At some point this offseason I was thinking about doing a retrospective of the Cowboys 2010 season, perhaps focusing on a game-by-game schedule. Every time I started contemplating actually doing that, I kept thinking - Do I really want to re-live all that misery? Let's face it, the Dallas Cowboys 2010 season was painful. The 1-7 start was as brutal as they come, especially after the high-optimism coming off the fairly successful 2009 season. The Green Bay game, a 45-7 beatdown that basically looked like the team had quit, was the absolute bottom. It was so bad that Jerry Jones had to reverse course and fire Wade Phillips, when he previously had stated that wasn't going to happen in mid-season.
When Jason Garrett took over, things immediately got better, and the Cowboys managed to finish 5-3 for the second half of the season. So things picked up and gave us a little hope going into 2011. So maybe there is a reason to review the 2011 season, and I still may do it. But, as I was scanning the news recently, I noticed that NFL.com was reviewing the 20 most memorable games of the 2010 season.
That was covering the whole league, not just the Cowboys, so I figured Dallas might not even show up on the list. So imagine my surprise when the Cowboys were represented by three different games!
Make the jump...
The first one was the Cowboys vs. Cardinals game on Christmas Night (ranked #16). This game was the battle of the backup QB's, with Stephen McGee taking over for an injured Jon Kitna late in the game, and battling Josh Skelton. Remember this one? The game was kind of a dud for the Cowboys until McGee hit Miles Austin with a miracle pass late in the game putting the Cowboys up 26-24. Then, David Buehler missed the extra-point. The Cardinals converted a 4th and 15 play on their last drive, setting up a FG. The Cowboys lose 27-26.
The next one (#14) was the Cowboys victory over the Colts. This was the Sean Lee game. The rookie linebacker finally got on track after injuries had slowed his progress, in this game he had two interceptions, including a pick-six, and the one that set up the Cowboys game-winning FG in overtime. Orlando Scandrick also had a pick-six in the game. The Cowboys built a big lead, but the Colts came back to send it to overtime, that's when Sean Lee made his second pick of the game and the Cowboys won it.
The third and final appearance by the Cowboys on this list was the #7 game, and it was one that broke our collective hearts. It was the game against the Saints on Thanksgiving Day. The Saints went ahead big, but the Cowboys battled back. And it looked like they were about to pull out a win when, up 27-23, Roy Williams took a short pass, broke it for a long run and was going to put the nail in the Saints coffin. Then safety Malcolm Jenkins ran him down and ripped the ball out of his hands for a fumble recovery. The Saints went on to score on the drive and won 30-27 after David Buehler missed a last-second 59-yard FG. Brutal.
Even though it was a terrible season for the Cowboys, they did play in some memorable games. Follow the links above to read more about those games. They had some memorable plays and big twists and turns.