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Morning After Week 16 - Spoiling Christmas
Cowboys have been officially eliminated, yet put out one of their best games of year.
Bob Sturm
Dec 23, 2024
It is fair to admit we have no idea when the compelling games will come along. And, if you are like me, you fear that the final two months of a very lost season will reveal almost nothing that is even borderline interesting. I cannot create interest and intrigue, but I am looking for it. I am looking for signs of life amidst a season that absolutely encourages some to be cynical and negative about plenty—and for good reason.
But, on Sunday night, dare I say it, we were given a wonderfully intriguing football game where the Dallas Cowboys served the role of spoiler. Now, this is never a desired role, and it is one that should be avoided when you have a choice. A team can only spoil someone else’s hopes and dreams because yours are already dead and gone. It does not hold much long-term value that can be proven.
Yet, there they were on Sunday night. They had nothing to play for but pride and each other. And the "each others" in question were the remainder of the roster, which gets lighter every week. The numbers continue to be tested and depleted, and more were lost for this game. And still, they seem to be playing with more emotion and inspiration than they even had in September. Granted, it is certainly difficult and probably impossible to measure emotional engagement from an entire football team, but the flatness and 1,000-yard stares we saw in Weeks 2 and 3 have been replaced with something much more like it. This current Cowboys team seems charged up and willing to take some pain to compete.
A game like this—one where you are merely playing out your obligation as a football team to satisfy the contracted 17 games against an opponent that has every reason to capture a victory—starts without a whole lot of belief. But, slowly, as a few things start to go correctly, you can feel the team grow into a mood of defiance. They don’t seem to care about the big picture anymore. They care about the game right in front of them. Maybe even the play in front of them. Sometimes you don’t need the 30,000-foot view; rather, you need to focus on what is right here. This can occupy your time, and on this night, it was the NFC South-leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Buccaneers knew their very important mission. They had to win this game to stay in the driver’s seat against the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta has already swept them, so losing their one-game lead might also lose them a chance to play in the postseason. In a moment, they could go from the No. 3 seed to out of the playoffs entirely as the No. 8 slot. So, Tampa had every reason to take this game—one in which Cooper Rush was their opposition—and make it an easy night at the office. If they did, two home games against Carolina and New Orleans should be free wins, and they could secure an 11-6 season.
We know how this league works most every time. If a team that really needs a game is playing a team that is just trying to get this over with, football is not a sport where “disinterested” can beat “motivated” very often. Tampa Bay should cruise.
Well, it didn’t quite work out that way, did it? Their season was spoiled inexplicably by Cooper and the Cowboys in what might have been Dallas’s best win of the season.
If you read my keys to the game in the pregame piece, I thought the test on this night would be built around running the ball – like they have now for some weeks with success – against Tampa Bay’s front and the fearsome duo of Vita Vea and Lavonte David.
Well, I guess I did not nail that very well because the Cowboys tried to run the ball up the gut and found almost no success at all. Twenty runs for 31 yards told us that was not even close to successful. And if you can’t run the ball at all with Rico Dowdle, how the heck are you going to score enough points to keep up with the Bucs’ top-five offense that has been in the 40/500 club on multiple occasions this season? Is Cooper Rush going to carry the day with passes downfield? To whom, CeeDee Lamb with one arm? Come on!
Somehow, that is exactly how it happened—at least in the first half. Dallas scored a season-high 23 points in the first half of this 15th game of the season, despite not having their guys. They generated points and big plays and actually left plenty on the field, too. They built drives, and Rush looked like the best version of himself somehow, against a defense that was motivated and should have been able to make him struggle. But that is football, and that is why we play the games. Sometimes, a team starts to get good feelings about itself, and before long, you have a problem on your hands if you are the visitor who really needs this.
Two Cowboys regulars started this fire and should both be recognized for their fine performances: CeeDee Lamb and Brandon Aubrey. These two are clear All-Pro-level players for a reason, and on Sunday, they both authored another chapter of their greatness and are having wonderful seasons that might feel wasted in the historical record based on the team results.
