NFL Schedule-Maker Admits Different Treatment for Dallas Cowboys
FRISCO - It's a Quarterback League.
So when the NFL schedule-maker labors to figure out the 2022 matchups - the who's who part of it - he admits to "always looking at'' where to place the marquee QBs in order to give the viewer (and the league's coffers) the most bang for the buck.
But there is something more that goes on behind closed doors, at revealed recently by the league VP in charge of such things.
The "always looking at'' concept also, in terms of his top-of-mind mention, also includes your Dallas Cowboys.
“One of the first things we looked at was, where are we going to play?” Onnie Bose said during a conference call. “You’re always looking at, ‘Where’s Aaron Rodgers? Tom Brady? The Dallas Cowboys?''
Bose when on to note, "And this year, it’s ‘Where’s Joe Burrow, where’s Josh Allen gonna play?"
The idea of "where to place'' the Packers' Rodgers and the Bucs' Brady? That's an annual event. The inclusion of the Bengals' Burrow and the Bills' Allen? That represents a new movement. And so does Bose's mention of other highlight matchup heavily considered by the 2022 schedule-makers.
"I think we talked about this a little bit, right, that the Rams have great opponents," Bose said. "It could have been the Broncos, it could have been the 49ers in a championship game rematch, it could have been the Cowboys."
Ah, yes. The Cowboys. Again.
"Rams vs.'' the Broncos or the Niners? That's a this-year thing and a nod to Los Angeles having won the Super Bowl. But Bose, in his media conversation, twice brings up the Dallas Cowboys.
Once because the Cowboys are on the Rams schedule.
And again because the Cowboys are the Cowboys.
In the end, the NFL schedule features the Cowboys opening at home against Brady's Bucs - and now that you hear Bose's remarks, you recognize how purposeful that is. Meanwhile, the Cowboys have five prime-time games. That no accident, either.
But Bose's point here, regarding the idea of "marquee matchups,'' is about Dallas being transcendent. QBs such as Russell Wilson (now in Denver) and Matthew Stafford (of the Rams) and Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs) and Lamar Jackson (Ravens) and others are part of the schedule-maker's equation.
And Bose mentions a lot of those individuals in this "Quarterback League.''
But he really mentions only one team as "deserving'' of being an annual centerpiece of the NFL's "You're Always Looking At'' formula.
And it's not the Super Bowl champs. And it's not the QBs, as they come and go. It's owner Jerry Jones' $10 billon worth of "Bad News 'Boys.'' This year. Every year. Transcendent not as perennial Super Bowl champs, obviously, but transcendent nevertheless, in a way that forces this "Quarterback League'' into also existing as "The Dallas Cowboys League.''
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