The Lost Season of 2007

[Blackspider214]

This right here. We were terribly sloppy all year long. Penalties galore, snaps sent miles over Romo's head, etc. We regularly had to overcome 3rd and very long on offense. But we nevertheless thrived with Romo hitting TO or Witten in clutch situations to keep drives alive and score a lot of points. Throughout the year we gave ourselves a huge margin that allowed us to overcome our sloppiness. Then, for some reason, we change it up in the playoffs, starting Barber and almost taking the air out of the ball. Barber ran like a beast, but we were never able to give ourselves a big enough margin to overcome the critical dropped passes, penalties and defensive ineptness in that game.

Yep. No idea why Wade and the staff decided to go this route. That screams playing scared. We were the #1 seed in the NFC. No reason to change p for the 6 seed Giants we already beat twice. Like you said, when we became ball control, we took too much time off the clock to overcome our shortcomings that game.

And another bad omen was starting off the 2nd half by settling for a FG after we had a nice drive into the red zone. That was deflating.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

Yep. No idea why Wade and the staff decided to go this route. That screams playing scared. We were the #1 seed in the NFC. No reason to change p for the 6 seed Giants we already beat twice. Like you said, when we became ball control, we took too much time off the clock to overcome our shortcomings that game.

And another bad omen was starting off the 2nd half by settling for a FG after we had a nice drive into the red zone. That was deflating.

Agreed. That was the one game over the past decade-plus that actually made me physically ill. It's like I knew right then that our best chance at a Super Bowl post-dynasty era was dead and gone.

 

[KJJ]

You think more about lost seasons/opportunities when you've been stuck in mediocrity for years with no end in sight.

 

[mmillman]

So as cowboy fans we are reduced to reminiscing about a season 7 years ago?

 

[links18]

So as cowboy fans we are reduced to reminiscing about a season 7 years ago?

Yep, a season that nonetheless ended in failure.

 

[Pessimist_cowboy]

You hardly ever hear about it because he's won several league MVP awards, been to 2 SB's winning one of them and he holds several all-time NFL passing records.

two of those MVP's were undeserved . Emmitt had 1800 and 25 rushing td's and they gave it to favre. Barry Sanders had 2000 yards rushing and they gave it to Favre Co MVP . Bunch of BS.

 

[NoLuv4Jerry]

Knew this was coming before I even opened the thread. The idea still continues that he had the game winning TD in his hands with ten seconds on the clock. I have seen a real TD drop by Jackie Smith get ignored in a game that really counts and he faced less scorn from the fanbase.

It is about as simplistic and child-like as can be.

Never mind the defensive collapse to close out the first half (thanks Jacques), the offensive line melting down in the second half, horrible punt coverage on R.W. McQuarters late and the brutal decision to throw a Hail Mary to a player that had barely played that season and clearly was nothing but a decoy. A Fasano drop. I could go on and on.

Let's just focus on that one dropped pass thrown on a 3rd and 13 from our own 17 at the that we think would have been a touchdown.

Funny how "it is a team game" changes depending on the subject.

I agree with your points, but........

Let's not forget the offsides that was called on DeMarcus Ware early in the game. First of all....he was not offsides. Secondly, it was 3rd down...and it kept there drive alive. Then if I recall...with that new lease on life...the Giants scored on an Armani Toomer catch and run....Armani Toomer...who actually might have been slower than Patrick Crayton. If that does not get called...Giants might have not even scored in the first half. And also another small nugget people overlook. We replaced Julius Jones with Marion Barber over the bye. It worked great in the 1st half. But Barber was gassed by halftime. Julius was sulking about getting benched....and he checked on the team. His "spelling" of Barber....or "giving him a blow" was pathetic and high schoolish. It brought to the surface all of the "lack of control" issues that have always plagued Wade Phillips.

 

[JohnsKey19]

The team basically laid an egg in a home playof game. The details have been discussed ad nauseum. Also the team was essentially holding on and not firing on all cylinders heading into that playoff game. Could've very easily finished season 0-4 against some below average opponents. Certainly had the look of a one-and-done after Week 17. Obviously the TO injury was a major factor all but eliminating the explosive big play from our offensive attack which the team relied on heavily to score points.

 

[Alexander]

So as cowboy fans we are reduced to reminiscing about a season 7 years ago?

Well what are the shining moments recently? The Saints game under Phillips? The Jerry Brown game? Beating the Giants on opening night?

That was the last time this franchise had a shot at something.

 

[Alexander]

The team basically laid an egg in a home playof game. The details have been discussed ad nauseum. Also the team was essentially holding on and not firing on all cylinders heading into that playoff game. Could've very easily finished season 0-4 against some below average opponents. Certainly had the look of a one-and-done after Week 17. Obviously the TO injury was a major factor all but eliminating the explosive big play from our offensive attack which the team relied on heavily to score points.

Owens was huge, especially since the Terry Glenn gambit failed.

 

[burmafrd]

the failure of Wade Phillips as a HC was illustrated the last month of the season and in the playoffs. One of the primary jobs of a HC is to get a team focused and ready to play. He failed miserably and it all went downhill from there. That showed in all the little things that went wrong that added up. I remember wanting to throw something at the TV when they called Deware offsides and replay showed it was nothing of the sort. That was the kind of BS call he got a lot in his career. Just like all the holds that were never called on him. I cannot think of any other top player in the NFL during that period that was so badly treated by the refs. Another failure by Jerruh; he should have been on the league office raising hell about that every year and he did nothing.

 

[mldardy]

two of those MVP's were undeserved . Emmitt had 1800 and 25 rushing td's and they gave it to favre. Barry Sanders had 2000 yards rushing and they gave it to Favre Co MVP . Bunch of BS.

