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Cowboys take familiar path to another brutal defeat, end season: Morning After
By Bob Sturm 1h ago
And so it ends, just as frustratingly as it began.
As you may recall, when this journey awkwardly began with all of the bodies healthy and dreams fully intact back in September, the Cowboys went on the road to measure themselves against a nice roster in an empty stadium. They had a somewhat similar outcome. Fall behind due to some ridiculous defense, start an offensive line that looks unable to protect the passer as the stakes rise with each passing down, mount a furious rally that eventually falls short and throw in some very curious in-game coaching decisions that leave the cherry on top askew.
Much of Mike McCarthy’s first season was supposed to help put the last few years of Jason Garrett in the rearview mirror by cleaning up all of the untidiness of the past. And yet, as we write the obituary for a season right around the one-year anniversary of Garrett leaving the Cowboys facility for the newer model of the franchise’s head coach, we see that the progress made is so below expectations and demands that it feels almost like sabotage.
Week 1 and Week 17 were somewhat reminiscent of each other in the sense that the Cowboys should have done much, much better in these spots and several more in between. But their inability to do the little things and take the easy path, with coaches pulling the right levers and pushing the right buttons, did little to settle the fanbase’s uneasiness about hiring a former rival to fix this mess.
Instead, the Cowboys lost in Week 1 on the road in Los Angeles, lost in Week 17 on the road in New York and sprinkled in frustrating road days in Seattle, Washington, Philadelphia and Baltimore. This was a 2-6 road team that reminded us of so many substandard teams of the past: sloppy, slow to get up to speed, then falling short because all the margin for error had been used just to get back in the game.
But managing only two road wins in an entire season — at Minnesota and Cincinnati — speaks to a Cowboys organization as pathetic as it has been in a very long time. How long? No Jason Garrett team ever was that poor. The last time it happened was the 2004 season with Bill Parcells. Worse than that? Well, the 2001 and 2002 Dave Campo years only featured one road win each, and we all know they couldn’t end that era soon enough despite our regard for Coach Campo as a lovely human being.
The 2020 season has been an absolute Dallas Cowboys disaster from so many perspectives that will be detailed in the days and weeks to come. But the belief that the firing and hiring that happened a year ago was a stepping stone to the final level of football immortality can be seen as yet another Barnum and Bailey over-promise and under-deliver in the Jerry Jones era. The Cowboys’ owner and general manager certainly has a way with words, and as the new model is being shown off to the adoring public, he must always pump the tires to a level where the masses feel duped yet again if there is not immediate success and turn on the guy who has just arrived. Jones cannot help himself when he hands a rookie draft pick the No. 88 jersey and declares him a future legend, and he cannot help himself when he inks a new head coach and starts saying the words “Super Bowl” into the nearest open microphone.
This cannot be another case of going back at Jerry Jones, however, because old dogs do not learn new tricks. He is what he is, and we can either hope the sun stops rising in the east, or we can prepare accordingly. This is more about the fact that there are a few things abundantly clear after the final case of 2020 is closed.
This team has issues to address.
We can start with the numerous times this side looked like it was not receiving the coaching it requires. On display in New Jersey yet again yesterday for all to see, we can discuss the merits of simply “being ready to play,” as the Cowboys defense started that game with several poor tackling efforts and a general look like they were not aware the game had begun — as Sterling Shepard waltzed into the end zone on an end-around that had all the intensity of an Oxnard practice session. A Giants team that had done next to nothing in recent weeks marched into the end zone with comical ease. Six weeks had passed since they had scored more than 19 points in an entire game, so New York sitting at 20 points at the half against a Dallas team that still thought they could win the division is yet another start reminder that this is not good enough.
I should repeat that: The Giants had not scored more than 19 points since November 15th. They had 20 at the half yesterday.
