The Cowboys flashed plenty of bling. But I’m not sure how—or even if—that Saturday night glitter in Philly impacts The Quest for the Ring.
It was certainly sparkly. Fifty-one points, to finish the regular season 12-5 overall and 6-0 in the NFC East. Dallas thus becomes the first team in NFL history to score at least 40 points in five regular season games.
Five TD passes for Dak. That’s 37 for the year, breaking Tony Romo’s franchise record set in 2007. That’s a “slump”? Admittedly, Dak had 17 games to get that done.
Zeke ran for 87 yards on 18 carries. It’s the “18” that encourages me. That’s his highest number of carries since Week Five.
Then there’s this. The 2021-22 Cowboys are the first team in NFL history to have a 4,000 yard passer, a 1,000 yard rusher, a 1,000 yard receiver, a pass rusher with at least ten sacks and a defender with at least ten interceptions on the same roster.
That’s a wow.
But here’s all that means now. The Cowboys have not a single excuse. And that should make Dallas fans nervous.
Some perspective. The Eagles rested 19 starters, meaning they were effectively as “depleted” as the Washington Football Team was a few weeks ago when the Cowboys hung half-a-hundred on them. And that blowout victory proved to mean pretty much nothing. Now the same thing goes for that Saturday Night Massacre in Philly. Zero significance in the Big Picture.
So Saturday produced two losers—the Eagles and the Broncos. And I want to compliment both of them.
Philly is not going to make a deep playoff run. But the Eagles are ahead of schedule. They are a “problem” in the NFC East going forward.
And I was very impressed with the professionalism displayed by the Broncos. With nothing to play for, they played with everything they had. We’ll find out today or tomorrow whether that was enough to buy Vic Fangio another year. I’m guessing not.
I’ll tell you who would not get another year, or even another game, if I were Andy Reid. Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, pack up your purse and get outta here. Did you see that? Sneed had a chance to pole-ax Broncos QB Drew Lock at the two-yard- line, and turned it down. Didn’t bother to touch him. In fact, he turned sideways to avoid even getting in Lock’s way.
It was the biggest disrespect for The Game I have seen since…since…since…Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain made a similar “business decision” to let Patrick Mahomes score on an almost identical play in the first meeting between those teams earlier this year at Arrowhead.
What in the wide, wide world of sports is goin’ on here?
Ronnie Lott must be mumbling to himself.
So here we go with the final day of the regular season. I’m not even gonna pretend I like the sound of that.
The Niners will get in by beating the Rams. Because the Niners always beat the Rams.
And the Raiders will survive and advance. Coach Madden will see to that.
Top-seed in the AFC? Your Tennessee Titans. The Texans used up their miracle when they beat the Titans in their first meeting. Sorry, Chiefs.
Tomorrow? Oh, yeah, we’ll talk about the CFP Championship Game.
Hunker down!
