Fellow 'Boys fans, I've been in support of Wade up until this season (his winning percentage with the Cowboys is by far the best in Cowboys history--way better than even Landry and Johnson), but the cracks are starting to show bigtime:

First off, let's call it like it is: Despite his "successes" with the Cowboys, the meat and potatoes of this team (Romo, Austin, DeMarcus Ware, Marion Barber) are all Parcells guys that Wade inherited.

And for all of their "successes" in the three phases of the game the past few seasons, they've established themselves as one of the most undisciplined teams in football.

This all comes down to coaching; Wade said he was going to "change" and start demanding accountability, but it simply hasn't materialized. When a veteran like Witten is committing the stupid penalties, then clearly there's a coaching problem (I'll never forget in "Hard Knocks" seeing Wade APOLOGIZING to the team for a sloppy game vs. the Chargers; he actually blamed himself for their penalties; can you imagine Parcells apologizing to Flozell Adams for his false-starts??? No way, Jose.).

The time has come to bring in a tough coach (Gruden) who is young enough to offer many years of stability.

I don't want that Cowher fella (besides being the "enemy", he BARELY got a single Super Bowl ring because his team was lucky enough to play the worst representative in NFC history: Seattle).

And this talk of John Fox? P-lease.

Gimme Gruden now.

LAST YEAR'S COLLAPSE (AND I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THE PRACTICE FACILITY), T.O'S DEPARTURE, WADE'S LAST STAND???, "JERRY WORLD" (AND IT'S AFFECT ON THE NFL'S PUNTING GAME) and other plotlines of 2009...

Well, fellow Cowboys fans, what a wild ride it has been this year for our team. Here is "Part One" in an ongoing series reflecting on some key 2009 plotlines (warning: these are a mixture of fact and correct opinion): 

At this time last year, Dallas--a team heavily favored to make a run for the Super Bowl (and loaded with Pro Bowlers)--closed down God's favorite stadium facing a "win one of the next two games and your in" playoff scenario. I don't need to tell you what happened next. We all know too well about the turd they laid. We've been hearing about it ad nauseum since. Sportscasters and assorted NFL pundits love to discuss our weaknesses and blunders. Last year's debacle is well-documented: It started with 2007's 13-3 team getting booted out of the playoffs at home by the dreaded Giants (after the--surprise, surprise--"December Swoon" led by Jessica Simpson), continued with the second "Hard Knocks" series to feature the 'Boys, and ended with Wade being spared and "non-team players" such as T.O., Pacman and Tank Johnson (as well as Defensive Coordinator Brian Stewart) being jettisoned after the Baltimore loss and 44-6 Eagles embarrassment. It has all been gnawing on Cowboys fans' minds for the past 365 days. And here comes yet another dreaded New Year's Eve--which typically symbolizes severe sadness in Dallas. But unlike last year, we are moving through the holidays with lots to celebrate! Hallelujah!

What a difference a game makes/what a difference a week makes. Heading into the Saints game, we were poised to become THE BIGGEST GOATS OF THE FIRST DECADE OF THE NEW MILLENIUM. Who else could be considered? The Cubs? No way: We EXPECT the Cubs to choke (and besides...it was Bartman's fault in 2003). Romo's muffed FG snap is THE iconic choke moment of the decade. Our team has come to be known by our "December Inabilities." Think about it. They've been talking about it all year: " Yeah, it's great the Cowboys are 8-3, but let's see how they do once December rolls around." And what did we do in 2009? We started the month 0-2 with devastating losses to the Giants and Chargers (a game I made the mistake of attending in person at "Jerry World", featuring NFL replays in 3D on the 60-yard-long punt-hazard "Jerrytron"!!!). It seemed virtually impossible--as Tony Dungy reminded the world--that we'd come out of 'Nawlins with a victory. Our status as "the biggest losers of the current millenium" was pretty much a guarantee.

Indeed, if we'd gone and done it again--choked away a nice division lead and failed to make the playoffs--it would have become a monkey too big to ever get off our backs. It already has become THE plotline of EVERY late season in the NFL--year after friggin' year--regardless of our record. Imagine if we'd done it again this year; the pundits would've overjoyed in roasting the Cowboys yet again. And the "Here Comes The Cowboys Collapse" December drones would inevitably have reached deafening volumes in future years--IF we'd lost to the Saints and/or Washington. It's been building, and building, and building, and suddenly: It's gone...and we're in the playoffs.

