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Last week we heard all the reasons why when that one interference penalty was picked up that the Lions could have still won the game because they had all these other chances. This is just some insight for those that think that one play was what lost it for the Cowboys.
Here are 5 things the cowboys could have done differently to help them win
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-s...complain-about-dez-bryant-call-230013739.html
1. They couldn't stop Davante Adams: The Cowboys did a good job holding Jordy Nelson in check, as cornerback Brandon Carr held his own in a tough matchup. Randall Cobb gave them trouble, with a huge 31-yard catch at the end of the first half to set up a touchdown and 32 of his 116 yards in the fourth quarter, including the game-sealing catch on third down with two minutes left.
But to watch rookie wide receiver Davante Adams, who had four catches for 29 yards over the final four regular-season games combined, gut the Cowboys was crushing. All told, he caught seven passes for 117 yards and a touchdown.
Adams made two game-changing plays.
First, he scored on a 46-yard catch-and-run, beating cornerback Sterling Moore in coverage and running past safety J.J. Wilcox, who took a terrible tackling angle. Then, just before Cobb's game-sealing catch, Adams prevented disaster. Rodgers threw to Adams on third-and-3 with 2:24 remaining in the game, which Moore tried to intercept. Bad idea: Adams tore the ball away and ran — again past a flailing Wilcox — for a 26-yard gain.
Those two were killers.
The Cowboys also allowed unheralded tight ends Andrew Quarless and Richard Rodgers each to score touchdowns against them. Too many lesser Packers made key plays in this one.
2. Jason Garrett poorly managed the clock at the end of the first half: Garrett did a good job in the first half of controlling the action for nearly 18 minutes. The Cowboys converted four of six third downs and controlled the action, poised to go up 10 or even 14 points before halftime with the ball in their hands at the Green Bay 27-yard line with 40 seconds left.
Jason Witten caught a pass that was ruled (incorrectly) as a first down, with the refs spotting him a full 2 yards past the spot of the ball. It was corrected, but only after Garrett panicked and called a timeout. Sure, it would have been turned over had the replay official (it's his call under two minutes in either half) been paying any attention. But why give him more time to determine that? Why even stop the clock in the first place?
There was no need.
Instead, it was third-and-short. So the Cowboys — Garrett or Scott Linehan or someone — called for Tony Romo to be in shotgun. Huh? Romo bobbled the snap, and then misfired to Terrrance Williams near the end zone. That left 34 seconds on the clock, which led to ...
3. Dan Bailey's missed field goal: So the previous two plays were mishandled. If Bailey makes a field goal, it makes things better and gives the Cowboys a 10-point lead.. On his first attempt, the Cowboys false started, guilty party: the long snapper, L.P. Ladouceur. Ouch.
OK, so a 45-yard attempt becomes a 50-yard kick. Did Garrett reconsider kicking here? The field looked like it had hosted a monster-truck rally the night before, chewed up beyond belief despite no game there in the previous 13 days. Besides, Bailey's first attempt (on the false start) looked a little off, even if he had been reliable all season. That's when you swallow your pride and send the punter out there.
Nope. They stuck with Bailey, and the kick was partially blocked by Datone Jones. It probably never had a chance.
The miss gave Green Bay the ball on its own 40, with all three timeouts and 34 seconds left. Too much time, even for a balky-calved Aaron Rodgers. Natually, he gutted them — even with a 10-yard sack — by hitting Cobb for 31 yards and setting up a Mason Crosby field goal to cut the Cowboys' lead to 14-10. It made for a massive six-point swing just before halftime.
4. The DeMarco Murray fumble: This was a double killer. In what could be Murray's final game as a Cowboy, with free agency impending, Murray was — even if a bit hot and cold — mostly great. He had some huge runs and totaled 123 yards rushing on 25 carries, with a touchdown, adding in a 5-yard catch, too. (An aside: I thought the Cowboys might use him a little more than they did as a receiver, but that's neither here nor there.)
