Your Official Bye Week Rooting Guide

The Cowboys don't play this week, which means you've got plenty of time to clean out the attic, take the kids to visit the in-laws or whatever else it is that your spouse has been bugging your to do for the last three Sundays.

Let's be honest, though: There's still football to be watched and you're going to be holding the couch down to the floor just the same as the weekends when Romo, Ware and company are doing battle. The only difference is that you might not be quite as sure who to root for without seeing Wade Phillips looking slightly bumfuzzled on the sideline. We like to be a full service outfit here at Blue Star so we'll let you know just who to root for this weekend. 

Let's get a few games out of the way right away. The Jets-Bills, Broncos-Titans, Ravens-Steelers, Colts-Jaguars and Dolphins-Patriots games all have absolutely no compelling Cowboys-related reason to choose one side over the other. So if you find Peyton Manning's oversized noggin aggravating or think that Tim Tebow is talked about way too much for a glorified fullback, use that as your guide and have a blast.  

Bengals-Browns: Root for the Browns because you suffered enough rooting for T.O. over the years. 

Texans-Raiders: This might surprise you, but you want to root for the Texans. This might not be college football with its arcane system of comparing teams by the quality of teams they beat rather then having them play each other, but why not allow yourself to feel a little better about last week's victory anyway? 

Lions-Packers, Panthers - Saints and 49ers-Falcons: It's never too early to start thinking about the Wild Card, so you'll want to be pulling for the three winless road teams in these matchups. Just don't go betting little Ralphie's college fund on any of them.

Seahawks-Rams: Based on the above, it seems like you should probably root for the Rams just to keep the whole NFC West mired in mediocrity. But it is Oklahoma-Texas weekend and Sam Bradford is the quarterback for the Rams. You don't want it to be too good a weekend for the Sooner faithful, do you?

Cardinals-Chargers: The Wild Card thing factors in here as well, but we'll urge you to root against the Chargers because a losing season for them reaffirms everything Jerry Jones is about. Hate his bombast or his penchant for plastic surgery if you like, but he'd never sacrifice wins for the principle of spending less money on his team the way the Chargers have this season. 

Bears-Giants: Go Bears! The Giants have suffered through two weeks as tabloid whipping boys in the Big Apple and a third straight loss just might cause complete anarchy for them. Calls for Bill Cowher will pick up, Eli Manning will have a perma-hangdog look on his face and the 1-2 start will complete cease to matter for the Cowboys. 

Redskins-Eagles: Here are the lyrics to "Hail to the Redskins." Memorize them, teach them to your neighbors and start singing early and often on Sunday afternoon. This goes against everything you hold dear, of course, but just think about what will happen in Philadelphia if Donovan McNabb comes back to town and beats the Eagles.

They are holding a rally just to boo the guy who was never once loved even though he took them to five NFC title games and one Super Bowl. Eagles fans act like they've been released from a Siberian gulag because McNabb is gone and they've embraced Michael Vick with a bit too much gusto given the man's history. What a blow it would be to have McNabb and the 'Skins roll into town and win by 14 points. Grown men will cry, fights will break out across the city and Andy Reid might have to shave his mustache to stop the carnage. Root for that and root for that hard.

Then go right back to wishing nothing but misfortune on the Redskins.

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