The Cowboys failures begin and end at one position

You do not have look too far to find the reason for the Dallas Cowboys failures in 2015.

Dallas Cowboys fans, lend me your ear, or in this case, your eyes.

I ask of you one simple request.

Whenever you watch a game and hear commentators speak of this team and try to sell you that this season’s failure isn’t specifically related to the loss of quarterback Tony Romo, turn a deaf ear to the nonsense.

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Whenever someone has a long list of other items to attribute to the worst season in almost twenty years or tries to intimate that even with Romo, the Cowboys would be struggling, pay it no mind.

These are purely the facts and they are indisputable.

With two weeks to go in the 2015 NFL season, these are the twelve teams currently in the playoffs. In the AFC, the top two seeds are New England (12-2) and Cincinnati (11-3). The other two divisional leaders are Denver (10-4) and Houston (7-7), while the Wild Cards are Kansas City and Pittsburgh, both at 9-5.

In the NFC, the top two seeds are Carolina (14-0) and Arizona (12-2). The other two divisional leaders are Green Bay (10-4) and Washington (7-7), while the Wild Cards are Seattle and Minnesota, also both at 9-5.

Now, here is the list of the top twelve rated quarterbacks in the league as of this writing.

RK	PLAYER	TEAM	COMP	ATT	PCT	YDS	TD	INT	RATE
1	Russell Wilson, QB	SEA	285	414	68.8	3,538	29	7	111.4
2	Carson Palmer, QB	ARI	312	485	64.3	4,277	32	9	106.7
3	Andy Dalton, QB	CIN	255	386	66.1	3,250	25	7	106.3
4	Tom Brady, QB	NE	368	572	64.3	4,405	35	6	103.8
5	Tyrod Taylor, QB	BUF	211	334	63.2	2,674	20	5	101.8
6	Cam Newton, QB	CAR	258	439	58.8	3,402	33	10	98.9
7	Drew Brees, QB	NO	337	497	67.8	3,794	25	11	97.9
8	Kirk Cousins, QB	WSH	336	482	69.7	3,625	22	11	97.2
9	Alex Smith, QB	KC	278	424	65.6	3,205	16	4	96.9
10	Ben Roethlisberger, QB	PIT	271	399	67.9	3,369	18	12	96.4
11	Eli Manning, QB	NYG	348	546	63.7	3,900	32	11	96.1
12	Aaron Rodgers, QB	GB	304	500	60.8	3,379	29	6	95.2

It’s not a coincidence that nine of the top twelve happen to be leading their teams to the playoffs right now. The other three that are missing rank 16th (Brian Hoyer – Houston), 19th (Teddy Bridgewater – Minnesota) and 26th (Brock Osweiler – Denver).

Denver and Houston both have top five defenses, while the Vikings are 7th against the pass and 8th in points per game allowed.

Who you have at quarterback matters in this day and age in the National Football League. It matters greatly. There is a reason that all but three of the league’s MVP winners have been quarterbacks in the last 14 years. This year, it will either be Newton, Brady, Palmer or Wilson.

Obviously, removing Romo from this team for essentially the entire season was a huge blow. What really killed the Cowboys this year, however, was the contingency plan.

With two weeks left in the season, there have been sixteen different backup quarterbacks that have started one or more games in 2015. Here is how they have all fared, listed in order of their passer rating.

RK	PLAYER	W	L	COMP	ATT	YDS	TD	INT	RATE
1	A.J. McCarron, CIN	1	0	15	21	192	1	0	115.6
2	Case Keenum, STL	2	1	40	65	494	3	1	94.0
3	Landry Jones, PIT	1	1	24	41	377	3	2	93.2
4	Luke McCown, NO	0	1	31	38	310	0	1	89.7
5	Johnny Manziel, CLE	2	3	96	156	1,143	6	3	88.7
6	Mark Sanchez, PHI	0	2	45	68	460	4	3	86.6
7	Brock Osweiler, DEN	3	2	115	190	1,290	7	3	86.5
8	Brandon Weeden, DAL	0	3	64	91	665	1	2	85.6
9	Matt Hasselbeck, IND	4	3	148	241	1,591	9	5	84.6
10	Michael Vick, PIT	1	1	32	52	327	2	1	84.4
11	Blaine Gabbert, SF	2	4	128	205	1,452	7	6	82.8
12	EJ Manuel, BUF	0	2	52	84	561	3	3	78.5
13	T.J. Yates, HOU	2	0	22	44	297	2	1	77.6
14	Matt Schaub, BAL	1	1	52	80	540	3	4	76.0
15	Austin Davis, CLE	0	1	25	38	230	0	1	71.2
16	Matt Cassel, DAL	1	6	106	185	1,183	4	7	67.9
17	Zach Mettenberger, TEN	0	2	44	66	358	1	3	66.4
18	Jimmy Clausen, CHI/BAL	0	3	58	102	618	2	4	64.9

Only Hasselbeck has had an equal number of starts comparative to Cassel. Indianapolis is 4-3 in those games. Even considering Weeden’s three losses, if the Cowboys would have won four of Cassel’s seven starts, they’d be 8-6 right now, a game ahead of Washington, with a virtual stranglehold on the division title.

Notice also that the only two quarterbacks with worse passer ratings than Cassel have combined for just 22 starts in their entire careers. Saturday was Cassel’s 79th career start.

Lastly, six different quarterbacks on this list won multiple games in their relief stints. If you remove Weeden and Cassel from this list, the remaining 16 passers have led their teams to a cumulative record of 18-18. Weeden and Cassel combined to win just one game in ten starts for Dallas.

Barring injury, running back Darren McFadden will eclipse 1,000 yards for only the second time in his career.

The defense, while being abysmal at creating turnovers, is sixth best against the pass and tenth best overall in total yards allowed. They also held two different opponents to 13 or less points and lost both games.

Next: Seven Dallas Cowboys playing for their jobs in 2016

There is a simple reason why the Dallas Cowboys are 4-10 and not playing in January.

It all begins and ends with the quarterback.

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