Michael Irvin: Dallas Cowboys lost in playoffs due to long layoff
Former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver and Hall of Famer Michael Irvin believes America’s Team lost in the playoffs due to their long layoff.
After coasting in the regular season with a 13-3 record, the Dallas Cowboys seemed poised to make a deep playoff run. Their early success earned the Cowboys a bye in the first round of the postseason and home field advantage throughout.
But Dallas began their playoff matchup with the Green Bay Packers in the NFC divisional round sluggish, allowing red hot quarterback Aaron Rodgers and company to go up 21-3 late into the second quarter. Although the Cowboys valiantly tied the contest twice in the fourth quarter, their efforts were undone by a 51-yard game-winning field goal that squeaked in off the foot of Packers kicker Mason Crosby.
Even over two weeks later, many are still scratching their heads as to how Dallas allowed Green Bay to get such a big advantage on them so quickly. But one former Cowboys superstar believes he knows the reason.
"“Honestly, the Cowboys would be [in the Super Bowl] if they went into that last game against Philadelphia playing real football. They would not have broken the mentality that they had going. And I believe that was the reason,” Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin told Dan Patrick on his radio program Wednesday. “I’m starting to change my thoughts on this bye week anyway. Especially with the schedules that these players have now, cause they can’t even practice. It’s like Club Med anyway. So now you have two, three weeks of Club Med. It’s hard to step out and be ready for a football game.”"
During the Cowboys final regular season game, a meaningless contest against the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas’ coaching staff opted to rest a number of their starters. Many of which were dealing with minor injuries. Although rookie quarterback Dak Prescott play just over a quarter, healthy players like running back Ezekiel Elliott and linebacker Sean Lee were held out at the last minute. The Cowboys ended up losing that game to their NFC East foes, the Eagles, 27-13 in Philly.
These comments made by Irvin feel a little like shots fired across the bow of the Cowboys coaching staff. It was their decision, and ultimately head coach Jason Garrett‘s choice, exactly how Dallas opted to approached that Week 17 game. The staff was also responsible for how they prepared the team for the long layoff, although as Irvin points out, their hands were tied to some degree.
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Regardless, watching this Dallas Cowboys team struggle through the first half of their lone playoff contest of the season and then to fight and claw their way back in it, for me, only highlights the poor job this Cowboys coaching staff did in properly preparing their players from the start.
Don’t get me wrong. The players themselves needed to player better early and should certainly share blame for the defeat. But it simply feels like this team was playing from behind even before the game’s opening kickoff because of some questionable decisions by this coaching staff.