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2011-2012 Regular Season: From Toast Of The
Coast To Where Attention Is Needed Most
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- January 8, 2012
At 11:55 PM CST
By Eric M. Scharf
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- Fans – from calm to crazy – really
and truly knew better . . . but hoped against all odds the Dallas
Cowboys would arrive at MetLife Stadium with a corrective package of
play calls and a determined desire to drown out dumb decisions.
Fans – from fair to fanatical – really and truly knew better . . .
but hoped against all odds the Dallas Cowboys would punctually
perform like professional personnel and operate like an immovable
obstacle to their outspoken opponent.
Fans – from decent to disrespectful – really and truly knew better .
. . but hoped against all odds the Dallas Cowboys would display the
willpower to turn a season of opportunities lost into a finale of
opportunities gained and playoff participation granted.
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- Fans – from intelligent to idiotic – really and truly knew better .
. . but watched helplessly as their postseason possibility was
abducted by their Cowboys who sensationally self-destructed.
While the Cowboys suddenly awoke from their performance choke for a
solid third quarter and a winnable seven point game, America’s Team
spent the fourth quarter being jeered as a joke and ending their
season in complete shame.
The Cowboys were the (burnt) toast of the east coast – starting and
ending their season in The Big Apple with bookend losses . . .
heading into the offseason apparently rotten to the core with
worm-ridden proof of where attention is needed the most.
Enhance Your Calm
Fans – from logical to loony – had seen America’s Team enjoy decades
of Super success in much of what they did . . . from a
known-and-powerful identity to deft drafting, excellent execution,
wondrous wins, numerous Pro Bowl nominations, incredible Hall of
Fame inductions, and an international – no, intergalactic – fan base
unmatched by any team in any league.
Fans – from objective to obnoxious – have seen America’s Team
struggle through nearly two decades in much of what they have done .
. . from an unpredictable-and-flaky identity to sometimes
debilitating drafts, inconsistent execution (from marvelous to
mediocre to mindless to a mercurial mix of all three), unnecessarily
close wins, uninspired losses, charitable chokes, a Pro Bowl trickle
from voters so fickle, intermittent Hall of Fame inductions, and an
international fan base that has been pushed to the outer limits of
maximum forgiveness.
Fans – from practical to prejudiced – have been desperately
determined to see America's Team bury the manic means by which they
have seemingly sullied their shining star . . . and bring back the
meticulously mighty methods by which they can restart and sustain
some of the success the 'Boys and their fans
used to enjoy.
Fans – from reasonable to ridiculous – have every right to render a
rude reaction to the roundly ruinous results of a ride-along that
has left them red-faced and their team outpaced and stuck in first
gear for much of the past 16 years.
Fans – from sensible to psychotic – wish to witness a regular and
reoccurring return to the wondrous winning ways by which they have
been mesmerized for so long . . . and for which the Dallas Cowboys
have historically been recognized before things – generally speaking
– began to go so wrong.
Fans – from well-mannered to wildly myopic – must remember (if they
were around prior to the salary cap era) or recognize (if they are
too young to understand) that NFL parody periodically parlays
professional football pushovers into postseason participants on any
given day of play . . . with this fact being both bad and good for
those teams which could, should, and would.
NFL parody pronounces otherwise pint-size problems into potent ones,
and the days of America’s Team simply flipping the switch when times
were tough, reaching back into the well for one more superior drop
of inspiration, or cleverly outfoxing the competition on draft day –
have been swept away . . . clearly gone and potentially on their way
to being forgotten.
If you are a Cowboys fan, the best thing you can do for yourself is
put your fond memories of the glory days back on the shelf . . . and
acknowledge the pro football fragility (endured by also-rans and
their disappointed fans) that has also become Dallas’ reality.
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- If you are a Cowboys fan, you need to enhance your calm about
your role . . . and results that have never been under your control.
While you can shout all you want at Cowboys Stadium or on the road
with enemies clearly out of their craniums, or from the comfy
confines of your cozy living room . . . it is still only your
favorite gridiron gang that will determine their own level of
success or doom.
Though Cowboys Nation may be suffering from another round of
exasperation, only America’s team can fulfill its
championship dream.
Scene Of The Crime
While NBC’s Football Night in America crew and their national
television audience may have felt like they were standing over the
scene of the crime, it was, in fact, just one tragic scene from a
freakish football feature film.
It was, in fact, just one failed game day effort from a Jekyll and
Hyde season that was hard to follow . . . and even harder to
swallow.
The Cowboys 31-14 loss to the New York Giants went from a highly
anticipated winner-take-all battle between two struggling NFC East
teams . . . to another disappointing Cowpoke croak.
The Cowboys, their fans, and little green men from Mars knew what
was at stake in the football fight last Sunday night.
