October 02, 2011

Cowboys blow it in historic collapse: And the blame game starts. Tony Romo was called the MVP of the Detroit Lions as the Cowboys fell to Detroit 34-30 after having a 20-3 halftime lead.

posted by roberts to football at 06:02 PM - 25 comments

They led by 24 with 12:23 left in the third quarter! I don't think the Cowboys should pull Romo this season, so he still has time to prove his naysayers wrong by getting the team deep into the playoffs, but it's time to draft the next Dallas quarterback.

posted by rcade at 08:28 PM on October 02, 2011

Nothing anyone else says about Romo the next 24 hours will top Deion Sanders for vapidity: "Lord I have no idea what I'm gone say about the Cowboys but it will be the Truth whether they like it or not!"

posted by rcade at 08:30 PM on October 02, 2011

You know, I was going to forgive Romo, because:

a) both of those picks should not have been TDs if the offense had any ability to tackle defensive players;
b) even with those two pick-6's, they still had a 13 point lead;
c) that Johnson touchdown with three defenders on him was RIDICULOUS.

But that third pick was horrendous. Throwing off his back foot from his own 15, up by four points on first and ten with 4:15 remaining...I can't imagine how Jason Garrett feels right now. That's a benchable mistake one week, but twice now? Jon Kitna should not seem like an option you even consider, but I bet prognosticators do this week.

Week one, Romo said "We win that football game if I don't do what I did" and yet, here we are again in week four with the same result. He seems unable to stop making that exact same mistake...forced and unnecessary.

posted by dfleming at 09:23 PM on October 02, 2011

Part of the blame has to be on the offensive coordinator .. up by 24, you have a QB with a reputation of coughing up the ball, and your opponent hasn't moved the ball at all. What is wrong with running some time off the clock?

Part of the blame needs to be on the receivers .. Dez Bryant is talented, but doesn't help his QB out by completing routes or coming back to the ball.

Romo could help himself out by realizing his and his 'mates limitations and tendencies and adjusting his game. Of course that wouldn't fit well with the big smoke aura that Cowboys feel they are entitled to ...

posted by cixelsyd at 09:38 PM on October 02, 2011

Not the prettiest victory, but I'll take it. Calvin Johnson is unstoppable in the end zone. Even when every player on the field knows where the ball is going he still comes down with it. I've also been very impressed with the Lions ability to put it together in the second half after looking like the Lions of old in the first.

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 10:32 PM on October 02, 2011

I couldn't be happier that the Cowboys lost that way. Calvin Johnson is a stud. That catch he made in triple coverage was ridiculous.

posted by insomnyuk at 10:54 PM on October 02, 2011

Plenty of blame to go around in that Cowboy game.

Romo...I he just can't throw those types of passes late in games. No reason to, and the outcome is always the same.

The coordinators...Offensive, what cixelsyd said. Defensive, not his fault they game up the picks, but the defense didn't stop Detroit when they had the chance. Plus, Ryan is a pig that needs a hair cut. Lord, I wish the networks wouldn't feel compelled to show his ugly being mug after every defensive play.

Megatron lived up the hype today.

posted by dviking at 02:15 AM on October 03, 2011

I, too, wish Ryan was a hot little minx with a kissable pout; hell, I wish all those guys on the sideline were a little foxier, and would it hurt for them to wear something scandalous every now and again?

Then I realize it's football and my considered opinions of the attractiveness of NFL coaching staff are more than a little weird.

posted by Hugh Janus at 08:53 AM on October 03, 2011

You're in a safe space here, Hugh. If you want Rob Ryan to emerge from underwater in slow motion and flip his leonine hair back in a spray of water droplets, no one will judge.

posted by rcade at 08:57 AM on October 03, 2011

Cixelsyd: I don't see a sense of entitlement from the Cowboys. They're just a team that's big in stadium and undersized in talent.

posted by rcade at 08:59 AM on October 03, 2011

The Ravens were doing the same thing as the Cowboys. They were up big, but they weren't running out the clock. They let their offense suck so bad that they kept the other team in it. Before Flacco's last turnover, I was yelling at him to get rid of the ball. He was holding on to the ball forever. Flacco appeared to be really playing for the Jets, and not the Ravens.

I'm a little disappointed that the talk is all of the Cowboys. The Lions are undefeated! This is monumental. How did this team go from a terrible, awful, dreadful team to a team that is confident enough to come back on the road from a 20+ point deficit. Amazing. I hope they have room on their bandwagon because they are going to need it.

posted by bperk at 10:03 AM on October 03, 2011

They haven't made a decent bandwagon in Detroit for years.

posted by yerfatma at 10:09 AM on October 03, 2011

rcade, I'm sorry to inform you that specific flip his leonine hair back in a spray of water droplets move is patented by Clay Matthews. Ryan will have to come up with something else.

