And it wasn’t as close as you’d think from the score. The game started out like a normal game-good defense, the expectation of a long day of hard won points, an exchange of field goals-and then the Worst Dallas Cowboys Team in History reared up and handed the ball to the Eagles over and over and over again until the score was 44-3. Terrell Owen was on the sidelines trying to pep talk Tony Romo. You have to wonder what he was saying-Hey, all we need to do is score 5 touchdowns and we’re right back in this thing!
Coach Cupcake looked dazed and confused-as did all Dallas fans as the Cowboys fell to pieces in what Wade Phillips calls a total disaster. The Cowboys continued to have killer penalties as well as mind bogglingly stupid mistakes. They staged a rally late in the game a got a second field goal to bring the score to 44-6.
The Dallas Cowboys are suffering from the curse of Owner Jerry Jones. Owner Jerry did one thing, and only one thing, right in the entire time that he has owned the Dallas Cowboys-he hired Jimmy Johnson as Head Coach. Jimmy Johnson had more power than any NFL Head Coach before or since and used that power to make The Dallas Cowboys into a three time Superbowl winner. Once Genius Jerry fired Jimmy Johnson it was all downhill as the Dallas Cowboys left the era of Jimmy Johnson and entered the era of Jerry Jones.
The Dallas Cowboys last Playoff win came under Head Coach Barry Switzer-who was widely hated for not being Jimmy Johnson, much as Johnson was hated for not being Tom Landry. Barry Switzer was the first in a sad line of Head Coaches who have served as figurehead while Jerry Jones has made all the decisions about the players, coaches, and direction of the Dallas Cowboys. It doesn’t matter how great the coach is-see Bill Parcels-when Jerry Jones hires every thug in the NFL and slaps a Dallas Cowboys uniform on their back. He is then shocked-Shocked!-that the dregs of the NFL don’t magically transform into a great team.
It was interesting watching the Dallas Cowboys self destruct when the game breaks featuring former Dallas Cowboys helping their current teams get into the play offs. Jerry Jones’ current crop of hot trades were busy losing this game for the Dallas Cowboys. If you didn’t see this game it is not really possible to believe how bad they played.
Blaming the Coaches is easy when you see a team with this much talent-but as Joe Buck pointed out, they are talented players, not a talented team. It’s easy to look at Miami and see that Bill Parcels and Tony Sparano are skilled football professionals. Looking at Dallas shows that Jerry Jones is not a skilled football professional and that his one true talent lays in firing any good people he hires by accident.
But you can’t fire Jerry Jones-good old boy Jerry is here for the long haul. He will keep hiring Head Coaches and telling them exactly what to do. He will keep hiring players that he wants, but no one else does. He will ignore anything anyone has to say to him and Do It His Way. And the Dallas Cowboys may never win a Playoff Game again.
So Jerry, if by some fluke you have your way here-do all Dallas Cowboy fans a favor. Take a couple of years off. Go to London and buy a Rugby Team. Go to India and buy a Soccer Team. Go anywhere and stay there for a couple of years. Let Wade Phillips, or whoever you replace him with, run things while your gone. Give them total control and let them hire their own staff and players. Forget about the Dallas Cowboys-don’t even read the sports section-unless it is to keep up with your Rugby team.
We’d all really, really appreciate it.
