Wade on Detroit Game from Last year
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Maikeru-sama
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Stretch dive
Flop in finale leaves Cowboys in search of spark for playoffs
01/01/2007
By TODD ARCHER / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING – The Cowboys entered December wondering if they were a Super Bowl team, and now they enter January lucky to be a playoff team.
The Cowboys closed out 2006 with a deflating 39-31 loss to the Detroit Lions, who came into Sunday's game at Texas Stadium tied for the worst record in the NFL. But the Cowboys enter 2007 knowing they have at least one more game to play.
Saturday's trip to Seattle will be the Cowboys' second postseason appearance in Bill Parcells' four seasons as coach. But after losing three of their last four games, they are going into the playoffs with nothing to feel good about.
"I can't tell you how disappointed I am," Parcells said. "I really can't. This is a low point for me."
Parcells' feelings were matched in a quiet locker room as players wondered what happened to a season that was injected with life by the decision to promote Tony Romo to starting quarterback in October.
"There is no lining in the sky," defensive end Marcus Spears said. "There is no sun shining bright. It's just bad and gloomy, and you have to move on."
Even if Romo had not been stopped 2 yards short of a touchdown with nine seconds to play, and even if the Cowboys had made a tying two-point conversion and won in overtime, would it have mattered?
Sunday was not about just getting a win, it was about winning stylishly, knowing they would have to travel to Seattle's Qwest Field on a short week to take on the defending NFC champion.
"It's going to be a tough place to play – everybody knows that's one of the best home-field advantage places in the NFL," said Romo, who threw for a career-high 321 yards but was intercepted once, fumbled the ball away twice and was sacked four times.
"We'll have our work cut out for us, but I think if we minimize our mistakes and do things the right way leading up to the game, we can be a team that teams don't want to play against. We may not scare anyone, but if we win a game or two, that will change. That's what we'll try and do this week, get back to work and put ourselves in position to win."
To get in that position, the defense needs answers to questions that have lingered for five weeks.
For the fifth straight game, the Cowboys allowed 20 or more points, their worst stretch since a seven-game period in 2004 that convinced Parcells he had to switch to the 3-4.
After losing a second straight game for the first time this season, the Cowboys finished the regular season 9-7 for the second year in a row. In the last four games, they have allowed 132 points. In Games 5-12, the Cowboys allowed 132 points and only allowed more than 20 points twice.
"You can't say it's this and fix it," linebacker DeMarcus Ware said. "I'm a player, and I can't explain it myself. We've got to get our mojo back. It was something we had in the beginning of the season. We're trying to get it back."
The Cowboys attempted to get it back by changing to more of a 4-3 look. They recorded five sacks, but Lions quarterback Jon Kitna became the third quarterback in the last four games to throw at least four touchdown passes against the Cowboys.
Mike Furrey (11 catches, 102 yards, one touchdown) and Roy Williams (six catches, 104 yards, two touchdowns) became the third and fourth receivers to have more than 100 yards receiving against the Cowboys in December.
The offense and special teams did little to help the defense. Five of the Lions' 13 drives started at the Dallas 40-yard line or inside it, resulting in 27 points. The normally strong punt coverage units allowed returns of 40 and 32 yards, and Terence Newman fumbled a punt. The offense had an interception and lost a fumble.
Despite that, the Cowboys were 6 yards from possibly tying the score, facing fourth and goal with 16 seconds to play. Tight end Jason Witten, the first option, was double-teamed. Romo didn't have time to look for other options and took off for the end zone. His dive came up 2 yards short, and the Lions (3-13) had a rare win.
"There are no words to say," Cowboys linebacker Bradie James said. "No matter who we were playing, we wanted to go in and get a win going into the playoffs. ... We talked about getting into the playoffs and here we are. It hasn't been pretty. We've been going the hard road all year. It's just what we do."
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Flop in finale leaves Cowboys in search of spark for playoffs
01/01/2007
By TODD ARCHER / The Dallas Morning News
IRVING – The Cowboys entered December wondering if they were a Super Bowl team, and now they enter January lucky to be a playoff team.
The Cowboys closed out 2006 with a deflating 39-31 loss to the Detroit Lions, who came into Sunday's game at Texas Stadium tied for the worst record in the NFL. But the Cowboys enter 2007 knowing they have at least one more game to play.
Saturday's trip to Seattle will be the Cowboys' second postseason appearance in Bill Parcells' four seasons as coach. But after losing three of their last four games, they are going into the playoffs with nothing to feel good about.
"I can't tell you how disappointed I am," Parcells said. "I really can't. This is a low point for me."
Parcells' feelings were matched in a quiet locker room as players wondered what happened to a season that was injected with life by the decision to promote Tony Romo to starting quarterback in October.
"There is no lining in the sky," defensive end Marcus Spears said. "There is no sun shining bright. It's just bad and gloomy, and you have to move on."
Even if Romo had not been stopped 2 yards short of a touchdown with nine seconds to play, and even if the Cowboys had made a tying two-point conversion and won in overtime, would it have mattered?
