http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/football/nfl/dallas_cowboys/7631262.htm Cowboys suffer the effects of postseason exposure By Randy Galloway Star-Telegram Staff Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Exposed every which way, the Cowboys ran smack into a huge wall of reality here Saturday night. Reality won in a blowout, as did the Carolina Panthers. In this 29-10 debacle, the Cowboys were so inept they retreated to their 5-11 roots. Welcome to the playoffs, where things are different. Over the long haul of an NFL season, the right kind of coach can hide or disguise his team's most prominent flaws. He steals wins here and there. Then, of course, there's the best kind of coach, one who repeatedly brings out the smoke and mirrors. Suddenly, his team is being hailed for its shocking success. Hey, under Bill Parcells, the Cowboys even made the playoffs. But come January ... And even more challenging, January on the postseason road ... Even in this watered-down era of NFL parity, tournament frauds are usually easy to spot. Playing before a national TV prime-time audience, the Cowboys identified themselves as such. Or actually, it was Carolina's offense, defense and special teams who repeatedly pointed it out. Big Bill's smoke and mirrors of the regular season could hide or disguise none of his team's obvious flaws. Playoff reality sledgehammered the Cowboys. Across the country, viewers had to be asking one question: How did this team possibly win 10 games? If nothing else, Saturday night demonstrated why Parcells should have been the NFL's Coach of the Year (New England's Bill Belichick won it) in voting based on regular-season results. Can we get a recount? Speaking of a recount, somebody might also want to remove that No. 1 tag from the Cowboys' defense. Statistics do often lie, don't they? While the disappointments in this game on offense continued a trend, and certainly were an encore to that mess in New Orleans last week, Quincy Carter and his F-troop weren't the low point Saturday night. It's no secret the Cowboys are offensively challenged, and that's a critical issue which must be thoroughly researched in the off-season, starting with Parcells' devotion to Quincy at quarterback. But to have any chance of beating Carolina in this wild-card opening round, the defense would have to carry the load. Nothing new there, of course. That's what the 10-win regular season was all about. And the Panthers are also not an offensive force, starting with the limited ability of quarterback Jake Delhomme, who like Carter was making his first playoff start. While Quincy cratered, however, Delhomme had an excellent performance, although helped greatly by the ability of his receivers to create big yards out of his short throws. And that's a sad commentary on secondary coverage and tackling. This will not be a game film rookie cornerback Terence Newman will save for enjoyable home viewing. On the Panthers' first possession, Newman's missed tackle on receiver Steve Smith turned a 5-yard gain into a 70-yard bomb to the Cowboys' 1-yard line. Then and there, a very long evening began for the heralded rookie. "Our corners didn't play well tonight, and when that happens, we usually don't do very well," said Parcells. The Panthers had two 100-yard receivers (Smith, 135 and a TD, plus Muhsin Muhammad, four catches for 103 yards). Add in 104 yards on the ground from Stephen Davis, and with that kind of combined yardage, the Cowboys' defense couldn't keep the game close. Not even with two goal-line stands in the first half that turned a potential 14 Carolina points into only six. Afterward, Parcells vowed to work relentlessly in the off-season to upgrade the product. "When we get back [to the playoffs] we'll be better next time," he added. Well, it won't take much in the way of improvement for the Cowboys to give a better performance than what was seen Saturday night. Getting back to the playoffs, however, is now the major question. Parcells probably thought his hardest work would involve upgrading the offense, and that is still the case. But the defense suddenly has also given him reason for spring and summer doubt. One scary thought to ponder over the long off-season is this: Of the six NFC playoff teams, the Panthers were considered the worst, or next-to-worst, depending on how you ranked the Cowboys. But the real postseason fraud was exposed on Saturday night. Reality came calling for the Cowboys. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Geez, I typed this post before seeing CK wishing my team luck in the Broncos thread. I feel like an ass now.
Watching Dallas implode was a thing of beauty! Too bad Baltimore didn't take of business against Tennessee!
Hey mateo, I absolutely despise the Cowboys but I can respect doing what Parcells did and what he did it with, Cowboy fans should be proud. Now...Go EAGLES!!!
The season was a huge success. No QB, No RB and a bunch of scrubs at WR and the Tuna takes them to the playoffs?!? No one thought it could happen. Now I'm looking forward to next year with the Texans and Cowboys BOTH in the playoffs.
I hate Dallas, too. Definitely gotta give Bill Parcells props, though. A new QB and RB will help. I hope the Eagles develop into power to stop them yearly, though.
