Signs pointed to Cowboys being in trouble
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Terrell Owens' teary post-game defense of Dallas QB Tony Romo was the most emotional show of support we've seen since this guy. | ||
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Both Dallas players stayed sitting on the Cowboys bench, stunned at Sunday's 21-17 playoff loss to the New York Giants.
They shouldn't have been. All signs were pointing toward a Texas-sized collapse.
Dallas simply wasn't the same after a late November victory over Green Bay put the Cowboys in the driver's seat for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. At that point, the Cowboys were 11-1 and already had two wins over the Giants.
Dallas then won just two of its final four regular-season games. Both victories came against mediocre opponents (Detroit and Carolina) by a combined eight points. The Cowboys lost at home to another non-playoff team in Philadelphia and were lousy during a season-ending defeat at Washington.
Cowboys coach Wade Phillips was resting starters against the Redskins and didn't game plan for a contest that had no affect on Dallas' postseason positioning. Still, when Phillips expressed concern afterward about an "uninspired" performance, he was onto something. The Cowboys are now the first No. 1 NFC seed since 1990 to lose a second-round game.
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"I think everybody knew you can't flip a switch," Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman said. "The same thing was said after the Washington game."
Instead of regaining their focus during the bye week, the Cowboys were beset by distractions. Scouting director Jeff Ireland — a major contributor in assembling Dallas' talent-laden roster — left to become Miami's general manager. Assistant coaches Jason Garrett and Tony Sparano interviewed for head coaching positions elsewhere.
And there was the Yoko Effect: The distraction caused by the budding romance between Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo and actress Jessica Simpson that coincided with the team's late-season slide.
Being quarterback for one of the NFL's most high-profile franchises already brings enough scrutiny. Leaving on a Mexican mini-vacation last weekend with Simpson, her father and tight end Jason Witten showed Romo clearly didn't grasp the damage he was causing.
Suddenly, Romo's game-costing flub on a field-goal hold in last season's playoffs didn't seem so bad. The excursion gave the impression he was focused more on being a Romeo than the Romo who had emerged as one of the NFL's top quarterbacks in 2007.
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"When I made the choice of those things, I thought I was making a good decision and not going to (Las) Vegas and drinking for two or three days," Romo said. "I was just trying to get away and not be around people."
Hey Tony, you couldn't have done that by just staying home?
Romo would have silenced his detractors with a strong performance against New York and/or leading a Cowboys victory. Neither happened. Romo completed just 10-of-22 second-half passes and threw an interception in the end zone with nine seconds remaining to seal the Cowboys' fate.
During a post-game interview, wide receiver Terrell Owens became tearful when trying to defend his quarterback.
"This isn't about Tony," Owens said. "You guys can point the finger at him. You can talk about the vacations. If you do that, it's wrong."
Even so, that doesn't mean the criticism will stop.
Owens, though, was onto something. There was plenty of blame to go around.
The Cowboys seemed ready to grab control when taking a 14-7 lead with a staggering 20-play, 90-yard drive. But the Giants then marched 71 yards in just 46 seconds to tie the score right before halftime.
After that, the Cowboys unraveled. Running back Marion Barber wasn't nearly as effective after a 101-yard first half, gaining just 28 yards on 11 carries the rest of the way. Romo was harried by Giants blitzes — something that didn't happen in their first two encounters. And the Cowboys could never rattle New York's Eli Manning, whose blossoming into a top-flight quarterback continued with a turnover-free, two-touchdown performance.
"The Giants stepped out and executed," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in hushed tones inside his team's locker room. "They did not have the penalties we had (11 for 84 yards) and made plays on special teams. It was our undoing.
"I'm just disappointed. ... It's just not the way you would think with all we accomplished in the regular season we would end up."
Jones said Phillips would return as head coach in 2008. Whether that is a wise decision — especially if Dallas loses the talented Garrett and Sparano — will be proven in time. Phillips, though, must do a better job pressing the right buttons if Dallas reaches the 2008 postseason.
"They just wanted it more than we did," Newman said of the Giants. "When people tell you that you can't do something, they're going to try and go out and prove people wrong. That's what they did.
"They had their minds set up when they came to Dallas that 'Hey, we're going to beat the Cowboys.'"
Now, it's the Giants who are heading to Green Bay for Sunday's NFC Championship game that Cowboys players will be viewing on television.
At least some of them.
"There's no consolation for losing, going home and having to hear about other guys playing," Cowboys defensive end Marcus Spears said. "I'm not watching any games."
The Cowboys, though, didn't prove worth watching when it mattered most.
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