The Landry Hat
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Dallas Cowboys Refuse to Learn their Lesson

By Ben Grimaldi

Sep 11, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; New York Giants running back Rashad Jennings (23) runs the ball in the fourth quarter against Dallas Cowboys outside linebacker Sean Lee (50) at AT&T Stadium. New York won 20-19. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 11, 2016; Arlington, TX, USA; New York Giants running back Rashad Jennings (23) runs the ball in the fourth quarter against Dallas Cowboys outside linebacker Sean Lee (50) at AT&T Stadium. New York won 20-19. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports /
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The 2016 Dallas Cowboys haven’t learned the lessons from the 2015 season, and now they are paying the price losing on Sunday to the New York Giants.

Maybe this is just who the Dallas Cowboys are; a group of coaches and players who can’t seem to get out their own way. That’s exactly what it looks like to fans who faithfully watch them every week, each season.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, which is what the Cowboys are, insane. Against the New York Giants, the issues that plagued the team in 2015 reared their ugly head again in the start of the 2016 season.

Those issues include playing passive on offense, not involving your all-star wide receiver, refusing to change defenses when you are getting gashed in the run game and not making plays with the game on the line.

Once again the offensive coaching staff under head coach Jason Garrett and coordinator Scott Linehan stuck with a plan designed to stay in the game instead of winning it. That’s the strategy that involves too many short, safe passes in lieu of challenging the defense down the field.

By not threatening teams with deep passes, they will stack the box and make it tougher for Dallas to run the ball effectively, which is what the offense wants to do.

It’s the same approach the Cowboys had last year that kept them in many games, only to have them on the wrong end of the scoreboard in the end. And that’s precisely what happened against the Giants.

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Defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli’s unit was up to their old tricks too. Dallas’ much maligned defense played a decent game, right up until they needed to make a stop late in the contest. They failed, twice, in the fourth quarter after holding the Giants scoreless in the first 23:47 of the second half.

The Cowboys couldn’t stop quarterback Eli Manning from driving for the game-winning score, or prevent New York from running the clock down late in the game. The Giants kept calling the same plays with Rashad Jennings and Shane Vereen, but Marinelli kept running the same defense allowing New York to get big chunks of yardage. That failure to adjust left the Cowboys with precious little time on the clock to comeback and kick the winning field goal.

It was all eerily similar to how the Dallas Cowboys lost games last season without starting quarterback Tony Romo. The only thing that changed was name of the backup taking the snaps. The team played just well enough to stay in the game, but came up short in the end.

Next: Colin Cowherd sees Tom Brady ending his career with the Dallas Cowboys

This year should’ve been different; the Cowboys should have learned their lessons after last season. As the old saying goes, those who don’t learn from history, are doomed to repeat it. The Dallas Cowboys failed their history course.

You can chat with or follow Ben on twitter @BenGrimaldi

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