Shades of the Baltimore game

Anybody remember how Baltimore had a 77-yard touchdown run and an 82-yard touchdown run last season in the last game at Texas Stadium.  It sent the Dallas Cowboys to Philadelphia with a playoff play-in game, and consequently to Valley Ranch to clean out their lockers.

 

Yeah, it still cuts me deep too.

 

That memory made it really hard to watch a 74-yard reception and a 79-yard punt return at the Meadowlands today and not have an impending feeling of doom.

 

Let’s hope that Dallas beats the third hottest team (only New Orleans and Indianapolis have longer winning streaks) in the NFL next Sunday in Arlington.  The Chargers have won seven games in a row, and will visit Cowboys Stadium with a one game lead over the Denver Broncos (although it may be two games by kickoff since Denver visits Indianapolis earlier that day).

 

I cannot help but wonder if the hopes of Cowboys fans to see the Dallas Cowboys win a playoff game just disappeared like that 10 point lead in the Meadowlands.  Couple this defeat with the loss at Lambeau last month, and I wonder if the Cowboys season will once again end after a game with the Eagles.

 

Dallas has lost the head-to-head tiebreaker with Green Bay (7-4) and New York (7-5).  Considering that the Eagles are really the only other team involved in the NFC playoff race, a loss in that fateful January game in 2010 may easily knock the Cowboys out of the playoffs.

 

Suddenly, quincyyyyy’s draft posts do not seem so premature…

 

If Cowboys fans are melancholy over the irony (more on that irony in a moment) of this second loss to an imminently beatable New York team, then Wade must be distraught.  It was just last week that Jerry Jones stated in his usual round-a-bout fashion that Coach Phillips could stick around if Dallas won a home playoff game in 2010.

 

Well the chances of winning the NFC East have just diminished, and as owner/GM Jones noted a few days ago, the Cowboys were certainly in a good position to do just that heading into December.  Even though winning a playoff game on the road is possible, Jerry wants a playoff game in the new stadium…excuse me, Jerry wants a playoff WIN in his new stadium in 2010.

 

Now more on the irony of that second Giants game.  Against Baltimore, Romo threw some bad interceptions.  Against New York in the first game at Cowboys Stadium, Romo once again threw some ill-advised passes.

 

That is what makes this loss so tough to take: Romo was as awesome today, as he was terrible in September, and last December.  The rest of the team just fell apart: particularly the special teams and the defense (again).

 

I mean, c’mon, Brandon Jacobs from 74-yards out?  Really?

 

Somewhere, Amani Toomer was reliving his playoff glory in Dallas.

 

Romo tried to carry the team today, but the Wade-led defense once again crumbled and gave up too many big plays.  The Giants only had the ball for 21:10 the entire game, yet the defense gave up 24 points.  That is pathetic.

 

Dallas actually had two takeaways in the game, and finished the game up by one in the turnover margin (as opposed to the –4 in Arlington) and still lost.  On the positive side, the Cowboys only had five accepted penalties in this game.

 

I guess that is progress – two takeaways and only five penalties.

 

DeCamillis’ units helped the Giants win this game: another missed field goal (I am not counting the 57-yard attempt, but I do wonder why Buehler did not kick it) and a punt return for a touchdown.  Hopefully, the special teams will use this as a wake-up call and pick-up their play to at least their previous level of coverage.

 

The Dallas Cowboys still control their playoff aspirations.  Unfortunately, hosting a 9-3 Chargers team playing as well as they have all season, visiting an undefeated Saints team that is finding ways to win every week, traveling to a venue that has traditionally been a house of horrors in Washington, and finishing the season against the Eagles (again), does not suggest that this edition of the Cowboys will break the playoff drought that has been ongoing since 1996.

 

If Dallas makes the playoffs, however, they will have earned it. 

 

Maybe Dallas will get to play the Giants again in the post-season and dish-out some long-overdue revenge.  Bradie James seemed to think so.