Perhaps that wasn’t startling to you because it was the seventh time the Cowboys had allowed 20 by halftime this year. The seventh! There were three more times when the number was 17 or more, bringing us to a total of 10 out of the 16 games this season when the Cowboys allowed 17 points in the first 30 minutes. In other words, this is not a case of attrition or of just being on the field too long against teams that are too good. They don’t get stops in the first half, and it has killed them all season. Early on, we tried to blame the offense for its reckless abandon with the football. The giveaways in the first half have almost completely stopped after Halloween, but the faucet of opponents points has not.
The byproduct of always being behind at the half — as they were yesterday, 20-9 — is that the margin for error and the ability to get away with even the slightest mistakes dries up. So this is where McCarthy’s coaching acumen is yet again called into question.
The two items from Sunday that will be cussed and discussed at great length are definitely both from the second half, when the team was in a deficit position yet again.
With 8:39 left in the third quarter, Ezekiel Elliott punched in the lone touchdown of the day with a powerful run behind big Terence Steele. Dallas cut the lead to 20-15. They could then kick or go for two, and most of us had this as a pretty traditional two-point spot because the math looks much better at 20-17 than it does at 20-16. I don’t take complete issue with this move because we know that there are nearly 24 minutes of football yet to play, so chasing points if you miss and it remains 20-15 can be a problem you will later regret (for instance, if the opponent kicks a FG, makes it 23-15 and you now need eight just to tie). While the book says he played it wrong, and while I believe he did, too, this one is not really that egregious in the big scheme of things. Much can happen on the way in, and while I believe it is probably the wrong move, the fractional differences in the middle of the third quarter are probably not worth storming the castle with disgust. You are welcome to disagree, though — and judging from the feedback, many do.
The other one, though, feels like it probably cost Dallas the game.
Down just 20-19, Dallas called a wonderful safety blitz on second down. Donovan Wilson was able to blindside Daniel Jones into a massive loss all the way out of field-goal position and to a 3rd-and-16 at the 42-yard line. On the third down, Dallas clearly switched to a sort of “guard the sticks” prevent defense, and New York was just trying to get back 10 yards or so to kick a field goal and make it a four-point game. Nolan dropped seven, and Jason Garrett had four targets all at a rather short distance in front of most of the defenders across the field. Daniel Jones had to simply step up and find one that breaks over the 35-yard line but never even flirts with the sticks at the 26-yard line.
The throw, like so many from Jones, nearly bounced to the target, but former 49ers second-rounder Dante Pettis (son of the great Gary Pettis, by the way) made a catch right above the turf. The catch, however, was certainly worth further scrutiny and, by almost any neutral account, a coach’s challenge from McCarthy.
The Cowboys had been playing uphill all day. They had been in the end-zone just once 53 minutes into a 60-minute affair. If the Giants hit a 50-yard field goal, Dallas would need a touchdown to win.
In other words, how do you not challenge that catch? There is too much on the line to keep your powder dry here. It is either a four-point lead or a punt. Throw the red flag!
We don’t know the procedural chain of command in the booth for McCarthy — partly because he doesn’t want us to know it. To some, that is simply none of our business, since coaches protect secrets like they actually matter. To others, it is showing leadership to make sure nobody blames an assistant coach who makes a fraction of the money the head coach makes. It seems silly not to let us know who your “eyes in the sky” actually are, but I would feel safe saying McCarthy has at least one guy who is watching the same replays we are seeing at home. Sometimes that breaks down, especially on the road, but in this case, Fox had the views that were needed, and this seems really botched. Dallas had time — the Giants weren’t in a real hurry to get the snap off — and they simply did not challenge a play that likely would be reversed if they had. I am speculating wildly on that front, but that’s where the evidence points.
The score was 23-19, and Andy Dalton needed a touchdown drive.
