Post by MR COWBOY on Dec 7, 2009 15:21:36 GMT -7
It must be December: Dallas Cowboys stumble, 31-24
By JEAN-JACQUES TAYLOR / The Dallas Morning News
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – In December, the month in which reputations are forged and the NFL's most important games occur, the Cowboys find ways to lose.
They did it again Sunday.
You can't trust this team. Not in December.
The locker room vibe is good and this team plays hard, but the NFL is about winning or losing. No more, no less.
Once again, these Cowboys didn't get it done.
If you're honest, the Giants' 31-24 win over the Cowboys shouldn't have surprised you.
Why should it? These Cowboys are 18-32 after Dec. 1, since 1996. Tony Romo is 5-9 in December, but it would be wrong to blame him entirely for this loss after he passed for 392 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
This was a team loss.
The offense, defense and special teams contributed to the Giants' victory, which dropped the Cowboys into a first place tie with Philadelphia.
You could start with Marion Barber's fumble and Osi Umenyiori's subsequent 28-yard return with 1:04 left in the first half, allowing the Giants to take a 14-10 halftime lead. New York trailed 10-0 with 3:14 left in the first half.
Or you could blame the defense that gave up a 74-yard catch-and-run to 264-pound Brandon Jacobs just 19 seconds after taking a 17-14 lead late in the third quarter.
Ridiculous.
Then there was Domenik Hixon's 79-yard punt return for a touchdown with 5:33 left that pushed New York's lead to 31-17 with 5:33 left. Hixon entered a pile, emerged on the other side, cut right and followed a convoy of blockers down the right sideline.
Ballgame.
And we haven't even talked about Nick Folk's missed 42-yard field goal attempt, Ahmad Bradshaw's 29-yard run – he broke several tackles and reversed field – that set up a touchdown or Romo overthrowing a wide open Roy Williams for a potential touchdown in the fourth quarter.
"We gave up big plays we don't normally give up. That's what really hurt us," Wade Phillips said. "We gave up a 74-yarder in a zone defense, when we haven't been giving up anything all year. Somehow, they got a big play.
"We made some mistakes in our coverages that surprised me. We haven't been doing that all year."
That's what teams do when they can't handle the pressure and start pressing. They make mental mistakes. They miss tackles because they use poor technique. They find ways to lose instead of ways to win.
It's called choking.
The Giants made all of the big plays that meant the difference between winning and losing, which is why they're right back in the playoff race. A loss would've ended their season.
Now, the Cowboys must spend another week talking about their inability to win in football's most important month. The topic isn't going away, nor should it, until the Cowboys rid themselves of this albatross.
For now, it is their reality.
The players understand that whether they choose to accept it like Bradie James and Jason Witten have or ignore it like Romo has.
"We have to forget all of the December stuff," Witten said. "I'm not trying to avoid it or say it's not true. We just have to put it away. You let another one slip, and you're really in trouble."
He's absolutely right.
There's no time to throw a pity party. The schedule won't allow it. San Diego and New Orleans loom.
Waste too much time focusing on the Giants' loss and the Cowboys will have a three-game losing streak.
"This is the dash for cash. There's no time to say, 'Oh, poor me,' " James said. "We have to do something about it."
The players insist this team won't fracture, and it won't. There's too much leadership and chemistry.
But don't think that automatically translates into wins. It doesn't.