Dallas Cowboys: despite loss, the sky isn’t falling, yet

The Dallas Cowboys’ inability to finish drives bit them pretty hard yesterday, but they still control their own playoff destiny.

The Dallas Cowboys entered yesterday’s game with the opportunity to clinch the NFC East. They left Indianapolis on the wrong end of a 23-0 whitewashing and suitably humbled. That’s the long and short of it. And if we’re taking the last six games into account, a letdown was likely at some point, if not altogether inevitable.

The good news is that the Cowboys–by virtue of their recent five game winning streak–gave themselves some room for error. Now, no one wanted to see them lose such a sloppy and lopsided affair, especially in such a seemingly meaningful game. It’s not an excuse, but this team has been essentially been playing for their postseason lives since before Thanksgiving. It’s simply difficult to maintain that do-or-die intensity when you’ve been emptying the tank every week.

Of course, this isn’t meant to let them off the hook completely. The offense’s inability to finish drives with points in the first half certainly squashed any semblance of momentum. It’s all fine and good to hold onto the ball and gain the upper hand in time of possession. But when you come away with a blocked field goal and dropped gimme of a touchdown, you’re dooming yourself to a long afternoon.

Moreover, the vaunted Dallas defense showed some pretty sizable cracks. Indianapolis running back Marlon Mack gashed the Cowboys to the tune of 139 yards and two touchdowns. The bottom line is that when the writing was on the wall, Dallas more or less made a business decision to try and live to fight another day. In other words, they picked a rotten day to have all their warts exposed at once.

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As bad as they looked yesterday, it’s probably safe to assume they’re not that bad. A team coming off a transformative winning streak will inevitably lose. At the end of the day, it’s a loss, nothing more, nothing less. What’s important now is how the Cowboys respond to this latest bit of adversity. Their magic number is still one, and they have a chance to clinch at home next Sunday against Tampa Bay. There was a possibility of backing into a playoff berth yesterday, but that was quelled when the Redskins walked it off against Jacksonville. That game rendered the result of the Sunday night game moot, regardless of whether the Eagles lost or not.

I’m trying to maintain an even keel about yesterday. Sure, it was awful, but I’m willing to chalk it up as a one-off until proven otherwise. The Cowboys have responded positively to too many big moments this season for me to start completely doubting them now. My friends’ social media feeds notwithstanding, the realist in me knows they’ve got a tremendous chance to put this division away in a week, so I’m willing to let this play out and not panic, yet.

As a group, we should be used to this by now. But given the last two-plus decades of ineptitude, we carry a lot of baggage around. It’s only natural to wait for the other shoe to drop, even though this football team went thirty-four days without losing once. Even with yesterday’s rotten egg, they remain in the driver’s seat regarding their playoff position. In the meantime, just try to remind yourself that you like this.

• Published on 12/17/2018 at 13:12 PM
• Last updated at 12/17/2018 at 13:12 PM