Post by ccboy on Dec 4, 2009 9:43:42 GMT -7
Mickey Spanola: Truth of the matter
IRVING, Texas - So it's December, perceived to be the Dallas Cowboys' full moon.
D-e-c-e-m-b-e-r, as if the final month of the year should be spelled out in flashing neon red, just as is the custom in the windows of those downtown-city diners, signs proclaiming this to be the place to E-A-T.
Beware, right, it's December when the Dallas Cowboys disintegrate, as if water being thrown on the Wicked Witch of the West. Perceptions can be cruel and evil.
This one has created an emotional pandemic, so widespread you would think these Cowboys, 8-3 by the way, winners in five of their past six games and leading the NFC East by one game over the Philadelphia Eagles and two games over this Sunday's opponent, the New York Giants - losers in five of their past six games - should seek some sort of NFL vaccination.
If you believe in such stuff, then fine, you probably ought to click on another page now. You're hopeless.
But if you are not afraid of the truth then please hang with me. You'll better understand how circumstantial the results during this final full month of the regular season have been for the Cowboys, rather than the growing perception that Dallas can't handle the pressure of finishing a season.
Let me begin here. The fault for this perception belongs to the mighty Bill Parcells, and please, do not even attempt to bring Dave Campo's three seasons as head coach into the discussion to further perpetrate this plague. The Cowboys of 2000-2002 were horrid in September, October and November during those consecutive 5-11 seasons, so stands to reason they would be equally horrid in December as they were. And losing the final five games of 1997 - yes, some want to go back that far to tie this December mourn into a tidy little box - had more to do with a 6-5 team quitting on Barry Switzer following that Green Bay shellacking than any month of the year.
So enter Parcells. His four Cowboys teams from 2003-06 went 10-6, 6-11, 9-7 and 9-7 for a grand total of 34-31. That they went 10-6 in 2003 to earn a wildcard playoff berth with Quincy Carter the starting quarterback, Troy Hambrick the starting running back and fullback Richie Cunningham the leading receiver might should go down as the greatest coaching job in the history of the NFL.
So in Bill's four seasons of December/January regular-season games, he had an 8-11 record: 2-3, 2-3, 2-3 and 2-2. Many wanted to accuse him of wearing his team out, working and practicing his players so hard that they were spent by season's end. But frankly, only the 2006 team would be classified as decent - so a December swoon or the nature of his teams?
And in 2006, when the Cowboys began to turn the corner, the then-young Tony Romo took over at midseason as the starting quarterback, starting his first 10 games in the NFL. So was going 2-3 in December the beginning of this so-called curse or the precipitation of playing with an inexperienced quarterback, who the Cowboys failed to properly protect down the stretch and whose defense was undressed for all others to copy by former assistant head coach Sean Payton in his first season with the Saints?
Plus, if you want to hang the playoff loss that season all on Romo, everyone seemingly more than willing to include him in this December equation, please, let's factor in the Cowboys thoroughly in control of that road game at Seattle where the Seahawks rarely lost back then anyway. That is, until Terry Glenn fumbles a pass at the Cowboys two, the Seahawks recovering for a safety. And head referee Walt Anderson reversing a first-down ruling at the Seattle one, instead turning it into a fourth-and-one at the two, forcing the Cowboys to attempt a field goal and foregoing the opportunity of sending Marion Barber up the middle at least three times for the game-winning touchdown.
Yep, all that before the snap on Martin Gramatica's potential game-winning field goal when the playoff game slipped right through Romo's hands.
Pretty circumstantial to me.
Unfortunately for Wade Phillips, who became this team's head coach the following season when Parcells quit, he inherited the perception, which was fanned illogically. The Cowboys got off to a 12-1 start, a record probably far beyond their collective skills at that point. I mean, did you really think you were watching the greatest team in Cowboys history since 13-3 of the 1992 Super Bowl champs?
The Cowboys were riding a seven-game winning streak before the Eagles beat them, 10-6, one of those real clunkers where nothing went right. But again, the odds were against the Cowboys winning them all the rest of the way. They were due. OK, so they lost, then went on the road to beat Carolina, which clinched the NFC East title, a first-round bye and best record in the NFC.
