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I thought of this yesterday while talking to a buddy of mine about this train-wreck of a season. "Dallas is either in it to win it all, or they lose interest... nothing in between", he said.
Look around the league, and see the teams with records as bad as Dallas' or nearly as bad. Are their players tanking like ours are? No.
Buffalo gave KC everything they could handle in Arrowhead. San Francisco found a way to win for their beleaguered Head Coach, and in London. Oakland is playing great football and has fought their way to .500. Carolina competed with a better Rams team, on the road. And Detroit beat Washington at home.
But the Cowboys, Jerry, and our "Super Bowl or bust" mentality means that we QUIT the second a Super Bowl seems unreachable. This, to me, is the only real negative with having a "Super Bowl or bust" mentality. Other less-historically-successful teams would be satisfied with a winning record or a playoff appearance, but it seems that our guys have no interest in anything other than a Lombardi Trophy.
I always used to like that about our team... 'let other teams stay satisfied with their playoff appearances and NFC Championship losses, we're going for the gold!'
But in an embarrassing season like this one, I wish we had a little more fight. It's almost like the Cowboys feel that "playing for pride" is beneath them... they'd rather just take an early vacation and gear up for when these games matter again (2011).
I think back to the Eagles' seasons when they were annual contenders with McNabb, and how even in their down years they found a way to keep fighting. In 2005, Philly nearly beat Washington in Week 17 when they had nothing to play for and the Commanders had everything to play for... that would've helped us possibly make the playoffs. Of course, we laid down for an awful Rams team later that night, at home, in a game that COULD have mattered if the Eagles had pulled off the upset.
To me, that sums it up perfectly. Think about this: Philly had nothing to play for and gave it their all. Dallas was hoping that Philly would play for pride and win, so that their own game against St. Louis would be meaningful. And after Philly lost and our own game turned out to be "for pride"? We laid down. Pretty hypocritical, no? We were asking other teams to play for pride when we weren't even planning on doing that ourselves!
Speaking of the Eagles, the next year (2006) they reeled off 5 straight wins after a terrible start and a McNabb injury to make the playoffs with Jeff Garcia at QB. Their guys rallied around their backup and played solid football in all phases. Compare that to the 2010 Cowboys laying down the second Romo goes down. Remember the whooping they gave us on Christmas day that year? The first very bad game of Romo's career.
Then there's Week 17 in 2008... yeah. I guess our locker-room was in such disarray that nobody believed a Super Bowl was in reach, even if we were to beat Philly and make the playoffs.
I think it's worth asking if Jerry really WANTS to win meaningless games that hurt our draft stock. We're a "Super Bowl or bust" outfit, after all. If it's unreachable in 2010, it's all about positioning yourself for 2011. And I'm still not sure how I feel about that. I'm hoping like hell we beat Green Bay next week, but is that what the organization truly wants? What I do know is that I don't expect a great effort out of our guys.
Look around the league, and see the teams with records as bad as Dallas' or nearly as bad. Are their players tanking like ours are? No.
Buffalo gave KC everything they could handle in Arrowhead. San Francisco found a way to win for their beleaguered Head Coach, and in London. Oakland is playing great football and has fought their way to .500. Carolina competed with a better Rams team, on the road. And Detroit beat Washington at home.
But the Cowboys, Jerry, and our "Super Bowl or bust" mentality means that we QUIT the second a Super Bowl seems unreachable. This, to me, is the only real negative with having a "Super Bowl or bust" mentality. Other less-historically-successful teams would be satisfied with a winning record or a playoff appearance, but it seems that our guys have no interest in anything other than a Lombardi Trophy.
I always used to like that about our team... 'let other teams stay satisfied with their playoff appearances and NFC Championship losses, we're going for the gold!'
But in an embarrassing season like this one, I wish we had a little more fight. It's almost like the Cowboys feel that "playing for pride" is beneath them... they'd rather just take an early vacation and gear up for when these games matter again (2011).
I think back to the Eagles' seasons when they were annual contenders with McNabb, and how even in their down years they found a way to keep fighting. In 2005, Philly nearly beat Washington in Week 17 when they had nothing to play for and the Commanders had everything to play for... that would've helped us possibly make the playoffs. Of course, we laid down for an awful Rams team later that night, at home, in a game that COULD have mattered if the Eagles had pulled off the upset.
To me, that sums it up perfectly. Think about this: Philly had nothing to play for and gave it their all. Dallas was hoping that Philly would play for pride and win, so that their own game against St. Louis would be meaningful. And after Philly lost and our own game turned out to be "for pride"? We laid down. Pretty hypocritical, no? We were asking other teams to play for pride when we weren't even planning on doing that ourselves!
Speaking of the Eagles, the next year (2006) they reeled off 5 straight wins after a terrible start and a McNabb injury to make the playoffs with Jeff Garcia at QB. Their guys rallied around their backup and played solid football in all phases. Compare that to the 2010 Cowboys laying down the second Romo goes down. Remember the whooping they gave us on Christmas day that year? The first very bad game of Romo's career.
Then there's Week 17 in 2008... yeah. I guess our locker-room was in such disarray that nobody believed a Super Bowl was in reach, even if we were to beat Philly and make the playoffs.
I think it's worth asking if Jerry really WANTS to win meaningless games that hurt our draft stock. We're a "Super Bowl or bust" outfit, after all. If it's unreachable in 2010, it's all about positioning yourself for 2011. And I'm still not sure how I feel about that. I'm hoping like hell we beat Green Bay next week, but is that what the organization truly wants? What I do know is that I don't expect a great effort out of our guys.