Michael Irvin says non-creativity isn’t bad [url=http://www.authenticsdallascowboys.com/cheap-leighton-vander-esch-jersey]Color Rush Leighton Vander Esch Jersey[/url] , says his teams weren’t creative and only ran 8-10 plays Creativity seems to be the buzz word of 2018 when it comes to the Cowboys, The debate around creativity and Cowboys play-calling has been raging all week, so it was no wonder that eventually Michael Irvin, media personality and ex-Cowboys great, would weigh-in.The Playmaker joins ESPN San Antonio every Wednesday during the season, and I happened to be filling in there this week. Rob Thompson and I asked Irvin about the issue of no creativity in Dallas and he quickly debunked it. He also noted that his Cowboys teams weren’t creative and only ran 8-10 plays.Early on The Playmaker is asked his opinion on Troy Aikman’s comments about not seeing creativity in the Cowboys offense this past Sunday and whether or not he agrees with them. He would go on to say that he saw both sides of this argument, but he also noted that his own Cowboys (coincidentally coordinated by Norv Turner who beat these Cowboys on Sunday) weren’t particularly creative.Things are definitely different in today’s NFL than they were almost 30 years ago so this is hardly an apples to apples comparison. Irvin’s point certainly makes sense if you consider the dominant personalities argument. It’s not necessarily creative to run it a bunch of times with Ezekiel Elliott for example, but if it can’t be stopped then it doesn’t matter.Hopefully the Cowboys either develop more dominant personalities or ways to use their not-so-dominant ones between now and Sunday. They’re going to need everything they can find against the New York Giants.Cowboys playoff tracker: How loss to Panthers affects Cowboys’ playoff chances Every year [url=http://www.authenticsdallascowboys.com/cheap-dak-prescott-jersey]Youth Dak Prescott Jersey[/url] , 12 out of 32 teams make the NFL playoffs. The NFL may up that number to 14 at some point, but for now the number is still fixed at 12. That means that prior to Week 1, each NFL team had a 12 out of 32 chance (38%) of making the playoffs.With the first week of NFL action in the books, 15 teams are undefeated, 15 teams are winless, and two outsmarted themselves en route to a tie. Does that mean the winless teams should start tanking for a better draft spot? And should the undefeated teams start resting their starters for the playoffs?Not so fast. Since realignment in 2002, 130 of the 192 playoff teams (or about two thirds of all playoff teams) won their season-opener. But there were also 62 teams (about a third of all playoff teams) that made the playoffs after losing their season-opener, including the 2014 Super Bowl winning Patriots [url=http://www.authenticsdallascowboys.com/cheap-ezekiel-elliott-jersey]Youth Ezekiel Elliott Jersey[/url] , who stumbled out of the gate with a loss to the Dolphins in Week 1, 2014.But because of the brevity of the NFL season with just 16 games, every game carries an inordinate weight in determining a team’s playoff odds. After Week 1, the playoff odds shift significantly from the 38% all teams shared before kickoff weekend. Overall, exactly 51% of the teams (130 of 257 teams) that won their season opener since 2002 also made the playoffs. Conversely, only 24% of the teams that lost their season opener eventually made the playoffs over the same period.The table below summarizes what the historic playoff odds look like over the first nine games of the season, depending on a team’s record at any given time.That historic record puts a lot of pressure on the Cowboys and all other 0-1 teams to win their next game. Because the brevity of the NFL season also means that if you follow up a season-opening loss with more losses, you’ll be out of the playoff race pretty fast. If you’re one of the teams that stumbled out of the gate on opening weekend [url=http://www.authenticsdallascowboys.com/cheap-maliek-collins-jersey]Color Rush Maliek Collins Jersey[/url] , your 0-1 record means next week’s game is already something of a must-win game: Start the season 0-2 and your odds of making the playoffs drop to just 11%; three consecutive losses to start the season and for all intents and purposes your season is over. The Cowboys lost their opener, and are now looking at a 24% historical chance at the playoffs. If they had won, they’d be sitting pretty with a 51% historical chance at the playoffs. To get back to that 50% level, the Cowboys will have to win their next two games.Losing their season opener was a significant speed bump for the Cowboys on their road to the playoffs, and they’ll have to pick up the pace over the next few games if they want to stay on track in the playoff race.We’ll continue monitoring the Cowboys’ playoff chances every week, and it would sure be nice if we could talk about a 1-1 record after next week. Not just because it would up the Cowboys’ playoff odds to 42%, but also because it would put the Giants in a position where their Week 3 game in Houston might mean the end of their season after just three games (again).