They had nothing to gain beating the Redskins in the finale, so they pulled starters left and right. Didn't even play some of the injured ones, and yep, got beat 27-6. Attribute that to December scorn or indifference?
And for those who want to lump the playoff loss to the Giants in there, too, let's not forget Terrell Owens' high ankle sprain suffered against Carolina probably should have sidelined him in that game, too. He had nothing. Thus, the Cowboys' offense, which ran, ran, ran with Barber starting ahead of Julius Jones but never threatening the Giants defense, had nothing. They got beat, 21-7, after a 13-3 season.
Funny thing occurred as the Giants streaked to the Super Bowl title thanks to an improbable catch during the game-winning drive on New England. Up rose this perception the Giants streaked into the playoffs. Truth be known, the Giants finished the regular season with a 2-2 record in December, losing two of their final three, although they insist that season-ending 38-35 loss to the Patriots is what kick-started their run.
Oh, and this just in: Those 9-7 Arizona Cardinals who caught fire in the playoffs last year, losing the Super Bowl on the final drive of the game to Pittsburgh? They were 2-2 in the month of December, losing two of their final three games before starting their playoff run.
I'm just saying.
Furthermore, I was fairly amused how former Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson was quoted as some sort of authority on winning in December. Kidding me? He was 2-6 his first two Decembers with atrocious Cowboys teams and then went 10-1 the next three years when he had two Super Bowl championship teams. Makes sense, right?
By the way, when Jimmy switched addresses three seasons later to Miami, apparently his Dolphins teams that went 8-8, 9-7, 10-6 and 9-7 were not injected with the same December elixir he handed the Cowboys. His December record with the Dolphins was 6-10. Old-age forgetfulness setting in or lack of talent?
Come, on get serious.
And then there is last season. Yes, the Cowboys were 8-4 after Thanksgiving before embarking on their Burma Road - at Pittsburgh, the Giants, the Ravens, at Philadelphia. All four teams had winning records. The Giants and Pittsburgh won their divisions. The Ravens earned a wild-card berth, as did the Eagles by defeating the Cowboys in the final game of the season.
Wonder how many clubs played four straight playoff teams to finish the season?
Look, was their shame in losing to the Steelers, in Pittsburgh with the temperatures around 10, your quarterback trying to play without a splint on his fractured finger, all against the eventual Super Bowl champs? They beat the Giants and then needed two of the most improbable missed tackles on back-to-back touchdown runs to lose to the Ravens, who ended up losing the AFC title game to the Steelers, by the way.
Now I got no answer for the loss in Philly with the playoff berth on the line. Blame it on no-showing, blame it on choking, blame it on not being good enough - heck, blame it on the Bossa Nova. But it's all too easy to conclude the Cowboys simply fold worse than my old accordion in December.
So they should give no never-mind to this being the December of this season. Instead, they must respect what's in front of them: Four of the final five opponents owning winning records, two of them division leaders, three of them on the road and one of them heading into Monday night's Game 11 undefeated.
That all adds up to the final five opponents owning a combined 34-20 record. There is no other such stretch over the first 11 games, and about the best I can find is 24-20 over the four-game stretch with Atlanta, Seattle, Philadelphia and Green Bay.
Is there some NFL computer geek laughing at 280 Park Avenue after programming in some sort of scheduling stunt?
"What's all this about?" first-year Cowboys safety Gerald Sensabaugh asked, somewhat amused. "I have no clue what happened in Decembers, but I know we're going to go and win games. I don't know anything about a December curse but I don't see none of that happening this year."
Phillips won't even engage in the discussions. He just wants to talk about the Giants, as should be his focus. When asked about big games coming up, he crumbles the big picture by saying "the Giants game is the biggest of the season" or says "you don't play five games at once, you play one." That is how you handle the pressure of December, just as they have preached all season long:
One practice, one quarter, one half, one game at a time.
Then you go on to the next, never letting the past linger.
For Marcus Spears, this will be his fifth December/January stretch, and he doesn't seem unnerved by whatever size moon is being hung over their heads.
"This is a new year, a new team," Spears said, "and if you think about what's happened in the past and let it linger, you're killing yourself."
