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Don't Jump Just Yet
Spagnola: Don't Let Emotions Cloud Issue
Mickey Spagnola
DallasCowboys.com Columnist
IRVING, Texas Where do we start ... where do we start?
And hopefully we're not too late because after last Sunday night I figured there was a good chance a whole lot of folks already would have one foot on the windowsill, the despair from the Cowboys' heart-wrenching 27-24 loss to the New York Jets in the season opener simply too much to take.
But jumping? Already?
So for those of you in free-fall one game into the 2011 season, let's start right here with a few questions that might help inject a small dose of reality as the Cowboys are fixing to meet the San Francisco 49ers at 3:05 p.m. Sunday in what's now again, and rightfully so, Candlestick Park, one of just five teams in the NFL this year charged with playing the first two games of the season on the road.
First off, what did you expect the Cowboys to finish this year, 16-0? Be honest now, and from what I'd been hearing and seeing, that ranged from 6-10 to 10-6, with a median around 8-8. Most were concerned the Cowboys did nothing to improve last year's defense, the one giving up more yards in a single season than any other club in franchise history. Most were very concerned about the secondary. Most were pulling their hair out over starting three new offensive linemen and just who would be the third receiver.
Now then, when it came to predicting who would win the season opener, the 11-5 Jets of last year, who lost the AFC title game for the second consecutive season, or the Dallas Cowboys, who needed to go 5-3 over the second half of last season after firing head coach Wade Phillips just to finish 6-10 - the first losing season since 2004? That choice almost exclusively was J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets, and for good reason, right, because no way the Cowboys would be able to throw the ball against the likes of Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, or with that young offensive line protecting Tony Romo from that big, bad Jets defense. Then on top of that, you were shaking in your boots about the Cowboys place-kicking game, and were convinced no way the Cowboys could stop the Jets vaunted running game. And ... and ... on top of that, you felt the Cowboys were the sacrificial lambs being fed to the emotionally revved up Jets on this solemn 10th anniversary remembrance of 9/11.
Ha, that the Cowboys were leading 24-10 with 14:50 to go in the game, with Terence Newman MIA and Orlando Scandrick knocked out in the first half and Mike Jenkins twice sent to the sideline only to keep returning and Dez Bryant reduced to half-speed, must have caused a bunch of you to wet your pants.
In the now infamous expression of new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan thanks to this week's Sports Illustrated wonderful cover story on The Brothers Ryan, what a sweet live ass performance by these short-handed, underdog Cowboys for 54 minutes, 52 seconds.
No, the Cowboys didn't win, setting off a national howling, microwaved opinions shooting off faster and in more directions than fireworks on Fourth of July even if the majority of the hired talkers have no idea what they're talking about. Oh, did the "s" ever hit the fan. No one can create a stir like the Dallas Cowboys, win, lose or draw - even if they shouldn't have. Another day, another season at The Ranch.
What's new?
But if we can divorce ourselves from the emotion - you should have learned by now never to write anything during a fit of emotion, not a letter, an email, a blog, a tweet or a text, nothing, because once it's in print you don't get to take it back, unlike spoken words that can evaporate into thin air - the Cowboys performance in the season opener should be encouraging.
Seriously.
Will the Cowboys always have a meltdown of historic proportions? (I'd like a double check on the stat of never having lost a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter in the team's previous 51-year history.) No, and no matter what the perception is out there, this was more the exception than the rule for Tony Romo if you aren't afraid of the truth. Because the truth of the matter is, from 2007 through 2010, Romo had the highest fourth-quarter QB rating of anyone, 102.9, and that number includes 30 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions.
That's right, higher than Tom Brady (99.2), Peyton Manning (98.5), Aaron Rodgers (95.3) and Drew Brees (90.8). In fact, he threw more fourth-quarter touchdowns over that span than Brady, Manning, Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers, and was intercepted less than Rivers and Brees. And if you have been brave enough to open your mind some, Romo has engineered nine fourth-quarter comebacks and 10 game-winning drives.
So there.
See, here is the deal with Romo: He doesn't have this stuff happen to him in Kansas City or Tampa or Cleveland. Oh no, he's got to go Broadway with his, national television and playoffs, too. I mean, I've actually heard people scream those types of things never happened to Troy Aikman, and the comment even made Aikman chuckle this week, because he understands how legends grow the further removed they become from the game, and could cite several occasions his boo-boos cost the Cowboys a game.
He also is realistic enough to know Romo had nothing to do with that punt blocked and returned for a touchdown; nor the Jets victimizing the Cowboys' fifth corner on the roster for a 26-yard touchdown reception to pull within seven; nor Miles Austin turning in on that second-and-goal pass from the two instead of out for what surely would have been a touchdown the play before Romo's mad-scramble fumble; nor the poor offensive pass interference call on Jason Witten that cost Austin a 22-yard reception on the final drive that would have moved the ball to the 42 with 19 seconds remaining and just 20 yards from David Buehler's makeable range.