The Cowboys mounted a 17-play drive that methodically marched down the field and also dried up the remainder of the clock. One interesting subplot to this game is that Dalton could make a million dollars if the Cowboys made the playoffs with him playing 50 percent of the snaps. Well, that was starting to actualize, as after Dalton looked “off” all day, he started to put things together in the second half. Much of it was due to some courageous runs to move the chains, one of which culminated in Giants star lineman Leonard Williams stepping on his left hand and partially disabling it for the rest of the day.
Out of the two-minute warning, Dalton hit Dalton Schultz to set up a 1st-and-goal. Now the Cowboys were more worried about not leaving too much time for the Giants as a score seemed assured. It seemed that way until big Leonard took over again with another huge sack — his third of the day. We don’t know what Williams will cost the Giants, but nobody is laughing anymore about them trading with the Jets at the deadline last year to get him without a contract. He has been the alpha that their defense needed and now he can fill out the numbers on his own deal. His trade within the same stadium has been a huge move for the Giants, and he has become the stud he appeared he would be coming out of USC.
From there, CeeDee Lamb had another crucial drop — something that has really been an issue over the last few months. This one came on a play that might have erased the sack completely. Dallas now faced 3rd-and-goal from the 17, and Dalton was under pressure again, so he tossed a YOLO ball up for grabs rather than throwing it away for a fourth-down chance. Giants rookie Xavier McKinney grabbed an easy interception to end the game…
…at least until a wild fumble in the final seconds from Wayne Gallman almost had people referencing the famous Meadowlands fumble of Joe Pisarcik. Ultimately, review claimed that Gallman had the ball before the chaos ensued.
All of this means that, yet again, a lousy first-half hole was dug, a coaching blunder made things more difficult and plays were left unmade in the final minutes.
The season mercifully was put to rest around 3 p.m., leaving the Giants could agonize through the absurdity of the Washington-Philadelphia game with their playoff hopes hanging in the balance as the Eagles showed no concern and Washington obtained its unlikely division crown.
And so ends the 2020 Cowboys season. Are they better off than they were one year ago? Amazingly, I would have to admit that the answer seems far less clear than anyone would have hoped. Disappointing would be an understatement.
By Bob Sturm 1h ago
And so it ends, just as frustratingly as it began.
As you may recall, when this journey awkwardly began with all of the bodies healthy and dreams fully intact back in September, the Cowboys went on the road to measure themselves against a nice roster in an empty stadium. They had a somewhat similar outcome. Fall behind due to some ridiculous defense, start an offensive line that looks unable to protect the passer as the stakes rise with each passing down, mount a furious rally that eventually falls short and throw in some very curious in-game coaching decisions that leave the cherry on top askew.
Much of Mike McCarthy’s first season was supposed to help put the last few years of Jason Garrett in the rearview mirror by cleaning up all of the untidiness of the past. And yet, as we write the obituary for a season right around the one-year anniversary of Garrett leaving the Cowboys facility for the newer model of the franchise’s head coach, we see that the progress made is so below expectations and demands that it feels almost like sabotage.
Week 1 and Week 17 were somewhat reminiscent of each other in the sense that the Cowboys should have done much, much better in these spots and several more in between. But their inability to do the little things and take the easy path, with coaches pulling the right levers and pushing the right buttons, did little to settle the fanbase’s uneasiness about hiring a former rival to fix this mess.
Instead, the Cowboys lost in Week 1 on the road in Los Angeles, lost in Week 17 on the road in New York and sprinkled in frustrating road days in Seattle, Washington, Philadelphia and Baltimore. This was a 2-6 road team that reminded us of so many substandard teams of the past: sloppy, slow to get up to speed, then falling short because all the margin for error had been used just to get back in the game.
But managing only two road wins in an entire season — at Minnesota and Cincinnati — speaks to a Cowboys organization as pathetic as it has been in a very long time. How long? No Jason Garrett team ever was that poor. The last time it happened was the 2004 season with Bill Parcells. Worse than that? Well, the 2001 and 2002 Dave Campo years only featured one road win each, and we all know they couldn’t end that era soon enough despite our regard for Coach Campo as a lovely human being.
