How the Grinchboys stole Christmas
The Dallas Cowboys ruined Christmas night with a horrendous outing in Arizona. The Cowboys gave up two touchdowns on two turnovers in their first two possesions. After finally getting on the scoreboard with a 42 yard field goal by David Buehler, the Dallas defense gave up their one big play of the game, a 74 yard TD reception by Andre Roberts from rookie quarterback John Skelton for a 21-3 Arizona lead.
The Cowboys then dominated the next two quarters, fighting back to eventually take the lead 26-24 on a Miles Austin 37 yard TD catch from 3rd string QB Stephen McGee with only a 1:41 remaining in the game. Somehow, kicker Buehler managed to shank the extra-point attempt. The Dallas defense then, for the 3rd time this season, allowed the opposing team to
march down the field to score the winning points.
Keys from Cowboys loss to Arizona:
1. This team should not play in the national spotlight. The Cowboys this season are 0-5 in night games, and have generally embarassed themselves in each of them.
2. Nothing good for the Cowboys comes from a short sideline pass. Only Dez Bryant has been able to make this play work. Tonight, the game was given away in the first quarter because of this foolish play-calling. The Cowboys give up interception returns for touchdowns every year from this play, and seldom get any positive yards from it when it is not picked off. Toss it out of the playbook, please.
3. Speaking of playbook, when did the local radio and television talk shows start dictating the plays. There are several times this season the Cowboys have seemingly listened to the media when designing a game plan. For example, earlier this season there were calls for more Felix Jones in place of Marion Barber. That happened. Then the media called for Wade Phillips to be fired. Done. Next, the media demanded a greater percentage of rushing plays. That was also done. Recently, the media began wondering why Miles Austin’s receptions were down. Tonight, the Cowboys appeared to be forcing the ball in the direction of Austin (thrown to 13 times, caught 6.)
4. Touchdown celebrations. Even if this is a stupid rule, and seems to be only enforced on the Cowboys, by now, Dallas players should know to not celebrate a touchdown. If you are in Green Bay, you can perform a pre-planned Lambeau Leap, but if you are a Dallas Cowboy, keep your helmet on and walk quietly to the sideline. It’s that simple.
5. Cowboys players on both offense and defense were slipping and falling down. Eventually, the equipment managers began changing the players’ cleats. Don’t the players warm-up prior to the game on this same field? Someone should have noticed they were not getting good traction. The Cardinals did not seem to have this problem, perhaps they went through the pre-game activities with a little better preparation?
6. The Dallas pass defense is still horrible. New coach, same result. They are 28th in the NFL against the pass (out of 32), and are 29th at allowing 3rd down conversions. When there is a decent pass rush, it appears no one is watching any receivers. When the receivers are covered, there is no pass rush. Unknown quarterbacks are routinely having hall of fame success against the Cowboys.
The only good thing about this game is that it brought an end to 2010 for the Dallas Cowboys. Unfortunately, 2011 starts next week at Philadelphia. At least it is not scheduled to be a night game. I hear the Eagles are lobbying to have the game moved to the night spotlight game.