Man oh man...Despite their imperfections (i.e. I'm worried as all heck about a playoff game coming down to a FG or a 4th and 1), THE COWBOYS ARE PLAYING VERY GOOD FOOTBALL ON MANY LEVELS RIGHT NOW. I'm lovin'the defense. I'm lovin' Romo. I'm lovin' Austin. I'm lovin' the lack of penalties. I'm lovin' Buehler and the fact that every Cowboys kickoff seems to end up with the other team starting at the 19 (let's face the facts and do the math...Buehler takes points away from other teams...a great 2009 draft pick). Ahh, I could go on and on about the things I like (and certainly about the things I dislike), but I'll save that for "Part Two."

In the meantime, regardless of how this adventure ends, a major monkey of epic proportions is off our backs! And we undoubtedly have our man at QB and an amazing young defensive player in Ware; they're locked in and ready to lead us into the "teen years" of the 21st Century. And that's worth another: Hallelujah!

Dallas has a golden opportunity...

They control their own destiny to secure a home playoff game in the inaugural season of Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Win these last two games (over a down-and-out 'Skins team and AT HOME with a chance to avenge last year's 44-6 debacle in Philly).

Cowboys Stadium is gonna be ROCKING in early January if our 'Boys can bring a playoff game home.

Bring it home, 'Boys!!!  Bring it home...

[Right now, it appears that we will need to win 7 straight games in order to win the Super Bowl: Three straight to end the regular season, then 4 straight in the post.]

It doesn't matter if we have two straight games scoring only 7 points in November.

THE only thing that matters: How are we going to be playing as 2009 winds to a close? Will we be peaking then?

I'd like to think our best game of the regular season will be Jan. 3rd @ home vs. Philly, and we'll ride that momentum DEEP into the playoffs.

Make it so, 'Boys! Make it so!

It is hard to look at a guy who is projected to catch 87 passes and say that he is in a "slump."

But doesn't it seem like he is disappearing from games? In the past several years, defenses constantly had to worry about Witten finding a pocket in the zone over the middle and getting hit in stride by Romo for 35 yards. Now, we see him catching 6 yard outs on 3rd and 9.

Don't believe me? Here are some numbers to ponder.  Last season, he had 14 catches of 20+ yards (12 and 10 the years before that), and this year he has only THREE (his longest reception is only 22 yards).  He has only scored one TD--ONE! Another disturbing trend is his yards per catch--8.9 yards per catch compared to 11.8+ each year between 2006-2008. Think about that for a second: He is averaging almost 10 feet less PER CATCH. Stand up and pace off 10 feet for some perspective. Again, that is PER CATCH.

Dear Mr. Garrett: I know everyone wants you to get Roy Williams, Miles Austin and even guys like Ogletree more into the mix, but our #1 concern should be upping the numbers of Romo's "best friend" Witten!

For giggles, I went back and read the recap to our barnburner 41-37 win over Philly in Game 2 of last season, and I came across this nugget:  "It doesn't matter what they say about me now," Terrell Owens said. "The Lord has obviously blessed me with a lot of talent."

Boy oh boy...I don't miss T.O. and his attitude one bit.  When he was released in the offseason, it was hard to celebrate too much, because they didn't appear to get better on paper.  But his me-first attitude sucked the life out of this team, and clearly, jettisoning that fool is one of the best moves in Jerry Jones history (the decision to bring him here was one of Jones' worst).

AFC Top 6: 1. Indianapolis (14-2), 2. Denver (12-4), 3. New England (12-4), 4. Pittsburgh (11-5), 5. Baltimore (9-7) *, 6. Houston (9-7) *

NFC top 6: 1. New Orleans (14-2), 2. Minnesota (12-4), 3. Arizona (11-5), 4. Dallas (10-6), 5. Giants (10-6) *, 6. Atlanta (10-6) *

PLAYOFFS... Round 1: New England 24, Houston 10; Pittsburgh 23, Baltimore 16; Arizona 23, Atlanta 20 (OT); Dallas 19, N.Y. Giants 14

Round 2: Indianapolis 31, Pittsburgh 10; New England 34, Denver 17; Dallas 37, New Orleans 33; Minnesota 28, Arizona 27

Round 3: New England 28, Indianapolis 21; Dallas 38, Minnesota 35

SUPER BOWL 2010: Dallas 26, New England 20 (first Super Bowl OT! - Felix Jones TD)

***

P.S. Watched the Atlanta game tonight again and saw a couple of things that haven't been discussed much--one good and one bad:

