Teamwork 1, mistake-prone Cowboys 0

By Os Davis  |   Monday, September 11, 2006  |  Comments( 7 )

Dallas Cowboys
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Whether or not you're a fan of Terrell Owens and the Dallas Cowboys, at least part of you has to feel good about the 'Pokes' 24-17 loss at the hands of the Jacksonville Jaguars. If nothing else, the loss proved that football remains a team game much bigger than any number of flashy individuals and dominant single players.

The Jaguars managed to stick together as a team after Owens and the Cowboys put together a nearly flawless first half. Dallas ruled on both sides of the ball, running up 10 points on two drives and totaling 113 yards while holding Jacksonville to an anemic 16. Owens repeatedly beat the Jags' secondary when single covered, and it looked as though Rashean Mathis was in for a long night of bad dreams featuring the number 81.

Even early in the second quarter, T.O. continued to make Mathis look bad and an erratic Drew Bledsoe good when he drew a pass interference call for another Cowboy first down. That would be Owens' last clip on the highlight reel until late in the second half.

Mathis and the Jaguars "hung in there," as a thousand sports page stories would soon be reporting and turned the tables. It was the Dallas offense that looked pathetic in the second quarter, stopping it on every third-down opportunity. When Owens had burned Mathis once again and found himself near the goal line, Bledsoe overthrew him. Still, the Cowboys' D stifled the first serious Jacksonville threat, a drive of 58 yards, and held QB Byron Leftwich and Co. to a field goal.

Bledsoe woke up in time to lead the Cowboys down the field again. With just over a minute left to play before the half, the Dallas QB telegraphed a pass to Owens that allowed Mathis to redeem himself. The Jaguars ate up the 32 yards remaining against a suddenly standing-still Cowboy defense and instead of a 17-3 halftime lead, it was 10-10.

After a little back-and-forth in the third quarter, Dallas threatened again only to be killed by mistakes. T.O. produced a poster shot of a one-handed grab only to have it called back due to a penalty on Terry Glenn. Another 25-yard Owens reception in which the man exhibited his justifiably feared speed (what injury?) was called back on a flag against TE Anthony Fasano. When coach Bill Parcells had his guys go for it on fourth-and-one, T.O. was there to throw the block for short-yardage specialist Marion Barber to keep the drive alive.

But stupidity continued to kill the Cowboys while the Jaguars refused to bend. On arguably his best pass of the day, Bledsoe threaded the needle for a TD pass to Jason Witten. Only Witten needlessly pushed off on who else but Mathis to negate the play. To make matters worse, young Shaun Suisham, in place of much-maligned Mike Vanderjagt, came on to kick a 36-yard field goal and bounced it off the post.

At this point, the alternate-universe Cowboys were up 24-3 (or at least 20-3). Only, this game was played in our universe and the Jaguars were still on the field to take advantage of the Lone Stars' gaffs.

Despite a late touchdown from T.O. and Bledsoe's rediscovery of Glenn, a couple more poorly chosen passes resulted in a couple more interceptions and the team had defeated the individuals, 24-17.

Looking at the box score alone, you have to wonder who won this game. Julius Jones was as solid on paper as he was on the field, running up 72 yards on 17 carries for a 4.2 average. Both Glenn and Owens, at 81 and 80 yards respectively, had more yards than any Jaguar. Bledsoe's completion percentage was lower than Leftwich's, but he totaled more yards and more yards per pass.

Of course, eventually you get down to the truly revealing stats. Dallas ran up nine penalties for 93 yards and three turnovers (all interceptions, two of which killed potentially game-turning drives and the third which destroyed the Cowboys' last chance in the fourth). A total of at least 17 points were thrown away thanks to a lack of focus on the parts of individuals which were beaten by a steady cohesive unit.

Football is not a game of statistics. It's a team game. And on this Sunday in Jacksonville, the better team - without a single media-grabbing superstar - won.

See if and when the Dallas Cowboys regroup at RealFootball365.com.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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