Nevertheless, we know enough about this sport not to be fooled by this. Individual greatness can and will get lost due to many things conspiring against the team. But to see Lamb playing seven games after severely hurting his shoulder should be noted with emphasis. Guys who play in this amount of pain are usually doing it for one of two reasons: either A) he is determined to continue to help his team surge to success, or B) he is determined to earn his contract by demonstrating uncommon toughness. In Lamb’s case, we know neither is true. The team is not going anywhere, and the player has more money than he will ever need. Yet, he plays. And he plays hard. And he plays well. He plays because he loves the sport and because he thinks he can. Watching him last night—performing when he probably should not have been out there and still grimacing, recovering, and then wandering back out there to do it again—should allow him a spot in hearts that were reluctant to support him initially. He is tough, and he is excellent, and now he is demonstrating that he has the type of leadership instincts you dream your top earners will exhibit. That stuff is contagious, as is the opposite. If your top earners are interested in their own private agendas, that spreads like a virus, too. You simply dream that your top players lead by example like this. And after watching him play when he probably should not have, it is an amazing credit to his fabric.
Now, should he have been playing? Should the team protect him from himself? It is a different and fair conversation. I suppose if they have determined that he can do no further damage and it is only about pain tolerance and management, then I can live with it. Obviously, if he is making a situation worse, then pull the plug. That might happen this week, but his character and professionalism are already on wax. And please ignore anyone who suggests he was stat-hunting. Why? He is already as prolific as almost anyone, and when he is back on the field trying to save the game late, I see only one motivation: to lead. And I think he has me thrilled about his future given what he has shown in 2024 without his QB and without any need to prove his worth anymore.
As for Aubrey, there is nothing much left to say there, either, except to make sure everyone understands what we are looking at. We are quite possibly seeing the greatest season a kicker has ever had in NFL history. And I am not even exaggerating on that. Last night, he made three more 50+ yard field goals and is now at 14 for the season. That puts him with the most in a single year since the sport began. Now, in fairness, kicking has improved so much in recent decades (like the 3-pointer in basketball) that the bar might be raised every season from now on. But still, he is doing something we have never seen, and he has made 41 of 42 field goals at AT&T Stadium since the Cowboys signed him. You simply cannot find a better kicker.
Those two had plenty to do with the halftime lead. Cooper Rush did, too. If we are going to point out those many occasions where his limitations frustrate, then we also must identify those times where he appears to be a near-perfect backup QB: dependable, smart, cheap, and willing to do whatever he can. Those boundaries are certainly closer than you would like, but on nights like last night, he seems to believe in himself enough to stand in there and deliver a strike to Jalen Tolbert just as Vita Vea is about to hit him in the mouth. Dallas had scored on five of their six drives in the first 30 minutes, and all six of those drives started on the Dallas end of the field.
The wild first half ended with a 23-14 lead, and the rally from Tampa Bay felt inevitable because the Dallas pass rush, which had been a massive part of the surge of winning football over the last month or so, was absent. Just like the offensive running game, there was little sign of Micah Parsons and friends getting home in the first half of this particular game.
But with 30 minutes to play and Lamb looking like his night was done, it became vital that the defense would take over. Incredibly, that is what happened, too. Staked with a lead, Mike Zimmer and his troops got to work. They put pressure on Baker Mayfield on 12 different second-half pass plays after only three in the entire first half. This was made possible by 17 blitzes and very aggressive coverages. Mike Zimmer was given an incredible blessing of offensive production and quickly made sure that it would not go wasted. The defense would have to bring this one home.
We talk about complementary football around here because the head coach loves to preach it. Well, on this night, you saw all three phases in clear focus. When the defense took over, the violence escalated. Four sacks in all and at least that many huge secondary hits in which the man was separated from the ball.
It seemed clear, though, that it would require takeaways to bring this game home. But each time Dallas knocked the ball loose, something would save the Buccaneers from the killer mistake. First, Marist Liufau rips the ball away from Layne Durham, but Mayfield got to it. Then, Liufau hit Durham so hard the ball came out as an incomplete pass. Then, Nick Vigil would slide out of bounds before he could safely recover a Mayfield strip-sack from Micah Parsons.
But the big plays seemed to be coming soon. The Bucs would hit a screen here and there, but everything else was at a cost. Donovan Wilson played one of the best games of his career, hitting everything in front of him. But the two game-winning plays happened late. With the Bucs attempting a furious rally, Mayfield started ripping the ball down the field. Down 26-17 with 6:29 to go, he went up top to rookie Jalen McMillan on a play that looked like a massive problem. It was, but not for the Cowboys, because Jourdan Lewis came down with a magnificent interception that continued the theme of vested veterans who were not interested in another loss if they could help it.
