Did we actually collapse?

[RS12]

What is concerning is that if the Giants rip off another victory or two, it will supply Jones and his enabling fans ammunition. See? We're proud of them and the fact we could compete with them!

Not aimed at you Alex, but how could anybody look at that last Giants game and say they competed on any level. Talking blood alcohol level well over .3

 

[fifaguy]

I know this may be an unpopular viewpoint on this board but there is a feeling that our play dropped off in the second half of the season with close wins against Washington and Miami ("Bad teams", two close losses to NYG and Arizona (two "bad teams") and two solid beatdowns from NYG and Philly (two "bad teams").

However, when you look at how Philly closed out the season once they were healthy and the fact they were top 10 in defense and offense I get the feeling they were a team who was trying to gel. The thing that held them back this year was mostly injuries and turnovers. They are 8-8 and like us but played much better than mediocre when we played them.

Now look at our 2 losses against NYG. Again there was the early part of the second half of the season where they struggled. But towards the end when they got some key players back (Osi and Bradshaw) they got hot again winning 4 of 5 with only a narrow loss to the then unbeaten Packers. They now just went into the playoffs and whipped Atlanta easily.

Now look at Arizona. This team really struggled early but then their defense came on like gangbusters lead by Calais Campbell. That team went 7-2 in their last 9 games with two losses to playoff teams (SF and Cin). The week before they narrowly lost to Baltimore 30-27. Down the stretch run they beat Philly, SF, Dallas and Seattle. Maybe they are on the verge of becoming a very good young team - especially if they can get decent QB play out of Kolb.

Now look at Miami. In their last 8 games excluding their close loss to us they went 6-2. Their two losses were to the surging Eagles and NE (24-27). Maybe we just ran into a team that was starting to hit its stride.

I guess my point is we actually played a bunch of teams that were stronger than their records indicated at the time we played them. Many of them were just coming into a period when they had really started to play well and we were caught somewhat offguards as opposition fans as we hadn''t quite realized yet how well those teams were playing.

I only bring this up because some are dismayed at our 8-8 record while playing what many believe to be an easy schedule. I happen to think we were playing decent down the stretch but ran into some teams that were playing very well and played pretty well outside of the Giants finale. Even in that Giants finale we took a pretty good run at them in the 2nd half going from 21-0 to 21-14 before our defense collapsed again in the 4th quarter.

Maybe there can be more optimism about our prospects for next year especially if we can get our secondary and interior OL patched up. I know we play a buzzsaw of a schedule next year and Philly and NYG look really tough but I still think a playoff berth may be possible (even though I think it is unlikely).

It will be a very interesting offseason. I hope Jerry and Garrett make some good personnel decisions in the draft and FA and bring in some top coaches to fill out our staff.

we stunk, period.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

The Giants collapsed the Cowboys.

 

[Alexander]

Not aimed at you Alex, but how could anybody look at that last Giants game and say they competed on any level.

That is not what I am saying. But I am sure it will be spun that we were within seven points to a great team and so on. Rationalization of failure seems to be an organizational strength.

 

[dmq]

Losing Murray I thought really hurt us in the last Giants game. I think the balance he created for our offense was very helpful against them. Bottom line is we made a bunch of bad teams look better than they were.

 

[Seven]

We don't have good rotation players. We don't have guys that come off the bench to rest the starters and keep up the same level of play. We have our starters beat down, nicked up and football wore out towards the end of games and utimately the season, with little help from the backups.

We haven't been able to rotate the DL or LBer's with any success. JMO, of course.

So yeah, we collapse.

 

[DFWJC]

Let's see:

34-22 4th quarter lead against the hated New York Giants, in Jerry's Palace, and the Giants come back and win with only 5:41 left in the game. national television...icing on the cake...

1. Newman dropped pick six

2. Terrible Tony Fiammetta "block" on bend-x

3. Horrendous route and technique by Miles Austin

Execute one of the three plays above, and the Cowboys win the division and get the Falcons at home.

4. Blocked FG after made FG (before a timeout)

That's SOOO ugly

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Yes they did but then they finished where they obviously were supposed to. You are what your record says you are and no amount of if this happened, or if that didn't happen, or if only this would have happened changes that fact.

The Cowboys were 8-8 and that means they were an 8-8 team. Period.

 

[JohnsKey19]

You can call it what you want. Losing 4 out of your last 5 games when fighting for a playoff spot is bad. Call it a collapse, a choke-job or even a slight fade - you name it. It's not like we had to play @Baltimore or @Green Bay. Each of those final 5 games were very winnable and we nearly came up empty. That's a very disappointing result.

 

[SilverStarCowboy]

The Cowboys were 8-8 and that means they were an 8-8 team. Period.

8-8 is completely unacceptable.

 

[ChopBlock]

Yes they did but then they finished where they obviously were supposed to. You are what your record says you are and no amount of if this happened, or if that didn't happen, or if only this would have happened changes that fact.

The Cowboys were 8-8 and that means they were an 8-8 team. Period.

They are now, since they collapsed in December yet again. Going into December they were a 7-4 team, which is what they were because you are what your record says you are, right? Then came the collapse......

 

[Kevinicus]

7-4 to 8-8 is a collapse. Period. End of Story. There is no excusing it. It is what it is. 1-4 to finish the season and miss the playoffs with crazy foul ups by players, and especially coaches. If Tampa wasn't so bad I'd say it was a COMPLETE collapse.

 

[Doomsay]

Not aimed at you Alex, but how could anybody look at that last Giants game and say they competed on any level. Talking blood alcohol level well over .3

Jerry would look to the first game as a reference point... /Wade

He also thought that we could be the 2007 Giants in 2009.

 

[KJJ]

The Cowboys were 4-0 in Nov and 1-4 in Dec/Jan it's the same tend we see almost every season. The team always gets on a run in Nov then once the money games arrive in Dec they fold.