Dallas Cowboys: Why Fans Shouldn't Panic over Loss to Arizona

Due to the way in which the Dallas Cowboys lost last Sunday afternoon to their one-time NFC East rival Arizona Cardinals, the demise of Big D has been greatly exaggerated.

Yes, head coach Jason Garrett did essentially "ice" his own kicker Dan Bailey by taking a seemingly unnecessary timeout after quarterback Tony Romo clocked the football on the previous play.

Yes, the loss allowed the New York Giants to stay around in the NFC East title race despite their 6-6 record after losing to Green Bay.

All this has Dallas fans and haters alike believing that the Cowboys are about to begin their usual December meltdown after sweeping November on the wings of Tony Romo, Laurent Robinson and DeMarco Murray.

The fact is that every NFC team in contention for the two wild-card spots lost as well last week, meaning the playoff picture is exactly the same as it was after Week 12. The Cowboys still control their own destiny in their quest for a division crown with two meetings with the Giants and two games against the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers respectively.

The Bucs and Eagles have a combined season record of 8-16 while the Giants are currently riding a four-game losing streak. I'll be the first to say division games are always the hardest to win, and the G-Men took the undefeated Packers to the limit, but Dallas has been looking just as good over the entire month of November.

Because of the odd ending to the Cardinals game, analysts seem to forget just how dominant America's Team looked over the past four weeks, and that's something that doesn't just go away because of one unexpected loss.