The 2020 season has been an absolute Dallas Cowboys disaster from so many perspectives that will be detailed in the days and weeks to come. But the belief that the firing and hiring that happened a year ago was a stepping stone to the final level of football immortality can be seen as yet another Barnum and Bailey over-promise and under-deliver in the Jerry Jones era. The Cowboys’ owner and general manager certainly has a way with words, and as the new model is being shown off to the adoring public, he must always pump the tires to a level where the masses feel duped yet again if there is not immediate success and turn on the guy who has just arrived. Jones cannot help himself when he hands a rookie draft pick the No. 88 jersey and declares him a future legend, and he cannot help himself when he inks a new head coach and starts saying the words “Super Bowl” into the nearest open microphone.
This cannot be another case of going back at Jerry Jones, however, because old dogs do not learn new tricks. He is what he is, and we can either hope the sun stops rising in the east, or we can prepare accordingly. This is more about the fact that there are a few things abundantly clear after the final case of 2020 is closed.
This team has issues to address.
We can start with the numerous times this side looked like it was not receiving the coaching it requires. On display in New Jersey yet again yesterday for all to see, we can discuss the merits of simply “being ready to play,” as the Cowboys defense started that game with several poor tackling efforts and a general look like they were not aware the game had begun — as Sterling Shepard waltzed into the end zone on an end-around that had all the intensity of an Oxnard practice session. A Giants team that had done next to nothing in recent weeks marched into the end zone with comical ease. Six weeks had passed since they had scored more than 19 points in an entire game, so New York sitting at 20 points at the half against a Dallas team that still thought they could win the division is yet another start reminder that this is not good enough.
I should repeat that: The Giants had not scored more than 19 points since November 15th. They had 20 at the half yesterday.
Perhaps that wasn’t startling to you because it was the seventh time the Cowboys had allowed 20 by halftime this year. The seventh! There were three more times when the number was 17 or more, bringing us to a total of 10 out of the 16 games this season when the Cowboys allowed 17 points in the first 30 minutes. In other words, this is not a case of attrition or of just being on the field too long against teams that are too good. They don’t get stops in the first half, and it has killed them all season. Early on, we tried to blame the offense for its reckless abandon with the football. The giveaways in the first half have almost completely stopped after Halloween, but the faucet of opponents points has not.
The byproduct of always being behind at the half — as they were yesterday, 20-9 — is that the margin for error and the ability to get away with even the slightest mistakes dries up. So this is where McCarthy’s coaching acumen is yet again called into question.
The two items from Sunday that will be cussed and discussed at great length are definitely both from the second half, when the team was in a deficit position yet again.
With 8:39 left in the third quarter, Ezekiel Elliott punched in the lone touchdown of the day with a powerful run behind big Terence Steele. Dallas cut the lead to 20-15. They could then kick or go for two, and most of us had this as a pretty traditional two-point spot because the math looks much better at 20-17 than it does at 20-16. I don’t take complete issue with this move because we know that there are nearly 24 minutes of football yet to play, so chasing points if you miss and it remains 20-15 can be a problem you will later regret (for instance, if the opponent kicks a FG, makes it 23-15 and you now need eight just to tie). While the book says he played it wrong, and while I believe he did, too, this one is not really that egregious in the big scheme of things. Much can happen on the way in, and while I believe it is probably the wrong move, the fractional differences in the middle of the third quarter are probably not worth storming the castle with disgust. You are welcome to disagree, though — and judging from the feedback, many do.
The other one, though, feels like it probably cost Dallas the game.
Down just 20-19, Dallas called a wonderful safety blitz on second down. Donovan Wilson was able to blindside Daniel Jones into a massive loss all the way out of field-goal position and to a 3rd-and-16 at the 42-yard line. On the third down, Dallas clearly switched to a sort of “guard the sticks” prevent defense, and New York was just trying to get back 10 yards or so to kick a field goal and make it a four-point game. Nolan dropped seven, and Jason Garrett had four targets all at a rather short distance in front of most of the defenders across the field. Daniel Jones had to simply step up and find one that breaks over the 35-yard line but never even flirts with the sticks at the 26-yard line.
