SPORTSDAY

Posted by JR @ 3:54 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

It's hard to stop a pass rush when you ABANDON RUNNING THE BALL. Was it that we only gained 100+ yards in the first half, or that we were down a whopping 4 points with 14:30 to go?

Posted by BamBam @ 3:55 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

You say that T.O. and Glenn wore out, but I read somewhere that it was Crayton who was so tired the Cowboys had to use their last timeout.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

Posted by Steve @ 4:00 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

Why was TO completely ignored in the second half? I'd like to think he could beat the G-Persons' third CB one on one.

Posted by BP Higgs @ 4:03 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

How many fouls did the pathetic 'Boys commit? How many dropped passes did the 'boys drop? Stop looking for gremlins to shoot !! LOL !!!

Posted by Habib @ 4:04 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

Like T O said this was a total team LOSS,starting with owner to HC to assitant coaches and the players.
Stop makeing excuses and own up this team is a middle of pack team team that got luckey and won games that other team gave us as a gift,
This is going to continue until we get a coach like Bill Cowher who knows how to be a HC.
Giants WON and it does not matter how,it just matter that they WON.

Posted by Tom F @ 4:07 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

Garrett didn't impress me at all yesterday. It was no mystery what the Giants were doing and he made no adjustments that I could see. Out coached again!

Posted by Mike G @ 4:08 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

I just listened to the Bradie James interview and now I know where Calvin gets his nickname "Lucky". He was "Lucky" Bradie didn't open a can and kick his ass. I have to agree with Bradie but I still would have liked to see him grab Calvin by his neck. Why don't you report on that??

Posted by David K @ 4:19 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

Where was Roy Williams #31? Most safeties lead in tackles. I did not see him make onee hit.

Posted by Juan @ 4:19 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

The cowboys are still the most overatted team in any sport. Egos don't win games but that's all we got. We need a coach who can kick the pedestal out from under the TOs.

Posted by 666 @ 4:23 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

THERE ARE OFFENSIVE PLAYS THAT CAN BE USED TO BEAT THE ALL OUT BLITZ,

Screens, Draws, playaction, checkdowns to Barber

Our genius offensive coordinator didnt seem to have a clue as to using them to slow down the rush.

Absolutely no excuse for miserable 2nd half playcalling. No adjustments. No nothing.
Garrett, maybe too much time with interviews and not enough time developing a game plan. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.

Posted by chris graham @ 4:23 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

break his neck,break his neck,with no respect.dam this playoff bull cause the eagles,redskins and giants have not one a superbowl since the 80s,now i ask who is the real chokers.oh what joy 5rings bring. playoffs!playoffs! r just manner things.

Posted by d4g1515 @ 4:27 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

T.O. has been great. He is not the problem. I think Flozel time is up. he normally costs the boys in penelties but makes up for it. the giants ran him over in the 2nd half. the need an end on the other side of Canty who can rush the QB so Ware's double teams make them pay. Also and ILB who can tackle better.

Posted by A-cast @ 5:00 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

Crayton catches that second to last throw and scores a TD and everyone's tune and stories change. Crayton is the man, we exploit their rookie CB's, Mexico was good for Romo, T.O. is a playoff scoring machine, MBIII starting made the difference, Wade is best coach in the world, etc
You Know Its True. One Play. we're all weird that way

Posted by Quincy C. @ 5:08 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

I just think its great that we won 13 games this year...that's 1 more than 12 right?...what's that you say?...the Cowboys are all about winning superbowls?...can you smoke a superbowl?...

Posted by mark2626 @ 5:09 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

chris graham : how long you going to ride the wave of the past. Today is the modern era of football, and Dallas can't keep up. Those championships you refer to are so old the trophies are rusty. But if that makes you feel better about your team being average at best for the last 13 years..

Posted by chris graham @ 6:12 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

well im gone ride that wave until one of them meaning eagles, deadskins or giants win one if our rings r rusty then there rings are dust.hope u dont have allergies or a sinus problem.i mean joe gibbs and parcells were teenagers . the eagles well not since dr j

Posted by Keith Borgman @ 6:16 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

It seem simple to me. Tony lost focus after Thanksgiving. The coaches dropped the ball with a terrible 2nd half game plan that did not work. The coach needs to be better and Tony needs to make a decision about football or dating. He could save some of his personal life for the off season.

Posted by Dave_THE_GMEN @ 6:38 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

You Cowboys fans are pathetic. All that talk and not one mention that the GMEN played football as well. Holy cow. This is why you guys are sore losers cause you dont know how to act. And that starts with the Owner down to the casual Dallas fan. EAT CROW!!!

