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Morning After Week 14 - Monday Night Pain
Cowboys lose a frustrating game and major injury strikes a young, talented star player.
Bob Sturm
Dec 10, 2024
Just brutal.
There is no other way to fully describe 2024 as a season of Cowboys football and in specific, the double-body-blow from Monday Night.
Because there have been losses this year. Lots of them. Everyone is familiar with the concept now as this team has lost a lot of football games. Just merely losing a game will not make anyone believe you did anything special. Eight times this year the Cowboys have pulled off that accomplishment and will no-doubt make a serious run at eleven or twelve before this season mercifully comes to an end.
But, this was not a normal loss.
By now, you know that the Cowboys had the game in a really impressive position. They had worked 58 minutes to generate enough plays in one direction and to limit the track meet in the other direction just enough. They had somehow found their way to a 20-20 tie, with 2 minutes to go. They have just set the stadium into a frenzy by making a stand that on a four-play sequence, Dallas drew consecutive holding penalties and then set it all off with a massive sack on 3rd and 19.
With two minutes to play in the game, the Bengals would punt on a 4th and 27 to the NFL’s leader in return yardage in 2024, Kavontae Turpin. He would be looking to set the Cowboys up in excellent field position. Now, look, they would still need to get the ball up the field a bit and it is just Cooper Rush. So I am not going to tell you that Dallas was definitely winning that game if the next few seconds went according to plan, but I will tell you at the moment of the 2-minute warning, Dallas was about to receive a punt and had a 62% win likelihood that was about to surely shoot right up to 80% with a first down.
The amount of hard work it takes to get to that point of a NFL game would fill a dozen columns. When you are down QB1 and are playing against Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, you need so much to go right and to fall into place to have this opportunity. They have almost pulled it off in this entertaining night of football.
Now, the dream, moves to blocking a punt. Dallas had not blocked a punt all year and we see that fewer than ten have happened in the NFL this season. But, what a moment it would be to dial one up. A tie game and you have the opponent pretty deep in their own end with 2-minutes to play, so if you have a blocked punt strategy to play, now would be a good time to dust it off.
Checking the video, it really doesn’t look like a special block is called. It just sort of looks like No. 41 Nick Vigil decided to try to get past his man, undrafted rookie LB No. 45 Maema Njongmeta for the Bengals. He does with absurd ease and is in to block the punt.
You cannot believe how hard it is to block a punt when you really need it. Again, blocking punts are extremely rare and the odds of you lining up your annual block with a moment late in a tight game is off the charts. Not even worth our calculations.
But, they did it. If everyone yells “Peter, Peter”, then I imagine we can just send out Brandon Aubrey after a few run plays to run the clock and call it a night. That has been the universal word for “get away from the ball” that football players have been yelling after blocks for decades. This game will be going to the Cowboys and it will instantly be their favorite win of the season because of how hard everyone had to struggle to get it.
Instead, 2024 decided to get involved again. And if you are the Dallas Cowboys, you know pretty instantly that this is going to mean something bad is about to happen.
Now, if you read my stuff for any amount of time, you know I have a fascination with the NFL game-day mechanics for running a roster as it pertains to special teams and making sure every duty has someone doing it that is ready to roll. The special teams coordinator’s duties for any football program is vital, but in the NFL, it is downright absurd. The rosters are tiny and guys are constantly, without notice, being taken off the list because they are in the medical tent or locker-room having injuries evaluated and treated. But, the game doesn’t wait. Next man up and he has to go out there and not cost us the game.
Keep in mind this is going on hundreds of times a season and it all looks like the busses and trains are all running on time and everything is in order. So, in this game, the Cowboys are juggling injuries and guys fall during the course of the game and this causes new players to be called into duty at any moment.
Our guy, Amani Oruwariye, was called this game into the duty of punt return. He had never covered a punt return for the Cowboys until last night, but last night he dealt with all three. He has hardly played for the Cowboys in any capacity, but about a month ago, he played for a few games in a row before guys started getting back healthy and he went to injured reserve, himself. But, when he is active to help out at cornerback, he is the type of guy they will grab when they need special teams reinforcements, partly because there is nobody else available who can do the job.
As you know, Oruwariye was the goat last night. He is dealing with the gunner, with his back to the play and then he hears the commotion, turns around, sees the ball, and has been taught since he was a boy that if you see the ball on the ground around you – especially when he is playing on defense in his normal job – you just fall on it and ask questions later. The ball is precious, so if it is ever around you, secure it.