The throw, like so many from Jones, nearly bounced to the target, but former 49ers second-rounder Dante Pettis (son of the great Gary Pettis, by the way) made a catch right above the turf. The catch, however, was certainly worth further scrutiny and, by almost any neutral account, a coach’s challenge from McCarthy.
The Cowboys had been playing uphill all day. They had been in the end-zone just once 53 minutes into a 60-minute affair. If the Giants hit a 50-yard field goal, Dallas would need a touchdown to win.
In other words, how do you not challenge that catch? There is too much on the line to keep your powder dry here. It is either a four-point lead or a punt. Throw the red flag!
We don’t know the procedural chain of command in the booth for McCarthy — partly because he doesn’t want us to know it. To some, that is simply none of our business, since coaches protect secrets like they actually matter. To others, it is showing leadership to make sure nobody blames an assistant coach who makes a fraction of the money the head coach makes. It seems silly not to let us know who your “eyes in the sky” actually are, but I would feel safe saying McCarthy has at least one guy who is watching the same replays we are seeing at home. Sometimes that breaks down, especially on the road, but in this case, Fox had the views that were needed, and this seems really botched. Dallas had time — the Giants weren’t in a real hurry to get the snap off — and they simply did not challenge a play that likely would be reversed if they had. I am speculating wildly on that front, but that’s where the evidence points.
The score was 23-19, and Andy Dalton needed a touchdown drive.
The Cowboys mounted a 17-play drive that methodically marched down the field and also dried up the remainder of the clock. One interesting subplot to this game is that Dalton could make a million dollars if the Cowboys made the playoffs with him playing 50 percent of the snaps. Well, that was starting to actualize, as after Dalton looked “off” all day, he started to put things together in the second half. Much of it was due to some courageous runs to move the chains, one of which culminated in Giants star lineman Leonard Williams stepping on his left hand and partially disabling it for the rest of the day.
Out of the two-minute warning, Dalton hit Dalton Schultz to set up a 1st-and-goal. Now the Cowboys were more worried about not leaving too much time for the Giants as a score seemed assured. It seemed that way until big Leonard took over again with another huge sack — his third of the day. We don’t know what Williams will cost the Giants, but nobody is laughing anymore about them trading with the Jets at the deadline last year to get him without a contract. He has been the alpha that their defense needed and now he can fill out the numbers on his own deal. His trade within the same stadium has been a huge move for the Giants, and he has become the stud he appeared he would be coming out of USC.
From there, CeeDee Lamb had another crucial drop — something that has really been an issue over the last few months. This one came on a play that might have erased the sack completely. Dallas now faced 3rd-and-goal from the 17, and Dalton was under pressure again, so he tossed a YOLO ball up for grabs rather than throwing it away for a fourth-down chance. Giants rookie Xavier McKinney grabbed an easy interception to end the game…
…at least until a wild fumble in the final seconds from Wayne Gallman almost had people referencing the famous Meadowlands fumble of Joe Pisarcik. Ultimately, review claimed that Gallman had the ball before the chaos ensued.
All of this means that, yet again, a lousy first-half hole was dug, a coaching blunder made things more difficult and plays were left unmade in the final minutes.
The season mercifully was put to rest around 3 p.m., leaving the Giants could agonize through the absurdity of the Washington-Philadelphia game with their playoff hopes hanging in the balance as the Eagles showed no concern and Washington obtained its unlikely division crown.
And so ends the 2020 Cowboys season. Are they better off than they were one year ago? Amazingly, I would have to admit that the answer seems far less clear than anyone would have hoped. Disappointing would be an understatement.