A new year

With the Cowboys hosting a wild-card game on Saturday night, I want to point out something I haven't seen elsewhere. (No, I haven't looked everywhere.)
In Dallas's 16 regular-season games, 12 have been decided by a touchdown (8 points) or less. That included six of eight home games. Coincidentally, three of the Cowboys' four preseason games were decided by a touchdown or less.
So you should expect a close game against the Seahawks, who beat Dallas in Seattle during the regular season -- even though the Seahawks won that one by 11 points.
In the 24-13 win in Week 3, Seattle never trailed and had the game all but won with a 17-3 halftime lead. Each team had a 100-yard rusher who went on to a thousand-yard season: NFL leader Ezekiel Elliott of Dallas, and No. 5 rusher Chris Carson of Seattle. Neither quarterback, the Cowboys' Dak Prescott or the Hawks' Russell Wilson, reached 200 passing yards.
If you're in a playoff fantasy league, you could do better at QB, but both RBs above and Seattle TD machine Tyler Lockett would be good picks. Amari Cooper, a difference maker for Dallas, is coming off of three mediocre weeks so he represents higher risk but also higher potential reward.

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Before Saturday night's game, I'll be at the Stars' games Wednesday and Friday -- provided that landing at DFW isn't prohibited by icy weather in north Texas.
It will be my first chance to observe Dallas stars Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin since team official Jim Lites's rant about their performance in the season's first half, which ends with Wednesday's game against the Devils.
When I read about that, I was reminded of a conversation in the elevator from the post-game media session to the press box after the Dec. 23 game. My point was that with similar results under three coaches in the last three seasons, one constant has been the players. It seems unlikely that missing the playoffs this season would cost rookie Stars coach Jim Montgomery his job, but it's not a good sign for general manager Jim Nill that higher-ups in the organization have reached down to call out the players.

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Resolutions:
I want to get up from watching bowl games to begin a year of daily walking. ✔️
And I want to sit down to write blog posts every day when I have something to say. ✔️