I put my hand up again and confess that for too long I under-appreciated Lewis. I am done with that. He is the type of guy we should treasure.
But, the job was far from done. Dallas conceded a touchdown and needed to move the chains to win the game. Even Lamb got back on the field after sitting out the 2nd half to try to preserve a 26-24 win, but the offense had the untimely 3-and-out.
So, 1:40 to go and needing only a field goal and absolutely needing the result, here come the Buccaneers one more time to pull this out of the fire.
But, again, let us credit Zimmer for the stones. On 1st and 10 and the ball at the Tampa Bay 26, Zim decides to try to settle this thing right here and right now. A six man pressure on 1st and 10? Indeed it was. Jourdan Lewis blitzing off the slot gets home off the outside shoulder of Parsons. He has Mayfield in his grasp, but there was no whistle as Mayfield looked for a solution.
He pitched the ball to Rachaad White in the flat and there Liufau tried to get him down, but he escaped right into the path of DaRon Bland. There, Bland made the tackle, but also somehow wrestled the ball away as they hit the ground. White no longer had possession and Bland did. It was the play that saved the game.
It was one of those games that felt great to win, even though it meant nothing to many watching (and probably reading). It was hard fought and challenged the depths guys were willing to go to earn a few smiles. It did hurt draft positioning and the campaign of those cheering for the firing of a coaching staff. Today is probably not the day to debate all of that.
But, what cannot be debated is that this team is playing hard to the finish and for each-other. Also, it cannot be debated that some of these guys are the absolute right guys to believe in moving forward. I know it is not the year that was promised, but the game demonstrated some spine and pride and those things are the ladder out of here and back to contending.
It is also possible that this is the best win you get all year (apologies to Pittsburgh) and while that is a modest reward, there is some value in knowing you might have knocked the Buccaneers out of the playoffs altogether. That remains to be seen.
I am willing to say it as someone who believes that the journey is the reward: Sunday Night was a heck of a lot of fun in a season that has been anything but that. It almost makes you wonder if this was a pretty good team all along that just couldn’t get it together in time and by the time they did, too many losses and injuries had taken their tolls.
Dallas won a football game on Sunday and the team it was playing was on a roll and desperately wanted it. To me, that is worth enjoying. So, I hope you allowed yourself that brief Christmas smile.
Cowboys have been officially eliminated, yet put out one of their best games of year.
Bob Sturm
Dec 23, 2024
It is fair to admit we have no idea when the compelling games will come along. And, if you are like me, you fear that the final two months of a very lost season will reveal almost nothing that is even borderline interesting. I cannot create interest and intrigue, but I am looking for it. I am looking for signs of life amidst a season that absolutely encourages some to be cynical and negative about plenty—and for good reason.
But, on Sunday night, dare I say it, we were given a wonderfully intriguing football game where the Dallas Cowboys served the role of spoiler. Now, this is never a desired role, and it is one that should be avoided when you have a choice. A team can only spoil someone else’s hopes and dreams because yours are already dead and gone. It does not hold much long-term value that can be proven.
Yet, there they were on Sunday night. They had nothing to play for but pride and each other. And the "each others" in question were the remainder of the roster, which gets lighter every week. The numbers continue to be tested and depleted, and more were lost for this game. And still, they seem to be playing with more emotion and inspiration than they even had in September. Granted, it is certainly difficult and probably impossible to measure emotional engagement from an entire football team, but the flatness and 1,000-yard stares we saw in Weeks 2 and 3 have been replaced with something much more like it. This current Cowboys team seems charged up and willing to take some pain to compete.
A game like this—one where you are merely playing out your obligation as a football team to satisfy the contracted 17 games against an opponent that has every reason to capture a victory—starts without a whole lot of belief. But, slowly, as a few things start to go correctly, you can feel the team grow into a mood of defiance. They don’t seem to care about the big picture anymore. They care about the game right in front of them. Maybe even the play in front of them. Sometimes you don’t need the 30,000-foot view; rather, you need to focus on what is right here. This can occupy your time, and on this night, it was the NFC South-leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Buccaneers knew their very important mission. They had to win this game to stay in the driver’s seat against the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta has already swept them, so losing their one-game lead might also lose them a chance to play in the postseason. In a moment, they could go from the No. 3 seed to out of the playoffs entirely as the No. 8 slot. So, Tampa had every reason to take this game—one in which Cooper Rush was their opposition—and make it an easy night at the office. If they did, two home games against Carolina and New Orleans should be free wins, and they could secure an 11-6 season.
