There are numerous synonyms for “choke” in any good thesaurus. They include asphyxiate, bar, block, die, drown, gag, garrote (one of my favorites), gibbet (another favorite), noose, occlude, suffocate, throttle and wring to name a few. And just like that, the 2007 season for the Dallas Cowboys is over. Garroted… gibbeted… choked away. 13-3? Meaningless. Home-field throughout the NFC playoffs? Doesn’t matter now. Sunday’s loss to the New York Giants 21-17 casts a pall over this once magical season. Instead of it being one for the ages, it is one of utter failure. The playoff victory drought for the Cowboys now stands at 11 seasons and six straight playoff losses. As difficult as last year’s loss to Seattle was, this one is tougher to deal with.
How do you lose when you out gain your opponent 336 to 230 in total yardage? How do you lose when you run for 154 yards compared to your opponents’ 90? How do you lose when you convert 63 percent of your third downs? How do you lose when you dominate the time of possession?
How about 11 stupid penalties for 84 yards? Three penalties in the last two drives thwarted any comeback Dallas had. The Giants had a total of 3 for 25.
Terrell Owens made a valiant effort but was clearly NOT the player he was earlier in the season before he suffered his high ankle sprain three weeks ago. Despite a New York secondary minus corners Sam Madison and Aaron Ross, who went out during the game, T.O. just couldn’t explode off the line of scrimmage.
Cowboys’ special teams were awful outside of Mat McBriar’s punting and Nick Folk’s kicking but that’s old news to any Cowboys fan this season. R.W. McQuarters set the Giants up for the game winning TD at the Cowboys 37 with a 25-yard punt return coming after a Domenik Hixson 45-yard kickoff return.
Then there’s the secondary. After the Cowboys offense used 10:28 of the second quarter on a TD drive, the Cowboys defense gave it right back in 46 seconds. Cue the Roy Williams and Jacques Reeves moan. As always, an opposing team’s QB is nothing but dense if he DOESN’T throw at Roy Williams when he’s in coverage or Reeves when he’s on the field.
And last but not least, you have the once mighty offense that could only manage 17 points. You’re not going to win many playoff games scoring 17 points. Incidentally 14 of those points came in the first half. How a team goes from averaging 32.5 points a game over the first 13 to a team averaging 12.5 is going to be one of the many questions that will haunt this team throughout another long off-season.
The offensive line got manhandled in the second half by the Giants front seven as they cranked up the pass rush and got to Tony Romo after not getting to him at all in the first half.
2 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Paul Gillon about 1 year ago
The defense and special teams created the noose that ended up strangling the Cowboys. Allowing the giants to score just before half completely destroyed Dallas' confidence and momentum. It is Absolutely necessary that a special teams coach that knows what he is doing is acquired immediately. If Dallas can put together a dominant defense next season, then its not unlikely they can win it all.
RGDS
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clay grenwelge about 1 year ago
as long as jerry jones his at the helm and he keeps hiring puppet coaches the cowboys will never win another super bowl!!get the hell outa here jerry and take wade phillips with you
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