The Cowboys stemmed the tide and held the Packers on their first drive of the second half. They got the ball back and faced a first-and-5 at the Dallas 41 after two straight Packers penalties. Murray took the handoff on a stretch play and made a cut into the open with nothing but green in front of him — he had a chance to rip off a 59-yard touchdown and make it 21-10, Cowboys.
But Julius Peppers stuck his paw in and knocked the ball out of Murray's hands. The ball caromed back to Jones — Packers ball. So for the second time in five game minutes, the Cowboys missed out on a scoring chance. On top of that, they allowed the Packers to drive six plays thereafter, with Crosby's 30-yarder cutting the lead to 14-13.
A possible 10-point swing after a six-point swing. Brutal.
5. Dez Bryant had an otherwise quiet game: After his brilliant catch was taken away from him, Bryant would finish the game with three catches for 38 yards. This after Bryant was held to four for 48 last week against the Lions.
Bryant is a free agent-to-be, and he'll cash in. The Cowboys are expected to pony up, or else they'll use the franchise tag. They'll let Murray walk before they let Bryant go anywhere.
But Bryant came up smaller than expected in the team's two playoff games.
The Packers rotated both Tramon Williams and Sam Shields on Bryant, and they gave safety help up over the top of him. But that's nothing new for Bryant, who sees bracket coverages and double teams every time he takes the field. Bryant burned the Packers for 11 receptions and 153 last season in Dallas, and the Packers were determined not to see that happen again.
Even with a man-across-the-field look on that fateful fourth-and-2, the Packers mostly allowed other Cowboys to beat them, but it was still surprising to see Bryant not make more plays — or Romo not look for him more often. Only four of Romo's 19 pass attempts went to Bryant, and only one of 12 in the first half.
The first time we heard Bryant's name called in the game was with fewer than five minutes remaining in the first half. The Cowboys had run 20 offensive plays before targeting him. That's inexcusable.
The Cowboys had plenty of other reasons to blame the loss on themselves, and not on the referees
Here are 5 things the cowboys could have done differently to help them win
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-s...complain-about-dez-bryant-call-230013739.html
1. They couldn't stop Davante Adams: The Cowboys did a good job holding Jordy Nelson in check, as cornerback Brandon Carr held his own in a tough matchup. Randall Cobb gave them trouble, with a huge 31-yard catch at the end of the first half to set up a touchdown and 32 of his 116 yards in the fourth quarter, including the game-sealing catch on third down with two minutes left.
But to watch rookie wide receiver Davante Adams, who had four catches for 29 yards over the final four regular-season games combined, gut the Cowboys was crushing. All told, he caught seven passes for 117 yards and a touchdown.
Adams made two game-changing plays.
First, he scored on a 46-yard catch-and-run, beating cornerback Sterling Moore in coverage and running past safety J.J. Wilcox, who took a terrible tackling angle. Then, just before Cobb's game-sealing catch, Adams prevented disaster. Rodgers threw to Adams on third-and-3 with 2:24 remaining in the game, which Moore tried to intercept. Bad idea: Adams tore the ball away and ran — again past a flailing Wilcox — for a 26-yard gain.
Those two were killers.
The Cowboys also allowed unheralded tight ends Andrew Quarless and Richard Rodgers each to score touchdowns against them. Too many lesser Packers made key plays in this one.
2. Jason Garrett poorly managed the clock at the end of the first half: Garrett did a good job in the first half of controlling the action for nearly 18 minutes. The Cowboys converted four of six third downs and controlled the action, poised to go up 10 or even 14 points before halftime with the ball in their hands at the Green Bay 27-yard line with 40 seconds left.
Jason Witten caught a pass that was ruled (incorrectly) as a first down, with the refs spotting him a full 2 yards past the spot of the ball. It was corrected, but only after Garrett panicked and called a timeout. Sure, it would have been turned over had the replay official (it's his call under two minutes in either half) been paying any attention. But why give him more time to determine that? Why even stop the clock in the first place?
