Tag: 2020 NFL Schedule Release

Cowboys primer for 2020 NFL schedule release

Here are a few primers about the 2020 NFL schedule release and what it means for the Dallas Cowboys.

The NFL will release its schedule Thursday night, full of pomp and circumstance with the NFL Network airing a three-hour special to sports starved fans. It’s usually a fun day for fans of the NFL and without anything else going on, the league is making a grand spectacle of its release.

The teams have been given permission to release their schedules themselves, early, and the Dallas Cowboys will do so as well, going live with their own presentation starting at 6:30 p.m. CT on the official team’s website.

Here are some schedule release primers to get you ready for the Dallas Cowboys’ schedule announcement.

Jerry Jones will be front and center

Each of the 32 teams will be represented, at some point, during the NFL Network’s broadcast. After doing their own special, the Cowboys owner and GM will be part of the network’s festivities.

Don’t believe fake social media accounts

There are too many accounts out there “leaking” schedules, don’t believe any of them if they aren’t from reliable sources. You might be on twitter all day looking for updates on the schedule, don’t trust everything you read. Check the names on the accounts too, some people have gotten creative at making the accounts look like the real deal of credible insiders.

Schedule is flexible this season

The NFL is releasing their schedule, but they will have the flexibility to change it if the COVID-19 virus continues to have the country social distancing, or if the season needs to be altered.

We already know Cowboys opponents

We’ve known since the end of the season who the Cowboys opponents will be, we’ll just be getting to the when and where. The Cowboys will play each NFC East rival twice, the entire NFC West and AFC North, along with second places finishers from the other NFC divisions. In this case that means the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings.

It looks like a bit of a tough road for the Cowboys, but we won’t know until the season starts. Trips to Baltimore, Seattle and Minnesota don’t look like fun. Nor does taking on what should be improved Pittsburgh Steelers or Atlanta Falcons teams that are included on the home slate, along with the San Francisco 49ers.

It’s not that big of a deal…

Much is usually made of the schedule release, but it’s not a huge deal. Fans will go over Dallas’ slate with a fine tooth comb, nit-pick and break it all down. Analysts will predict the Cowboys’ record and divvy up wins and loses based on the schedule.

However, the truth is, it’s all just talk to fill up time until the season starts. No one knows what each teams situation will be when the season comes along. It make look like an easy/tough game now, but injuries, suspensions and other factors can come into play by the time the games begin. Losers last year can turn into winners this season; look no further than the 49ers of 2019 to see how quickly fortunes can change. The 49ers looked like an easy win last year, which didn’t turn out to be the case.

…Except that this year, it kind of is a big deal

It may seem like a contradiction. OK, it is, but 2020 is a weird time. With no sports or much else to take our minds off our current situation, the NFL schedule release brings a sense of normalcy to sports fans. It’ll allow a few hours of fun and entertainment at a time where we need the distraction.

The league will take a different schedule path this time around

This makes a lot of sense. If the league has to delay or cancel games, the least important games on the Cowboys’ (or anyone’s) schedule will be out of conference games. In a season that could get shortened by COVID-19, this feels like a logical path.

You can chat with or follow Ben on twitter @BenGrimaldi

The NFL is going to give our sports appetite a serious test with its schedule release show

Are you ready for some football… dates of games being announced?

The NFL announced Monday night that it will be releasing its 2020 regular season schedule on Thursday night, which is great because it’s a sports thing and we don’t have many sports things right now.

But then when I read the announcement more closely I saw that the NFL will be doing this as part of a THREE HOUR schedule release show and I thought, oh boy, that’s a lot of time to dedicate to a schedule being release. Like, way too long of a time for a schedule release if you ask me.

Listen, we’re starving for sports right. Absolutely starving. Every Sunday night millions of us gather around the TV and watch the newest episodes of “The Last Dance” and it’s fun because it feels like a live sports thing. It also helps that the series is spectacular and all the footage and stories are perfect for our starved sports appetites right now.

But three hours on a schedule when we already know the teams that each team is going to play? Three hours breaking down dates and matchups that may or may not happen as planned almost four months from now?

Yeah, that seems like too much.

I should say here that I’m not a NFL schedule release guy. Every year the NFL tries to make this a thing and I just let it pass me by because, again, we know who each team is playing in the upcoming schedule. I can’t get too excited about seeing who the Patriots are playing in November when I’m hanging out in April (when it usually airs) and May. Just doesn’t get my blood flowing. I may glance at it when it comes out but I’m totally content waiting until late August to give it more of a serious look.

Who knows, maybe I’m just still reeling from recently rewatching The Sopranos and feeling empty from not having Tony and the gang in my life anymore. Seriously, all shows, except for The Last Dance, seem beneath me right now after finishing the greatest show to ever air on TV.  I am struuuuuugling over here. Heck, I hit rock bottom the other night by watching “Too Hot To Handle” on Netflix (I’m not proud of myself for that one). Down is up. Left is right over here.

But now we’re in a world where we don’t have a lot of sports in our lives. The NFL is banking on a three-hour show filled with interviews of coaches and whatnot, reacting to dates of games and talking about a season that will likely be very different from any NFL season that we’ve seen before… and I just can’t get into that. Maybe I will when it rolls around Thursday night but right now I’m none too enthused.

Are you excited about this thing? Are you ready to sit down on your couch at 8 p.m. ET, drink some beers, and break down every game and date for the 2020 NFL season?

I wouldn’t blame you if you were ready for this – we all want normality back in our lives.

But three hours for dates of games!?

I don’t know how hungry I am for that.

Monday’s biggest winner: This dad’s reaction to his son’s first home run.

This technically happened a few days ago but it just came to our attention on Monday and we’re in a global pandemic so, like, screw technicalities. This video of a dad going nuts over his son’s first home run is awesome and more of what we need right now.

Quick hits: Sneaking into MSG… Fan collecting Jordan ticket stubs… UFC announcer’s crazy blood story… And more!

– Comedian Gary Vider told an amazing story about how his dad used a brilliant scam to sneak him into Madison Square Garden, which one time led to young Gary interviewing Michael Jordan in the Bulls’ locker room after MJ’s 55-point game. It’s a wild story.

– Speaking of Michael Jordan, the great Kevin Kaduk joined us Monday to share a story about a guy who’s trying to get a ticket stub from every one of Jordan’s games. It’s an awesome story.

– The UFC returns this Saturday night and announcer Jon Anik shared a nasty/awesome story about Tony Ferguson and a blood shower.

– Steven Ruiz breaks out some NFL power rankings and takes a look at how far the Patriots have fallen this offseason.

– ESPN is going to start showing lives games from the Korean Baseball Organization. Here’s what you need to know about that.

– Have you seen Chris Hemsworth’s new Netflix thriller Extraction? Well, here are three fan theories about that ambiguous ending.