Well, at least the Dallas Cowboys are not alone in their misery. The Philadelphia Eagles let the Jacksonville Jaguars steal a game from them in London, then the New York Giants and Washington Commanders put on an amazing display of ineptitude at the end of their overtime tie.
First, the Giants handed the Commanders a golden opportunity to kick the winning field goal. Then, with time running out, Jayden Daniels apparently forgot they were out of time outs and let the clock run down to zero with his team in range for what should have been an easy field goal.
That hardly makes us feel better. But it does bring up the question asked here, and heard from the announcers of the Giants-Commanders game: Does anyone want to win the NFC East?
Sean – After all the dust settled on this comical, disastrous week for the NFC East, I had the following thought – which team actually benefits the most from winning the division, if it stays the way it’s going and continues to look like the winner won’t be a real threat in the playoffs?
The Giants have the longest playoff drought, but also a season-ending injury to their starting QB. The Eagles in some ways appear to be making a statement that just winning this lousy division isn’t good enough, if they aren’t true Super Bowl contenders they rather build for a future where they are. The Dan Quinn experiment in Washington feels like it’s all but over, but a playoff berth could see him stay.
I really think the answer is our team, Tom. Coach Schottenheimer’s predecessor was let go because he couldn’t advance in the playoffs, but at least he proved consistently he could get there. We don’t even know if Schotty can guide the team to the postseason yet, and it still doesn’t feel like any team around the NFC at large is “unbeatable”.
In order for the Cowboys to turn this around and actually grab the NFC East’s low-hanging fruit of a playoff spot, and do so with any conviction, they’re going to have to fix a lot of defensive issues against the Packers. Matt LaFleur is going to be licking his chops seeing the Cowboys defensive tape from the Bucs game, doing so fresh off a win against the hated Chicago Bears too.
There’s been a lot of talk in recent weeks about desperate teams, desperate coaching staffs, and on and on. I don’t exactly have a lot of faith in the Cowboys staff, one that added Mike Pettine on Monday, to really embrace this mantra and be as prepared for the Packers as they need to be.
Tom – It is hard not to cringe about what is likely going to face the Cowboys in the storied confines of Lambeau Field. Jordan Love went off on the Chicago Bears. We are all well aware of just how woefully vulnerable the Dallas defense has been this season.
Yet this game has the potential for the Cowboys to get right. I’m not saying it’s a big potential, but it still exists. The Packers are an even more one-dimensional offense than Dallas, ranking dead last in rushing yards per game. One possible way for the visitors to eke out a win is to play ball control offense and keep Love on the bench for long stretches, while scoring consistently on their own possessions.
That may be a tall order, however. Dallas is barely ahead of Green Bay in running the ball. The Packers have a clear edge in both points allowed and sacks. And Dak Prescott has to have a much better game than he did against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As good as he can be some times, Prescott also can have games where he is just off. That seemed to be the case in their latest loss. We have to hope he has a bounce back when they head north.
Maybe the real question is not who wants to win the NFC East. It might be who has the ability. None of the teams in the division have demonstrated that so far. Whoever manages to do so could make the playoffs to represent the NFCE. Now we have to see if the Cowboys have that in them.
Sean – My hope for this game is that Love’s deep ball performance against a Bears defense that was suspect to such throws last year as well can be a bit of an outlier, but man the Cowboys cornerback and safety play shouldn’t make anyone feel great about winning this differential. The Cowboys may not have to, if they really do stick with the run game and play a little bit more ball control like you said.
All that said, I’m not sure why I still feel as optimistic as I do about this team. I am far from the level of doom and gloom that’s coming out of the Bucs loss, but we said a bit of the same after the Ravens loss too so maybe I’m just staying aboard the same ship.
The defense needs to get healthier before we can fully assess how much they will help this team going forward. The offense is a different story, they need to come out looking pissed off about what happened to them last Thursday night in this game.
When it comes to that ability to win the NFC East you mentioned Tom, the difference maker feels obvious to me. Whichever team can string together a win streak of any significance. The Cowboys don’t have back to back wins since last November, and that is certainly bad.
The Eagles only back-to-back wins this year are against the Commanders and Titans, though. The Giants also beat the Titans then the Cardinals back to back. The Commanders have the most impressive single win of anyone in the division by beating the defending Super Bowl champs with a backup QB, but no win streak to speak of.
The time is definitely right here and now for the Cowboys to get two wins against the Packers and Eagles to change the mood of the season the best they can.
Tom – One thing that has been worrying me lately is the spreading opinion that the Dallas players are just kind of giving up on too many plays. There just doesn’t seem to be much of that dog in them that winning teams exhibit.
I think that has to be laid at the feet of the coaching staff. They need to light a fire under this team. It may be time to bench a starter or two to push the rest of the roster. I would suggest that DaRon Bland and Jake Ferguson have both had too many errors of late and would be prime candidates for at least a temporary demotion. It may seem a drastic move, but this team needs to do something drastic.
And the recent hire of Mike Pettine could be seen as just such a move, which would make some roster shakeup logical.
Despite a couple of really bad games this season, Dallas is still in contention for the division title thanks to some similarly bad games played by the rest of the NFC East. Bouncing back and getting a win on the road in Green Bay could get this team back on track.
But if they lay another egg, they risk letting a golden opportunity to get back to the playoffs slip through their grasp just like the football has been doing far too often of late.
Sean – Coach Schotty has already teased that there will be personnel changes going into this game, so in this case we’ll have to “wait all day for Sunday night” to really keep a close eye on the lineups. Brew some extra coffee before kickoff. This might be a bit too far outside the box, but I’m wondering out loud if the Pettine hire can lead to more of James Houston at linebacker/pass rush.
I agree with you completely on Ferguson. The Cowboys best offensive plays against the Bucs (and there weren’t nearly enough of them) came when they had extra blockers in against the blitz, let Prescott stand in there, and fire the ball to either CeeDee Lamb or more often than not, George Pickens.
The idea of Ferguson being the third seam-stretching element to this offense is enticing, I get it. But he wasn’t even contributing to that blocking, it was mostly Javonte Williams at the RB spot. Keep it simple and rely as much as you possibly can on Pickens, Lamb, and Ryan Flournoy. That trio is good enough to win with on offense, I really believe that.
Clearly getting too high off a win is something this team is still struggling with, but now they’re in a position of having to hope that applies to the Packers who just beat the Bears for the first time in three tries. The Cowboys need a tight performance in all three phases with extra rest to expect this from them at Lambeau.
As always, good chatting with you Tom. The Bobcats are off their bye and back in action this Saturday so it will be a football-filled weekend for me complete with staying up late on Sunday night. Let’s have more fun than last Thursday.