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- 2018-2019
Regular Season: Cowboys Find A Way Against More Birds Of Prey And
Face The Skins For The Division Lead On Turkey Day
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This edition of "The Tortured
Cowboys Fan" has also been published by the fine folks at
Sports TalkLine.
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November 20, 2018 At 11:17 PM CST
By Eric M. Scharf-
- “America’s Team” – in a matter of three weeks – has gone from
being prepared by a mortician to perhaps (in one day’s time) taking
the NFC East lead with conviction. “Garrett’s Gang” clearly needed
to see their fortunes seriously dip before “choosing” a few select
switches to flip.
The Dallas Cowboys have won two in a row for the first time all
season. The Dallas Cowboys have won two in a row on the road for the
first time in three years, which is mighty pleasin’.
The Dallas Cowboys have convincingly outlasted two straight birds of
prey by whom many expected Dallas to be completely blasted.
“But the Eagles had a boatload of injuries – and players lost for
the season – coming into that game!” you say? The Cowboys have been
operating their own 24-7 trauma center just the same. The truth
tends to wipe excuses away.
“B-But the Falcons were missing a number of their own star players!” you
exclaim? Using that excuse two weeks in a row is pretty lame.
You play who is on your schedule . . . while doing your very best to
survive enough injuries to avoid being labeled a gimme or a game day
vegetable.
As a result, the Dallas Cowboys (formerly at 3-5) beat the Atlanta
Falcons 22-19 (on a last-second field goal by a player in a shaky
role) to reach 5-5 and keep their playoff hopes alive.
Short Shots And Hot Spots
While there was legitimate fear that Atlanta's Julio Jones, Mohamed
Sanu, and rookie Calvin “Coulda’ Been A Cowboy” Ridley would come
together to form a three-headed aerial beast, “Marinelli's Men” (at
the very least) did a reasonable job of only allowing one of them to
feast.
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- The Falcons’ Matt Ryan (early in the first quarter) had to
escape a hard-charging DeMarcus Lawrence and – just as Ryan was
about to release a deep pass to Julio Jones – Tank hit his arm. If
the seemingly stunned Jones had managed to nab the wobbler that was
up for grabs, it might have sparked some point-scoring harm. While
Byron Jones and Xavier Woods were glued to Julio (and adhering to
Rod Marinelli's and Kris Richard's "never let ‘em get behind you"
mandate), "the world will never know" if the Dallas defenders dared
to divert their eyes more directly towards the aerial prize to –
perhaps – transform it into a timely turnover candidate.
Nonetheless, it seemed a safe sack bet (even in the continued
absence of over half the defensive line's starting set) that Tank
was determined to make a passing pocket dent. He, Randy Gregory, and
Tyrone Crawford combined for three of Atlanta’s QB.
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- Jeff Heath (late in the second quarter) seemingly had a guaranteed
interception of an overthrown deep ball to Julio Jones. Sadly - upon
being bopped by Jones - Heath's treasured turnover was harmlessly
dropped (to many fan groans). Julio gave Heath a seemingly light
forearm shiver, but it was enough to ensure Jeff could not deliver.
Leighton Vander Esch for the second straight game added another
interception to his rookie year fame. As The Tortured Cowboys Fan
insists on (but does not enjoy) pointing out, LVE has a wonderful
nose for the ball, but when the Cowboys' secondary finally starts to
display similar hand-eye coordination (away from their comparative
years-long interception vacation), fans will really start to
celebrate and shout! “Kris’s Kids” meanwhile appear under
semi-strict instruction to stare down opposing receivers without so
much as a wandering eye back at the archer tasked with letting the
arrows fly.
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- The Falcons' speedy running back Tevin Coleman had a few impressive
instances where he was able to easily reach the edge. Save for one
play where the hard-hitting Xavier Woods let him get away, Coleman
might have achieved more if Marinelli's Men had not honored their
swarm-to-the-football pledge.
"Linehan's Clan" did a nice job of continuing to use Ezekiel Elliott
here, there, and everywhere. While Zeke showed great patience to
push the ground game hard (with one touchdown and 122 yards), he
showed some sass with the pass, being particularly mean on the
screen.
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- Yes, the sheer presence of Amari Cooper has lessened the stacked
deck (that had Zeke thinking “What the heck!”) and helped shake the
Cowboys from some of their offensive stupor. Yes, it would be (and
has been) only too easy to point to the departed Paul Alexander and
apply all the “what took you so incredibly long” blame. That will
never, of course, dismiss the fact that other coaches (who may have
stubbornly wanted Alexander's approach to work) could still have sooner and
better utilized Zeke instead of subjecting the team to so many
avoidable flames.
