The Dallas Cowboys have been a great November team over the past few seasons. However, the same isn’t true of the Cowboys in November. Dallas is already 0-1 in the month of December in 2011. They are 7-5 and facing a difficult stretch of the schedule. With three division games remaining, the fate of Dallas is wide open. The Cowboys face the New York Giants in a huge game on December 11. This is a game that the both teams need in a big way. For Dallas, there are some injury concerns as they prepare to face New York. Miles Austin(notes) and DeMarcus Ware(notes) both have health concerns heading into the huge game.

Ware has missed practice this week due to a stinger. He had the injury on December 4 against the Arizona Cardinals but managed to play. There is little reason to think that he won’t play in this game as well. A stinger can vary in terms of seriousness. The real concern is that aggravating it could lead to further injuries. In most cases, a stinger won’t keep a player like Ware out of the game. However, Dallas fans are likely to worry over the fact that he isn’t practicing. Ware is one of the best defensive players in the NFL and is a sack machine for the Cowboys. The team won’t be a strong defensively without him. Dallas should expect him to start but the coming days could change that possibility.

The other injury concern involves Miles Austin. The wide receiver is back at practice and expected to play against the Giants. Of course, the Cowboys thought Austin would be back against the Cardinals. He has missed a total of six games in 2011 with the hamstring injury, including the last four. Dallas has managed to survive with the strong play of Laurent Robinson(notes). But it is clear the team has missed Austin in other areas. With him back on the field, defenses will have to focus on him and that should open up more opportunities for other players.

The Cowboys have injury concerns, but at least they can take a positive outlook on them. At this point, fans should expect both Austin and Ware on the field against the Giants. Of course, those fans would much rather have both players be 100 percent. They might not find that out for sure until game time.

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Playing on Thanksgiving Day every year, the Dallas Cowboys have a slight advantage in the running for the Phil Simms’ All-Iron Award. As long as the Cowboys win the game, one or more of their players will end up with the award. Since its inception in 1998, the Dallas Cowboys have won six All-Iron awards on their CBS games. Take a look back at the top three winners.

Tony Romo(notes)

Tony Romo is the only Dallas Cowboys player to win the All-Iron award twice on Thanksgiving and he nearly won it for a third time in the 2011 game. His first came in 2007 when the Dallas Cowboys dominated the New York Jets 34-3. In the game, Romo threw for two touchdowns among his 195 passing yards. At the time, the Cowboys were going strong with a 10-1 record.

Tony Romo’s second All-Iron award came in the 2009 season when the Cowboys defeated the Raiders 24-7. Once again Romo threw for two touchdowns and had 309 passing yards on the day as he hit targets like Miles Austin(notes) and Jason Witten(notes).

Miles Austin

In 2008 and 2009, Miles Austin proved to be a breakout star and a great replacement for Terrell Owens(notes). He shared the All-Iron victory in 2009 with Tony Romo as ended the game with 7 catches and 145 total yards. It was a not only a turkey feast, but a fantasy football feast for players luckily enough to have Austin or Romo on their team. An injury in 2011 prevented Austin from having a repeat performance.

Dan Bailey(notes)

In the final seconds of the 2011 Thanksgiving Day game, Dallas Cowboys kicker Dan Bailey delivered the game-winning 28 yard field goal. This kick helped cap off a 20-19 victory over the Dolphins and was his second field goal of the day.

After a slow start, Tony Romo managed to get the offense together and drive them up the field to set up field goal position and allow Bailey the chance to get the All-Iron award. His award represents a lot more than just that game though, because he has been a consistent and successful kicker all season for the Cowboys. He gets the field goals when they need him and he is a reliable offensive weapon that proved it further in the 2011 game.

Alan Donahue is a life-long NFL fan. He heavily follows the NFC East Division and has written several articles on the Dallas Cowboys.

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After the Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day win over the Miami Dolphins, I have no problems calling Laurent Robinson(notes) the best wide receiver on the Cowboys’ roster.

Sure, Dez Bryant(notes) is extremely talented and has the ability to break any play and turn it into a big one. However, is he someone who you can look to as a clutch receiver when the chips are down and you need to put points on the board? I don’t think he is. He is more Alvin Harper than Michael Irvin.

However, Robinson is Michael Irvin in my eyes right now. I’m not saying he will end up being as great as Irvin was in his career with Dallas, but if there is anyone on the field that you need to deliver Irvin-styled play, it is Laurent Robinson. Of course, in stating this I am in no way demeaning the talent of Jason Witten(notes) because I am just talking about wide receivers. Witten is Jay Novacek in this comparison.

And DeMarco Murray(notes) is Emmitt Smith.

Yes, I am comparing the Dallas Cowboys’ offense right now to the amazing group of players that won Super Bowls in the ’90s. I’m not saying they are as good as them, but I’m not saying they aren’t close. Murray is a stud in this offense, doing things that no Dallas Cowboys runner has done since Smith was on the field. In some ways, I think Murray is better. However, Emmitt always had a nose for the end zone, something Murray had at Oklahoma but has not developed yet in the NFL.

Witten is better than Novacek and I don’t know of many people who can argue against that opinion.

