NFC Wild Card Recap: Romo, Cowboys Drop the Ball in Seattle

It was too much like a movie.

Like Jack Dundee dropping the game-winning TD at the beginning of The Best of Times. Or Art Hartman dropping the snap on an extra point that would've tied the game for the North Dallas Bulls in the classic film North Dallas Forty.  But this was real life, and Tony Romo dropped a good snap on a potential Martin Gramatica 19-yard field goal with 1:14 to play that would have given the Dallas Cowboys the lead.  Inches and seconds away from their first playoff win since 1996, the Cowboys instead saw their strange, tumultuous season collapse for good by the score of 21-20 at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks in front of a loud crowd of 68,058 at Qwest Field.

  

It was quite simply, the most gut-wrenching loss I have ever experienced in all my years as a Cowboys fan.  I was too young to remember Jackie Smith dropping the TD against Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XIII in 1979, or Montana-to-Clark for "The Catch" in 1982, but this was pretty bad.

It marked the end of a storybook season — one that saw Tony Romo come out of nowhere after the sixth game and rise to NFL super-stardom in November, earn a Pro Bowl bid and get romantically linked to hots like Jessica Simpson and Carrie Underwood, before plummeting back to earth in December. I don't buy the idea that this muffed hold will forever mark Romo's tenure in Dallas. He will come back from this and should get another chance. Many angered fans, understandably so, were calling for Romo's head afterwards. But, for the first time in 7 years, the Cowboys can go into an off-season saying that they have their QB in place for next year.

Yes, it is devastating and anyone that saw Romo's press conference afterwards could plainly see the pain and anguish in his face as he admitted that he cost the team the win. Yes, it will take a while for him to get over what is sure to go down as playoff infamy.  But, he is not the sole reason they lost this game and anybody who watched the game can tell you that. It's unfortunate for Romo that it happened at the end of the game, and thus will be the lasting memory people associate with this game.

Romo finished 17 of 29 for 189 yards, 1 TD, and, for the first time in a month, NO PICKS. Julius Jones had his first decent game in a month finishing with 112 yards on 22 carries. Jason Witten finished with 3 catches for 57 yards but also had a crucial fumble. Baby Drop finished with 2 catches for 26 yards and, of course, 2 MORE DROPS, one of which would have been for a first down. Pete Hunter, who was working at a Dallas loan office last week, was brought in by Seattle to patch up their beaten-up secondary and was on Baby Drop for the majority of the game. Terry Glenn finished with 4 catches for 41 yards. That makes a grand total of 6 catches for 67 yards between two 1,000 yard receivers being covered by a couple of guys who were on the street a week ago. Miles Austin had a 93-yard kickoff return for a TD that was the first in Cowboys postseason history. Unfortunately, his excellent performance was wasted.

Matt Hasselbeck finished 18 for 36 with 240 yards, 2 TDs and 2 picks — one each by Roy Williams and Anthony Henry. It could have easily been four, though, had Terence Newman and Bobby Carpenter been able to hang on to sure-fire picks that went in and out of their hands.  Shaun Alexander was held to just 49 yards until he busted a 20-yarder following the missed field goal that iced the game away for Seattle. Jerramy F***ING Stevens, one of the biggest punks in the league, finished with 5 catches for 77 yards and 2 TDs.

In the end, people are going to remember the Romo fumble which will live in Cowboys infamy. To be sure, that probably cost the Cowboys the lead. But would they have won? Even if the field goal had gone through, the Cowboys would have only led 23-21 with about 1:10 remaining and the Seahawks getting the ball back. Would the Cowboys defense, which couldn't come up with a big stop all game, come up with enough of a stand to prevent the Seahawks from getting Josh Brown in field goal range? They had played better this game then they had in over a month, but would they have made the stop when it mattered most? This was a defense that in the last five games had given up 30 points a game, 419 yards per game, 16 TDs and had allowed opponents to convert 55 percent of third downs into first downs.

Romo was not the sole reason they lost.  The Cowboys were unable to exploit a weak, patchwork secondary that was playing deep ALL NIGHT. The Cowboys were unable to get A YARD when they needed it and the defense could not make a key stop when they needed to — for example, third-and-1 at the Seattle 10, leading 17-13 with 10:59 in the game. Marion Barber gets stuffed for no gain and Martin Gramatica has to kick a field goal that gave Dallas a 20-13 lead.

