I am just disgusted today, one day after watching the Cowboys give a game away. The only way I know how to work through this is by looking at the problems and try to make sense of them. There is plenty of blame to go around but the more I look at it the more I come to understand the majority of the blame falls in one place.
Now I would like to start off by saying that in an earlier post I detailed what I thought would be the 5 keys to success both on offense and defense. So let’s look at each key and see how they fared.
1. Protect Romo: Going up against the “Best Defense” in football the offensive line did an exceptional job. They gave up 3 sacks yes but Romo was not under constant duress! He was given the time needed to make something happen, and that is all we could ask for.
Grade: A
2. Force their LBs to cover: Going into a game without the services of Marion Barber and Felix Jones this would be a huge factor. Who would be the person that would dictate that the Steelers pay attention to? May I introduce you to Mr. Choice, that’s right Tashard Choice the fourth round draft choice from Georgia Tech. All I can say is this guy played his butt off! He did everything well, blitz pick up, rushing, receiving he did it all. Choice accounted for 166 of the Cowboys 289 yards. No way could anyone have asked anymore of this young man.
Grade: C
3. Score early and often: This was toughest of all keys, the Steelers just do not allow you to score, particularly in the second half. I felt they would need to score a bunch in the first half to have a chance. I was wrong! The Cowboys offense could only muster 3 points. They had plenty of opportunities just could not make it happen. The offense seemed to be working from to different play books. Tony was working on one page while everyone else (minus choice) was on page 10. On one play in the first quarter Tony expecting T.O. to run a deep out, throws to the spot, but T.O. gave up on the play and cut the route short, allowing a perfect pass to Troy Polamalu! And it would not get any better!
Grade: F
This leads us to 4. Limit stupid Turnovers: Well here is where the “BIG O” blew it! Five freaking turnovers! Five! Those five were turned into 10 points for the Steelers. What was the final score again? Oh yeah 20 to 13! I am no math wizard but I do believe 20 minus 10 would be 10! This is absolutely inexcusable! This is by your account your statement game and you play with such recklessness? Hey Tony and Jason ever heard of “Game Management”? Well let me explain some simple rules of game management, first of all if its not there throw the freaking thing away! Two, do not decide before the play who you are going to throw the ball too! Hey Tony Martellus Bennett is still WIDE FREAKING OPEN! How do you make that decision to throw into triple coverage, and disregard the guy 20 yards down the middle of the field all alone? Who by the way could have crawled into the end zone with no one ever touching him! You are killing me still Smalls!
Grade: F
Last but not least 5. Spread them out create mismatches: They were there all night long! They did not take advantage of them! 8 and 10 yard cushions on T.O. and Roy all night and Jason Garrett fails to adjust his game plan! Wake up gentlemen! How about a slant, or a hook, or a damn cross in! Nope we have to make our quarterback wait for a triple move to develop! This was an absolute failure by Jason Garrett and his offensive coaches.
Grade:F
The blame of this game falls directly on the shoulders of Tony Romo, and Jason Garrett. Tony you are a gunslinger and I love you, but if you do not learn how to take care of the ball you are going to make me lose my mind! I am the least of your worries though, you are about to lose this team if you do not correct this issue! The first domino to fall on this front will be the one who cried for you last year! That’s right the ever waiting to erupt Terrell Owens. Stop trying to force the ball to him and start going with the flow of the game. I understand he may get mad at you for going somewhere else, but I promise you if you are winning games he will back off! Man up! Jason Garrett as far as you are concerned the rest of the league has your system figured out! It is time to adapt! That stupid pitch to T.O. does not work, so stop running the damn thing! All good coaches use the talent they are given to the best of their ability! You sir are failing at this miserably! Force teams to adapt to what you are doing not you adapting to them all the time! I understand the players have to make the plays but it is up to you to make sure they understand what they are doing! It is obvious that no one knows what the hell is going on; you can tell this by Tony constantly having to tell everyone where to be before the snap of the ball, thus causing frantic snaps of the ball! I can give you a bit of advice in one word! K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) you have the most talented offense in the league! Stop designing your way out of the game! I once thought you would be an excellent head coach for us, but I don’t think I would have you organize a lunch line right now! You guys have one last chance to change the course of the season, so get to work!
