You know, I kind of filed that Dallas Cowboys loss to the Jets on Sunday night in the no-harm-no-foul folder, because they looked so good for so much of it and it wasn't a game I expected them to win the first place.
But after reading this column by Jean-Jacques Taylor on ESPNDallas.com, I wonder if the loss might have been more damaging than I thought. Jacques' thesis is that the Cowboys have grown too comfortable with losing close games like this, and as a result now very often find themselves unable to win them, and that the critical next step in head coach Jason Garrett's effort to change the culture around this team is to make it a better finisher:
Garrett must confront the issue and make sure his players learn from their mistakes before this team has any hope of ending its futility at winning time.
The fourth-quarter failures aren't about bad luck. They certainly aren't about a lack of talent or a quality quarterback fans believe chokes in the fourth quarter.
So much of professional sports revolves around confidence. Some teams consistently find ways to win, while others consistently find ways to lose.
This is why Garrett spends countless hours talking about filling the roster with the right kinds of guys and the importance of mental toughness. You can't win in the NFL with mentally soft players because they wilt under pressure.
Opponents outscored the Cowboys, 126-111, in the fourth quarter last season. The Jets outscored Dallas, 17-7, in the fourth quarter Sunday.
I think Jacques has a point. The first thought I had was the Thanksgiving Day game they gave away late last year, but he cites several examples of games over the past year in which they did bizarre things at the end to lose. Tony Romo's Sunday night brain cramps were egregious, sure, but they weren't the only weird mistakes that came up in that fourth quarter, and he's not the only one on the roster guilty of making such mistakes in the past.
So as it turns out, the Cowboys might have drawn greater benefit from winning that game Sunday than I initially thought. If they'd held on to that fourth-quarter lead and finished off a close game against a tough opponent, they'd now know they can do that. And Jacques is right when he says there's no way for this team right now to know if it can.
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ABOUT THIS BLOG
Calvin Watkins
Calvin Watkins joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. He's covered the Cowboys since 2006 and also has covered colleges, boxing and high school sports. A native New Yorker, Watkins lives in the Dallas area with his wife and two children.
Todd Archer
Todd Archer joined ESPNDallas.com in November 2010. He's covered the NFL since 1997 and the Cowboys since 2003. He covered the Bengals and Dolphins before arriving in Dallas. A Massachusetts native, Archer lives in the Dallas area with his wife and two children.
Tim MacMahon
Tim MacMahon joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. Tim covers the Cowboys and Mavericks. He has covered the local sports scene from high schools to colleges to pros during his six-year tenure at The Dallas Morning News. MacMahon is a graduate of UNT.
Bryan Broaddus
Bryan Broaddus joined ESPNDallas.com in May 2010. He has worked with ESPN 103.3 FM for the last five years, covering the Dallas Cowboys and Motorsports for the station. Before joining ESPN, he was a scout in the National Football League for 13 seasons working with the Packers, Eagles, Jaguars and Cowboys. Broaddus earned a Super Bowl Ring from the Packers in 1996.
Jean-Jacques Taylor
Jean-Jacques Taylor joined ESPNDallas.com in August 2011. A native of Dallas, Taylor spent the past 20 years writing for The Dallas Morning News, where he covered high schools sports, the Texas Rangers and spent 11 seasons covering the Dallas Cowboys before becoming a general columnist in 2006.
Ben Rogers
Ben Rogers joined ESPNDallas.com in November 2009. He is one half of "The Ben & Skin Show," heard weekdays from 9a-12p on 103.3 FM ESPN.
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