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- 2018-2019
Regular Season: Cowboys Remember The Titans And Head To Philly With
An Outlook That Really Frightens
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November 11, 2018 At 1:57 PM CST
By Eric M. Scharf-
- “America’s Team” – coming out of their long and restful bye –
were (somewhat) optimistic with a coaching change, a return to an
offensive line scheme not so strange, and a trade that appeared to
procure their vertical passing game, stretch-the-field guy.
The Dallas Cowboys were facing a near-equally inconsistent Tennessee
Titans team with comparatively less physical skill . . . but a team
nonetheless with a risk-taking first-year head coach and a
collectively strong will. Tennessee was, after all, the team that
beat the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in
overtime earlier in the year. Since then – win or lose – the Titans
have played like a team without fear.
The reasonably-held assumption was that the Cowboys might enjoy a
(mild) Monday Night massacre if they could actually solve but one or
two of their ongoing offensive disaster. It was thought that Dallas
might enjoy a similarly successful thrill to the one they received
when hosting Jacksonville.
Dallas “merely” had to overcome (drum roll please for their
seemingly incurable disease) piss-poor play-calling and monuMENTAL
mistakes that have left much of Cowboys Nation angrily balling. The
Cowboys with this charbroiled challenge have long been replete. Fans
(those yet unable to walk away from another bad play) have been made
to feel like Alex from "A Clockwork Orange," as part of a
reconditioning program of rinse and repeat.
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- The Cowboys (to fan delight) seemed ready to fight. They started
fast but after what should have become a 10-0 or even 14-0 lead,
their offensive energy would not last, and their winning opportunity
would ultimately recede. The Titans would absorb some serious first
half punishment only to briefly take the lead and (all things
considered) confidently reach intermission with a tie-game
accomplishment.
The second half for Dallas was a different-yet-familiar story with
self-inflicted wounds so gory. While the Titans (like any team worth
its film-study salt) made it their primary stack-the-box mission to
grind the Cowboys’ ground game to a halt, Dallas (once again) could
not find any way to make Tennessee pay by consistently and
successfully airing it out to save the day.
Amari Cooper (a quick twitch player who had a more than acceptable
first day) would not and could not improve the play of a quarterback
who continues to get in his own way. Dak Prescott (once again) could
not see the reaction-time forest through the gummed-up trees,
resulting (from progression to recognition to execution) in more
poor performance disease.
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- “But Cooper can go deep or take a short pass and go on a YAC
attack,” excited fans doth exclaim! If your quarterback lacks the
minimum required field of vision to make the right and accurate
decision, even the very best receiver alive will have little to no
impact on the game. And for all the (warranted) concern over Amari’s
potential for another drop, he was reliable and evenhanded. His new
QB was the responsible party on which the issue (once again) landed.
Prescott’s touchdown killing interception (early in the game) and
his late butterfingers fumble were ever so lame, but it was his
horrifying Dakuracy (now a faint 2016 fallacy) that was primarily to
blame. Dak – with the clearly understood need for a timely mental
clock – was routinely unable to more quickly take downfield stock.
Yes, the offensive line remained far from perfect, but (1,000 times
over) Dak knew of that defect. He knew his ability to run (under
those circumstances) would buy him more time and at least prevent
him from getting completely decked. He (even armed with those facts)
continued to hold onto the ball until it was entirely too late to
tuck and haul, leaving himself with the unsavory choices of rushing
a(n unwise) throw or (unnecessarily and repeatedly) being exposed to
a defensive maul.
Receivers were more than reasonably getting open but (with the
requisite grid iron surveillance) Prescott was simply not copin’.
Receivers showed separation, but Dak’s game speed suffered another
slow bleed, triggering an unbearable mental vacation. “Linehan’s
Clan” continued to draw a painful blank with zero adjustability
(through calls or execution) in their collective databank. Prescott
knows (from coaches to teammates to armchair haters to provocative
prognosticators) if the option is not there (regardless of the
quality of available receiver), he should not just stand and stare.
