Another Gutless, Heartless Performance by the Cowboys

Well, much to my disgust, I was correct about yesterday’s Cowboys game. And it didn’t take me very long to realize it was going to be a long afternoon for Los Vaqueros as I watched the Giants take the opening kickoff, march right down the field and score a touchdown. I predicted a 37-14 Giants win but was only off by 2 points. How has this thing fallen so far so fast? How have they gone from being Super Bowl FAVORITES to the pile of crap we’ve seen over the past 6 games? And make no mistake…this is one of the biggest piles of crap I’ve seen Dallas roll out. There have been years where, going into the season, we didn’t expect the Cowboys to have much so when they ended with a 5-11 record, there wasn’t much disappointment. But this year, one year off of going 13-3 with pretty much the same roster, Dallas was expected to not only make the playoffs but go to the Super Bowl. But to know and see how much talent this team has and then see the type of gutless, heartless play they rolled out yesterday is absolutely ridiculous. All we heard before last week’s game vs. Tampa Bay was that the team finally realized their back was against the wall and they had to play like it, which they did in beating the Bucs. However, it looks like that desperation reverted back to the apathetic play we saw the previous 4 games.

The offense, without Romo at the helm, is utterly abysmal. I really do wonder, given pads and time to warm up, if Aikman could have done better than Brad Johnson yesterday. Heck, throw Staubach in there as well. He’s 70 years old and can still throw the football like a dart. Brad Johnson…he has no business being in the league. I was going down the list of NFL rosters looking at backup QBs and there really wasn’t one that I wouldn’t take over Johnson. Last week, against Tampa Bay, he did well in not turning the ball over. Yesterday, he was 5 of 11 for 71 yards and threw 2 interceptions for a whooping 27.3 QB rating. Johnson made a nice throw to Roy Williams who made an awesome 1 handed catch deep in Giants territory. Then on the next play, with TO Owens running a slant, Johnson made one of the worst throws I’ve seen in a long time which was intercepted and returned for 57 yards. Pathetic.

Brooks Bollinger wasn’t much better in the 2nd half going 9 of 16 for 63 yards, 1 interception, 1 touchdown and a 60.2 rating. Johnson and Bollinger’s combined rating didn’t even equal Eli Manning’s 95.8 rating. What has happened to the offensive line? The o-line sent how many to the pro bowl last year? Are they out of shape or do they just don’t care? Or is it something else? They can’t even run block that adequately anymore. The running game only produced 81 yards on 24 carries. What a joke. What a very bad joke. The only thing positive I can say about Dallas’ offense is at least they aren’t Oakland’s offense, which produced all of 77 total yards of offense yesterday vs. Atlanta.

I know Romo is out, Felix Jones is out, and Jason Witten is limited in what he can do but none of them play defense which, in my opinion, is the saddest part of this whole tragedy. Talk about no stomach for the fight. Last year, 1 running back ran for over 100 yards…they have already had 3 this year. Three of the last 4 opponents have scored over 30 points and one of those was the ding-dong St. Louis Rams. This defense ranks almost last in the NFL in turnovers and 26th in scoring defense with only the Bengals, Lions, Chiefs, Forty Niners and Rams behind them. Has Dallas’ defense really fallen that far? Really? What is going on here? I tell you what’s going on…the defense has no freakin’ heart. This was illustrated no plainer than when Derrick Ward, the Giants BACKUP running back, was running for a touchdown and CB Mike Jenkins, who was one of Dallas 1st round draft picks, barely made an attempt to even get in Ward’s way much less make a tackle. Talk about gutless and cowardly. I mean, at least try…do something. If it were me, and I know I’m not alone, I would have benched Jenkins for the rest of the game right then and there. I wouldn’t have even spoken a word to him except to tell him to sit his butt down on the bench and don’t move or I would put him back out there to play nose guard.

Not only does this team play heartless football but they also play unfocused football. They are the most penalized team in the NFL. They were no different yesterday being penalized 9 times for 55 yards, the majority coming on offsides calls or false starts…and those penalties boil down to a lack of focus which points directly back to the coaching staff.

This thing is in a bad, bad way right now and IF Romo comes back for the Washington game, it’s not a given that it gets much better. If the team doesn’t come together and figure things out this will be a repeat of the 1997 season which saw the Cowboys limp to a 6-5 record, through 11 games, get thumped by Green Bay and not win another game the rest of the season in route to a 6-10 record and firing of Barry Switzer. If Dallas gets routed by Washington in 2 weeks like they did yesterday, that is exactly what will happen. What a waste…