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Sunday was a solid reminder that his failures in big Cowboys games go beyond a 2-3 playoff record for this entire decade.
By Tim Cowlishaw
PHILADELPHIA — When the Cowboys left Oxnard four months ago, they believed they had a roster filled with the kind of talent that would carry them to the NFC Championship Game and possibly beyond.
When they lost control of their destiny Sunday and assured themselves of nothing better than a .500 season, all their points were scored by Kai Forbath.
Think about that for a moment.
Against a team that surrendered 38 points to Minnesota, 37 to these same Cowboys and another 37 to (oops) the Miami Dolphins, the Eagles put the clampdown on Dallas with a 17-9 victory at the Linc. If Philly fans were limited in their choruses of “Fly Eagles Fly” on Sunday afternoon, Cowboys fans sat practically mute in watching their team fail to reach the end zone for an entire game.
“I’m a little numb that we didn’t come up here and beat them,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.
Uncomfortably numb? The lame-duck head coach will find out soon enough.
I don’t know in what mathematical series 9 follows 44, but that was the case for Dallas, which now has to hope for the Giants to beat Philadelphia in order to have a backdoor shot at the playoffs.
This wasn’t the end for Jason Garrett, because there is another game to play Sunday against Washington. But it was a solid reminder that his failures in big games go beyond a 2-3 playoff record for this entire decade. There were those three straight final-week losses to all three NFC East teams from 2011-2013 that kept Dallas out of the playoffs. There was that home defeat to Seattle in Week 16 two years ago that stopped another season in its tracks.
Then came this. In its own inept way, this was the worst. This was a game against an Eagles offense so lacking in quality weapons that Carson Wentz had to pull miracles out of his pocket to complete 31 passes for 319 yards in a game of keep-away with the Cowboys secondary that decent quarterbacks inevitably win.
Garrett was at his worst not only in having a team so ill-prepared that it took a 10-0 shot to the mouth in the opening quarter from which it never recovered. He was still at his worst afterward, talking about mistakes to clean up, having “eyes forward” for Washington and all the rest of his nonsense. You couldn’t honestly tell if his team had just lost a preseason game or one in which it was favored to wrap up a division title.
“We don’t control our destiny any more, but we do control our opportunity next week against Washington,” Garrett said. “We’ll get back in there, clean up this game, keep our eyes forward and do our part to finish the season the right way.”
Gag.
At best, the Cowboys will finish 8-8. That’s so far removed from “the right way” it’s painful to listen to the man. But while you’re counting the days or hours until Jones starts the unofficial coaching search, remove that idea you might have held that the next coach must hang onto parts of Garrett’s staff.
The Cowboys’ defense has been a mess for much of this season. Add Sunday to the list of games with zero takeaways, with no big stops at the crucial moment. And as for the former Boy Wonder Kellen Moore, the Cowboys found a way to lose to an Eagles team that had never stopped Ezekiel Elliott by ... not really making them stop Ezekiel Elliott.
Quarterback Dak Prescott talked about the Eagles’ rendering them one-dimensional, and Garrett said it was clear the Eagles were going to force them to throw the ball. Zeke finished with 13 carries for 47 yards. No, he didn’t run it well overall, but he barely ran it. At halftime of a 10-6 game, Elliott had five carries.
Bear in mind that Elliott was 5-0 with an average of 114.8 yards rushing against the Eagles before Sunday.
If this was an Eagles team that bore some resemblance to the Super Bowl champs of two years ago, a tough December loss here would be understandable. Instead, it’s a wounded team that lost to Miami three weeks ago, rallied for an overtime win over the Giants and trailed Washington with five minutes to play last week.
“We don’t have a whole lot of bodies,” tight end Dallas Goedert, the team’s leading receiver with nine catches, said. “But we did everything we could.’’
Did the Cowboys? Did the coaching staff? Did the organization?
With all four NFC East teams kicking off at 3:25 Sunday, the final week is all about hoping to beat Washington, climbing to 8-8 and crossing fingers for a Giants win over the Eagles.
That’s not a storybook ending like the one Jones said he was seeking a few weeks ago. That’s a stupid ending for a team with underachieving talent. Making sure Garrett doesn’t preside over another December like this is the first step toward fixing things, but don’t worry if most of his staff gets swept up in the wave.