Now hear me out: This young offensive line up against supreme competition played well enough for the Cowboys to pile up 390 total yards, the league's 10th best offensive output the opening week, and sixth best passing performance (326 yards). And I mean, these were supposed to be the J-E-T-S, Jets.
The defense that supposedly needed time to learn Ryan's scheme, slammed the door on the Jets, giving up just 17 points if you pin another seven on special teams and the final 3 on the offense giving up the ball at the Cowboys 34 with just 59 seconds remaining. Those football runnin' dudes now from Florham Park, N.J., only moved 45 yards on the ground in 16 carries. And they did all this offensive business with at times the Cowboys fourth and fifth corners working on the first team and their third safety coming in on nickel downs.
You saw fine individual performances by some young guys, maybe even budding stars: Tyrone Smith, Phil Costa, Barry Church, Danny McCray and Sean Lee, whose 15-tackle, one-interception, one-fumble-recovery performance is a mere continuation of the last season when he finished with 22 tackles and two picks in the four games he appeared in over the final five.
Encouraging? Totally.
Want another? As opposed to when the Cowboys went 1-7 over the first half of last season and lost those seven by an average of 12 points a game - the final two by 18 and 38 - the Cowboys have now gone 5-4 under first-time head coach Jason Garret, and have lost those four games by an average of 2.5 points - and none by no more than 3. Been in every game.
Now if any of this stuff that has you mad as hell starts trending, then go ahead, grumble all you want. But sometimes it's best, at least after all of one game, not to base all your decisions - and emotions - on microcosms and start flying out the windows. Think big picture. Isn't that what they tell us about our 401K plans? (OK, maybe not a good example.) Er, maybe the better analogy is think raising kids.
As Jenkins said earlier in the week, "It was a good start for us, but we didn't finish the way we wanted to finish.
"But we showed our heart."
So as we move on to all of Game 2, let's see if the Cowboys can add another 5 minutes, 8 seconds to last week's performance. Let's see if the Cowboys can compound the good from Game 1 and learn from the five minutes of bad. Let's get further proof in San Francisco to judge if they are what you thought they were.
But for goodness sakes, chill if you need to chill, and remember as Garrett says, "Last year is last year, and really last week is last week, yesterday is yesterday, and you heard me say this before and I believe it from the bottom of my heart, control what you can control, that's your practice today, your meeting today, your walk-through today. ... I think if you spend too much time concerning yourself with what happened last year or yesterday or last week you are going to prevent yourself from being your best."
And you can bet your sweet live ass on that, right Rob?
Spagnola: Don't Let Emotions Cloud Issue
Mickey Spagnola
DallasCowboys.com Columnist
IRVING, Texas Where do we start ... where do we start?
And hopefully we're not too late because after last Sunday night I figured there was a good chance a whole lot of folks already would have one foot on the windowsill, the despair from the Cowboys' heart-wrenching 27-24 loss to the New York Jets in the season opener simply too much to take.
But jumping? Already?
So for those of you in free-fall one game into the 2011 season, let's start right here with a few questions that might help inject a small dose of reality as the Cowboys are fixing to meet the San Francisco 49ers at 3:05 p.m. Sunday in what's now again, and rightfully so, Candlestick Park, one of just five teams in the NFL this year charged with playing the first two games of the season on the road.
First off, what did you expect the Cowboys to finish this year, 16-0? Be honest now, and from what I'd been hearing and seeing, that ranged from 6-10 to 10-6, with a median around 8-8. Most were concerned the Cowboys did nothing to improve last year's defense, the one giving up more yards in a single season than any other club in franchise history. Most were very concerned about the secondary. Most were pulling their hair out over starting three new offensive linemen and just who would be the third receiver.
Now then, when it came to predicting who would win the season opener, the 11-5 Jets of last year, who lost the AFC title game for the second consecutive season, or the Dallas Cowboys, who needed to go 5-3 over the second half of last season after firing head coach Wade Phillips just to finish 6-10 - the first losing season since 2004? That choice almost exclusively was J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets, and for good reason, right, because no way the Cowboys would be able to throw the ball against the likes of Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, or with that young offensive line protecting Tony Romo from that big, bad Jets defense. Then on top of that, you were shaking in your boots about the Cowboys place-kicking game, and were convinced no way the Cowboys could stop the Jets vaunted running game. And ... and ... on top of that, you felt the Cowboys were the sacrificial lambs being fed to the emotionally revved up Jets on this solemn 10th anniversary remembrance of 9/11.
Ha, that the Cowboys were leading 24-10 with 14:50 to go in the game, with Terence Newman MIA and Orlando Scandrick knocked out in the first half and Mike Jenkins twice sent to the sideline only to keep returning and Dez Bryant reduced to half-speed, must have caused a bunch of you to wet your pants.
In the now infamous expression of new defensive coordinator Rob Ryan thanks to this week's Sports Illustrated wonderful cover story on The Brothers Ryan, what a sweet live ass performance by these short-handed, underdog Cowboys for 54 minutes, 52 seconds.