That 95 season really pisses me off. I always felt Emmitt should have won MVP that season.

 

[CCBoy]

two of those MVP's were undeserved . Emmitt had 1800 and 25 rushing td's and they gave it to favre. Barry Sanders had 2000 yards rushing and they gave it to Favre Co MVP . Bunch of BS.

Lol, who are we to stand up to an oiled up escuse...

 

[CCBoy]

the failure of Wade Phillips as a HC was illustrated the last month of the season and in the playoffs. One of the primary jobs of a HC is to get a team focused and ready to play. He failed miserably and it all went downhill from there. That showed in all the little things that went wrong that added up. I remember wanting to throw something at the TV when they called Deware offsides and replay showed it was nothing of the sort. That was the kind of BS call he got a lot in his career. Just like all the holds that were never called on him. I cannot think of any other top player in the NFL during that period that was so badly treated by the refs. Another failure by Jerruh; he should have been on the league office raising hell about that every year and he did nothing.

Lol, that preparation was a pet peeve of Bill Parcells.

 

[percyhoward]

That's not entirely true. Romo had shown some flat out brilliance in the last 2 drives, but those instances were also followed or preceded by bonehead errors. It seemed like he could not get a handle on intentional grounding.

Side note: a lot of people always say "well when has the defense given Romo a chance?" quite a bit. This is a good game when they actually did. After Romo and the offense squandered a late 4th Q opportunity, the defense came on the field and force Eli and the Giants offense into a 3 and out to give Romo one last shot.

I think Romo did enough to win the game, but he also made some costly errors. He's not without blame.

Your other post about Jim Johnson was spot on. But the '07 Giants loss was one of the worst defensive performances in the history of the franchise. No team has ever won a playoff game when allowing a rating above 125 (0-67). Eli had a 132.4 when they took the lead with 13:33 left, and then did not throw another pass.

So Coughlin made it interesting by playing conservative, trusting his running game over his QB. The one elimination loss when the defense played well enough to win was Seattle, and Parcells' conservative approach on offense was a factor in that one.

 

[KJJ]

two of those MVP's were undeserved . Emmitt had 1800 and 25 rushing td's and they gave it to favre. Barry Sanders had 2000 yards rushing and they gave it to Favre Co MVP . Bunch of BS.

Favre did have a great year in 95 passing for just over 4400 yards which was a lot of yards back then. He had 38 TD's and a 99.5 passer rating but I agree Emmitt should have won the MVP that year he had almost 1800 yards and set an NFL record for TD's that season with 25 leading the Cowboys to their 3rd SB win in 4 years. When you have people like John Madden constantly drooling over Favre that can have an influence. Favre didn't have nearly as good a year in 97 as he did in 95 but the Packers were ruling at the time which clearly had an influence on the MVP voting.

The Lions weren't nearly as good a team as the Packers in 97 but they would have gone nowhere without Sanders who should have been the sole MVP winner having a 2000 yard season. In my opinion Favre was overrated way too many turnovers to be listed at #20 all-time on NFLN's top 100 all-time player list. They had him ranked ahead of Brady and Elway for crying out loud. Granted Favre made a lot of great/exciting plays but he made nearly as many bad plays. He's the NFL's all-time record holder for TD's and int's.

 

[Fmart322]

2007 was more of an over rated season for the Cowboys. They played a lot of teams without their starting QB and star players from what I remember.

 

[Apollo Creed]

Well, we beat the Giants twice in the regular season by 10+ points.

Would've played the Packers in the NFL title game and had beaten them easily earlier that year.

I just don't think we would've been able to contend with the Patriots in the Super Bowl. IMHO.

 

[DFWJC]

Well, we beat the Giants twice in the regular season by 10+ points.

Would've played the Packers in the NFL title game and had beaten them easily earlier that year.

I just don't think we would've been able to contend with the Patriots in the Super Bowl. IMHO.

Yeah, the Pats would have been hard to beat.

I'm sure one of the stats guys here can find this answer....

Has an NFL team ever beaten the same opponent 3 times in one season?

I know the odds are slim and I had some worries going into the Giants game based on that (among other things).
Just curious if any team has ever done it.

 

[TwoDeep3]

This season shows me several things. But more specifically the play-off game offers answers to questions that we discuss and argue over.

1. Why was Julius Jones not used in that game? I don't believe he was good, but running the entire second quarter with Barber exhausted him and left him out of gas.

This was a Garrett call and one of the basic concerns I have with Garrett and his decision making. That game was right there for the picking. But this decision left the team without a running game in the second half. Monumentally poor conclusion.

2. Where was the adjustment to shore up Romo's protection? Again, this is a Garrett mistake and one that cannot be significantly answered.

3. Phillips allowed the defense to get exposed on the last drive of the second quarter. That makes no sense since that [party of the team was sound. Coaching error.

Crayton alligator arms, Fasanos drop had little to do with the loss.

But what comes to mind is this.

As the discussions rage about this game and others the most important factors seem to be obscured.

With a competent defense Romo can engineer a play-off team and even get them over the hump. While Dallas lost, it was far more the fault of the coaches than players.

However, if one puts the fault with Crayton or Fasano for their miscues, then how can that same person argue that in games where a pick is thrown late that differs from the culpability of Crayton and Fasano in who is at fault?

I'm not trying to start a Romo thread, but the debates here are so inconsistent in their logic and this goes by the wayside.

There is a great deal to be learned from this one game. Both positive and negative. Marry that result with what we've seen from Garrettand it is overwhelming how Dallas retains him as head coach to me.