Welp. It was fun while it lasted. After the surprise win against the upstart Washington Commanders two weeks ago, followed by another victory over the Giants (appropriate to the occasion, a little dry and flavorless), the Cowboys suddenly found themselves riding an actual win streak, and a little flame of “What if …?” had sparked into being. Despite a shot at a repeat division championship long gone, with a mostly weak schedule remaining, a Wild Card berth in the postseason was still technically within reach. With the ’Boys suddenly showing renewed signs of life, many fans had jumped from Team Tank to Team Why-the-Hell-Not?
Whether their chances were legitimate or simply more of us suckers buying Jerry snake oil hinged mostly upon the outcome of the Monday Night Extravaganza against the Cincinnati Bengals. Win, and we continue the ride. Lose, and our attention likely transitions to the 2025 draft class. Turns out, I now have plenty more serpentine petroleum to add to my already copious stocks. Dallas fell to the Batmobile-owning Joe Burrow and company 27-20, and any hopes of relevant football for the rest of the season went down with them.
In the most Cowboys way possible, defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory after a disastrous botched punt block in the game’s waning minutes, quickly swapping a potential game-winning field goal for a game-losing Cincy TD.
I have to admit, it was nice watching a game with a little juice again. After resigning myself to a lost season and more than a month of stoic, emotionless game-viewing experiences, I found myself happily swept up in the emotional swings of the play unfolding. It felt good to have something to root for. Even if it was simply delusion. My heartbreak after the epic reversal of fortune from “Oh, my god, this is going to happen!” to “Oh, my god, WTF just happened?!” was mirrored on the sideline perfectly by an exasperated Micah Parsons, who threw up his hands in disbelief and despair. Some may have been turned off by his body language, seeing it as defeatist and whiney. I saw it as passion, something that has been sorely lacking from the majority of the team the majority of the season. His defense had done their job, forcing a stop and giving his offense the ball back with a chance to win, and all in a matter of seconds, he was forced back onto the field to watch his secondary picked apart with surgical precision and the elation of victory inexplicably replaced with the agony of a season ending.
Worse, the Cowboys lost more than just the game and playoff contention. One of the few bright spots in an otherwise chaotic mess of a season has been the play of linebacker DeMarvion Overshown. He has been a heat-seeking missile behind the D-line, providing some much-needed spark to a largely lackluster defense — delivering hard hits, clean tackles, and the occasional blitz sack. Paired with rookie Marist Liufau and the beast that is Parsons, there was some promise for the future of the backing corps. Horribly, however, after the former Longhorn missed his entire rookie year recovering from a torn ACL in his left knee he suffered in training camp, he will now miss the remainder of his standout sophomore campaign with a “major” injury to his other knee. Severe structural damage is said to be a concern. It’s an enormous blow to an already despondent organization. It’s an added personal dagger as a No. 13 jersey sits secretly on my Christmas list. When adding this loss to that of Zach Martin, who has maybe played his last down for Dallas and, if that, likely the last in his Hall of Fame career, and QB Dak Prescott — not to mention the dozens of others — it’s enough to cleave the old blood pumper in even the biggest Cowboys hater’s chest.
If there is one argent undercarriage to be found with the final nail being driven home on the Cowboys’ season, it’s that the ridiculous Cooper Rush stans should finally be able to accept that he isn’t better than Dallas’ $60M QB1. Dak is far from perfect, but at least he can throw the ball more than 10 yards downfield.
It was nice watching meaningful football again for a bit. I suppose it could be back to stoic, unemotional game-viewing, but there’s another silver-and-blue team out there that looks worthy of rooting for. Wonder if Detroit has room on the bandwagon.
Courtesy DallasCowboys.com
