Post by MR COWBOY on Dec 14, 2009 1:49:36 GMT -7
Cowboys' season sinking
Tom Orsborn
Express-News
ARLINGTON — Poor Wade Phillips. He can’t get the Dallas Cowboys to win in December or even manage to address the players by himself after they lose.
In the aftermath of Sunday’s devastating 20-17 loss to the San Diego Chargers, it was owner Jerry Jones — not Phillips — who gave the big speech to the Dallas Cowboys about saving their sinking season.
“I told our team about how 10 years before I bought the Cowboys, I was renting a car at Love Field, and they cut my credit cards,” Jones said. “So I know what hard times are like in Dallas, and I know you can overcome it.”
But the road ahead for the slumping Cowboys is so perilous that even media friendly linebacker Bradie James refused to discuss it.
“I’m trying to get over this game,” James said. “You talk to me about New Orleans, I might have a heart attack.”
In losing two straight for the first time this season, the Cowboys squandered an opportunity with first-and-goal from the 4, with Marion Barber denied four times. With a game at the Saints (13-0) in six days, the Cowboys (8-5) are looking at a three-game losing streak that would put their playoff hopes in serious danger.
Dallas trails Philadelphia (9-4) by a game in the NFC East after the Eagles beat the New York Giants (7-6) Sunday night. The Cowboys are positioned to make the playoffs as the second wild-card entry behind Green Bay (9-4).
But that’s only if they manage to get out of this tailspin. Under Phillips, the Cowboys are 3-7 in December after losing six of their last seven, including three straight. The Giants beat Dallas 31-24 last week.
“There’s no one more disappointed than I am that we didn’t win these two games and that I didn’t do a good enough job to help win them,” Phillips said. “But the season’s not over.”
The Cowboys may be without linebacker DeMarcus Ware in New Orleans. Ware was taken off the field on a cart early in the fourth quarter after spraining his neck.
Ware was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation, but Jones said he expects a full recovery.
“We feel good about everything,” Jones said. “He was able to move everything.”
A hush came over the crowd of 90,552 as medical staff attended to Ware after he collided with a San Diego offensive lineman while pressuring Philip Rivers.
“It was tough to see him on that stretcher,” James said. “You start thinking, man, that could be any one of us. It was tough.”
Ware flashed a thumb’s-up sign and made a “W” with his fingers while on the stretcher, an inspirational moment that fired up the crowd and led to a Chargers false start.
But on third-and-12 from the Dallas 48 with the score knotted at 10, Rivers coolly hit Vincent Jackson for 39 yards, one of five plays of 20-plus yards for the Chargers (10-3). On the next play, Rivers rifled a 14-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Gates with 10:56 left.
Jackson flew past Terence Newman to make his catch on a play in which the Chargers lined up in a four-receiver set that sent all four wideouts into vertical patterns.
“They went to a coverage they don’t like a lot, but they do use it in third-and-long situations,” Jackson said of the Cowboys. “It’s kind of a Cover 2 shell. The safety (Gerald Sensabaugh) was hugging it a little tighter on that side of the field. Once I got around the corner, (Sensabaugh) stayed in the flat and there was a nice little window right there on the sideline. Philip through a great ball out there.”
After forcing Dallas to punt, San Diego put together a 15-play game-icing drive that consumed 7:17 and ended with Nate Kaeding kicking a 34-yard field goal with 1:56 left. Tony Romo hit Patrick Crayton for a 9-yard TD pass to end the scoring with 2 seconds left.
“We missed DeMarcus in that situation,” Cowboys linebacker Keith Brooking said of the Chargers’ game-icing drive. “We were without our best defensive player in a situation where we needed his pass rush and playmaking ability. That hurt us more than anything.”
The Cowboys hurt themselves plenty when they failed to score on second-quarter drives to the San Diego 1 and 24.
On the goal-line stand, three of Barber’s carries were from the 1. On fourth down, he tried to follow guard Leonard Davis and tackle Doug Free into the end zone, but they failed to get any push.
“It’s leverage and technique (in that situation), but it’s also who wants it more,” Davis said. “Obviously, they wanted it more.”
Said Romo, “In a situation like that, there’s not a lot of scheme that goes into it. You put a hat on a hate, you go toe to toe. There’s a lot of bodies in there and sometimes you have to find a hole to squeeze through. Give the Chargers a lot of credit, they plugged it.”
Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson said he was stunned to see Barber thwarted four-straight times.
“It was incredible to see, especially with a back like Marion Barber in there,” Tomlinson said. “As a running back, you want to pull your hair out. If it gets to third down and you aren’t in, it’s frustrating to know that fourth down is your last opportunity. Hats off to our defense.”
On San Diego’s ensuing possession, Rivers threw an interception to Terence Newman, but slumping Nick Folk missed a 42-yard field goal even with Romo doing the holding. Phillips didn't rule out signing another kicker.
"We will look at all our options," Phillips said.
But the Cowboys had bigger problems than Folk. Despite Romo finishing with a 111.7 passer rating, they converted only 1 of 8 third downs. Powered by Rivers (272 yards) and Jackson (seven catches, 120 yards), the Chargers converted 5 of 12.
Because Phillips was their defensive coordinator before getting the Dallas job in 2007, the Chargers easily identified the Cowboys’ defensive schemes.
“Rivers was calling out our defenses,” James said. “It was like playing an NFC East game.”
The win was San Diego’s NFL-record 16th straight in December. The Chargers haven’t lost since October, winning eight in a row.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, continue to search for answers as to why they stink in December.
“We are 0-2 in December right now, so you guys can talk about it all you want,” Brooking said. “We teed it up for you, so you can write all you want to write and talk about it all you want to talk about it.”