Cowboys lose to Giants
We (Cowboy faithful) could see it coming from a mile away. They were not ready. The Dallas Cowboys had been playing mediocre football for the last month or so. The Carolina Panther game was the one that gave me pause. The Panthers were bearly a professional football team. They were on their 9th or 10th 
quarterback this year. We had only one drive that was worth anything. The defense was having trouble with everything. Then there was the Redskin game. If we can’t get up for the Redskins, who can you get up for? Clearly we can’t get up for the Giants.
Before, I get too far into my rant, let me say Congratulations to the New York Giants. They have fought through a lot to be where they are. They came into our house and beat us. They played error free football. Eli was sacked. He was harrassed but Eli Manning still got the job done. We stopped the run but they still won.
The Cowboys have to go back to the drawing board. Our defense clearly let us (the Dallas Fans) down today. (I’ll get to the offense later.) When you score a go ahead touchdown with a 90 yard drive which takes over 10 minutes off the clock, the defense needs to step up. When the offense leaves 47 seconds on the clock, the defense needs to make a play. They didn’t. They allowed the Giants offense to look like the Patriots offense. Jacques Reeves was slightly better than awful. He was beaten like a drum or burned like toast. (Of note, Roy Williams was not beaten although the Giants did try to go after him. On the other hand, where was he? Wasn’t he suppose to be a play maker? He was invisible most of the game. he recorded one (1) tackle. That’s it.) Reeves’ 15 yard face mask penalty was unforgivable.
Penalties. Penalties. Penalties. Whether it was Flozell Adams jumping off-sides or DeMarcus Ware/Greg Ellis jumping off-sides, we gave the Giants first downs and helped sustain drives. You can’t do that if you want to win a SuperBowl.
The special teams just should have taken the day off. They were awful. The worst was after we scored and went up 17 - 14. Hixon ran the kickoff back 45 yards. How do you win playing like this? The second worst was a 25 yard run back on a punt which put the Giants deep in Dallas territory. The Giants scored a couple of plays later.
On offense, Tony Romo wasn’t excellent but he was good enough to win. Drop passes by Patrick (da’ mouth) Crayton and Antonio Fasano were daggers in our hearts. They were plays that we had to have. Neither were hard catches. Fasano was hit in the chest, between the numbers, on the 3 yard line. It is hard to blame Jessica Simpson for that one. Patrick Crayton, who just signed a big long term contract with the Cowboys, dropped 3 passes to my count. The worst was in the 4th quarter with Romo running to his left, he throws side-arm to Crayton running left to right, running away from the defender (no safety in the middle of the field). A ball that had first down written all over it. No, that’s not right, it had touchdown written all over it. Patrick Crayton, the one who said, weeks ago, that the Cowboys would see the Patriots in the SuperBowl, dropped the ball.
Marion Barber needs to be singled out for carrying the team for the first half. Damn, he ran like an all-pro. 3rd and 2 or 3rd and 3 wasn’t a passing down. The offensive line was moving people. He had 100 yards at half. Jason Garrett, who was supposed to be this genius, only gave Barber the ball 7 times in the second half, why? Yes, the Giants were stacking the line but Barber was having success. Go to 3 tight ends and bound those guys. The Cowboys paid a lot of money for their offensive line. Make those guys earn their pay. Move some people.
Well, the season is over the Dallas Cowboys. I’ll have more on changes that I would like to see in the next several days.
(more in second)
