Any Cowboys fan who watched Sunday’s game had to be ready to throw themselves out of a 3rd story window when they saw that the Cowboys were getting beaten by the Chiefs nearly the entire game. I, myself, wasn’t able to watch the game but I constantly monitored the score which may be even more maddening.
Fast forward to the 4th quarter and the Cowboys were deadlocked with the Chiefs at 13-13. After coming up with a pivotal stop, the Cowboys had an opportunity to finally put away a team they should’ve beaten in the 1st quarter. At this juncture, Miles Austin made the first big play in what would be the making of the legend of Miles Austin. He caught the ball on a slant route, broke a couple of tackles and scampered 59 yards for what looked to be the game winning touchdown with about 2:15 left in the 4th quarter.
Against any other team, that would seem like way too much time to leave an offense on the field, but the Chiefs longest scoring drive for the whole game was 36 yards. Barring some sort of monumental collapse, the Cowboys were going to shut the Chiefs down like they had the whole game and run the clock out for a hard fought 20-13 victory.
Fast forward 1:54 and 74 yards, and Matt Cassel had just thrown a 16 yard touchdown to Dwayne Bowe . Fantasy points for me, but potential doom for the Cowboys! At this point I was actually watching the game because the lowly Redskins had just lost to another winless team in the Carolina Panthers and this was “Bonus Coverage” from FOX. I had just missed the Miles Austin touchdown, but I got to watch every second of the Chief’s scoring drive(great…). And then… “Due to league rules we cannot show you overtime coverage of this game, but we will keep you updated as the game progresses.” What?!?! Is this really happening? The only way I would learn whether the Cowboys would suffer another heartbreaking loss or they had salvaged their season was from ESPN’s bottom line?!
6 minutes and 30 seconds into overtime and neither team had threatened to score. I only know this because I flipped between each ESPN channel as well as CBS, and FOX trying to keep track (for anyone interested, women’s billiards was on ESPN at 4:00 pm this past Sunday). I finally relegated myself to watching the Broncos and Patriots when they were interrupted by a special game break: “The Cowboys have escaped from Kansas City at 3-2 with this play . All I could do was look up at the sky and say “Thank you Lord.”
So what did we learn from this Sunday’s close call against the winless Kansas City Chiefs?
- The Cowboys throwback uniforms are probably the best in football.
My man Izu Akimiro agrees, but also has an affinity for another team’s throwback uniform . From my perspective, the Cowboys old school digs not only look great, but I can’t remember the last time the ‘Boys lost a game in them (I’ll buy a drink for anyone who can get me this information). I have a Roy Williams throw back but am a little self conscious about wearing it since he is currently a Cincinnati Bengal…ah what the hell, I’m wearing it every Sunday now!
- Miles Austin has a ton of potential, but he is not ready to be a premier receiver.
He had the biggest game any receiver has ever had in the history of the Cowboys but there is still some hesitancy about his consistency and for good reason. He could have had the biggest game in NFL history if he would not have dropped those two touchdown passes. They weren’t easy catches, but they are catches that starting receivers have to make. It should be interesting to watch Austin’s progress for the rest of the season.
- This defense could be considered one of the best in the league if they didn’t keep giving up these late scoring drives.
It really started in Tampa when the defense let a dominant performance turn into just a decent win. Then they let Eli Manning and the Giants march down the field like clockwork and kick a field goal to win the game in the opening of Cowboys Stadium. Then Brandon Marshall shredded the Cowboys secondary at the end of the game in week 4. This week they put forth a pretty dominant game against an anemic Chiefs offense only to allow them to march 74 yards in the last 2 minutes of the game. This is unacceptable and Wade Phillips needs to start holding individuals accountable, right now.
- Lastly, we still have no idea what this team is.
As I stated in my last blog , no matter what happened against the Chiefs there would be more questions than answers at the end of the day. The one thing that some fans can take solace in is that despite fumbling the ball 4 times and committing 13 penalties, the Cowboys were able to come out with a win. There is no doubt in my mind that if the Cowboys play the way they are capable of playing they can beat any team in the league. But if they continue to play the way the played against Kansas City, then the Chiefs might very well be their last victory of the season (minus the Oakland Raiders).
Enjoy the bye-week Nation and I’ll see you when I see you.
Keywords: Brandon Marshall, Carolina Panthers, CBS, Cincinnati Bengals, Cowboys Stadium, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Dwayne Bowe, ESPN, FOX, Izu Akimiro, Kansas City Chiefs, Matt Cassel, Miles Austin, New England Patriots, New York Giants, Oakland Raiders, Roy Williams, San Diego Chargers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Wade Phillips, Washington Redskins
