- Prescott: “We played hard against a really good offense and it’s unacceptable for us to score only the points we have, and that starts with me.”
- Jerry Jones: We have a dressing room full of sick players and coaches and hundreds of thousands of Cowboy fans who are also sick.
- The Cowboys have won 12 consecutive seasons but have not played in a championship since the 1995 season.
Dak Prescott wasn’t good enough on Sunday night, and the Dallas Cowboys have to stew in the bitter juices of yet another playoff disappointment.
If that’s what we can expect in the upcoming seasons, then the Cowboys are in big trouble.
The San Francisco 49ers are a Super Bowl contender, but they would be home in the playoffs if Dallas got more from their quarterback. Instead, Prescott, who made $95 million over the last two seasons, lost to Mister Inappropriate. Third-line quarterback Brock Purdy made the most significant game for his team, played football without a loss and demonstrated the traction that should be in sight at this point in the season.
Duck is a nice guy, but the team can’t live off of courtesy and nice costumes. The Cowboys had to play, and Duck’s pockets were full of holes for most of the evening. You can’t blame coach Mike McCarthy for that, although owner Jerry Jones has to ask himself if the head coach can take this franchise to special places.
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Dallas won 12 games for the second straight season behind Prescott and McCarthy and finished second in the NFC East behind Philadelphia after winning the division in 2021, but the Cowboys headed home ahead of championship weekend for the 27th consecutive season.
The 19-12 loss was the seventh consecutive loss in the division round since 1996 and the last blow to the pants for the Jones family, who haven’t tasted that sweet Super Bowl nectar since the Clinton administration.
“We have a locker room full of sick players and coaches and hundreds of thousands of Cowboys fans who are also sick,” emotional owner Jerry Jones told reporters after the game.
They could win: Winning was indeed possible.
The Cowboys’ defense failed, but held the Niners to one touchdown. Special teams pulled back the fumble and Brett Maher actually hit two field goals despite Gov. Greg Abbott tweeting that he could kick better. However, Duck and the league’s fourth-highest-scoring offense were unable to match the talented defense of the Niners.
This is where we need to talk to the big boy about Duck, who fell to 0-3 as a starter in the divisional round and 2-4 in the playoffs, scores identical to his predecessor, Tony Romo. That celebration in Tampa Bay only lasted a week because he threw two interceptions in a game for the sixth time this season and missed a couple of regular shots he made in his sleep. His numbers – 23-of-37 for 206 yards, one touchdown and two spades – reflected true defensive play, but the Pro Bowler simply didn’t have enough decisive games.
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It hurt even more when the Cowboys lost to running back Tony Pollard—their most explosive player—with a broken leg late in the second quarter. Ezekiel Elliott, holder of two quick titles, is no longer the same player and did not bring him with increased sweepstakes. He most likely played his last game in Dallas, as the organization is unlikely to pay him $10.9 million next season.
Problems aside, it was on Dhaka.
“The defense gave us the opportunity to win this game,” Prescott told reporters. “We played hard against a really good offense and it’s unacceptable for us to score only the points we have, and that starts with me. I must be better. There is no other way to embellish it.”
There is I in inconsistent: It’s not the consistent Prescott that forced Romo to retire after an exciting rookie season. Prescott was an iron man who didn’t miss a game in his first four seasons. What’s more, he was a big double threat, rushing for 1,221 yards and throwing 21 rushing touchdowns. Over the past three seasons, including those 11 missed games due to foot surgery in 2020, he has rushed for 421 yards and thrown five touchdowns in 33 games.
With two seasons removed from a career year of 37 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions to earn that huge contract, Prescott was oddly dull in Season 7 with 23 touchdowns and a league-leading 15 interceptions in 12 games. He hasn’t played two straight games without a loss since 2019. These are 49 games and their number continues to grow.
He’s not going anywhere: two years remain on a four-year contract he signed ahead of the 2021 season that guarantees him $166 million.
Prescott bristled post-regular season when asked if his coach needed a deep playoff game to keep his job, but those are questions, especially with former Dallas assistant and Metroplex resident Sean Peyton, who is apparently ready to end his pension.
McCarthy is 30-20 in Dallas and has his only playoff win in three seasons. A post-season career record of 11-10 includes the Super Bowl with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, but after that title he’s 6-8. He is expected to return for another year. Jerry hasn’t fired a coach with at least 24 wins in the last two seasons since he fired Jimmie Johnson after two consecutive Super Bowl wins.
And we know how it ended, even if Switzer won the title with Jimmy’s Players in 1995.
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The Cowboys are no longer mediocre – 12-win seasons in a row is solid – but expectations, as usual, have exceeded expectations. This is who they are.
Whether it’s Payton, McCarthy, or Jerra with a headset, Dallas isn’t going anywhere if the most important player on the roster is the middle quarterback.
It starts and ends with Dak.
Farewell to a friend: The sportswriter profession and American statesman’s family have lost a true great man in our friend Randy Riggs, who died last week of cancer at the age of 71.
I didn’t know him as well as Kirk Bols or the other Statesman colleagues John Maher, Rick Cantu, Mark Rosner, Kevin Little, Mike Leggett, our buddy Tom Dore, or “sports diva” Susannah Halliburton, all of whom had spent over 30 years. with him, but I did my best to make up for my 24 years of friendship with Riggles. I called him Randolph just to make him different, but for everyone else it was Riggs or Riggles.
We spent many days at Franklin’s barbecue or Chinese food at Lotus Hunan in Westlake – he loved eggplant and chicken – but what I remember most is the dry wit that was always on display in the office and in the press box.
I also remember our first mission together. In October 1999, I was hired as a high school writer, and our then sports editor, David Humphrey, whom Riggs called “Skeets” because he ran track and field in college, stumped me by sending me and a trainee to the 1999 Alamo Bowl tournament between Texas. A&M and Penn State, along with Riggs, the most senior beat writer in the state.
I must have asked him 20 questions about his career and he told me stories about reporting on the Houston Oilers during Earl Campbell’s heyday and when Julius “Dr. Campbell” was in his prime. J.” Erving came to his hotel room for an interview.
“We talked for about an hour and after the interview he really thanked me,” Riggs said with a chuckle.
A year later, we teamed up again to cover the Independence Cup blizzard between Aggie and Mississippi. The Aggies fell 43-41 in overtime and I remember we had to scrape the license plates off our cars in the parking lot to figure out which one was ours.
His story the next day was cleaner than the Porsche interior and read just as smoothly.
Typewriters and editors have always said that if they get their ass kicked on time, they’ll just send Riggs away without reading it. His copy has always been flawless.
Riggs was known to show up early on every assignment – that bird never beat him to the worm – and it became a running joke for the staff. He laughed with us, but rarely fully agreed to negotiate time during trips.
We agreed because it was Riggs.
We loved him, but more importantly, we respected him.
Better early than never.
We will miss you brother.
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