Posted by chris @ 7:06 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

We have got to get some cornerback help in the draft, the giants abused jaquees reeves at the end of the first half. I also do not understand why they did not blitz manning more in the second half,the giants blitzed the heck out of romo and look who won the game, you can have any corner covering any wide reciever in this league if the qb does not have time to throw the ball

Posted by JDA @ 7:50 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

there were quite a few plays where romo got the snap and barber was wide open right after the line of scrimmage and could have picked up 5-7 yards per catch easy. but romo very seldom picked those up, if he did any at all. plays like that are drive extenders and eat up both yardage and time.

could have done that and kept the ball and drives going on at least 5-6 plays that i saw. i kept sceaming "barber's there and no one's around. dump the pass to him!!!!"

Posted by TheTruth @ 8:52 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

11 offensive players
11 defensive players
1 kicker
1 punter

That's 24 players, and 12 of them are Pro Bowlers. They were playing at home. AND THEY LOST. Every other player on offense and defense was a Pro Bowler...AND THEY LOST. Again.

Posted by TheTruth @ 9:00 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

The Cowboys haven't won their last regular season game in 8 years.

The Cowboys haven't won a playoff game in 11 years.

South America's Team.

Posted by CowboyCoop @ 9:03 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

It's been clear for at least 2 years that #31 can't cover, but has anyone noticed that he hasn't hit anyone except his own players all year long? Not-so-secret formula to beat the Cowboys: throw to whoever is covered by Williams and/or Reeves. I don't care how much dead cap space it creates, #31 must go and we need a starting-caliber 3rd corner.

Posted by Tom @ 9:28 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

Jerry Jones' Best Season ever as a GM, getting "Coaches, Assist. Coaches & Players on board. Hopefully he can do it again after the big coaching exidious. Undrafted Players (AKA FREE-agents)(Tony RomEo) should NEVER be able to use the words "I don't want to just play in the Super Bowl, i want to win it" in the middle of the season, or at any time. Try winning a playoff game 1st, O-fer, @ 0-2. Tom Brady & Co. don't "EVER EVER" talk past the NEXT game or opponent. Learn from the 3-Time Champs, Mind over matter, cause Talk is Cheap, earn it 1st, then you can talk, the Cowboys have to many talking-Chumps. ie: Patrick Crayton, Mind over Mouth. "DISTRACTIONS" = Lost FOCUS, before & during the game, = Leonard Davis, ie: control the media by giving them NOTHING to report on, no Talk about: Mexico, Jessica Simpson, Bullitin board matterial, etc. did these players "LEARN" nothing from Bill Parcell & Talking to the media (circus). it shows no respect for the NFL & all the greats who played & won, before these "new kids on the block", just Shut Up & play.

Posted by 56theRealLT @ 10:09 PM Mon, Jan 14, 2008

They abandoned the running game because Barber had nothing left. He averaged less than 14 carries per game...19 being the most he had all season. He runs so hard his punishing style punished himself.

Posted by qormi @ 12:52 AM Tue, Jan 15, 2008

Romo cost the Cowboys lots of negative yards because he runs backwards and gets sacked. He needs to throw the ball away when he's out of the pocket! That was the difference in this game. Also, tell T.O. to stop crying or I'll cancel his subscription to Cosmopolitan Magazine. Maybe he should tour with Hillary.

Posted by brian maxx @ 1:34 AM Tue, Jan 15, 2008

2nd year cowboys had scrub secondaries to abuse in the playoffs and didn't take advantage of it.
maybe the wrs were hurt, but still. people abuse roy and try to reeves, but nobody on big D takes advantage of weak secondaries. what gives?

maybe they should have tried MBIII as the starter earlier, that way they can see if the team can handle abusing the clock. basically, dallas limited their own chances by running so much. less opportunities to score when you hold the ball so long. seems a shootout is in dallas' favor. a ball control game is in favor of the giants. seems dallas was holding back the WRs for another day. that day is now next season. Why should Garrent get all of Jerry's support to find another gig before the game? Basically, being coordinator for the Cowboys or coach should be enough of a good thing. i think Jerry should be more selfish, like Parcells with drafting no-fit Carpenter.

the Giants just basically played lights out football. Also, Dallas gives up too many big plays in that first possession. they don't come out fired up like the gints or pheagles too often. they often got toasted on a big run or pass in the opening drive.