If Dallas eventually happens to suffer a crash-to-Earth relapse,
Cowboys Nation would prefer it be triggered by a better-performing
team and not another obvious scheme collapse. “But that would help
accelerate Garrett and Linehan out the door!” you say? Did you
happen to hear an excited Jerry Jones the other day? Fans must
(continue to) try to find something else upon which to be morbidly
vexed. Next.
"The Tortured Cowboys Fan" – like everyone else in Cowboys Nation –
is still shocked that Cole Beasley (late in the first quarter)
dropped Dak's end zone pass so easily. Prescott (GASP) hit Beasley
in his hands, and it slipped through his normally best-in-class
hands like so much dessert sand. Less than a minute later, Prescott
tried again with the Falcons playing the party pooper. Desmond
Trufant got just enough in Amari Cooper's way to deflect the pass
play. Unlike the perfectly placed pass to Beasley, Dak’s shot to
Amari was fired a bit too slow for a quick crossing route that
needed some get-up-and-go.
The solidly-built Prescott (later in the contest and for the second
game in a row) kept it for himself and scored on goal to go. It is a
necessary reminder to opponents convinced they can focus solely on
stopping a Zeke run or tamping down a(n imperfect) Prescott throw.
And Brett Maher? While he kicked the game-winner, his inconsistency
is becoming more of a head-spinner. Either he begins to solve the
recent riddle of his kicking trajectory or (assuming no better
options in Dallas’ free agent directory), the Cowboys will magically
not need his accuracy to go far.
While Tyron Smith said the stinger that took him out of the Cowboys’
game-winning drive was much ado about nothing, his spine-related
injury history suggests he is performing more of his tough-guy
bluffing. Tyron is a VERY tough guy, but when (not if) his back and
neck problems flair up again, no discerning fan should need to ask
why.
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- With the suddenly broken-wristed Geoff Swaim (temporarily) on the
shelf, will it be Dalton Schultz or Rico Gathers who steps in to
make a bigger name for himself?
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- Michael Gallup (on an incomparably somber note) suffered a loss no
game day victory could completely smote. Gallup’s brother suddenly
passed away, and though he was expected take a short leave to
grieve, he still plans to play on Thanksgiving Day.
Will They Or Won’t They?
America’s Team is the host with the absolute most (to gain), and the
NFC East-leading Washington Redskins are arriving at AT&T Stadium in
plenty of pain.
Their offensive line is anything but fine, and they are far from
resembling “The Hogs” (Washington’s infamous swine). Even more
apocalyptic. They lost Alex Smith – their starting quarterback – to
the same gruesome leg injury suffered by former Redskins great Joe
Theismann. They both endured an eerily similar snap, crackle, and
pop . . . leaving their respective teams with the decision to fight
on (through the art of heart) or simply stop.
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- The ‘Skins still have Adrian Peterson who – as he insisted –
appears far from done. They also still have backup QB Colt McCoy . .
. who plays like a man but looks like a boy. It’s true! Who knew?
The ‘Skins – all kidding aside – are looking toward McCoy (just like
they similarly did four years ago) to show them the way forward, and
(with great respect to Alex Smith) Colt is only too thankful for the
opportunity to put the team in his saddle and take ‘em for a ride.
The Dallas Cowboys have been granted a potentially tremendous
Thanksgiving Day gift, but will they demonstrate the necessary
balance of productive performance and mental error thrift?
"Our backs are against the wall, and they still against the wall." –
Dak Prescott (following the Cowboys’ victory over the Falcons and)
correctly acknowledging Dallas’ remaining six-game haul through
which his team cannot currently afford a single fall.
Will Garrett’s Gang (particularly Marinelli’s Men and Linehan’s
Clan) continue their winning streak thang’, or will the Cowboys
allow their hated rivals to derail their leapfrogging divisional
plan? Will Garret ask his team to play for the overtime-triggering
tie like in game one, or will he encourage them to keep the pedal to
the metal until the final gun?
Will Marinelli’s Men continue to succeed with a roughed-up rotation,
key depth for which remains on injury vacation? Will Dak & Co.
continue to play (and even improve upon) their steady, smashmouth
mix of ground and air? Will America’s Team continue to push beyond
their (perceived) station and deftly handle a critical
division-leading dare?
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- The Cowboys-Redskins history is replete with many a shocking
result, and you never know which underdog will suddenly revolt. Will
Dallas allow Washington to turn a reasonably-achievable victory into
an undesirable slugfest, making Cowboys Nation’s Thanksgiving feast
hard to digest?
Will the Cowboys give the Redskins the satisfaction of winning the
season series . . . only to invite an entirely new range of painful
performance queries and next-head-coach theories?
We shall see. We always do.
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