Had Oruwariye been experienced or a little more composed, perhaps he gets away from it because he heard them yell “Peter, Peter”, but he clearly did not. From there, the Bengals get on top of the now-live ball and go from 4th and 27 with no chance to a fresh set of downs because they have recovered a fumbled punt.
It was a colossal error, of course. There is absolutely no reason to get close to that football. You have to get away. The moment had folks mad at the Cowboys coaches last night and technically, it is their job to have every member of the roster ready for anything that could happen on any play, but hardly ever will. This is a game that offers scenarios most players will never, ever encounter, but if they do, they will remember the coach who spent an hour on it when they were in middle school. I am not absolving Oruwariye from his moment where he was paired with Leon Lett, but the odds of a kid born in 1996 knowing about a famous Cowboys play from 1993 is probably unlikely. Yes, technically, it is up to the coaches to make sure every guy on the practice squad knows all the nuances of the NFL’s ever evolving rules, but it is just never going to happen.
For those of you who would love to relive that 1993 moment that had every dad in the crowd telling Oruwariye to get away from the ball because they know the Leon Lett story (how could we forget?), here you go. It truly is a moment in Cowboys lore that will not be forgotten and now has a 2024 companion piece:
Much like the Dolphins game, we knew what would happen next last night. We knew that all special teams blunders must come with a price. And the price was another defeat, but this one stolen from the very jaws of victory.
The Joe Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase touchdown was really a matter of “when”, not “if.” The dread of knowing you just allowed Burrow a fresh opportunity to save the day was clear and obvious. Three plays later, Chase is in the end zone and the game is all but lost, 27-20. There would be no serious rally. The game, like the season, is gone.
When you lose a game you poured so much into winning, guys will react emotionally. And when the cameras caught a distraught Micah Parsons late in the game, you could see it all over his face. The game ended and he appeared on the brink of tears as he marched briskly back to the room. And it is perhaps at that moment where those guys deal with losing one of their favorites earlier to a major injury. Back in that locker-room was LB DeMarvion Overshown, badly injured early in the 4th Quarter. The early news is that once again, he was severely hurt and is lost for the season (and then some).
His teammates knew it was bad immediately, but they have to continue the fight for the result of the game. He will still be injured when the game ends and in football, you move on to the next snap in 30 seconds. That is the job.
Overshown has been the brightest piece of good news in 2024 for Dallas Cowboys football. Even lost seasons introduce us to new cast members and there is no doubt who the “newcomer of the year” is for this organization. He plays with a smiling enthusiasm, speed, and authority. He can make a bad season seem to hold plenty of optimism about what is ahead.
But, on this day, the Cowboys were going to be upset, regardless of outcome. Because their young starlet, who had just returned from a major injury in 2023 to instantly dazzle with his performances, appears to have sustained another major injury in 2024. And these now are late enough in the year that a full recovery for 2025 is always in some doubt. You can easily make the case that Overshown would be the very last piece that you could handle a major injury to this year, as he represents hope and belief in what the future might hold.
Now, unfortunately, because of a fluke moment where anyone standing there would have suffered a similar fate, he will have to shake a growing injury reputation. And the Cowboys will have to wait for his healthy return that now continues to stunt his impact to this organization. The lede of this story was the wild outcome of this game, but the lede of the game is clearly losing Overshown for a long time. That takes the starch out of the remainder of the year, where we hoped to see glimpses of a new dawn. Instead, we will be reminded that a huge part of the future is going to need his body to mend back together in what will likely be a very long process.
Beyond that, there was some very good stuff from Monday and some very poor. The Cowboys are a flawed football team with many pieces missing and 2024 will not be their year. Last night, we got to see many of the reasons that changes are required and problems must be addressed. Cincinnati is having a rough year, but that would not prevent them from taking a victory that was generously given out by Dallas.
Joe Burrow might be the best pocket-passer in professional football right now and he also can get out of the pocket and make plays throwing on the run. He has unbelievable weapons, too, and demonstrated his quality for all to see on Monday. So, if you are fighting all of that with Cooper Rush and his erratic ball delivery system, you better not offer gifts on special teams, too. Or you will pay.
The Cowboys did both. It was a very costly Monday Night in December.