By Tim Cowlishaw
PHILADELPHIA — When the Cowboys left Oxnard four months ago, they believed they had a roster filled with the kind of talent that would carry them to the NFC Championship Game and possibly beyond.
When they lost control of their destiny Sunday and assured themselves of nothing better than a .500 season, all their points were scored by Kai Forbath.
Think about that for a moment.
Against a team that surrendered 38 points to Minnesota, 37 to these same Cowboys and another 37 to (oops) the Miami Dolphins, the Eagles put the clampdown on Dallas with a 17-9 victory at the Linc. If Philly fans were limited in their choruses of “Fly Eagles Fly” on Sunday afternoon, Cowboys fans sat practically mute in watching their team fail to reach the end zone for an entire game.
“I’m a little numb that we didn’t come up here and beat them,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said.
Uncomfortably numb? The lame-duck head coach will find out soon enough.
I don’t know in what mathematical series 9 follows 44, but that was the case for Dallas, which now has to hope for the Giants to beat Philadelphia in order to have a backdoor shot at the playoffs.
This wasn’t the end for Jason Garrett, because there is another game to play Sunday against Washington. But it was a solid reminder that his failures in big games go beyond a 2-3 playoff record for this entire decade. There were those three straight final-week losses to all three NFC East teams from 2011-2013 that kept Dallas out of the playoffs. There was that home defeat to Seattle in Week 16 two years ago that stopped another season in its tracks.
Then came this. In its own inept way, this was the worst. This was a game against an Eagles offense so lacking in quality weapons that Carson Wentz had to pull miracles out of his pocket to complete 31 passes for 319 yards in a game of keep-away with the Cowboys secondary that decent quarterbacks inevitably win.
Garrett was at his worst not only in having a team so ill-prepared that it took a 10-0 shot to the mouth in the opening quarter from which it never recovered. He was still at his worst afterward, talking about mistakes to clean up, having “eyes forward” for Washington and all the rest of his nonsense. You couldn’t honestly tell if his team had just lost a preseason game or one in which it was favored to wrap up a division title.
“We don’t control our destiny any more, but we do control our opportunity next week against Washington,” Garrett said. “We’ll get back in there, clean up this game, keep our eyes forward and do our part to finish the season the right way.”
Gag.
At best, the Cowboys will finish 8-8. That’s so far removed from “the right way” it’s painful to listen to the man. But while you’re counting the days or hours until Jones starts the unofficial coaching search, remove that idea you might have held that the next coach must hang onto parts of Garrett’s staff.
The Cowboys’ defense has been a mess for much of this season. Add Sunday to the list of games with zero takeaways, with no big stops at the crucial moment. And as for the former Boy Wonder Kellen Moore, the Cowboys found a way to lose to an Eagles team that had never stopped Ezekiel Elliott by ... not really making them stop Ezekiel Elliott.
Quarterback Dak Prescott talked about the Eagles’ rendering them one-dimensional, and Garrett said it was clear the Eagles were going to force them to throw the ball. Zeke finished with 13 carries for 47 yards. No, he didn’t run it well overall, but he barely ran it. At halftime of a 10-6 game, Elliott had five carries.
Bear in mind that Elliott was 5-0 with an average of 114.8 yards rushing against the Eagles before Sunday.
If this was an Eagles team that bore some resemblance to the Super Bowl champs of two years ago, a tough December loss here would be understandable. Instead, it’s a wounded team that lost to Miami three weeks ago, rallied for an overtime win over the Giants and trailed Washington with five minutes to play last week.
“We don’t have a whole lot of bodies,” tight end Dallas Goedert, the team’s leading receiver with nine catches, said. “But we did everything we could.’’
Did the Cowboys? Did the coaching staff? Did the organization?
With all four NFC East teams kicking off at 3:25 Sunday, the final week is all about hoping to beat Washington, climbing to 8-8 and crossing fingers for a Giants win over the Eagles.
That’s not a storybook ending like the one Jones said he was seeking a few weeks ago. That’s a stupid ending for a team with underachieving talent. Making sure Garrett doesn’t preside over another December like this is the first step toward fixing things, but don’t worry if most of his staff gets swept up in the wave.
