The media guys keep asking who the biggest threat to the Cowboys in playoffs is and we have that answer — the New York Giants. The Giants out game planned the Cowboys and made Dak Prescott look like a rookie.
Was it possible to run the table and go 15-1? Yes. Was it possible to take on another loss between now and the final game of the year? Yes.
I took a few hours off before writing this and the loss still stings. I’m not going be nonchalant about the loss either though. I wanted us to make a statement and win decisively.
To discard this as just a loss and say we’ll be fine is ridiculous. This loss raises some questions about the ability to win in a do or die situation and they died tonight.
You had the NFC East title in front of you and you had a 1st-round bye in front of you and we came out and choked out a loss.
We still have a playoff berth, but with that loss, the NFC East title is still up for grabs, and let’s not kid ourselves as being unstoppable — we aren’t. The Bucs, Lions, and Eagles are legitimate teams and can all put losses in our loss column unless we get going on offense.
Here are my takes on the game:
- Lance Dunbar continues to be a liability and I wish he was never activated, he’s terrible in pass protection and awful in the return game. Supposedly, Darren McFadden will be activated next week, so that better mean Dunbar is done. If you know teams are going to blitz us in passing downs, why put Dunbar back there? Just dumb and they keep doing it!
- We have a problem at RT. Doug Free did not have to go against JPP and he still got ate up and the sad thing is, we cannot count on oft injured Chaz Green to make a push for the position. RT needs an upgrade.
- Steve Spagnuolo owns Scott Linehan. There was no answer for the Giants defense, and the game felt like week one all over again. We don’t know how many times Dak audibled out of a play, but there were some awful decisions out there. The 3&11 toss for a loss to Zeke stands out. Terrible.
- Dez Bryant was very disappointing to me, he looked just as much as a rookie as Dak did. Dropped passes and a fumble, are not what we expect in a bigtime game of this magnitude from a supposed elite WR.
- Sean Lee showed up and played his ass off, I loved that vintage form. He was stuffing guys and he was one of the very few bright spots of the game.
- Zeke went over 100 yards, but it was in a losing cause.
- Dan Bailey’s missed 55-yarder could have had us in a tied game, but this was not on him. The offense stunk it up.
- The offensive penalties were fixed, but the play calling was atrocious.
- I wanted some defensive turnovers, and they did their job, but the offense failed to convert the turnovers into any points.
The Bright Side
Michael Irvin said the Cowboys needed to take a lose on their way to the end of the season, and that has now happened. Well, how is that the bright side? The Cowboys’ Super Bowl runs in ’92,’93’95 all had a loss after week 11. So, this could get them refocused which is something Irvin said those Super Bowl teams needed. I’m all for that, if this helps the Cowboys refocus and get all the way to the big game.
The Down side
What if the Cowboys have another bad offensive showing against the Bucs and lose that game? Will the calls for Tony Romo return come back from the dead? I think so. I’ve already seen some knee jerk reactions calling for Romo’s return. Let’s see how The Cowboys look the next two games before going full-blown panic mode.
So who do you think lost this game for the Cowboys? Take the poll below.
Who cost us the game? #CowboysNation #DallasCowboys #DALvsNYG
— Joe Rodriguez (@CowboysBlogNet) December 12, 2016
Up next: Bucs, Lions, @Eagles
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