Or allowing all those preying werewolves to come out again at night.
IRVING, Texas - So it's December, perceived to be the Dallas Cowboys' full moon.
D-e-c-e-m-b-e-r, as if the final month of the year should be spelled out in flashing neon red, just as is the custom in the windows of those downtown-city diners, signs proclaiming this to be the place to E-A-T.
Beware, right, it's December when the Dallas Cowboys disintegrate, as if water being thrown on the Wicked Witch of the West. Perceptions can be cruel and evil.
This one has created an emotional pandemic, so widespread you would think these Cowboys, 8-3 by the way, winners in five of their past six games and leading the NFC East by one game over the Philadelphia Eagles and two games over this Sunday's opponent, the New York Giants - losers in five of their past six games - should seek some sort of NFL vaccination.
If you believe in such stuff, then fine, you probably ought to click on another page now. You're hopeless.
But if you are not afraid of the truth then please hang with me. You'll better understand how circumstantial the results during this final full month of the regular season have been for the Cowboys, rather than the growing perception that Dallas can't handle the pressure of finishing a season.
Let me begin here. The fault for this perception belongs to the mighty Bill Parcells, and please, do not even attempt to bring Dave Campo's three seasons as head coach into the discussion to further perpetrate this plague. The Cowboys of 2000-2002 were horrid in September, October and November during those consecutive 5-11 seasons, so stands to reason they would be equally horrid in December as they were. And losing the final five games of 1997 - yes, some want to go back that far to tie this December mourn into a tidy little box - had more to do with a 6-5 team quitting on Barry Switzer following that Green Bay shellacking than any month of the year.
So enter Parcells. His four Cowboys teams from 2003-06 went 10-6, 6-11, 9-7 and 9-7 for a grand total of 34-31. That they went 10-6 in 2003 to earn a wildcard playoff berth with Quincy Carter the starting quarterback, Troy Hambrick the starting running back and fullback Richie Cunningham the leading receiver might should go down as the greatest coaching job in the history of the NFL.
So in Bill's four seasons of December/January regular-season games, he had an 8-11 record: 2-3, 2-3, 2-3 and 2-2. Many wanted to accuse him of wearing his team out, working and practicing his players so hard that they were spent by season's end. But frankly, only the 2006 team would be classified as decent - so a December swoon or the nature of his teams?
And in 2006, when the Cowboys began to turn the corner, the then-young Tony Romo took over at midseason as the starting quarterback, starting his first 10 games in the NFL. So was going 2-3 in December the beginning of this so-called curse or the precipitation of playing with an inexperienced quarterback, who the Cowboys failed to properly protect down the stretch and whose defense was undressed for all others to copy by former assistant head coach Sean Payton in his first season with the Saints?
Plus, if you want to hang the playoff loss that season all on Romo, everyone seemingly more than willing to include him in this December equation, please, let's factor in the Cowboys thoroughly in control of that road game at Seattle where the Seahawks rarely lost back then anyway. That is, until Terry Glenn fumbles a pass at the Cowboys two, the Seahawks recovering for a safety. And head referee Walt Anderson reversing a first-down ruling at the Seattle one, instead turning it into a fourth-and-one at the two, forcing the Cowboys to attempt a field goal and foregoing the opportunity of sending Marion Barber up the middle at least three times for the game-winning touchdown.
Yep, all that before the snap on Martin Gramatica's potential game-winning field goal when the playoff game slipped right through Romo's hands.
Pretty circumstantial to me.
Unfortunately for Wade Phillips, who became this team's head coach the following season when Parcells quit, he inherited the perception, which was fanned illogically. The Cowboys got off to a 12-1 start, a record probably far beyond their collective skills at that point. I mean, did you really think you were watching the greatest team in Cowboys history since 13-3 of the 1992 Super Bowl champs?
The Cowboys were riding a seven-game winning streak before the Eagles beat them, 10-6, one of those real clunkers where nothing went right. But again, the odds were against the Cowboys winning them all the rest of the way. They were due. OK, so they lost, then went on the road to beat Carolina, which clinched the NFC East title, a first-round bye and best record in the NFC.