He knows he can keep his head on a(n unfair) swivel, and run here,
run there, run ANYWHERE. He knows (for the love of all who still
claim to be sane) to throw the ball away to avoid a minus play.
“But Dak passed for over 243 yards,” the Prescott apologists would
protest. Any surplus to Dak’s usual sub-200 were required to play
catch up for mistakes he needed to patch up. Recovery or (GASP)
garbage time production is a poor excuse, and they should give it a
rest.
“Marinelli’s Men” (with energetic Kris Richard imploring them to go
hard) could do little in the second half to stem the Cowboys’
one-dimensional tide, because poor field position from continued
offensive attrition eventually wore them down to the point where
they were just along for the ride. As consistently
very-good-but-not-great as the “Hot Boyz” have been, expecting them
to cover, game after game, for poor offensive production (like the
2000 Ravens’ unit) is an unforgiveable sin. Marinelli’s Men
regularly put forth solid effort and can be pretty stout even when
going without (the likes of David Irving and Randy Gregory), but not
enough to repeatedly fend off series after series of 3-and-out.
Sadly, stubbornly, typically, and (nowadays) expectedly, the
Cowboys’ resultant 28-14 loss to the Titans involved the same lineup
of the usual suspects for the umpteenth game.
Short Shots And Hot Spots
“The Tortured Cowboys Fan” – not one to normally double down – would
also remind that Titan’s quarterback Marcus Mariota (from an early
season right elbow injury) still occasionally feels stinging and
numbness in his fingers. The Cowboys’ Dak Prescott has faced no such
(reported) physical challenge and, yet, a passing game pattern that
began in Atlanta last year still lingers.
Dak Prescott seems so dead set on following “trust the system”
instructions, he willingly participates in his own destruction.
Prescott is hardly "Check-down Charlie," but (outside of the Jaguars
game and part of the Redskins game) he refuses to sway in the face
of a doomed-but-escapable play. He knows, deep down, that Jason
Garrett and Scott Linehan (unless GM-forced) from the current
offensive playbook will never, ever get divorced. Tony Romo –
regardless of his superior skill set – is the same as Prescott in
one key regard that Dak continues to find so frustratingly hard.
Dak, like Tony, can choose to decide that Linehan’s blueprint is
only the absolute baseline against which his own game day, in-play
decisions could and should refine.
Dak can choose to raise his game beyond Linehan’s plan, and Dak has
to have (or develop) the nerve to be the man. Where Linehan’s play
calls (brutally) end, Prescott can start to flex and bend, creating
more options into which those rigid play calls can blend, and start
to realize an offense that (no longer Linehan’s) is
slowly-but-surely on the mend.
Perhaps the only way Prescott can feel most encouraged to apply such
controlling sway is if someone like GM Jerry has something
provocative to say. “Listen, Dak is the quarterback of the Dallas
Cowboys,” Jerry Jones told 105.3 The Fan. “He’s young, and he’s
going to get extended.” Reality upended? Belief suspended? Both fan
and prognosticator sensibilities completely offended?
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- Maybe Teflon Jerry has nothing to lose with the oldest of Jedi
mind tricks to (at the very least) shake Dak further loose from his
dot-to-dot ticks. After all, Dak’s near-refusal to venture beyond
checking the play call box has kept too many of his mistakes in the
game day mix. Perhaps GM Jerry is, in fact, knowingly telling Dak to
add “just a touch” of Tony – towards more natural decision-making
beyond the snap – to deliberately extend (or – GASP – rebel against)
deficient play calls that (in great part) contribute to him looking
like a phony. If he is (allegedly) receiving zero developmental
support, maybe Prescott will feel free to ignore the mild audible
(of a particularly lousy call?) in favor of the maximum abort.
Consider that a star player who can successfully work around a
coach’s deficiencies (like Romo, in fact, did with both Garrett and
Linehan) allows an owner to keep his “favorite son,” rather than be
forced to tell him: “YOU’RE DONE.” If that most simple of reverse
psychologies does not work, Jerry (in balancing his GM Jekyll
against his owner Hyde) reserves the right to change his mind,
allowing Cowboys Nation to believe owner Jerry has not gone
completely blind. It is owner Jerry’s begrudging preference towards
avoiding an additional coaching change. “I’m not anticipating any
more coaching changes,” and a complete overhaul – to owner Jerry –
would be unthinkably strange.
