Post by ironmaiden on Dec 20, 2008 8:36:08 GMT -7
FWST: Mac Emgel: Dallas Cowboys play the Baltimore Ravens knowing the beauty of winni
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Dallas Cowboys play the Baltimore Ravens knowing the beauty of winning ugly
By MAC ENGEL
tengel@star-telegram.com
AP
Things got pretty ugly for Tony Romo and the offense against the Giants, but the Cowboys defense was ugly right back. AP
IRVING — Tony Romo is as much of a sports historian as he is a sports movie buff, so it’s not uncommon he will find analogies to his life as it pertains to art.
In this case, take the 2008 Dallas Cowboysand one of his favorite films, The Natural.
"Remember at the end of the movie [main character Roy Hobbs] had struck out three times," Romo said. "He comes up in the last inning; if he strikes out again he’s a big goat."
True, but in the book, Hobbs did strike out at the end and he died.
"Yeah, that’s why it was a bad book," Romo said. "But if he hits a home run, then guess what? It’s a great story. One swing of the bat, one miss, it’s a completely different story."
What the 2008 Cowboys are attempting to do is write their own happy ending to this season that has contained nearly every element for good fiction: Characters, plots, subplots, conflict. And through all of this the Cowboys may have developed into something they had never been previously under coach Wade Phillips — a team that can win the god-awful-looking, ugly games that usually are the norm in December in January.
By finally proving they can win the low-scoring game, this team might be better prepared to reverse their December curse and succeed where they haven’t in a long, long time: the playoffs.
"I think that is an important step for us. We have been depending on the offense to win a game and the defense to hold them down enough," Phillips said. "I think they have proven in several games the defense has played well enough to win the game defensively
"That is a step forward for our team."
Winning with flair
Since the defensive-oriented Phillips was hired as the head coach, the Cowboys have been an offensive team. When they won they did so with flash, and panache. They were Don Nelson’s Mavs — they scored points, they sold tickets.
In the Cowboys’ first 17 wins under Phillips, they averaged an impressive 31.9 points per game. Never once in those wins did they dip below 20 points.
Another sign they were Don Nelson’s Mavs — if the Cowboys didn’t score, they didn’t win. Last season, including the playoffs, when the Cowboys didn’t score 20 points they were 0-3.
The Cowboys had become a team for whom when the games turned ugly and nasty, they were too pretty and nice.
A necessary step
No team in the history of the NFL embodied pretty play the way the 2007 New England Patriots did. Last season, the Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season by averaging 36.8 points per game.
But then came January. Their offense slowed to a human 22 points per game in the playoffs, and 17.5 over their final two games.
In the Super Bowl loss against the New York Giants, it was the only time the Patriots were held to less than 20 points all season.
It happens. Good offenses, even the all-times ones, simply can’t save teams.
"Very few Super Bowl championship teams are great offensive teams," Romo said. "When you rely on that, one team of the three or four you’re going to play is going to find a scheme to slow you down. A team is going to come up with something."
Celebrity offenses don’t win Super Bowls. Teams require some semblance of balance between the two sides of the ball. The Indianapolis Colts didn’t win their first Super Bowl until Peyton Manning had a defense that could do something other than wilt.
A change in style
Something changed for the Cowboys on Oct. 26, 2008, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Without Romo and in one of those games the Cowboys had to have, it quickly became apparent the offense had little chance of reaching the magic 20-point barrier.
This was a game that makes TV producers cringe, and fantasy players curse a blue streak. No points. No style. Thanks to one touchdown, the Cowboys won 13-9.
The Cowboys had finally won ugly. The last time the Cowboys won a game scoring fewer than 20 points was on Oct. 16, 2005.
Since then, the Cowboys have won at Washington 14-10. They had an "ugly" game in the bag at Pittsburgh, but lost late, 20-13. And thanks to a late-touchdown run by Tashard Choice, the Cowboys pulled away late to defeat the Giants, 20-8.
"I think we match up in those games pretty well," Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said. "We have a good offensive line that’s physical and that always helps you too."
"You win football games in this league any way you can," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "Pretty. Ugly. What is pretty? What is ugly?"