Cowboys lose a frustrating game and major injury strikes a young, talented star player.
Bob Sturm
Dec 10, 2024
Just brutal.
There is no other way to fully describe 2024 as a season of Cowboys football and in specific, the double-body-blow from Monday Night.
Because there have been losses this year. Lots of them. Everyone is familiar with the concept now as this team has lost a lot of football games. Just merely losing a game will not make anyone believe you did anything special. Eight times this year the Cowboys have pulled off that accomplishment and will no-doubt make a serious run at eleven or twelve before this season mercifully comes to an end.
But, this was not a normal loss.
By now, you know that the Cowboys had the game in a really impressive position. They had worked 58 minutes to generate enough plays in one direction and to limit the track meet in the other direction just enough. They had somehow found their way to a 20-20 tie, with 2 minutes to go. They have just set the stadium into a frenzy by making a stand that on a four-play sequence, Dallas drew consecutive holding penalties and then set it all off with a massive sack on 3rd and 19.
With two minutes to play in the game, the Bengals would punt on a 4th and 27 to the NFL’s leader in return yardage in 2024, Kavontae Turpin. He would be looking to set the Cowboys up in excellent field position. Now, look, they would still need to get the ball up the field a bit and it is just Cooper Rush. So I am not going to tell you that Dallas was definitely winning that game if the next few seconds went according to plan, but I will tell you at the moment of the 2-minute warning, Dallas was about to receive a punt and had a 62% win likelihood that was about to surely shoot right up to 80% with a first down.
The amount of hard work it takes to get to that point of a NFL game would fill a dozen columns. When you are down QB1 and are playing against Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, you need so much to go right and to fall into place to have this opportunity. They have almost pulled it off in this entertaining night of football.
Now, the dream, moves to blocking a punt. Dallas had not blocked a punt all year and we see that fewer than ten have happened in the NFL this season. But, what a moment it would be to dial one up. A tie game and you have the opponent pretty deep in their own end with 2-minutes to play, so if you have a blocked punt strategy to play, now would be a good time to dust it off.
Checking the video, it really doesn’t look like a special block is called. It just sort of looks like No. 41 Nick Vigil decided to try to get past his man, undrafted rookie LB No. 45 Maema Njongmeta for the Bengals. He does with absurd ease and is in to block the punt.
You cannot believe how hard it is to block a punt when you really need it. Again, blocking punts are extremely rare and the odds of you lining up your annual block with a moment late in a tight game is off the charts. Not even worth our calculations.
But, they did it. If everyone yells “Peter, Peter”, then I imagine we can just send out Brandon Aubrey after a few run plays to run the clock and call it a night. That has been the universal word for “get away from the ball” that football players have been yelling after blocks for decades. This game will be going to the Cowboys and it will instantly be their favorite win of the season because of how hard everyone had to struggle to get it.
Instead, 2024 decided to get involved again. And if you are the Dallas Cowboys, you know pretty instantly that this is going to mean something bad is about to happen.
Now, if you read my stuff for any amount of time, you know I have a fascination with the NFL game-day mechanics for running a roster as it pertains to special teams and making sure every duty has someone doing it that is ready to roll. The special teams coordinator’s duties for any football program is vital, but in the NFL, it is downright absurd. The rosters are tiny and guys are constantly, without notice, being taken off the list because they are in the medical tent or locker-room having injuries evaluated and treated. But, the game doesn’t wait. Next man up and he has to go out there and not cost us the game.
Keep in mind this is going on hundreds of times a season and it all looks like the busses and trains are all running on time and everything is in order. So, in this game, the Cowboys are juggling injuries and guys fall during the course of the game and this causes new players to be called into duty at any moment.
Our guy, Amani Oruwariye, was called this game into the duty of punt return. He had never covered a punt return for the Cowboys until last night, but last night he dealt with all three. He has hardly played for the Cowboys in any capacity, but about a month ago, he played for a few games in a row before guys started getting back healthy and he went to injured reserve, himself. But, when he is active to help out at cornerback, he is the type of guy they will grab when they need special teams reinforcements, partly because there is nobody else available who can do the job.
As you know, Oruwariye was the goat last night. He is dealing with the gunner, with his back to the play and then he hears the commotion, turns around, sees the ball, and has been taught since he was a boy that if you see the ball on the ground around you – especially when he is playing on defense in his normal job – you just fall on it and ask questions later. The ball is precious, so if it is ever around you, secure it.