Then, with 6:42 in the fourth, the Cowboys led 20-13 and had just stuffed the Seahawks on fourth down at their own 2. On first down, Romo fired a quick pass to Terry Glenn who fumbled the ball back into the end zone. While the initial call was a TD, the officials changed it to a safety and the Cowboys led 20-15.

This was the turning point because Seattle got the ball back at midfield after a horrible free kick by Dallas and needed just four plays to score a TD — a 37-yard throw from Hasselbeck to Jerramy Stevens. Amongst those plays was Shaun Alexander getting a big gain over Roy Williams. Incidentally, Williams also got beat by Stevens on his other TD earlier in the third. That would be Roy Williams, who is the most overrated player on this team yet STILL gets voted to the Pro Bowl year after year. He is and remains the biggest liability on this defense. Seattle missed the two-point conversion and led 21-20.

On second-and-7 at the Seattle 8 with 1:53 remaining and Dallas down 21-20, Romo hits Jason Witten over the middle for what was originally ruled a first down at the Seattle 1. Then came a booth review that led to referee Walt Anderson saying that he had conclusive, indisputable video evidence to reverse the call and turn a first and goal into a fourth and one at the Seattle 2. Simply put, you RARELY IF EVER see an official overturn a spot in that situation. Considering that there is no camera angle on the line that can DEFINITIVELY say where the ball should be placed, that call should have NEVER been overturned. Had the call stood, the Cowboys could have scored a TD or at the very least knelt the ball and run the clock until kicking the field goal. Seattle was out of timeouts. But, it was overturned and Romo couldn't handle the snap on the FG attempt. Nevertheless, that overturned call will be talked about for years to come. Even still with the miss, Dallas had all their timeouts left. All they had to do was stop the Seahawks three and out and they would've gotten the ball back with time for another field goal attempt. Instead, the Dallas defense allowed Shaun Alexander to gain 20 yards and effectively end the game.   

Now questions loom for the 2007 season. Chief amongst them is whether or not to bring Baby Drop back. In all honesty, I am ambivalent. Yes, he had a statistically great season. Yes, he demands double coverage that opens up things for the running backs and other wide receivers. But his lack of discipline on route running, his disturbing habit of dropping passes EVERY GAME at crucial moments, along with his poor off-season work ethic and CONSTANT DISTRACTIONS that accompany him at every step of the season are a lot to ignore.

In the end, this season will leave a bad taste in Cowboys fans and players' mouths. This season was handed to the Cowboys on a plate. They were RIDICULOUSLY healthy compared to most teams. They made a successful QB change after 6 games. They sat at 8-4 with a 2 game lead in their division and looked to be the strongest team in a weak NFC. They had everything lined up for them and —  much like Peter Fonda's iconic line at the end of Easy Rider — this team blew it. They lost four of their last five games in December and January when they should have been playing their best. They got destroyed AT HOME by New Orleans, Philadelphia and the lowly Detroit Lions. They showed no emotion, no fire and worse—no identity.

In the end, that goes back to Bill Parcells and the coaching staff.  Which brings up another important question: should Parcells come back?  In the four years Parcells has been at Dallas, it has ended the exact same way. Each year the team has crumbled in December. That can only mean one of two things: either, A. Parcells cannot reach this team when it matters most or they simply tune him out, or B. this team just isn't that good.

Either choice you make, the fault goes back to Parcells. He isn't being paid 5 dollars million a year for no playoff wins and 4 games over .500 in four years. Those numbers got Chan Gailey fired after 2 YEARS. Parcells has been given complete authority in this franchise by Jerry Jones for the first time since Jimmy Johnson was in town. Parcells has picked the players in the draft and the free agents. These are HIS PLAYERS. He chose to go to a 3-4 defense even though it was foreign to his defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer and his players.  Parcells makes the calls on offense even if he isn't officially listed as the offensive coordinator.

You almost get the feeling that Parcells is so stubborn in his ways that he would rather lose his way then win someone else's way.  Parcells has until February 1 to decide if he wants to return next season. Jerry Jones has publicly said he wants both him and Baby Drop back. Much like the decision on Baby Drop, I am ambivalent towards the ultimate decision on Parcells.  I haven't seen any evidence that would suggest that this team would be any better or worse without him. I suppose now the only thing to do is much like Phil Elliott does at the end of North Dallas Forty:

Let go of the game and the ball and move on.