Dez Bryant is better than Alvin Harper, and whoever else Dallas threw out there alongside Michael Irvin. Romo is not better than Troy Aikman, but he is Top 10 in the NFL right now. That brings me to Irvin.

Miles Austin(notes) has been tabbed the man for a few years now. When Romo was healthy two years ago, Austin exploded with 1,320 yards and 11 touchdowns. When Romo went down in 2010, Austin finished with 1,041 yards and seven touchdowns. He is good, there is no doubt about it. His first two games this year were spectacular.

However, he has been banged up and has only 14 receptions for 170 yards and no touchdowns in four games since that first injury. Now, he is hurt again. Meanwhile, Robinson joined the team in September and had to learn the playbook. In his second game with Dallas, he had 116 yards on seven receptions. He now has 554 yards on the season and has scored seven touchdowns in the last five games. Dallas has a four game winning streak and Robinson scored in all those games.

Robinson was supposed to be a star coming out of college for Atlanta. He was supposed to be a star when St. Louis picked him up. Now, he is in Dallas and he has finally become a star. As of Week 12 of the 2011 NFL season, Robinson is this team’s Michael Irvin and is a big reason they are playing so well.

Author Shawn S. Lealos has followed the Dallas Cowboys since he was a child, his favorite players range from Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett to the Triplets of the 90s. Through the great years of the ’90s and the hard times of the ’80s, Shawn never turned his back on America’s Team.

Source: Dallas Cowboys

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The Philadelphia Eagles renew their rivalry with the Dallas Cowboys on October 30. Philadelphia fans like me have a long, deep hatred of the Cowboys. As a result, there are many players associated with Dallas that we hate more than others. As an Eagles fan, here are five Dallas Cowboys players that I have hated the most over the years.

1. Jerry Jones

The hatred starts with the owner. Jones is the smuggest owner in professional sports. Every time he opened his mouth he sounded like a guy that thought he was better than everyone else. Nothing about Jones irked me more than when he came to the sidelines late in the game when Dallas was leading. He was a little too active for a team owner in my opinion.

2. Michael Irvin

I have never liked Irvin. I didn’t like him in college. I didn’t like him as a member of the Cowboys. I didn’t like him as an analyst. Irvin was one of the original smug wide receivers that helped pave the way for guys like Terrell Owens(notes). Irvin was a fine player but I’m willing to bet that if officials weren’t afraid to call offensive pass interference, Irvin wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good against the Eagles. The one thing I enjoyed was the way Bobby Taylor was somehow always ready to shut down Irvin.

3. Deion Sanders

Sanders wasn’t a career Cowboy, but he was there long enough to hate. Sanders was a great football player but he was another one whose mouth often outweighed his play on the field. Sanders never really dominated the Eagles when they played, but I’m still willing to give him his deserved amount of hate. The fact that he thought he could play both ways was yet another reason to hate him.

4. Emmitt Smith

Smith was another golden era Cowboy that I never liked. I was always so angry that Barry Sanders retired early because he would have crushed Smith’s rushing totals. I can’t think of a game where Emmitt didn’t over-exaggerate an injury so that he could return to the field and look like a hero. The greatest moment as an Eagles fan came when Smith was stuffed on short yardage twice late in a game in 1995.

5. Troy Aikman

I confess that I do like Aikman as an analyst. That said, I hated him as a player. Aikman was a fine quarterback, but I always felt his talent was a little more inflated than what it actually was. It kind of reminds me of the way the media loves Tony Romo(notes), though at least Aikman won something. Still, he was the golden boy of the Dallas teams I hated the most. That’s enough to get him on this list.

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Cowboys Stadium is the home stadium of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, and is located in Arlington, Texas.

Unique Aspects

The largest high-definition video screen in the world hangs above the field and stretches between both 20-yard lines. It literally offers a close-up view of the game from virtually every seat. If you have a club level seat, there’s a chance to see the team up close when they walk through the Field Level Sideline Club on their way to and from the field.

Best Places To Sit

This is most likely the only NFL stadium in the league where the upper level seats have an excellent view of the game, courtesy of the gigantic video screen. Aside from the usual seating options that can be found in all NFL stadiums, Cowboys Stadium offers a party pass ticket. This $29 ticket gets you into the standing-room only party plazas at each end zone. The live view of the game is limited but there are plenty of big-screen televisions and a festival mood to make you feel part of the game day experience.

Food/Concessions

Be sure to try the Frito Pie, a local favorite that involves a bed of fritos smothered in chili and cheese. Outside of that, there’s standard stadium fare for any taste.

What To Wear

The Stadium has a retractable roof, so what to wear entirely depends on whether the roof is going to be open or not. Typically, the Cowboys won’t open the roof if there looks to be any chance of precipitation, so most days you’d be fine with a light jacket at most.

Parking

This site will give you detailed directions from your zip code to a specific pay lot and takes into account special game day lane closures and detours. There is also a bus shuttle operated by Trinity Railway Express called the Cowboys Coach that runs from downtown Fort Worth to Cowboys Stadium. Unfortunately, there isn’t any light-rail access at this time.

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