Any true Cowboys fan had to see this Sunday’s disappointing loss coming from a mile away. It was like double reverse psychology. Everyone starts talking about how the game is a trap game at the beginning of the week, yet most everyone picked the Cowboys to win. So naturally the Cowboys fell to the Packers and Tony Romo’s streak of November greatness came to a crashing halt.
Roy Williams had his best game of the season and his worst game of the season at the same time. He went over 100 yards for the first time as a Cowboy and scored a somewhat meaningful touchdown seeing as how the Cowboys had not been shut out since the Quincy Carter era exactly 6 years ago. But a solid finger can be pointed at Roy when it comes to this loss. He not only fumbled the ball, which led to Green Bay touchdown, but he dropped a critical third down pass. Still, he is not the only one culpable in this defeat.
The Cowboys won as a team the past 4 weeks and they lost as a team against the Packers. Actually, the defense played pretty well, but on no one on offense stepped up. Tony didn’t play great, but he played good enough not to lose. There were way too many dropped passes by all of the receivers. The running backs didn’t do a whole lot either. Forgive me for my speculation, but Marion Barber looks like a shell of himself. He is getting tackled much easier than the Barber from 2 years ago or even last year. I saw him get taken down with an arm tackle on at least 2 occasions on Sunday. Felix Jones doesn’t seem very healthy either. The best option at this point is Tashard Choice, but it seems like the Cowboys are having a hard time figuring out whom to give the ball to in what situations. I just don’t understand passing the ball on 1st and goal from the 1 yard line when you have Choice and Barber. Everyone knows Barber can take it in from the 1 yard line without any offensive linemen…give him the ball! If the Cowboys score there, and get that touchdown from Roy at the end of the game they are still in it despite playing very poorly.
Finally I look to Jason Garrett. I’m not going to ride him too hard because he has looked like a genius in the previous 3 weeks and his players didn’t do him any favors, but he has to come up with a new set of plays for each game. You can’t run that same bubble screen to Kevin Ogletree every third down. The ‘Boys are getting a just bit predictable (no 3rd down conversions until the 4th quarter) and Garrett is simply going to have to put in more creative calls. Where is that reverse to Miles Austin and Patrick Crayton? Where was the Wildcat on the goal line? Where the hell was Marion Barber?
Still, we should take this loss in stride. The Cowboys have been November champions for a few years now and a humbling loss to a pretty good football team may do them some good. The Eagles didn’t gain any ground with their loss to the Chargers. The Redskins are in the basement of the NFC East (but not to be overlooked this Sunday). And the Giants were idle on Sunday with a lot of questions still unanswered. The Cowboys took their lumps but now is the time for them to show their true toughness and prove that they are indeed a different team.