Sunday was not about just getting a win, it was about winning stylishly, knowing they would have to travel to Seattle's Qwest Field on a short week to take on the defending NFC champion.
"It's going to be a tough place to play – everybody knows that's one of the best home-field advantage places in the NFL," said Romo, who threw for a career-high 321 yards but was intercepted once, fumbled the ball away twice and was sacked four times.
"We'll have our work cut out for us, but I think if we minimize our mistakes and do things the right way leading up to the game, we can be a team that teams don't want to play against. We may not scare anyone, but if we win a game or two, that will change. That's what we'll try and do this week, get back to work and put ourselves in position to win."
To get in that position, the defense needs answers to questions that have lingered for five weeks.
For the fifth straight game, the Cowboys allowed 20 or more points, their worst stretch since a seven-game period in 2004 that convinced Parcells he had to switch to the 3-4.
After losing a second straight game for the first time this season, the Cowboys finished the regular season 9-7 for the second year in a row. In the last four games, they have allowed 132 points. In Games 5-12, the Cowboys allowed 132 points and only allowed more than 20 points twice.
"You can't say it's this and fix it," linebacker DeMarcus Ware said. "I'm a player, and I can't explain it myself. We've got to get our mojo back. It was something we had in the beginning of the season. We're trying to get it back."
The Cowboys attempted to get it back by changing to more of a 4-3 look. They recorded five sacks, but Lions quarterback Jon Kitna became the third quarterback in the last four games to throw at least four touchdown passes against the Cowboys.
Mike Furrey (11 catches, 102 yards, one touchdown) and Roy Williams (six catches, 104 yards, two touchdowns) became the third and fourth receivers to have more than 100 yards receiving against the Cowboys in December.
The offense and special teams did little to help the defense. Five of the Lions' 13 drives started at the Dallas 40-yard line or inside it, resulting in 27 points. The normally strong punt coverage units allowed returns of 40 and 32 yards, and Terence Newman fumbled a punt. The offense had an interception and lost a fumble.
Despite that, the Cowboys were 6 yards from possibly tying the score, facing fourth and goal with 16 seconds to play. Tight end Jason Witten, the first option, was double-teamed. Romo didn't have time to look for other options and took off for the end zone. His dive came up 2 yards short, and the Lions (3-13) had a rare win.
"There are no words to say," Cowboys linebacker Bradie James said. "No matter who we were playing, we wanted to go in and get a win going into the playoffs. ... We talked about getting into the playoffs and here we are. It hasn't been pretty. We've been going the hard road all year. It's just what we do."
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Maikeru-sama
Mick Green 58
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Hypnotoad;1816668 said:
The Atlanta game too. We won that game but it was closer than the scored indicated and we also had problems covering the FB.
Maikeru-sama
Mick Green 58
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To add, that is why I just shake my head when people got upset with Jon Kitna for pretty much calling our defense out and saying the same things alot of the members on this board said.
He was a punk for saying what he said, but he made some good points.
With that said, I just don't see any way the Lions have a chance in this game. It really may be over with by the 3rd Quarter.
He was a punk for saying what he said, but he made some good points.
With that said, I just don't see any way the Lions have a chance in this game. It really may be over with by the 3rd Quarter.
Hypnotoad
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mickgreen58;1816677 said:
Our defense was so porous that it put Romo in a position of having to do crazy things just to match the points the other teams put on us. We had no answer for the Full Back. The games we won we still had those problems, the games we lost we weren't good enough to win.
Doomsday101
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theebs;1816684 said:
True Romo had something like 3 fumbles in the game. I doubt out O-line allows the Lions to put much pressure on Tony this time around. I was amazed to see we have only gave up 16 sacks this season compared to the 37 sacks last season.
aikemirv
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Doomsday101;1816691 said:
With that said, I think you have to do what you can to keep Columbo and Adams.
We have a few years here with TO and Romo where we are going to have a chance to be very successful. We have to keep the OLine intact and strong. In the nineties our lines were some of the best parts of our teams. I see that again this year with the depth on the Dline and the performance of the Oline!
Doomsday101
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aikemirv;1816693 said:
I think Columbo will be easier to keep than Adams. One thing to keep in mind it becomes harder for good teams to keep everyone. I hope we can keep Adams but I think that could be iffy depending on his contract demands.
Doomsday101
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Woods;1816700 said:
Without seeing how guys like Free and McQ are progressing I think it is hard to say exactly what the coaches and Jerry have in mind for next season in regards to keeping Flo or moving on to younger players. This is not a knock on Flo but I also know now days you can't always keep everyone and tough choices sometimes have to be made.
CrazyCowboy
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It was Dec and we start doing crazy stuff.
Kangaroo
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Woods;1816700 said:
We are not going to franchise Flo it a cost of around 10+million; he is going somewhere else this summer he is 32 and we are not going to pay him what some desperate team will in a contract. Look for Davis; Free or Pat McQ to be the starting LT if the Colts can lose a pro-bowl LT to retirement and replace him with a young guy then we sure the heck should be able now. We have more depth along the oline than years past