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Something was wrong with the Cowboys Sunday at AT&T Stadium. Maybe it was the jitters that came from playing their first postseason game in five years, which would make sense considering this team's bad playoff reputation. Maybe they've come back to earth after a hot December. Maybe it was just an off game.
Whatever it was, it can't happen next Sunday when the Cowboys play the Green Bay Packers in the divisional playoffs at Lambeau Field. Because if Dallas were to play the way it did against the Lions in Green Bay, it would be blown out.
No questions asked.
This was quite simply a sloppy performance from a team that didn't look worthy of being in the playoffs.
Quarterback Tony Romo was sacked a season-high six times behind a star-studded offensive line that seemed to be under the impression the Cowboys had a first-round bye. But pass protection notwithstanding, Romo often failed to recognize blitzes, cost his team by holding on too long in key spots and missed several open receivers in important moments.
He wasn't himself, which was compounded by the fact the coaching staff got away from the approach that got it here. Dallas had the most balanced offense in the NFL during the regular season, with a continued emphasis on NFL rushing leader DeMarco Murray helping keep the 34-year-old Romo fresh. But the Cowboys ran the ball on just 19 of their 58 offensive plays Sunday, which is unacceptable even considering the fact they trailed for the lion's share of the game.
Murray wasn't lighting up the league's top-ranked run defense, but he still averaged a solid 3.9 yards per carry. With 19 carries, it's not as though he was ignored. But consider that the Cowboys never ran the ball fewer than 23 times during their most successful regular season since 2007.
You could sense the panic. They ran passing plays on six of seven snaps on the drive that immediately followed the touchdown that gave Detroit a 14-0 first-quarter lead. On that series, Romo was sacked twice and they were forced to punt. They also passed four out of five times to start a fourth-quarter series down three points and nearly sabotaged themselves with a low-percentage end-zone throw on 1st-and-goal at the Detroit 8-yard line late.
The Cowboys were lucky. They were at home against a sliding Lions team with no more playoff experience than they had, and the Lions let them off the hook.
They were bailed out when a textbook defensive pass interference flag was inexplicably picked up on a Detroit third-down play in the fourth quarter, and they benefited more so when Lions punter Sam Martin netted only 10 yards on a shank just seconds later.
That gave them great field position for what wound up being the game-winning touchdown drive.
The Lions didn't do enough to make them pay for all of those miscues on offense, pass protection issues or those missed tackles on defense. That's because Detroit was as sloppy as Dallas.
But the Packers are a different animal.
Sure, the Cowboys were 8-0 on the road this season, but Green Bay was 8-0 at home. In fact, when you consider their scoreboard edge, the Packers were the best home team in football by a wide margin.
The Packers have also been here, done this. The Lions haven't won a playoff game in nearly a quarter-century, but Green Bay has five postseason victories and a Super Bowl during the Aaron Rodgers era. Dallas can't dig the same holes it did Sunday and live to tell about about it.
"It's gonna be a great test," Romo said of the Packers matchup in a postgame interview on Fox. "We have to play great. We have to play better than we did today."
He's got that right.
Brad Gagnon has covered the NFC East for Bleacher Report since 2012.
Follow @Brad_Gagnon
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