So, for me my heart is with the Saints, but for all intensive purposes we could just flip a coin.

As to why do people say the Saints are not "real" because of team history yet the Cowboys are? It is illogical and a waste of time to worry about that. Surely there are "cultures" associated with each team, but Dallas' culture that made it "America's Team" is dead. It is now a function of Parcells and the media machine.

Likewise, the culture of the Saints has traditionally been bad. It takes a lot to over come such baggage, but I think that it is relatively easy to over come cultures of mediocrity with the right people. The Saints seem to have the right people there to create a winning attitude and negate effects of the past. For all intensive purposes, the old Saints drowned with Katrina and the blood letting that ensued. If we are to ever have a culture of winning, now is the time, and I think it is happening.

Could the "same old Saints" make a comeback? Of course - I think it has a lot to do with the culture of NO in general. However, if any team is UNLIKE a typical Saints team, the 2006 team is it.

So, rest assured that any attempts to judge who is better (NO or Dallas) will utterly fail if one uses history in the equations. It is that simple, and that is how I sleep peacefully at night.

 

[Great Dane]

I think the fact the Cowboys beat the undefeated Colts got them some credit. If you look at it they have beaten some pretty bad teams and at times they were playing bad. We lost to so-so teams (Steelers, Panthers) but when they played well.

We are still underdogs. Just face it and hope for the best. Our guys will stay competitive throughout. It will be how the ball bounces that decides how far we go!