The Final Word on Sunday’s Loss
This is the first article by one of our newest writers, Robert Diton. He’ll be providing us with his Cowboy insights every Wednesday morning. Enjoy! – SM
If you’re like me, you’ve been waiting for Week One since January 3rd. Watching Stephen McGee lead the team to a Week 17 victory might have prevented us from getting a higher draft pick (anyone want to argue with Tyron Smith being a great addition to the offensive line, though?), but I just love beating the Eagles, especially in Philadelphia, and it doesn’t even matter if we’re going up against Vick’s backup’s backup.
While I am a huge fan of football in general (I do watch every game of the playoffs and play fantasy football every year), I’m sure I can speak for many of you when I say there’s just nothing like watching our Cowboys play their hearts out. Nothing compares to watching the silver and blue take the field.
Being from New Jersey, it’s hard for me to see too many games in person (granted, the team will be in the Garden State twice this year which will be a great treat) but I do all I can to make the Cowboys’ presence known in my home on game day: I wear my #82 jersey with matching hat and shoes, play some of the official music of the Dallas Cowboys during pre-game, and allow no distractions at all from kickoff until I can see 00:00 left in the 4th quarter. Football Day!
Despite being pumped up to watch my favorite team again, I have to admit that I was a little bit apprehensive going into Sunday’s Week One game at the Jets. They helped out Mark Sanchez by bolstering their receiving corps, adding Plaxico Burress and Derrick Mason, not to mention Santonio Holmes coming off a 6-TD year in only 12 games last year.
With Terrance Newman and Michael Jenkins banged up (Jenkins did end up starting, which made me feel a lot better), I didn’t feel quite so confident putting my faith in Orlando Scandrick and Alan Ball to stop the Jets’ air attack. To add more pressure to the defense, I had read a lot of talk about this being a break-out year for Shonn Greene and LT having something to prove in his contract year.
Our defense has had just over four weeks to try and swallow Rob Ryan’s defense (as evidenced by many broken plays in the preseason); in comparison, Rex has been with the Jets since 2009. He was probably foaming at the mouth to attack our young offensive line. Everyone knew Tony would have to use many 2- and 3-step drops to avoid the rush. How would our offense be able to combat the Jets’ dynamic defense? How would our defense be able to combat the suddenly-relevant Jets offense?
But you know what? Our defense came to play, right from the first snap and DeMarcus Ware taking down Sanchez. With Scandrick and Jenkins both being out by the end of the game, I knew I wasn’t the only person who had visions of Sanchez lighting up our inexperienced secondary. But the defense stepped up. The defense kept us in it the game the whole way. The defense did what they had to do.
I hate to say this, but Tony Romo lost this game. The fumble by the goal line should never have happened. Throw the ball away and take the three points for a two possession lead. The interception by Revis should never have happened. Again, throw the ball away, especially when Dez can’t run down the field and is double-teamed. This was Tony’s loss.
So, I’m sorry Mr. Maxfield, some of us do take the Cowboys’ games very seriously. And some of us are going to be in a very bad mood until the weekend.
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