More Dirty Math

(Maybe this is the cough syrup talking, but I'm content to back this one up.)

Jacksonville Jaguars = Dallas Cowboys.

Except they don't. Or, I should say, it may not seem so by examining the parts separately. In aggregate, however, they become the AFC/NFC flip sides of same coin.

Like 1 + 1 = 4 / 2. Different ways at arriving at the same sum. But the same sum nonetheless.

Jaguars running back Fred Taylor said it best: "It's almost Super Bowl or bust." And if you don't believe the Cowboys are weighted with the same burden, then you don't know your Jerry Jones.

Sure, there are other teams with the big goal, with the big talent to conceivably hoist the Lombardi trophy in February. But can you find any team in their respective conferences with so much to prove and so little accomplished? They aren't the Patriots, Colts, or Steelers. Nor are they the Eagles, Seahawks, or Giants.

Last week, I rolled out my own errant version of an NFL season preview. Ideas will change as the preseason wraps up. Still, it's important to lay down some variables, known and unknown.

In my preview, both Jacksonville and Dallas occupy an area where their push for supremacy requires an immediate display. Both teams are far from lovable, both built for the hard love and hard hate of dynastic football. The Cowboys simply through the continued arrogance of claiming to be America's Team. The Jaguars through constructing a hard ass winner in a pro football backwater.

First, what are the differences that drive two different teams to the same point, to a strangely similar identity?

Dallas brings as much drama off the field as on it. You can find it in Terrell Owens and Adam Jones. But you can also find it in Tony Romo. Chasing a bubbleheaded starlet through the gossip rags or racking up a police blotter rivaling Suge Knight's, it's all cringeworthy and distracting and tolerated because of an immense collective talent.

Jacksonville on the other hand is tame by comparison. Sure, backup receiver and continual disappointment Matt Jones got caught during the cocaine chapter of his own Behind the Music fall, but the team's stars are anything but off the field. David Garrard is a family man uncomfortable in the spotlight. Backs Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew happily share the load between them. The insanely talented defense from John Henderson to Rashaen Mathis to Reggie Nelson are studious film rats.

The two teams are also coached in wildly different styles. One can sense Jacksonville head man Jack Del Rio fights the urge to throw on the pads and run onto the field several times of day. Wade Phillips, the Dallas coach, derives his lazy style from his iconic father, Bum Phillips. It's hard to imagine pads ever fitting the rotund Phillips.

Finally, the Cowboys are a decorated franchise, a ratings draw for the league, and cash-making machine. The Jaguars play second fiddle to college football in their swampy corner of Florida. Despite the solid teams they've fielded in their short existence, the Jaguars are constantly the subject of exit strategy rumors. LA? Toronto? How about a corporate sponsor for their stadium?

So, yeah, on the surface, these two teams couldn't be further apart on the football spectrum. But look closely at where they are, how they play it, what they need improve... the similarities start to emerge.

Quarterbacks Tony Romo and David Garrard embody different ideals of quarterback. Romo is the Namath off and the Favre on the field. Garrard is all steady hands and Christian humility.

But remember this, neither Romo or Garrard were heralded prospects. Both fought up through practice squads and backup duties to lay claim to starting duties. Both can play loose and make plays with their legs as much as their arms. Romo may have arrived half a season earlier, but both serve as the lynch pin for their respective team's championship aspirations.

Behind Romo and Garrard each are a pair of backs charged with busting holes through the opponents defense. Taylor and Jones-Drew are both slippery backs that can power forward and block well. Marion Barber is a complete savage which the team hopes to spell with rookie speedster Felix Jones.

There's something old school in complementing both teams' downfield passing attacks with credible one-two punches in the backfield. Of course, two mauling front lines help put those nasty intentions to action.

Finally, Dallas's 3-4 defense may line up different than Jacksonville's 4-3, but the teams play a similar brand of kill-the-quarterback while relying on a couple intensely good athletes in their secondaries. The Jaguars employ a deep defensive line rotation, the Cowboys are stocked at linebacker. Both units are charged with upfield pressure. While the Jaguars are more stout at the point of attack with tackle Henderson, the Cowboys shut down opponents with Bradie James's sideline-to-sideline play.

More to the point, both defenses are stacked with size and speed. Both knock around opponents week in and week out. Both give the teams their best chances of making good on those lofty expectations.

So many sportswriters waste type in the preseason making Super Bowl picks. I guess it's scribbled down for the gambling crowd. Still, it's a pointless exercise and conveniently forgoes what we love of the sport, its unpredictability.

Let it be clear then that I'm not picking a Jacksonville-Dallas showdown in Tampa. Rather, the Jaguars and Cowboys are at the same time capable of reaching the big dance through much the same path and weighted by the considerable pressure to do so. Watching that pressure drop and how the teams react should shake out how much happens among the best teams in the league.

And don't be surprised if both Jacksonville and Dallas find success in 2008, the results are eerily similar.