Which Cowboy left it on the field?
The o-line, one second quarter drive aside, didn't get any push on run downs and leaked enough to get their QB battered.
The receivers dropped passes. Patrick Crayton made a grab in traffic after dropping his first. That aside, the receiver corps was AWOL. Roy Williams was supposed to have escaped Detroit, but he brought the Lions funk with him. He whined during the week about his role, just as he did in Detroit, and then played an abysmal game. I wrote before that he was a dubious buy but shut up once the trade was made, because he's a Cowboy now and will be for a long time. But I'm far more bullish on Miles Austin going forward than I am on this guy.
Did he set his QB up, or did he QB whip it loose? Romo threw a couple of howlers, but Jason Witten aside, there were no consistent targets open that day.
But almost everybody shares the shame. Marion Barber? You're not exempt. Flozell Adams? No comments, please.
On defense, the mistakes start at the top.
Terence Newman is your best cover guy. He lost his duel with Desean Jackson today. He was beaten on a seam and took a ghastly interference penalty in the last fifteen seconds of the half.
The Dallas line didn't get a sack. Demarcus Ware? Nothing. Jay Ratliff? Nothing. Dallas rushed four to keep Donovan McNabb in the pocket, but the one time he broke their contain, he broke their backs on his 59 yard toss to Correll Buckhalter. Their only pressure came on blitzes.
And please, Jerry, if you do nothing else tomorrow, end the Adam Jones experiment. He's an assclown off the field and he's an assclown on the field. He looks lost in coverage, and that's nothing new. He was lost in Cleveland back in September. He simply does not think on the field.
He was a mark on two key Eagles 3rd down conversions. He took a stupid penalty after the second, which moved Philly closer to a score. He fumbled a kickoff on the next to last play of the half.
Stupid is as stupid does, and he's stupid to the marrow in his bones. Orlando Scandrick and Mike Jenkins can play. You don't need this fool another minute in a Cowboys uniform.
The Eagles made big plays and waited for the Cowboys to self destruct. They did.
You can toss every coach in the dumpster tomorrow, and some would deserve it, but the players remain.
These are the players who sent Bill Parcells into retirement. Remember that. Some guys may love the game as much, but nobody loves football more than the Tuna. He risked his heart to come back to football. He kissed his marriage goodbye for his true love on the sideline.
And these turkeys broke him. And they were happy when he left. They're going to end Wade Phillips' tenure, sooner or later. Take your pick for a savior: Cowher, Ryan, Holmgren, whomever. I doubt that the reincarnation of Vince Lombardi could make this roster, in its current state, work.
Tony Sparano took a less talented Dolphins team to the playoffs today, but he couldn't break the Cowboys line of its bad habits when he was here. Did he get a brain transplant on his flight from Dallas to Miami, or did he leave a lot of stubborn players behind?
It's going to take a talent transfusion to get this team anywhere. The DNA of this lineup is corrupt. We can go up and down looking for scapegoats, but I'd turn the equation upside down. Who ISN'T culpable today? Jason Witten gets a pass. Tashard Choice did his job. That's about it.
Notes:
-- If you were wondering why Pat McQuistan never replaced Cory Proctor, today you got your answer. McQuistan has more ballast, but he has bad feet and cannot mirror pass rushers laterally. There was way too much leakage in his line. He's one of many Cowboys who played their last game in the uniform today.