Perhaps a wag head back and forth like a shaggy dog spritzing crowd with droplets motion would suffice.

posted by evixir at 10:38 AM on October 03, 2011

While I am no Cowboy fan I did pick Dallas minus 1 1/2 pts and was sitting awfully pretty into the third quarter. I actually began to worry with the first interception which demonstrated a complete lack of situational awareness on the part of Romo and the coaching staff. How do you even take those chances when dominating a team like they had done. The only explanation is that possibly Dallas was still reeling from the poor offensive line performance against Washington the week before and afraid to try to control the clock with some kind of running game.

I like Detroit but am not ready to jump on that bandwagon as you have to ask yourself why are they getting down by so many points to teams like Dallas and Minnesota who are not proving themselves to be very point scoring prolific against anybody other than Detroit. Heck Minnesota just lost to KC, and Dallas could not even get into the end zone against Washington the week before.

posted by Atheist at 10:48 AM on October 03, 2011

... the talk is all of the Cowboys

Sports media wants so badly for the Cowboys to be relevant that they cover everything Cowboy. Replays of the owner picking his nose last year certainly drove that point home.

posted by cixelsyd at 12:23 PM on October 03, 2011

Now I can eat and drink all I want late next month and fall asleep among the insects between the porch posts. I just watched the equivalent of an entire Thanksgiving Day in one game.

Mock Remus Rob Ryan all ye want, me hearties. He'll have the last laugh when his boffo box office smash "Santa Claus of the Caribbean" comes out in December.

(With all the bland coaches the Cowboys have had patrolling their sidelines over the years, TV producers have been desperate to find someone with any sort of compelling facial expressiveness over there. Once it was Joe Avezzano; now it's Ryan.)

posted by beaverboard at 12:40 PM on October 03, 2011

Sports media wants so badly for the Cowboys to be relevant that they cover everything Cowboy.

I know, right? Teams blow 27-3 leads all the time!

posted by tron7 at 01:22 PM on October 03, 2011

I love seeing "worst to first" stories and, in my heart, would love to see the Lions at least make the playoffs. They can't count on every team in the league folding during the second half, though. This is not to say that the Lions didn't earn their victories, because a team can fold and still win a game if their opponent sucks (and the Lions clearly don't suck). Anyhow, until further notice, "Go Lions."

posted by Joey Michaels at 02:04 PM on October 03, 2011

How did this team go from a terrible, awful, dreadful team to a team that is confident enough to come back on the road from a 20+ point deficit.

Draft picks?

Sports media wants so badly for the Cowboys to be relevant that they cover everything Cowboy.

The Cowboys are a team that, like it or not, few people are indifferent about.

posted by etagloh at 02:10 PM on October 03, 2011

They haven't made a decent bandwagon in Detroit for years.

Tigers bandwagon came through in 2006, full of die hard Tigers fans who were wondering why Bobby Higginson still hadn't stepped onto the field.

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 03:24 PM on October 03, 2011

I think most people will admit that bandwagon was a poor attempt at ripping off the Hiroshima Toyo Carp bandwagon from three years previous.

posted by yerfatma at 04:16 PM on October 03, 2011

*GOLF CLAP*

posted by wfrazerjr at 05:08 PM on October 03, 2011

How did this team go from a terrible, awful, dreadful team to a team that is confident enough to come back on the road from a 20+ point deficit.

Draft picks?

...and firing Matt Millen...

posted by MeatSaber at 08:04 PM on October 03, 2011

Actually, Detroit is putting out some fairly decent bandwagons these days. Problem is, they're all electric hybrids...start out alright, but there are questions on how long they'll last. I'm on board for now.

Perhaps a wag head back and forth like a shaggy dog spritzing crowd with droplets motion would suffice.

I think he did that in the 4th quarter, turns out the droplets were ketchup from one of his hot dogs.

posted by dviking at 12:03 AM on October 04, 2011

Sports media wants so badly for the Cowboys to be relevant that they cover everything Cowboy.

The Cowboys are the second most valuable sports franchise on the planet, worth an estimated $1.6 billion as of 2009. People care more about them, win or lose, and it's not a case of the media market dictating the coverage. Any other Dallas team reaching the championship of a sport does not make network executives giddy.

posted by rcade at 10:10 AM on October 04, 2011

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