Facebook<\/p>\n
Tweet<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Email Link<\/p>\n \n Welcome to Trendlines<\/a>, your weekly installment of what\u2019s trending up and what\u2019s trending down in the world of sports.\n <\/p>\n \n This week, millions of Americans breathed a sigh of relief. No longer will they (and in this case me) be worried about whether their weekends would continue to be filled with boredom.\n <\/p>\n \n No, the NFL<\/a>\u2019s Hall of Fame game marked the beginning<\/a> of the preseason. It\u2019s the first sign that autumn is near and football is back.\n <\/p>\n \n Every new season means hope for teams that have never won a Super Bowl (like the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Chargers, the Hall of Fame game participants).\n <\/p>\n \n It, unfortunately, also means that some classic teams that have recently struggled get another shot at rediscovering their greatness of yore.\n <\/p>\n \n And this is where we begin.\n <\/p>\n \n There are few things more delicious than \u201cAmerica\u2019s team\u201d (and the quotes are there for a reason) falling flat on its face over and over again.\n <\/p>\n \n Can you believe Dallas hasn\u2019t appeared in or won a Super Bowl since the mid-1990s? There are people I work with who weren\u2019t even alive then.\n <\/p>\n \n The Cowboys were truly mediocre last year and they\u2019re hoping to bounce back this season under new coach Brian Schottenheimer. I don\u2019t know how Cowboys\u2019 owner Jerry Jones landed on Schottenheimer, but things aren\u2019t looking good for the team with a Lone Star.\n <\/p>\n \n Vegas odds put the Cowboys\u2019 chances of winning a Super Bowl this year at about 2%.\n <\/p>\n \n How very, very sad that Dallas\u2019 Super Bowl drought looks like it\u2019ll hit the big 3-0 after this season.\n <\/p>\n Trending down \u2013 New England Patriots\u2019 playoff wins: Down six seasons in a row<\/p>\n \n When the Patriots were winning all of those Super Bowls, the big question was whether quarterback Tom Brady or head coach Bill Belichick was more responsible.\n <\/p>\n \n Well, the Pats haven\u2019t won a playoff game since Brady left. Brady went on to win a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Belichick, on the other hand, is now coaching in college.\n <\/p>\n \n This has left the team from the Bay State in a world of hurt. They finished last season with more than three times as many losses as wins. They were so bad that they dumped their first-year head coach Jerod Mayo<\/a> and brought in Mike Vrabel.\n <\/p>\n \n This season? The betting odds say that they will miss the playoffs again.\n <\/p>\n \n We\u2019re a long way from nobody being able to stop the Brady\/Belichick duo.\n <\/p>\n \n Delicious.\n <\/p>\n
\n <\/a><\/p>\n