EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -Give credit to Jerry Jones, Wade Phillips and Terrell Owens, the Dallas Cowboys’ three most prominent spokesmen. They acknowledge that even with a healthy Tony Romo, there are some other problems with their team that need fixing.
The preseason favorite to win the Super Bowl fell into last place in the NFL East on Sunday by losing 35-14 to the New York Giants. And while it’s not your ordinary last place – the Cowboys are, after all, still a winning team at 5-4 – last is last.
“We know where we are,” said Jones, the owner, general manager and sometimes coach. “We did not plan to be here at all.”
Two things were interesting about Dallas’ reaction to Sunday’s loss.
One was that they essentially said they expected it. The other was that they suggested that even with Romo, they would have a hard time beating the Giants because there are a lot more things wrong with their team than an injured quarterback.
That’s a lot different than the way the Cowboys talked last year, and the way they spoke even at the beginning of the season.
s 21-17 in the playoffs last January, Phillips intimated that the better team had lost. Even after New York capped its remarkable postseason run by beating previously unbeaten New England in the Super Bowl, the word that kept emanating from Texas was: “It should have been us.”
There was none of that Sunday.
“I’m not sure it would have made a difference if we had Romo or some of the other guys we were missing,” Jones said. “The Giants are a superior team and are playing that way.”
Added Phillips: “We knew coming in it was going to be tough. We had to play the perfect game and we didn’t.”
Neither did the Giants.
Eli Manning threw three touchdown passes, but also threw one to the Cowboys on a play on which he and Plaxico Burress miscommunicated – Burress going deep and Manning throwing a sideline route right into the hands of Michael Jenkins. Burress also had a less than stellar day, dropping what would’ve been Manning’s fourth TD pass just before Derrick Ward ran 17 yards for New York’s final score and dropping a third-down pass.
Manning also lost two fumbles, but the game still was never close, an indication of just how superior the Giants were. At 7-1, they lead the loaded NFC East. They’re a game ahead of Washington, two games ahead of Philadelphia and three in the loss column ahead of Dallas.
on,” Jones conceded.
Owens, who caught a fourth-quarter TD pass from Brooks Bollinger, Dallas’ only offensive touchdown, showed a little bit of class by not bothering to celebrate a score that simply cut a 28-7 deficit to 28-14. Afterward, like most of the Cowboys, he just seemed relieved that the team had finally reached its bye week after losing four of its last six – two of the losses with Romo at quarterback.
“The break couldn’t come at a better time,” Owens said. “It will give us time to reflect.”
Not only reflect on the quarterbacking, but to reflect on some other problems.
Like the defense.
It allowed just 172 yards in a 13-9 win over Tampa Bay and came into Sunday’s game knowing that it had to win the game for the Cowboys.
But it allowed the Giants to take the opening kickoff and go 75 yards on 13 plays to score on a 13-yard pass from Manning to Kevin Boss. And it allowed the Giants to rush for 200 yards, 117 on 17 carries by Brandon Jacobs and 63 more on 12 carries by Ward.
Jones suggested that was because the offense couldn’t move the ball and kept the defense on the field too long. True, but linebacker Bradie James pointed out that it’s rare for a team to get three takeaways, as Dallas did, and still lose by three touchdowns.
Yes, Brad Johnson threw two interceptions and Bollinger threw another – and all set up New York TDs.
Even the Giants noticed that these Cowboys are not the Cowboys that a lot of people – in Texas and outside of it – who during the offseason were given a pass into the Super Bowl.
“It’s funny. Everybody is putting the blame on Brad Johnson. This team had lost two games before Brad Johnson,” said Antonio Pierce, New York’s middle linebacker.
Romo will be back in time for the Cowboys’ game in Washington in two weeks. The Cowboys also get the Giants and Baltimore at home, and go to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and get Baltimore at home.
Jones is right.
Romo or no Romo, just getting to the postseason will be a bonus.
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