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- "Go through the list and this team, over a long period of time,
has been what it's been. It hasn't always mattered who the head
coach has been. So to me, if you're asking me, I'd say there has to
be a complete overhaul of the entire organization. I've heard Jerry
say, 'OK, look, we're going to do it differently. I'm going to do it
differently.' But it's the same. Nothing changes. And that to me is
the bigger issue. Yes, coaching is important, personnel, all those
things are important, but how are you going about evaluating how
you're going about running the organization? Whatever that looks
like -- and everyone has an opinion on what it does look like, but
I'm not in the building. I have no idea. I talk to people. I talk to
people who have been inside the building and have a pretty good
understanding how things are run, and in a lot of ways there's a lot
of dysfunction, and that has to change if this team is going to be
able to compete on a consistent basis like the teams that you look
to around the league that seemingly are in the hunt each and every
year. One thing Jerry has done over the years, whether it's been
accurate or not, is he's done things to at least give the fan base
hope going into the next year." – Troy Aikman on 1310 AM The
Ticket.
“Troy knows what’s going on. Having Troy say something like that,
you’ve got to listen. Listen to Troy, because he knows what he’s
talking about.” – Roger Staubach in a phone interview with USA
TODAY Sports.
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- Sean Lee’s latest hamstring injury is another reminder that – no
matter how badly (more than) some fans wanted the Cowboys’ 2018
first round draft pick to be wide receiver Calvin Ridley – Leighton
Vander Esch was a magical MUST in the face of another season when
Lee’s body might continue to go bust. LVE still has a way to go, but
GM Jerry and Will McClay are well within their rights to tell any
still-irritated fans (yes, on this one point), “We
told you so!"
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- While reserve receiver Deonte Thompson was (mercifully)
released, Lance "Preseason Performer" Lenoir and big Noah Brown's
time on the practice squad had (finally) ceased. The Cowboys
elevated them both to their game day roster, and quality playing
time they both hope to foster.
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- Defensive ends David Irving and Taco "Not So Supreme" Charlton join
Lee on the trainer's table. While Sean's injury history seems
inescapable, time will tell if his younger, far-less-accomplished
teammates earn a similar label.
Struggling rookie offensive guard Connor Williams is also out with
an injured knee, but the Cowboys finally get to see how well
journeyman lineman Xavier Su'a-Filo can go.
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- It is a cruel twist of fate preventing Dez Bryant from making the
November 29, 2018 date. After everyone took shots at Dez for waiting
so long to settle on the right team with which to align, the New
Orleans Saints – following a successful tryout – were the willing
partner with whom Bryant would sign. What a ratings bonanza that
Thursday night at AT&T Stadium would have been if Dez’s ACL (during
a mere practice) had not suddenly taken him for an ill-timed spin.
“The Tortured Cowboys Fan” fully expects Bryant to remain defiant,
(eventually) conquering a recovery period irritatingly slow and
giving a triumphant NFL return another go.
Will They Or Won’t They?
The Dallas Cowboys are facing the hated Philadelphia Eagles at the
Linc. The pressure is entirely on America’s Team to see if they will
actually compete for 60 minutes or raise another odious stink.
The Cowboys have reached their seemingly annual crossroads. They are
at the precipice of learning whether their (untapped?) potential explodes or
their (insufferable) season implodes. Dallas has enough issues to validate a box of
three-ply tissues but in pro sports, no one cares if you have many a
problem. They only care if and how you solve ‘em.
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- Dallas confronts a Philly team that has been rounding into form
the past two weeks and – now – they have the notorious Golden Tate
to help them peak. Dallas – of course – has Amari Cooper, but his
presence is meaningless if his offensive teammates put on another
performance leak.
Will the Cowboys have a chance, or will they display another
dysfunctional dance?
Will Dallas be competitively better, or will Linehan’s Clan (once
again) be a red zone bed wetter?
We shall see. We always do.
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