- First off, the bad thing: It has bothered me how the Cowboys this season are often unable to grab the already-sharpened dagger off the table and simply insert it into the heart of their hogtied opponent; they either take the dagger and insert it into their own foot (i.e. Romo's long bomb interception vs. the Giants with a 2nd half lead, or any number of false start penalties) or they just leave the dagger sitting there and watch as their opponents untie themselves and grab the dagger off the table.  They've failed to expand on leads with opportunities to extend them in both games they've lost, and it happened in the third quarter vs. ATL.  After receiving the 2nd half kickoff up 17-7, a long, time-consuming drive at that point to put us up 24-7 might have been the fat lady singing.  But they gave it back to them right away, and most disturbingly, the defense rolled over and allowed ATL to go on a lengthy drive.  Particularly in the red zone, ATL steamrolled the Cowboys--completely manhandling us.  I've heard a ton of discussion of how tough the defense played in the trenches (and they sure did!), but man oh man: It didn't happen on THAT drive.  And it sure as hell didn't happen in the red zone of that drive.  Just like that, it was 17-14 as the fourth quarter approached.

Thankfully, the offense bailed us out there, and it became a runaway train after that.  But watching the game again made me realize that the late third quarter very easily could have taken a turn for the worse (like the ends of the Giants and Denver games).  If the offense goes a quick three and out after the 17-14 score, would the defense have responded to the momentum surge in ATL's direction?  I'm not so certain; like I said before, this was a defense that had just given up a 12-play, 87-yard drive and been steamrolled in the red zone.  Kudos to the Dallas offense (and Patrick Crayton) for not giving ATL the opportunity to test the defense much further. But the moral to the story is that this team needs to do a better job of savoring the opportunities to put a game out of reach--with the dagger.

- The second thing I noticed is that this team responds pretty darn well to adversity.  This may seem to contradict the first thing a little bit, but I'm specifically talking about how they play when they're behind.  They haven't been behind too much this year: They bounced back several times vs. the Giants.  They trailed Tampa Bay (after dominating the first quarter but only coming away with two field goals).  Even after Denver's Brandon Marshall scored the "Keystone Cops" style TD to go ahead 17-10 (a stupid play by him, btw, to not take a knee at the 1 yard line), Romo and the offense responded well to the adversity and moved the 'Boys all the way down to the painful "4th and goal" conclusion.  In the KC game, they fought back from their self-inflicted 10-0 hole.  And vs. ATL, they trailed right away (having given up a long drive to set the early tone).  They had ZERO passing yards in the first quarter.  And yet they put that worthless first quarter behind them to have one of their best offensive outings of the season. You just get the feeling that they have a chance to come back and win any game they trail.  And they seem just too loaded with playmakers to ever trail by very much.

Obviously, the hope is that you don't ever trail.  For the sake of my heart, the Cowboys need to put a string of games together where we take a double digit lead into the 2nd quarter and never relinquish it--using the pre-sharpened dagger lying there on the table.

Please.  Amen.

As "bad" as this season has gone...

As "underachieving" as we've been...

As many mistakes as we've made in crucial junctures (today was no exception...i.e. Bowen's encroachment on 3rd and long resulted in an eventual Atl touchdown)...

Despite all the awful things...

We're sitting tied with the Giants in the loss column with a home game against inconsistent/not-too-good Seattle @ Cowboys Stadium forthcoming.

We could be 5-2 very soon (while the Giants face the Eagles in Philly next week).  Cowboys in first place by the midway point in the season???  It's up to Dallas to put themselves in that position (and then settle it all with their NFC East games).

To me, it feels like this team played well only about 40 percent of the time in the first 5 games, and because they're as talented as they are, that was enough to give them a 3-2 record.  Today, they played well 60 percent of the time and ran away with the game.  What happens if we continue to improve and enter the playoffs at our peak?  I wouldn't want to be another team facing the Cowboys this January...

Jerry Jones says he listened to trade offers for a "young player" and was offered high draft picks and instant-impact players for him.  He says it wasn't a running back.

I'll bet it was Bennett!!!!  That guys got a HUGE upside! (I wouldn't have objected to the trade--if it produced a #1).

But I wouldn't trade him for a #2 (if that's indeed the player in question).  That's what we drafted him for, and that was a STEAL!

Just like that, the Cowboys control their own destiny to win the division! The Giants getting spanked was lovely not only because of the "1" added to their loss column, but it HAS to be a confidence shaker. Their defense got TORCHED! I guarantee that film is gonna be studied inside and out by all teams that play the NYG from here on out. It's only one game, but the Giants are undoubtedly going to lose some of their swagger and momentum--particularly with the following teams forthcoming:

a) the suddenly-hot AZ Cardinals, b) an angry Eagles team @ Philly, c) the Chargers (then they have a bye here to hopefully dwell on 2 or 3 losses), d) the Falcons, e) at Denver, and then f) at home vs. the 'Boys. It's a bit of a longshot, but at the end of the day on Nov. 1st, I could see us leading the division at 5-2 whilst NY is at 5-3 heading into their Chargers game. I'm praying for SD to continue to lose so that their games vs. our NFC East foes are "must winners" (go Denver tomorrow night!).

