Dallas Cowboys once again left searching for answers
The Dallas Cowboys will unfortunately end their 2017 season in typical Cowboys fashion; coming up short and searching for answers.
Looking back at their 2017 season is going to leave the Dallas Cowboys with a lot of head scratching and soul searching. This was a team seemingly stocked with young talent and coming off a 13-3 2016 season that had many people believing a deep playoff run would be in the cards this year. Well the Cowboys managed to live up to their reputation and find many creative ways to come up short of expectations.
To make things worse, Week 16 was shaping up nicely with the Cowboys receiving the much needed help in order to gain a postseason birth. With both the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons losing their games the Cowboys playoff hopes were looking up for the first time in weeks.
Only one problem remained; the Cowboys had to look like the playoff team they want to be and beat a competitive team also vying for their playoff lives. We should have known better than thinking a Jason Garrett coached team would handle their business when they had to the most.
The amount of problems that need to be corrected coming out of the season ending loss to the Seahawks are mind boggling. But to try and shed some light on how bad of a game this was for the Cowboys, think about this. The Seahawks had more penalty yards than total offensive yards against the Cowboys and still managed to win.
The Cowboys need to start having a serious conversation about quarterback Dak Prescott. The struggles that Prescott displayed this year cannot be ignored. The connection with wide receiver Dez Bryant is completely broken and nonexistent, his accuracy has been inconsistent at best all year, and his body language does not suggest someone who is totally comfortable in the pocket or,even worse, has faith in the receivers he is throwing to. Prescott has taken a monumental step back in year two from his record setting rookie year last year.
The Dallas Cowboys need to make a decision on Dez Bryant; both financially and philosophically. Bryant is no longer capable of being a number one receiver and is best suited as a complimentary receiver. As long as the Cowboys insist on Bryant being their featured outside receiver their passing game will remain completely incompetent. The performance Bryant put forth this year is totally unacceptable from someone who accounted for the highest cap hit on the team this year at $17 million.
Perhaps the biggest issue of all the Cowboys need to figure out is the future of head coach Jason Garrett and staff. Garrett has clearly displayed an inability to lead this team to any sustained postseason success. Every year owner Jerry Jones decides to retain Garrett will be another year lost to mediocre coaching and talent wasted.
Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks was a total embarrassment and seemed like a suitable ending to the Cowboys 2017 up and down season. The Cowboys did not belong in the postseason and clearly displayed that fact throughout the entire season.
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There is a certain mindset that accompanies all winning teams and organizations. The Cowboys are a team drenched in mediocrity and currently do not know how to win, especially when the calendar flips to December and mistakes can no longer be made. Until this organization has a drastic shift in decision making and deciding to no longer settle for mediocrity, nothing will change; no matter how much talent is on the team.