Hello,
Now on to something monumentally less important. The woeful and terrible Dallas Cowboys. The Dallas Cowboys were able to beat the run down Philadelphia Eagles yesterday 38-23. (I had to laugh at some foolish Cowboys fans.The Cowboys were able to beat a very bad Eagles team to improve to 4-5 on the season. Some Cowboys fans literally were talking about going to the Super Bowl. Please.) But I'm almost sure that Cowboys victory is fool's gold. This win covered up a lot of stupid plays. Mo Claiborne, he of the extremely low Wonderlic score, had 5 penalties by himself yesterday. As ESPN Dallas pointed out, 6 teams yesterday had less penalties than did Claiborne. Included in his terrible performance, Claiborne had 2 offside penalties. That's a ridiculous penalty for a cornerback to get.
Those penalties by Claiborne were 5 of the Cowboys 13 penalties. Roughly Dallas had 6 offsides (6?) penalties. One or two offsides penalties you can live with, but six? That's just one of the many things that points to how Garrett shouldn't be a head coach, this team doesn't have enough discipline. The Cowboys have been near the top of the NFL for most penalties this whole season.
The Cowboys running game also showed signs of life yesterday by breaking into triple figure yardage. It's possible that DeMarco Murray will be back this week. Both of those things are good. However that brings up several questions. How long will the Cowboys running game be good enough, at least good enough to take the pressure off of Romo? How long will the extremely fragile Murray last? How long will Garrett stick with the running game if it isn't working?
Other Cowboys concerns: the on again and off again Tony Romo. With yesterday's victory Romo continued his amazing November record. His November record is 20-3. (Thanks to Ben & Skin.) Both he and the Cowboys play well in November, but once December arrives both go downhill. As near as I can tell Romo's record in December is 8-13. Obviously all victories or losses aren't because of him. History usually is a pretty good indicator what will happen in the future.
I'm going to break down the Cowboys December last year. On November 24th, Dallas beat Miami 20-19 and at that point were 7-4. I was excited and I thought that even the Cowboys couldn't blow their playoff chances. What ended up happening? Dallas went on the road and lost to the woeful Cardinals 19-13 in overtime. The next week the Cowboys returned home and lost 37-34 to New York. All of a sudden the Cowboys playoff chances didn't look as good. They were now 7-6 with 3 games left in the season. They were going to play two bad teams and then close on the road in New York. Over the years the Giants have dominated the Cowboys. At that point New York was 3-0 in Cowboys Stadium. So Dallas needed to win their next two games, because the likelihood of beating the Giants was slim.
Dallas was able to go on the road and beat a Bucs team that had completely given up. If I remember right the Bucs were in the midst of a 10 game losing streak that caused Raheem Morris his job. Next the Cowboys returned home and were punked at home by a mediocre Eagles team. The Cowboys dropped to 8-7, but miraculously could still make the playoffs. Sarcasm alert: All they had to do was to beat their nemesis the Giants. Going into this game I didn't expect a whole from the Cowboys. They aren't very good in must win games.
Predictably the Cowboys folded and lost 31-14. The Cowboys were haunted by Romo's bad plays, Garrett's bad calls and Victor Cruz's big game. Romo had his usual bad plays in the wrong situations. He was picked off, threw the ball after crossing the line of scrimmage and didn't properly execute a quarterback sneak. The Giants jumped out to a 21-0 lead and pretty much coasted to a 31-14 victory. Both of the Cowboys touchdown receptions were caught by Laurent Robinson, who Dallas let go in the offseason. Although looking at Bryant's, Austin's and Robinson's stats, that looks to be the right call. Of course Robinson is playing with the terrible Jags and their mediocre QB Blaine Gabbert. So take those stats for what they are worth.
Back to yesterday's surprising 38-23 victory, one might think that the Cowboys dominated the Eagles. However they didn't, the Eagles were fighting big odds. First of all the Eagles only had one of their projected 5 offensive line starters able to play in this game. Although the offensive line is unheralded by many fans, it actually is one of the most important parts of a football team. They are the ones that open the big holes for the running backs and protect the quarterback when he's passing. If your offensive line is terrible, it doesn't matter how good a team's other offensive players are.
Again that score is deceiving, because in the 4th quarter the Cowboys scored 21 non-offensive points. They scored two touchdowns on an interception return and falling on a fumble in the end zone. Also Dwayne Harris returned a punt for a touchdown. Take away those three fourth quarter touchdowns and this game is much closer.
Michael Vick suffered a "significant concussion" early in the game. (Aren't all concussions significant?) Who came in to replace Vick, it was rookie Nick Foles. And how did he do? Well he could have been a lot worse, but he could have been a lot better. Foles 22/32, 219 yards, 1 TD and 1 interception. He played a big part in the Cowboys two defensive touchdowns. He threw the pass that Brandon Carr intercepted and returned for a TD. I believe he also fumbled the ball that Jason Hatcher fell on in the end zone.
