With a shutout win against the lowly Washington Redskins the Dallas Cowboys split their December games (2-2). While it is not a complete turn around from their previous struggles, they showed some mettle down the stretch and have officially punched their ticket into the tournament. There are still many dominoes that need to fall into place to determine final playoff seeding, but at least the ‘Boys got a shot.
While the defense dominated last night and the offense made enough plays to keep the game out of reach, there is still plenty to be anxious about.
Wade Phillips can breathe a small sigh of relief as his job is safe for the time being, but I’m not sure the same can be said about offensive coordinator Jason Garrett. While the distribution and efficiency of the passing game is a reason for excitement, the continued failure to capitalize on critical conversion and scoring opportunities may cost this team in the playoffs.
On five separate occasions, the offense was stuffed on 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1 situations. And it wasn’t even close. Although some of the blame can be placed on Marion Barber (who was dancing around in the backfield like a ballerina), Garrett does not seem to have enough variation in the calls. Everyone knows who’s getting the ball on 3rd/4th and short when Barber is in the game. Even Emmitt Smith wasn't impressed with the play calling. I’m not necessarily saying Deion Anderson is the answer on short yardage either, but in the playoffs the Cowboys will have to mix it up. Maybe a fake to Barber (at fullback) with the pitch out to Felix Jones? I’m not a professional coach or anything, but that seems to work around the league. What about actually handing the ball to Felix Jones in the wildcat (That reverse to Austin was just ugly)? A little misdirection never hurt anybody…except the defense.
But I’ll give some credit to Garrett. He is still a young coordinator in this league and he manages to figure things out pretty quickly despite the criticism. Hopefully he’ll get the offense clicking in short yardage situations so that they can make a strong push in the playoffs.
One thing that can’t seem to be fixed is the ineptness of wide receiver Roy Williams. Although he did catch a touchdown pass, it was the only pass he caught all game long, and Tony Romo did all the work on that play by escaping the pressure an throwing a picture perfect pass to Williams in the corner of the end zone. All Roy had to do was catch the ball (I mean he is getting paid $9 million a year to catch passes, right?). But it was disappointing to see Tony Romo’s non-interception streak (5 games) come to an end after an on target pass to Mr. Williams. Not only did he drop a ball that was right in his hands, he managed to pop it up in the air so awaiting Redskins defensive backs could feed off of the miscue. I can’t even put into words how big of a disappointment Williams has been thus far and I just hope that his poor play and poor attitude doesn’t cost the Cowboys a game over the next month.
With all of that said, the Cowboys got a good win on Sunday night. NFL teams don’t get shut out very often. The last time the Cowboys defense got a shut out was in 2003 (against the Redskins) and it’s good to know that the defense may be peaking at the right time. Let’s just hope the offense can raise their game to the same level, because other wise the ‘Boys may be leaving the tournament as quickly as quickly as they entered.