We know how this league works most every time. If a team that really needs a game is playing a team that is just trying to get this over with, football is not a sport where “disinterested” can beat “motivated” very often. Tampa Bay should cruise.
Well, it didn’t quite work out that way, did it? Their season was spoiled inexplicably by Cooper and the Cowboys in what might have been Dallas’s best win of the season.
If you read my keys to the game in the pregame piece, I thought the test on this night would be built around running the ball – like they have now for some weeks with success – against Tampa Bay’s front and the fearsome duo of Vita Vea and Lavonte David.
Well, I guess I did not nail that very well because the Cowboys tried to run the ball up the gut and found almost no success at all. Twenty runs for 31 yards told us that was not even close to successful. And if you can’t run the ball at all with Rico Dowdle, how the heck are you going to score enough points to keep up with the Bucs’ top-five offense that has been in the 40/500 club on multiple occasions this season? Is Cooper Rush going to carry the day with passes downfield? To whom, CeeDee Lamb with one arm? Come on!
Somehow, that is exactly how it happened—at least in the first half. Dallas scored a season-high 23 points in the first half of this 15th game of the season, despite not having their guys. They generated points and big plays and actually left plenty on the field, too. They built drives, and Rush looked like the best version of himself somehow, against a defense that was motivated and should have been able to make him struggle. But that is football, and that is why we play the games. Sometimes, a team starts to get good feelings about itself, and before long, you have a problem on your hands if you are the visitor who really needs this.
Two Cowboys regulars started this fire and should both be recognized for their fine performances: CeeDee Lamb and Brandon Aubrey. These two are clear All-Pro-level players for a reason, and on Sunday, they both authored another chapter of their greatness and are having wonderful seasons that might feel wasted in the historical record based on the team results.
Nevertheless, we know enough about this sport not to be fooled by this. Individual greatness can and will get lost due to many things conspiring against the team. But to see Lamb playing seven games after severely hurting his shoulder should be noted with emphasis. Guys who play in this amount of pain are usually doing it for one of two reasons: either A) he is determined to continue to help his team surge to success, or B) he is determined to earn his contract by demonstrating uncommon toughness. In Lamb’s case, we know neither is true. The team is not going anywhere, and the player has more money than he will ever need. Yet, he plays. And he plays hard. And he plays well. He plays because he loves the sport and because he thinks he can. Watching him last night—performing when he probably should not have been out there and still grimacing, recovering, and then wandering back out there to do it again—should allow him a spot in hearts that were reluctant to support him initially. He is tough, and he is excellent, and now he is demonstrating that he has the type of leadership instincts you dream your top earners will exhibit. That stuff is contagious, as is the opposite. If your top earners are interested in their own private agendas, that spreads like a virus, too. You simply dream that your top players lead by example like this. And after watching him play when he probably should not have, it is an amazing credit to his fabric.
Now, should he have been playing? Should the team protect him from himself? It is a different and fair conversation. I suppose if they have determined that he can do no further damage and it is only about pain tolerance and management, then I can live with it. Obviously, if he is making a situation worse, then pull the plug. That might happen this week, but his character and professionalism are already on wax. And please ignore anyone who suggests he was stat-hunting. Why? He is already as prolific as almost anyone, and when he is back on the field trying to save the game late, I see only one motivation: to lead. And I think he has me thrilled about his future given what he has shown in 2024 without his QB and without any need to prove his worth anymore.
As for Aubrey, there is nothing much left to say there, either, except to make sure everyone understands what we are looking at. We are quite possibly seeing the greatest season a kicker has ever had in NFL history. And I am not even exaggerating on that. Last night, he made three more 50+ yard field goals and is now at 14 for the season. That puts him with the most in a single year since the sport began. Now, in fairness, kicking has improved so much in recent decades (like the 3-pointer in basketball) that the bar might be raised every season from now on. But still, he is doing something we have never seen, and he has made 41 of 42 field goals at AT&T Stadium since the Cowboys signed him. You simply cannot find a better kicker.
Those two had plenty to do with the halftime lead. Cooper Rush did, too. If we are going to point out those many occasions where his limitations frustrate, then we also must identify those times where he appears to be a near-perfect backup QB: dependable, smart, cheap, and willing to do whatever he can. Those boundaries are certainly closer than you would like, but on nights like last night, he seems to believe in himself enough to stand in there and deliver a strike to Jalen Tolbert just as Vita Vea is about to hit him in the mouth. Dallas had scored on five of their six drives in the first 30 minutes, and all six of those drives started on the Dallas end of the field.