Philly, like Dallas, has only beaten Carolina, KC and TB, but I guarantee we're gonna beat the Raiders at home (which essentially puts us a game ahead of the Eagles), and we've got two games vs. Philly to control our own destiny and pull away from them. Also, the only "easy" games Philly has left on their schedule the rest of the season are two games vs. Washington.

[Washington was probably out of the picture heading into October; clearly they're done. I won't even discuss them here.]

Meanwhile, assuming the Giants DO hang on and win the division, I scan all the other teams in the NFC, and it is pretty easy to determine already who is going to win their divisions to gauge who we're realistically competing with for the two wild card spots: New Orleans is gonna win the South, Minnesota is gonna win the North, and Arizona is gonna win the West (SF is going nowhere fast). That means we're competing with (realistically) Philly, GB, ATL, and Chicago for the 2 Wild Card spots. The only team of that bunch that we don't actually play is the Bears, and as I type this, they are losing to ATL (good!).

The next two home games are crucial (we CAN'T come out of the bye week and lose at home to ATL and fall to 3-3): With wins at home vs. ATL and Seattle, we'll be 5-2 and suddenly sitting VERY pretty to not only go to the playoffs, but possibly win the division. But we HAVE to win those games not only to make up for the heartbreakers earlier this year, but more importantly, so that losses on the road at GB or Philly in early November are not Earth shattering (I'm going to assume we'll win the home games to end November vs. the 'Skins and Raiders). However, I will take a 7-game winning streak heading into December's final stretch!

***

Of course this is all VERY wishful thinking; The Cowboys need to quickly start playing mistake-free, 60-minute games of football, or we ain't even gonna end the season at .500. But we're certainly capable beating anyone in this league, and today, thankfully, the rest of the NFL helped us out to get a little closer to our goals.

It's time to put a streak together and win a few blowout "statement" games like New England did today. We've got the #1 offense in the NFL and a pretty darn good defense that feels like it's ready to explode.

C'mon! Let's finally do this, Cowboys!

What a bummer to be on the verge of "out of it" one month into the season.

We need to win three straight games now (at KC and at home vs. Atl and SEA) to have any chance of making a playoff run.

4-3 heading into the final stretch will NOT cut it--not with 5 games against our NFC East rivals still to come, plus a home game against San Diego and a couple of road games at New Orleans and Green Bay looming on the horizon. We MUST be 5-2 so that we can afford 2 or 3 losses during that final stretch.  That's why this Denver game was so painful.

This is it, Wade Phillips: Fix it now, or the Phillips Era is over.

When the 'Boys "wasted" a draft pick on Buehler (when they already have a Pro Bowl kicker on the roster), I was angry.  I thought it to be an unwise move.

But I'm not afraid to admit when I'm wrong!

This guy Buehler, quite simply, results in points.  When the other team starts at or around its 20 EVERY DAMN TIME, it is demoralizing!  Not only will we see very few long returns by our opponents, but the field position battle literally translates into points taken away from the other team and given to Dallas.

Fact: Buehler already has three more touchbacks this season than the 'Boys had all of last year.

'Nuff said.

P.S. They need to boom "Bueller?  Bueller?" (from Ferris Bueller's Day Off) over the Cowboys Stadium P.A. every time that guy lines up to kick!

It's been a long time since the 'Boys play has made me emotional.

But I was emotional watching that defense last night.

Big time kudos to the heart shown by the defense of the Dallas Cowboys versus last year's Super Bowl champs.  We know this already, but this is proof we can hang with anyone (if we do make it to the playoffs, I wouldn't want to be the team that gets stuck hosting the Cowboys).

Last night, the D-Line showed that they--not the Giants--are the premier defensive line in league.  And the defensive backfield was also stellar and deserves a lot of the credit for those 8 sacks.

Cowboys D: You made us fans proud!

Oh, how sweet victories like these are...

BUT...

The mantra Wade Phillips needs to drive home with these 'Boys is that none of these games REALLY matter.  It's all about how you're playing going into the playoffs (think Giants of last year or Pittsburgh three years ago).

Yes, winning games puts us in a position to do what we want to do in the post season, but I say it again: The mantra needs to be that this is just the "2nd preseason," and the only season that counts starts Jan. 1st, 2009.

Period.