Now I understand that all fans want their teams to be perfect at all times and never show weakness. The truth is that is just not possible. Even the mighty Patriots were imperfect, and they chose the worst possible game to finally come down off the mountain. Now I am never a believer in the saying "that was a good loss", but I would much rather the Cowboys get yesterday's type of game out of their system now and start to put it together in December. There wasn't one part of the game that went well yesterday, yet the Cowboys were still in the game there at the end. They were a Sam Hurd fingertips-grab away from having over a minute to drive for the go-ahead field goal. Not bad for a team that as dominated.
Now, some folks need to calm down just a bit. Hopefully we've all had a night's rest and can now approach things a bit more rationally. Brian Stewart is not going to be fired. Wade Phillips is not going anywhere. Jason Garrett is still a great coordinator. Some of the initial, angry response to yesterday's game is to blame the coaches (rightfully so) and proclaim that the immortal Cowboys of the dynasty years would never have had such a lackluster effort. Well my friends, I have to inject some sensibility into us all. Back in 1992, the Cowboys walked into Philadelphia 3-0 and favored against the home-team Eagles. Jimmy Johnson's Cowboys didn't even seem to show up, getting trounced by Philly 31-7 thanks in part to Troy Aikman's four turnovers. That same Cowboys team went on to beat the Eagles in the playoffs on their way to the Super Bowl.
The point is that even the best teams have bad days. And the Cowboys had a bad day, but the Redskins had a great game. Sometimes the other team just plays better, and while the Cowboys didn't do things up to par the Redskins were the better team on this day.
Any given Sunday.....
- The ONLY time Tony Romo should throw the ball 47 times is if the final score is 63-60.
- Jason Garrett is an aggressive, attacking, YOUNG offensive coordinator. He's still learning and games like yesterday are tough lessons to learn. That being said, the Cowboys got outfoxed by a first time coordinator and head coach. Ouch.
- I knew the Cowboys were going to abandon the run, I could just see it coming. Marion Barber was getting zero running room up the middle and it seemed as though the Cowboys just got impatient and a little greedy. Romo was trying to take advantage of the Redskins stacking the box by checking out of the run, but the Cowboys were unable to beat one on one coverage. So the Redskins never stopped running that defense, and the Cowboys couldn't run the ball.
- Of course, 11 running plays is still way too low, no matter how much they were jamming us. How about some screens, pitches, or an end around to Felix? Pulling T.O. on the end around is all well and good, but let's get Felix the ball.
- Wade Phillips saying that Felix's plays are not designed as "come from behind" plays is pure baloney. The most the Cowboys were behind all game was ten points, and that was at halftime. I think this Cowboys team as whole needs to take a breath and realize that being down a touchdown is not the end of the world, and you don't have to enter ultimate gunslinging mode to win the game. Give Felix the dang ball.
- The best example of how the Cowboys game was going was our kickoff return game. The team as whole just seemed tired and unemotional and it showed in our return units. No one was blocking, everything was in slow motion and Felix had no where to go. It just seemed like the team as a whole was in slow motion.
- While I don't think Stewart needs to be fired just yet, he does need to start figuring some things out or he's going to have some players turning on him. It's tough as a player to know that your coach is putting you in the wrong scheme against an offense and all you can do is play what he tells you. Two weeks in a row the Cowboys had a poor defensive game plan against a west coast offense. The difference between the Packers game and yesterday's was that the Redskins were able to score from the red zone and the Packers weren't. Other than that, not much was different. Dink and dunk up and down the field, yay!
- It's obvious this Cowboys team has nothing in the tank emotionally against the Redskins, but the same doesn't apply on the other side of the ball. These Cowboys have built a good rivalry with the Eagles and Giants but for the most part just don't care for the Skins. Well, the Redskins players sure do get fired up when playing the Cowboys.
- Next week will be the big test. Can the Cowboys get fired up and dominate a pretty bad Bengals team after a disappointing showing at home?