JJT: Nothing has changed for Dallas

[Cotton]

Nothing has changed for Dallas

There are no moral victories for the Cowboys, who remain the epitome of mediocre
Updated: October 7, 2013, 2:02 AM ET
By Jean-Jacques Taylor | ESPNDallas.com

ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Tony Romo apologists already have their talking points on laminated cards. They're only discussing his 506 yards passing, five touchdown passes and the Dallas Cowboys' raggedy defense. Meanwhile, the Romo haters can't get over how the most polarizing player in franchise history could play brilliantly for 57 minutes, have the ball in his hands in a tie game and throw a brutal interception.

Again.

Remember, he did essentially the same thing last season in the regular-season finale against the Washington Redskins with a playoff berth on the line.

It's what Romo does. It's who he is. Romo is a supremely talented player with a propensity to make mistakes at the worst possible times.

Deny it, if you choose, but we saw him do it Sunday against the Denver Broncos in one of the best football games you'll ever see.

Denver 51, Dallas 48.

You also saw why the Cowboys have remained mired in the muck of mediocrity -- Dallas is 130-131 since 1997 -- for parts of three decades.

Nothing has changed. Not really.

This team continues to find creative ways to lose; good teams figure out how to win.

Jason Garrett can talk all he wants about the positives he saw against Denver. He can talk about Jason Witten, Dez Bryant and Terrance Williams each surpassing 100 yards receiving, and Morris Claiborne recovering a fumble and intercepting a pass and Sean Lee's 16 tackles.

He can even talk about his team grabbing a 14-0 first-quarter lead and battling from a 35-20 third-quarter deficit to take a 48-41 lead in the fourth quarter.

It's all poppycock.

Why? The Cowboys still lost.

Romo forced a pass to rookie tight end Gavin Escobar that linebacker Danny Trevathan intercepted at the Dallas 24, which set up Matt Prater's game-winning, 28-yard field goal as time expired.

Now, the Cowboys are 2-3, and after next week's game against Washington, they play five of the next seven on the road. Do the math and figure out the eight additional games the Cowboys are going to win to reach 10 victories and secure a playoff spot.

If you think it'll take only nine wins to capture the NFC East, the Cowboys still have to win seven of their last 11. Go find the evidence that this up-and-down team can string together a bunch of wins.

Besides, too many people affiliated with this team are delusional -- start with the owner who stood in the middle of the locker room and declared a moral victory.

"I'm just encouraged that we played at the level we played in a lot of areas that we're gonna win enough games to get where we want to be," Jerry Jones said. "This was a moral victory today for us."

It was?

"Yes. Yes."

And you wonder why this team remains the epitome of mediocre. If the Cowboys were 3-2, we could at least listen to Jerry hint at the possibility of making the playoffs and competing for the Super Bowl without laughing.

But this team is 2-3 and 24-29 since the start of the 2010 season. Garrett is slowly building a team, but he could've used this type of signature win on his résumé.

"I'm proud of the way we played, but at the same time," Witten said, "we're too far along to say, 'Hey, we were right there with the best team in the league.' There are no moral victories. You've got to find a way to win games."

Exactly.

The reality is Romo had a career day. He might never come close to playing as well as he did against the Broncos.

Jerry's optimism is founded in his belief that the Cowboys found an offensive identity against Denver. Romo finally attacked the defense instead of taking the conservative throw every time he dropped back to pass.

Romo had nine completions of 20 yards or more in the first four games of the 2013 season; he had nine against Denver in becoming the first 500-yard passer in franchise history.

"I see the fundamentals for what our plan was in the offseason that was going to give us ball protection," Jerry said, "although it's ironic that we lost the game with an interception at the end.

"How do you get all of that and get and keep a creative Romo? If he'll play like that, we're gonna have one heck of a year, and we'll be knocking at the door. We'll beat most teams we play if he'll play like that."