It might not be a sports analogy, but Romo and the Cowboys might have been a swan that turned into the ugly duckling.
Mac Engel, 817-390-7760
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Dallas Cowboys play the Baltimore Ravens knowing the beauty of winning ugly
By MAC ENGEL
tengel@star-telegram.com
AP
Things got pretty ugly for Tony Romo and the offense against the Giants, but the Cowboys defense was ugly right back. AP
IRVING — Tony Romo is as much of a sports historian as he is a sports movie buff, so it’s not uncommon he will find analogies to his life as it pertains to art.
In this case, take the 2008 Dallas Cowboysand one of his favorite films, The Natural.
"Remember at the end of the movie [main character Roy Hobbs] had struck out three times," Romo said. "He comes up in the last inning; if he strikes out again he’s a big goat."
True, but in the book, Hobbs did strike out at the end and he died.
"Yeah, that’s why it was a bad book," Romo said. "But if he hits a home run, then guess what? It’s a great story. One swing of the bat, one miss, it’s a completely different story."
What the 2008 Cowboys are attempting to do is write their own happy ending to this season that has contained nearly every element for good fiction: Characters, plots, subplots, conflict. And through all of this the Cowboys may have developed into something they had never been previously under coach Wade Phillips — a team that can win the god-awful-looking, ugly games that usually are the norm in December in January.
By finally proving they can win the low-scoring game, this team might be better prepared to reverse their December curse and succeed where they haven’t in a long, long time: the playoffs.
"I think that is an important step for us. We have been depending on the offense to win a game and the defense to hold them down enough," Phillips said. "I think they have proven in several games the defense has played well enough to win the game defensively
"That is a step forward for our team."
Winning with flair
Since the defensive-oriented Phillips was hired as the head coach, the Cowboys have been an offensive team. When they won they did so with flash, and panache. They were Don Nelson’s Mavs — they scored points, they sold tickets.
In the Cowboys’ first 17 wins under Phillips, they averaged an impressive 31.9 points per game. Never once in those wins did they dip below 20 points.
Another sign they were Don Nelson’s Mavs — if the Cowboys didn’t score, they didn’t win. Last season, including the playoffs, when the Cowboys didn’t score 20 points they were 0-3.
The Cowboys had become a team for whom when the games turned ugly and nasty, they were too pretty and nice.
A necessary step
No team in the history of the NFL embodied pretty play the way the 2007 New England Patriots did. Last season, the Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season by averaging 36.8 points per game.
But then came January. Their offense slowed to a human 22 points per game in the playoffs, and 17.5 over their final two games.
In the Super Bowl loss against the New York Giants, it was the only time the Patriots were held to less than 20 points all season.
It happens. Good offenses, even the all-times ones, simply can’t save teams.
"Very few Super Bowl championship teams are great offensive teams," Romo said. "When you rely on that, one team of the three or four you’re going to play is going to find a scheme to slow you down. A team is going to come up with something."
Celebrity offenses don’t win Super Bowls. Teams require some semblance of balance between the two sides of the ball. The Indianapolis Colts didn’t win their first Super Bowl until Peyton Manning had a defense that could do something other than wilt.
A change in style
Something changed for the Cowboys on Oct. 26, 2008, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Without Romo and in one of those games the Cowboys had to have, it quickly became apparent the offense had little chance of reaching the magic 20-point barrier.
This was a game that makes TV producers cringe, and fantasy players curse a blue streak. No points. No style. Thanks to one touchdown, the Cowboys won 13-9.
The Cowboys had finally won ugly. The last time the Cowboys won a game scoring fewer than 20 points was on Oct. 16, 2005.
Since then, the Cowboys have won at Washington 14-10. They had an "ugly" game in the bag at Pittsburgh, but lost late, 20-13. And thanks to a late-touchdown run by Tashard Choice, the Cowboys pulled away late to defeat the Giants, 20-8.
"I think we match up in those games pretty well," Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said. "We have a good offensive line that’s physical and that always helps you too."
"You win football games in this league any way you can," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "Pretty. Ugly. What is pretty? What is ugly?"
It might not be a sports analogy, but Romo and the Cowboys might have been a swan that turned into the ugly duckling.
Mac Engel, 817-390-7760