Had Oruwariye been experienced or a little more composed, perhaps he gets away from it because he heard them yell “Peter, Peter”, but he clearly did not. From there, the Bengals get on top of the now-live ball and go from 4th and 27 with no chance to a fresh set of downs because they have recovered a fumbled punt.
It was a colossal error, of course. There is absolutely no reason to get close to that football. You have to get away. The moment had folks mad at the Cowboys coaches last night and technically, it is their job to have every member of the roster ready for anything that could happen on any play, but hardly ever will. This is a game that offers scenarios most players will never, ever encounter, but if they do, they will remember the coach who spent an hour on it when they were in middle school. I am not absolving Oruwariye from his moment where he was paired with Leon Lett, but the odds of a kid born in 1996 knowing about a famous Cowboys play from 1993 is probably unlikely. Yes, technically, it is up to the coaches to make sure every guy on the practice squad knows all the nuances of the NFL’s ever evolving rules, but it is just never going to happen.
For those of you who would love to relive that 1993 moment that had every dad in the crowd telling Oruwariye to get away from the ball because they know the Leon Lett story (how could we forget?), here you go. It truly is a moment in Cowboys lore that will not be forgotten and now has a 2024 companion piece:
Much like the Dolphins game, we knew what would happen next last night. We knew that all special teams blunders must come with a price. And the price was another defeat, but this one stolen from the very jaws of victory.
The Joe Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase touchdown was really a matter of “when”, not “if.” The dread of knowing you just allowed Burrow a fresh opportunity to save the day was clear and obvious. Three plays later, Chase is in the end zone and the game is all but lost, 27-20. There would be no serious rally. The game, like the season, is gone.
When you lose a game you poured so much into winning, guys will react emotionally. And when the cameras caught a distraught Micah Parsons late in the game, you could see it all over his face. The game ended and he appeared on the brink of tears as he marched briskly back to the room. And it is perhaps at that moment where those guys deal with losing one of their favorites earlier to a major injury. Back in that locker-room was LB DeMarvion Overshown, badly injured early in the 4th Quarter. The early news is that once again, he was severely hurt and is lost for the season (and then some).
His teammates knew it was bad immediately, but they have to continue the fight for the result of the game. He will still be injured when the game ends and in football, you move on to the next snap in 30 seconds. That is the job.
Overshown has been the brightest piece of good news in 2024 for Dallas Cowboys football. Even lost seasons introduce us to new cast members and there is no doubt who the “newcomer of the year” is for this organization. He plays with a smiling enthusiasm, speed, and authority. He can make a bad season seem to hold plenty of optimism about what is ahead.
But, on this day, the Cowboys were going to be upset, regardless of outcome. Because their young starlet, who had just returned from a major injury in 2023 to instantly dazzle with his performances, appears to have sustained another major injury in 2024. And these now are late enough in the year that a full recovery for 2025 is always in some doubt. You can easily make the case that Overshown would be the very last piece that you could handle a major injury to this year, as he represents hope and belief in what the future might hold.
Now, unfortunately, because of a fluke moment where anyone standing there would have suffered a similar fate, he will have to shake a growing injury reputation. And the Cowboys will have to wait for his healthy return that now continues to stunt his impact to this organization. The lede of this story was the wild outcome of this game, but the lede of the game is clearly losing Overshown for a long time. That takes the starch out of the remainder of the year, where we hoped to see glimpses of a new dawn. Instead, we will be reminded that a huge part of the future is going to need his body to mend back together in what will likely be a very long process.
Beyond that, there was some very good stuff from Monday and some very poor. The Cowboys are a flawed football team with many pieces missing and 2024 will not be their year. Last night, we got to see many of the reasons that changes are required and problems must be addressed. Cincinnati is having a rough year, but that would not prevent them from taking a victory that was generously given out by Dallas.
Joe Burrow might be the best pocket-passer in professional football right now and he also can get out of the pocket and make plays throwing on the run. He has unbelievable weapons, too, and demonstrated his quality for all to see on Monday. So, if you are fighting all of that with Cooper Rush and his erratic ball delivery system, you better not offer gifts on special teams, too. Or you will pay.
The Cowboys did both. It was a very costly Monday Night in December.