[Bette]

Thud, the most sickening sound of all of this time of year. That hollow, dull sound heard reverberating out of Texas Stadium Sunday night was the Dallas Cowboys, free-falling all the way from the top of the NFC to a crash landing right out of the playoffs and what had been an incredible 2007 season.
Again.

"It hurts," a despondent Tony Romo murmured afterward.
"It's very disappointing," an almost numb Wade Phillips said.
"It's hard, it's not always easy," Jason Garrett said, trying to mask his pain.
Terrell Owens, well, the guy was reduced to tears on the podium afterward, a chilling scene when asked about the perception of Romo, the veteran wide receiver saying with tears starting to flow, "That's my teammate, that's my quarterback, if you guys do that, it's not fair. We lost as a team.
"This loss hurts."

Those looking for grocery-store headlines will recklessly blame Romo's Weekend in Mexico. You watch.
There will be those who will take the easy way out, insisting Phillips' style of coaching doesn't work, even after they saw this same style of giving your players ownership of the team send Chicago and Indianapolis to the Super Bowl last year.
There will be even more of those reckless theorists lumping this game into a 2-2 December swoon, if playing .500 is a swoon, especially when one of those losses ended a seven-game winning streak.
This may sound sacrilegious, but don't hesitate to give the Giants credit. Their defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo made a business gamble the second half, realizing that without Madison and Ross, they probably weren't going to cover the Cowboys all day. And they were getting no pressure on the Cowboys the first half.

And when asked which loss hurt worse, last year's in Seattle or this one, Romo succinctly said, "They both sucked."
Badly.

DallasCowboys.com - News

[Bette]

No doubt, this Cowboy team wasnt as good as I thought it was. I was worried about this game.
It cant be laid on one player though. Phillips admits Owens did play hurt and that affected Owens' explosive power. Penalties on both sides of the ball killed us. Special teams didnt play well which is nothing new and neither did the defense. That's nothing new lately either.
Romo's play was off. No one can say he wasnt focused because he was. Too focused is my guess. You could see it in his eyes. They werent twinkling and those famous dimples were missing. You could also see it in his frustration with his teammates. He was yelling at them and waving his arms around. That's not Tony.

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by Bette

No doubt, this Cowboy team wasnt as good as I thought it was. I was worried about this game.
It cant be laid on one player though. Phillips admits Owens did play hurt and that affected Owens' explosive power. Penalties on both sides of the ball killed us. Special teams didnt play well which is nothing new and neither did the defense. That's nothing new lately either.
Romo's play was off. No one can say he wasnt focused because he was. Too focused is my guess. You could see it in his eyes. They werent twinkling and those famous dimples were missing. You could also see it in his frustration with his teammates. He was yelling at them and waving his arms around. That's not Tony.

Bette if the damn O-line had protected him better he wouldn't have been yellin at'em. Hell I was screamin at'em and didn't call down until I saw Tony start layin intothem. He needed to do that. The O-line was atrocious durin the 2nd half.

[Bette]

Originally Posted by Quality88

Bette if the damn O-line had protected him better he wouldn't have been yellin at'em. Hell I was screamin at'em and didn't call down until I saw Tony start layin intothem. He needed to do that. The O-line was atrocious durin the 2nd half.

True, but he also hold onto the ball too long looking for that big play sometimes.
The O-line has done a great job of protecting most of the year. I dont know why they failed this time.
But Tony has always kept his cool before Quality. Even when things were bad.
Was the poor dog in hiding again??

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by Bette

True, but he also hold onto the ball too long looking for that big play sometimes.
The O-line has done a great job of protecting most of the year. I dont know why they failed this time.
But Tony has always kept his cool before Quality. Even when things were bad.
Was the poor dog in hiding again??

I'll agree the boy should have let the ball fly sooner and often. I said a few choice words in his direction as well. The whole team didn't play well.