Post by MR COWBOY on Nov 23, 2009 14:03:06 GMT -7
Cowboys headed nowhere with this offense
By RANDY GALLOWAY
star-telegram.com
ARLINGTON — Some 46 million turkeys, so say the pilgrims who track such things, will have died this week by the time we get to Thursday. And then there’s the Dallas Cowboys.
"Stayin’ alive," said receiver Patrick Crayton, who was describing his game-winning end zone-improvised route, as opposed to pop songs of the ’70s, or even the shaky condition of his team.
Beating the Washington Redskins by a final score of 7-6 sounded more like a Frankie Francisco bullpen collapse two blocks to the east, but it actually defined the Cowboys in Sunday’s desperate and, finally, successful survival act.
Lose this one, and even with Oakland on the Thanksgiving platter for Thursday, this was a team that was cooked, along with those 46 million turkeys, even before the dreaded December death march.
By winning this one, it was almost historic. The last time the Cowboys won a game scoring seven points or fewer was in December 1970.
Some 40 years later, the Cowboys are attempting to reverse history by, first, getting to the postseason, and, second, winning in the post-season, something the franchise hasn’t done since 1996.
But it won’t happen. No way. Not the way Tony Romo and his receivers have suddenly run out of meat and potatoes, not to mention points. Unless that changes, pronto, forget it.
The math is not complicated. Two touchdowns in the last two games. Fourteen points, period. And totally outplayed by an outmanned Redskins defense on Sunday.
The big local debate after Green Bay a week ago was "giving up on the run." For nearly 58 minutes on Sunday, the Cowboys had plenty of yards on the ground. Except there were no points on the scoreboard.
In the NFL, if you’re not passing to win, you’re not winning. OK, it was Washington, a club with so many issues that anything is possible. So a win became possible.
Romo suffered a back injury early, and he was also awful until late. But when it was absolutely up-against-the-wall Redskin mothers, then Tony delivered, as did his receivers, on a gut-grabbing clutch drive in deep stretch.
Afterward, the locker-room theme was mostly the typical "a win is a win in this league," and if the players and coaches had noticed it, they would have pointed to what happened to the Steelers in Kansas City on Sunday, or, yes, how those incoming Raiders shocked the Bengals.
But until Romo escaped pressure late in the fourth quarter, until he drifted outside to his left, until he signaled Crayton in the end zone (the prearranged "wrong" signal in pointing the other way), until Tony ignored 85,000 voices urging him to "ruuunnn" it, the Cowboys were on the brink.
And then Crayton was there. And then Tony nailed him. And with 2:41 left to play, the Cowboys would have the lead on that 10-yard touchdown pass.
"I was just running around, stayin’ alive," said Crayton, who made his only catch of the game count. "When you have a quarterback like that, you know Tony can keep a play going, so you know if he gets outside the pocket, just keep moving. Stay alive.
"And I had a linebacker pick me up. I figured I had to separate from a linebacker."
Crayton followed the theme of "I’m not going to complain about a win, even an ugly win."
Tight end Jason Witten noted, "Nothing pretty about this one, except the win. And when we had the one drive to win it, we did it. I’ll take that and feel good about it."
From wideout Miles Austin: "I don’t consider it an offensive slump for us. We won, didn’t we? But let’s see what happens next week."
Actually, "next week" comes Thursday. And the Raiders are not a bad defensive club. One thing the Raiders will obviously concentrate on is that Romo didn’t complete a pass to a wide receiver until he hit Austin for 23 yards on the last play of the third quarter.
Not that Roy Williams didn’t have an opportunity or two, but, frankly, shouldn’t Sam Hurd be warming up, or even Kevin Ogletree, to take over Roy’s spot? This Roy thing is looking hopeless. (OK, OK, OK. Jerry would not approve.)
For the afternoon, the Redskins dropped two safeties 30 yards off the line of scrimmage and dared Romo to work underneath. That kind of defense is an invitation to run the ball, which Jason Garrett certainly did, but the ol’ Tampa 2 strategy is not exactly a new look for any passing game.
The Cowboys, however, were totally stumped.
Anyway, after taking over at their own 40, down 6-0, and the clock nearing seven minutes to play, why did things change with Romo and his wideouts, particularly Miles?
"What I noticed," said Austin, "is they had been rolling coverage my way, and then they appeared worried about Jason [Witten.] The coverage went his way. I had some one-on-one openings."
Witten caught two throws in the game-winning drive, and Austin got open for catches of 9, 11 and then 4 yards. Compared to the previous 55 minutes, this was a bonanza.
Then came Romo and Crayton in their curtain-closing, stayin’ alive act.
Never had Tony thrown for so few yards (158) and won a game.
Don’t expect it to happen again