There was no need.
Instead, it was third-and-short. So the Cowboys — Garrett or Scott Linehan or someone — called for Tony Romo to be in shotgun. Huh? Romo bobbled the snap, and then misfired to Terrrance Williams near the end zone. That left 34 seconds on the clock, which led to ...
3. Dan Bailey's missed field goal: So the previous two plays were mishandled. If Bailey makes a field goal, it makes things better and gives the Cowboys a 10-point lead.. On his first attempt, the Cowboys false started, guilty party: the long snapper, L.P. Ladouceur. Ouch.
OK, so a 45-yard attempt becomes a 50-yard kick. Did Garrett reconsider kicking here? The field looked like it had hosted a monster-truck rally the night before, chewed up beyond belief despite no game there in the previous 13 days. Besides, Bailey's first attempt (on the false start) looked a little off, even if he had been reliable all season. That's when you swallow your pride and send the punter out there.
Nope. They stuck with Bailey, and the kick was partially blocked by Datone Jones. It probably never had a chance.
The miss gave Green Bay the ball on its own 40, with all three timeouts and 34 seconds left. Too much time, even for a balky-calved Aaron Rodgers. Natually, he gutted them — even with a 10-yard sack — by hitting Cobb for 31 yards and setting up a Mason Crosby field goal to cut the Cowboys' lead to 14-10. It made for a massive six-point swing just before halftime.
4. The DeMarco Murray fumble: This was a double killer. In what could be Murray's final game as a Cowboy, with free agency impending, Murray was — even if a bit hot and cold — mostly great. He had some huge runs and totaled 123 yards rushing on 25 carries, with a touchdown, adding in a 5-yard catch, too. (An aside: I thought the Cowboys might use him a little more than they did as a receiver, but that's neither here nor there.)
The Cowboys stemmed the tide and held the Packers on their first drive of the second half. They got the ball back and faced a first-and-5 at the Dallas 41 after two straight Packers penalties. Murray took the handoff on a stretch play and made a cut into the open with nothing but green in front of him — he had a chance to rip off a 59-yard touchdown and make it 21-10, Cowboys.
But Julius Peppers stuck his paw in and knocked the ball out of Murray's hands. The ball caromed back to Jones — Packers ball. So for the second time in five game minutes, the Cowboys missed out on a scoring chance. On top of that, they allowed the Packers to drive six plays thereafter, with Crosby's 30-yarder cutting the lead to 14-13.
A possible 10-point swing after a six-point swing. Brutal.
5. Dez Bryant had an otherwise quiet game: After his brilliant catch was taken away from him, Bryant would finish the game with three catches for 38 yards. This after Bryant was held to four for 48 last week against the Lions.
Bryant is a free agent-to-be, and he'll cash in. The Cowboys are expected to pony up, or else they'll use the franchise tag. They'll let Murray walk before they let Bryant go anywhere.
But Bryant came up smaller than expected in the team's two playoff games.
The Packers rotated both Tramon Williams and Sam Shields on Bryant, and they gave safety help up over the top of him. But that's nothing new for Bryant, who sees bracket coverages and double teams every time he takes the field. Bryant burned the Packers for 11 receptions and 153 last season in Dallas, and the Packers were determined not to see that happen again.
Even with a man-across-the-field look on that fateful fourth-and-2, the Packers mostly allowed other Cowboys to beat them, but it was still surprising to see Bryant not make more plays — or Romo not look for him more often. Only four of Romo's 19 pass attempts went to Bryant, and only one of 12 in the first half.
The first time we heard Bryant's name called in the game was with fewer than five minutes remaining in the first half. The Cowboys had run 20 offensive plays before targeting him. That's inexcusable.
The Cowboys had plenty of other reasons to blame the loss on themselves, and not on the referees
