Doink.
Jon Kitna's pass hits an unsuspecting Jason Witten upside 82's head. As if the iconic helmet star emblem were a shooting range target. Bullseye.
The perfect metaphor for the 2010 Dallas Cowboys season.
Doink.
We do realize, don't we, that only one thing is certain in the AFC South? The Jacksonville Jaguars will finish last. The Jags have been blown out four times, and there are plenty more losses in their immediate future. The Jaguars are not a good football team. But they are light years better than our Dallas Cowboys. Doink. It has come to that. David Garrard is not Dan Marino. Mike Sims-Walker is a nice player. He's not Jerry Rice. Derek Cox is...Derek Cox. Jags Offensive Coordinator Dirk Cutter called a solid game today. He's not Don Freaking Coryell.
Granted, Maurice Jones-Drew and fellow UCLA product Mercedes Lewis are big-time talents. But...The Cowboys, "The Most Talented Team In the NFL" (guffaw), just got punked--at home--by the worst team in the AFC South.
Do me a favor, please. Right up front. Don't embarrass yourself by blaming this one on Kitna. He was fine, especially whenever his receivers weren't auditioning for jobs as volleyball setters. JK was, in fact, for the most part very good. Re-focus on the usual suspects. An offensive line that is truly offensive (Leonard Davis is stealing money). Kickoff and punt coverage teams that don't. Was anything more galling that watching Jags' punt returner Mike Thomas deke the Cowboys into thinking he was gonna fair catch that punt, only to return it 16 yards? Joe D didn't seem to be real happy about that.
And let's get this straight, too. Barber did not get in on that fourth and goal from the one right before halftime...after the very clever diversionary collision with Kitna on the handoff. Wasn't particularly close. Ditto the third down carry. I don't know what Jim Nantz was babbling about. Again, it wasn't really close.
Scheme? How about forcing Bradie James to (try) to cover Lewis one-on-one, 35 yards downfield? Hey, I got an idea. Let's blitz Garrard on third and 12 from the Dallas 15, after a timeout. Nothing to be gained, but it did provide the perfect backdrop for Garrard's screen pass TD to Mike Thomas, who I'm sure appreciated the chance to get into the end zone for the first time this year.
A Jaguar team that did not have a takeaway in its last two games got four on Sunday. Maurice Jones-Drew had 78 rushing yards at halftime, including gashers of 23 and 24 yards. The Jags averaged 6.7 yards per rush while the game was any way in doubt. That final bootleg walk-in by Garrard was a face-job that screamed ONE AND SIX!
I'm not "Blame the Quarterback Guy." Blame The Quarterback Guy is a football simpleton who generally has never donned shoulder pads or a sweaty jock in his life. Nor am I "Fire The Coach Guy." But it is now apparent that for the good of the organization, Wade's gotta go. Now. Tonight. Just promote an assistant (Ray Sherman?) to an interim role for the rest of this wasted season. Jerry can worry about finding a "permanent" (permanent?) head coach later. Right now a message has to be sent both to players--and to paying customers--that there is something resembling accountability in the organization. Nobody's listening to Wade anymore. Wade's probably not listening to Wade anymore. Sadly, his firing would in many ways at this point be a mercy killing.
And, oh, by the way, Wade, your rep as a defensive guru is also rapidly evaporating.