This performance proves nothing other than the Cowboys are talented enough to play with the best teams any week. It shows that, on a given day, Romo can play like an elite quarterback.

So what.

We've seen the Cowboys and Romo do it in the past. Many times.

We've just never seen them do it consistently in years. We're talking about one of three franchises -- Detroit and Washington are the others -- that hasn't played in the NFC Championship Game since 1997.

Heck, the Cowboys have won only 10 games in a season three times since 1997. This is the team they've been for nearly 20 years. They're as liable to turn in a terrific performance Sunday against Washington as they are a poor one.

 

[boozeman]

Eatman: These Close Calls With Elite Teams Are Getting Hollow
Posted 7 hours ago

Nick Eatman DallasCowboys.com Staff Writer



IRVING, Texas – After the game, Jerry Jones called the heartbreaking loss to Denver a moral victory. The players in the locker room didn’t really see it that way, or at least they didn’t say as such.

Sure, getting beat by three to a Denver squad that had been steamrolling people left and right has to count for something, right? Anything?

Yeah, for these Cowboys, it’ll probably count as the third straight year they almost beat a Super Bowl team at some point in the regular season. I’m not crowning the Broncos the champs just yet, but I think we all can see how good they are, and with Von Miller and Champ Bailey coming back to help that defense, it’ll only get tougher for Denver’s opponents.

So when it’s all said and done, I have a hard time thinking Peyton Manning and his Broncos squad won’t be at least playing in the Super Bowl and probably winning it.

But we’ve seen this before from the Cowboys. I mean, just hanging with the mighty Broncos is really nothing new for this team.

Go back to last year, the Cowboys not only stayed with the Ravens, they should’ve won that game up in Baltimore. I thought at the time, Dallas out-played the eventual Super Bowl champs, and had they come up with a few more yards at the end and given Dan Bailey an easier attempt than a 51-yarder with a crosswind, they likely would’ve changed the outcome of a 31-29 loss.

The team Baltimore played in the Super Bowl – San Francisco – edged out the Falcons in the NFC Championship Game. And it was Atlanta that needed some good fortune in the final minutes to beat the Cowboys in Week 9 last year, staying undefeated with a 19-13 win.

Go back to 2011 and both Super Bowl teams – New England and the NY Giants – were on the ropes against the Cowboys. The Patriots needed a late drive by Tom Brady and a touchdown to Aaron Hernandez in the final seconds to escape with a 20-16 win in Foxboro. Later in the season, the Giants were down 12 with about six minutes to go, but Eli Manning rallied his team to two touchdowns for a 37-34 win.

Yes, close games happen every year with the Cowboys. They happen every week in this league. It’s a close league and teams at the top of the standings will inevitably get tested, and sometimes beaten, by teams closer to the bottom.

That is the nature of this league.

But at some point, enough has to be enough.

Or, you just take these games for what they are. But moral victories can’t be in the discussion anymore. I know it’s Peyton Manning and the Cowboys won’t face a better quarterback this year than him. Although, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers aren’t far off.

I understand the concept of recognizing the positives from a loss, just like you’d address the negatives in a win. And so considering there are 11 games left to play, the Cowboys should be optimistic about the offense and its ability to score 48 points like it did Sunday. Without a doubt, if they can put up even a fraction of those points and yards, you would think they’d be good enough to beat some of these remaining teams on the schedule, particularly in the NFC East.

So I understand Jerry’s “moral victory” stance.

But at the same time, it’s got to have some substance to it. Because just getting close to these elite teams has proven time and time again that it doesn’t get you past 8-8 and out-of-the-playoffs status.

 

[Plan9Misfit]

Where's Anthony Spencer when we need him? This was his type of game. We almost got the job done. But didn't.

 

[Genghis Khan]

Why does JJT seem to try to work the word poppycock into almost every article? It has to be on purpose. There can't possibly be anyone outside of 1915 England that just casually uses the word poppycock on a regular basis.