No, the Cowboys didn't win, setting off a national howling, microwaved opinions shooting off faster and in more directions than fireworks on Fourth of July even if the majority of the hired talkers have no idea what they're talking about. Oh, did the "s" ever hit the fan. No one can create a stir like the Dallas Cowboys, win, lose or draw - even if they shouldn't have. Another day, another season at The Ranch.
What's new?
But if we can divorce ourselves from the emotion - you should have learned by now never to write anything during a fit of emotion, not a letter, an email, a blog, a tweet or a text, nothing, because once it's in print you don't get to take it back, unlike spoken words that can evaporate into thin air - the Cowboys performance in the season opener should be encouraging.
Seriously.
Will the Cowboys always have a meltdown of historic proportions? (I'd like a double check on the stat of never having lost a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter in the team's previous 51-year history.) No, and no matter what the perception is out there, this was more the exception than the rule for Tony Romo if you aren't afraid of the truth. Because the truth of the matter is, from 2007 through 2010, Romo had the highest fourth-quarter QB rating of anyone, 102.9, and that number includes 30 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions.
That's right, higher than Tom Brady (99.2), Peyton Manning (98.5), Aaron Rodgers (95.3) and Drew Brees (90.8). In fact, he threw more fourth-quarter touchdowns over that span than Brady, Manning, Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers, and was intercepted less than Rivers and Brees. And if you have been brave enough to open your mind some, Romo has engineered nine fourth-quarter comebacks and 10 game-winning drives.
So there.
See, here is the deal with Romo: He doesn't have this stuff happen to him in Kansas City or Tampa or Cleveland. Oh no, he's got to go Broadway with his, national television and playoffs, too. I mean, I've actually heard people scream those types of things never happened to Troy Aikman, and the comment even made Aikman chuckle this week, because he understands how legends grow the further removed they become from the game, and could cite several occasions his boo-boos cost the Cowboys a game.
He also is realistic enough to know Romo had nothing to do with that punt blocked and returned for a touchdown; nor the Jets victimizing the Cowboys' fifth corner on the roster for a 26-yard touchdown reception to pull within seven; nor Miles Austin turning in on that second-and-goal pass from the two instead of out for what surely would have been a touchdown the play before Romo's mad-scramble fumble; nor the poor offensive pass interference call on Jason Witten that cost Austin a 22-yard reception on the final drive that would have moved the ball to the 42 with 19 seconds remaining and just 20 yards from David Buehler's makeable range.
Now hear me out: This young offensive line up against supreme competition played well enough for the Cowboys to pile up 390 total yards, the league's 10th best offensive output the opening week, and sixth best passing performance (326 yards). And I mean, these were supposed to be the J-E-T-S, Jets.
The defense that supposedly needed time to learn Ryan's scheme, slammed the door on the Jets, giving up just 17 points if you pin another seven on special teams and the final 3 on the offense giving up the ball at the Cowboys 34 with just 59 seconds remaining. Those football runnin' dudes now from Florham Park, N.J., only moved 45 yards on the ground in 16 carries. And they did all this offensive business with at times the Cowboys fourth and fifth corners working on the first team and their third safety coming in on nickel downs.
You saw fine individual performances by some young guys, maybe even budding stars: Tyrone Smith, Phil Costa, Barry Church, Danny McCray and Sean Lee, whose 15-tackle, one-interception, one-fumble-recovery performance is a mere continuation of the last season when he finished with 22 tackles and two picks in the four games he appeared in over the final five.
Encouraging? Totally.
Want another? As opposed to when the Cowboys went 1-7 over the first half of last season and lost those seven by an average of 12 points a game - the final two by 18 and 38 - the Cowboys have now gone 5-4 under first-time head coach Jason Garret, and have lost those four games by an average of 2.5 points - and none by no more than 3. Been in every game.
Now if any of this stuff that has you mad as hell starts trending, then go ahead, grumble all you want. But sometimes it's best, at least after all of one game, not to base all your decisions - and emotions - on microcosms and start flying out the windows. Think big picture. Isn't that what they tell us about our 401K plans? (OK, maybe not a good example.) Er, maybe the better analogy is think raising kids.
As Jenkins said earlier in the week, "It was a good start for us, but we didn't finish the way we wanted to finish.
"But we showed our heart."
So as we move on to all of Game 2, let's see if the Cowboys can add another 5 minutes, 8 seconds to last week's performance. Let's see if the Cowboys can compound the good from Game 1 and learn from the five minutes of bad. Let's get further proof in San Francisco to judge if they are what you thought they were.
But for goodness sakes, chill if you need to chill, and remember as Garrett says, "Last year is last year, and really last week is last week, yesterday is yesterday, and you heard me say this before and I believe it from the bottom of my heart, control what you can control, that's your practice today, your meeting today, your walk-through today. ... I think if you spend too much time concerning yourself with what happened last year or yesterday or last week you are going to prevent yourself from being your best."
And you can bet your sweet live ass on that, right Rob?