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There is no shame in losing a big game. Losing them over and over, however, is a real sign of dysfunction.
By Tom Ryle@TomRyleBTB Jan 30, 2024
I’m not trying to start an argument or anything, but we need to take in the whole picture. In this case, we are discussing the Dallas Cowboys and their now nearly three decades-long stretch of not making it to the Super Bowl. But that 28 year drought is much worse. They have not even made it to the NFC championship since then, racking up loss after loss in the wild card or divisional rounds. We have seen squandered byes and depressingly lopsided defeats year after year.
That is the perspective to highlight after reading my colleague R.J. Ochoa’s discussion about how there are so many other teams that have bitter disappointments, like the Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions just suffered. He, too, was seeking to bring some perspective to things, and he is not entirely wrong. As the league is winnowed by first making the playoffs and then the win or go home games themselves, it is totally expected that some teams are going to be exposed, or just come up short in a game that is so dependent on luck and the bounces of an oddly shaped ball. (We won’t get into the whole problem of officiating quality today.) This is going to happen sometimes, and frankly, the more often you get to the divisional or conference round, the more often you are likely to suffer disappointment, unless you have an exceptional mix of coaching and talent like the New England Patriots did until recently and the Kansas City Chiefs have now.
But there is still the element of statistical trends, or the law of averages. Teams ebb and flow. While there can be long stretches of futility, things can also come together suddenly and the team can make a real leap into relevancy, like the Lions have over the past three years, or the Houston Texans did just this season with a rookie head coach and quarterback. If you get into the dance of the postseason, sometimes you lose, but sometimes you win. That is why just making the playoffs is the first part of the equation. Do it enough times, and you should eventually get some breaks that take you far.
Yet the Cowboys have made the playoffs thirteen times since their last Lombardi Trophy, and not gotten to the NFC championship game once. Mostly they have gone one and done, with just a scant handful of wild card wins. More disturbingly, their most recent exits have been frankly embarrassing.
Read more: https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/202...all-jerry-stephen-jones-will-mcclay-dan-quinn
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If Dan Campbell and the Lions can make a leap, why can’t the Cowboys seem to jump at all? Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images
By Tom Ryle@TomRyleBTB Jan 30, 2024
I’m not trying to start an argument or anything, but we need to take in the whole picture. In this case, we are discussing the Dallas Cowboys and their now nearly three decades-long stretch of not making it to the Super Bowl. But that 28 year drought is much worse. They have not even made it to the NFC championship since then, racking up loss after loss in the wild card or divisional rounds. We have seen squandered byes and depressingly lopsided defeats year after year.
That is the perspective to highlight after reading my colleague R.J. Ochoa’s discussion about how there are so many other teams that have bitter disappointments, like the Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions just suffered. He, too, was seeking to bring some perspective to things, and he is not entirely wrong. As the league is winnowed by first making the playoffs and then the win or go home games themselves, it is totally expected that some teams are going to be exposed, or just come up short in a game that is so dependent on luck and the bounces of an oddly shaped ball. (We won’t get into the whole problem of officiating quality today.) This is going to happen sometimes, and frankly, the more often you get to the divisional or conference round, the more often you are likely to suffer disappointment, unless you have an exceptional mix of coaching and talent like the New England Patriots did until recently and the Kansas City Chiefs have now.
But there is still the element of statistical trends, or the law of averages. Teams ebb and flow. While there can be long stretches of futility, things can also come together suddenly and the team can make a real leap into relevancy, like the Lions have over the past three years, or the Houston Texans did just this season with a rookie head coach and quarterback. If you get into the dance of the postseason, sometimes you lose, but sometimes you win. That is why just making the playoffs is the first part of the equation. Do it enough times, and you should eventually get some breaks that take you far.
Yet the Cowboys have made the playoffs thirteen times since their last Lombardi Trophy, and not gotten to the NFC championship game once. Mostly they have gone one and done, with just a scant handful of wild card wins. More disturbingly, their most recent exits have been frankly embarrassing.
Read more: https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/202...all-jerry-stephen-jones-will-mcclay-dan-quinn
If Dan Campbell and the Lions can make a leap, why can’t the Cowboys seem to jump at all? Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images
