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DALLAS - With each injury in New York, with every roster move in Green Bay, the Cowboys inch closer to their first Super Bowl appearance in 13 years.
Why not? This is a 13-Pro Bowl-player team, correct?
Well, in a technical sense, it's true. The Cowboys sent 13 players to Honolulu and all 13 are back.
But with no disrespect to Bill Parcells, you are not what your Pro Bowl record says you are.
First, I would say that no team should be viewed as a 13-Pro Bowl-player team. Maybe the 16-0 New England Patriots earned the right to make that claim, but even they had only eight selections.
In light of that, we should be careful about throwing around that whole "13 Cowboys" thing. Yes, Dallas and New England play in different conferences, but it leaves the perception that this Cowboys team is so deep it can only stop itself.
Really, the 2007 Cowboys should be viewed as a seven-or eight-Pro Bowl-player club. And the point here isn't to remove Pro Bowls from players' resumes but only to illustrate the convergence of events that enabled Dallas to send more than a dozen players to Hawaii.
Let's start with the four undeniable picks - quarterback Tony Romo, tight end Jason Witten, wide receiver Terrell Owens and linebacker DeMarcus Ware. No reason to waste time on a discussion of their Pro Bowl merits.
The Cowboys sent three offensive linemen as starters. I can't sit here and say that out of Flozell Adams, Leonard Davis and Andre Gurode, one of them didn't deserve it. But voters tend to look at the offenses that pile up big numbers in rushing, receiving and scoring and pick their linemen.
Saints center Jeff Faine went to Tampa Bay in the off-season for $37 million, so there's a chance he was a pretty good center last year. But he played for a struggling team, much like Chicago center Olin Kreutz. Neither had a chance.
Centers can't pile up individual stats to overcome their surroundings.
The point is that Green Bay gained 370 yards a game, the Cowboys 365, the Saints 361, the Eagles 358, the Seahawks 348.
There were a handful of NFC teams that moved the ball really well. The fact that the Cowboys sent three linemen to the Pro Bowl and the Giants didn't send any should not signal a huge advantage in Dallas' corner.
Murdock08 