I guess you could say the Cowboys beat the teams they were supposed to beat but, at 5-11 the season before, there were not too many teams we were supposed to beat. Really, we only had 2 regular season wins against better teams which could be considered flukes(Philly, Carolina). Some of these games we could have easily lost the year before(like the @NY game). The rest of the teams we played were below average this season although, to be fair, we had no idea who was who in the beginning. This could also go a long way in explaining our #1 ranked defense which I believe to be part sham because of our opponents. Only five games were against above. 500 teams in which we were 2-3(Carolina, Miami, Philly). In comparison(to be fair), Houston was 2-6 against above .500 teams(Indy, KC, Tenn., Carolina). So, Houston had 3 more games than we did against above .500 teams. When it counted against better teams, our defense was pretty bad. The problem, however, comes in the latter stages of the game when our Quincy-led offense is sputtering and the D has been on the field for too long and tires. So, I guess you could say we are an improved team but by how much can definitely be debated. I honestly don't think we are 10-6 improved. Bill likes to say that you are what your record says you are. However, we didn't play a lot of the other "good" teams in the league this season. Facing the music...our secondary wasn't as good as some in the media were trying to make it out to be. Edwards had a bad season in my opinion. Newman had some good play offset by many bad plays...like in the playoff game yesterday. Even Woodson had some bonehead defensive play that cost us dearly(like that New Orleans game mistackle which went for a TD). Our defensive front line and linebackers were pretty good at pressuring the qb. Although, they didn't do so well in that regard against the better teams in the league. While Quincy did make some improvement(mainly in the areas of less stupid mistakes when pressured), he proved that his passing skills need much work. While his arm has some power, he throws inaccurately and misses his target often. As a result, he had 21 INTs versus 17 TDs. His effort was solid and he gained some direction under Parcells that was sorely needed. He studied hard and made many efforts to improve himself. However, these didn't completely pay off...at least...not yet. Quincy also got a better feel of when to tuck and run but he didn't run with complete confidence like some of the other QBs do. He reminds me of Warren Moon when he runs. As for our offensive line, here's another area where we improved. However, against the better teams, their D had little problem pressuring our quarterback. But, they are definitely much better than they were last season which was as ugly as it gets. However, I expected better pass protection especially in the tougher games. The running back position doesn't even need to be discussed. Hambrick is back-up material at best. We need to acquire a rb as a top priority and possibly work on the offensive line some more. Quincy should be allowed to compete for a starting QB job but if we can find a veteran or someone better...then we have to give them a look. As far as the playoff game goes, all of our weaknesses were definitely exposed. Our offensive line wasn't very good at protecting the qb or making holes for the run. Quincy, while he wanted to do well, made some horrible passes. Our offense is good against weaker teams but, against the better teams, they are not very good. Our secondary was swiss cheese. I would like to see some changes in the secondary for sure during the off-season. Newman was overhyped. I have to credit some of our wins to just having a good coach. We were terrible the season before this one so you have to give credit where credit is due. Bill knows the game very well and it filters down to the players. We were a mentally good team this season. We just couldn't execute against the better teams. That's really what it came down to. We knew what we wanted to do but, if you don't execute, then this is the result. You can't fault Bill for that. It's all the players who have to play. I was kind of disheartened by all the interviews leading up to this game. The way our guys were talking they expected to put up a good fight and were even talking win. However, their play didn't match their interview talk. They looked only a little better than against New Orleans last week. So, how 'bout them Cowboys...they got their work cut out for them. While they may have been exposed against better teams, we took care of enough business against the others on the schedule to leave the losers category behind hopefully for a while to come. Any team that beats the lesser teams and wins a few against the better teams will more than likely go to the playoffs. It comes down to those close games that could go either way. Fortunately, we had many of those games go our way. Surf
The Cowboys have great line play. That's a good block to build on. All they need are some playmakers now. Of which they have next to none. I think they are still a number of years away without a big trade or without reeling in a big fish.
As an Eagles fan here,I find some of the thoughts here regarding the Cowboys interesting. Surfguy covered my thoughts about thier #1 ranked defense pretty succintly.I believe they benefited tremendously from a weak schedule and a weak division. 2 games against the Giants+Redskins [especially when both have a 2nd or 3rd string QB in for 2 of the games] will benefit their stats tremendously.When I saw how Miami and Philly [the 2nd game]ripped their defense apart,it was'nt real hard to realize they were overated.Neither of those teams conjure up visions of the Rams or the 1980's Chargers on offense..... I've also seen some people here,and some articles written about the "scrubs" at WR and how they need to upgrade. I've heard and read about how the Cowboys top 3 WR's were,as a group,the best group in the NFL,and now they're horrible??? I have a hard time believing they're that bad,as opposed to say....the Eagles WR's.... Quincy Carter.......some writer I just read this morning said he should be the comeback player of the year........I guess if you go from being the worst starting QB in the league to one of the 5 worst starting QB's.......I guess he's your man. IMHO,he absolutely stinks!!! If I were Parcells,I 'd rather have 56 yr old Vinny Testeverde starting. All in all,I recken it was a successful season for "the Boys",but I believe a very disapointing showing both offensively and defensively [at one point in the season,they were the #1 rated offense as well].We'll see if they bounce back with a tougher schedule and the "surprise" factor gone.
