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By Jon Machota 1h ago
FRISCO, Texas – When Jerry Jones imagines the possibilities still remaining for the 2019 Cowboys, he can’t help but recall one of his franchise’s heartbreaks. As bad as things have gotten this year, Jones still believes his team can get hot at the right time, just like the 2007 New York Giants team that eliminated a 13-3 Dallas squad at Texas Stadium to kick off an unlikely Super Bowl run.
The Cowboys owner and general manager has mentioned this fairy-tale scenario several times over the last few weeks.
He brought it up again on Tuesday when asked about the possibility of reseeding the playoffs in the future so teams with excellent records get to host rather than play on the road against an eight- or nine-win division champion.
“First of all, the system that we’re under right now has allowed at least one team that I’ll speak to directly, the New York Giants here a few years back, to come in under the same basis – and we had beaten them twice, and then they turned around and beat us, and then they won the Super Bowl,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan’s Shan and RJ show [KRLD-FM]. “So you can have a team go in with a less-than-impressive record and get in the playoffs, I call it ‘coming up the backside,’ and win the world championship. That’s pro football.”
It doesn’t take long for any parallels to fall apart.
The 2007 Giants reached the playoffs as a wild card team with a 10-6 record. The best the Cowboys can do this season is 9-7.
Those Giants only lost one road game that season – Week 1 at Dallas. New York then rattled off 11 consecutive road wins, which included defeating the 18-0 New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. None of that sounds like this current Cowboys team.
“I mean, that Patriots team still might be the best team in NFL history,” former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo said during an NFL Network show that ranked the 2007 Giants No. 53 on its list of 100 greatest NFL teams. “The thing about football, though, is if you have three or four pass rushers on the other side, those guys can disrupt a game.”
That Giants team had standout pass rushers Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Mathias Kiwanuka. Those four combined for 36.5 sacks during the regular season. The strength of this year’s Cowboys’ defense is supposed to be their pass rush, with top defensive linemen DeMarcus Lawrence, Robert Quinn, Michael Bennett and Maliek Collins all expected to play Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams. But their production hasn’t met expectations up to this point. The Cowboys are currently in the middle of the NFL pack this year with 34 sacks, 22.5 of which have come from that quartet.
The 2007 Giants were led by Eli Manning, who was in his fourth NFL season. He didn’t have a very good year; in 16 starts, Manning completed 56.1 percent of his passes for 3,336 yards, 23 touchdowns, 20 interceptions and a 73.9 passer rating. But he raised his game in the playoffs, completing 60.5 percent of his passes for 854 yards, six touchdowns, one interception and a 95.7 passer rating.
Dak Prescott is capable of that type of postseason production, and he was in the MVP discussion just last month. But he has struggled in the last three games.
The 2007 Giants ran the ball well, using a committee of backs that included Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, Reuben Droughns and Ahmad Bradshaw to average 134 yards per game, fourth-best in the league.
The 2019 Cowboys, meanwhile, have fallen to 10th in rushing at 124 yards per game. The bulk of that work has been done by Ezekiel Elliott, who ranks fifth in rushing but is averaging a career-low 82.4 yards per game. Elliott recently went over the 1,000-yard mark for the third time in his four Dallas seasons.
When asked Wednesday if he had a rushing total goal for this season, Elliott responded that he just wanted to win games.
“I’m trying to win a Super Bowl,” he added. “I really don’t care about that number. Who cares if you rush for 2,000 and you don’t even make the playoffs?”
Most fans and critics laugh at the idea of the Cowboys suddenly turning their season around and reaching the Super Bowl. Despite Dallas being the favorite to win the NFC East and host a wild card game, most feel that’s just prolonging the inevitable. Who cares about a playoff game when the host hasn’t beaten any team with a winning record?
Just for fun, let’s say the Cowboys win their final three regular-season games and finish 9-7. Since the Giants pulled off Jones’ dream scenario in 2007, 12 teams with records of 9-7 or worse have won at least one playoff game:
2008: Eagles (9-6-1) lost in the NFC Championship game.
2008: Cardinals (9-7) lost in the Super Bowl.
2009: Jets (9-7) lost in the AFC Championship game.
2009: Ravens (9-7) lost in the divisional round.
2010: Seahawks (7-9) lost in the divisional round.
2011: Giants (9-7) won the Super Bowl.
2011: Broncos (8-8) lost in the divisional round.
2013: Chargers (9-7) lost in the divisional round.
2014: Panthers (7-8-1) lost in the divisional round.
2016: Texans (9-7) lost in the divisional round.
2017: Titans (9-7) lost in the divisional round.
2018: Eagles (9-7) lost in the divisional round.
As you can see, up to 2011, there was still a realistic possibility of making a postseason run if a team snuck into the playoffs. However, over the last seven years, none of those teams have done more than win a wild card game before losing the following weekend. That’s not what Jones is looking for, and it’s unlikely this struggling Cowboys team will break that trend.
But some still have hope.
“We’re the ones writing the story,” Prescott said Monday night on The Cowboys Hour with Brad Sham and Taylor Stern. “We have the pen. The pen is in our hands. The pen isn’t in the critics’ hand. The pen isn’t in the fans’ hand. It’s for us to write our own story. It just hasn’t been a lot of good chapters so far. But it’s going to turn and it’s going to be a great story.
“And we’re writing it. I’m writing it. I’m excited for it. I’m excited about the men that we have and the way that it’s going to end.”
