Not much of a Halloween in central Texas, given that it is still 70 degrees and that we are still on daylight savings time. This is the second Halloween post on this blog, my with children this year appearing as a clone trooper and Sleeping Beauty. Last year I led off with:

You know what Halloween and football blogging have in common? Um, nothing at all, except that I may have rushed my kids to finish trick-or-treating so that I could get back here to blog. That’s sad.

[Update: I’ve been informed that my kids– Spiderman and Cinderella this evening– were too tired to walk around any more. So blogging did not, in fact, take precedence over Halloween. That’s good.]

I did not, in fact, rush home this year. Our neighborhood had so few trick-or-treaters that the neighbors gave my kids more candy than they could eat in a year. Those ads you see on this page? Paying to fix cavities.

* * *

A conversation with my seven-year-old son:

Son: Did you ever dress up as a clone trooper?
Dad: No. They were called storm troopers, but I never dressed up as one.
Son: What about Anakin Skywalker?
Dad: We had Luke Skywalker. I never heard the name Anakin Skywalker until the Return of the Jedi.
Son: Did you dress up as Anakin?
Dad: Anakin was an old man. No, I didn’t.
Son: Why not?
Dad: I was 12 and didn’t dress up as anyone then.
Son: Who were you, then?
Dad: Once I was R2-D2. Another time was Yoda.
Son: Those are dumb. Why?
Dad: . . .

* * *

A little bit is being made of Terrell Owens’ return to Philadelphia this week, although most of the attention nationally has focused on the New England-Indianapolis game. Give the guy credit for consistency, though. He has played two more games with Dallas than he did with Philadelphia, and his stats are very similar. Consider this:

Philadelphia (2004-2005)

Games: 21
Receptions: 124
Yards: 1963
TDs: 20

Dallas (2006-2007)

Games: 23
Receptions: 119
Yards: 1736
TDs: 18

This was from Rich Eisen on NFL.com:

Cowboys at Eagles
Oh yeah. Terrell Owens is going back to Philadelphia on Sunday night. That normally would register an 8.0 on the media Richter scale, but not this week. And, boy, does this Eagles team need a win. If Philadelphia beats the Cowboys, it would return to .500 and sit two games out of first place, with half its schedule still remaining. Remember: Last year, the Eagles looked dead in the water, still won the NFC East and even won a playoff game, so standing at 4-4 with eight games left — while not optimum — is fine nonetheless. However, should the Eagles lose, they not only would fall to 3-5 overall but to a catastrophic 0-3 in the division and 2-5 in conference. The Eagles must win this game, while the Cowboys, you know, sort of need this one too. The Giants are chilling on their bye week after their soggy victory in London, becoming only the fifth team in NFL history to win six straight after losing their first two. If Dallas stumbles, it would find itself in a tie with the surging G-Men heading into the Week 10 trip to Giants Stadium. The Cowboys no doubt would like to have some cushion before that game, and sticking a dagger in the Eagles in front of their faithful and the national NBC television audience would be a good way to do that. If not, the Cowboys could fall out of first place in the overall NFC picture, because the Pack is back.

Nick Eatman at DallasCowboys.com had a piece on the Owens-McNabb feud as well. Not exactly interesting.

* * *

Three members of the Cowboys made John Czarnecki’s (Fox Sports) Midseason All-Pro Team. Tony Romo wasn’t one of them.

C: Andre Gurode (Cowboys) — Ever since the incident with Albert Haynesworth, when he took a head stomping, Gurode has developed into a force in the middle of the Dallas offensive line, probably the most complete unit in the NFC besides being the biggest.

OLB: DeMarcus Ware (Cowboys) — Mike Vrabel of the Patriots and Lance Briggs of the Bears are right behind Ware, who has benefited greatly with the arrival of Coach Wade Phillips. Ware can rush the passer like Shawne Merriman, but he’s better in coverage and also a better tackler.

PK: Nick Folk (Cowboys) — Two other worthy kickers are Houston’s Kris Brown and Rob Bironas, who just made eight field goals in a game. But Folk deserves special recognition for kicking a game-winning 53-yarder against Buffalo twice while his best kick was the super high-bouncing on-side kick that put him in position to kick the game winner.

Ware is not a surprise. The other two are, pleasantly.

* * *

Thurman’s Thieves (6-2)

Somehow I wasn’t punished for making the dumbest fantasy football move this year– or perhaps in history? I decided that I was sick enough of Marques Colston that I benched him in favor of . . .

Roywell Williams of Tennesee.

The result:

Marques Colston, on my bench: 24 points
Roywell Williams, in my lineup: 0.3 points.

I also went with Derek Anderson over Drew Brees, but this time got burned. Brees had 29 points to Anderson’s 20.9.

I still won somehow, though, so all my complaining is for nothing.

Pigskin Pick’em

Week 8: 10/13
Season: 61/116
Average: 55.1/116
Best: 79/113

Best week of the season for me, getting 10 of the 13 games. I should have known better than to go with St. Louis and Houston as underdogs, but my pick of the Giants still wasn’t that bad.