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2010-2011 Regular Season: From Committing
Cardinal Sins To A Strong Showing In A Fine Feathered Finale?
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- December 30, 2010
At 10:25 PM CST
By Eric M. Scharf
The Dallas Cowboys have spent
the better part of their 2010 season proving consistently
inconsistent . . . and believably unbelievable.
Fans – two weeks ago after the Redskins game – were left wondering
if the Cowboys would ever reacquaint themselves with the ability to
take a big lead on an opponent, maintain that lead, and finish a
game with that lead.
The killer instinct in today’s NFL – of constant upheaval in
organizational focus, coaching ability, player leadership, player
performances, player confidence, and player rosters – can be hard to
develop, harder to maintain, and even harder to redevelop.
NFL teams – from executives to coaches to scouts to players – are
always reloading in one form or another . . . but that is no safe
haven and no good excuse for the “Creep Show” the Cowboys have
displayed for their fans in 2010.
Fans – last Saturday night after the Arizona Cardinals game – were
left wondering if the Cowboys would ever reacquaint themselves with
the ability to not hand deliver a big lead to an opponent, not allow
any part of that big lead to be maintained, and not allow any part
of that lead to remain once the final whistle had blown.
Fans know better than to allow themselves to dream a little dream in
the face of a season-long nightmare, but considering the holiday and
level of competition, fans had reason to hope for a miracle: the
Cowboys “winning a game they were supposed to win.”
Fans expected a Cowboys team – frustrated by near what-ifs against
the Saints and Eagles and a gag reflex against the Redskins – to
show up for a complete game against the contrived-without-Kurt
Cardinals.
Fans expected NFC East versus NFC West, but they ended up with NFC
Least versus NFC Worst.
It was survival of the unfit – with the victim receiving a good
old-fashioned lump of coal in return for committing a series of
Cardinal sins.
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- Welcome To The Bird
Cage
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- University of Phoenix
Stadium is one of the newest and best NFL venues around – but as
with any bird cage in which you choose to play, you want to be
swinging in the cat bird seat at the top rather than knocked
unconscious and laying spread eagle on the “drop cloth” newspaper
lining the bottom.
The Cowboys and Cardinals – under what had been their current
circumstances – were widely expected to represent Sylvester the Cat
and Tweety Bird.
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- The Cowboys entered the
Cardinals’ bird cage, and Arizona got the drop (ping) on Dallas.
The Cowboys – more accurately – dive-bombed themselves, delivering
gift after gift to the would-be winged warriors.
The Arizona Cardinals are no more believable as birds of prey at
this very moment than they were birds of pray (that they can win)
before the game last Saturday evening.
Mistakes Only
Monkeys Make
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Nobody who enjoys the holiday season ever wants to be asked to go to
work during such a time.
While fans and non-fans
alike can respect the fact that players may be thinking of their
families and good friends, those same players receive privileged
payments in exchange for temporarily tabling their holiday
happiness.
It comes with the
territory of being a professional football player
– whether you are on the starting line or simply riding the pine.
The
Cowboys had no excuse to perform as if it was Halloween night,
again, and putting on their latest rendition of "Wade's World."
The
two interceptions involving slips and tips by the usual suspects.
The blown zone defensive coverages by the usual suspects. The missed extra
point. The ridiculous penalties by the usual suspects – and
others by those fans would normally never suspect.
All of those mistakes
– all season long – have only derailed the forward progress the
Cowboys have so desperately pursued.
It used to be fair and
reasonable to associated such mistakes
– on such a gross, game after game, season long level – with
monkeys.
"Only monkeys could make
these kinds of errors
– again and again and again."
What if
monkeys got paid in dollars rather than in bananas? They probably
would be unhappy with the exchange rate and continue making their
monkey mistakes . . . but I digress.
The Cowboys can blame no
one but themselves for every single problem they have encountered
– outside of injuries –
this season.
The Cowboys know it. The
fans know it. The professional and arm chair critics know it. The
Cowboys
– for not much better and far, far worse with one game remaining in
their season – are the only people empowered to improve their
current situation towards their future success
The Cowboys can try to
blame monkeys, but that would be disrespecting the primates and
prehistoric men who populated Pangea before them.
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- A Fine Finish
Finally?
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- The Cowboys face
Philadelphia in a follow-up to their final quarter failure a few
weeks ago.
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- It matters more that the
Cowboys may be playing in poor weather than in front of
poorly-behaving Eagles fans.
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- While the Eagles have
nothing but playoff momentum for which to play, the Cowboys continue
to have their professional futures at stake. Everyone at every level
within the Dallas Cowboys organization will be effected in some way
by the results rendered by the Cowboys players at Lincoln Financial
Field.
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- Jobs are on the line.
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- While the Eagles may
choose to sit a number of their starters as an injury-proof
precaution, the Cowboys will be suiting up the best they have left
from what has become a decimated roster. They have no choice.
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- Jobs are on the line.
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- There is irony in that
the Eagles began the season in sad physical shape before recovering
to win the NFC East
– while the Cowboys
began the season in reasonably good health . . . only to deliver
nothing until their season was already lost.
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- Do the Cowboys players
understand what is at stake
– even with a seemingly unimportant game to play?
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- Are
any of the Cowboys players even the least bit energized to help
young Stephen "Mighty Good" McGee claim his first win in the NFL
with the last game of the season?
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- Do the Cowboys players
understand the power they wield on the grid iron
– to positively or negatively impact everyone else in their
organization?
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- Jerry
will not fire himself
– and his good friend George Steinbrenner is no longer around to do
it for him, either. The coaches and scouts know full well that
they will be fired before (most of) the players.
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Players are not guaranteed a spot with another team once they have been
cut . . . because not all players are viewed as salvageable with a
"change of scenery." Not all players are viewed as
favorably as Randy Moss (who has been tossed from team to team like
an unwanted rag doll this season).
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Not all players are going to be picked up
again and again. Some players may not even be able to turn to the
Canadian Football League with the performances they have thus far
displayed in 2010.
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"Sometimes, sometimes bad is bad"
– Huey Lewis & The News.
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- Do
the Cowboys players really understand that many of them may, in
fact, be playing the final game of their collective NFL careers?
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- Do
the Cowboys players really understand that Captain Garrett may drag
the rats further down with him if they repeat their wretched Redbird
result?
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- Jobs
are on the line.
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- Will
the Cowboys go from committing Cardinal sins to a strong showing
(and a win) in a fine feathered finale
in Philly?
We shall see. We always do.
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- Happy New Year, everyone.
