Season Opener is here: Cowboys vs. Giants Preview

The day we've all been waiting for has finally arrived, the 2012 NFL season opener. The defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants will host its fierce NFC East rivals in the Dallas Cowboys. Perfect matchup to kick the season off with.

Yes, I know I know. I have yet to post my final season preview (decked out with division outlooks, playoff/SB predictions and regular season awards, etc.), but I can assure you those will be on the way tomorrow. Unfortunately I've been a bit caught up with the second week of classes, but thanks to just one morning class tomorrow I will have all Thursday afternoon to touch up my final predictions and post them.

But for now, I'll give you a full preview of tonight's matchup, which is set to kick-off at 8:30 pm ET on NBC. Pre-game coverage includes Football Night in America and musical performances by Mariah Carey and No Doubt.

Eli vs. Romo

New York's Manning backed up his 2011 offseason "elite" talk by capturing his second Super Bowl championship in the last four seasons, both against the New England Patriots. His postseason success, in my opinion, has allowed him to surpass his older brother Peyton in that category. For now, anyways.

Romo, on the other hand, is looking at what I would think as a "do or die" season. Romo has had great regular season success and is, in fact, currently second on the all-time passer rating list (96.9) just behind none other than the reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers.

There's no doubt (ha, get it?!) that Romo's regular season success has been there–47-30 record as starter–but in the postseason Romo is a different quarterback. And not in a good way. He's taken Dallas to the playoffs on three separate occasions, but has posted a 1-3 record and, due to not coming up in the clutch, Romo has been labeled by some as an overrated quarterback.

I think Romo is a great quarterback, and I can back that up, but he will need to prove it by taking the 'Boys back to the postseason and stepping his game up a couple of levels this season.

Recently Manning has owned Romo and his Cowboys, winning both division match-ups late last season and he has the targets to continue that streak again tonight.

Defense

Both sides have playmakers (Ware in Dallas; Tuck, JPP and Umenyiora in New York), but New York's front seven, which appears to be fully healthy, will be putting the pressure on Tony tonight. If they can shut down DeMarco Murray early it will force Romo to make some big plays and turn the 'Boys one-dimensional, which they appeared to be for most of last season anyways.

Coaching

Tom Coughlin has demonstrated his ability to keep a squad together in two of the last four seasons, keeping a struggling Giants franchise together for a full 17 weeks, plus postseason. I'd take the proven, experienced Coughlin over the inexperienced Jason Garrett (13-11 coaching record in two seasons at the helm for Dallas) any day of the week.

Fantasy Update

Who to start:

Eli Manning--if he's your primary quarterback, of course. If he's your backup, clearly you should keep him on your bench if you have a top five guy such as Brady, Rodgers or Brees. Duh.

Tony Romo--whether Dallas wins or loses (I'm expecting a NYG victory), Romo will rack up some points. New York's front seven will undoubtably knock him on his backside five to six times (at least), but the yards and a couple of touchdowns will still be there.

Victor Cruz--Cruz will be just fine. For those wondering if he'll have an off year just because he's coming off his break-out season, you're only going to end up looking silly. Of all the Giants players, I feel as though Cruz is most excited for 2012.

Dez Bryant/Miles Austin--Romo's numbers will be there, meaning his two top targets in Austin and Bryant will have big nights. I'm not completely sold on Bryant this season yet, and they are both listed as probable for tonight. But I don't expect them to be effected by their respective injuries, and we could see both as 100-yard receivers tonight with a TD catch each.

Who to sit:

Ahmad Bradshaw--he's listed as probable (hand) and will likely start for New York tonight at RB, but I'm not expecting him to have a huge game. If he's your third back, I'd probably take a chance on him, but I'm just waiting for Manning to come out gunning and Bradshaw to see limited carries with a low effect on Dallas' run defense.

Jason Witten--clearly this is an injury issue. Though he's a game-time decision (spleen), he's last been listed as doubtful and I expect him not to play just in case he isn't fully recovered quite yet. Witten is a no-no at TE this week.

Final take

This will be a close game down to the wire, but New York will prevail in the first official game of the season. Cruz will get to do his salsa dance on two separate occasions as New York captures a thriller at home, 28-17.

