Chuck 54
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We can point to the players who choked under the lights of this game...some did indeed play subpar games for them, Crayton being mentioned most often.
We can point the finger at the Coach...he's never won a playoff game (though this was the first of only a few total games in which he wasn't the underdog anyway).
It could be this...it could be that...there was this play...there was that play. Any could have made the difference.
The real difference, I believe, is that we took a passing game into the playoffs with only one difference maker who was healthy as a target for Romo, and that was our TE of all people.
1. T.O. was valiant...he gave it all he had just to get into the game, and he gave his full effort, but he was not 100% T.O.
2. Terry Glenn was clearly not Terry Glenn...we were sold a bill of goods, probably trying to mislead the Giants. Glenn was a non-factor.
3. Crayton is a decent 3rd receiver, not a great one...he has no speed or quickness, at least none he's ever shown returning, or should I say catching, punts or turning short receptions into long gains.
4. Hurd and Austin....well...they are what they are, and you're not going to win many games, let alone playoff games, with them.
5. That left Witten and Fazano...sorry Cowboys fans, that's not much of an attack.
6. It seems pretty obvious in hindsight that we knew we were playing with blanks in Romo's gun on Sunday...that certainly explains why we sold the nation on T.O. being healthy and Glenn looking quicker than anyone else on the field in practice and then handing the ball to Barber over and over and over all during the first half, giving him his his usual full game allotment of carries in only the first half.
Clearly, we were trying to take over a game and then hold on. The Giant TD right before the half hurt that plan, and the Giants defense stacking the line to stop the run in the second half and blitzing Romo proved that it only took them that one long drive to figure out that our wideouts weren't going to hurt even their backups.
So they stopped the run, started smelling blood, and stunted and blitzed as many teams have tried to do earlier in the year, only this time we had only a healthy TE, a partial T.O. whom they could easily double, and a slow and choking Patrick Crayton on whom to depend on beating the blitz coverage.
With no one healthy and good enough to run the slants or to make one explosive move and get to a spot in time to make the Giants pay...they had no reason to slow down the onslaught.
Did the Cowboys still have a chance to win? Yes, if Romo hits TO...if the defense holds at the end of the half...if Crayton runs out his route...is some of the penalties aren't noticed or committed...we still had a chance, and we could have won.
But despite poor tackling by star players that resulted in 1 Giant TD, a dropped pass and poor special teams that set up a short drive for another TD, and mistakes all game long on special teams and poor tackling, the defense still only surrendered 21 points. Say what you will about Reeves & Roy, a lack of pass rush, dumb penalties, etc., the Giants scoring only 21 points and the defense holding when it needed to twice inside the 10, that's a game the offense should win.
WE had the ball twice around midfield on our final possessions, but all game long, Romo didn't have the weapons. I'm not making excuses because we still should have won the game, but guys like Crayton are not difference makers, and guys like Hurd and Austin shouldn't even be on the field in the playoffs, and T.O. was only 75% at best, while Glenn was no more than a brief decoy.
We showed a good running game in the first half, but let's not kid ourselves...we were not a running team this year. We were a passing team that put up lots of points, striking fear into secondaries, and hitting on huge plays when they tried to blitz our QB. In this game, like the final month of the season, Romo's targets were tiny dots on the horizon, and he ended up firing blanks...that's not a good situation for a passing offense.
All teams have injuries, but most of ours came right at the end of the season, rendering guys like Gurode, Ratliff, TO, and Romo either rusty or ineffective.
Yes, we still could've/should've won, but I can only imagine the frustration Romo must have felt every time he dropped back to pass...who could get deep? who could beat man coverage? who could consistantly get open on 3rd down? Whom could he depend on?
Apparently no one...except Witten.
We can point the finger at the Coach...he's never won a playoff game (though this was the first of only a few total games in which he wasn't the underdog anyway).
It could be this...it could be that...there was this play...there was that play. Any could have made the difference.
The real difference, I believe, is that we took a passing game into the playoffs with only one difference maker who was healthy as a target for Romo, and that was our TE of all people.
1. T.O. was valiant...he gave it all he had just to get into the game, and he gave his full effort, but he was not 100% T.O.
2. Terry Glenn was clearly not Terry Glenn...we were sold a bill of goods, probably trying to mislead the Giants. Glenn was a non-factor.
3. Crayton is a decent 3rd receiver, not a great one...he has no speed or quickness, at least none he's ever shown returning, or should I say catching, punts or turning short receptions into long gains.
4. Hurd and Austin....well...they are what they are, and you're not going to win many games, let alone playoff games, with them.
5. That left Witten and Fazano...sorry Cowboys fans, that's not much of an attack.
6. It seems pretty obvious in hindsight that we knew we were playing with blanks in Romo's gun on Sunday...that certainly explains why we sold the nation on T.O. being healthy and Glenn looking quicker than anyone else on the field in practice and then handing the ball to Barber over and over and over all during the first half, giving him his his usual full game allotment of carries in only the first half.
Clearly, we were trying to take over a game and then hold on. The Giant TD right before the half hurt that plan, and the Giants defense stacking the line to stop the run in the second half and blitzing Romo proved that it only took them that one long drive to figure out that our wideouts weren't going to hurt even their backups.
So they stopped the run, started smelling blood, and stunted and blitzed as many teams have tried to do earlier in the year, only this time we had only a healthy TE, a partial T.O. whom they could easily double, and a slow and choking Patrick Crayton on whom to depend on beating the blitz coverage.
With no one healthy and good enough to run the slants or to make one explosive move and get to a spot in time to make the Giants pay...they had no reason to slow down the onslaught.
Did the Cowboys still have a chance to win? Yes, if Romo hits TO...if the defense holds at the end of the half...if Crayton runs out his route...is some of the penalties aren't noticed or committed...we still had a chance, and we could have won.
But despite poor tackling by star players that resulted in 1 Giant TD, a dropped pass and poor special teams that set up a short drive for another TD, and mistakes all game long on special teams and poor tackling, the defense still only surrendered 21 points. Say what you will about Reeves & Roy, a lack of pass rush, dumb penalties, etc., the Giants scoring only 21 points and the defense holding when it needed to twice inside the 10, that's a game the offense should win.
WE had the ball twice around midfield on our final possessions, but all game long, Romo didn't have the weapons. I'm not making excuses because we still should have won the game, but guys like Crayton are not difference makers, and guys like Hurd and Austin shouldn't even be on the field in the playoffs, and T.O. was only 75% at best, while Glenn was no more than a brief decoy.
We showed a good running game in the first half, but let's not kid ourselves...we were not a running team this year. We were a passing team that put up lots of points, striking fear into secondaries, and hitting on huge plays when they tried to blitz our QB. In this game, like the final month of the season, Romo's targets were tiny dots on the horizon, and he ended up firing blanks...that's not a good situation for a passing offense.
All teams have injuries, but most of ours came right at the end of the season, rendering guys like Gurode, Ratliff, TO, and Romo either rusty or ineffective.
Yes, we still could've/should've won, but I can only imagine the frustration Romo must have felt every time he dropped back to pass...who could get deep? who could beat man coverage? who could consistantly get open on 3rd down? Whom could he depend on?
Apparently no one...except Witten.
, to have another down......