FRISCO, Texas – When Jerry Jones imagines the possibilities still remaining for the 2019 Cowboys, he can’t help but recall one of his franchise’s heartbreaks. As bad as things have gotten this year, Jones still believes his team can get hot at the right time, just like the 2007 New York Giants team that eliminated a 13-3 Dallas squad at Texas Stadium to kick off an unlikely Super Bowl run.
The Cowboys owner and general manager has mentioned this fairy-tale scenario several times over the last few weeks.
He brought it up again on Tuesday when asked about the possibility of reseeding the playoffs in the future so teams with excellent records get to host rather than play on the road against an eight- or nine-win division champion.
“First of all, the system that we’re under right now has allowed at least one team that I’ll speak to directly, the New York Giants here a few years back, to come in under the same basis – and we had beaten them twice, and then they turned around and beat us, and then they won the Super Bowl,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan’s Shan and RJ show [KRLD-FM]. “So you can have a team go in with a less-than-impressive record and get in the playoffs, I call it ‘coming up the backside,’ and win the world championship. That’s pro football.”
It doesn’t take long for any parallels to fall apart.
The 2007 Giants reached the playoffs as a wild card team with a 10-6 record. The best the Cowboys can do this season is 9-7.
Those Giants only lost one road game that season – Week 1 at Dallas. New York then rattled off 11 consecutive road wins, which included defeating the 18-0 New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. None of that sounds like this current Cowboys team.
“I mean, that Patriots team still might be the best team in NFL history,” former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo said during an NFL Network show that ranked the 2007 Giants No. 53 on its list of 100 greatest NFL teams. “The thing about football, though, is if you have three or four pass rushers on the other side, those guys can disrupt a game.”
That Giants team had standout pass rushers Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Mathias Kiwanuka. Those four combined for 36.5 sacks during the regular season. The strength of this year’s Cowboys’ defense is supposed to be their pass rush, with top defensive linemen DeMarcus Lawrence, Robert Quinn, Michael Bennett and Maliek Collins all expected to play Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams. But their production hasn’t met expectations up to this point. The Cowboys are currently in the middle of the NFL pack this year with 34 sacks, 22.5 of which have come from that quartet.
The 2007 Giants were led by Eli Manning, who was in his fourth NFL season. He didn’t have a very good year; in 16 starts, Manning completed 56.1 percent of his passes for 3,336 yards, 23 touchdowns, 20 interceptions and a 73.9 passer rating. But he raised his game in the playoffs, completing 60.5 percent of his passes for 854 yards, six touchdowns, one interception and a 95.7 passer rating.
Dak Prescott is capable of that type of postseason production, and he was in the MVP discussion just last month. But he has struggled in the last three games.
The 2007 Giants ran the ball well, using a committee of backs that included Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, Reuben Droughns and Ahmad Bradshaw to average 134 yards per game, fourth-best in the league.
The 2019 Cowboys, meanwhile, have fallen to 10th in rushing at 124 yards per game. The bulk of that work has been done by Ezekiel Elliott, who ranks fifth in rushing but is averaging a career-low 82.4 yards per game. Elliott recently went over the 1,000-yard mark for the third time in his four Dallas seasons.
When asked Wednesday if he had a rushing total goal for this season, Elliott responded that he just wanted to win games.
“I’m trying to win a Super Bowl,” he added. “I really don’t care about that number. Who cares if you rush for 2,000 and you don’t even make the playoffs?”
Most fans and critics laugh at the idea of the Cowboys suddenly turning their season around and reaching the Super Bowl. Despite Dallas being the favorite to win the NFC East and host a wild card game, most feel that’s just prolonging the inevitable. Who cares about a playoff game when the host hasn’t beaten any team with a winning record?
Just for fun, let’s say the Cowboys win their final three regular-season games and finish 9-7. Since the Giants pulled off Jones’ dream scenario in 2007, 12 teams with records of 9-7 or worse have won at least one playoff game:
2008: Eagles (9-6-1) lost in the NFC Championship game.
2008: Cardinals (9-7) lost in the Super Bowl.
2009: Jets (9-7) lost in the AFC Championship game.
2009: Ravens (9-7) lost in the divisional round.
2010: Seahawks (7-9) lost in the divisional round.
2011: Giants (9-7) won the Super Bowl.
2011: Broncos (8-8) lost in the divisional round.
2013: Chargers (9-7) lost in the divisional round.
2014: Panthers (7-8-1) lost in the divisional round.
2016: Texans (9-7) lost in the divisional round.
2017: Titans (9-7) lost in the divisional round.
2018: Eagles (9-7) lost in the divisional round.
As you can see, up to 2011, there was still a realistic possibility of making a postseason run if a team snuck into the playoffs. However, over the last seven years, none of those teams have done more than win a wild card game before losing the following weekend. That’s not what Jones is looking for, and it’s unlikely this struggling Cowboys team will break that trend.
But some still have hope.
“We’re the ones writing the story,” Prescott said Monday night on The Cowboys Hour with Brad Sham and Taylor Stern. “We have the pen. The pen is in our hands. The pen isn’t in the critics’ hand. The pen isn’t in the fans’ hand. It’s for us to write our own story. It just hasn’t been a lot of good chapters so far. But it’s going to turn and it’s going to be a great story.
“And we’re writing it. I’m writing it. I’m excited for it. I’m excited about the men that we have and the way that it’s going to end.”
