Despite the best efforts of the owner, the coaching staff, and the players, the Dallas Cowboys may yet find a back door into the playoffs. After last night’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens, where the Cowboys defense completely collapsed in the closing minutes, the playoff hopes looked quite bleak.
Then today, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost, putting Dallas back into the sole remaining NFC Wildcard spot (the Atlanta Falcons assured themselves a Wildcard spot with their win today). A win over the Eagles next week sends Dallas to the playoffs. A loss sends them home.
Even if they make the playoffs, they certainly look like a one-and-done sort of team.
The Dallas Morning News reports that head coach Wade Phillips is on the firing line, and while I think that’s reasonable, it doesn’t address the real problem. And while offensive coordinator Jason Garrett no longer looks like the wunderkind of last season, he’s not the problem either.
The problem is the hardest one to fix; it’s the owner.
When is Jerry Jones going to realize that he has better teams when he hires a strong coach and stays out of the way? I understand he is from Arkansas, but Jones is clearly not a stupid man; he should be able to recognize the rather obvious pattern.
Instead, he wants to micromanage the team, and this is what we end up with: a team with no leader, and very little heart.