The Dallas Cowboys Must Finish The Fight

Questions loom for the Dallas Cowboys as to how to treat the final two regular season games. How should the coaching staff approach the remaining games?

Finish the fight. That is a mantra that Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett is adamant about instilling within his coaches and players.

Be resilient to adversity and fight your way through it.

Scratch, claw, fight. Don’t let up, finish the fight and close the game out.

Why win by decision when you can win by knockout?

In fact, I still have a Cowboys t-shirt that says “#FinishTheFight” across the chest.

Despite already having clinched the NFC East and home field advantage throughout the playoffs, the Dallas Cowboys have games against the Detroit Lions and the Philadelphia Eagles remaining on the schedule.

There are a lot of differing opinions as to how the Cowboys should treat these final two games before getting a first round bye and hosting a divisional round playoff game either January 14th or 15th.

Many fans would like to see Tony Romo start at quarterback against the Lions and Eagles. It eliminates the risk of rookie sensation Dak Prescott being injured, which is a good idea. It also gives the Cowboys front office the opportunity to showcase Romo’s health and present-day ability; which would naturally increase interest in other teams to trade for Tony.

There is a flip side to that coin. There are risks associated with sitting Prescott for the rest of the regular season. Dak could come back a bit rusty after having three consecutive weeks off. Also, Romo could play exceptionally well which bodes well for his trade value yet also stirs the quarterback controversy pot up yet again.

More from The Landry Hat

There are fans out there that would like to see every impact player rested until the playoffs. This opinion does make sense, why risk injury playing in games that don’t improve or hinder your position in playoff seeding?

To put it simply for the Cowboys fans that have either one or a combination of both of the aforementioned beliefs, these options aren’t even being considered by this coaching staff.

Jason Garrett is full steam ahead. Focused on the task at hand. On Friday, the task at hand was preparing in the mindset of today being Thursday. This is the message he is delivering to his players and staff.

Playing on a Monday means that to remain on the same schedule for the week as normal, adjusting it where three days before the game is still three days before the game makes it easier to stay in the typical routine.

Clinching the division does not affect the way Jason Garrett is approaching the game plan for the Detroit Lions on Monday night. He said during his Friday press conference that he doesn’t see any players’ roles changing in a dramatic capacity. In other words, Dak and Zeke are playing.

At the end of the day, the Dallas Cowboys get paid to play football games. They get paid well if they happen to win football games. Just because they have home field advantage locked up doesn’t mean that their game checks get smaller.

This team is going to show up motivated on Monday against the Detroit Lions and they are going to fight.

Keeping a competitive edge going into their first round bye is seemingly going to be priority number one for the Dallas Cowboys.

Personally, I would rather not have to debate the double-edged sword known as the topic of “rest versus rust”. I would rather keep my sword sharpened and battle tested.

Next: Is Tony Romo worth two first round selections?

For the most part, the Cowboys have made the right decisions regarding personnel and game planning this season as their 12-2 record can attest.

The Dallas coaching staff and front office have decided that keeping the players’ hunger to compete and win football easily outweighs the risk of injuries.

Congratulations, Cowboys Nation! This has been a magical season, but it isn’t over yet.

Home/Cowboys News