John Madden thought the Dallas Cowboys might be unbeaten entering tonight’s game against Washington. The NBC analyst wasn’t alone. The Boys ripped through their first three opponents, looking every bit as good as last year’s 13-3 team.
“I thought the Cowboys were going to be in the position they were a year ago. They were 8-1 a year ago. I thought maybe the Cowboys would be undefeated,” said Madden, who will be in the booth at FedEx Field. “After the first three games … I remember people writing ‘are they going undefeated?’ I was thinking the same thing.”
Instead, Dallas is 5-4 and one loss away from postseason life support. Crisis counselors are already assembling in Big D. It’s one thing to keep blowing postseason games. Now the Cowboys are blowing the postseason with an aging roster, battered quarterback, rudderless locker room and coaches whose IQ points seem to have dropped from Einstein to Frankenstein.
Oh, it’s crying time again for Cowboys fans.
Dallas can’t blame Jessica Simpson this time. She may have Tony Romo wrapped around her little pinkie, but the Cowboys passer’s broken digit forced a month layoff that further exposed an aging offensive line unable to protect a less agile quarterback and a defense that is flat out underperforming.
“It’s easy to say the Cowboys lost Romo,” Madden said. “They were going down before they lost Romo. The defense wasn’t playing well. The Redskins already beat them once with Romo.”
Indeed, Redskins cornerback Fred Smoot said Washington exposed Dallas when giving the Cowboys their first loss 26-24 on Sept. 28. Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell threw two touchdowns while Santana Moss caught eight passes for 145 yards. It was pitch and catch versus a defense that now takes orders from coach Wade Phillips.
That is, for as long as Phillips remains. The Cowboys opened 12-1 under Bum Phillips’ boy. They’re 6-7 since. Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett might have gained a midseason promotion only his side scored only four touchdowns in 35 possessions sans Romo. The long-assumed successor got a little dirt on his Teflon shield.
The Cowboys averaged 29.3 points with Romo, 13.6 without. Pro Bowlers Marion Barber, Terrell Owens, Roy Williams and Jason Witten became statues. The Cowboys managed a franchise-low 172 yards in a 13-9 victory over Tampa Bay on Oct. 26 before gaining 183 in a blowout loss to the New York Giants on Nov. 2.
No wonder Romo is greeted like a returning Caesar. The Cowboys are the cowpokes without him. There’s still time to grab a wild card. Not that it does the Cowboys much good given they haven’t won a postseason game since 1996.
Dallas fans can only hope for a repeat of 1970. The 5-4 Cowboys beat the Redskins en route to their first Super Bowl championship. Then again, the Cowboys haven’t finished with a winning mark after Dec. 1 since 1996.
It’s time to see who’s all hat and no cattle.
Rick Snider and Examiner reporter John Keim are among the co-authors of “America’s Rivalry: The 20 Greatest Redskins-Cowboys Games.” E-mail him at [email protected].