Now the Cowboys are 4-5 and seemingly have a relatively easy schedule the final 7 games of the 2012 season. Realistically the Cowboys should go 4-3 over their final 7 games. Dallas next three games are at home and they should beat Cleveland, Washington (on Thanksgiving) and the Eagles. However knowing this Cowboys team, I can see them losing to Cleveland at home. Ever since the Cowboys opened Jerry world, they are slightly above .500 at home. Maybe that's what happens when Victoria's Secret is the focus and not football. At that point the Cowboys could be 7-5. Romo should improve to 22-3 in November games and improve to 9-13 in December games.
Realistically knowing the Cowboys and their choking capacity, the above scenario is very optimistic. Even if the Cowboys are 7-5 I'm still not going to believe in them, they've broken my heart too many times. In fact, the Cowboys being 7-5 would be a perfect set up for their annual late season fade. I predict they lose to the Bengals in Cincinnati, the Bengals dominated the Giants yesterday. Dallas will come home and find a way to lose to the Steelers. Then again in Dallas the resurgent and explosive Saints will storm into Cowboys Stadium and probably find a way to win. With the Cowboys less than amazing offense, they can't get into a shoot out. I wouldn't be surprised at all that the Cowboys are 7-8 at that point and out of playoff contention. Then in their final game of the season, a battle of who could care less, the Cowboys will play the Redskins. That game could go either way. Dallas finishes 8-8 and miss the playoffs for the fourth time in five years.
The Cowboys finishing with a 9-7 or 8-8 record and not making the playoffs is probably the worst thing that could happen to the Cowboys. Idiot Jerry would talk about the Cowboys "growth" and praising Garrett for "learning on the job". He would continue praising the Cowboys upside and hype them up so that naive Cowboys fans will think that Dallas will be relevant next year. Then Dallas would finish with about the same record and.............
While exercising I sometimes do some of my best thinking. I realized that if Dallas finishes this season at 8-8, which would be a good record for this bunch, that Garrett's record would be 21-19. Phillips overall record with the Cowboys was 34-22. However 21-19 is the exact same record that Phillips had his final 2.5 seasons. Phillips started out pretty well, the Cowboys finished 13-3 in his first season. But the coach that had never won a playoff game to that point showed why as the Cowboys lost to the Giants 21-17. The Giants have dominated the Cowboys since that point.
The Cowboys lost 3 of their final 4 games of the the 2008 season, including a 44-6 beat down at the hands of the Eagles. The Cowboys didn't make the playoffs that season, which has started a streak of not making the playoffs 4 of 5 years. I say that because the Cowboys aren't going to make the playoffs this year. In the 2009 season the Cowboys finished 11-5 and Phillips' team even won a playoff game. (That will be his one and only playoff win as a head coach, I'd be very surprised if he gets another head coaching job. However people keep on hiring Norv Turner, so who knows?)See if you notice a trend here, the 2009 season ended in a 34-3 beat down at the hands of the Vikings.
In 2010 Phillips' team was terrible and the losses started to mount. He clearly had lost this team. His Cowboys coaching tenure ended with a 45-3 beat down at the hands of the Packers. Garrett then took over the team and the Cowboys went 5-3 the rest of that season. With how mediocre the Cowboys are now, in hindsight that 5-3 record is very surprising. Last season Garrett and the Cowboys were 8-8 and they are 4-5 this season.
Garrett needs to go, he sucks. Another terrible hire by Jerry Jones. One thing that seems to get Jerry's attention is when his teams suffer horrific losses. In my fantasy world the Cowboys will finish the season strong and at least make the playoffs. But in reality I sort of hope the Cowboys lose their last 3 games this season, including a beat down at the hands of the Washington Redskins. Then hopefully that will be the end for Red J and the beginning of the Cowboys return to relevance. But of course Jerry will be doing the hiring, so who the hell knows?
What would I like to see happen the rest of this season. I'd like to see the Cowboys lose enough games that so even Idiot Jerry would fire Jason Garrett. And then paying back Cowboys fans hopes over years of futility, Jones goes out and gets Sean Payton. Hopefully the Cowboys would also get a top ten pick and parlay that and perhaps a draft pick into their quarterback of the future. (Although I'm not real excited about any of the quarterbacks eligible in this year's NFL Draft.) Romo probably hasn't been as bad as I thought he is. However he's proven too many times that he'll never win anything. It's time for Dallas to move on. Let Romo play out the final year of his contract as the rookie has a year to learn. As the season goes on, turn more and more responsibility over to the rookie. Even if it seems the Cowboys have a chance for the playoffs, don't make that the focus. The rookie qb becoming as good as possible should be the focus. If somehow he gets experience in the playoffs, then great.
Also I didn't watch yesterday's Cowboys game as I'm boycotting them until Jones finally gives up being the GM. I urge all Cowboys fans with tickets this week to not go and to let Jerry his failed leadership has severely hurt the Cowboys. Let's get rid of this bum!
themusicaddict
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