Gemini Dolly
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By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL
IRVING — On a scale of 10, with one being a better chance of being abducted by aliens and 10 being as good as done, general consensus seems to be the Cowboys’ chances of beating Sean Payton and his Saints in New Orleans this evening as a minus-4.
As in no chance, zero, nada.
Started this week at minus-10, myself. Payton has a way of smacking these Cowboys around in the best of times, and this is not even good times. This is December. My number has been doing a slow creep up for two reasons:
Tony. And Romo.
Inextricably linked with at least two and a half years of this December ugly, he had somewhat unfairly earned a rep as a non-big-game QB. His play so far this December has absolved him, at least partially. His play has been good, especially in New York.
And when presented with this easy out Thursday, he scoffed.
"This position is almost solely judged on winning and losing," he said.
My biggest quibble with these Cowboys is they have taken on the personality of their coach, justifying and excusing rather than admitting and fixing. And yet here was the leader, with an alibi, eschewing stats and saying he has not been good enough.
Sounds like a breakthrough at Valley Ranch, and just in time.
Romo only controls his game, though, unable to kick field goals or bench Marion Barber or make a stop on third down. And his game has been pretty solid. So what else can he do?
"You always feel like you can do more," Romo said. "Human nature, when you are losing, it should be to look and say, 'What am I not doing enough?’ Because obviously, it has got to be something because we are losing. So you do that as you lose football games and you start to say, 'OK, no matter what you are doing ... you have to look at it and figure out a way and try to do more.’
"And whether you can, who knows?"
Strong hints were dropped Thursday that Romo already has. Cowboy players were repeating his message, not Coach Wade’s. Gone was talk of baseball stats and December history being history, replaced by personal responsibility and good not being good enough.
Wide receiver Pat Crayton applied this message specifically to the lack of finish on offensive drives. He watched the film in horror, like most of us watched live Sunday. So many yards, so few points.
Romo said this falls under good news-bad news. Bad news: This stuff has lost them games. Good news: If they fix what derails them, watch out.
History says not likely, not in December. And very little we have seen so far dissuades the rational from believing this year to be another in a long line of repeats. December is not going well, again, and everybody wants to fire everybody. GM. Coach. Offensive coordinator. Defensive coordinator.
About time. Only a year too late.
Failing to do what now seems inevitable in a timely fashion has cost them Mike Shanahan who, by all accounts, looks to be bound for Washington. I don’t know if The Orange One was the answer, but I would have loved to see him with Romo.
He and Sean Payton and Tony Sparano all love Romo.
Detractors would be wise to remember this every time they make premature assessments about whether Romo can win a Super Bowl. A lot of smart offensive minds in this league believe he can.
When and if the Cowboys go searching for a new coach — and Owner Jones’ failure to take appropriate action a year ago necessitates the "if" — Romo and his potential provide huge selling points.
Downside? An owner who is in bed with a certain GM.
This certain GM bypassed Mike Singletary, Tony Sparano, Norv Turner and Jim Caldwell for Wade Phillips’ last go-round. All of them have owned December while Dallas has struggled.
And Phillips has three games to change this.
Shocking the world in New Orleans seems improbable, and losing really doesn’t matter all that much. This Cowboys season boils down to beating The Hated Commanders and Hated Eagles in back-to-back weeks.
Win. And likely in.
Lose. And likely mass firings ensue.
"For us, it’s still in front of us," Romo said. "We’ve gone through all this stuff. No matter what has happened in the past, or gone on before good or bad, it’s hard to get to this position. It really is. You have all your goals in front of you.
"And we’ll find out what kind of team we have here in the next weeks, you know. It will show."
On a scale of 10, with one being a better chance of being abducted by aliens and 10 being as good as done, chances of this Cowboy team salvaging this season are probably a 5. It could go either way.
And do not fool yourself: Romo is why they are that high.
http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/1841807.html
IRVING — On a scale of 10, with one being a better chance of being abducted by aliens and 10 being as good as done, general consensus seems to be the Cowboys’ chances of beating Sean Payton and his Saints in New Orleans this evening as a minus-4.
As in no chance, zero, nada.
Started this week at minus-10, myself. Payton has a way of smacking these Cowboys around in the best of times, and this is not even good times. This is December. My number has been doing a slow creep up for two reasons:
Tony. And Romo.
Inextricably linked with at least two and a half years of this December ugly, he had somewhat unfairly earned a rep as a non-big-game QB. His play so far this December has absolved him, at least partially. His play has been good, especially in New York.
And when presented with this easy out Thursday, he scoffed.
"This position is almost solely judged on winning and losing," he said.
My biggest quibble with these Cowboys is they have taken on the personality of their coach, justifying and excusing rather than admitting and fixing. And yet here was the leader, with an alibi, eschewing stats and saying he has not been good enough.
Sounds like a breakthrough at Valley Ranch, and just in time.
Romo only controls his game, though, unable to kick field goals or bench Marion Barber or make a stop on third down. And his game has been pretty solid. So what else can he do?
"You always feel like you can do more," Romo said. "Human nature, when you are losing, it should be to look and say, 'What am I not doing enough?’ Because obviously, it has got to be something because we are losing. So you do that as you lose football games and you start to say, 'OK, no matter what you are doing ... you have to look at it and figure out a way and try to do more.’
"And whether you can, who knows?"
Strong hints were dropped Thursday that Romo already has. Cowboy players were repeating his message, not Coach Wade’s. Gone was talk of baseball stats and December history being history, replaced by personal responsibility and good not being good enough.
Wide receiver Pat Crayton applied this message specifically to the lack of finish on offensive drives. He watched the film in horror, like most of us watched live Sunday. So many yards, so few points.
Romo said this falls under good news-bad news. Bad news: This stuff has lost them games. Good news: If they fix what derails them, watch out.
History says not likely, not in December. And very little we have seen so far dissuades the rational from believing this year to be another in a long line of repeats. December is not going well, again, and everybody wants to fire everybody. GM. Coach. Offensive coordinator. Defensive coordinator.
About time. Only a year too late.
Failing to do what now seems inevitable in a timely fashion has cost them Mike Shanahan who, by all accounts, looks to be bound for Washington. I don’t know if The Orange One was the answer, but I would have loved to see him with Romo.
He and Sean Payton and Tony Sparano all love Romo.
Detractors would be wise to remember this every time they make premature assessments about whether Romo can win a Super Bowl. A lot of smart offensive minds in this league believe he can.
When and if the Cowboys go searching for a new coach — and Owner Jones’ failure to take appropriate action a year ago necessitates the "if" — Romo and his potential provide huge selling points.
Downside? An owner who is in bed with a certain GM.
This certain GM bypassed Mike Singletary, Tony Sparano, Norv Turner and Jim Caldwell for Wade Phillips’ last go-round. All of them have owned December while Dallas has struggled.
And Phillips has three games to change this.
Shocking the world in New Orleans seems improbable, and losing really doesn’t matter all that much. This Cowboys season boils down to beating The Hated Commanders and Hated Eagles in back-to-back weeks.
Win. And likely in.
Lose. And likely mass firings ensue.
"For us, it’s still in front of us," Romo said. "We’ve gone through all this stuff. No matter what has happened in the past, or gone on before good or bad, it’s hard to get to this position. It really is. You have all your goals in front of you.
"And we’ll find out what kind of team we have here in the next weeks, you know. It will show."
On a scale of 10, with one being a better chance of being abducted by aliens and 10 being as good as done, chances of this Cowboy team salvaging this season are probably a 5. It could go either way.
And do not fool yourself: Romo is why they are that high.
http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/1841807.html