Just an fyi: I will be posting my complete Week 1 game picks in the next couple of days (probably Friday or Saturday, after my season preview of course). They will also be available for viewing in the "Game Picks" tab at the top of the page as the season progresses

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True or False: "Window of Opportunity Closing" in Dallas?

On Tuesday, during the owners meetings in Atlanta, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones claimed in an interview that he believes his team's window of opportunity (to win a Super Bowl) is closing.

He stated that his players are in the prime of their careers and will need to start winning soon.

Now, is it just me, or is that complete B.S.??

Has he lost his mind, or has he just lost all confidence in his team's ability?

I mean, yeah, sure, Dallas has struggled over the past several seasons, winning just one postseason game during the Tony Romo-era (1-4 in four postseasons since 2003) and posting a combined 14-18 record over the last two regular seasons.

But if anything, Mr. Jones should be excited about the coming season and have nothing but hope and positive vibes coming from the Dallas front office. Five of eight losses in 2011 were by six points or less, and had they posted a better division record (2-4) they could have easily found themselves atop the NFC East and in the postseason this past season.

Tony Romo was back to his elite form for a majority of the season in addition to a fantastic rookie performance from the third round pick DeMarco Murray before he went down with a season-ending injury in a Week 14 matchup with the Giants. With his 164 carries, the 24-year old Murray accumulated 897 rushing yards and two TDs, allowing the offense to be two-dimensional.

Romo, 32, and wideouts Miles Austin, 27, and Dez Bryant, 23 are in the prime of their careers right now. Well, technically Bryant's is just taking off, finishing his second professional season with a 928 yard-9 TD season in 2011. Tight end Jason Witten (79 receptions, 942 yards, 5 TD) continues to be one of the top receiving tight ends in the game.

On offense, Dallas will be just fine. I really don't see them having too much trouble keeping up with the offenses in the East, including defending champion New York Giants. As long as Romo limits his mistakes, we could see a high-flying/scoring offense in Dallas this season.

As for the defensive unit, the front office designated linebacker Anthony Spencer as the franchise player, locking him up for at least another season after his 51 tackle, 6.0 sack season. All Pro linebacker DeMarcus Ware completed his sixth consecutive double-digit sack season (19.5 in 16 games), further proving why he's the top pass rusher in the game.

When you add the highly underrated inside linebacker Sean Lee in to the mix, you get one of the most dangerous linebacking corps in the league. Lee, 25, led the team with 69 solo tackles and four interceptions this past season.

Jay Ratliff anchors a defensive line that ranked seventh against the run last season, allowing 4.1 yards per carry and under 100 yards a game.

It was the secondary that gave Dallas a hard time in its 2011 campaign, but the front office did what they could to address that issue so far this offseason. The aging, inconsistent cornerback Terence Newman was released on March 13 (later to be signed by Cincinnati) and will be replaced with sixth overall draft pick in April, Morris Claiborne, out of LSU.

Claiborne will make an immediate impact and hopefully assist a defense that ranked in the bottom half in forced turnovers last season.

In all, Dallas has plenty of youth on its roster to compete not just this season, but in the next 4-5 seasons. Why Jerry Jones felt the need to publicly announce his skepticism, and possibly add unneeded pressure to his squad, is beyond me.

If one thing's for certain, it's that there will be no shortage in drama (once again) for the Dallas Cowboys this season. Drama seems to follow Mr. Jones every where he goes. Personally, I think he secretly enjoys creating it.

Answer to the question: No, Jerry!

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Pro Bowl Rosters Announced: Who was Snubbed?

The same thing happens each and every year. The rosters are announced and there's an uproar about players who get left off the rosters and players who shouldn't have been named to the roster in the first place.

It's unavoidable. So many people have differing opinions, not to mention there are often more superb and deserving players than there are roster spots. In fact, I think that's the problem every year. Not that undeserving players made the cut, but that there aren't enough spots to honor every player that had a great season.

But, either way I'm going to be discussing the players that I think should have made it over the players that I don't think should have been honored. Sorry, but that's just the way I'm running things around here. I guess you could say I have so much fun doing this. So here we go!

First off, I would like to congratulate the 49ers and Patriots who are sending eight players to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii (Ravens and Packers each sending seven), and the two rookies named to the first team–Cincy WR A.J. Green and Denver LB Von Miller. Congrats to Hall of Fame-bound Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis for joining an elite group as top 10 players with most Pro Bowl selections (his 12th career selection).