They had nothing to gain beating the Redskins in the finale, so they pulled starters left and right. Didn't even play some of the injured ones, and yep, got beat 27-6. Attribute that to December scorn or indifference?
And for those who want to lump the playoff loss to the Giants in there, too, let's not forget Terrell Owens' high ankle sprain suffered against Carolina probably should have sidelined him in that game, too. He had nothing. Thus, the Cowboys' offense, which ran, ran, ran with Barber starting ahead of Julius Jones but never threatening the Giants defense, had nothing. They got beat, 21-7, after a 13-3 season.
Funny thing occurred as the Giants streaked to the Super Bowl title thanks to an improbable catch during the game-winning drive on New England. Up rose this perception the Giants streaked into the playoffs. Truth be known, the Giants finished the regular season with a 2-2 record in December, losing two of their final three, although they insist that season-ending 38-35 loss to the Patriots is what kick-started their run.
Oh, and this just in: Those 9-7 Arizona Cardinals who caught fire in the playoffs last year, losing the Super Bowl on the final drive of the game to Pittsburgh? They were 2-2 in the month of December, losing two of their final three games before starting their playoff run.
I'm just saying.
Furthermore, I was fairly amused how former Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson was quoted as some sort of authority on winning in December. Kidding me? He was 2-6 his first two Decembers with atrocious Cowboys teams and then went 10-1 the next three years when he had two Super Bowl championship teams. Makes sense, right?
By the way, when Jimmy switched addresses three seasons later to Miami, apparently his Dolphins teams that went 8-8, 9-7, 10-6 and 9-7 were not injected with the same December elixir he handed the Cowboys. His December record with the Dolphins was 6-10. Old-age forgetfulness setting in or lack of talent?
Come, on get serious.
And then there is last season. Yes, the Cowboys were 8-4 after Thanksgiving before embarking on their Burma Road - at Pittsburgh, the Giants, the Ravens, at Philadelphia. All four teams had winning records. The Giants and Pittsburgh won their divisions. The Ravens earned a wild-card berth, as did the Eagles by defeating the Cowboys in the final game of the season.
Wonder how many clubs played four straight playoff teams to finish the season?
Look, was their shame in losing to the Steelers, in Pittsburgh with the temperatures around 10, your quarterback trying to play without a splint on his fractured finger, all against the eventual Super Bowl champs? They beat the Giants and then needed two of the most improbable missed tackles on back-to-back touchdown runs to lose to the Ravens, who ended up losing the AFC title game to the Steelers, by the way.
Now I got no answer for the loss in Philly with the playoff berth on the line. Blame it on no-showing, blame it on choking, blame it on not being good enough - heck, blame it on the Bossa Nova. But it's all too easy to conclude the Cowboys simply fold worse than my old accordion in December.
So they should give no never-mind to this being the December of this season. Instead, they must respect what's in front of them: Four of the final five opponents owning winning records, two of them division leaders, three of them on the road and one of them heading into Monday night's Game 11 undefeated.
That all adds up to the final five opponents owning a combined 34-20 record. There is no other such stretch over the first 11 games, and about the best I can find is 24-20 over the four-game stretch with Atlanta, Seattle, Philadelphia and Green Bay.
Is there some NFL computer geek laughing at 280 Park Avenue after programming in some sort of scheduling stunt?
"What's all this about?" first-year Cowboys safety Gerald Sensabaugh asked, somewhat amused. "I have no clue what happened in Decembers, but I know we're going to go and win games. I don't know anything about a December curse but I don't see none of that happening this year."
Phillips won't even engage in the discussions. He just wants to talk about the Giants, as should be his focus. When asked about big games coming up, he crumbles the big picture by saying "the Giants game is the biggest of the season" or says "you don't play five games at once, you play one." That is how you handle the pressure of December, just as they have preached all season long:
One practice, one quarter, one half, one game at a time.
Then you go on to the next, never letting the past linger.
For Marcus Spears, this will be his fifth December/January stretch, and he doesn't seem unnerved by whatever size moon is being hung over their heads.
"This is a new year, a new team," Spears said, "and if you think about what's happened in the past and let it linger, you're killing yourself."
Or allowing all those preying werewolves to come out again at night.