What a crazy, awesome, chaotic, mysterious, exotic, and surprising Cowboys season. I've rifled through my brainpan files, and I can't remember a season like it. Here, there, anywhere.
Usually, when wins mount like they have this year, it's because of certainty, consistency, and predictability. You just know and expect it, like New England most every year or the Cowboys of the early 90s. Weeks of matter-of-fact results that you set your watch to. Ho-hum through the drudgery of weeks of waiting for the playoffs.
Such has not been this seaon.
An unsettled promise has hung over this team since that gut-wrenching loss in Green Bay two Januarys ago. All along, quality abounds in key places, while known warts linger. We've waited through the hopeful mystery, then aggravated through the vacuum that consumed the days between Romo's fall in Philly and his subsequent fall in Seattle.
Damn you, Weeden and Cassel. Healthier vertebrae than Romo, but no spine at all. Clipboard pirates, both of you.
And so here we are, all 13-3 and no place to go this weekend. Not a human on the planet could have ever thunk it. A fresh-bodied kid from the Deep South has delivered what last year's invertebrates could not, a steady hand through a long, arduous NFL season. I'll never forget the ride this has been, like none other I can remember in these parts.
And yet, the mystery remains. The No. 1 seed feels far more frantic than it should. Can the young buck step forward against the refined playoff likes of Green Bay, New York, Seattle, Atlanta, New England....? Can this defense withstand the fury of Rodgers and Ryan, both of whom have themselves fine-tuned for the playoffs? Can the run game finally find its dominant form against the likes of the Giants or Seahawks if need be?
Can Dak handle it from here? Will Romo be called on? Will the coaches even consider a change? If so, will they do it in time, or wait too late? It this playoff run about now, or later? Is Romo as good as gone, or could he return? Or.....all of the above in some unknown order?
On the other side of the ball....
Has this defense truly found itself a pass rush? Can Mo still play like Mo early on? Is Sean Lee about to announce his presence with an authority that will fortify this defense enough against high-flying offenses to come? Is David Irving about to become a superstar? Will Jack Crawford grow eyebrows?
This season can be summed up with two crazy statements: Jason Garrett very well may win Coach of the Year. Jerry Jones very well may be inducted in the Hall of Fame. Surely, a meteor is about to hit mother earth any moment.
Even at 13-3 and with the top seed, my hopes are tempered and my doubts are numerous. I don't expect the Cowboys to beat Green Bay, Atlanta, or New England the way those clubs look right now. In fact, I think they'd go 0-3 in those games. I say that with honesty and guilt alike.
So, I will root like hell on Red Bull for my boys and enjoy whatever comes. This has been a season like no other, so I'm just going to let it be that. Enjoy this amazing draft and hitch up for whatever ride comes now, next season, and the decade beyond.
One and done, or hoisting that sixth silver football. I'll applaud them when this season ends, whenever that be.