The wild first half ended with a 23-14 lead, and the rally from Tampa Bay felt inevitable because the Dallas pass rush, which had been a massive part of the surge of winning football over the last month or so, was absent. Just like the offensive running game, there was little sign of Micah Parsons and friends getting home in the first half of this particular game.
But with 30 minutes to play and Lamb looking like his night was done, it became vital that the defense would take over. Incredibly, that is what happened, too. Staked with a lead, Mike Zimmer and his troops got to work. They put pressure on Baker Mayfield on 12 different second-half pass plays after only three in the entire first half. This was made possible by 17 blitzes and very aggressive coverages. Mike Zimmer was given an incredible blessing of offensive production and quickly made sure that it would not go wasted. The defense would have to bring this one home.
We talk about complementary football around here because the head coach loves to preach it. Well, on this night, you saw all three phases in clear focus. When the defense took over, the violence escalated. Four sacks in all and at least that many huge secondary hits in which the man was separated from the ball.
It seemed clear, though, that it would require takeaways to bring this game home. But each time Dallas knocked the ball loose, something would save the Buccaneers from the killer mistake. First, Marist Liufau rips the ball away from Layne Durham, but Mayfield got to it. Then, Liufau hit Durham so hard the ball came out as an incomplete pass. Then, Nick Vigil would slide out of bounds before he could safely recover a Mayfield strip-sack from Micah Parsons.
But the big plays seemed to be coming soon. The Bucs would hit a screen here and there, but everything else was at a cost. Donovan Wilson played one of the best games of his career, hitting everything in front of him. But the two game-winning plays happened late. With the Bucs attempting a furious rally, Mayfield started ripping the ball down the field. Down 26-17 with 6:29 to go, he went up top to rookie Jalen McMillan on a play that looked like a massive problem. It was, but not for the Cowboys, because Jourdan Lewis came down with a magnificent interception that continued the theme of vested veterans who were not interested in another loss if they could help it.
I put my hand up again and confess that for too long I under-appreciated Lewis. I am done with that. He is the type of guy we should treasure.
But, the job was far from done. Dallas conceded a touchdown and needed to move the chains to win the game. Even Lamb got back on the field after sitting out the 2nd half to try to preserve a 26-24 win, but the offense had the untimely 3-and-out.
So, 1:40 to go and needing only a field goal and absolutely needing the result, here come the Buccaneers one more time to pull this out of the fire.
But, again, let us credit Zimmer for the stones. On 1st and 10 and the ball at the Tampa Bay 26, Zim decides to try to settle this thing right here and right now. A six man pressure on 1st and 10? Indeed it was. Jourdan Lewis blitzing off the slot gets home off the outside shoulder of Parsons. He has Mayfield in his grasp, but there was no whistle as Mayfield looked for a solution.
He pitched the ball to Rachaad White in the flat and there Liufau tried to get him down, but he escaped right into the path of DaRon Bland. There, Bland made the tackle, but also somehow wrestled the ball away as they hit the ground. White no longer had possession and Bland did. It was the play that saved the game.
It was one of those games that felt great to win, even though it meant nothing to many watching (and probably reading). It was hard fought and challenged the depths guys were willing to go to earn a few smiles. It did hurt draft positioning and the campaign of those cheering for the firing of a coaching staff. Today is probably not the day to debate all of that.
But, what cannot be debated is that this team is playing hard to the finish and for each-other. Also, it cannot be debated that some of these guys are the absolute right guys to believe in moving forward. I know it is not the year that was promised, but the game demonstrated some spine and pride and those things are the ladder out of here and back to contending.
It is also possible that this is the best win you get all year (apologies to Pittsburgh) and while that is a modest reward, there is some value in knowing you might have knocked the Buccaneers out of the playoffs altogether. That remains to be seen.
I am willing to say it as someone who believes that the journey is the reward: Sunday Night was a heck of a lot of fun in a season that has been anything but that. It almost makes you wonder if this was a pretty good team all along that just couldn’t get it together in time and by the time they did, too many losses and injuries had taken their tolls.
Dallas won a football game on Sunday and the team it was playing was on a roll and desperately wanted it. To me, that is worth enjoying. So, I hope you allowed yourself that brief Christmas smile.