I know, yesterday could've been a perfect day. Maybe I should root for a Packer/Titan Super Bowl where the Pack destroys them. That'd be awesome!
Congrats to the Cowgirls for making the playoffs. Too bad you have to play a winning team in the playoffs, unlike all the scrubs they beat to get there. God, please make the "Oilers" lose. I will cry if the make the Superbowl in Houston.
I'm rooting for the Titans. They will always be the Oilers in my book. I'd be nice to see McNair and George who were OILERS win won in Houston.
As a born and raised Oiler fan, I hate the Titans. But strangely I found myself rooting for them against Baltimore the other day. I predicted they would get to the Super Bowl.. but I'm hoping they'll lose it, in typical Oiler fashion.
Well that is what happens when a slighty above average team gets a favorable schedule. When you beat the bad teams and get pounded by the good ones you know you aren't as good as advertised. Much props to Parcells though for making the postseason with Quincy Carter at QB. Lets go.... Uhhhh I don't know... Eagles?
For an Iggles fan you have a lot of brains, maybe all of them I agree the Cowboys don't have the best defense, but they have a very good young defense. I don't think it was all due to schedule, the Cowboys in addition to shutting down average to bad offenses they played fine defensive games against the Eagles in game 1, versus the Pats, versus the Saints (they have a lot of offensive weapons), versus the Panthers in game 1 and maybe some others. They were very good at stopping the run, and they have fast LBs who usually are good tacklers, and it was an anomolie when they got blown out. If you look at the Miami game, Phily game (really only the 2nd half, the defense was tough the 1st half) and Carolina game--it primarily was a few very bad big plays by the corners and secondary. But expect for Darren Woodson, they are extremely young, and Newman and Williams have a lot of talent. I would like to bring in another better corner and have Edwards be a nickle back. Overall the defense is very much on track for the future and look to be one of the top defenses in the league. The only major area I'd like to address on the D is upgrade a DE. Upgrade with a young speed rush but full time DE plus and maybe another corner who puts Edwards to the nickle and that D is a monster for years to come. I have been one of those fans who felt the receiving corps was OK but overated. Yes they are better than the Iggles, guys, but their are a lot of better combos. They Cowboys group are quick, but they drop a lot of balls and have zero physicalness to them. IMO Galloway, Glen and Bryant are all ideal 2nd or slot receivers, not primary receivers. Unlike many other teams, and what Carolina can do with Muhammad, you can't just throw it up to them on "even" situations and hope they make plays, DB are usually bigger and will win those situations. I sure wouldn't mind getting a Keyshuan for cheap, and I hate him, but I'd consider holding my nose and paying big bucks for Terrell Owens. That said, WR is still not a concern compared to the next problems. RUNNING back. I think even more than QB spot the RB spot has to be addressed. Hambrick/Anderson whomever are just cannot pressure defenses. The whole OL can do their job and these guys can get 5, maybe 7 yards. One mistake, these guys can't beat the defender. The Cowboys should aim for a guy like Kevin Jones (my first choice) in the draft, or maybe a Chris Perry, Steven Jackson or Cobbs if Jones is not reachable for them. Either use the 1st round pick for a RB or get a better one via trade or FA--this is a must. QB I have not given up complete hope on Carter. He can be maddening that at times he makes great throws and heady plays few QBs can make, and then other times he can't excute a freaken screen pass or 8 yard out. Still, this is Carters first full season playing and first with the Tuna, and he played with average WRs and terrible running backs--he didn't have a lot of help in trying to move the team, I would not give up on him yet. Also, the Cowboys have Hutchinson, a 2nd year guy with some promise. In short, I am a lot less desperate for a another QB than RB. Still, even though I like Newman I still kind of waver, maybe we should have drafted Leftwhitch. So much harder to find a truly stud QB than stud CB, and the drop off between a stud QB and a solid one is much bigger than a stub CB to average CB. In sum though, with Carter, Hutchinson, and maybe another vet in camp or reasonable QB prospect (how about Ell Roberson?) from 4th or later rounds I'd be happy. I disagree here. Remeber three strait 5-11 seasons. This was a good season, and the Boys are well on track. As for schedule, with the new league rules there is much less difference as in years past. The Cowboys played versus arguably the best division in football (AFC east) and had Carolina, Saints, Falcons Tampa, Detriot and Cardinals as same conference non-division foes--not good opponents, but not terrible, nor likely to be much different than next year (consider Phily's schedule was very similar, they only differed where GB and SF were played instead of Detriot and AZ). Further, I don't see Washington nor the Giants improving with their coaching changes. The Cowboys will likely be in the playoffs again next year, the only question is whether the rest of the team is enough better than the Iggles to beat out McNabb for the division title. It was closer that I ever would have thought going into next season.