Basically been watching the Cowboys for 28 years, since a little kid. Dallas eats their own cheese, this is why they always lose in December and get "suprised" in the playoffs or by fired up teams. there is something missing in the accountability department. Philly, Giants, Redskins, Patriots, Steelers, Packers, and others are teams that get fired up to play traditionally in big games. The Cowboys are rarely that fired up consistently. They usually get a "swagger" or so when they have overly dominant players.

Face it: Giants showed a lot of heart. Rarely does a Cowboy team win a game with such heart. Too many celebrities in Dallas. More than New York even.

Add up all the little things: Crayton drops, Mexico, Simpson, T.O. buying the tickets, Coaching interviews, Jerry marketing to death, Romo not knowing how to throw the ball away, youth, no Stephen Jackson overall, late injuries, lack of focus in December or real concern, penalties, and relying on luck lost the game. None of these things were a big deal outside of the Crayton drops, but they are a philosophy that lead to the 6th straight playoff loss. Focus on winning at all cost like New England. You don't have to market the Cowboys any higher. That's like squeezing the last drops out of an orange. Just win the dang game next time.

Don't be surprised when the Cowboys lose games like this. Jimmy Johnson was always PREPARED. Everything I said here goes back to being PREPARED as an organization. Everybody is responsible.

Posted by El Caballero @ 1:34 AM Tue, Jan 15, 2008

qormi,
your last 2 sentences are nonsense and you're showing how backwards you are!

Posted by brian maxx @ 1:42 AM Tue, Jan 15, 2008

oh and I certainly forgot to mention that some other players made some key mistakes, but that stuffs gonna happen. The philosophy has got to change on some critical things or the same thing will keep happening. Lucked out hiring Wade, but then can't win the ballgame. That's not Wade's fault this past Sunday, but it is his fault for not changing the focus in December. Everyone learned a lesson and hopefully next year will be different. What a WASTE of a 13-3 season. A serious waste of all that irreplaceable EFFORT. Hopefully it goes right into next years experience department. No fooling around from Draft, to FA, to training camp. (oh and Ellis SHUT UP!)

Posted by giant jim @ 3:00 AM Tue, Jan 15, 2008

wake up cowboy fans there luck ran out for them.no#1 the win in buff.& det. were gifts.n.e. beat them at home by 3 touchdowns. phila. beat them badly also at home.so add all this up and they were luckey to even be in the playoffs.but it's not all bad news the mavericks play well till playoff time too. but they tell me that the bad mitten team is on the rise.

Posted by Charles - ATL @ 8:02 AM Tue, Jan 15, 2008

How is that we can't take advantage of scrubs in the playoffs, but they sure can take advantage of ours?? Reeves....Williams? We are always crying about how we "tried...but...." Others are able to effectively prevent us from doing so by increasing pressure or being creative in other ways. The Boys? In the biggest and most important games of the year (Dec and playoffs), we never seem to be able to take advantage nor prevent oursleves from being victimized. It's a shame how pitiful our coaching is at times this time of year.

Posted by Brett @ 2:13 PM Tue, Jan 15, 2008

Finally, a legit column on why the Cowboys really didn't win on Sunday. Say what you will about who did what and went where during the bye week. I give you seven reasons (in no particular order) why the Cowboys lost:

Undisciplined:
The Cowboys have been penalized all season long and Sunday was no different. You can get away with penalties during the regular season but not in the playoffs. They finally got burned by them.

Special Teams:
The Giants owned field position almost the entire game. When they happens, you're fighting an uphill battle.

Dropped passes
Crayton dropped at least two key ones. There were others as well.

Romo's "flub" incompletion to T.O.
This resulted in 3 points instead of 6. That ALWAYS comes back to haunt you.

Giants TD right before the half:
After an impressive 20-play, 10-minute drive resulted in a TD and a 14-7 momentum-changing lead, the Cowboys gave it right back in a minute's time. That, I feel, was the backbreaker and turning point of the game.

Clock Mismanagement
Two wasted timeouts called in the second half - one right before a Giants punt (A PUNT!) and the one by Romo in the middle of the 4th quarter because of "confusion" on the field. Terrible!

Offensive Line:
Dominant all year and even during this game for three quarters, this unit failed to proterct Romo the ENTIRE 4th quarter. Inexcusable!

Bottom line: The defense only let up 21 points. Had the offense just executed on any one of their 4th quarter drives, we would have been celebrating a 24-17 victory instead of complaining about a 21-17 loss. A 3-point second half is downright pathetic! Case closed.