One more congratulations goes out to New York Giants' defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul for making it on the roster in his second career year. Even more impressive may be the fact that he made it despite not being on the fan ballot (which counts for 33% of the vote). Nicely done, Mr. Pierre-Paul.

But not all his well in the world of the NFL's Pro Bowl talk. This year the NFC has had a great group of linebackers (insider/middle to be more specific) and only so many roster spots. But with several deserving players that aren't necessarily all that well-known, it looks like the Pro Bowl continues to be more of a popularity contest–just like any other All-Star game in professional sports.

San Fran's NaVorro Bowman, St. Louis' James Laurinaitis and Green Bay's Desmond Bishop were all borderline Pro Bowlers, but names such as Patrick Willis and Brian Urlacher received the edge, simply because of their name, in my opinion.

Another unfortunate act was that Detroit's emerging star, quarterback Matthew Stafford (4,518 yards, 36 TDs, 96.6 QBR) was left off the roster. Dallas' Tony Romo (3,895 yards, 29 TDs, 102.2 QBR) was as well, but this wasn't the fault of voters, it was due to the simple fact that many have over-performed but not everyone can be honored. Despite great statistical seasons they were simply outplayed and outproduced by Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Eli Manning. Although I would have taken Stafford over Manning. But I wont get in to all of that right now.

However, I don't believe that Victor Cruz, one of Manning's targets in New York, was outperformed by NFC WRs Steve Smith, Larry Fitzgerald and Greg Jennings. Cruz, one of my candidates for Breakout Player of the Year, was third among receivers in yards (1,358 on 76 receptions), tied for ninth with eight receiving TDs and averaged 17.9 yards a catch. His YPC number is better than Larry Fitzgerald's, Roddy White's and tied with Steve Smith's. Another receiver who could've been considered as well is GB's Jordy Nelson, who caught 12 TDs and put up an 18.7 YPC average.

I could go on all day with these snubs, but biggest of them all, may be Washington's linebacker London Fletcher. Fletcher leads the NFL in combined tackles (solo and assists combined) with 163. Of course there were several others that were playing at his level or beyond, but what gets me is that he's been a consistent producer his entire 14-year career (1,239 tackles, 34.5 sacks, 18 INTs, 17 FF, 3 defensive TDs with Bills, Rams and Skins) yet has been named to just two career Pro Bowls, as an injured reserve.

It baffles me. The man has played 11 straight complete seasons, not missing a single game due to injury, or anything, since his rookie season with St. Louis in 1998. He was 23 and he started just one game because he wasn't the team's starter. He's the epitome of success and production.

All the other snubs in this year's Pro Bowl aren't comparable to a career full of snubs in Washington's Fletcher. Of course the Skins fans are currently in an uproar, but despite the notion that may lead one to believe they are complaining for the fact that not a single Redskins has been named to the NFC roster, you really can't blame them for being upset. He's been overlooked quite often in his rock-solid career.

It was just recent when Fletcher was finally recognized for his consistency (named to Pro Bowl roster in '09 and '10). Before then, nada. But, don't worry, Fletcher. You have the support from at least one other talking head that isn't a Redskins fan: me. Keep doing your thing out there, I'm sure your fans in D.C. will still love you regardless.

To avoid blabbering on and on I will simply list a couple more of my snubs below, and if any cares to further expand on them I will gladly do so in the comment section. This topic can get a bit heated, and could go on and on and on...

Additional:

AFC: Reggie Bush/MIA RB, Aaron Hernandez/NE TE/H-back, Brian Cushing/HOU ILB, D'Qwell Jackson/CLE ILB, Brandon Flowers/KC CB

NFC: Matt Ryan/ATL QB, Marshawn Lynch/SEA RB, Steve Hutchinson/MIN G, Ndamukong Suh/DET DT, Sean Witherspoon/ATL ILB

Note: Some of these so-called snubs could still be called on by the league to fill in for a player who drops out of the game due to injury, or some other reason. So there's still hope!

Another note: Don't forget that all of these stats and numbers don't include the entire season, because this debate is taking place with one weekend of regular season games still to be played.

Photo credit

Victor Cruz: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

London Fletcher: Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images