“We have met the enemy and he is us!”

[BulletBob]

This famous quote from the Pogo comic strip (yes, it’s from a comic strip – you thought it was from some influential general or powerful political figure, right?) was rattling around my football bliss infused brain last night as I drifted off to sleep.

I’m a fairly analytical personality, doomed to such by a 4-year engineering degree. Although I am no longer a hardcore engineer, numbers still fascinate me, and I am continually amazed at how beautiful the language of math always reveals itself at the center of our structural universe. In the case of our beloved team, the numbers are bothering me. Consider:

• From 2008-2012, the team who won the turnover battle won the game 78.6% of the time.
  
  
• Last year, the winning percentage was 80.9%
  

Turnovers present themselves like gravity, pulling a team toward a loss despite all of its heroic efforts to avoid losing in the end. Whenever our team gives the ball away, my analytical brain causes me to conclude that unless the Cowboys cause a few turnovers themselves, we have no shot at winning the game (well, we have about a 20% shot, but those are not great odds).

But a funny thing has happened in the last 2 weeks, and it almost seems to defy the law of gravity. If you haven’t noticed, the past two weeks we have been -2 in the turnover ratio category (I count that blocked punt yesterday as a turnover, even though the NFL statisticians may not). According to the numbers, we should not have won either of these games, and the chances of winning both back-to-back is literally incredible.

So the natural question is whether this is a statistical blip, or is there something more going on behind the numbers, and this is where you have to throw out analytics and start to believe in the magic that is unfolding before your very eyes.

I told my son before the game that if the Cowboys played mistake-free football, they might have a shot at the Seahawks yesterday, but it would still be a very difficult game. After the punt was blocked early in the game, I threw up my hands and said to him, “What a shame. If we’d only stop shooting ourselves in the foot, we could really make some noise.” I was wrong.

After the muffed punt, I thought, “No way – now we’re minus 2.” I was wrong again. After the Frederick/Romo communication fumble, I shouted, “How pitiful – we’ve beaten ourselves!” Gravity has taken over – we will lose this game.

Then the magic kicked in – lightning struck twice in two weeks. Dez with an amazing catch on 3rd and 8 and Williams with an unhuman catch on 3rd and 20. Romo plays Houdini again.

Is this luck? A statistical anomaly? The other team just not playing well?

That was my initial gut reaction, but I think I am starting to believe. You can say that good teams do not make mistakes in big games. I’m not sure you’d be entirely accurate in that statement.

You might also say that it takes a special team to overcome the gravity of their own mistakes and battle through the odds to come out on top. I think this is what we are seeing.

The offensive line hitch in victory formation against the Texans last week as a hat tip to the Landry era signaled that something was different about this team. That was a pretty significant event - supreme confidence, bordering on arrogance. I think the players sense that something special is happening. It's evident in the magical plays that we have not seen since the glory years. But it's even more than that.

They have been imposing their will upon their opponents since week 2. They have a swagger about them. They should.

For two weeks in a row, they have defied gravity and have conquered the enemy that is us.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Nice write up and it makes some of these wins even more incredible as we have had to over come the long odds we put on ourselves. However we need to clean those up. It cost us in the first game and if it continues it will cost us down the road.

 

[maxdallasfan]

The only thing stopping this team will be themselves.

It could be a miracle season, ala the 2007 Giants.

 

[Boyz981]

Agreed.... We have to clean this stuff up! IMO it is all correctible.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

The only thing stopping this team will be themselves.

It could be a miracle season, ala the 2007 Giants.

Yeah, but we are already doing MORE.

 

[DogFace]

The fact that we win with these mistakes is the key. We are becoming a very good team. Passing all the tests.

 

[big dog cowboy]

The offensive line hitch in victory formation against the Texans last week as a hat tip to the Landry era signaled that something was different about this team. That was a pretty significant event - supreme confidence, bordering on arrogance. I think the players sense that something special is happening. It's evident in the magical plays that we have not seen since the glory years. But it's even more than that.

They have been imposing their will upon their opponents since week 2. They have a swagger about them. They should.

For two weeks in a row, they have defied gravity and have conquered the enemy that is us.

Great write up. You should try to make this a weekly thing.

 

[MagicMan]

I like what JJT said this morning:

"This is a physical offense that no longer takes what the defense gives it; it takes what it wants. This is a defense that prides itself on toughness. Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli talks about it daily and now the players believe they're supposed to bow down to no one."

Reminds me of the .......ahem, 90's Cowboys, when you knew they were running right at you but could do nothing about it. I know its early, but I can see this developing right before our eyes. Like in 1990 just before the SB teams. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.