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- Everyone knew the Cowboys were going to need Jason Garrett to call
an uncommonly creative game plan – with all four receiving targets
firing on all cylinders and willing to quickly alter their routes –
if the running game were to misbehave because protections began to
cave . . . quickly leaving the Cowboys on the outs.
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- Everyone knew the Cowboys were going
to need Hudson Houck to deliver a performance better than fine – in
hiding the helpless holes in his offensive line . . . and keeping
the bruised and battered Tony Romo from being even further tattered.
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- Everyone knew the Cowboys were going to need the full range of Rob
Ryan's exotic racket – and whatever reach his roughnecks could
muster towards a quarterback crushing cluster – to douse Dallas’ defensive deficiencies . . .
just long enough to keep Eli Manning from going on Cruz control
towards another tournament shot at the Super Bowl.
Everyone knew that it took two to tango – in a season-ending game
that was going to deliver the NFC East division title and a home
playoff game to the victor.
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- Everyone knew what had to happen for the Cowboys to succeed and,
still, to the Victor (Cruz) went the spoils – as he and his New York
teammates went on to drape every Dallas mistake . . . in a chalk
outline decorated with caution tape.
Everyone knew Cruz was all about the salsa . . . but the Cowboys
secondary showed the sturdiness of balsa. Dallas clearly
misunderstood – arriving with tortilla chips and Terence Newman’s
own brand of defensive dip.
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- The Cowboys ended the 2011-2012 season the same way they started it
. . . with Dallas being the toast of the east coast.
Elvis “Toast” Patterson – a retired former New York Giant and
Oakland Raider – was infamous for getting his bread regularly burned
on both sides as a cornerback and later as a safety.
While Patterson certainly did play for Dallas in his final year as a
pro – and contributed as a reasonably mistake-free safety for the
Cowboys’ 1993 championship run . . . he may always be remembered
as the secondary sucker who was buttered up and burned down
from coast to coast – without the mercy of any medicinal marmalade
to sooth his sore skid marks.
Patterson was one the NFL’s better known defensive disasters – until
Terence “Toast” Newman and the Cowboys’ defense began disintegrating
every other game day . . . dating back to their massive meltdown
during the last seven games of Wade’s final fade.
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- Patterson was probably watching from the offices of his sporting
events company - 4334Pattersonsports - and thanking heaven above
that he was finally able to abdicate at least half of his crown as
“Toast of the Coast” to Dallas’ defensive clowns.
“Only half the crown?” Romo may have received a good
ribbing earlier in the season, but he and his Cowboys teammates had
defeated the San Francisco 49ers by the time they left (that west
coast) town.
Every year, professional sports teams have the chance to direct the
scenes of their own feature film – and each of the games of their
season. Circumstances are different from team to film studio, salary
cap to budget, coach to director, scheme to script, and player to
actor – and the more you are aware of each circumstance, the less it
is a factor . . . from gridiron Sunday to glamorous opening day.
The directions and play calls must always be made with respect to
those circumstances, boundaries, and limitations – or your feature
film may end up including several crime scenes . . . and a season full of
shattered dreams.
The scene of the crime at MetLife Stadium was just one of many
scenes the Cowboys had been directing all season long – due to a poor grasp of those
very circumstances that could have improved their chances.
The NFL is as much an "Any Given Sunday" league as it has ever been.
The Cowboys control their own destiny just as much as any team. Next
season arrives with yet another opportunity to direct either an
international blockbuster or another blown season.
Will They Or Won’t They?
The Cowboys have all offseason to ponder what woulda’, coulda’, and
shoulda’ been.
The Cowboys have all offseason to ponder their squandered
opportunities.
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- The Cowboys have all offseason to
ponder whether they suffer from a lack of talent, leadership, or
both that keeps them in the middle of the pack.
The Cowboys have all offseason to remove even more riffraff from their player
roster and coaching staff.
The Cowboys have all offseason to plan and improve their collective
futures.
The Cowboys have all offseason to cut the failures everyone
despises, keep one or two of their pleasant surprises, avoid being
stagnant during the NFL’s annual free agent pageant, and draft some
game day starters . . . who are willing to work harder.
The Cowboys have all offseason to get their players back into the
prime physical condition they woulda’, coulda’, and shoulda’ been in
. . . whether locked out or clocked in.
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- The Cowboys have all offseason to get their coaches into the mindset
of directing, scheming, and strengthening towards their
circumstances . . . which enhances their winning chances.
The Cowboys have all offseason to do a lot . . . towards getting
another competitive shot or digging yet another grave
plot.
The Cowboys have all offseason to decide if they really do prefer
substandard to substance.
The Cowboys have all offseason to move away from being the toast of
the coast . . . and move closer to determining where attention is
needed most.
Will the Cowboys do something truly sublime with their surplus of
free time?
We shall see. We always do.
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