State of the Union: Dallas Cowboys

So ends every Cowboy season.

If the Cowboys don't make the Super Bowl in Dallas then heads will roll, namely Wade Phillips'. Since that's the case, he's screwed. You can't judge things based on the preseason but even if you chalk up all of their errors to timing and mental mistakes that are fixable they still aren't as good as the Saints, Vikings, and Packers in the NFC. The Cowboys are always a fun experience though because you never know what you're going to get. You think they've got the Seahawks locked down? Nope. Tony Romo's going to fumble. You think they look great heading into the postseason? They're going to get thrashed by Philadelphia instead. Even when they finally do win a postseason game they put on a clinic in how to get demolished by Minnesota in the second round. These aren't the Cowboys of old but instead a team that's trying to build a tortured fan base with great looking teams that find a way to screw it up. I'm excited to see what they have in store this year...

The funny thing about the Cowboys is that they have the biggest offensive line in the league but they don't want to play power ball. The bear that Will Ferrel fought in Semi-Pro doesn't have anything on these guys but instead of plowing ahead with Marion Barber or cutting with Felix Jones to at least set up the pass they're perfectly content putting the ball in Tony's hands 45 times a game. Brilliant. That's especially bright considering that Michael Irvin came out and said that playing with Roy Williams is like playing "10 vs 11." Thanks for the vote of confidence Mike. Seriously though, the Cowboys better pray that Dez Bryant works out because they need help on the outside. Miles Austin is a question mark in terms of consistency and other than Jason Witten they don't have many people for Romo to get the ball to. Maybe Miles comes back with another stellar year, but the fact that they aren't giving him another contract shows that even the Cowboys aren't completely convinced. They may have had the second best offense in the league last year but a lot of that stemmed from Austin's production, and if he falls off then so does Romo and the rest of the team.

The Cowboys can't fall apart defensively like they did against Minnesota and expect to win many games. They have a great defense that won them a lot of games but they need to be better in the clutch and better than twentieth against the pass if they hope for playoff success. Everybody in the NFC East is going to wind up being pass heavy so in order to make it out of the division their secondary has to capitalize on a front seven that finished seventh in the league in sacks. With that much quarterback pressure they need to be able to hold their wide receivers, and that responsibility falls on Terence Newman and Mike Jenkins. The former first round picks should be up to it and as long as the offense doesn't turn over the ball constantly, this is a good unit that can win today but needs to remember how to win in January.

I wanted to be excited when Houston beat Dallas in the preseason but I couldn't manage it. Dallas beat itself more than anything. There were horrible, especially on offense when they had a real opportunity to score. That type of play cannot and should not continue into the regular season where the Cowboys are favored to win the NFC East. If it does continue and the Cowboys choose to rev their trend of bad Decembers back up then Wade will be looking for a new job earlier than he expects. Just win baby applies to Jerry Jones as much as it does to Al Davis.