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Dallas Cowboys 2009  Preview-  Written By BetOnline.com

The NFL odds makers aren’t quite sure what to make of the Dallas Cowboys. Their Super Bowl odds don’t payout so much since the Cowboys are a public team and everyone likes to bet them, but they haven’t lived up to expectations in the previous few seasons.With Terrell Owens out of town, the outlook has been tempered and with less pressure to perform, the Cowboys could be in line for a surprise Super Bowl run.

Offseason Transactions

The Cowboys had a busy offseason but most of it was cycling out distractions and bringing in good quality leaders. Gone are Owens, Pacman Jones, Roy Williams (the safety), Greg Ellis and Tank Johnson, in are Keith Brooking, Igor Olshansky and Jon Kitna. There is still plenty of talent on this squad and this unit should be tighter knit. The disruptive players are gone.

Offense

While most people will point out that Owens is gone, the truth is that he was more trouble than he was worth. He was a distraction off the field, creating chemistry issues, and on it he distracted the offense from pounding the football on the ground

The Cowboys have a big, road-grading offensive line and two complementary running backs. They also have Jason Witten, a Pro Bowl tight end and Roy Williams, a Pro Bowl-caliber wideout.

Williams has grown significantly in the offseason, hitting the gym and adding bulk – for the first time in his career, allegedly – and has also been working to build chemistry with Romo since February. This offense might have one less weapon but if they are more focused than they were last year, they will be better overall.

Defense

The sportsbetting crowd knows that the Cowboys defense has plenty of talent and a shrewd defensive coach in Wade Phillips, but similarly, they have been underachieving.

The Cowboys added Igor Olshansky and Keith Brooking and Gerald Sensabaugh in the offseason, which adds plenty of experience, toughness and versatility to this unit. Factor in the growth of youngsters like Mike Jenkins and Anthony Spencer, and this defense is now deeper and faster than before. Again, the key on defense will be the lack of pressure to perform this year versus the enormous pressure they faced last year.

Outlook

The Cowboys faced enormous pressure to succeed last year and fell flat on their face. The expectations were high to begin with, then when the Cowboys traded for Roy Williams, the Cowboys were supposed to run away with the NFC.

This year, it’s a completely different story. After missing the playoffs, then losing Owens, there aren’t many people that are picking this team to win the NFC- let alone the division.

But with less weight on their shoulders, the NFL wagering community should look for the Cowboys to have much more fun playing on a weekly basis. This team is still the most talented in the NFC and could very well do it now that they are not the talk of the town

Gridiron Experts Bold Predictions

Picking a Super Bowl match-up now, or even half way through the season is almost impossible (and stupid) but after a week spent in Las Vegas the Grid-X crew thought we’d share a couple of our future bets, along with making a few early predictions on this years 2009 NFL season.

Super Bowl Prediction:

Offensive Rookie of the Year:

Defensive Rookie of the Year:

Most Overrated player:

Deep Fantasy Sleeper

Fastest Team Turnaround

Which team will fall flat on their face.

Biggest Fantasy Letdown

Rank your top 5 Running Backs

Rank your top 5 Quarterbacks

McNabb On Michael Jackson’s Sudden Death – Yardbarker

“Like most of the rest of the world I am devastated by the news of Michael Jackson’s death. Ironically, I am in Los Angeles for a few days between shooting a commercial and attending a teammate’s wedding this weekend.
Those who have followed my career know that I am a huge fan of the King of Pop. After many of my touchdowns, I have moonwalked or mimicked some of his moves – before you get ready to criticize those moves on a post, know that even I understand I couldn’t hold a candle to Michael when it comes to

dancing. My dances were a mere tribute to Michael’s unbelievable ability to entertain.
Many times we are reminded at someone’s death that “there will never be another one like him/her.” In this case, those words couldn’t be more true.
My condolences go out to his children, his immediate family, and his extended family of millions around the world.”

Fantasy Football: Quick Hits- Mike Rodriguez

Julius Jones – RB, Seattle Seahawks

New Seahawks offensive coordinator Greg Knapp recently revealed that he will use a rotation of runners in his backfield this season. = move him even lower on your fantasy board

