Not Great Yet: Dallas still has room to improve
Jaime Aron | The Associated Press
IRVING — In the world of programming sports on television, there’s something known as the Cowboys Factor. It simply means that whichever network has “America’s Team” on its airwaves can count on higher ratings.
There’s a twist to the formula this season.
Tradition and popularity are drawing viewers in, all right. Tight games are keeping them from changing the dial.
Dallas has gotten to 6-1 the hard way. Although they’ve won nearly every game by a wide margin, the Cowboys have trailed in the second half of five games and led by one touchdown or less in the other two. Great television? Yes. Great team? No.
Wade Phillips, Tony Romo and an improved defense deserve a lot of credit for heading into November with the best record in the NFC. Not even uber-optimist Jerry Jones could have expected this kind of start.
Wins of any nature build confidence, which the Cowboys certainly will need the rest of the season. And with some injured players returning to the lineup, there certainly is reason to believe this team will continue to improve.
But the way Dallas has won makes you wonder how long this can last.
The Cowboys have beaten four teams that have little to no chance of making the playoffs: Miami, Buffalo, St. Louis and Minnesota. Three of those games were decided in the fourth quarter.
While there’s something to be said about wearing down a lesser foe and about finding ways to win games late, there’s a lot more to be said about teams that mop the floor with scrub opponents.
Remember the 1995 Cowboys? It’s unfair to compare that pedigreed group to this club, except these guys already have forged a bond — the last two Dallas teams to win six of their first seven games.
Anyone who played the ’95 club knew what they were up against. Even elite teams had to hope to catch Dallas on an off day. Then Troy, Michael and Emmitt would score early and everyone knew it wasn’t one of those days. Besides, those guys not only knew how to build a lead, they knew how to protect it, too, especially against foes that were mediocre or worse.
New England and Indianapolis are the only teams that do that on a regular basis these days.
And, remember, the Cowboys beat the Colts last year and were beating the Patriots in the third quarter a few weeks ago.
Those are indications of how good this club can be. So is it expecting too much to wonder why they’re not putting away teams early enough to make fourth-quarter ratings dip?
Romo thinks so. Here’s what he said Monday when asked a general question about being 6-1: “I know the media wants you to win a certain way sometimes and I know the fans sometimes do, too, but when you look back at it, it’s about winning. ... I don’t think you’re going to play your best every week. But when the time comes for big games, that’s when you need to play at your best to win. It’ll be interesting to see if this team has that.”
Asked if he’s concerned about how they’ve played lately — two narrow wins and a loss to New England the last three weeks — Romo again went into spin mode, saying how perceptions of each game change so quickly.
For instance, the Bears game was supposed to be a big challenge but now it doesn’t seem like it was.
“It’s just a matter of going out and getting wins,” he said. “At the end of the day, some teams are going to rise up here these next six, seven weeks, and some are going to fall off. You just have to keep stacking the wins together and go forward as a team and get better each week, and eventually put yourself in position to be a good football team in December, January and hopefully February. That’s all we are trying to do.”
The big tests are coming up.
Dallas has played only two teams with winning records. Only two teams left on the schedule have losing records.
That includes two games against Philadelphia, but don’t write off the Eagles just yet. If they beat Minnesota this Sunday, they’ll have a chance to get to .500 with a victory at home the following Sunday against their old pal Terrell Owens and the Cowboys.
The next three games — all against division foes — should tell a lot about Dallas’ chances. Then comes December, the team’s ultimate proving ground because of how the Cowboys have flopped at the finish the previous two seasons.
Maybe their best games truly are ahead of them. They better hope so.
The networks are certainly counting on it.
IRVING — In the world of programming sports on television, there’s something known as the Cowboys Factor. It simply means that whichever network has “America’s Team” on its airwaves can count on higher ratings.
There’s a twist to the formula this season.
Tradition and popularity are drawing viewers in, all right. Tight games are keeping them from changing the dial.
Dallas has gotten to 6-1 the hard way. Although they’ve won nearly every game by a wide margin, the Cowboys have trailed in the second half of five games and led by one touchdown or less in the other two. Great television? Yes. Great team? No.
Wade Phillips, Tony Romo and an improved defense deserve a lot of credit for heading into November with the best record in the NFC. Not even uber-optimist Jerry Jones could have expected this kind of start.
Wins of any nature build confidence, which the Cowboys certainly will need the rest of the season. And with some injured players returning to the lineup, there certainly is reason to believe this team will continue to improve.
But the way Dallas has won makes you wonder how long this can last.
The Cowboys have beaten four teams that have little to no chance of making the playoffs: Miami, Buffalo, St. Louis and Minnesota. Three of those games were decided in the fourth quarter.
While there’s something to be said about wearing down a lesser foe and about finding ways to win games late, there’s a lot more to be said about teams that mop the floor with scrub opponents.
Remember the 1995 Cowboys? It’s unfair to compare that pedigreed group to this club, except these guys already have forged a bond — the last two Dallas teams to win six of their first seven games.
Anyone who played the ’95 club knew what they were up against. Even elite teams had to hope to catch Dallas on an off day. Then Troy, Michael and Emmitt would score early and everyone knew it wasn’t one of those days. Besides, those guys not only knew how to build a lead, they knew how to protect it, too, especially against foes that were mediocre or worse.
New England and Indianapolis are the only teams that do that on a regular basis these days.
And, remember, the Cowboys beat the Colts last year and were beating the Patriots in the third quarter a few weeks ago.
Those are indications of how good this club can be. So is it expecting too much to wonder why they’re not putting away teams early enough to make fourth-quarter ratings dip?
Romo thinks so. Here’s what he said Monday when asked a general question about being 6-1: “I know the media wants you to win a certain way sometimes and I know the fans sometimes do, too, but when you look back at it, it’s about winning. ... I don’t think you’re going to play your best every week. But when the time comes for big games, that’s when you need to play at your best to win. It’ll be interesting to see if this team has that.”
Asked if he’s concerned about how they’ve played lately — two narrow wins and a loss to New England the last three weeks — Romo again went into spin mode, saying how perceptions of each game change so quickly.
For instance, the Bears game was supposed to be a big challenge but now it doesn’t seem like it was.
“It’s just a matter of going out and getting wins,” he said. “At the end of the day, some teams are going to rise up here these next six, seven weeks, and some are going to fall off. You just have to keep stacking the wins together and go forward as a team and get better each week, and eventually put yourself in position to be a good football team in December, January and hopefully February. That’s all we are trying to do.”
The big tests are coming up.
Dallas has played only two teams with winning records. Only two teams left on the schedule have losing records.
That includes two games against Philadelphia, but don’t write off the Eagles just yet. If they beat Minnesota this Sunday, they’ll have a chance to get to .500 with a victory at home the following Sunday against their old pal Terrell Owens and the Cowboys.
The next three games — all against division foes — should tell a lot about Dallas’ chances. Then comes December, the team’s ultimate proving ground because of how the Cowboys have flopped at the finish the previous two seasons.
Maybe their best games truly are ahead of them. They better hope so.
The networks are certainly counting on it.
posted by The Gryphon at 7:57 AM
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