Why has winning road playoff games become so more difficult today?

Red Dragon

Red Dragon

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From the beginning of the franchise through the 1992 season, the Cowboys appeared in seventeen road playoff games and won nine of them. That is a record of 9-8.

Since 1993 began, the Cowboys have appeared in eight road playoff games and lost all eight of them. That is a record of 0-8.

It can't be the crowds - road playoff game crowds were no less hostile in the 1970s than they are today. It can't be a specific player - this 26-year road playoff win drought spans a wide variety of quarterbacks and players - Aikman, Romo, Prescott, etc. It spans multiple coaches - Switzer, Gailey, Parcells, Phillips, Garrett, etc. It can't be the owner - the owner has almost no direct impact on what happens on the field (in the sense that, when the Cowboys were at the 2-yard line at Seattle in 2006, there was nothing Jerry could have done to prevent the refs from unfairly overturning Witten's first down, or at Green Bay, Jerry couldn't stop the refs from making the wrong call on Dez's catch.)


So, what gives?
 
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Oz-of-Cowboy-Country

Oz-of-Cowboy-Country

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Really? Let's not forget the Cowboys had home field advantage throughout the playoffs and lost in the divisional round, twice. (Under Garrett) 3 playoff wins in the last 23 years come to mind and that has nothing to do with home or road. That's defense. Defense wins championships. If your defense isn't strong then you're not built to win. Unless you have a real true legend at QB. So its get a legend or build a defense, to me. It's that easy.
 
Hadenough

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It's free agency! Teams are better across the board and other than the Patriots nobody is dominant. That home crowd can be advantage especially when they can get loud. Stadiums are bigger today than they were back in the 60s and 70s.
 
sean10mm

sean10mm

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Landry had the longest run of competitive teams of any coach in the Super Bowl era until Belichick. Johnson had a shorter run, but it was even more dominant while it lasted.

After that the Cowboys have just been another team. You might as well ask why the Titans don't have more playoff wins. The Cowboys are just part of the crowd now. Jason Garrett did nothing to earn infinite tenure yet somehow got it anyway and this is the logical result.
 
Blackspider214

Blackspider214

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Well lets see. Landry was the coach before and then came the clown circus of coaches after Jimmy. That is a huge reason. Going on the road and winning in the NFL is a hard task in the playoffs. Mainly because you are not facing bad teams and if a team is inferior, it isn't by much at that point in the season.

Bad coaches like Garrett don't have playoff success. They can fart their way to a few wins (usually home wild card games) but after that, their team is exposed on many fronts. Mainly preparation and adjustments to said preparation based on how the game is unfolding.
 
Whyjerry

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Red Dragon said:
From the beginning of the franchise through the 1992 season, the Cowboys appeared in seventeen road playoff games and won nine of them. That is a record of 9-8.

Since 1993 began, the Cowboys have appeared in eight road playoff games and lost all eight of them. That is a record of 0-8.

It can't be the crowds - road playoff game crowds were no less hostile in the 1970s than they are today. It can't be a specific player - this 26-year road playoff win drought spans a wide variety of quarterbacks and players - Aikman, Romo, Prescott, etc. It spans multiple coaches - Switzer, Gailey, Parcells, Phillips, Garrett, etc. It can't be the owner - the owner has almost no direct impact on what happens on the field (in the sense that, when the Cowboys were at the 2-yard line at Seattle in 2006, there was nothing Jerry could have done to prevent the refs from unfairly overturning Witten's first down, or at Green Bay, Jerry couldn't stop the refs from making the wrong call on Dez's catch.)


So, what gives?
Click to expand...

Very simple...

usatsi_10176037-copy.jpg
 
Blackspider214

Blackspider214

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cowboyblue22 said:
coaching and qb play have been a lot of the problem ever since jimmy Johnson left
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Coaching is easily more of a glaring weakness than QB play. Yes, between Aikman and Romo, we were in QB hell to put it lightly. But with Romo and Dak, they were good enough to at least to get the NFC title once or even twice. And I am not even a Romo fan at all. Look at what Goff was with Jeff Fisher vs McVay. Night and day. They scrapped the crappy system in place under Fisher and installed one that was tailor made for Goff. We have never did that here. Our offense is basically the same as it always has been under Garrett since 2007.

Nick Foles, Bortles, Keenum and Flacco have gotten to championship games and Super Bowls.
 

buybuydandavis

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Red Dragon said:
From the beginning of the franchise through the 1992 season, the Cowboys appeared in seventeen road playoff games and won nine of them. That is a record of 9-8.

Since 1993 began, the Cowboys have appeared in eight road playoff games and lost all eight of them. That is a record of 0-8.

It can't be the crowds - road playoff game crowds were no less hostile in the 1970s than they are today. It can't be a specific player - this 26-year road playoff win drought spans a wide variety of quarterbacks and players - Aikman, Romo, Prescott, etc. It spans multiple coaches - Switzer, Gailey, Parcells, Phillips, Garrett, etc. It can't be the owner - the owner has almost no direct impact on what happens on the field (in the sense that, when the Cowboys were at the 2-yard line at Seattle in 2006, there was nothing Jerry could have done to prevent the refs from unfairly overturning Witten's first down, or at Green Bay, Jerry couldn't stop the refs from making the wrong call on Dez's catch.)


So, what gives?
Click to expand...

When did the league reorganize and expand playoff slots?
 
visionary

visionary

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Red Dragon said:
From the beginning of the franchise through the 1992 season, the Cowboys appeared in seventeen road playoff games and won nine of them. That is a record of 9-8.

Since 1993 began, the Cowboys have appeared in eight road playoff games and lost all eight of them. That is a record of 0-8.

It can't be the crowds - road playoff game crowds were no less hostile in the 1970s than they are today. It can't be a specific player - this 26-year road playoff win drought spans a wide variety of quarterbacks and players - Aikman, Romo, Prescott, etc. It spans multiple coaches - Switzer, Gailey, Parcells, Phillips, Garrett, etc. It can't be the owner - the owner has almost no direct impact on what happens on the field (in the sense that, when the Cowboys were at the 2-yard line at Seattle in 2006, there was nothing Jerry could have done to prevent the refs from unfairly overturning Witten's first down, or at Green Bay, Jerry couldn't stop the refs from making the wrong call on Dez's catch.)


So, what gives?
Click to expand...

Let's see: 23 years of 'bad luck'

:laugh:
 
America's Cowboy

America's Cowboy

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Fletch said:
Linehan has been the latest problem.
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Disagree.

During the playoff loss stints of 2014 and 2018, it's been the Defense that has failed to show up. That falls squarely on Marinelli.

Marinelli's D also failed to show up during the 2016 home playoff loss to the Packers.
 
atlantacowboy

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Red Dragon said:
Again, Garrett has only been the head coach during two of our road playoff game losses.


The other 6 road playoff losses took place under Switzer, Gailey, Parcells and Phillips.
Click to expand...

That small number is due purely to infrequent appearences.
 
Whyjerry

Whyjerry

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Red Dragon said:
Again, Garrett has only been the head coach during two of our road playoff game losses.


The other 6 road playoff losses took place under Switzer, Gailey, Parcells and Phillips.
Click to expand...

I will say 3 things. 1. You are right, you have to actually make the playoffs to lose playoff games. 2. 0-2 is 0-2. 3. Boy wonder was the OC under Wade and coached up a turd vs the Vikings in 09.

You keep on loving the coach though.
 
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