Alright, we know what happened - nobody is trying to deny it. The Cowboys tanked; they totally tanked. They talked all this big game before the season started, and they didn't back it up. They lost their pro-bowl quarterback. They let teams walk all over them. They waited way too long to give Wade Phillips the heave-ho. They even lost to the Vikings...ouch. And most embarrassing of all, after so much hard work to get the new stadium built and to land the 'big game,' their home will be another team's celebration station for the Super Bowl...or will it?
True to form, always in support of a great underdog story, let me tell you why the Dallas Cowboys may be dead, but not quite buried. The way that they have played the last two games, particularly on the road against the Giants, is only surprising to us because they were 1-7 prior to those games. For example, if we rewind back to late August and looked at the schedule, we probably would have said how these mid-season games with the Giants and Saints would be evenly-matched, or maybe even in favor of the Boys. But now because they are 3-7 we allow that to dictate our expectations. While that mindset is valid to an extent, I like to look at it from a different angle and say that the way the Cowboys have played under Jason Garrett the last two weeks is how they are actually capable of playing all the time; it's actually how they should have been playing all season. So if any team could run off an eight-game winning streak to close the season, I wouldn't put it past the Cowboys that we thought we would see this season.
By no means would it be an easy task - with two games left against the Michael Vicks...oh, I mean the Eagles, and with a game to play in Indianapolis, the Cowboys would definitely need some favor from the football gods to pull it off, that's for sure. My point is that it is not out-of-the-question for them to pull out some big wins in some close battles. And if they can, teams better watch their backs. Because in the event that the Cowboys can sneak into the playoffs at 9-7, they are the last team that I would want to play. In John C. Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership he speaks about the concept of The Big Mo, which is his reference to motivation. Heading into the postseason, the Boys would have some serious Mo on their side, and once you're in the playoffs, your record really doesn't matter anymore.
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| Tony Romo is hoping that he will have a good reason to return in December. |
So will this immaculate turn-around happen? Probably not. Will the Cowboys finish 9-7? Doubtful. If they do finish 9-7, will that be good enough to make the playoffs? Not likely. And on the long-shot that they sneak in to the postseason, will the Boys be able to win a ton of do-or-die games on the road? Don't count on it. But despite all of the odds against them, I am putting Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints on upset watch today for their Thanksgiving showdown in Dallas. After the last two weeks there's no doubt that the players in that Dallas locker room are thinking about hitting that 9-7 mark. And if they can defend their home turf today, the worst nightmare of many teams will start to grow, because those same players in that same Dallas locker-room won't be thinking about 9-7 anymore, they'll be believing it.