Kenny Britt – WR, Tennessee Titans

Kenny Britt’s lingering hamstring injury flared up again on Tuesday, and he hasn’t practiced at Titans minicamp since. = A hamstring can stick with a guy from weeks to months…keep an eye on Britt
Brett Favre – QB,
Profootballtalk.com is catching wind of rumors that free agent Brett Favre has bought a home in Minnesota.
T.J. Houshmandzadeh – WR, Seattle Seahawks
T.J. Houshmandzadeh predicts that the Seahawks will make the playoffs this season and that both he and Matt Hasselbeck will make the Pro Bowl. =Don’t believe everything you read, Housh says this kind of stuff every year. It’s one of the bad habits he picked up from  #85
Andre Brown – RB, New York Giants
Giants agreed to terms with fourth-round RB Andre Brown on a four-year contract. =This  guy has some real upside and might become a great sleeper, remember his name.
Juaquin Iglesias – WR, Chicago Bears
Rookie Juaquin Iglesias has reportedly already formed “a strong bond” with Jay Cutler at spring workouts. = So much for our  big sleeper secret, it was way too clear that someone had to step up for Cutler. Keep him in mind as a late tier 2 WR.
Marvin Harrison – WR, Indianapolis Colts
According to Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, there’s “buzz” the Vikings are pursuing free agent Marvin Harrison. =Rumor, I don’t see it
Jerious Norwood – RB, Atlanta Falcons
Offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey says the Falcons will continue to use their version of the Wildcat this season with Jerious Norwood under center. = Could’ve become a real fantasy weapon if the wildcat is called often, but with fantasy stud Matt Ryan under center odds are the Falcons will use the wildcat offense once maybe twice a game.
LenDale White – RB, Tennessee Titans
LenDale White is now down to 229 pounds after playing last season above 260. = Bad news for Chris Johnson owners, Lendale is not happy about being  type-cast as a goal line RB and looks to be trying to slim down for more carries.
Correll Buckhalter – RB, Denver Broncos
Broncos coach Josh McDaniels says Correll Buckhalter “just might be…our fastest back” and praised Buckhalter’s “burst” and “long speed.” = Now McDaniels  figures out how to kiss butt?  Eagle fans are snickering as Buckhalter has never been thought of as a burner. I would avoid Bronco players altogther this year as  a 5-6 win season is in store.
Devin Thomas – WR, Washington Redskins
Devin Thomas overcame his spring hamstring injury to participate fully in OTAs in June.
Cedric Benson – RB, Cincinnati Bengals
Running backs coach Jim Anderson insists Cedric Benson’s attitude and work ethic have been terrific since he signed with the Bengals last season. = Considering what the Bengals are used to, I’m not sure how much of a compliment this is, but Benson does have fantasy value

Gridiron Experts New Affiliate: New ERA

New ERA has a huge selection of hats and apparel, and has a 70 year relationship with Major League Baseball that has developed into fruitful partnerships that include the NBA, NHL, and many major colleges. New Era is the largest sports-licensed headwear company in the world. Looking for a lid that stands out and breaks away from the boring generic hats? New Era will have it.

Pick’em Pool Strategies- Diesel

We all know you’re waiting for the season to start, flipping though magazines, reading pre-pre season fantasy rankings and boring news on whether Favre is coming back. So with little to report, being that this is the lull before training camp, Gridiron Experts has dug up an old article that we think you might enjoy. Before there was fantasy football, one of the most common ways to bet on the NFL was to join a pick’em pool. While both pools Pick’em & Fantasy are very popular now and well known, we find that very little advice is put into the Pick’em side of the things. In comparison, fantasy football is 100 times more complicated, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a strategy when joining these types of pools.


The most important thing to consider when joining pick ‘em type pools is weighing the value of the payouts. Learn the payouts before joining, and always find out if the pub/office takes a cut of the money for running the pool. If you joined a pool with 400 people that each paid $100, you would have a $40,000 pot to divide into the 17 NFL weekly payouts, and (usually) top 5 best overall record prizes at the end of the year.  With a $40,000 pot for prizes, you’d figure the pub would take $5000 to run it, maybe more. If you can find a pool that has all money going back to the players, become a regular every year as many of these types of pools have someone  pinching from the pot.

Strategies:

Go for the Gold
If the weekly payout is only 10 times your investment, I suggest playing very tight and plan for being in the top overall rankings, assuming that it’s not a winner takes all type pool. In the example above, the pub/office is taking a $5000 cut to run the pool, and has weekly payouts that are $1000. Sounds great, but with 400 people in the pool and a huge pot remaining for the top overall prizes. If you can play it safe and let everyone else kill each otheroff  for weekly prizes by taking dumb long shots, the overall record will be easy to take control of . The goal is to get 70-75% of your picks right each week throughout the year. Of course your goal is to win every week, but by counting the amount of games you need to get right to reach 70-75% for each week, it then allows you to take the odd long shot to win the week. This strategy does work, although you need to ignore the overall pool standings until the last 3-4 weeks. Most people see the pool standings and think they need to take long shots to gain ground to get to number 1, that is the wrong strategy, slow and steady definitly wins this race.

Roll the Dice
In this scenario (using the same amount of people and buy-ins), we have a pool with a 15 times payout towards weekly winners. This is a totally different situation; that’s an extra $8500 going towards weekly winners rather than to end of the year payouts. I know it’s only 5 times more per week than the first example, but playing it safe wouldn’t make sense here. Your goal here would be to try to win each and every week. Although when trying to win each week, you need to have a balanced attack when taking long shots and not to go crazy. In every NFL week there are maybe 1-2 real upsets at best; when a team is a 3 point favorite and you call the underdog, that’s not much of an upset. For this you need to become a regular reader to Gridiron Experts, as we give out free betting advice every week- It’s your best bet.