Has anyone looked at the Cowboys schedule? On an almost daily basis, I hear the talk show hosts and football pundits say that all the Cowboys need to do is win out when Tony Romo comes back, and they will be just fine (quick thought: Am I a pundit? If so, I have never believed that this logic was sound). Winning out, even with Romo healthy and playing his best, will be almost impossible.
I get it, Romo went down in week two of the season and at that point we had no idea that the Panthers would be 7-0. Guess what? They are! So Romo comes back on November 22nd and four days later he must take the field again and face a team that clearly has it going on. I don’t know that Carolina will be undefeated by then, but I am pretty sure Cam Newton will still be their quarterback. The last time the Panthers got off to a start like this was, well it was, never. They started 5-0 in 2003 under John Fox and went to the Super Bowl.
Two weeks later on December 13th the Cowboys play the Packers, in Green Bay. This is not an easy place to win especially in December. Granted, the Cowboys could have won there last January. In fact, they should have won there last January, but they didn’t and last year’s team was better on so many levels than this year’s team is.
About now the ardent Cowboys fan is saying, “Ok they lose those two, but after they beat Philly and Tampa Bay all they need do is go 4-2 in the final six under Romo.” First of all we cannot assume wins over any team with Romo on the sidelines. Least of all Philadelphia. The Eagles want nothing more than to avenge their home loss to the Cowboys and they are coming off a bye, so they have had two weeks to work on a game plan for their rivals. The Bucs seem like a two foot putt to me too, then again so did the struggling Saints and Giants last month.
So if the Cowboys lose either one of the next two games without Romo, they will not make the playoffs. In other words, the Cowboys will not make the playoffs. Sure they have shown signs of figuring it out the past couple of weeks. I love the way they have been running the ball and staying with the run. But winning is a habit and so is losing. The Cowboys have lost five straight. Their last win was on September 20th in Philadelphia. Behavior specialists will tell you it takes 21 days to develop an habit. The Cowboys have been losing for 47 straight days. You do the math.
The schedule maker was actually kind to the Cowboys this year. After all they will face only one team that currently has a winning record in December. However because of injury and bad habits formed, this will not be a December to remember.
